Science in London ‒ DAY 8

We had a full day of lectures ahead today so I inhaled breakfast and went to hear about applications of graphene. The one-atom-thick sheet of carbon is renowned for it’s remarkable electrical and structural properties. In fact, in 2010 alone, graphene was the subject of 3000 papers and 400 patents! Del Stark showed us the smorgasbord of applications ranging from invisible water-proof anti-corrosive coatings to new graphene-based speedy solid state devices.

After a lunch break wherein we camped on the Queen’s lawn, there was another lecture on deck: “Powering Ahead With Solar Energy”. In this lecture, Dr. Yellowlees eleborated on the developments in dye-sensitized photovoltaics – exactly what we had explored in the lab yesterday!

We learned that the average (North American?)  use the equivalent of 100 human bicycle slaves to quench their energy demands for a day. In a similar vein, it would take 1,600,000 of these pedaling slaves to power a jet liftoff alone! This gave us some perspective in tackling solutions to the global energy crisis which is posed by our dependence on non-renewable sources for over 80% of our energy. I also learned a new word: spectroelectrochemistry. Between then and the next lecture, I ran through “O Canada” a few times which I was planning to perform in two days but had to rehearse tomorrow. Next we had the British Council Lecture Series where we learned the importance of science communication. Ever had that feeling when someone’s jargon is so far above your head it’s just in one ear and out the other? How far will this kind of communication take science? Too few scientists are capable of expressing complicated ideas to the general public and so stunt the realization of new discoveries. One science communication initiation we learned about is called Fame Lab (http://famelab.org/). Given three minutes, scientists take the challenge to present on a topic in a way that’s both accessible and accurate: https://www.youtube.com/user/famelab After a lecture on the progress of regenerative medicine…

… where we learned about 3D-printed noses and the like, we were entertained by a peculiar form of science communication: 

Helen Arney marries musical talent and mathematical lingo in a unique performance that soon had us all roaring with laughter. She sang Statistically I Love You… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uggtGH0d97k … and The Element Song (that’s right, all 118 elements put to music!). After the lecture, we mingled outside where I posed with Ishaaq and Thomas from South Africa:

The night ended late and stuffy in an exhausted common room:

Tomorrow would be an exciting day touring a real Nuclear Fusion Reactor… (jolly good!) Etienne