The Mendelevium Zone was a general science zone supported by Wellcome. It was a secondary school zone featuring six scientists:
- Morwenna Bugg reads and summarises scientific research for commissioners to decide how to work out what healthcare services we need
- Jamal Kinsella is a PhD student researching how people think while they are driving cars, so they can be taught to be safer
- Iain Staniland, the winner of this zone, works as an Antarctic wildlife ecologist researching seals, penguins and whales
- Heidi Gardner is a research assistant working out how to improve the way we conduct clinical trials
- Emma McEntee is a biostatistician working in drug development
- Carl Heron is an archaeological scientist and Director of Scientific Research at the British Museum
Over half of all the questions sent to the scientists in ASK were about science topics, with students wanting to know everything about the scientists’ areas of research and more general science questions. One student stood out by researching Carl’s journal articles and sending a 4-part question to him, including a comment on their favourite article, ‘Organic Mass Spectrometry in Art and Archaeology’.
