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Asked by 807enec43 to Yasmin, Tadhg, Liz, Lee, Hilly on 22 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Nicole Smith, 916enec38.
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Yasmin Ali answered on 22 Jun 2015:
I worked on a research project at university that I thought was really interesting!! We were analysing samples of coal used in a certain area in China, where the lung cancer rate was really high, to see if something in the coal was causing the lung cancer.
We had to build a rig to burn the coal and catch all the ash that came off for analysis, it was exciting putting it all together and modifying it until we had something that worked well.
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Tadhg O'Donovan answered on 23 Jun 2015:
I developed a device to measure blood flow in skin tissue – but needed to test if it worked.
I contacted a Physiologist about this and he devised an experiment – which involved heating up students (yes volunteers) – that way the blood would flow quicker and my device should be able to see/measure the difference – sounded like a plan!
Well it was all going well until our volunteers began to faint….by the end of the experiments the students where challenging each other to see who could stay conscious for longest 🙂
Please know that all Health and Safety procedures were followed and medical assistance was on hand at all times!
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Lee Margetts answered on 24 Jun 2015:
I’ve done some “virtual” experiments on designs for the ITER fusion reactor that is being built in the South of France. The reactor chamber will contain plasma that will be hotter than the core of the sun. A magnetic field is used to keep the plasma away from the walls of the reactor. My work involves looking at the design of the reactor wall and testing whether it could withstand the heat. Its interesting because engineers have never built machines before that will have to withstand these extreme operating conditions. It is exciting, because if it all works and we have fusion energy, we can leave all the fossil fuels in the ground and reduce global warming.
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Liz Meddings answered on 25 Jun 2015:
I don’t do experiments in my job but I went to a nature festival a couple of weeks ago. They were showing off the properties of some plants. If you look at the plant through 3D cinema glasses, with one eye the plant looks green and with the other, it looks blue. Pretty cool!
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