HD 3 - The Science Edition

Curriculum 2012 and Beyond: Enabling the learning journey

Congratulations to the students and staff of the HD magazine team for creating a magazine that showcases your work and reflects the three key features of Curriculum 2012: 1. Employability oriented 2. Student-focused environment 3. Learner-centred teaching In particular, the collaborative media work in the production of HD magazine highlights the Employability feature whereby students: Encounter the real-world challenges involved in creating a polished media product.

Collaborate with budding professionals with complementary expertise.

Employability Oriented Curriculum Developing...

core values ethics knowledge skills capabilities

relating to your employability, professional and personal growth

Develop a clearer understanding of their own roles in multidisciplinary team.

The Curriculum 2012 project is partially funded by the Australian Government through the Structural Adjustment Fund

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ecu australia

edith cowan

For more information : http://intranet.ecu.edu.au/staff/projects-and-initiatives/ecu-2012/overview

Welcome... to HD Magazine

Science journalism simplifies complicated and cutting edge research to make it accessible to all. This edition of HD magazine provides an insight to new developments in the world of science. We decode the jargon, we talk to the experts and we put the facts under the microscope, to bring to you stories on health, the environment, nanotechnology and more.

The best stories and the best illustrations from the 2011 journalism and design classes are presented here, thanks to the guiding efforts of design lecturers Hanadi Haddad, Amie Mason and journalism lecturer Kayt Davies.

A team of journalism students subedited the articles and worked with the student designers to present articles and illustrations created by other students into this magazine.

Editor

Sub-editors

Illustrations

Dr Kayt Davies Senior Lecturer Journalism k.davies@ecu.edu.au

Claire Broderick Anup Latnekar Bjorn Myran Faraz Hedayat Georgia Stout Tanya Phillips Alison Muir Mariel Jane Chow

Nicole Lee Sylvia Wong Joshua Higgins Joel Van Haastert Patrick Ball Chuanyuan Xu Kyle Williams Swechha Shrestha Rebecca Pearson Jessica Brookes Xuting Lao Ada-Yijun Pang Xun Shao Xin Tu Bryce Richards Bonni-Loi Wilks

Journalists Daniel Fragomeni Thomas McPherson Thomas Marcinkowski Ryan Hadji Marcus Peterson Anup Latnekar Tanya Phillips Alison Muir Georgia Stout Aine Ryan James Mooney Jasmine Amis Amy Carmichael Judith Reczek Chanel Darcey Yoaran Yu Faraz Hedayat Claire Broderick Jessica Allia Sarah Molloy Chris Simonsen Bjorn Myran

Art Directors Lecturers in Design Dr Hanadi Haddad h.haddad@ecu.edu.au Dr Stuart Medley s.medley@ecu.edu.au Amie Mason a.harrison@ecu.edu.au Cover Artists Linda Liebe Chanelle Percival Wei Wong Kyle Williams Leigh Craft Bonni-Loi Wilks Yoke Morey

Finishing Artists Linda Liebe Chanelle Percival Nicole Wee Allyana Goff Edith Cowan University 2 Bradford St, Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050 CRICOS IPC 00279B

CONTENTS FEATURES

04 For fracK’s sake!

By Daniel Fragomeni Is the controversial hydraulic fracturing method of gas extraction the key to future prosperity or just too dangerous?

06 unnatural Gas

by Thomas McPherson As a proposed urea plant in Collie continues to receive Federal and State Government approval, are the fears of local residents well founded?

10 cutting it fine

By Thomas Marcinkowski Nano-thin metal films could soon be used to strengthen components on surgical tools and aeroplanes.

at 12 Greenwashing Home

An investigation into misleading advertising on household products designed to woo wellmeaning shoppers.

in a fragmented 14 life hotspot

By Anup Latnekar and Bjorn Myran Can Shaun Molloy’s research preserve Australia’s only biodiversity hotspot?

predicting 16 Plague puzzle

By Marcus Peterson UK researchers are using flies in an effort to see how viruses spread between species, with the possibility of predicting a future viral outbreak.

18 Do-it-yourself cancer

By Chanel Darcy D-I-Y asbestos removals and misconceptions about the danger of asbestos have caused a spike in cancer patients in recent years.

20 pill popping fatties

By Tanya Phillips With diet and exercise not helping the growing obesity problem in Australia, pills could be the final answer to one of the biggest health and economic issues in Australia.

Caffiene 24 Can Counter cancer

By Alison Muir Caffeine has shown promise in the prevention of cancer. Now researchers are ready to test caffeinated sunscreen on humans.

lotus effect: 30 the Inspiring nano tech

By Yoaran Yu and Faraz Hedayat Coming all the way from China, by-way of USA, Hua Guo is now a part of a research group at ECU that’s trying to figure out how the lotus plant can make buildings stand stronger and longer.

34 DEAD bird squawking

By Jessica Allia Fifty years after being ruled extinct, the noisy scrub-bird is back loud and clear.

