Hi everyone, it’s Manjot here!
For our second day at the London International Youth Science Forum we went on our first scientific visit! Catherine went to The Royal Institution where they did a lab on electromagnetism and motors in the Loreal Lab, where several elements have been discovered and confirmed. They got to explore the museum section, where they saw one of the first batteries ever created.
I went to the largest Health Services Laboratory in London. This lab provides pathology services and conducts a wide range of tests on samples from local hospitals and clinics. The lab was huge! It’s located in the Halo Building and has 10 floors above ground and 4 floors underground with each floor specializing in different tests and services like microbiology, virology, immunology, hematology, genetics and more. We got to tour floors 1-3. On the microbiology floor they had technology that automated the microbiology process. They had machines processing samples, transporting and incubating plates, and conducting digital images of plates. We got to explore the manual and automated blood sciences floor which had automated belts and machines used to analyze blood cells and detect hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells). Lastly we explored the biochemistry area and the immunology floor where we learned about autoimmune serology and allergy testing.
After the visit we had lunch and then went to the Royal Geographic Society for our second principal lecture by Professor Dame Wendy Hall. Dr. Hall is a professor of Computer Science and is an Executive Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton in the UK. She was one of the first computer scientists to research multimedia and hypermedia and was co-chair of the UK government’s Artificial Intelligence Review. Dr. Hall discussed trends in AI and their implications for society. She talked about the importance of taking a socio-technical approach to every aspect of the evolution of AI to ensure we get the benefits of AI and protect ourselves from AI applications that may be harmful.
After the lecture we had dinner and then an activity to end off the day. We had a crossword treasure hunt where we had to go around Kensington and find answers to a crossword puzzle. Our team had 12 students from 8 different countries. We were the first team to complete the treasure hunt (completed in about 30 minutes) and were the winning team!
Day 2 of LIYSF was full of learning and fun! Stay tuned for Day 3!
-Manjot