Oxford Physics Short Talks and Introductions

The planet is in trouble; fossil fuels are being depleted and are contributing to global warming. Plants, however, have been directly harnessing solar energy for as long as they have existed. A flash talk from Tomas Leijtens.

Kathryn boast gives a flash talk discussing what we already know about dark matter, and what we still have to find out about it. There is quite a lot of conclusive evidence for the existence of dark matter, but we still have very little idea of what it actually is. Kathryn Boast takes you on a guided tour through one of the biggest mysteries in physics, and shows how physicists are trying to shine a light on dark matter and show you some of the kits that she is helping to develop.

Albert Einstein is one of the greatest scientists to ever live, and even he made mistakes, as Luke Jew explains - A comforting thought for all of us! This great mistake was about the astrophysics that will ultimately determine how our universe will end.

A flash talk given by Liam Brannigan about "Connecting the fast and slow parts of the climate system through the stormy upper ocean. "

In this flash talk Wojciech Kozlowski discusses the bizarre properties of measurement and how we can harness its probabilistic nature to produce results. Quantum mechanics is currently our most precise physical theory. Whilst we do not have many strictly quantum technologies yet, quantum theory is necessary for our understanding of the world around us, from the basic constituents of matter to semiconductors in electronic devices, and even biological processes such as photosynthesis. Measurement and its probabilistic nature lie at the very heart of quantum mechanics which prompted Albert Einstein to say his famous words "God does not play dice with the universe!"

What can space teach us about the laws of physics? Space is huge and complicated. This is a challenge, but also gives us the ultimate physics lab. Francesca Day explores this further. Light from the beginning of the universe is hidden in the night sky. In space we can see physics at much higher energies and over much larger distances than we could ever manage on Earth. Space is also a great place to look for new particles – it produces and accelerates them for us and then drops them right on our heads. I will talk about how we can use space to discover new physics and new particles.

The Bay of St Brieuc in Brittany has one of the largest tides on Earth. Dr Andrew Steele takes some time out of his holiday, on the day of the highest tide of the year, to find out why.

In June of 2012, one of the rarest predictable astronomical phenomena took place: Venus passed directly in front of the Sun, as seen from Earth. For more information, visit transitofvenus.org. As part of the Lab, Camera, Action! series, Dr Andrew Steele explores the science behind one of the rarest predictable astronomical phenomena of 2012: the Transit of Venus. Venus transit 2004 images courtesy of Dan Kiselman, Institute for Solar Physics and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Planet textures courtesy of NASA, JPL/Caltech. Videography by Tom Fuller and Andrew Steele.

Wheels are so last century. We’ve got a train set which doesn’t have any; it just floats around the track in a billowing cloud of steam. Dr Andrew Steele explains how our superconducting magnetic levitation—or maglev—train really works.

Dr Andrew Steele takes a look inside the ISIS particle accelerator in Oxfordshire, where scientists use neutrons to investigate the structure of materials, and accelerator physicist Dr Suzie Sheehy explains how this massive machine works.