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Ahead of his upcoming Entrepreneurial Masterclass on Monday 20th March, Communications Representative Cate Hamilton interviewed Stephen Roe, the School of Physics and Astronomy’s Entrepreneur in Residence, to find out about his career and how physics and industry can intertwine.
Luisa Schrempf became involved in the student Hyperloop team, HYPED at the start of her MPhys Physics degree, firstly as a Team Member, then as Head of Propulsion, and now in year 3 of her studies, she currently holds the role of Academic Advisor. In this article she shares feedback on the vast range of skills and experience gained from being part of HYPED.
MSc Science Communication and Public Engagement students Anna Purdue, Hanyue Sun and Jiazhuo Lin interviewed School of Physics and Astronomy researcher Prof Cait MacPhee.
Tell us about your research. How does it link to ice cream?
We are studying a biofilm formed by a very common microbe called Bacillus subtilis. We’re interested in the fact that it’s basically waterproof. We discovered the protein that makes this biofilm water repellent, and it does this by going to an interface between liquid and air and forming a film. Ice cream contains air bubbles which make it lighter and easier to scoop. It also contains oil (fat) and ice crystals. The protein we found goes to the surface of the ice crystals, the surface of the air bubbles and the surface of the oil droplets and stabilises all of them. By doing this you can slow the melting down of the ice cream! Continue reading “The physics of biofilms and ice cream”