36 Space Shrimp

By Sarah Molloy Could the vision systems of mantis shrimps be used to monitor earth from space?

pollution 32 nature’s police

By Claire Broderick Coal plants emit potentially toxic fumes into the air, now pollution levels can be measured easily, with the help of a small plant.

in brief oldest drug or 09 World’s 29 Party fossils: life before Parkinson’s cure? oxygen

By Ryan Hadji

By Judith Reczek

38 Movie reviews

26 fake breast 27 Better 40 About HD milk Trouble in the nursery

By Chanel Darcey and Aine Ryan

By James Mooney

insulin for 28 Snorting Alzeimers

By Amy Carmichael

By Chris Simonsen, Anup Latnekar and Tanya Phillips

For frack’s sake! article by Daniel Fragomeni illustration by Nicole Wee People often get bored of doing the same old, mundane, conventional things in life – walking the dog, feeding the fish, taking grandma out for an afternoon stroll – so they find themselves mixing things up a bit and dipping their feet in different reserves. There’s been something in the air in the hydrocarbon world of late and it seems to be causing quite a ruckus amongst the yaysayers and the naysayers.

I’m talking about the push for unconventional gas in Western Australia. This push is predominantly coming from the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), not necessarily because they’re sick of walking the dog, feeding the fish, and hanging out with granny, but because they have the future firmly embedded in their minds.

The future of Western Australia’s energy supply appears to be relying largely on the need for unconventional gas, and the DMP plays the role of ‘captain’ by keeping the industry moving and certifying the safety and maintenance of the growth of this sector.

I can hear the voices of your minds muttering away “what on earth is this ‘unconventional gas’ jargon?” Settle down now, I’m getting there.

Unconventional gas comes in the form of shale, tight and coal seam gas. Coal seam gas is attained from coal seams, and shale and tight gas are attained from breaking into types of low permeability rock formations. I could probably write for an entire stone age trying to get a grasp on ‘unconventional gas’, but I won’t.

To gain a further understanding of these unconventional gases and the process involved with obtaining it, let’s focus on shale gas and let the experts do the talking.

Exploring and extracting shale gas would give you an extra boost in the gas reserves Petroleum Engineer with DMP, Ali Yaman, cracks into why shale gas is so beneficial and helps us gain a clearer perspective of unconventional gas.

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“Shale gas is a more plentiful resource, compared to the current gas reserve.

Exploring and extracting shale gas would give you an extra boost in the gas reserves for the state,” he begins.

“There are no major discoveries for commercial gas, all the commercial gas has pretty much been discovered, except for probably the deep offshore. So by tapping into shale gas, you’re going to be getting a boost in reserves.”

It seems as though it’s that old saying again – out with the old, in with the new. But what distinguishes the ‘new’ from the ‘old’?

“Some of the shale gas is a lot more pure, because there is more methane in it.

The composition of it is more desirable than normal gas, which might have heavier components,” said Yaman.

But my dear friends like trying to interrogate the truth out of a criminal, how does one get the goods out of a shale rock formation? Meet Hydraulic Fracturing (or as he likes to be called – ‘fracking’).

Hydraulic Fracturing is the use of pressure to break rock formations to allow fluids, containing sands and ceramic beads, to settle in the cracks, holding the fractures open. This allows easier access to, and faster extraction of, the trapped gasses in the rock formations.

Yaman explained that fracking is the only way to extract shale gas, and there is a reason for that.

“There is no other way to break into the rock. You have to actually fracture the rock. You have to create alternative

pathways for the gas to flow. Because the formation is so tight the gas won’t flow through, because it just can’t escape.

So by fracturing the rock, it creates alternative pathways for the gas to flow through and come to the well.

“There’s a lot of research into alternative well stimulation, but the most successful and the most proven and effective one is hydraulic fracturing.”

drilling and hydraulic fracking uses millions of gallons of water hitting the groundwater sources hard Unfortunately this fracking process isn’t as fracking peachy as you might fracking think. There are many people opposed to hydraulic fracking, due to the environmental risks of the drilling and the amount of water the process uses. The Wilderness Society of Western Australia represent the opposition, and they believe that the chemicals associated with fracking are potentially harmful to humans and their central nervous systems, and can potentially even cause leukaemia and cancers of the blood.

As for the environmental impacts, The Wilderness Society presents figures from

American shale gas operations, highlighting that the drilling and hydraulic fracking process uses millions of gallons of water hitting the groundwater sources hard.

Yaman however can’t quite seem to get his head around the corner of this rock formation, explaining that this opposition stems largely from a lack of education.

“The people who are opposed to it don’t really seem to understand the science to be honest. There’s a lot of media hype about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, which is just not the truth.

People, who don’t understand the actual process of hydraulic fracturing, just tend to over-exaggerate the ‘risks’.

“If you research it and do the science right, it is a very, very safe operation. It’s been done many, many times all over the world.”

I sensed Yaman felt quite strongly about this topic as he chipped further away.

“It doesn’t so much frustrate me. I just feel sorry for them for not bothering to

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read the science behind it, or even trying to understand the different point of view.

“They’re just so blinded by what they read in the newspapers or what they read in other media, and they don’t seem to want to listen to any other point of view.

“To me, it just seems to be largely an ignorance thing, from the public’s side. But there’s only so much you can do. If they don’t want to listen or hear about it, that’s really up to them,” Yaman laughed.

As an expert in the field, there must be a strong desire for Yaman to try and overcome the ‘misrepresentations’ that he believes exist among the people who are opposed to fracking. He explained that the DMP is attempting to educate people about the process.

“We’re trying to get the point across.

We’ve been making a lot of public relations programmes, and putting information up on the website.

We’re just really trying to educate

the public about the actual process of hydraulic fracturing.

