University of Leicester Open Journals
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The Refiguration of Conservation: Introducing the Concept of 'Staging Nature' in the Case of Botanical Gardens
No full textBotanical garden museums are undergoing profound transformations. At the beginning of the 21st century refiguring processes, including climate change, the imperative of decolonisation, and advances in digital technology have led to a shift in the positioning of botanical gardens from Humboldtian collectors of nature to protectors of biodiversity. In this paper, through the sociospatial investigation of Berlin’s Botanical Garden and Museum, we analysed the ordering logics underpinning the staging of nature within the glasshouses - caught between permanence and change. Pursuing this investigation on a double analytical level, we analysed how the Berlin botanical garden is adapting to, or indeed struggling with a shifting conservation mission; and secondly, what are the consequences for the destabilisation of the conservation regime’s modernist underpinnings. We conclude the paper by speculating about the necessity of a nature-culture conservation regime.
A3 2 Mr Blue Sky
No full textThis paper outlines what makes the sky appear blue and what changes would need to be made to the Sun in order to create a vastly different coloured sky. We found that a solar system similar to ours could have a sky dominated by any given colour in the visible spectrum. Assuming the size of the star was comparable to our Sun, a surface temperature between 4,458 K and 7,245 K would cover the entire visible electromagnetic spectrum from Red to Violet
Exploring Staff and Student Perceptions of Learning Resources in Physical Sciences
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a significant diversification of learning resources and teaching methods and in its aftermath different approaches have been taken across science education in HE. Within this work we explored staff and student preference for learning resources, using anonymous online questionnaires. It was found that a hybrid approach to resources was preferred, with in-person lectures rating higher than their online counterparts. Engagement emerged as the overarching theme, with differences between staff and student perceptions of student engagement identified; in particular, students consistently rated their own engagement with resources higher than what staff perceived
Project Zero Dawn could be the key to preventing Human extinction and restoring Earth’s biosphere. Part 1: DNA Storage
No full textIn the video game series Horizon, the story follows a young huntress named Aloy, as she combats the wilds of a dystopian world, to find the truths to her origin. This paper takes inspiration from the biological aspect of how humans, animals and plants were able to survive the apocalypse and delves into the possibility that the same scenario could be used to preserve life if a cataclysmic event occurred within our future. This paper will contain many plot points from within the Horizon series, so it is advised to at least finish Horizon Zero Dawn before continuing in order to avoid spoilers from the main story
Are We Bulletproof?
No full textThe Korean Pop group BTS is known as Bangtan Sonyeondan in Korean (방탄소년단) which translates to bulletproof boy scouts. By investigating the carbon-based materials used in producing bulletproof vests, this article explores whether the members of the group really can be bulletproof without bulletproof shields or clothing
How many raindrops to fill the Atlantic Ocean?
No full textThe Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean on planet Earth. Through the use of multiple equations, this paper explores how many raindrops would be required to refill it if one day all of the water in it vanished. Further investigations are carried out to determine how long it would take the largest recorded storm to fill the Atlantic Ocean
A2 6 Pixel-Perfect: Analysis into Character Information in Mario Kart Wii
No full textWe present the first dataset of character information for Mario Kart Wii, derived from pixel measurements, BMI calculations, and comparisons to analogous animals. Although refinement of character mass estimates may be possible, this dataset represents a foundational step, enabling in-depth calculations and experiments to explore the physics of the game
Visiting the Modern Wunderkammer: Social-spatial Inequalities in Ways of Knowing
No full textBased on the assumption that museums have been spatially transformed in recent decades in the course of globalization, decolonization, and mediatization, we investigate from a socio-spatial perspective what influence this has on visitor experience and whether it leads to inequalities in ways of knowing. To this end, we conducted a visitor study in a science exhibition in a newly opened museum complex in Berlin, by using a mixed methods approach combining movement tracking, visitor survey and ethnographic observation. By analyzing the spatial practice in and spatial perception of the exhibition, we developed parameters along which spatial appropriation in the museum differs and correlated them with variables relating to museum spatial knowledge and scientific expertise. By integrating the spatial and social data using a multiple correspondence analysis protocol, we show that the legibility of museum space varies according to the visitors' cultural and specific symbolic-spatial capital. As this unequal access to the museum space has a direct influence on ways of knowing, the study shows that inequalities are reproduced by the current spatial refiguration of the museum
Redesigning the museum. Epistemic Challenges and Aesthetic Remedies
No full textThe museum is in crisis. Contrary to their self-image as preservers of cultural heritage, museums seem to be losing cultural and social relevance precisely because of their historical legacy: Their collection histories, epistemological foundations, personnel policies, and not least their architectural settings and displays are deeply rooted in nineteenth century ‘power knowledge’ (Michel Foucault). However, the clear-cut division of exhibits into art and non-art, modern and pre-modern, or ‘the West and the Rest’ (Stuart Hall) is becoming increasingly incompatible with everyday experiences in a post-migrant, globally entangled world. However, this crisis cannot be solved discursively or conceptually alone, but also needs to be reflected on an aesthetic level. A contemporary exhibition design has to invent new perceptual ‘affordances’ - ones that subvert the cognitivist bias, linear historiography, and identificatory logic of Western museology. Both Theodor W. Adorno's concept of ‘constellation’ and Edouard Glissant's ‘poetics of relation’ could serve as guiding principles