Today sees the start of the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2009 in London, which sees over 20 diverse exhibits on display until Saturday 4th July. The event offers the chance for non-specialists to observe first-hand some of the creative ideas of the 21st Century and engage with their creators.
The Royal Society’s event is truly trying to engage science and the public – offering the two cultures (as first referred to be C.P. Snow), the opportunity to communicate to, and with, each other. The exhibition is all about the public contecting with scientists – asking them about the work and offering their opinions. There is a diverse collection of interactive exhibits – from understanding why fluorescent fish can help humans, to how a chewing robot can help develop the future of dental technology. There is also a selection of art, history of science exhibits, lunchtime talks, an interactive presentation and, on Saturday, a family workshop.
My own Imperial College London have four very different displays at the Summer Science Exhibition. One of them focuses on how what happens in the womb can have a life-long effect. A group of researchers from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College have constructed an exhibit featuring a game for visitors to play that shows how a mother’s stress can increase the heart rate of her unborn baby. The researchers behind this exhibit hope that it will raise families’ awareness of the effect on stress on every single member of their household, including those currently unborn. They believe that by reducing stress during pregnancy, thousands of children could be prevented from developing emotional and behavioural problems, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
A human foetus. Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Their exhibit also features a real placenta, encased safely in plastic, which visitors will be allowed to touch. The significance of this display is that when pregnant women become stressed, the placenta becomes less protective and the mother’s stress hormone cortisol can have unwanted effects on the foetus.
One of the other Imperial College exhibits is sure to catch the attention of visitors, with a James Bond-esque title: “Quantum of Sol”. Imperial Scientists from the Department of Physics in conjunction with the Grantham Institute of Climate Change have created a new generation of ‘nano-structured’ millimetre-sized solar cells that could convert the sun’s energy to electricity more efficiently than current technology.
The solar cells, which are custom-built on a scale 1000 times smaller than the size of a human hair, capture more solar energy than existing silicon solar panels. With different layers of materials, they are able to individually target different colours of sunlight, leading to greater efficiency. The lead researcher, Dr Ned Ekins-Daukes, believes that within a decade his technology will be capable of achieving 50% efficiency – a vast improvement on the current solar panels which can only manage between 12 and 20 percent.
Visitors interested in this exhibit, will be able to temporarily become solar power engineers during their visit. Experimenting with mirrors and lenses, they can focus a beam of light onto a miniature solar cell, in a scaled-down representation of desert solar power technology, known as a ‘concentrator power system’ to learn how much electrical power can be generated from the sun.
With a whole host of other exhibits touching on the fields of biotechnology, space exploration and environmental studies amongst other topics, the Royal Society Summer Science Event 2009 is sure to inspire both working scientists and the general public alike.
For information on visiting the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2009, see the Royal Society’s website.