“If it’s properly regulated and understood there shouldn’t be any problems. People just have to do their background research and get the facts straight,” he said.

Yaman certainly isn’t caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment with DMP as the introduction and movement of shale gas and other unconventional gasses to WA, has him and the Department excited about the future.

He explained: “At the meantime it is an exciting time for the Department, with the introduction of shale gas into the state. This means that there is a lot of work that will come up within the next few years, and it’s a good place to be, working for DMP at the moment.”

So, while he’s excited about the DMP’s fracking future, the rest of us are left to wonder whose information to believe.

UNNatural GAS article by Thomas McPherson illustration by Sylvia Wong

It’s set to inject the south-west town of Collie with jobs and boost the local economy, yet a proposed urea production plant near this small coal mining community has some residents worried their town will become toxic. Debate over the plant’s safety has created a rift between the community and the Shire of Collie, the local member of State Parliament, and the company behind the $3.7 billion project.

Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers proposes to build the plant at the Shotts Industrial Park, just over seven kilometres east of Collie. Jodie Pinnerri lives in Collie Burn, only two kilometres from the new industrial precinct.

“My main concern is the whole impact the urea plant will have on our health. It’s a dangerous thing to have so close to people,” she said.

At full capacity the plant will produce two million tonnes of urea per annum that will be exported through Bunbury Port, primarily to India to supply the country’s thriving agricultural market. The plant will use coal mined in the Collie coalfields to produce the urea, transforming it into a synthetic gas using a combination of several technologies including an ammonia synthesis process.

The plant will store 10,000 tonnes of refrigerated ammonia on-site in a doubleskinned storage tank. It will require 12 gigalitres of water to be pumped from the Wellington Dam each year via a 7 km pipeline to connect it to the plant.

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Kathy Miller is the secretary of the Rural Action Group, an alliance of Collie residents who live in close proximity to the proposed plant and are concerned about its safety and impact on the town.

Mrs Miller said the group was worried about the threat posed by a possible accident with the ammonia storage tank, about air pollution, and the effects of noise and dust on residents.

the plant will release 1400 tonnes of ammonia each year “The potential for the contamination of ground and surface water is also a huge issue for us, not only environmentally but because many of our homes are not on scheme water and so we rely on shallow groundwater bores,” she said.

According to Mrs Miller, the Shire of Collie “has made no secret of the fact they

are supportive of the urea plant”, adding that “they have been most unwilling to properly address community concerns over the safety issues”.

Shire of Collie President Wayne Sanford said the Shire had listened to the issues raised by the RAG. “They undertook their own assessment of the Perdaman proposal which led them to having concerns. As a local government, we will be working with the proponent, the community, and a range of State Government agencies to ensure that all relevant concerns are addressed.”

An application for development approval of the site is currently before the Shire.

Dr Michael North, Senior Chemist at WA’s Chemcentre, said that in the event of ammonia leakage the concentration would have to be very high for it to pose any risk to humans.

“People are breathing out ammonia in small concentrations all the time, as the body produces it naturally, and there are no long-term effects in low doses.”

He said that fish and aquatic ecosystems are more sensitive to ammonia exposure and the main environmental risk would be the contamination of streams and lakes.

“The aquatic toxicity of ammonia from a potential plume depends on pH levels. It is more toxic in alkaline waters.”

Dr North added that a small amount of urea in drinking water would not be harmful to residents.

Perdaman Chemicals and Fertiliers is a WA-based company founded by Indian investor Vikas Rambal, who was involved in the establishment of the liquid ammonia fertiliser plant located on the Burrup Peninsula. Gary Watson is the company’s Manager of Infrastructure and Government Relations.

He is keen to stress that the RAG is “not representative of the people of Collie”.

Mr Watson said the plant will be storing and handling very little liquid hydrocarbon material or chemicals, which would pose the greatest risk to the groundwater environment.

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“The small quantities of this material that Perdaman will have will use on-site storage containment that will prevent any storm water runoff that could contain traces of these materials from escaping to the environment.”

The only answers Perdaman have given us have been consistently misleading and contradictory In October 2010 the project received environmental approval from then State Environment Minister Donna Faragher, after the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) gave the plant its conditional approval. The project was also granted Federal environmental approval and is on track for construction to begin later this year, subject to being granted an operating licence from the Department of Mines and

Petroleum, and obtaining development approval from the Shire of Collie.

The Environmental Impact Assessment conducted by the EPA states that the plant will release 1400 tonnes of ammonia into the environment each year, equivalent to the ammonia produced by 20,000 cows annually. It will also emit 3.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

One of the conditions placed upon the plant by the EPA is to implement carbon capture and storage technology to capture its carbon emissions, within five years of the technology becoming viable. In the meantime these emissions will be released into the Collie airshed. But Mr Watson said that on a lifecycle basis there is a net annual reduction in emissions, as the use of urea fertiliser leads to a multipliereffect on carbon absorption by food crops.

In their assessment the EPA said the Collie airshed “may be approaching its capacity with respect to certain parameters/pollutants”, but that the urea plant would be a “minor contributor” to this pollution. Yet Mrs Miller and the RAG

believe the Collie airshed is already at capacity: “It won’t be able to handle the carbon dioxide, and the more toxic gases, odours and particulate matter.”

She said Perdaman had insufficient data and modelling to prove that the ammonia storage tank would be safe.

“The only answers Perdaman have given us have been consistently misleading and contradictory.”

