• Question: Do you use technology when you are experimenting?

    Asked by Paigeee to Paul, MarthaNari, Jonny, Hannah, Alison on 18 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Alison Whitaker

      Alison Whitaker answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      I use different technologies every day. Today I’m working with relational databases and getting data from them. I’ll put this in to Excel and do some preliminary analysis and then in to a statistics programme for further analysis.

    • Photo: Paul Brack

      Paul Brack answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      I have a balance (like kitchen scales, but more accurate!) which sends data to a computer to record how much hydrogen I’m making. Then I do sums with the data and plot graphs using Excel.
      I also use a machine called an X-ray diffractometer a lot to look at the materials – this is controlled by a computer programme; I just put the sample in, press the right buttons and it does everything all by itself.

    • Photo: Martha Havenith

      Martha Havenith answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      Yes, lots of it. Of course I use a computer (and a big video projector) for the game the mice are playing, electrodes and electronic chips to record their brain activity, lasers to produce the light that I use to switch neurons on and off, some really precise machines for the surgeries (e.g. super-small drills), more computers for data analysis… there’s probably some more, but these are the big ones.

    • Photo: Jonny Brooks-Bartlett

      Jonny Brooks-Bartlett answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Yes! All of my maths that I write on paper is converted into computer code so I can use the computer to draw the graphs. Here is a link to two of the graphs I’ve made recently
      1) https://github.com/JonnyCBB/StructureFactorCorrelations/blob/master/test/reflectionplot31_hkl-0-2-0.pdf

      2) https://github.com/JonnyCBB/StructureFactorCorrelations/blob/master/test/IntensityDiffComp_0-2-0_and_2-2-2.pdf

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