Harwell Open Week - Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

The activities on the school trip were interesting. We started with a presentation about Vulcan, a laser used to simulate supernova. It was exciting because Vulcan was created when a laser scientist overheard some astrophysicists discussing whether or not it would be possible to simulate a supernova to attempt to understand Cassiopeia A, a supernova that perplexed scientists because of emissions from its remnants. We then looked at a presentation about proteins, then, as part of a workshop, made origami viruses. It was engaging because you could see how complex it is just to make and slot together the proteins that make the shells of a single virus. After that, we looked at some crinoid fossils and used VR headsets that made it look like we were in space, with some satellites. I found this interesting because the VR displayed incredible photos of the Earth from space and satellite statistics, and the fossils had perfectly preserved the crinoids. Lastly, we saw an ant’s head and some pollen grains through an electron microscope and got to look at the science of light refraction. This was fascinating because I got to see the ant’s compound eyes in perfect detail and I could see the spiked, sticky pollen grains very clearly. Plus, we got to keep refractive lenses before we left. The lens refracts light, showing you all the colours of the natural wavelengths as you look through it.