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Asked by to Anna, Elaine, Fiona, Kevin, Darren on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Elaine Cloutman-Green answered on 13 Jun 2014:
My work benefits people by trying to stop them getting sick. I also do some work on how to help people once they have an infection, but what I want to do is stop that happening in the first place.
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Kevin O'Dell answered on 15 Jun 2014:
I appreciate that asking questions about how fruit flies know what sex they are may not seem to lead to anything that will benefit people in general. However, I’ll try and convince you otherwise!
For a geneticist, how you end up with males and females is an interesting question. The point is that males and females of every species have exactly the same genes, but end up being quite different. So they must use their genes in different ways. Understanding how you use the genes you’re born with in different ways, could help us when we try to help develop treatments and cures for genetic disease.
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Zhiming Darren Tan answered on 15 Jun 2014:
Most likely through technology (e.g., superconducting devices). As an illustration, a key component of modern electronic devices is the transistor, which revolutionised electronics.
When you find out something new and cool and interesting about the world, you and others can surely dream up inventions based on that, as long as you are willing to share and discuss your ideas. -
Fiona McLean answered on 15 Jun 2014:
My work with memory will hopefully help people who suffer from a type of memory loss called dementia. Dementia currently affects 820,000 people in the UK alone. Dementia usually affects older people and can be a symptom of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The really sad thing is that it can cause the people who suffer from dementia to forget who their family and friends are and even change their own personalities. Around 23 million people in the UK have a close friend or family memory with dementia. I hope to find a way of preventing this from happening and help not only the people who suffer from dementia but also all their friends and families who care from them. Also, dementia costs the NHS £23 billion a year (a lot of money!) and there isn’t even a cure for it.
My work is actually looking to see if unhealthy foods can cause dementia in people who are older. Lots of scientists (including me!) think that if you eat unhealthy foods throughout your life then when you are older you may be more likely to get dementia. If I can find out more information about this through my science then I could help lots of people understand why it is so important to eat fresh, healthy foods not just to keep your body fit but your mind fit too.
One of the best things about science is that even if you do an experiment and you don’t get the result that you wanted a result is still a result! Science is like building a wall. Every bit of information counts and it’s all a brick in a wall. You need to start from the bottom and work up and it’s a lot easier if there are lots of people helping! Sometimes your work can go help someone you never even knew it could!
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Anna Bramwell-Dicks answered on 16 Jun 2014:
Technology has become hugely important in our everyday lives, but still much of it is difficult and annoying for us to use – this means that people often spend longer doing a task because the technology slows them down, and sometimes can’t complete their task at all.
Also, people are incredibly varied – what is important to me, as a 29 year old scientist is different to what is important to you and what is important to your parents and grandparents. So, as well as thinking deeply about the technology itself, we need to understand the people that are using the technology and what they need and want. Do any of your grandparents use a computer? If so, think about what they do using it… how does it differ to what you do on a computer?
As a teacher, I try to encourage my students to focus on the people first (we call them the users) rather than jumping straight into designing the product. If we don’t understand the users properly, how do you know that what you have designed and built will be useful to them? This is my design philosophy, which is known as User-Centred Design. Hopefully, by teaching this philosophy, when my students become technology designers and engineers they will use the same approach, and create awesome products, that are usable and useful as a result!
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