Question: Your work with fruit peel sounds very interesting and I would like to know more, such as what you found out so far and how long have you been doing it for. (P.S: Martyn Poliakoff really does look like Einstein)

Laura Schofield answered on 13 Nov 2014:

Thanks Charis. Well the main thing we have found so far is that it works (yay!!) and that we can do it continuously through a long tube that is heated (so we’re not limited by how many times we can fill a vessel and run a reaction in it each day). We have made some perspex (the plastic I make) from molecules taken from fruit peel and when you hold it up next to plastic made from crude oil, you can’t tell the difference (so you have to remember which is which!) Do you want to know any more?
I’ve been working on this project for 3 years now and am coming to the end of my time on it soon. After that I will have to get a job and I hope to work in Science Outreach and Communication so I can keep talking to students like you about science!
Haha yes he does! And the Weetos man too! He is brilliant and a really lovely man!