The STEM Committee Science Exhibition

The STEM Committee Science Exhibition

F Block STEM Club’s big brother had its inaugural showing last Wednesday, the 13^th of March, in the Egerton Room to a lively audience, courtesy of the fascinating science and not least the demand for audience interaction from our first speaker. A display of pixels, brains, chess AI and bouncing balls intrigued the budding scientist, although it is fair to say the M from STEM was once again left in the store cupboard.

The exhibition was first the stage for an interrogation of pixels under a microscope, setting off a discussion of LCD versus OLED technology, but to begin, the age old question of primary colours – luckily there were no artists in the room. Arrays of pixels and their subpixels, formed of the RGB colour system, from an iPad and an iPhone were projected onto the screen, the kaleidoscopic images invoking the first “wow” moment of the evening. The science that backed this up focused on filtering a background light through polaroid and coloured films for the LCD screen and electrifying organic molecules in OLED devices, causing the emission of visible wavelengths. How the brain produces an image from this emitted light was left for the next speaker.

Now, for the student who prefers the study of plants and animals, the dissection of a brain was the next act on offer. Before laying heavy hands on the scalpel, the interactive audience volunteered one of its members to test his memory through the recall of ten random words, and then answers to five questions. After a greater success on the latter test, the idea of working memory, semantic memory and episodic memory were discussed alongside why association with something makes it much easier to remember. Away from the chalk-and-board content, the Egerton Room quickly filled with a pungent smell as the sheep brain was surgically cut open, separating the two hemispheres to get a closer look at the four lobes, perfectly identified by a keen member of the audience. Before looking into applications of the brain with the showcase of a chess AI, there was enough time to try and search for the sheep’s hippocampus.

[Sheep brain dissection]

The next audience member volunteered was subject to a much harder test: could they beat an AI at chess? Programmed to play at an international master level, with FIDE of around 2500, the result was perhaps expected. Whilst an ever intensifying game of chess took place, the concept of neural networks, biases and how an AI model comes to its conclusion of what move it should next make was explained. Questions about the game Go surfaced, and quite surprisingly the answer that the same AI model that would beat an entire population at chess, could also be crowned victor of the game of Go, was received. With a draw being finalised after twenty minutes of competition, it was time for a more intuitive demonstration: why do balls bounce?

Energy conservation. Force diagrams. Newton’s coefficient of restitution. Unfortunately, mathematical derivations explaining the various motions of a rotating, falling ball did not get the chance to be centre stage, but the double ball drop (and some great simulations) did. The plummeting tennis ball being propelled higher into the air after colliding with a falling basketball  provided a shock factor before the replay of Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal from 2010 was shown. An explanation of friction causing rotation and hence why the ball decided to jump back out of the net left the audience with the profound question: does understanding why and having an explanation take away the magic?

For the first edition of the STEM Committee Science Exhibition, there were great practical demonstrations, interesting scientific principles and an engaged and participative audience. F STEM Club’s big brother will be hosting another meeting next half, so watch out!