Perimeter Public Lecture: Making custard bulletproof

Custard is, pretty indisputably, delicious. But look at it through the lens of physics, and it can mean much more. So-called “soft matter” like custard has some properties that allow it to change states under certain conditions, and could have wide-reaching impacts beyond your dessert bowl—like making hard enough to potentially stop bullets.

Food and science? Yes, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics’ Public Lecture series—the decade-long monthly series of discussions in Kitchener-Waterloo—delivered by world-leading physics theorists and experimenters who discuss cutting-edge science without talking down—must be back. And on Wednesday, Michael Cates, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, will step up to the stage to explain the beauty and importance of soft matter with equations, diagrams, and hands-on demonstrations. Watch a trailer for his lecture here.

Maclean’s is proud to have live-streamed Cates’s lecture—our first monthly lecture of this new season—on Nov. 2 at 7 PM ET, below; you can still watch the whole video. You can also ask Cates questions before and during the lecture via Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #piLIVE, too!