July 2012
10 posts
We're famous! BBC visits Summer Science Exhibition... →
An incredible experience!
summer-science:
The exhibitors are just so good that the BBC couldn’t keep away. Well done guys!
Last week I was interviewed by a Naked...
A little rest
Packing a stand is quite demanding: so many months of creative effort (discussing until late, woodworking cabinets into organs and games, choosing the right hue for each bubble…) disappeared into boxes in 30 minutes!
Think about your latest house move…and you’ll understand what I mean!
Well, this time Andrew caught me resting just after packing the bacdrop…. In my...
June 2012
8 posts
When it is all packed and sent...
We have just been told that our Exhibit has arrived at the Royal Society and is waiting for us in the allocated space.
We have tested everything last week…and we are looking forward to have everything in action!
a bubbly videogame...
Finally today we have a working version of the videogame that we will be using at the stand.
In the game, you are a doctor trying to screen patients for tumours and, as research (time) progresses, you can experience the effect of microbubbles on your work.
The game has been realised with the same technology powering the Virtual Physical Laboratory: we were very lucky to have the author at NPL!
Meet the team: Andrew Hanson
Andrew is the organisational brain behind the stand..so watch for him!
Of himself, he says:
“After measuring colour and light, I now run NPL’s Outreach Programme which funds the Royal Society stand so I’m involved in its development.”
You can spot traces of his past as colour scientist in the tie he wears in the picture!
not all the bubbles go upwards... →
Following my latest post, one of my colleagues pointed my attention to the phenomenon of bubbles in Guinness beer…which go downwards.
After careful experimental testing at the local pub (yeah! that was a field trip I liked), I found a publication explaining the issue in scientific “jargon”. Luckily for us, the authors also have a nice website where they explain why.
Now, how...
And (bubble) tea is served...
This weekend I was exploring the nearest shopping center (i.e., in Kingston-upon-Thames) and I spotted a sign advertising bubble tea!
As you might have guessed, I could not resist…and here I am, entering the shop, with my wife shaking her head in a disapproving way behind me.
I ordered a peach-flavoured green tea with strawberry “bubbles” and I started imaging what I could get....
Meet the team: Chris Fury
I am a PhD student studying the properties of bubbles which are so small they can barely be seen by the naked eye. In the lab it is possible to handle these ‘microbubbles’ with sound and light, a process where we can move them with great dexterity but not touching them at all. These bubbles are set for a bright future in medicine, with plenty of new applications just an arm’s reach away. As the...
Meet the team: Caroline Harfield
I am currently studying for a DPhil at Oxford University in Engineering Science, which is a bit of a departure from my undergrad course in theoretical physics. At the moment I am working on a project that aims to characterise microbubbles by making accurate theoretical models of how they behave when they are excited by ultrasound.
In this picture, I am verifying the acoustics of an ancient...
How many bubbles? →
Apparently, more than one million bubbles were drawn in Disney’s Little Mermaid…more details on the link
May 2012
9 posts
Here comes...the CAVITATOR!
The second exhibit will be a “Cavitator”!
The word comes from “cavitation”: the formation of bubbles in a liquid when there is a sudden change of pressure. Just like when you open a coke can and all the foam comes out….or when the waves hit the beach. I promise to tell you more about this phenomenon in the next days, but here is a glimpse on our usual duo building...
Meet the team: Eleanor Stride
I’m a biomedical engineer at the University of Oxford working on the use of microbubbles for medical imaging and drug delivery. My research focuses on new methods for manufacturing and manipulating microbubbles with a high degree of control to improve their performance in clinical applications. This includes engineering new types of microbubble, for example to contain magnetic nanoparticles,...
Building...a bubble organ
Today all the pieces arrived (yeah!), so we started building our exhibits.
We started from the piece that we have been discussing for so long: the Bubble Organ. It is one of our exhibits based on the relationship between bubbles and sound (“bubbles make sound, sound makes bubbles…which is the sound of bubbles?”).
Here you can see Andrew and Ian working on the...
