Last week saw the final screening from the first series of LML’s ‘Science on Screen’ collaboration with the Barbican Theatre, with the 2010 film The Social Network which chronicled the formation of Facebook
and the battles over ownership that followed upon the website’s unfathomable success. The movie was accompanied by a fantastic presentation by Michelle Girvan.
Michelle’s research is focused on a fresh, contemporary scientific field, namely the overlap between computational biology and sociophysics. In her presentation we discovered that through the advent of social media there is vast amounts of data being collected that can be used to gain new insights into human behaviour.
She suggested it is possible to predict who your romantic partner is just by looking at the connections on your Facebook account, while also being able to discover what chance this relationship will have to last.
This fascinating field of research is attracting many people to delve deeper into it, to see what correlation can be found between the digital imprint someone leaves behind, allied to their societal behaviour.
It is this application of science with everyday life that has made LML’s ‘Science on Screen’ season such a success.
Season 2 opens on 19th April with Life of Pi and a presentation from Henrik Jensen. We hope you will join us then for what promises to be another exciting selection of presentations and films.
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