• Question: whats the most interesting thing you have ever discovered?

    Asked by leeliebert to Tim, Simon, Damien, Rachael, Suzi on 23 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by k1i2z3, mkershaw, ruthenium, natalie789, avabarton1.
    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi @leeliebert

      Science is often a very slow process and it can take time to make a very interesting discovery. I have made some small discoveries that I think are interesting, but it is really only when all the discoveries are put together that things become really interesting.

      I found out that adults who had problems learning to read as children but can read OK now, still show different patterns of brain activity compared to adults who found it easy to learn to read as children. Those adults who struggled to read as children but can now, must have found a different way to train their brains to read. This is exciting as it may help us find ways to help children who struggle to learn to read.

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I think maybe the most interesting thing I have ever discovered was when I (and the research team I was in) found evidence that your attitude about where you’re from does affect your accent! So, particularly for Scottish people, that if you feel that being Scottish is very important to you, you probably do have more of a Scottish accent than someone who is also Scottish but doesn’t really care about it. This was something that people suspected was true before, but there wasn’t any scientific evidence. Now there is!

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi everyone

      Recently I conducted a study where I found that how much weight a mother puts on while pregnant can affect how well her child does at GCSE. I thought this was pretty interesting.

      However, I’m hoping my PhD will help me find some really interesting results!

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