• Question: How do you think your work would be a benefit on society / the world?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      I was asked a similar question yesterday so I will give a similar answer if thats ok? 🙂

      Antibiotic resistance is becoming a big problem for all of mankind. Without effective ways of treating bacterial infections people could die from very simple things that we could previously cure. My work involves trying to find new ways to kill bacteria so that we can continue to treat infections and live happy healthy lives 🙂

    • Photo: Simon Redfern

      Simon Redfern answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Some of my work is helping to explain why we can measure Earth’s climate, stretching back millions of years, from records locked into the shells of plankton, corals and shellfish. These measurements help us understand how climate changes in the past have affected the planet, and help make predictions for future climate change more accurate.

      At a completely different level, I am also looking at the properties of minerals deep in the interior of planets, at very high temperatures and pressures. One of these projects is actually part-funded by Rolls Royce, because the properties of metals in the core of the Earth are similar in some ways to the properties of the turbine blades of jet engines, which have to perform at extremely high temperatures, approaching their melting point!

    • Photo: Lynne Thomas

      Lynne Thomas answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      I hope that my work will eventually lead to new materials which will be useful as maybe touch screens on your mobile phone, more data storage in a smaller volume of space, things that are sensitive to small changes in temperature and maybe even colour changing paint which means your car colour could reflect your mood! Technology is a massive part of our lives and it has changed the way we live significantly. I don’t think that 10 years ago we would have thought that our mobile phones would be like mini computers and the development of things like new materials making touch screens and lighter batteries have driven these changes. Hopefully one day the materials I am making and studying will be found in some of these places!

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Hopefully my work will help slow down global warming, which is better for the environment and means that the world will be a better place for generations to come.

    • Photo: Phillip Manning

      Phillip Manning answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      All science is core. Very often the application of science comes much later than the initial discovery or ‘eureka’ moment. Some of the greatest discoveries are made by scientists who were not working in the field in which the new idea was latter applied. My own work on studying the chemistry of dinosaurs bones, has lead to other members of my group studying the uptake of radioactive elements in dinosaur bone. This work is now feeding research on how safely to store nuclear waste….so, it is important that we support ALL science.

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