Tag Archives: science and technology

News

The Future of Baking? Great British Bake Off Finalist Shows How to Combine Cake and Chemistry

Asynt, a global provider of innovative technologies and services for scientific research, is partnering with Great British Bake Off Finalist and Chemist, Dr Josh Smalley, to combine chemistry with cake. 

During CHEMUK, Josh will demonstrate both his culinary and chemistry skills at Asynt’s stand by creating sticky toffee pudding using Asynt’s DrySyn® range of oil-free laboratory heating blocks. 

Using regular cake batter, Josh will transfer the mixture into the DrySyn® Reaction Vial Inserts, which can be used for up to 27 parallel heated reactions at once. Subsequently, Josh will infuse cream for flavoured ganache using the DrySyn® Multi-S kit, whilst delving into the scientific underpinnings behind each step. 

The DrySyn® range is designed to offer clean, safe synthesis for single or multiple reactions in a sustainable way and allows safe and rapid temperature ramping to over 300 ºC. The low well design of DrySyn bases and inserts prevents cracking of glassware and gives excellent reaction visibility. The DrySyn heat blocks require no messy oil, have heat resistant handles and are simple to configure making the products and processes efficient and safe. 

Commenting on the demonstration, Josh said: “As a chemist by trade and avid baker, I’m extremely passionate about sharing the many ways chemistry influences our daily lives, particularly its parallels with baking, and what better way to do this than with a cake demonstration. I’ve always hoped to use my platform to showcase how exciting chemistry can be and I’m thrilled to be partnering with Asynt to bring this to life using their DrySyn heating block range. And who knows, maybe this could be the future of baking!”

Martyn Fordham, Managing Director & Head of Product Development at Asynt, said: “This is truly a unique collaboration which blends the world of chemistry and culinary arts and we can’t wait to watch the demonstration. Dr. Josh Smalley’s participation at CHEMUK with the Asynt team is a testament to our commitment to innovation, education, and sharing the joy of science.”

News

Keysource appointed by STFC

The Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) after a competitive process, has chosen Keysource, the global data centre and critical environment specialist, to provide ongoing maintenance and emergency response service for the existing and new critical data centre plant and infrastructure at its STFC Daresbury Laboratory Data centre facility in Warrington.

Under the terms of the maintenance and support agreement, Keysource will provide coordinated, planned preventative maintenance (PPM) along with a 24×7 help desk and technical response and emergency response to site in the event of any issues. Regulatory compliance will be ensured, and manufacturer warranties maintained and managed where applicable.

The contract award follows on from the recent completion by Keysource of the data centre upgrade at the Daresbury Laboratory facility. That project involved supporting the live operation upgrade of the data centre facility which includes the lifecycle replacement of critical power, cooling and protection systems. This enabled collaboration with STFC to plan the works and mitigate risk to the high-performance computing load which remained available throughout the upgrade.

Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, said: “STFC   carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research and innovation in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy. As such the security of its data is key and we are pleased to be supporting them in achieving their objectives of resilience and sustainability.”

 

 

News

STFC Chooses Keysource For Pre-Construction Support

The Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has chosen Keysource, the global data centre and critical environment specialist, to undertake a pre-construction services contract for the data centre upgrade at its Daresbury Laboratory facility in Warrington. This will involve supporting the live operation upgrade of the data centre facility which includes the lifecycle replacement of critical power, cooling and protection systems.

Under the terms of the deal, Keysource will be responsible for establishing a detailed brief and performance specification for stakeholder agreement and senior level approval. Preferred solutions will then be agreed to meet the brief including associated commercial, technical and delivery related risks and considerations. Finally Keysource will produce a developed design and commercial information for the contract and complete key enabling activities in preparation for the construction phase.

The agreed pre-construction approach will enable Keysource to collaborate with STFC to plan the works and mitigate risk to the high-performance computing load which must remain available throughout. In addition, this approach to the project enables the agency drivers to complete the project within a relatively short programme with critical path activities to be confidently agreed and executed providing a smooth transition into the delivery and commissioning phase.

Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, said: “Having a robust pre-construction phase before undertaking the design and build or upgrade of a data centre facility has a number of major benefits for clients. These include consistent tender responses and an ability to maintain cost control. For organisations that are operating a live environment it also ensures that there is no impact on existing operations.”

Please visit: www.keysource.co.uk