Human ingenuity has been responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements from deep space exploration to clean drinking water. The University of Adelaide is keen to find the next big technological breakthrough at Ingenuity, an annual showcase of student projects exploring the dynamic world and applications of engineering, computer and mathematical sciences

The environment will feature heavily at Ingenuity, with projects aimed at modelling the ocean dynamics of Gulf St Vincent, using crop waste for cattle feed and much more. Researchers from the Environment Institute have been working with students who are showcasing several projects including “Murray River Salinity Predictions”, “Can Trade Solve World Hunger” and “Improving Flood Simulation Capacity”. We’re particularly excited by a project to understand bats.

A cross-disciplinary team of mechanical engineers and biologists are investigating bat echolocation, whereby bats use sonar to help navigate their surroundings. However, we know very little about the function and evolution of the organs responsible for bat echolocation.

The team have created digital and scale models of the bat vocal tract and noseleaf to better understand the bat’s inner biology. Find out the results at the “Accoustics of Bat Call Echolocation” stall at Ingenuity.

Ingenuity is on 9:30am – 3:30pm, 28 October 2016 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. All are welcome to this free event!