© Pint of Science, 2024. All rights reserved.
We're holding a one-off Welcome Week special for members of the Bristol student union. Three of our favourite speakers from 2017 have returned to give new and returning students a taste of what we offer.
If you are interested in engagement and education, or you just want to see cool research happening in Bristol, come along and see what you too can be a part of!
Please note that this event is fully accessible. There are four parking spaces for wheelchair users, get in touch with [email protected] for more information. Gender neutral toilets are on the fourth floor and signposted.
If you are interested in engagement and education, or you just want to see cool research happening in Bristol, come along and see what you too can be a part of!
Please note that this event is fully accessible. There are four parking spaces for wheelchair users, get in touch with [email protected] for more information. Gender neutral toilets are on the fourth floor and signposted.
Sound you can touch
Touch is a two-way communication tool. We use it to explore the world around us to get a rich tapestry of information about the objects in our lives, feeling for textures and dimensions. We also use touch to convey emotion, and trust. In a world where personal and collective communications are becoming digitalised, Ultrahaptics reintroduces the sense of touch to our experiences. By using ultrasound to project the sensation of touch directly onto the user’s hand, without the need for gloves or other wearables, touch can be added to virtual worlds and gesture recognition controls.
Not the mafia you know: Italy’s most mysterious crime syndicate
Ever since The Godfather, there’s been no avoiding the Italian mafia in popular culture: mafiosi pop up everywhere from computer games to car insurance ads. And yet, many people are surprised to learn that the mafia is still a very serious problem – and that there’s more than one. This talk is all about the ‘ndrangheta, Italy’s richest and most powerful mafia organisation. We’ll look at how it’s developed from stealing goats in the country’s poorest region into a multi-billion dollar criminal corporation – and why, for almost a century, people have been claiming it doesn’t exist.
3D print your own sonic tractor beam
Sound is all around us but there is more to acoustic waves than our ears perceive. If you have ever heard an explosion or listened to loud music you will have felt a physical force due to sound waves. In this talk I will show how this force can be used to levitate and move objects. I will explain how you can make your own acoustic tractor beam for about £50. I will also explain how this technology could be important to society, for example, moving cells, or small medical devices in medical applications. I will conclude by considering the future possibility of levitating much larger objects.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.