The Buzz: A science and engineering podcast

Chances are you’ve heard of it. Quite possibly you know how it works. Perhaps you’ve even seen it in action. But are you aware of its immense potential? To explore this – and much more – we sat down with Dr Marco Domingos. Originally from Portugal, Dr Domingos is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering here at The University of Manchester, and specialises in 3D bioprinting and additive manufacturing.

We recently cought up with three of our acacdemics who work on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN: Chris Parkes, Will Bertsche and Marco Gersabeck. Additionally, we spoke to recent University of Manchester graduate Jonathan Langford, who completed a PhD based on the experiments with which he was involved at CERN. In this episode, you can hear Chris, Will, Marco and Johnno talk about their work. We also asked them about whether the experiments they do can have wider benefits for society as a whole, and whether the sometimes “tabloidy” nature of the reporting of their work frustrates them. You can also hear Johnno - who graduated in 2017 - talk about his academic journey, which led him from almost dropping Physics at A level, to obtaining his PhD with a thesis on “measuring the properties of the Higgs Boson.” So if you’d like to discover which particular fruit is a good source of positrons, or what happened when an equipment supplier decided that the work being done at CERN was “evil,” then listen right here.

You may have heard about the proposal to use astronauts' blood plasma, as well as other human waste products, to manufacture "space bricks," by binding the fluids with loose rock and Martian soil - a process known as in-situ resource utilisation. These bricks could then be used to build structures on the moon and Mars as part of future space exploration - indeed, we covered the research in a blogpost last year. Well, in order to get a more in-depth explanation, Kory and Enna caught up with Dr Aled Roberts of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the Department of Chemistry, who explains the theory, and the practical considerations, behind the blood-curdling proposal. Any future long-term planetary exploration would require buildings with exceptionally thick walls, to protect astronaunts from the effects of solar radiation. When you consider that the cost of transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than a million British pounds, the future construction of a Martian colony could seem prohibitively expensive. 

Volcanoes. We can all picture them. But how much do we actually know about them? What are they? Why do they erupt? And, is the common perception of them – huge volcanic craters atop mountains, spewing magma – accurate? To help us answer these questions and more we speak to PhD student Marissa Lo (@MarissaLoBot). Marissa, host of the brilliant Earth and planetary science podcast The Cosmic Cast, is currently finishing her PhD studies in lunar volcanism. We cover hot topics such as predicting eruptions, environmental impact and how volcanoes can actually benefit us. Plus, of course, Marissa’s key interest area: volcanoes on the moon! So get fired up for an explosive episode of The Buzz podcast!

It's a question we've asked for a (very) long time. But could new evidence help us to finally – definitively – answer it? Just what did kill the dinosaurs? Joining us to discuss this and more is Professor Phil Manning, who recently featured in a BBC documentary fronted by Sir David Attenborough exploring this incredible new evidence, and who is working at another extraordinary dinosaur excavation site in the US as part of the Mission Jurassic project. In the episode we discuss the findings at Tanis, a spectacular dig site in North Dakota led by University of Manchester palaeontologist Robert DePalma, and talk all things dinosaurs: What were they? Are they still around today? So dig out those headphones and let's unearth the secrets of the dinosaurs!

Have you heard? The Buzz is back! Once again we're asking some of the biggest questions in science and engineering; and once again we've enlisted the help of our incredible academics. Getting us off to a stellar start is Dr Ciara McGrath, Lecturer in Aerospace Systems in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, and – very impressively – the Institution of Engineering (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year. Here she tackles a question that's astronomical in both senses of the word: Are we entering a new space age?

We've all had them. Emails from people who aren't who they say they are; phone calls pretending to be from someone else.  It can be tricky knowing who and what to believe, and how to stay safe - especially online.  Luckily, for the latest episode of The Buzz podcast we've enlisted the help of Professor Daniel Dresner, an expert in information, cyber security and governance. We ask Professor Dresner - a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science - how to protect ourselves online, what we should and shouldn't do, and what the future holds for the ever-evolving world of cyber security.

It can be difficult knowing what to believe these days, with claims of misinformation and 'fake news' abound... and unfortunately the world of science is not immune to distortion and exaggeration. Luckily for us, we're joined by two members of the brilliant Have You Heard? team, a project set up by scientists at The University of Manchester that aims to spark discussion about what science is, how it makes it to our newsfeeds, and how we should interpret it. We speak to PhD students Katie Downes and Luke Chaplin, who tell us about the dangers of hyperbolic science news, and guide us through the best ways to read the research stories that catch our eye.

It's one small step for (this) Man(chester)-based podcast... but a whole lot of fascinating info for our listeners, as we ask: what can we learn from the Moon? We're over the *ahem* Moon to speak to not one but two(!) University of Manchester alumni who have forged stellar careers researching the Moon, its surface and its rocks: Natalie Curran, who joined NASA as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Francesca McDonald, now a Moon Exploration Scientist with the European Space Agency. So join us as we 'shoot for the Moon', and find out all about that big, mysterious ball in the sky...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a… robot? A giant robotic hawk or, say, a huge metal crab might sound like something from a sci-fi film, but the world of animal robotics is very much alive and kicking - and jumping, flying, even swimming. But why are these robots being created? And why are scientists and researchers drawing inspiration from the animal kingdom? To help us answer these questions we speak to Dr Ben Parslew of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering. An expert in animal locomotion, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics, biomechanics and more, Dr Parslew offers unique insight into this fascinating world, where nature and technology collide.

