| The SFU Retirees
Association is pleased to announce the next two talks in the fall series. All talks are held in Halpern Centre, Rm 136 at 12 Noon. They are free, no registration is required, and all members of the SFU community are welcome. October 15, Thursday noon: John D’Auria: Isotopes for Life Medical isotopes have become a top news item
recently with the loss of Canada’s production. Stable and radioactive isotopes
are used in many aspects of our lives and yet are generally unknown until a
crisis arises in the supply. Isotopes form a billion dollar industry, used in
nuclear medicine, in national security, in oil exploration, by the military, in
powering satellites, in environmental studies, and in biological studies. What
are isotopes, where are they produced, is there a shortage of key isotopes, are
they harmful, is the inventory getting low, should we be concerned, and can we
still just ignore the whole matter? This talk will deal with some of these
issues including production, supply, uses, and what is planned for the future. November 19, Thursday noon: Jay Burr: The evolution of how nematode eyes see How can a simple eye provide spatial information about
the animal’s environment? Of the five simple eye types I've found in the tiny
worms of the phylum Nematoda, only two have optics that can focus light and
none have a retina, yet they can navigate towards light or dark areas in their
field of view. I will first describe the unique way that spatial discrimination
is accomplished by one species. Then I will examine the variety of eye structures and how their
components could have evolved. My observations have raised questions as to what
is the minimum that we can call an eye, or vision. |