ResearchPod

Life in a modern, interconnected world has delivered miraculous advances in communications, technology and trade. It is also becoming widely acknowledged that the last few decades of globalised commerce and finance has, by design, transferred large amounts of power and profit out of small communities, towards distant and unaccountable actors, while the waste generated in manufacture and transport of goods has accumulated among the most undeserving of areas. The Circular Economy proposes an alternative to the current model of global trade, which funnels money out of communities, by keeping as many transactions within the local community as possible. Dr Kersty Hobson's latest paper makes the case that theories of circular economics would benefit from incorporating a better understanding of the psychology of ownership.

Read more about Dr Hobsons work through her Cardiff University staff page.
The original research is available here.

Heart disease comes in many shapes and sizes – the most serious cases requiring serious interventions to save the patients life, and none are more serious than a heart transplant. However, transplantation requires the availability of not just a heart, but a closely matched one to fit the body and biology of the recipient. If no donor hearts are available, the new generation of mechanical blood pumps may be able to step up and fill that need. Speaking with us today about their professional and personal experiences with Left Ventricular Assist Devices, or LVAD for short, is Dr Eric Stohr and Steve Griffiths.

The original research is available here.

Since entering the public sphere in 2016, Brexit has been an issue shaped by, and at whims of, media coverage. That contents of that coverage have morphed over the last 3 years, as specific terminology, personalities and deadlines have arisen, and media discussion of todays Brexit news is very different from that prior to the referendum. Beyond the ideology and policy in any article or broadcast, the linguistic nuance of coverage has also been in a state of flux. New slogans, phrases and even individual words have been coined, risen to common use and then dropped off in popularity throughout the Brexit debate and subsequent negotiations.

Dr Andreas Buerki, Cardiff University, has monitored and assessed the ebb and flow of phrases in British media discussing Brexit, and is talking with us today about the emergence and lasting use of specific language therein.

Original article available here.

Dr Gunnell’s work focuses on the collection, management and preservation of vertebrate fossils while his research aims to understand the origin and diversification of modern mammalian groups by study of their fossil record. Dr Boyer’s work focusing on the evolution of primates uses the fossil record as a key resource for understanding the interplay between form and function in evolutionary contexts. He founded MorphoSource and manages its development and governance.

Read more about this research at Research Features
Original article available here.

Professor Floris Ernst’s research investigates the potential for using robots and novel 3D-imaging technology to carry out ultrasounds within the soft tissue of the human body.

Professor Ernst completed his PhD at the University of Lübeck, investigating motion prediction and correlation algorithms for use in robotic radiosurgery. Following this, he worked as a software engineer at an engineering consultancy before returning to the Institute of Robotics and Cognitive Systems at the University of Lübeck in 2013, where he was appointed Professor for Medical Robotics in 2017.

Read more about this research.
Original article available here