Posted by The Royal Society on 10 August 2011
Believe me when I tell you this video will blow your mind. Peter Shadbolt from the University of Bristol shows us how vibrating salt at different frequencies can cause the salt to form various patterns depending on the frequency of the vibrations. This experiment and many others were part of the Hearing shapes exhibit.
Posted by The Royal Society on 9 August 2011
If you didn’t get a chance to catch the amazing Ocean Drifters exhibit at the Summer Science Exhibition this year, here’s a few clips of the video narrated by David Attenborough that was shown. We also have an interview with Dr Richard Kirby from the University of Plymouth. Dr Kirby discusses the world of plankton how important they are to the world’s future biodiversity.
Posted by Guest bloggers on 1 August 2011
By Laurie Winkless, National Physical Laboratory
Achy feet. Loud buzzing in the ear. Sweaty palms. No voice. Adrenalin pumping. All symptoms of that rare tropical disease, SummerScience-itis. I know exactly when I caught it – it was 4pm on Sunday 10th July, the final hour of this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
It all began in late 2010. Although National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have exhibited at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in previous years, it had never been on my research area. So, after a chat with my group, I spent a happy weekend writing a proposal on “Energy Harvesting”, based around our European project on the same theme. In my head, our stand would be fun, very interactive and focussed on the science…. And in reality it proved to be all that, and one that engaged and annoyed in equal measure!
I was very excited when we were selected, and got to work on the project immediately.
Step 1: Tell everyone. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the NPL page were awash with mentions within a week. And family members were apologised to in advance for the amount of spare time we were all destined to spend on it!
Step 2: Assemble Dream Team. 39 brave souls stepped forward to help – everyone from scientists to graphic designers, and logistics to communications. We needed each and every volunteer. We found brilliant partners from UCLan to build one demo. We also had the AMAZING team at the Royal Society on our side; they make it look SO easy!
Step 3: Turn the proposal into something REAL. After many meetings, and too-many hours spent researching, we finalised our demos and defined the key messages. We started to feel confident that our demos would work and that science would be learned!
Step 4: Pick amazing name for exhibit. We asked for ideas from across NPL, but the winner was “Raiders of the Lost Amp”. As an Indiana Jones fan, I was very happy.
Step 5: Logistics. Deadlines? People? T-shirts? Delivery? Liquid Nitrogen? Thankfully our logistics people ROCK.
Step 6: Build it… and they will come. The final few days before the exhibit were busy but fun – building the stand in an empty office space made it all very real and exciting!
Step 7: Exhibit! The six days of the exhibition were BRILLIANT. We had visitors from ALL walks of life – school students, tourists, scientists and engineers, artists, politicians, families and even a few friends. One of the highlights was meeting HRH the Duke of Kent. Despite my inability to remember royal protocol, he was a gentleman. And very interested in our research, as were so many others. Everyone embraced their inner competitor to take part in our Energy Race, sweating it out on our bike, thermoelectric generator and piezo-piano! We were lucky enough to get a lot of media interest and during the soirees, even met a few potential collaborators.
We’ve taken part in many science festivals, including the Cheltenham Science Festival, but nothing prepared us for the level of excitement around this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Every bit of hard work was worth it. To see so many people interested in our research, to get the opportunity to engage the public, and to show off all the work we do…. It was incredible.
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By Jasmin Fox-Skelly, digital volunteer for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
A line of five young scientists clad in gleaming white lab coats stand in front of a set of tables, each laden with plastic cups, paper towels, glue and other mystery mixtures. Facing them are dozens of curious children, itching to get the sticky glue on their fingers. This is, of course a family workshop run by the Royal Society as part of their Summer Science Exhibition, and the children will be learning all about the science of polymers by making bouncy balls.
First of all the lead scientist asks all the children to don their labcoats and hold hands. This is to demonstrate how polymers are formed; by lots of small molecules joining up together to form a big long chain. In this case the children are the individual units (monomers) that are joining up to form a long polymer. In chemistry the bonds that join the individual monomers are called covalent chemical bonds, however here it is the children’s arms and hands that are linking them.
