Inaugural lectures
Wednesday 8th June at 5pm - Lecture Theatre SMB.0.14, Stewart Mason Building
Scents and sensing-ability
Professor Paul Thomas, Department of Chemistry
Shakespeare’s “seven ages of man”; from mewling in our parents’ arms to having “hot-lovers”, until at last, “sans everything”, are reflected in our bodies chemical profiles. Is it possible to objectively record profound experiences such as acute-stress, or falling deeply in-love with high-fidelity chemical measurements? And if so, what doors to new research are opened?
In this lecture Professor Paul Thomas explores the analytical science of next generation measurements starting with the detection of acute poisoning in the emergency room, before looking at the breath of asthmatic children.
Lessons learnt from these studies enable us to address stress at work, looking in depth at one of the most stressful work-places – ruins of collapsed buildings. In this final case-study, Professor Thomas discusses the use of analytical science of search-and-rescue and a description of the measurement systems being developed for a “rescue-bot” to detect trapped people.
The future will also be discussed with the view that next generation analysis will be able to see inside your heart and tell you if it is indeed broken; in ways spiritual and/or temporal.