View the best of UK research at the Royal Society’s annual exhibition.
Matt Brown
Professor Steven Hawking looks on, as a teenager tilts her head from side to side. On screen, a cartoon penguin slides around on a simulated luge, mirroring the school kid’s movements. Round the corner, two visitors clothed in surgical gear operate on a virtual patient. In the basement, people queue to test their lung power by playing the bagpipes.
Welcome to the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition, where cutting-edge UK research is dressed up for public consumption. Around a third of the 23 exhibits showcase science from London labs.
The capital’s finest
An interdepartmental team from Imperial talk excitedly about applying engineering principles to biology. According to Richard Kitney, from the Department of Bioengineering, “Synthetic biology is a new and very exciting field. It has an incredible amount of potential to change our daily lives. Cars, computers, building materials, medicines – so many things could be improved by modifying and recombining DNA.” Using BioBricks – standardised DNA fragments that code for interchangeable parts – they hope to develop novel drugs and biosensors.
Queen Mary University of London inhabit a cell-shaped exhibition booth. Researchers including Fran Balkwill and Stephen Mather demonstrate anti-cancer techniques being developed at the university. They have identified molecules that specifically target CD20 receptors on cancer cells. By attaching a radioactive group, the molecule can be used to both image and partially treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Representatives from the Centre of the Cell, an educational annexe of Queen Mary’s Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, are also on hand.
Virtual surgery developed at Imperial is among the most popular booths. Visitors are invited to don gown and mask and undertake computer-simulated keyhole surgery. A separate exhibit from Imperial looks at body-sensor networks, where motion sensors attached to the body can be used for training and feedback. Applications range from entertainment systems (the penguin luge) to performance data for athletes.
Other London exhibits include a collaboration from Queen Mary and Imperial using computers to probe perception, scientists from UCL and Imperial investigating space weather, and researchers from the Zoological Society of London who reveal the ecology of piranhas.
The exhibition seems busier each year and, unlike many ‘public engagement’ initiatives, really does attract a broad range of visitors. Where else could you encounter the world’s most famous physicist watching kids play computer games?
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition (6–9 Carlton House Terrace) closes today at 4.30pm.