Physical sciences
OPT IN! – Generating Experts In The Field Of Optics – Dr Alexis Vogt, State University Of New York
Optics is an intrinsic part of many powerful and developing technologies in areas such as biotechnology, national security and manufacturing. However, there is a global shortage of optics technicians, which is hindering progress. To address this, Dr Alexis Vogt of...
Investigating the Evolution of Star Formation with Millimetre Wave Astronomy – Dr Reinhard Genzel, Dr Linda Jean Tacconi, Dr Karl-Friedrich Schuster
Astronomers have much to learn from the giant clouds of gas and dust that occupy the vast spaces between stars. These conglomerates of dense, cool interstellar matter provide the food needed for star formation in galaxies. Over the past decade, Dr Reinhard Genzel and...
Analysing Earth’s Magnetospheric System A Web of Interconnections – Dr Joseph E. Borovsky, Space Science Institute
The behaviours of physical systems are often decided by complex webs of connections between properties, where a small change in just one variable could cause changes in every other one. Dr Joe Borovsky at the Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colorado, and his...
Illuminating Fractional Reasoning for Students with Learning Disabilities – Dr Jessica Hunt, North Carolina State University
Making sense of fractions can be challenging for students with learning disabilities. Dr Jessica Hunt of North Carolina State University studies how these children think and learn and is developing novel teaching methods that facilitate mathematics learning for this...
Improving Electrode Microstructural Dynamics & Battery Performance – Dr Partha P. Mukherjee, Purdue University
Whether it be enabling renewable technologies, mobilising electric vehicles, or powering the electronic devices we carry, batteries are essential to modern life. As technology continues to advance, high-quality, long-lasting batteries are needed more than ever. Dr...
A Different Tangent to Teaching Trigonometry – Professor James L. McClelland, Stanford University
Learning trigonometry is a challenge for many high-school students, impeding their access to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Dr James McClelland, a professor of cognitive science at Stanford University, California, has been working to...
A Flickering in the Darkness – Professor Gilles Gerbier, Queen’s University
Deep, deep underground, surrounded by kilometres of solid rock, a team of scientists led by Professor Gilles Gerbier of Queen’s University, Canada, watches for a miniscule flicker of energy. A flicker that will, they hope, betray the existence of the most elusive...
Changing the Landscape of Geology, Forecasting Earthquakes – Professor Friedemann T. Freund, NASA Ames Research Center
Imagine a world where we knew about earthquakes before they strike – days before a potentially lethal event. A world with an early warning system that would give us time to evacuate vulnerable buildings, to activate civil defence organisations, to minimise the loss of...
Collaborating to Study Interfaces in Miniaturised Materials – SFB 1083
Creating technologies from multiple materials with different physical properties can be hugely beneficial, but the process doesn’t come without its challenges. As we fabricate new devices, an understanding of the physics occurring at the interfaces where different...
A New Generation of Chemical Sensors – Dr Simon Humphrey & Sam Dunning, University of Texas
Dr Simon Humphrey and Sam Dunning at the University of Texas at Austin have created a new lanthanide-based chemical sensor that can identify trace levels of water in many different solvents, and can even distinguish between normal water and ‘heavy water’. The team’s...
Negative Ion Formation in Complex Heavy Systems – Dr Alfred Msezane, Clark Atlanta University
When an electron is absorbed by a heavy atom or molecule, a heavy, negatively-charged ion is formed. These negative ions can be used for a wide array of useful applications, from organic solar cells to water purification. However, the electron absorption process for...
Investigating Cosmic Snowballs – Professor David Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles
Professor David Jewitt and his team at UCLA explore the nature of comets. These fleeting visitors to our cosmic shore are important sources of information, and can help to reveal the origin and evolution of the solar system. Most recently, Professor Jewitt’s team have...
Modelling Shock Waves and Particle Interactions in High-Speed Flows – Professor Gustaaf Jacobs, San Diego State University
Understanding how shock waves, flow dynamics and turbulence all interact and affect the distribution of particles has applications ranging from high-speed vehicles to explosions and even ocean sediment dynamics. Professor Gustaaf Jacobs at San Diego State University...
Cell Physics, Understanding How Biological Matter Self-Organises – The Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1027 at the Saarland University
The Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1027 at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken and Homburg is an interdisciplinary research team that aims to achieve a quantitative understanding of the physical mechanisms at work when biological matter self-organises into...
Metal Transport Unlocks Routes to New Antibiotics – Dr Albert Guskov, University of Groningen
Metals have been improving our lives since the bronze age, but they also play a key role in keeping us healthy. We rely on numerous metals, such as cobalt, zinc and magnesium (among others), to perform essential roles in our bodies. Many bacteria also require these...
