Summer Science Exhibition Research Articles

Magnetic to the Core – communicating palaeomagnetism with hands-on activities

Abstract. Palaeomagnetism is a relatively unknown part of Earth sciences that is not well integrated into the school curriculum in the UK. Throughout recent years, there has been a decline in the number of Earth science students in the UK. In 2018 and 2019, we developed outreach activities and resources to introduce the scientifically engaged general public to palaeomagnetism and raise awareness of how geomagnetism affects society today, thus putting palaeomagnetism, and Earth sciences, in the spotlight. We tested our ideas at local events that were visited mostly by families with small children, with tens to hundreds of participants. Our project culminated in the Magnetic to the Core stand at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2019, which is visited by members of the general public, students and teachers, scientists, policymakers and the media. At this event, we communicated the fundamentals of palaeomagnetism through hands-on activities and presented our recent research advances in a fun and family- friendly way. To test the impact of our exhibit on knowledge of palaeomagnetism and Earth's magnetic field on visitors, we designed an interactive quiz and collected results from 382 participants over 8 d. The results show a significant increase in median quiz score of 22.2 % between those who had not yet visited the stand and those who had visited for more than 10 min. The results from school-aged respondents alone show a larger increase in the median score of 33.5 % between those who had not yet visited and those who had spent more than 10 min at the stand. These findings demonstrate that this outreach event was successful in impacting visitors' learning. We hope our Magnetic to the Core project can serve as an inspiration for other Earth science laboratories looking to engage a wide audience and measure the success and impact of their outreach activities.

An interactive gravitational-wave detector model for museums and fairs

In 2015, the first observation of gravitational waves marked a breakthrough in astrophysics and in technological research and development. The discovery of a gravitational-wave signal from the collision of two black holes, a billion light-years away, received considerable interest from the media and public. We describe the development of a purpose-built exhibit explaining this new area of research to a general audience. The core element of the exhibit is a working Michelson interferometer: a scaled-down version of the key technology used in gravitational-wave detectors. The Michelson interferometer is integrated into a hands-on exhibit, which allows for user interaction and simulated gravitational-wave observations. An interactive display provides a self-guided explanation of gravitational-wave related topics through video, animation, images, and text. We detail the hardware and software used to create the exhibit, and discuss two installation variants: An independent learning experience in a museum setting (the Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum) and a science-festival with the presence of expert guides (the 2017 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition). We assess audience reception in these two settings, describe the improvements we have made given this information, and discuss future public-engagement projects resulting from this work. The exhibit is found to be effective in communicating the new and unfamiliar field of gravitational-wave research to general audiences. An accompanying website provides parts lists and information for others to build their own version of this exhibit.

Demographic and lifestyle risk factors of dry eye disease subtypes: A cross-sectional study

PurposeTo evaluate demographic and lifestyle factors associated with aqueous deficient and evaporative dry eye disease. MethodsA total of 1125 general public visitors (707 females, mean ± SD age, 33 ± 21, range 5–90 years) at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition were recruited in a cross-sectional study. A demographic and lifestyle factor questionnaire was administered, and dry eye symptomology (DEQ-5 score), ocular surface characteristics (conjunctival hyperaemia, and infrared meibography), and tear film parameters (tear meniscus height, non-invasive breakup time, and lipid layer grade) were evaluated for the left eye of each participant within a single session. The diagnostic criteria for dry eye disease subtypes were adapted from the rapid non-invasive dry eye assessment algorithm. ResultsOverall, 428 (38%) participants fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for dry eye disease, 161 (14%) with aqueous deficient dry eye disease, and 339 (30%) with evaporative dry eye disease. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that advancing age, female sex, reduced sleep duration, higher psychological stress, and poorer self-perceived health status were independently associated with aqueous deficient dry eye disease (all p < 0.05). Significant risk factors for evaporative dry eye disease included advancing age, East and South Asian ethnicity, contact lens wear, increased digital device screen exposure, higher psychological stress, and poorer self-perceived health status (all p < 0.05). ConclusionsBoth subtypes of dry eye disease were associated with several unique and shared demographic and lifestyle factors. The findings of this study could inform future research design investigating the utility of targeted screening and risk factor modification for the prevention and management of dry eye disease.

Crowd Behavior Mining with Virtual Environments

This article explores ways in which virtual environments can be used for crowdsourcing and behavior mining for filling gaps within the information space of topical research. Behavior mining in this article refers to the act of harvesting the latent or instinctive behavior of participants, usually a crowd, and injecting the population behavior into a preset context, such as within a virtual environment so that the subjective behaviors and the contexts are merged. The experimental approach combines various modalities centered upon virtual environments so as to induce presence in order to bring participants into the context. This approach is new and not well studied; however, it has real potential in research dealing with behaviors and culture in reconstructed virtual environments. Two virtual environments case studies at the 2012 and 2015 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition are presented, which demonstrate that the unique crowdsourcing activity is able to fill gaps within the information space so that answers to research questions can be more complete. Thus, by reconstructing and replicating a lost landscape, and by injecting harvested human behavior into the context of the landscape, we may be able to gather much more information than conventional methods will allow.

Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation

Decisions on settlement location in the face of climate change and coastal inundation may have resulted in success, survival or even catastrophic failure for early settlers in many parts of the world. In this study, we investigate various questions related to how individuals respond to a palaeoenvironmental simulation, on an interactive tabletop device where participants have the opportunity to build a settlement on a coastal landscape, balancing safety, and access to resources, including sea and terrestrial foodstuffs, while taking into consideration the threat of rising sea levels. The results of the study were analyzed to consider whether decisions on settlement were predicated to be near to locations where previous structures were located, stigmergically, and whether later settler choice would fare better, and score higher, as time progressed. The proximity of settlements was investigated and the reasons for clustering were considered. The interactive simulation was exhibited to thousands of visitors at the 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition at the “Europe's Lost World” exhibit. 347 participants contributed to the simulation, providing a sufficiently large sample of data for analysis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 59–73, 2016

Cluster at the Royal Society

Colin Forsyth and Andrew Fazakerley describe the steps they took to publicize the science of Cluster at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition this year.

3D TV without glasses

“Wow, that's amazing” was at least one visitor's reaction to last year's Summer Science Exhibition at the Royal Society in London.

A Model for Structuring the Donor Discussion in Emergent Transplant Procedures

To investigate the potential for maximizing organ and tissue donation by identifying an empirical basis for structuring donor discussions. Intentions to donate organs and tissues were recorded in 2 separate samples of participants and analyzed separately by using Guttman scaling, the second sample providing a replication of the findings from the first. 304 participants were recruited from the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2004, and 200 health professionals were recruited from the Royal Free Hospital. RESULTD: High coefficients of scalability and reproducibility in both samples indicate a one-dimensional scale for intentions to donate organs and tissues, with solid organs more likely to be donated than corneal, hand, and facial tissue. Thus donor discussions can be structured in a robust order, with the potential for reliable use of cutoff points once donation of a particular organ or tissue has been refused. This reliable pattern can be used to maximize organ and tissue donation rates and to underpin emergent transplant techniques.

A model for structuring the donor discussion in emergent transplant procedures

To investigate the potential for maximizing organ and tissue donation by identifying an empirical basis for structuring donor discussions. Intentions to donate organs and tissues were recorded in 2 separate samples of participants and analyzed separately by using Guttman scaling, the second sample providing a replication of the findings from the first. 304 participants were recruited from the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2004, and 200 health professionals were recruited from the Royal Free Hospital. RESULTD: High coefficients of scalability and reproducibility in both samples indicate a one-dimensional scale for intentions to donate organs and tissues, with solid organs more likely to be donated than corneal, hand, and facial tissue. Thus donor discussions can be structured in a robust order, with the potential for reliable use of cutoff points once donation of a particular organ or tissue has been refused. This reliable pattern can be used to maximize organ and tissue donation rates and to underpin emergent transplant techniques.

Attitudes to Face Transplantation: Results of a Public Engagement Exercise at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Hettiaratchy and Butler (Lancet 2002;360:5-6) framed face transplantation as the next logical step on the reconstructive ladder for severe facial injury, in particular, pan-facial burns. The procedure formed the basis for a Royal College of Surgeons of England working party report. Ethical, surgical, and psychological issues were identified as research priorities before face transplantation is attempted in the United Kingdom. Public engagement is a vital mechanism if people are to be informed about the risks and benefits of the technique and ultimately to be able to consent to either receiving or donating facial tissue. To sample public opinion about the procedure, 304 people attending the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition were sampled by online questionnaire to determine their attitude toward face transplantation. Although people were more cautious about face transplantation when comparing this with solid-organ transplantation, most of the sample were in favor of the procedure, whether receiving a donor face or donating their own face after their death. Only 10% were against the idea in principle. Concerns about altered identity were not a barrier to face transplantation for 69% of the sample, with most people appropriately identifying the long-term problems of immunosuppression as the issue that most concerned them. There is a substantial population of people who, given the right circumstances, would contemplate face transplantation for themselves and would be willing to donate their own face for transplantation after their death.

Cosmic cookery: growing galaxies in a computer

Understanding how galaxies are made is one of the great unsolved problems in cosmology. Last year, a team from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University took part in the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition, with a remit to explain the latest research on galaxy formation to the public. The centrepiece of our exhibit was a stereoscopic movie called Cosmic Cookery. Here I recount how the movie takes the audience on a 3-D tour of the universe and back to the Big Bang, explaining our current ideas about how galaxies are built.

Women judge men's cheeks for “good genes”

A man's sex appeal may lie in his cheeks, or so evolutionary biology researchers at the University of Newcastle claim. They have found a link between a man's cheeks and a woman's perception of his attractiveness. Professor Marion Petrie, chair of the team, said that the study presented at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition …

The popular face of cognitive science

School children jostled with journalists and academics for standing room at the Summer Science Exhibition at the Royal Society in London in July. The annual event provides an opportunity for scientists to present their research to an increasingly interested and informed public. The exhibits included robotic sheepdogs, DIY climate forecasting and forensic science. An exhibit called Fooling the Senses brought cognitive science into the public domain. The exhibit aimed to explain how we integrate information from different senses to form a unified percept of the world. Insights into integration can be gained from studying multisensory illusions (e.g. ventriloquism). Interactive demonstrations using equipment from the low-tech (rubber gloves and mirrors) to the high-tech (virtual reality) proved a hit with the public, winning the most popular exhibit vote on the Royal Society website (www.royalsoc.ac.uk/scforall). Donna Lloyd, one of the exhibitors, told TICS, ‘It's important that our research tackles questions that are of theoretical interest but also of general interest, such that everyone can understand and appreciate what we are doing and why.’