Investigation and discovery day

A full house once more at the Oculus in Aylesbury welcomed a quartet of speakers to talk on very different aspects of science and technology. Professor Rachel Watson from Manchester University started the day by describing her work on skin ageing and on the skin’s response to anti-ageing products. We know that skin is the largest organ in the human body but most of us have no idea of what is going on beneath it. Today we learned about how elastin fibres and collagen act across the dermis and saw in cross-sections the fibrillar collagens that connect with proteins via twisted tissues. If this area empties through time, the wrinkles develop and the bloom leaves the skin. On the surface there is the effect of exposure to the sun to hasten the process and produce sun damage as well. Professor Watson told us what to look for in products that have been proven to be useful in combatting the ageing process. She has been working on the differences between white, Asian and black skins and welcomed the advent of imaging techniques which will obviate the need for many biopsies.
Professor Peter Ayton heads the department of psychology at City University, London and has held positions in universities all over the world. He teaches Behavioural Psychology and is a member of the Society for Judgement and Decision Making which has a European Association of Decision Making too. (Me neither!) Peter talked about how not just at the individual level but nationally and internationally decisions are made subject to the emotions---so perhaps often irrationally. In these scenarios, people will take more risky decisions and endanger themselves and others around them. If one is angry or depressed one will take bigger risks and the professor went on to develop this theory in relation to road accidents, TV game shows, post September 11 fear of air travel and even the Brexit referendum. It was very entertaining and did you know that the person who comes third is nearly always happier than the winner of the silver medal?
After lunch we welcomed DR Anna Ploszajski who is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Making having qualified at Oxford and UCL: she is researching 4D printing and metamaterials. Anna’s talk was fascinating and introduced us to lots of new words and explained what they all meant. We learned about piezoelectric action which was discovered years before any of us went to school but the rest was all very new eg. claytronics and shape-memory alloys. She demonstrated how “stuff” could remember what shape it had had before it was heated or sprinkled with water---think broken bones. Again, structures such as bridges could be built with metals which would change colour with the onset of rust or corrosion so that the area could be treated at once. Claytronics are tiny nanoscale robots which are computers that can come together to form tangible 3D objects for use. Although Anna mentioned self-constructing wardrobes we are not quite there yet but already casts for broken limbs can be made from 4D printing.
The final speaker was Phil Pearson who is the Group Development Director of APS the largest supplier of British tomatoes in UK. Phil has introduced many new technologies into the horticultural industry and the sheer size of his undertaking was amazing. However, I think the thing that endeared Phil most to the audience today was the way in which he has pioneered the absence of waste and the utilisation of ways at every stage of the plants’ development to protect the environment. He has heated and powered his greenhouses with circulated CO2 extraction; he has cooling and irrigation methods based on ground sources and waste leaves and tomatoes are being turned into disposable packaging. We learned about new materials used for roofs, computer-controlled environments and LED lighting and the role of bees happily working under glass. Phil’s business is green in all its meanings and we will be looking out for his products whenever we are shopping for tomatoes---and take them home to put in the fruit bowl NEVER the fridge.
WE enjoyed a wonderfully interesting day thanks to the Science and Society Sub-committee. But I bet I wasn’t alone in being brain- dead when I got home. Thank Goodness I hadn’t to make any decisions driving home.
 
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