DID a solar superflare kill the dinosaurs? The answer may be found at a pub in Glasgow over the next two days as the city takes part in the global Pint of Science Festival.
Glasgow is today joining over 100 cities taking part in the world’s largest festival of public science talks.
Scientific breakthroughs at both Strathclyde and Glasgow universities will be revealed at the city’s watering holes by more than 20 academic experts.
Alongside the main talks, each evening will include a range of fun, science-related activities including science comedy from Bright Club, fun quizzes, geeky puzzles, engaging stories and other interactive activities.
“Pint of Science aims to bring some of the most brilliant scientists and inspiring research from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde to your local pub,” said event co-ordinator Annemarie Pickersgill, of the University of Glasgow.
“There is no need to have any prior knowledge, just come and meet the people responsible for the future of science – and have a pint with them.”
The Glasgow team is running four events in parallel: Our Body, Tech me Out, Atoms to Galaxies and Planet Earth. Each pub will host talks from the front-line of science, as well as some stand-up comedy and fun quizzes. Some of the themes include Space, Robots And Other Cool Things, 20,000 Leagues Under (And Over) The Sea, Space vs. Dinosaurs and Who Wants To Live Forever?
CAN WE GO BACK TO THE FUTURE?
THERE has been much fuss recently about the discovery of gravitational waves and the festival offers the chance to find out about this and other discoveries in cosmology and particle physics.
In Mine’s A Double: Quantum Gravity from Quarks and Gluons,
Theoretical Particle Physicist Dr Chris White will be talking about Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and why it breaks down at black holes and in the Big Bang.
Physicists expect it will have to be replaced by a new theory, so called “quantum gravity”. Recently, an amazing relationship has been discovered between possible quantum gravity theories and the theory describing the particles that live in the centre of atoms, thus giving a whole new way to think about gravity. White will describe the basics of this new theory, and provide insight into the current research in Glasgow.
Meanwhile physics professor Gabe Spalding will be looking at whether it is possible to record something travelling backwards in time. It sounds impossible but not with a new type of camera that allows for faster-than-light (FTL) imaging.
Spalding and his colleagues have experimentally produced a movie of something that is, in a basic sense, travelling backwards in time. While there are clear physical limitations of such methods, they believe that the new age of imaging promises to open entirely new worlds of possibilities for inquiry and explanation.
ARE THERE OTHER BREAKTHROUGHS?
IMAGINE you could use a device the size of your mobile phone to see the inside of a volcano. Technology developed at the University of Glasgow could make this possible very soon.
This technology is a miniaturised gravity sensor, or gravimeter, that lets people see the world from a completely different perspective. From tracking magma movements under volcanoes before eruptions, to locating earthquake-causing tectonic faults; gravimetry provides the ability to save the lives of many thousands of people. Researcher Richard Middlemiss will discuss developing this new technology, and plans for future applications.
The human body and mind will be the focus for Dr Olivia Kirtley who is examining what emotional and physical pain research reveals about suicide and self-harm.
Her research looks at physical pain tolerance in people who self-harm and how this relates to sensitivity and emotional pain. Her work also explores some of the factors that may be involved in someone moving from thinking about self-harm to acting upon those thoughts.
Dr Kirtley is part of a team at the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory in Glasgow who aim to conduct experimental research and apply theoretical models from different areas of psychology to enhance our understanding of self-harm and suicide.
ANY IMPLICATIONS FOR SCOTLAND?
A contentious topic is whether a coal and nuclear-free Scotland is great news or a dangerous experiment.
Professor Paul Younger will be looking at the future of the energy sector in the UK and Scotland. Renewable energy in Scotland from wind farms, hydro power plants and other clean technologies has provided its single largest source of electricity since 2004.
Younger is the Rankine chair of engineering at the University of Glasgow and has produced many papers and reports for government on a number of environmental factors.
Scottish beaches are the focus of Dr Jim Hansom, reader in geography at the University of Glasgow. The country’s shores are moving inexorably landwards due to erosion and flooding driven by increases in sea level and storm impact along with dwindling coastal sediment supply. Attempts at adaptation have been ineffectual and the scale and pace of adaptive provision needs to move up a gear if Scotland is to cope with the changes in natural processes that are already under way.
WHAT ABOUT FAR, FAR AWAY?
IS it possible to build a lightsabre or even a Death Star? These are the questions considered by Professor Martin Hendry who has long been intrigued by Star Wars and the physics of its world. Now the head of Glasgow University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, he finds himself surveying 13 billion years of cosmic history, mapping events that really did happen a long time ago in galaxies far, far away.
This talk looks at the physics of this world and the engineering challenges of building an actual Death Star.
Dr Rene Steijl, senior lecturer in aerospace engineering, will be looking at the current cutting edge in aerospace design and what is required to get a vehicle into orbit as well as some of the biggest challenges faced by organisations like the European Space Agency.
Steijl has had a varied career attempting to solve a number of these problems, including working with organisations such as ESA.
In his talk he discusses a number of these challenges and some of the cutting edge research being undertaken at the University of Glasgow.
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