The EPA did not assess public risk in their Environmental Impact Assessment, despite a guidance document on its website saying it is required to do so. EPA spokesman Charlie Maling said the EPA did not conduct a risk assessment because this had since become the responsibility of the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP).

In order to grant a licence to operate, the DMP requires proponents to conduct their own public risk assessments. DMP Dangerous Goods Director Philip Hinesaid this process was “monitored and closely scrutinised”.

The RAG claim the urea plant should not have been granted environmental approval without a risk assessment being conducted by the EPA. Yet Perdaman did commission international consulting firm GHD to conduct a preliminary risk assessment for them in 2009, separate to EPA requirements.

In response, the RAG commissioned Environmental Scientist Dr Kristy Winn - a Collie resident - to conduct a critique of Perdaman’s assessment. Dr Winn used modelling software provided by the US EPA to ascertain the project’s danger, including a worst-case scenario where the ammonia tank failed and released its contents.

Perdaman’s assessment found that in an incident where 10,000 tonnes of ammonia was released it could kill or injure people as far away as two kilometres from the plant. Dr Winn’s critique claims that Perdaman’s risk assessment, which used European standards for measuring ammonia toxicity, underestimated the size of this risk.

Using Australian Standards for measuring ammonia toxicity and its ability to result in fatalities, Dr Winn found that the release of 10,000 tonnes of ammonia could in fact result in fatalities as far as 10 kilometres from the plant. Her report suggested that this could wipe out the

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entire population of Collie, over 8,000 people, depending on wind direction.

Dr Winn said the impact could actually extend beyond 10 kilometres, but that modelling made it difficult to predict the exact effects beyond this radius or beyond one hour.

“If you had a continuous release of ammonia from a minor hole in the ammonia tank, it may take more than an hour to reach some distances which cannot be accurately modelled due to the limitations associated with atmospheric modelling,” she said.

10,000 tonnes of ammonia could result in fatalities as far as 10 kilometres from the plant Mr Watson disagrees, claiming “the assumptions that Rural Action Group used when conducting its modelling were incorrect”.

He said the primary reason Perdaman did not use the Australian Standard in measuring ammonia toxicity was that a much greater depth of historical experience with ammonia storage exists in Europe and “therefore the European standards have a more rigorous basis”.

He said the plant does not pose any material risk to Collie residents and the safety of ammonia storage was shown through the existence of ammonia tanks at the CSBP chemical and fertiliser production facility in Kwinana. The ammonia tanks at the Kwinana facility are closer to local residents and four times the size of those planned for the Collie plant.

Mick Murray is the Member for ColliePreston and Shadow Minister for the South West. His support for the project is at odds with the RAG. Mr Murray said the proposal for a double skin on the ammonia storage tank, protecting its contents, gave him confidence in the plant’s safety.

He also believes the environmental approval process was adequate: “Whilst not having done a direct public risk assessment, the EPA has gone through

each impact bit by bit and I don’t think they have taken any shortcuts.”

Mr Murray said he also supports the State Government’s $83.5 million contribution to upgrade road and water infrastructure near Collie to facilitate the plant.

The urea plant will initially generate up to 2000 jobs during its 36-month construction phase, at around the same time that the BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina expansion project is winding down. Once built the plant will provide up to 400 new jobs.

Collie Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Richard Jackson said the project would ensure Collie has good employment prospects for its existing and new young employees.

“Local businesses will have the opportunity to supply the new plant and grow and prosper knowing that their future is secure,” he said.

Mr Sanford said the Shire of Collie had been a long-time advocate for the development of the Shotts Industrial Park. He said the project would provide Collie with the potential to diversify its economic base from the traditional coal to powergeneration reliance. Mr Murray also believes it’s the best location: “For many years we have argued that industry should be east of the town. I’m hoping that some of the workers will live in Collie and bring life back into our town.”

But Mrs Pinneri, who will almost be living at the plant’s doorstep, disagrees.

“Once it’s up and running I’d be interested to see if anyone would come and live in my home. I don’t think we will ever get our money back on this property.”

The World’s oldest fossils article by Ryan Hadji illustration by Joshua Higgins

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cientists in WA have discovered the oldest microfossils on earth. The remains of the small organisms were found at Strelley Pool near Port Hedland, Western Australia.

A team of researchers from the University of Western Australia and Britain’s Oxford University believe these microscopic fossils are more than 3.4 billion years old.

beaches could have been the setting for the origin of life Researcher Dr David Wacey said: “The environment in which the microfossils were found is important. It extends the record of life in shoreline or ‘beach-like’ environments by about 200 million years. This suggests that beaches could have been the setting for the origin of life itself, and should stimulate more research in this area.”

Dr Wacey believes this is the final piece of the puzzle that confirms theories about the earth’s soil.

“Perhaps the biggest leap forward in our knowledge of the early earth that this discovery provides, is the missing microfossil

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life before oxygen

evidence to confirm previous theories that earth’s earliest life was sulfur loving.

“For the first time in rocks of this age we have discovered a whole ecosystem of microbes that were using different compounds of sulfur to survive. Some of the microbes were feeding off grains of pyrite (FeS2; also known as fool’s gold), oxidizing the sulfur to produce sulfate.

“The hydrogen sulfide could then combine with free iron in the water to form small grains of pyrite, thus completing the sulfur cycle in the absence of oxygen.