Supernova-accelerated Electrons to Dark Matter – Professor Dr Uli Klein, University of Bonn
Considering we didn’t know of their existence just a century ago, our current knowledge of the structures and dynamics of galaxies is extraordinarily impressive. Among those who have enhanced our understanding of these building blocks of the Universe is Dr Uli Klein,...
A Rare Universe? The Multiverse Debate Through the Lens of Philosophy – Dr Simon Friederich, University of Groningen
How did we get here? How could a universe with such simple physical laws have created something as complex as us? These questions are so fundamental that even after millennia, neither scientists nor philosophers have reached a universally satisfying answer. Dr Simon...
Tensor Networks Untangling the Mysteries of Quantum Systems – Dr Román Orús, Johannes Guttenberg Universität
For decades, physicists have struggled endlessly with the problem of quantum many-body systems – systems containing multiple quantum particles. Because of quantum properties, the ways in which these systems behave are unpredictable when using conventional mathematics,...
Collaborating for a Cleaner Future – Dr Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, Adelphi University
The greatest challenges facing humanity over the next decades involve finding renewable sources of energy and finding ways to restore natural resources such as clean water that have been polluted by industrialisation. Dr Justyna Widera-Kalinowska of Adelphi University...
A Bright Family of Quantum Defects – Dr YuHuang Wang, University of Maryland
Carbon nanotubes are a remarkable material – more conductive than copper and stronger than steel, yet just a billionth of a metre wide. Their application has already proven invaluable across science and engineering, but only recently have scientists looked into...
Saving the World through Fertiliser and Fuel – Professors Colin A. Wolden and J. Douglas Way, Colorado School of Mines
At the turn of the century, two unassuming chemists collaborated on the seemingly mundane task of converting nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia. At the end of their collaboration, they had changed the course of our civilisation forever. At the Colorado School of...
Software for Realistic Simulations of Quantum Systems – Professor Hans De Raedt, University of Groningen
The potential capabilities of universal quantum computers have many of us excited, but there’s one problem – we aren’t close to building complex, functional quantum computers just yet. In the meantime, scientists need to test the capabilities of quantum computing...
Working in Space The Challenge for Mars and Beyond – Karen Feigh, Matthew J. Miller and Cameron Pittman
Professor Karen Feigh and Dr Matthew Miller from the Georgia Institute of Technology examine what support will be required when astronauts need to work outside in deep space, where communication with Earth takes tens of minutes. Software engineer, Cameron Pittman,...
Cuckoo Search Using Evolutionary Algorithms to Optimise Materials – Dr Ganesh Balasubramanian, Lehigh University
From the metal in our cars to the circuits in our phones, the materials we use in our everyday lives can be meticulously engineered on a molecular scale to suit our requirements. However, there are so many possible arrangements of atoms and molecules at this scale...
The Coolest Job on Earth Exploring Ultracold Chemical Reactions – Dr Timur Tscherbul, University of Nevada, Reno
Algorithms are everywhere. From the targeted ads that flood your Facebook feed, to the split-second decision making of self-driving cars, they can be surprisingly simple or considerably complicated. At the University of Nevada, Dr Tscherbul and his research team are...
Exploiting Fibre Optics for Detecting Pipeline Leaks – Dr Bill Challener, GE Global Research
Some of the best ideas in science are ones that seem completely obvious – but only after someone else has thought them up. In the world of pipeline leak detection, Dr Bill Challener and his team at GE Global Research have dramatically extended the range of one of the...
How NASA’s Satellites Are Mapping the Way for Global Policy – Vanessa M. Escobar and Dr Molly E. Brown
NASA’s satellite technologies have provided a wealth of data about the planet, and can be tailored into usable products to support major decision makers across the world. Vanessa M. Escobar and Molly E. Brown are working to bring these data products to decision-making...
The Exacting Task of Bringing Molecules to Attention – Bretislav Friedrich, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Molecules are relentlessly dynamic – vibrating, cartwheeling, and zigzagging in a restless hustle. In order to study molecular properties and interactions, their motions must be tamed to a certain degree. In particular, the ability to make molecules face in a specific...
Indefinite Causal Order, Faster Computers and Fundamental Questions – Professor Philip Walther, University of Vienna
Quantum mechanics has greatly improved the speeds at which computers make calculations, but new research shows that quantum computers can be made to run even faster. Professor Philip Walther and his team at the University of Vienna have shown that the very orders in...
Studying the Surface of Asteroids by Investigating Powder in the Lab – Dr Daniel D Durda, Southwest Research Institute
Space scientist Dr Dan Durda and his team at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, are working to understand how the planets in our Solar System evolved. The team is searching for practical ways to exploit nearby asteroids, through investigating how...