As part of NHEHS Science Week, students were invited to take part in webinars on a variety of topics, which we are making available to parents and the wider school community here on our website.

On Monday, 13D were able to watch a live presentation from Dr. Rowan Temple of Leeds University on his journey through his physics degree, PHD, post doc and now his current job working on developing apps that monitor weather systems.

Here’s what Sydney Wright took from the session:

“Dr Temple’s talk was really useful as it opened my eyes to the possibilities that a physics degree can bring. I was especially interested in his research into condensed matter physics, involving the properties of materials when different metals are combined, as it reminded me of an article from the New Scientist talking about how there is so much still to uncover, and seemingly endless combinations. After the talk I felt more open to doing further research after my degree, and I’m excited to delve deeper into everything physics has to offer.”

Watch Dr. Temple’s talk here.

On Tuesday, we heard from Stella Dilke, surgeon and PhD candidate at Imperial College with her talk titled ‘Blood and Guts’ – on becoming a surgeon and researcher. Stella spoke to our students about learning medicine, with some great advice on universities and interview tips.

On Wednesday, we welcomed back alumna Dr. Elisabeth Matthews, post doctoral researcher at the University of Geneva to speak about astrophysics – using observations with world class telescopes to study the planetary systems of nearby stars.

Cristina Cope (Year 13):

“Hearing Dr Elisabeth Matthews talk about her work studying exoplanets made me even more excited to study physics at university next year. (Exoplanet = planet outside the solar system) She uses extremely powerful telescopes to take images of exoplanets as they pass ‘in front’ their star, 200 light years away! The technique she uses to identify these planets includes studying the pattern of light they emit, which is similar to that produced by a diffraction grating. One of the practicals in our A-level course is investigating diffraction grating patterns, so I could immediately see how the physics we learn at school relates to real life. She predicts that one day these processes could be used to detect life on other Earth-like planets. I think this application of physics is an amazing demonstration of how powerful this subject is.”

Watch Dr. Matthews’ talk below.

Throughout the week some of our Year 9s presented their own science talks to their peers.

Maia R gave a fascinating talk on how some fish have adapted to regrow their hearts and how this could help science in future.

Here’s what Year 9 Ella M had to say about Maia’s talk:

“From Maia’s talk I learnt that certain parts of DNA can heal heart tissues. After you have a heart attack you get scar tissue which prevents the heart from pumping as much blood as before. However, there is a certain species of river fish we have identified a gene which can heal scar tissue. Overall it was fascinating and I learnt a lot!”

Nirupama K gave a fantastic presentation on Cancer and Cures: How 250 Years of History Can Be Used In The Coming Times. On the theme of science week of  ‘innovating for the future’ Nirupama said “it had taken me a bit of time to think of what to present to all of you and then I realised, “funding for cancer research always pops up on the telly, but what is our money actually doing?” We all know what cancer is, and we know that our scientists have worked, are working, and will continue to work on a cure for it. And we may have all heard of the various treatments provided for cancer patients, but do we know exactly what scientists want, and can, achieve? In this talk, I aim to tell you about what we already have in terms of combating cancer, and what we will have in several years’ time. Read her talk here. 

Aisha M gave a super talk on hypnosis and how it can be used in treatments. You can watch her talk below.

Well done to all! 

There have also been a wide range of external science talks on offer this week, ranging from careers in medicine or engineering to taking a STEM subject at university, to  the chemical elements that make up the universe, the origin of life and the essential functions of sleep.