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The natural world is often seen as being antithetical to “man-made" machines. However, there are vast swathes of technologies out there “in the wild” which have a more intimate relationship with nature. This evening’s talks brings the relationship between nature and technology to life and introduces you to some examples of technological innovations and scientific processes which are working with nature or taking design inspiration from it. It explores themes such as: how we can use technology to maintain sustainable food product, how robotics is being inspirited by marine biology, and whether …
Frozen Aliens and Superpowers
Jessica Spurrell
(Researcher in Cryogenic Engineering / School-University Partnership Officer)
Cryogenics works with liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C) and liquid helium (-268.8 degrees C). Down at these temperatures, all sorts of unusual things can happen - electrical resistance can disappear, almost anything, from frogs to surfers, can levitate, liquid can climb out of its container, biological processes can be slowed. With some deft application of science, some clever calculations and some ingenious engineering, all of this is possible and more - yet for some reason, whenever you say you work in cryogenics, the first thing people ask is, "Do you freeze dead people? Or aliens?"
Biologically inspired marine robotics
Gabriel David Weymouth
( Associate Professor within Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton)
We have explored less than 5% of the ocean, in part because our best underwater vehicles are either brick-shaped robots tethered to a ship, or little torpedoes-like vehicles that can't turn left. Contrast this with marine animals like the turtle, sea-lion, and octopus which are able to navigate complex terrain and swim long distances efficiently.
In this talk, I'll introduce how we can study and copy some of the best features of these animals to improve our underwater vehicles and thereby increase our understanding of the oceans.
In this talk, I'll introduce how we can study and copy some of the best features of these animals to improve our underwater vehicles and thereby increase our understanding of the oceans.
Food for Life
Nickolas Harris
(Lecturer in Southampton University’s Electronics Dept)
Dr Nick Harris is a lecturer in Southampton University’s Electronics Dept. In this talk, entitled “Food for Life” he will discuss some of issues the world faces with feeding itself in the next 50 years, and how technology may help to address this. Linked to this via diet, one of the major health factors facing the world is stroke, and improving rehabilitation outcomes and thus the quality of life for stroke sufferers is important. Issues with conventional therapy will be elaborated upon, and personalised home-based stroke rehabilitation therapy will be discussed as a solution.
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