British Science Week 2024
British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths taking place between 8–17 March 2024. This week aims to encourage and inspire people from all walks of life to engage with science while offering the chance to showcase exciting research.
To mark the 30th anniversary of British Science Week, this year’s theme – ‘time’ – provides an opportunity to think about the passing of time, celebrate the scientific discoveries it has fostered, and look to the future. Discussions of ‘time’ are limitless: from the microscopic scale of seconds and microseconds to the vast stretches of millennia.
Read on to explore articles published by Research Outreach that explore how things have changed through time and how thinking about the future is a crucial aspect of scientific research.
Earth’s magnetic field and its changes through time
The stability of the Earth’s magnetic field is vital for protecting life on Earth. For hundreds of years humans have navigated using iron needles to follow the Earth’s magnetic field, and today, even more technology depends on it. Increases in solar wind during geomagnetic storms can disrupt power grids, communications, satellites, and navigation systems. Without a stable magnetic field to protect the planet, Earth would be extremely vulnerable to these disruptions.
Dr Daniel Franco’s work is crucial to the understanding of how the magnetic field has changed with time, and how it may fluctuate in the future, so we can be prepared for any changes in Earth’s invisible shield.
Coastline evolution: The rise and fall of sea level through time
As well as current, rapid climate change and the effect it is having on our sea levels and coastlines, continual changes in sea levels have occurred over thousands and millions of years due to long-term shifts in global climate. Dr Emanuele Lodolo, a geophysicist at the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), uses a combination of geophysical data and computer modelling to understand coastline evolution and map out paleogeographic reconstructions. Mapping out changes in coastlines through geological time supports research into how our early ancestors coped with extreme environmental changes and may provide insight into our own future as sea levels continue to rise.
Water level rose rapidly, and pulses of up to 60 millimetres per year meant that rises in sea level would have been noticed within generations, and even annually by communities on the coastline.
Durability of wood – integration of experimental and numerical approach
Designing buildings for optimised durability is a complicated process. Researchers must predict how a material will behave in its structural capacity within a building and consider how environmental conditions will affect the mechanical properties of the material used. Serena Gambarelli and Josipa Bošnjak at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, employ a hygro-mechanical model that predicts the long-term performance of wood exposed to various environmental conditions. Their research is important for sustainable building practices to ensure buildings are long-lived.
Their work has deep-rooted relevance for the design of buildings that are truly future-proofed.
A four-model approach to understanding our evolutionary psychology
Dr James Walter, Associate Professor in Urology at Loyola University Chicago, summarises research in evolutionary psychology, considering four main factors: natural selection; comparisons with our closest living relative, the chimpanzee; the social behaviours of modern hunter-gatherer societies, and human development during recorded history. Alongside Dr Aasma Khan, PhD, Walter’s work provides insight into the future.
Considering the extent of social development since the start of the 21st century, and expecting it to remain high, it is possible to look ahead and predict changes that are likely to occur with the passage of time.
