Science in London ‒ DAY 4

Again, I am writing this post two days late but the pictures will guide me! I will try to get in a more regular pattern of blogging because it’s not as easy remembering with so much going on.

Anyways, here’s a nice shot of Queen’s tower which welcomed us to the breakfast hall early Saturday morning:

Soon after, we enjoyed a fascinating presentation by Prof. Murray Shanahan who uses computational modelling of nonlinear differential equations to study and simulate the human brain.

Our grey matter is truly a wonder of intricacy and shear efficiency using only 20W of power but eluding the simulations of the world’s best supercomputers. He described our vast network of a hundred billion neurons as operating on the brink of chaos and order – the difference between a serious seizure and the serenade of a piano sonata.

Everyone who was not going on the optional excursions into London today had nothing on  their schedule until 7:30 that night. Although I did not sign up for this option, I did pay for two others. Nonetheless, three Spanish guys (James, Javier, and Alvaro [sic]) and I kept busy tossing the Aerobie (flying disk) in Queen’s court shown in the first picture. Soon after Silvan from France joined us, we decided we must find a soccer ball.

We searched for some time but ended up in the famed Museum of Natural History instead; a worthy alternative I think. Much to my delight, most of the museums in London have free admission (jolly good!), and the five of us started wandering through the world-class exhibits:

 

Enter if you dare…

A rather spooked Javier above.

 

 

 

 

 

Me in front of a T-rex and giant crocodile scull (actually the bigger of the two). Their mineral and gem exhibit was breathtaking in a very real sense. James and Javier admiring many stuffed birds:

 

Me in front of a Diplodocus. Unfortunately the lines to get into the main dinosaur exhibit were too long for our patience.

 

 

 

A stunning movie-like view of the great hall inside. And the outside…

After spending not little time at the NH museum, we strolled a few minutes to check out the (also free) Victoria and Albert museum which showcases loads of ancient cultural relics. Below is a sculpture of Truth and Falsehood:

The caption reads:

“In this work Truth tears out the double tongue of Falsehood and pushes aside the mask concealing his grotesque features. His serpent-tails are exposed beneath the drapery.”

Some knight’s armor and modern art (is this supposed to be taken seriously?):

On the way out is this jolly gentleman rocking a flame-thowing Tuba:

The building on the center left is where we stay:

For the remaining time till supper, we congregated in the common room:

 

After hearing a lecture about academic property and patents from Lenora Reville, it was time for the ten students from the bazaar night to present before the LIYSF body (by the way, I was not one of those ten). There was some truly amazing effort shown in these projects and much originality. From exploring the effect of hypothetical asteroid impacts and constructing a robotic hand to making lighter bricks with less water using super-absorbent polymers and bacteria-enhanced seed germination, these projects smacked of some serious science.

After a long day, we raided the local homemade ice cream shop (mmm…)

The night terminated with many games of pool, Foosball and ping-pong in the common room. I had a jolly good game of pool with the three Dutch chaps Sam, Swen, and Marren below. The Foosball game shown was very intense as Spain (left) took on Portugal (right) in an official match.

 

Ah, sleep; but too little because tomorrow was an early start to get out to Stonehenge and Salisbury!

Etienne