• Question: Have you made any new inventions or discoveries

    Asked by needforspeed to Lewis, Jess, Ian, Divya, Clare on 17 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      The main project that I did from 2007 to 2010 (during my research for my PhD) looked at how and why humans (children) can solve more complicated puzzles, but chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys (and other primates) can’t. We already knew that there was a difference, but we wanted to work out why there was a difference. Lots of people had an idea about why there was a difference, but no one had tested those ideas. So that’s what we did.

      Our research showed humans did better at these puzzles because we share more, teach one another and use language. When we had done the research we wrote it up and it was published in a magazine called ‘Science’. Science is read by a lot of people (well, a lot of scientists), so we got lots of questions and comments about the work. It really felt like we had made a difference (in a small way!).

    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I discovered a load of deep sea viruses that live on bacteria around black smokers and I discovered that a ring shaped enzyme that sticks to tubules – thread like proteins in the cell that make it holds its shape doesn’t do what everyone expects which was to fit around it like a ring on a finger – it sits flat on the side like a Smartie on a ruler – we still don’t know what that means.
      Every successful experiment is basically a new discovery – sciences is usually lots of little discoveries that add up to a bigger picture. Big discoveries are rare.

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      So much pressure!! I am only half way through my PhD so hopefully I will be able to tell us something about lifestyle and sperm function by the end.

    • Photo: Jess Smith

      Jess Smith answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Yes a lot of pressure for those of us still on our PhD’s! I found a new way to shape our implant (it goes in flat and then “reforms” in to a more complex shape over time). I was very pleased with that.

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