Nuclear energy. It can be a controversial topic for some; for others, it has fantastic potential as a cleaner, greener energy source. With this in mind we wanted to find out more about this fascinating field and, importantly, what the future holds for it. Helping us answer these questions are Dr Aneeqa Khan, a Harwell Research Fellow in Nuclear Fusion in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, and Dr Laura Leay, a Dalton Fellow in Nuclear Engineering Innovation. We discuss nuclear fusion and fission - and the important differences between the two - as well as the potential for nuclear energy, both now and in the future, plus the unique challenges this research area faces. Could nuclear be the answer to our future energy needs? Find out in this powerful episode.

We’ve all been spending plenty of time in our homes of late – as the COVID pandemic rumbles on, lockdown continues and working from home remains a necessity for many. With such a shift likely to impact working behaviours for years to come, and with sustainability a key focus for housebuilders and homeowners alike, we got to thinking: what will the sustainable homes of the future look like? To help answer the question we speak to Claire Brown, a PhD researcher at The University of Manchester’s Tyndall Manchester, part of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change.

The Buzz is back! And in our second season we'll be attempting - with the help of our academic experts - to answer some of the biggest questions in science and engineering. In this episode we speak to Dr Eamonn Kerins, an astrophysicist at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, who tackles one of the most intriguing questions not only in the world, but the whole Universe: Do aliens exist? It's something we've all pondered while looking up at the night sky - and Dr Kerins, a leading expert on the use of gravitational lensing to find exoplanets, offers unique insight into some of the fascinating theories and ideas that could, one day, uncover the truth.

This episode of The Buzz is dedicated to one of The University of Manchester’s most treasured heroes – Alan Turing. We speak to Turing’s nephew Dermot Turing, who tells us more about Turing’s time at Bletchley Park. We also chat with James Sumner, Senior Lecturer in History, and find out about Turing’s work at The University of Manchester.

In this episode of The Buzz we take a deep dive into the wonder material that established Manchester’s place at the forefront of global scientific innovation – graphene. Manchester is known as ‘Graphene City’ – and with good reason. It was here that the 2D material was first isolated in 2004 by two of our physicists - Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov. Today, graphene continues to fascinate scientists and industrialists alike. The material has been used in everything from trainers and tennis racquets to cars and clothing. It has been used in surfacing, batteries and even to create a sieve that can desalinate water – potentially making seawater drinkable.

Tuesday, 23 June is International Women in Engineering Day – an event that celebrates the female engineers making waves and solving challenges across the globe. But why do we need a special day to celebrate this? According to the WISE Campaign, there are now over 50,000 women in engineering roles in the UK – nearly double the figure a decade ago. However, to put this into perspective, this accounts for only 10% of the UK’s entire engineering workforce. There is still work to be done. In this episode of The Buzz, we chat to a couple of the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s own engineers. We ask Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering Danielle George MBE what inspired her to make the move from science to engineering during her time at Jodrell Bank. And we ask Dr Jessica Boland, Lecturer of Functional Materials and Devices at the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, what we can do to inspire more girls to choose engineering as both a study and career choice.  There’s also the return of our regular feature, Kids’ Questions, with one listener asking why there aren’t more female scientists. And we showcase a few of our engineering heroes from the last hundred years – including a motorcycle legend and a star of the silver screen.

In this episode of The Buzz, we round up all the COVID-19 news from across the Faculty of Science and Engineering. We take a closer look at how our very own scientists and engineers are helping during the ongoing crisis. We speak to Dr Lorenzo Pellis of the Department of Mathematics who, together with Dr Ian Hall and Dr Thomas House, has been crunching the numbers and using his expertise in mathematical monitoring to advise the government on its coronavirus strategy. Assisting the trio are a band of researchers and PhD students – including Bindu Vekaria and Jacob Curran-Sebastian, who we also grab for a (remote) chat. Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Weightman of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE), has used his engineering expertise to solve a problem with ventilators at one of Manchester’s largest hospitals. He tells us how he employed 3D printing to come up with the solution. Computer Science graduate Thomas Macpherson-Pope has also been using 3D printing to help frontline workers – all while in lockdown. Finally, Dr Obuks Ejohwomu, lecturer in Project Management at MACE, discusses his role assisting Manchester City Council (MCC) to coordinate and test thousands of pieces of PPE so that they can be delivered to key workers in the city.

This episode we're talking all things dinosaurs, and learning about one of the University's most exciting projects: Mission Jurassic! At a top-secret site in Wyoming, thousands of dinosaur bones await discovery - we speak to project leaders Prof Phil Manning and Dr Victoria Egerton about the dig. We also catch up with Dr Russell Garwood, discussing extinction events and their relevance today.

In part two of our Women in Science episode we focus on girls in science, examining the 'leaky pipeline' and why young females are dissuaded from a career in STEM. We speak to Dr Kristy Turner, a chemistry teacher at both university and secondary school, and Dr Lynne Bianchi, Director of the Great Science Share for Schools.

In this episode of The Buzz, we celebrate The University of Manchester’s own women of science – both past and present. We speak to Prof Danielle George and Dr Andrea Murray about their careers in science and the people who inspire them, and we chat about some of Manchester’s iconic women of science.