“Previously, the isotopic composition of sulfur within pyrite had been used to infer the presence of sulfur microbes on the early earth, but this discovery extends the fossil record of such microbes by 500 million years or more.”

Dr Wacey said the research started out as just testing whether there was life in rocks throughout the Pilbara: “In year one it was a case of collecting a lot of rock samples from the right types of rocks.

“We had some clues to go on from previous work done in the area, for example we knew the ages of most of the rocks and we knew where people had seen sandstone and other sedimentary rocks in the past.

“In that first year (2005) we collected 200

or so fist-sized blocks of rock and set about extracting very thin portions of the most promising to look at down the microscope.

“Although no microfossils were found in these, a few samples from close to a watering hole known as Strelley Pool, had many of the attributes that we were looking for. They contained a lot of carbon, were not too weathered, and had interesting metal rich minerals such as pyrite.

“The following year we focused on these black, carbon and metal rich sandstones and struck gold with two of these samples containing microstructures that looked like microfossils. In 2007 we found yet more examples, guided by our finds the year before.

“Over the last three years or so we have applied an unprecedented number of state of the art techniques to these samples to confirm that what we are seeing really are microfossils.

“These have included bombarding them with electrons, lasers and charged ions to study their chemistry and structure right down to the nanometer scale. All of these lines of evidence built on top of one another to complete the story that started out in the Australian outback.”

Previously, the oldest fossils found were 3.2 billion years old in South Africa, reported

by Emmanuelle Javaux from the University of Liege in Belgium last year.

Cutting It Fine article by Thomas Marcinkowski illustration by Joel Van Haastert

In a science lab at ECU Joondalup, a large monitor displays an image relayed back by a nanoscope – a device that allows Bangladesh-born scientist and doctoral student Mohammad Shoeb Ahmed to see the world on a scale so small he can watch the actual molecules that make up a material.

T

he material Ahmed is observing is a piece of steel with a tiny, nano-thin coating of other metals. He watches as acidic chemicals make contact with the coating, causing a reaction. Ahmed is testing the coating for its resistance to corrosion at a nanoscopic level. The chemical reactions might be small, but the implications of this research are vast. His findings will eventually be used to strengthen the components of all kinds of machines, from drilling tools and surgical tools to aeroplanes.

Ahmed is one of many scientists around the world researching ‘nanocomposite thin films’. For the past few decades, thin layers of super-strong metal alloys have been used to coat other metals that are used in manufacturing.

The coating can reinforce a body of metal by protecting its surface with a super-thin layer of material that has stronger, more resistant molecules. It works in the same way as the oil coating that makes ducks’ feathers waterproof.

With better technologies allowing us to observe the world at a molecular level, scientists are now able to study the intricacies of different metal compounds used in thin films. We can gain a much better understanding of which molecular structures are able to stay intact in a tough environment of high heat, pressure or acidity.

“If you can observe this at a microscopic level, it can broaden your knowledge at a macroscopic level,” said Ahmed.

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Here in Australia, Ahmed is making his own contribution to the field. He has shown that a ceramic substance called titanium silicon nitride can reinforce metals in a way that is superior to the substances currently being used. His findings build on the many years of research he began in Bangladesh.

Ahmed began his scientific career at a fertiliser plant in the western region of Bangladesh, where he was a minerals engineer. As an engineer, it was his job to inspect the pipes and equipment in the plant for corrosion damage. Whenever there was a shut-down in the plant he would inspect the equipment over the course of a month with a team of eleven other engineers.

Ahmed spent five years in this job before he grew dissatisfied, realising there was more to the inspection of industrial materials than looking into pipes and welding the damaged areas.

“I did some research in my workplace, but that was not enough,” he said. “I needed to see what was happening on a nano-scale. That could broaden my knowledge about the materials.

“I had a dream to be a scientist and to be a materials researcher.”

In February 2009 Ahmed migrated to Australia to pursue this dream, as there were many scientists here with expertise in the field of materials research. He soon met his supervisor, Dr Zonghan Xie, and received

his first research grant from the Hong Kong City University, $30 000 for three years of research. He specialised in the study of thin films for use in material engineering, and Ahmed’s doctoral project began.

For the last two and a half years Ahmed has been studying different substances used as thin film. He tests these materials for both corrosion resistance and strength.

In order to ensure the most accurate results, his experiments are observed at the molecular level.

The Hong Kong City University produces the thin film-coated samples using a technique known as ‘sputtering’.

Two main materials, the ‘substrate’ and the ‘target’, are placed close together within a confined space. An electron beam is fired at a chunk of the target material, with tiny molecules flying off the target as it is hit. As the target molecules ‘sputter’ away they fall on the substrate and form a new coating.

The layer of target material is only two microns thick; that’s one five-hundredth of a millimetre. A nanocomposite thin film is created and the samples are then sent to Australia where Ahmed can begin conducting his tests on them.

Ahmed is particularly enthusiastic about applications in aeroplane components. The recent cloud of ash carried across Australia, caused by the volcanic eruption in Chile, is an example of a typically corrosive substance. According to Ahmed, if it comes into contact with the unprotected steel

components of an aeroplane’s engine or landing gears it can create many potentially life-threatening problems.

The complex machinery of the plane is eaten away by corrosive chemicals and is unable to function correctly. This puts the aeroplane at a much higher risk of crashing and, if the aeroplane does survive, the damage is still very expensive to repair.

