The Acoustic Bubble: Climate Change, Spaceships, Dolphins, and the Antibiotic Apocalypse

1,766 views · Published 8 October 2018 · 1:08:42 · Indexed 30 September 2026

Channel: The Royal Society · 2018 · Science & Technology

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The Clifford Paterson Lecture 2018 given by Professor Timothy Leighton FMedSci FREng FRS

Gas bubbles submerged in liquids are powerful sources and scatterers of sound fields. These effects are used to count bubbles; for example, the sound emitted by bubbles by the breaking waves of the ocean helps track atmospheric carbon transfer between the ocean and the air. Sound can also track methane released from the seabed into the atmosphere. 

In this talk, Professor Timothy Leighton discusses how these methods are implemented, and can further be used to predict sounds of liquid methane lakes on Titan, returning to Earth to explore the interaction between sound and bubbles used by whales and dolphins. Professor Leighton also looks at the potentials of bubbles and acoustics to combat infections in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

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