Interdisciplinary Research

Imagine the sound mixing desk in a concert hall controlled not by a technician manipulating hundreds of knobs and sliders, but by pointing to speakers and changing volume and tone with the movement of an arm. This futuristic orchestra conductor is being made reality by the work of researchers in the school of music at the University of Leeds.
Dr Kia Ng of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music is developing ways of capturing human movement in three dimensions and using it t

A ‘Noah’s Ark’ of historic buildings and monuments at risk from climate change is launched this month.

The three-year project brings together experts from 10 European countries including the UK, Italy, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Norway to investigate the effects of climate change and pollution on Europe’s historic built environment over the next 100 years. Representing the UK are the University of East Anglia, University College London and the Ecclesiastical Insuran

Is there – or has there ever been – life on Mars? A UK project could help provide the answer to this fascinating question.

The team are working to improve the equipment on space probes which is used to try and identify evidence of life on other planets.

The work is focusing on the development of more effective and robust systems for detecting ’biomarkers’. (’Biomarkers’ are molecules that indicate the existence of current or extinct life.)

Researchers

New packaging designs have been developed that could save lives and make ’childproof’ containers more user-friendly for adults.

A collaboration involving psychologists, engineers and designers has led to the development of radical but practical new child-resistant closure (CRC) designs.

Because they are easier for adults to open, the containers will discourage the decanting of medicines into unsafe packaging – a practice which currently causes an estimated 10,000 cases/y

A tiny speck of an island in the broad expanse of the Mediterranean is drowning with tourists. And for that reason, the exquisite Greek island of Santorini awaits an interdisciplinary team of University of Cincinnati students and faculty this summer. That team – having proven itself in other locales in Greece – will serve as an academic version of “Extreme (Tourism) Make-Over” from June 10-August 14.

On the tiny Greek island of Santorini, a vividly painted village perches precariously

A smooth-talking washing machine may not be savvy enough to keep a user from mixing whites and darks, but it can open doors that the digital revolution has closed to the blind.

New generation appliances are sleek, high-tech – and incomprehensible if the user can’t see the dazzling array of LED displays.

But it’s a problem that can be talked through, literally. A team of engineering students at Michigan State University have figured out a way to cheaply modify household a