Recent Stories
- Geography student sets up film company
- Eco-innovation businesses invited to attend pioneering project launch
- First Science and Technology Business Partnerships and Enterprise Annual Report 2011-2012 available to download now
- Lancaster University Coffeemat Challenge won by Science and Technology student Seb
- Competition finalists to present at the House of Commons
- Free talks from Lancaster University statisticians
- Doctoral Scholarships in Computer Science and Communication Systems
- Soil expert seeks effective management of revolutionary land use changes
- International Collaboration Prize for First Unified EU-Russia Flight Analysis Project
- 'Making Sense of Microposts' Workshop Accepted for WWW2013
Royal Society Award for Geography Researcher
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Professor Barbara Maher
Barbara Maher, Professor of Physical Geography and co-Director of the internationally-known Centre for Environmental Magnetism and Palaeomagnetism has been awarded a prestigious five-year Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, which aims to help universities retain talented researchers.
Professor Maher's research uses the magnetic properties of natural and synthetic materials to answer important questions about climate change and the environment. Magnetic particles, present everywhere in the environment, in rocks, sediments, soils, dusts, water and in humans, act as nanoscale recording mechanisms of changes in climate and environment, and even human health.
This research has resulted in the manufacture of new magnetic materials which can solve serious water contamination problems. It is also finding answers to other environmental questions such as how windblown dust to the oceans changed greenhouse gas levels in the past, and where and to what level vehicle pollution occurs.
The new and exciting development of synthetic magnetic particles for water decontamination was a direct result of Professor Maher's climate-related research. She started working on making nanoscale magnetic materials in the lab in order to try and understand the conditions in which soils make magnetic particles. Professor Maher's work has shown that soils make more magnetite (a strongly magnetic iron oxide) when they are subjected to more wetting and drying cycles, i.e. under higher rainfall conditions. This link between soil magnetism and climate at the present day has been extended to find out how rainfall has varied in the past – by measuring the magnetic properties of fossil soils buried between layers of windblown dust in places like northeastern China, where more than 32 fossil soil layers act as rainfall recorders for the last 2 million years.
Based on the fossil soil magnetic properties, Professor Maher has identified when the monsoon failed and when it was intense, and began to predict how it will behave into the future, a key outcome for the millions of people who live in the Asian monsoon zone.
Wed 15 March 2006
Associated Links
- Geography Department - The Geography Department's home page
Latest News
Geography student sets up film company
It is well known that Geography graduates are highly employable and use their degrees in many different ways. One of the more unusual we have heard about recently is Lancaster geographer Greg Tomaszewicz who has set up his own Video Production Company - Lanor Productions.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Fri 22 February 2013
Eco-innovation businesses invited to attend pioneering project launch
Ambitious North West SMEs keen to drive forward eco-innovative ideas and products are invited to a major event in Manchester on March 4.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Thu 21 February 2013
First Science and Technology Business Partnerships and Enterprise Annual Report 2011-2012 available to download now
2011-2012 saw the development of a new theme-based strategy for Business Partnerships and Enterprise in Science and Technology. The seven interdisciplinary themes are: Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Environment, Health and Human Development, Information and Communication Technologies, Quantum Technology and Security. Each theme has dedicated professional staff to work with businesses and source the expertise they need.
Tue 19 February 2013
Lancaster University Coffeemat Challenge won by Science and Technology student Seb
The concept of a new university website, complete with mobile application, to capture the campus social scene at a glance, earned an enterprising student an iPad.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Tue 19 February 2013