| Description | Public Lecture by Dr Tara Shears, Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Liverpool on 21 June 2007
Deep beneath the Swiss countryside, final touches are being made to the world's largest piece of scientific equipment the Large Hadron Collider (or LHC for short). The LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator ever built. It is capable of recreating the very energetic conditions last seen in the universe a billionth of a second after the Big Bang, and allows particle physicists to study the fundamental ingredients of matter that the universe was formed of at the time. Amazingly, it will do this 40 million times a second, and use enormous high tech experiments to record what happens.
Why would we want to go to such lengths to explore the structure of matter? In this lecture, Tara Shears will discuss how the LHC will help scientists learn more about the nature of matter and expand the frontiers of our knowledge further than ever.
Tara Shears is a particle physicist and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. Since obtaining her PhD in 1995 she has worked on experiments at CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics, in Switzerland, and at Fermilab in America. Her research interests focus on the properties of bottom quarks and the light they may throw on new fundamental particles and interactions.
Summer Science July 2007 Exhibition Talk by Jason Hall-Spencer
Interactive talk - Deep sea discoveries
An interactive talk at this year’s Summer Science Exhibition unveils the very latest discoveries from the cold northern waters of our planet. Recent underwater images show that the deep sea realm of the British Isles is nothing like the monotonous expanse of mud that many people imagine. Spectacular coral reefs, once thought to be restricted to the tropics, are now known to occur in the chilly waters of the UK and right up into Arctic waters. This has opened up an exciting new research area for marine science.
Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, a Royal Society Research Fellow based at the Marine Institute in Plymouth University, will showcase results from his most recent expedition to the Arctic in June. The expedition, as part of International Polar Year, targeted an area off northern Norway where the Earth's largest cold-water coral reefs are thought to occur. Although robots are usually used to survey deep-sea coral reefs, this expedition used a manned submersible so the scientists’ noses are inches away from these reefs and the spectacular animals that shelter within.
The presentation took place at the Summer Science Exhibition at the following times:
Monday 2 July 7.30pm
Tuesday 3 July 11.00am, 12.30pm, 3.00pm & 7.30pm
Wednesday 4 July – Thursday 5 July 11.00am, 12.30pm & 3.00pm
When most of us think of coral reefs we imagine the Great Barrier Reef or other famous tropical sites but equally spectacular are the large and diverse coral reefs in the Northeast Atlantic. Sadly, just as elsewhere in the world, these ancient reefs - more than 4,500 years old - are being smashed to pieces by damaging fishing practices. Dr Jason Hall-Spencer at the University of Plymouth and the Marine Biological Association, UK is working with teams in France, Germany and Norway to assess the damage and what needs to be done to stop it.
What does this research involve?
Jason studies the biogeography and functional ecology of calcified marine organisms in an effort to understand how our oceans are changing. He has focussed on cold-water coral damage because commercial interests in offshore oil reserves have prompted extensive surveys of the northeast Atlantic continental shelf break area over recent years.
In some ways Jason is a scientific detective. Using deep-sea submersibles he and research colleagues have been able to study the large, colourful and spectacular coral communities off Ireland, Scotland and Norway using seabed photography, acoustic surveys and analysis of commercial trawling. This research has gathered evidence of trawl scars up to 4km long, damaged habitats, dragged rocks and turned-over sediment among these ancient reefs. This damage is clearly caused by unregulated deep-sea bottom trawling as Jason has found further evidence in the discarded by-catches from commercial trawls which include large pieces of coral (that have been broken from reefs) and a diverse array of coral-associated flora and fauna.
As part of his on-going research, Jason spent from May to July 2003 on board the largest German research vessel Polarstern. On board was an international research team using the French survey robot Victor to study sea mounts and newly discovered deep-water coral reefs in the northeast Atlantic. You could keep track of their progress on-line at www.polarstern-victor.de
Why is this research important?
Jasons research into coral reef damage is important as it provides further proof for conservationists who are campaigning to ensure legislators introduce controls to stop these damaging fishing practices and so preserve a part of our natural heritage. His main research focus on calcified marine organisms has many benefits including monitoring the impact of ocean change on global warming and commercial fish reserves.
How will this research help society?
Jason explains: "Most of us associate coral reefs with warm, well-lit waters off tropical coasts - it surprises many that the grey, northeast Atlantic harbours these amazing reefs. Heavy trawls are bringing up coral that has been in place for thousands of years. We urgently need improved management of offshore areas world-wide both to protect ancient deep-water habitats and the fish that they support."
Source of funding
Dr Hall-Spencer is one of the Societys 300 or so University Research Fellows. This scheme allows some of the UKs best postdoctoral researchers to spend up to ten years focussing on their research. His fellowship is funded by the Society's parliamentary grant |