Heriot-Watt has recently received a £2.5M grant to build and test a telescope that communicates with satellites via a quantum-encrypted laser beam. The ultimate aim of the project is to create an ultra-secure Internet connection. For the public, the facility’s work will directly contribute to more secure everyday transactions ranging from online banking to health data protection, with the potential to create networks that cannot be hacked. Ross Donaldson runs the Hub Optical Ground Station (HOGS) at Heriot-Watt University.

Our annual Curious Minds Lecture series, presented by Culture Perth & Kinross and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science is themed around “Contemporary Science in Scotland” and, over past seasons, speakers have covered a stimulating array of scientific topics from dinosaur fossils in Skye, through the human genome to black holes, gravitational waves and the science of consciousness.