Asking the Big Questions

Crystals are all around us, from materials and rocks to medicines and technology. They are made up of atoms and molecules arranged in regular structures, that have specific properties and behaviour. But how do they form in the first place? This talk will take you on an atomic journey from the dynamic chaos of molecular soup to the beauty, order and function of crystalline materials.
Dr Hamish H-M Yeung is a Lecturer in Materials Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He is a father and researcher in equal measure, constantly battling to create order from chaos both at home and in the lab.

We all know that some problems are harder than others. But what makes a problem hard? How can we know, formally, that one problem is harder than another? Such questions, in computer science, are the subject of Complexity Theory, a relatively new area developed over the last 60 years. It turns out that this is not just a philosophical curiosity: many of our day-to-day activities online, like communicating sensitive data (passwords, bank details...) rely on concepts from Complexity Theory.

Over 99% of plastics come from fossil fuels, but these take millions of years to form, their use can release carbon into the atmosphere, and they can cause severe environmental harm, so globally we are trying to reduce their use. This is where bio-based materials come in. Bio-based materials come from plants, and offer the opportunity to help make our materials more sustainable. If recyclability is designed into the plastics we make from bio-based materials, they can help in our transition to the circular economy. We are PhD students at UoB researching these topics.