Meet the team: Christian Baker
Christian Baker is currently undertaking research in ultrasound imaging and quantitative ultrasound measurement for medicine, specifically in the application of phase-insensitive sensing technology to these areas. He is also working on applying optical and thermal techniques to sound field visualisation.
In this picture, you can see enjoying a sunny day thinking of his birthday, which is...
Meet the team: Elly Martin
Elly works on medical ultrasound in the acoustics group at NPL. Her work includes measurement of temperature in High Intensity Focused Ultrasound fields using thermal test objects and infrared imaging, modelling of ultrasonic field propagation and measurement services for hydrophone and radiation force balance calibrations. In this picture, she is shooting at a bubble passing by…
Meet the team: Ian Butterworth
Ian Butterworth conducts leading-edge research in Sound-in-Air and Ultrasonic at the National Physical Laboratory. His range of interests spans the detection and categorisation of ultrasonic and hydrodynamic cavitation; acousto-optic measurement of both ultrasonic and audio sound fields; the development of web-based data visualisation tools; and the promotion of NPL’s work through various...
April 2012
6 posts
Bubblers of the world...
…united :-)
These days I am in Leiden (NL) for a conference, sharing ideas with other 60 colleagues (mainly French and Dutch) working on bubbles.
The topic of discussion is: can we manipulate bubbles using sound? There is some impressive research out there: people use sound to mix fluids drop by drop, levitate objects, create sonic screwdrivers.
What was science fiction when I was a kid...
Would you live in a bubble?
Bubble-shaped domes can be found in many futuristic visions: from the underwater city of the Gungans in Star Wars to visions of life on Mars. It seems that, once we will reach other planets, we will end up living in bubbles.
Why should we? Why cities on other planets are always enclosed in bubbles? Why not a cube? Or a more interesting shape?
It all comes from the reason why soap bubbles (and...
March 2012
6 posts
Visiting Henrietta Barnett School
Yesterday I went to visit a friend who decided to pursue a career in teaching at Henrietta Barnett School
She asked me to prepare a presentation for her 11 year pupils and then we had lunch together.
The journey across London, with my bag full of bubbly tricks, is always challenging: the bag also contains pre-prepared soapy water that I tend to re-use and is therefore quite heavy. Leaving...
Meet the team: Phil Jones
Dr Phil Jones is a physicist at University College London. His main line of work is with ‘optical tweezers’ a way of holding and moving microscopic objects using laser light. This has lead to using them for holding gas microbubbles and ultimately to this collaboration with NPL for combining optical and ultrasonic trapping methods.
In this picture, Dr Jones is “looking for new horizons of...
Meet the team: Louise Wright
Louise Wright makes mathematical models of physical experiments. She uses finite element analysis [FEA] (and other similar methods) to simulate a range of physical processes, including fluid flow, material deformation under load, and heat transfer. Her models allow scientists to predict what they can’t measure directly, to ensure that equipment is fit for purpose before it’s commissioned, and to...
The NPL Open Day is gone...
The National Physical Laboratory opened its doors on 14 March…and it was great fun!
More than 100 scientists were involved, we counted 3000 visitors and prepared at least 1500 ice-creams pouring liquid nitrogen.
Our team tested some of our ideas for the summer Exhibition and some of us had their first interaction with the crowds. I was spotted making soap bubbles at the entrance….and you will...
You know...
…this is my first blog. Well, actually I have tried to keep a blog a looong time ago, but laziness caught me very soon. Now, I plan to update you on the great show we are preparing…at least once a week.
I will ask my colleagues to let you hear their voice, because preparing a stand is first of all a collective effort. In this case, you will find their initials at the end of the post.
The adventure starts!
It all started one day in November. Atmosphere would require rainy weather, a storm, lightning falling on the ground: nothing of this, it was one of the fair days that we had last winter. One of those days when London is beautiful. One of those days that we spend in the lab, wondering why we are missing the sun out.
The phone rings, it was A.: “Shall we put together an application for the...
