Busy Brexit Brussels for May and Corbyn. Growing Crystals. Premature Babies Better Bonding

Dog louse Tichodectes canis. Panorama from a PMS slide

It's a vocal day for different groups and perspectives on Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May made a trip to Brussels to call for more dynamics in the Brexit negotiations in a dinner speech to the other EU leaders. The leaders will be locking themselves away tomorrow to talk about their plans for trade with the UK after Brexit whilst also reminding that the UK needs to move a bit more on due payments before it leaves. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn meets with Michel Barnier and the head of the EU parliament in Brussels, to put forward the rational leftist view of how he would handle Brexit as Prime Minister. Brexiteers wrote an open letter to May, suggesting that she should walk away now from the EU negotiation if they refused to move, and prepare for adopting WTO trade rules now in the remaining period.

I spent three enjoyable hours at the local agricultural college running two fun microscopy sessions. The students who came did so in addition to their normal courses. Because the groups were small with three to four students per session, it was a more relaxed and collaborative affair. Rather than being prescriptive, I'd given them a series of challenges from which they could choose an activity. In addition to looking at different animal hairs and growing crystals under polarised light, most of them took photos and videos with their smartphones. This was a bit of a challenge as the smartphones had to be held accurately above an eyepiece to get a good picture. The images will be entered for a competition to choose and celebrate the best. They could also form part of a display.

Hardly back, Jane and I set off again to the Allia Centre for the CETC seminar on 'Non-Invasive Diagnostics' where we help register the guests and get the three speakers set up. I thought we'd sorted out the technology with the ever helpful Allia staff - but still had a few minor glitches. That did not detract from the excellent talks.

PhD student Oliver Bonner from Cambridge University's Department of Engineering presented his solution for Neonatal Intensive Care Units. The babies, often premature, are wired up with ECG, temperature and blood oxygen monitors. This is often intimidating to the parents when they want to hold their babies, with all the cables getting in the way. 'Skin time', i.e. close contact with baby, has a clear benefit with positive outcomes for these babies, so nurses too want the parents to have greater contact. Oliver is developing sensors that can wirelessly transmit the info from on the baby to the necessary recorder. It seems an obvious solution, but no one else had tried it and there are challenges, such as how to attache the sensor to the very delicate skin of a neonate, what radio frequencies to use, how to ensure reliability. The prototypes are still in development as Oliver works to finish his PhD.