Polymers occur in nature and include DNA and the proteins that make up our hair and nails. They also occur in plants, for example foods such as bread, corn and potatoes can contain molecules of starch that have up to 10,000 sugar units all linked together. Polymers can also be made by us, and include plastics that are used in packaging, wrapping and building materials.
The room is buzzing with activity as the young participants get stuck in with making their own polymers, mixing 3 teaspoons of glue with 1 teaspoon of cornflower and adding their choice of red or green food colouring. The children are also adding a compound called borax; this is because glue contains the polymer polyvinyl acetate (PVA), which cross-links to itself when reacted with borax, causing the mixture to turn from a wet sticky texture to a rubbery bouncy structure.
After minutes of vigorous stirring the young scientists begin molding the ball with their hands, and soon there are bouncing balls flying everywhere! Clearly revelling in the sticky mess they have created, the children are inspired, asking the helpers to explain more about the science involved. The helpers are only too pleased to elaborate further on the subject that they are clearly passionate about, and as the workshop draws to a close amused parents have to resort to dragging their children away – remembering to take their bouncy balls with them of course.
Posted by The Royal Society on 21 July 2011
By Jasmin Fox-Skelly, digital volunteer for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
It was a cool summers evening in the terrace cafe of the London headquarters of the Royal Society, and a crowd of people were collecting a coffee, gathering a slice of cake and taking their seats, settling down in preparation for the event ‘How green does your garden grow?’
Forming part of the Royal Society’s annual Summer Science Exhibition, this cafe scientifique featured talks from two experts: Professor Richard Bardgett, an expert in the science of soil from Lancaster University, and Edward Ikin, head gardener at Nymans, a National Trust property in West Sussex. However the atmosphere at this event was not one of a formal lecture, as the audience themselves got the opportunity to share the floor, grab the microphone and lead the discussion on climate change and gardening techniques.
The compere Dr Daniel Glaser works for the Wellcome Trust and organises new ways for the public to engage with science. He introduced the speakers and got the show on the road.
Professor Bardgett began by talking about soil. Seemingly a simple, ubiquitous substance made from particles of rock, minerals and decayed organic matter, a handful of soil contains 9-10 billion bacteria – more than the total number of humans on this planet. Soil has played a pivotal role in human history: civilisations have flourished and fallen over their management of it, and it may yet prove to have a crucial role in our own future.
In particular, according to Professor Bardgett, soil and our management of it may affect how we deal with climate change. There is 2.7 times more carbon in soil and vegetation than there is contained in the atmosphere, which means that soils are the third largest carbon pool on Earth. Professor Bardgett said:
“As the atmosphere warms, the breakdown of carbon in soils will increase because bacteria and fungi will become more active, and as they become more active they break down that carbon and the carbon will go into the atmosphere and will fuel climate change”.
How we tend our own gardens can make a difference, as the compere Dr Daniel Glaser elegantly put it: “We are the butterflies fluttering our wings in the rainforest, leading to global consequences.” By choosing plants which allow carbon to get into the soil, gardeners can lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fight global warming.
Edward Ikin elaborated on this by suggesting techniques that people can use to ensure a good healthy soil. His tips varied from using milk to stimulate a plants immune system, using garlic as a fungicide, and applying compost tea: a high quality compost brewed into a liquid (without milk and sugar). He argued that you should not fight against nature and the elements, for example we should not apply harmful fertilisers on grass to make it green, but should instead allow plants like grass to function as a natural ecosystem. He emphasized the importance of ‘Green Gardening,’ saying:
“Green gardening is not necessarily all about nettles and car tyres and basically throwing all aesthetic considerations out the window. Green gardening can be very beautiful. At Nymans we underpin traditional displays with innovative techniques to minimise our inputs of fertiliser, pesticides and water.”
After a chance to recharge their coffee cups it was the audience’s turn to take control, and it became clear that they were experts in their own right, asking intelligent questions and provoking stimulating debates. At times feeling like an edition of Gardener’s Question Time, the audience clearly relished the opportunity to ask the experts about the science behind common gardening techniques. Questions included ‘What makes a soil degrade?’, ‘Is the soil in the UK more degraded now than it was before the Second World War?’ and ‘Should the use of Peat in fertilisers be banned?’
The discourse changed direction when one woman asked ‘I have my own wormery and collect liquid from it, how good is it as a fertiliser?’ After a brief survey it appeared that there were others who have experimented with worms. After being cheekily asked by the compere ’Sir can you tell me about your worms?’ The young man replied:
“I got worms because I live alone in a flat and they keep me company. I got fed up with the amount of vegetable matter I was wasting because I’m a vegetarian, so I give half of it to the worms, but I’m not that much of a gardener so I’m thinking of giving them to a friend.”
Some members of the audience had more specific advice to give. One man suggested that it would be more practical to farm rabbits rather than cattle as their fertiliser is very high in nitrogen and goes straight on the ground. He added “the meat is very nice and low in cholesterol… and they breed like rabbits.”
The main event drew to a close, and one could see how successful it had been by the number of inquisitive people who surrounded both speakers wanting further information. The audience seemed to have enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the science behind gardening, and the experts seemed to have gained a new perspective and insight too.
Here’s Professor Richard Bardgett’s and Edward Ikin’s thoughts about the cafe scientifique How green does your garden grow? that took place at the Summer Science Exhibition on 8 July. Listen to the whole event recording to find out how small changes you could make in your own garden could help reduce global climate change and have added ecological benefits.
Posted by The Royal Society on 20 July 2011
By Annabel Slater, digital volunteer for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
Who wants to know about string theory? At the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, the answer was – a lot of people. The first Café Scientifique event of the week, Untangling string theory, drew a tent full of people to hear Dr David Tong, Research Fellow of the Royal Society and theoretical physicist of Cambridge University, deliver an energetic introduction to the strangely named theory. Prior to the event, Dr Tong admitted he had never done a Café Scientifique event before, but was looking forward to the experience and hoped he could deliver a broad understanding of what string theory was, and how it may be explored in the near future.
The event was hosted by space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who deftly directed dialogue while handling her lively young toddler. Asked to describe her impression of Café Scientifique events, Dr Aderin-Pocock said she enjoyed the informal nature and interaction in the events and was looking forward to learning about string theory herself.
Dr Tong began the event by tackling what string theory was, how it related to other areas of physics, and what developments we could look forward to in the future, thanks to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). He gave a neat summary of string theory’s fundamental postulate – “If you could look inside any particle – really closely, as far down as you could – what you would find is a single loop of string,” – and explained that according to the theory, different particles were the result of different ranges of string vibrations. Later, an audience member asked what the string was made out of, and was given three possibilities – fundamental building blocks, infinitely smaller particles, or simply pure energy.
String theory gained a colourful personality as Dr Tong described it variously as “a speculative but highly promising idea for the ultimate laws of physics”, “a fairly ludicrous idea” born in the ‘70s, the mathematical product of around 15 years challenging work, and most strikingly – “a tiny equation that contains every law of physics that mankind has ever discovered throughout history.” The theory combines physics theories and is the next step from the Standard Model of particle physics, which outlines the motions and properties of particles, and which was also described by Dr Tong as “the pinnacle of scientific achievement, marred only by a bland name.”
Is string theory too good to be true? Dr Tong confessed that in part, this has always been the case. Although the mathematics behind this conceptually vivid theory works well, the inability to experimentally test string theory has always been an enduring problem. Nonetheless, he pointed out that it was the Ancient Greeks who had first proposed the existence of atoms, which have only become visible in the modern age of powerful scanning microscopes. This brought us to the LHC.
One of the most striking predictions of string theory is that there are extra dimensions in our world – and if so, the LHC is expected to show evidence of them. Dr Tong was confident that the LHC would produce exciting evidence for or against string theory within 1-2 years.
Though Dr Tong confessed that he believed string theory was missing some key elements, he also described it as the only credible solution to dark energy, which accounts for 75% of energy in the universe and which is currently hidden. As an aside on that topic, Dr Tong cheerfully admitted that the current quantum theory has its own calculations and candidates for dark energy, but that calculations come out wrong by, oh, roughly twenty billion.
He also described an exciting and alternative theory to look for evidence of strings, a theory which he had helped personally develop. Extreme conditions are needed to see strings, and the collisions of the LHC will not be strong enough to make strings themselves visible. So what about the Big Bang? Dr Tong explained that the extra dimensions of string theory may be visible in the ‘fireball’ imprint of the Big Bang, otherwise known as cosmic background radiation, and this is measurable by satellite in exquisite detail. The evidence for this theory could be being collected right now by the recently launched Planck satellite, currently 3 million kilometres from Earth.
