Never Lick the Spoon

Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
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  • SCIENCE
Never Lick the Spoon

We interview researchers and students at Imperial College London’s Institute of Molecular Science and Engineering. What are they working on and why is molecular science and engineering so important to today’s world?

  1. 10 SEPT

    Episode 30. Sculpting with 3D printing

    If you had access to a 3D printer, what would you print? Something fun, something useful? How about both? Alex Christopherson, a final year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London and David Samuel, an artist based in Park Royal Design Studios, collaborated to create a 3D printed sculpture that doubles as a microscope and allows you to see a 3D printed Queens Tower 100,000 times smaller than the real one! Engineering and art coming together to 3D print a sculpture. In this episode, we talk to both Alex and David. They discussed the design and production of the sculpture and how an engineer and an artist communicated throughout the project. Follow this link  https://blogs.imperial.ac.uk/molecular-science-engineering/2024/09/06/engineering-a-3d-printed-sculpture/ to have a look at the sculpture!

    32 min

  2. 24 JUN

    Episode 29 - Happy Women in Engineering Day from IMSE

    Women in Engineering day is celebrated on the 23rd of June. To commemorate this special date, we talked to two women in engineering working and studying with the Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE). Our guests for this episode are electrochemist and co-director of the Molecular Engineering masters, Dr. Anna Hankin, and masters' student and representative of her cohort, Kawtar Houbad. Listen to their stories on how they became engineers, their current projects, engineering skills outside of the lab - from fixing boilers to building steam engines at home - and learn about the power of mentoring.   Link to the Masters in Molecular Engineering https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-taught/molecular-engineering/

    18 min

  3. 19 MAR

    Episode 28 - Fine art and floppy discs

    What sorts of science and engineering challenges do museums have in looking after their collections? In this episode I explore how Imperial’s research into data science, polymers and lasers is being used to understand and preserve historical and archaeological objects. In this episode my guests refer to two chests in the collections of the Victoria & Albert museum. The first is the Mazarin Chest with its Japanese lacquer surface. The results of the conservation of the lacquer have been published in Scientific Conservation. The second is a 17th century embroidered box. Vibrational modelling on this casket was carried out by Kerstin Kracht (Technical University of Berlin) to build a crate to allow this to be safely shipped overseas for display.

    16 min

  4. 16/10/2023

    Episode 27 - Robots built my battery

    A team at Imperial are building a robotic laboratory called DIGIBAT. This will automate research into materials for energy storage and energy generation. Robots won't just discover new materials. They'll also do the laborious work of testing all the many combinations of those materials to find out which make the best batteries and fuel cells.

    15 min

  5. 05/07/2023

    Episode 26 - The ingredients list

    What do fertilizer, body lotion, paracetamol tablets and mayonnaise have in common? Well, they’re all engineered mixtures, and they all have a long list of unpronounceable chemicals on the back of the packet. How can adjusting these chemicals affect the climate impact of the product? We dive deep into formulations.

    15 min

  6. 25/05/2023

    Episode 25 - In plane sight

    What are the sustainable alternatives to kerosene to power aircraft into a net zero world? And what would it take to scale their production up to meet demand? I talk to two authors of the recent IMSE briefing paper on low carbon fuels for aviation. We talk energy, technology readiness levels and the need for multidisciplinarity. Read the IMSE briefing paper about low carbon fuels for aviation here. Read our blog post about the launch event. Watch the briefing paper launch event and discussion on YouTube. We also refer to the 2023 Royal Society policy briefing in the podcast.

    14 min

  7. 17/03/2023

    Episode 24 - Desirably defective

    Silicon-based solar panels are four times as efficient as plants at harvesting energy from sunlight. But they're expensive to produce because the material they're made of has to be very precisely engineered. What if we could make solar panels out of copper oxides, where the imperfections in the material are what makes them effective? I talk to two researchers who used a supercomputer to discover this. The research we're discussing is published here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.2c16889

    18 min

  8. 26/01/2023

    Episode 23 - The Trojan Molecule

    Molecules that change shape when light falls on them have many uses. Like the Trojan Horse, they can look benign, but transform into a weapon under the right circumstances. This week we explore how photoswitchable molecules could help tackle the next pandemic. The research we’re discussing is published here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacsau.2c00453

    16 min
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About

We interview researchers and students at Imperial College London’s Institute of Molecular Science and Engineering. What are they working on and why is molecular science and engineering so important to today’s world?

Information

  • Creator
    Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2024
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Never Lick the Spoon

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