Ahmed said better thin film coatings for aeroplane components would do more to prevent such damage from occurring.

For the past thirty years titanium nitride has been the material of choice for coating aeroplane parts. Ahmed has developed an even stronger thin film that adds silicon to the mix to form titanium silicon nitride.

“In an acidic environment titanium nitride can be corroded within seven days, but I

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have experimented with mine and it can be used for up to 15 days without corrosion,” he said, adding that titanium silicon nitride could be used as a thin film in a variety of different steel-based machines.

Ahmed has already published three papers on his work in internationally renowned scientific journals, The Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Thin Solid Films and Corrosion Science. He has attended two international materials science conferences and networked with scientists from around the world.

Upon receiving his PhD in the next six months, Ahmed hopes to conduct postdoctoral studies in his field. This will prove to be a challenge, as it will be difficult to find enough funding in Perth as research projects in WA are dominated by the mining sector.

He said he would have to move interstate to conduct his research further. Ahmed wants to return to Bangladesh one day where he will become an engineering lecturer and bring the knowledge and experience he has gained to a new generation.

Whatever the future holds, Ahmed is happy to be involved in such a thriving area of scientific inquiry. “There are so many professional scientific organisations in the world who are now dealing with the research of this type of material,” he said.

The frontiers of nanocomposite thin film research seem certain to keep expanding into the future. When Ahmed does return home, he may even be feeling safer because better thin films have been developed and no volcanic ash can threaten to disrupt his journey.

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The Sin of Hidden Trade Off

Natures Organics Earth Choice Woolwash This laundry product claims to reduce chemical waste because of what the producers call “P.E.T.” packaging, which it claims is easier to recycle. P.E.T is more commonly referred to as PET, so it seems as if the laundry guys threw in the full stops to give it more “seriousness”. Everything seems more legit when you add those full stops. Anyways, back to the PET itself. Less than 21 per cent of all plastic bottles are made available for recycling, plus the production of PET bottles uses vast supplies of energy therefore you end up with a rather unsustainable product.

Reviewed by Chris Simonsen

2

The Sin of No Proof

McLean’s Run Free-Range Eggs The packaging is attractive and promises that the eggs are ‘Free Range Accredited,’ independently audited and the best for animal welfare. But the company doesn‘t provide any proof on its website or packaging. The only way for a consumer to prove their claims is to audit documents from every single free-range egg farm in Australia and compare them, which is quite the ordeal to go through for your morning omelette.

To scramble it up a bit more, they also commit the Sins of Vagueness and Lesser of Two Evils because they don’t mention the fact that beak trimming is allowed.

Reviewed by Jessica Allia

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The Sin of Vagueness

Natures Organics Earth Choice Toilet Cleaner The Sin of Vagueness is commited in the claim that the product reduces chemical waste and is a “plant active” formula. The label doesn’t indicate how the product will reduce chemical waste whether it be through the production process, the use of this product over another, or through the packaging process. The product stating it uses a “plant active” formula is also commits the Sin of Fibbing as it infers the formula uses plant-derived ingredients to clean. While the product does contain citric acid, glycolic acid, eucalyptus oil and lavender oil, it also contains several chemicals including cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium laureth sulfate and colours. This is misleading because many people may buy this product based on the assumption it contains only natural ingredients.

Reviewed by Tanya Phillips

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The Sin of Worshipping False Labels

Method All Surface Cleaner Method prides itself on being biodegradable and 100 per cent recyclable, with its packaging being made from natural materials including bamboo, corn and coconut oils. It also claims “the energy used in our manufacturing sites is from renewable energy credits” however the company offers no substantiation to these claims, and its recycling symbol is not credited to a reputable organisation, instead it displays its own logo. While the environmentally friendly claims are presented in a humorous way, there are no facts to support the claims.

Reviewed by Georgia Stout

Scot Case from TerraChoice has made a mission of outing companies for committing what he calls the “Seven Sins of Greenwashing” – acts of consumer deceptionabout their environmental practices and the environmental benefits of products. Our science journalists used his definitions to investigate products we have at home.

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Sin of Lesser of Two Evils

DUO Ultra Concentrate Washing Powder This product claims that cold water washing saves energy, which is generally irrefutable. However, products that claim to wash better in cold water can have petrochemicals and non-biodegradable ingredients. This commits the greenwashing sin the Lesser of Two Evils as it becomes a question of which is better, an energy saving wash with highly-pollutant detergent, or energy consuming wash with lesser-pollutant detergent. The product also commits the Sin of Irrelevance because it brags about being phosphate-free, when in fact Australia is phasing out the use of phosphate, with a ban beginning in 2014.

Reviewed by Faraz Hedayat

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The Sin of Fibbing

4

Sin of Ir

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rosion Lubrica nt This pr oduct c laims t of cont o have ention “N w eviden ce of o ith this claim o CFCs”. One fficial in point is that to any it c spe rela it comm ted authoris ction or appr ontains no in ov it “Ozone s the Sin of Ir g bodies. Mo al, or a link re impo relevan Safe” g rt c iv Austra lian law en that CFC e in claiming antly, to be s are ba .