“There’s something kind of miraculous about this. That someone like me can sit in an office with a pen and paper musing about what happened 13.7 billion years ago, but we actually know whether this is right or wrong,” commented Dr Tong.
An audience member questioned if strings might have been caught and stretched out across the universe during the Big Bang explosion – and the answer was yes, and they may be discovered one day.
Further questions probed the nature of the extra dimensions (current thinking says there are 10 or 11), what the Higgs boson is (‘invisible treacle’ that slows down particles and generates mass) and whether string theory has anything to add on the philosophical question of free will (‘No’).
No question was too challenging for an honest answer. One member of the audience asked what had existed before the Big Bang?
“That’s easy to answer- we have no idea!”
Expounding further on this, Dr Tong rearranged the common perspective of the Big Bang, explaining that the theory outlines the sudden expansion of the universe 13.7 billion years ago, but doesn’t say what started it, or why it happened. Tantalisingly, it could be string theory which will answer those questions.
Time ran out before the questions could, but Dr Tong was content to remain behind and chat further.
“I’ll happily stay behind until I’ve exhausted you all,” he said cheerfully, and the crowd moved in.
Listen to this podcast to hear an interview with Dr David Tong and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
Posted by The Royal Society on
Traumatic injury is the cause of many deaths worldwide, mostly due to severe blood loss. When a cut is made the body’s first response is to form a clot to stop further blood loss. Dr Simon Eaglestone and his team at the Royal London Hospital are investigating why people have trouble forming this first line of defence at the exhibit Science of the bleeding obvious. What should normally happen is that a fibrous mesh forms over the wound that then white blood cells called platelets latch onto and stops the bleeding by ‘plugging the gap’. This process is called coagulation. Unfortunately 1 in 4 patients have trouble forming these clots. Watch the following video to see a demonstration of how a clot forms.
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The future of robotics is in their smile, according to Professor Peter McOwan from Queen’s Mary, University of London from the exhibit Facing up to faces. His team focuses on the social interaction of robots with humans and the long term benefits of this. Their theory is that if robots can interact with humans in a social way, humans will become more attached to them and will be more likely to continue to use the robot in the long term. In many ways the designers for these robots have sought inspiration from how a dog reacts to humans as they are such sociable animals but they also have the human ability to recognise facial expressions and react to them appropriately. Listen to this podcast to find out more about this fascinating research.
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By Dr Chris Bass, Rothamsted Research
Producing sufficient food for an expanding global population is a challenging task. Damage by pests, such as insects, pathogens and weeds threatens food security.
Pesticides have been used for thousands of years by man to minimise damage to our crops and it has been estimated that up to 40% of crop yield would be lost annually without effective and reliable means of crop protection. Despite many years of research on alternative methods of control, pesticides retain a vital role in securing global food production and this will remain the case for the foreseeable future if we wish to feed an ever growing population. Unfortunately, most currently available classes of pesticides have their efficacy threatened by the evolution of resistant pests (Superpests). A major part of our research aims to identify the genetic changes that cause resistance to pesticides. The methods that pests evolve to defend themselves from these chemicals are called ‘resistance mechanisms’. This knowledge can be used to develop strategies that prevent or overcome resistance.
Our exhibit entitled Combating the Superpests: the battle to save our food describes work at Rothamsted Research to understand the development and causes of resistance to pesticides. Watch the following video of Dr Kevin Gorman to find out more.
Posted by The Royal Society on 19 July 2011
285 milllion people are visually impaired. Of the 285 million, 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision. Stephen Hicks from the University of Oxford talks here about how they are trying to combat blindness. Their exhibit Interactive bionic vision shows how they are tackling blindness in two different ways by firstly restoring sight for some people and improving sight for others. To restore sight in some who have only a few layers of their retina damaged, a chip can be implanted into the back of the eye to help it sense light. Stephen Hicks and his team have also developed a special pair of glasses linked to a computer to help improve some people’s sight. Listen to the following podcast to find out more about this.
Updates about our work on bringing the Summer Science Exhibition 2011 to life.
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