Pint of Science 2024

Urban segregation: Going beyond residential neighbourhoods

Professor Xiaowen Dong will lead us into the intricate web of urban segregation, unveiling hidden patterns in social behaviors across diverse metropolitan landscapes.

Urban income segregation is a widespread phenomenon that challenges societies across the globe. Classical studies on segregation have largely focused on the geographic distribution of residential neighbourhoods rather than on patterns of social behaviours and interactions. In this talk, I will present some of our recent work on understanding segregation in economic and social interactions, using large-scale behaviour data, e.g., credit card transactions, Twitter mentions, and mobility records, in several culturally different metropolitan areas. Our results provide novel insights into the understanding of behavioural segregation in human interactions in urban environment with socio-political and economic implications.

Can focused ultrasound be the next class of antibiotic?

Dr. Sara Keller will guide us into the realm of antibiotic innovation, showcasing the potential of focused ultrasound to revolutionize treatment strategies against antimicrobial resistance. 

While the spread of antimicrobial resistance is increasing, the number of new treatment options are not. In fact, it has been almost 40 years since the last new class of antibiotic was discovered! In this talk, I will discuss a slightly different approach to treating bacterial infections using focused ultrasound and tiny bubbles, offering an exciting new strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance.