The Role of Physics in Nuclear Medicine Dr Laura Harkness-Brennan University of Liverpool http://ns.ph.liv.ac.uk/imaging-group/group-members/laura-harkness.php Medical Imaging Creating images of inside the body Used in a non-invasive way to diagnose structural and biological problems There are various established techniques used in hospitals • Radiography • MRI • Ultrasound • Nuclear imaging • Physics, engineering, biology, chemistry, […]

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Tour of ISIS http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISIS_neutron_source Scott Lawrie, who is involved in research using ISIS, kindly, took us around. The reason for the microphone was because the noise made it. This is what he had to say about his job at ISIS: I work for the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) on the ISIS […]

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Nuclear Energy – The Facts Behind The Fuss John Roberts School of Physics & Astronomy The University of Manchester Nuclear Energy http://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-stations/sizewell-b http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizewell_nuclear_power_stations Sizewell B is a nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast. It is the UK’s only Pressurised Water Reactor. Its construction began in 1988 and it started generating electricity in 1995.It is […]

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Cloud Chambers and Cool Dry Ice A workshop overseen by Gary Williams at the IOP http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/page/Gary%20Williams%20interview In this workshop we had a go at making a large cloud chamber and looked at safe radioactive sources. We were given information on obtaining and using dry ice. About dry ice Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide which […]

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Cauldrons in the Cosmos David Jenkins Department of Physics University of York With thanks to Brian Fulton, York and Marialuisa Aliotta, Edinburgh In search of the building blocks of the Universe There is a saying that we are all stardust because all the elements that make up the known matter in the Universe, including us, […]

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The course focused on curriculum linked topics in nuclear physics such as nuclear astrophysics, nuclear medicine and nuclear energy, and was presented by researchers active in these fields. The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) employs over 2,200 staff over seven locations: Swindon, Head Quarters; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, which is part of the […]

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Volunteering The first lesson after the AS exams was a surprise to the AS biology students as they were to be volunteers in a research project for the University of Hertfordshire, Pharmacology Department. The bottom line was it didn’t hurt! The top line was it was fun and, most importantly, the findings could be useful […]

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You might think that physics is all about boring things like electricity but it is important for fun things like animations and thrill rides such as those at Thorpe Park. Year 12 were very lucky to spend the day experiencing the rides and took part in a science workshop which looked at the physics behind […]

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On the 5th of June 42 year 7 students were lucky to spend the day at London Zoo. They were accompanied by Ms Rahman, Mrs Ul-Huq and Mrs Hayward, London Zoo is the world’s oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a […]

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Discovery of the Higgs Boson at the CERN Large Hadron Collider Peter Watkins, University of Birmingham, UK The size of things http://scaleofuniverse.com/ The chart above shows the scale of the known universe and some of the equipment used to probe it. Our planet is a tiny part of the universe. It orbits one of the […]

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