• Question: what was your latest project like?

    Asked by nans521sudd on 12 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Duncan Smallman

      Duncan Smallman answered on 12 Mar 2025:

      My current project is based around the energy efficient land based cultivation of the edible seaweed called dulse as a sustainable source of protein. It’s been testing different growing conditions and trying to get spores to release and settle on different materials. It has been interesting and generally cold as it prefers cold conditions.

    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 13 Mar 2025:

      Awesome! The tech that we’re building right now is literally going to change the materials analysis landscape and market (unfortunately it’s still hush hush, so I can’t say much more).

      Before that, I was working on sample holders to cool materials down to liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196C) – which is cold enough that it would cause you hand to almost instantly freeze and shatter 😬

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 13 Mar 2025:

      At the moment some colleagues and myself are putting together a project to look at how molecules move around on surfaces from very short distance and timescales to long distance and timescales.

    • Photo: Maha Javed

      Maha Javed answered on 13 Mar 2025:

      My latest project was writing a code that makes sure money moves safely and quickly.

    • Photo: Rachael Eggleston

      Rachael Eggleston answered on 20 Mar 2025:

      Right now, I’m working on my PhD- I’m studying willows (a type of plant), how they mix, and how much variation they all have. It’s a lot of different types of work, and I really enjoy the variety- coding, lab work, and field work (plus lots of paperwork).

    • Photo: Alexander De Bruin

      Alexander De Bruin answered on 21 Mar 2025:

      My latest project was investigating if a new material could provide any benefit vs our existing product. It turned out that no, it made a worse product in almost every possible way, but we learned a lot about what we need to do to make something better next time.

    • Photo: Luke Fountain

      Luke Fountain answered on 3 Apr 2025:

      One of my current projects is looking at how we can use ‘dirt’ from the Moon, called Lunar regolith, to grow plants. It is very hazardous to humans and plants because it is really fine (like powder) and very sharp, but if we bind it up into pellets or beads we can turn it into something that we can use when we grow plants hydroponically (without any soil). If we can use Lunar regolith to grow plants, which is already on the Moon, it means we have to take less with us from Earth, which makes the trip cheaper and more sustainable!

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