• Question: what do you think is so important about your area of study?

    Asked by Shannon to Paul, MarthaNari, Jonny, Hannah, Alison on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by ilovescience, naz01.
    • Photo: Paul Brack

      Paul Brack answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Energy use in the world keeps on growing and growing, but we really need to find other ways to make energy that don’t involve coal or gas or other fossil fuels, as these make greenhouse gases which cause the planet to get too hot. Using hydrogen to make electricity in a fuel cell only makes water as waste, which is about as nice a waste product as you can get, so it would make a big difference to global warming, and to the planet, if we could use hydrogen more.

    • Photo: Jonny Brooks-Bartlett

      Jonny Brooks-Bartlett answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      My area of study tries to look at the 3d structure of materials at the tiny scale. (We try to look at the arrangement of atoms). It’s really important to know because the structure of a material tells us what that material does – whether it will be strong or weak or bendy etc.
      I look at the structure of biological molecules. If we know what it looks like then we can make drugs that will make sick people better, or we can cure disease. That’s why it’s important

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