Submitted by Administrator on Thu, 08/08/2013 - 12:13
Look out for two members of the Department in this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. Karin Moll from the Insect Biomechanics Group and Tim Cockerill from the Insect Ecology Group both gave demonstrations in the first lecture, entitled 'Why Elephants Can't Dance'.
Karin gave a demonstration of the load-carrying prowess of leaf-cutting ants, using a live colony to illustrate the point. Tim gave a demonstration of the strength and jumping ability of fleas, recreating a stunt from the fairground flea circus. Despite the freezing weather, the animals survived the trip to London, and performed to demand on the day, alongside Britain's Strongest Man, stars of Strictly Come Dancing, and a Performing Poodle.
The lectures, entitled Size Matters, are this year given by engineer and materials scientist Mark Miodownik, and can be seen on BBC4 on the 28th, 29th and 30th of December at 8pm.