HA experiments: What did we learn?

We had a live webchat at 9pm on Monday 3rd April looking back at the Hydroxyl Apatite project. Main findings Sophia What do we think we've learned from the experiments then? TBH, I feel like I know less about HA and nappies now than I thought I did before! Iona We found HA again on …

HA solubility – email chat with Prof Brian Darvell

Brian Darvell is Honorary Professor at the Birmingham University School of Dentistry. He has been involved in research and teaching in Dental Materials Science since 1969.  His work has covered many areas, but his greatest interest (which started as his post-doc study in 1975) is the solubility of calcium phosphates, and especially that of hydroxyapatite. He …

Laughing babies: A live chat with Caspar Addyman

Dr Caspar Addyman is a developmental psychologist, specialising in learning and laughter in babies! He is at Goldsmiths University in London. He studies the way babies make sense of the world, and why babies laugh so much. He works on The Baby Laughter Project, collecting videos and field reports from people about what makes babies laugh. …

How bacteria and HA interact: A Live chat with Elaine Berry and Greg Siragusa

In this live chat we spoke to Elaine Berry and Greg Siragusa about their work using hydroxl apatite to concentrate bacteria.  Elaine is a Research Microbiologist at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. Greg is a Senior Principal Scientist at Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories. In 1997 they wrote a paper about using hydroxyl apatite to concentrate …

HA in Laundry: Live chat with Ian

In this live chat we spoke to Ian Strudwick about HA and washing Laundry. Ian is technical manager at Shirley Technologies [the company that tested the nappies for us last year, and discovered the very high buildup of hydroxyl apatite]. He did a live chat with us once before, on his work and on laundry washing …

Online Chat with Jennifer and Jonathan Bartley of the Cardiff Catalysis Institute

Nappy Science Gang are doing a joint project at the moment with Cardiff Catalysis Institute, partly funded by a grant from the Royal Society for Chemistry. We are trying to work out more about the mineral exoskeleton we found on some of the nappies we got tested last year. In this chat we talked to Jennifer …

Bacterial Biofilms: Live Chat with Rob Hull

Biofilms form when bacteria adhere to a surface in a watery environment and secrete a slimy, glue-like substance. This substance forms a matrix that helps the bacteria stick to different types of material, including fabric, and provides them with environmental protection. The bacterial cells then form a colony, or group, within the matrix. Biofilms can …

NSG Live Chat with Chris Peters from “Sense About Science” and the Ask for Evidence Campaign. May 26th 2016

laurahobbs Hi Chris, thanks for coming to talk to us. It usually takes a few minutes to get going, so in the meantime would you mind telling us a little bit about you and what you do please? (I should warn you, there is a character limit on what will display in these boxes, but …

Live Chat with Jenn Philpott from Born Ready

Washing nappies can be a hefty job and when you're looking at ways of making this easier, there's often an area that goes overlooked; what goes into them in the first place!  Jenn from Born Ready joins us on our 38th Live Chat to talk to us about the intriguing concept of Elimination Communication.   …

Ask your questions about bacteria and other microbes

Dr Clare Taylor, a Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology at Edinburgh Napier University, and also General Secretary of the Society for Applied Microbiology joined us for a live chat about micro-organisms - just how dirty are tea towels? What can we test? And how dangerous (or safe) are bacteria in your child's nappy? Clare's research is …