Other nned b produc y ts Garnie r Skin N guilty of this sin inclu aturals Roll-O n, Pu de Plant a Vanish NapiS re Active Ant : an OxiA nd Min i-Spots eral Ba sed Co ction, and Ec ncentr oStore Review ate ed by Jo shua R ossi

Lanotec Lanolin t made by Lanotec Lanolin is the name of a produc l lubricant and stria indu Australia and is used as an vironmental “En an has can The corrosion inhibitor. consumer the show Solutions” logo on the front to the back On t. men iron the company cares for the env tal men iron Env from n of the can is a list take from Lanotec. It Solutions, as well as two claims non-carcinogenic, claims the Lanolin is non-toxic, silicones. But, it’s no s tain biodegradable and it con ing since the Fibb of Sin the ting possibly commit says that Lanolin Organic Consumer’s Association s, such as the enic could contain hidden carcinog cer. can to lead can ch pesticide DDT, whi Reviewed by Samantha Kelly

illustration by Nicole Wee 13

HD Magazine Dec 2011

Dec 2011 HD Magazine

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LIFE IN A FRAGMENTED articles by Anup Latnekar and Bjorn Myran illustration by Patrick Ball

W

A’s flora and fauna are beautiful and much loved – 80% of species found here are not found anywhere else in the world.

The entire south western corner of WA ranging from Geraldton to Esperance and across up to the Southern Cross is classified as a “biodiversity hotspot”.

It is the only one in Australia out of the 34 hotspots recognized worldwide by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. So far, a total of 8,000 native Australian species of plants have been

identified in the region.

The Southwest of Australia is geologically most stable part in the world. Thousands of species have evolved over millions of years due to minimum ecological disturbance and geographical isolation to become uniquely Australian.

This biodiversity hotspot in WA is recognized for two important reasons firstly, due to the richness and uniqueness of the species found in the area. Secondly, because these rare and precious species face a substantial level of threat from extinction due to ever-shrinking habitat.

Ecologist Shaun Molloy is passionate about the biodiversity in WA and determined to make a difference to this situation. He is studying the habitat needed by the biodiverse species in WA and spatial relationships between them.

Working through Edith Cowan University’s School of Natural Sciences, Molloy is researching management of biodiversity in areas where habitats are fragmented.

He hopes his research will minimize the impact of human intervention and save some species from extinction.

“It is our national heritage, acknowledge it or not, it a large part of where we live and part of who we are.

“It falls upon us to take some degree of custodianship and to manage this resource correctly, otherwise it will be lost.”

Challenges he has faced include dealing with the complexity of investigating spatial relationships between biologically diverse plants; as well as inadequate funds, lack of access to statisticians and time consuming bureaucratic processes.

He receives d scholarship of $25,000 from the Hallsworth Research Fellowship

scheme of The University of Manchester, but said more funds would have increased the scope of the project.

According to Molloy industrial growth, frequent bush fires and development of infrastructure like roads, bridges and dams in WA’s rural areas have contributed to decrease in the diversity and condition of native vegetation. Around 80 per cent of the bushland that existed 200 years ago has been cleaved for farming , breaking up natural habitats.

Statistics and historical data show that plants respond to changing conditions by migrating or evolving, but it is harder for evolved species to survive if they occur in small patches and fragmentation causes barriers to movement hindering species migration. Ultimately species reduce in size, condition and diversity until they reach a point beyond which adaptation becomes impossible and they face extinction.

Molloy said: “Climate change is one of the revolutionary drivers.

“CSIRO climate change modelling for this region predicts an increase in mean temperature of 3-4c and a decrease in annual rainfall of 30-40% by the end of the current century.”

This means that in next 80 years Busselton will have the climatic conditions.

Geraldton has now. So, the species now living in Busselton will have to migrate, adapt or die.

A management system that analyses data and enables informed decisions is required to successfully manage this threat. But currently, there is no such management system in place.

B

iodiversity has a bigger effect on our life than you might think.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) explains that coral reefs provide food, storm protection, jobs and other income sources for more than 500 million people worldwide yet 70 per cent of coral reefs are threatened or have been destroyed.

The human effect on nature has been detrimental for the world’s biodiversity, and in an effort to try and stop that IUCN created the biodiversity hotspot list of areas around the world on the brink of annihilation.

The list was first developed in 1988

by Norman Myers and now highlights 34 sensitive regions. Combined, they contain about 50 per cent of the world’s endemic plant species and over 40 per cent of all terrestrial vertebrates, despite having lost over 85 per cent of their original habitat.

To be counted as a hotspot, a region must meet two criteria – it has to contain at least 1500 species of vascular plants and they has to have lost at least 70 per cent of their original native habitat.

Australia only has WA’s South-West on the list – which could be a good thing.

America, Africa and Asia dominate the list, with 24 different hotspots.

Between them the 34 hotspots are home to 50 per cent of the planet’s plant species, but they cover just 2.3 per cent of the Earth’s land surface. They are also home to 42 per cent of all terrestial vertebrate species.

According to the IUCN, the hotspots face the double threat of habitat destruction by industry and through climate change which is expected to accelerate degradation and fragmentation.

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Plague predicting puzzle article by Marcus Peterson illustration by Chuanyuan Xu and Kyle Williams

In H. G. Wells’ science fiction epic War of the Worlds, an alien invasion is crippled by a strain of the influenza virus. It’s not such a far-fetched idea, in reality pathogens are one of nature’s most powerful weapons.

Deadly viral outbreaks such as the Black Death and the Spanish Influenza have been the result of a pathogen switching from an animal species to a human.

