• Question: have you made any new inventions that has helped people or they environment or helped nature.or have you helped change the world in any way.

    Asked by katie to Christie, Dan, David, Dawn, Sian on 16 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      My research has not yet had an impact on patients, but I hope one day my work will be able to benefit them in some way.

      I do take part in public engagement events, such as Fun Palaces (free arts and science events: http://funpalaces.co.uk/; there are events all over the country in October! come find one near you!), and that’s where I hope I’ve inspired many kids to become scientists! I hope many of you will consider science as a career too. And if not, just being able to view the world with a scientists’ eyes, with curiosity and passion. If I can’t change the world, then I hope I can help you guys to change the world by inspiring you to do so. 🙂

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      Some of the work that I did in social science changed the way that people think about food choice and encouraging people to change this.

      We used to think that food choice was linked to your educational status and how wealthy you were. But in fact it is linked to whether you are a man or woman, who you live with and how many brothers and sisters you have. This has meant that we have been able to use different ways to share messages. And because the results are published other people can use this too.

    • Photo: Christie Waddington

      Christie Waddington answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      I have not directly worked with new inventions, but my group have! The Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research has developed a new technique which means that mothers with mitochondrial disease can have healthy babies. It’s going to transform many lives and give women who previously could have children, the chance to have them.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27682884

      The leader of the project, Professor Doug Turnbull, is going to be knighted this year too!

      http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/06/prof%20turnbull%20knighthood/

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