A subject that interests everybody but also one which no one really knows anything about! However, our speaker made a valiant and long attempt to cover part of the subject and his topics ranged from NGC188, the Fermi Paradox and habitable zones, to fusion reactions and red dwarfs. I thought the work he mentioned on the dynamics of atmospheres on planets around red dwarf stars was particularly interesting as there are far more red dwarfs than sun-like stars. Anyway, it was an interesting if overlong talk with so much covered that no-one could think of any questions afterwards. I am expecting to be able to arrange something a bit more authoritative in this area for 2002.

- Stan Waterman