{"id":3182,"date":"2018-11-26T16:57:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T16:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=3182&lang=cy"},"modified":"2023-03-22T13:02:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T13:02:17","slug":"seven-things-we-learned-from-tedxcardiffuniversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2018\/11\/26\/seven-things-we-learned-from-tedxcardiffuniversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven things we learned from TEDxCardiffUniversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The inaugural TEDxCardiffUniversity on The Power of Ideas brought home an all-alumni line-up sharing their thoughts and experiences on a variety of subjects: from nanoscience to the impact of physical environments on our mental health. Here, we look at seven things we learned from TEDxCardiffUniversity to whet your appetite; you can watch videos from the event on YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>1 \u2013 \u201cMalaria doesn\u2019t eat the crusts\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nanoscience can be a pretty unapproachable subject \u2013 proper science-y science that\u2019s so tiny you can\u2019t see it happening. Thankfully Josh Davies (MChem 2016) had the perfect visual to explain a key process. Imagine a blood cell is a piece of bread. The crust is the heme, the middle part the globin. Malaria doesn\u2019t eat the crusts! By developing handheld detectors to identify blood cells with only the heme remaining, nanoscience is making diagnosis faster and more portable.<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 \u201cPregnancy tests and Roman cups\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One man quote machine Josh also provided our favourite piece of trivia of the day. The same process that turns the line pink on pregnancy tests is used in Roman glass chalice, The Lycurgus Cup. The nanoscience (it\u2019s a gold particle mixed in the glass) is revealed when the cup is lit from behind, changing it from green to red. Gold nanoparticles have a huge range of colours, making them extremely useful for Magneto-Optical Diagnosis.<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Period poverty is happening in the 7th<\/sup> richest nation in the world<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fiona Munnelly (BSc 2018) told us about the idea she developed with the group Periods in Poverty: donation points for sanitary products. In a moving talk she outlined the scale of the problem, emphasising that it affects the same groups as those hit hardest by welfare reforms and in-work poverty.<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 The robots are coming, but you shouldn\u2019t be afraid!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Guto Harri (PgDip 1988) gave an impassioned talk on the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence as it becomes an integral part of our working lives. Rather than something to fear, and with 66 million jobs at risk he understands the impulse, Guto thinks that automating the mundane tasks will allow our human, creative sides to flourish.<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 Our physical environment has a massive impact on our mental health<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ben Channon (MArch 2012) believes that \u201cwe have a responsibility to create buildings that have a positive psychological reaction\u201d on our mental health. He outlined the impact of our physical environment with the results from one Japanese study that found changing the colour of lighting in train stations to blue at night resulted in an 84% decrease in suicides.<\/p>\n