In more recent times we have seen how HIV, SARS and the 2009 Swine flu outbreak, all contracted from an animal species, have had worldwide repercussions.

Being able to understand and predict when a potentially deadly virus will jump to a different host will greatly help to reduce their impact.

A research team headed by Dr Ben Longdon from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland has had an article recently published on the peer reviewed open access journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) that attempts to explain the reasons for pathogens switching hosts.

“Understanding the reasons why parasites jump between different host species is essential to allow us to predict future threats and understand the causes of disease emergence.”

Dr Longdon says “Here we ask how host-relatedness might determine when host shifts can occur.”

Dr Longdon earned a Bachelor of Science (Honours) majoring in Biology in 2006 and earned a US Geological Survey Entomology internship in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park in 2007.

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Dr Longdon and his team, consisting of Dr Darren Obbard, Dr Francis Jiggins, Claire Webster and Dr Jarrod Hadfield submitted the paper Host Phylogeny Determines Viral Persistence and Replication in Novel Hosts in April this year., and it was published on September 22.

Understanding the reasons why parasites jump between different host species is essential to allow us to predict future threats A host shift can occur when a pathogen is exposed to a new host, but the factors that determine if that pathogen can replicate inside a new host are poorly understood.

The objective of the research was to observe how pathogens change and adapt to new hosts, in what is known as a phylogenetic jump. Phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness amongst species.

The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK. The BBSRC supports over 1600 scientists and 2000 research students in universities and research institutions in the United Kingdom.

Using three virus strains common to flies, 51 species of flies were sampled from Drosophilidae (a family of flies which includes fruit flies) and injected with the strains.

The flies were kept in half pint bottles and only the females were injected with 69 nanolitres of the virus. Changes in viral titre were measured for any changes periodically.

A viral titre is the smallest concentration of a virus that can still infect cells, and will change when moving to a different host species. The viruses used in this experiment are RNA viruses.

An RNA virus is a virus that has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material, with RNA being one of the three macromolecules (along with DNA and protein) that are common to all life. SARS, influenza and Hepatitis-C are both RNA based viruses.

Another commonly known term for a type of RNA viruses is a ‘retrovirus’. RNA viruses have very high mutation rates compared to DNA viruses.

Due to their highly aggressive mutations, it is difficult to create vaccines and anti-viral medications to use against RNA viruses.

An RNA virus will incorporate itself into a hosts DNA using a process called reverse transcriptase, where the virus will stealthily embed its RNA genomes into the host’s DNA. The enzymes which replicate DNA, the DNA polymerases, will then replicate the new cells, along with the virus, without suspecting a thing, allowing the virus to spread throughout the body.

This makes it difficult for anti-viral meds to attack targets without harming the cells of the host.

At this point, after thinking “What the hell is RNA?” you may be thinking something along the lines of “Why flies?”

Another member of the team, Dr Darren Obbard, says that flies are effective for studying how things can move between species, and also adds that he can’t think of another animal that you could keep 50 of in one laboratory.

The results of the experiments found two important components. Firstly, the closer a species’ relations to the virus’ natural host, the greater the chance of being successfully infected by the virus.

This is known as the distance effect.

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The second is what is known as the phylogenetic effect.

The phylogenetic effect means that species that are closely related will have similar levels of resistance and susceptibility to a pathogen due to their common ancestry. Different patterns of host shifting may occur from the two effects.

The phylogenetic effect may result in an entire clade of a species catching the virus while the distance effect may result in only close genetic relations being afflicted.

The research is not suggesting that a pathogen cannot switch between species that are distantly related, but a pathogen will struggle more to replicate inside a new host the further it’s relation from the original host species.

As Dr Longdon said earlier, the reasons why a pathogen will jump between species is mostly unknown.

However, in this research the phylogenetic effect was shown to have practical applications, and potential for future research into the resistance of pathogens in different species.

Genetic distance between host species may be an important factor in predicting host shifts.

Certain viruses such as the Cucumber Mosaic Virus in plants can infect over 1300 plant species in 100 families.

Large host jumps such as the Cucumber Mosaic Virus raise questions about whether phylogenetic factors are important when predicting host jumps.

This research showed that the phylogenetic effect is just one of many factors that influence the replication and persistence of pathogens in new hosts.

The research conducted by Dr Longdon and his colleagues is one piece in a much larger puzzle, with a puzzle being what we know about how pathogens switch between hosts, and how we can predict the switch to prevent pandemics of potentially world crippling pathogens.

As phylogenetic jumping pathogens have a good track record for going global and causing an unnecessary amount of panic (cue 2009 swine flu outbreak), isolating and containing the spread of these outbreaks could save a lot of trouble.

And who knows, maybe if hostile aliens do invade at some point in the future, we could harness our knowledge of how pathogens move between hosts to force a deadly pathogen to make a grand phylogenetic jump to infect the aliens and save the Earth.

Do-It-yourself Cancer article by Chanel Darcey illustration by Swechha Shrestha

Medical experts are concerned that Australians are risking their lives by attempting to remove cancercausing asbestos on their own.

Research shows that asbestos-related cancer caused by home renovations increased for women from 5 per cent in the 1990s to over 35 per cent by 2008. In the same time-frame, the cancer rate for men increased from 3 per cent to 8 per cent.

Co-author Dr Peter Franklin from UWA said asbestos fibres have the ability to cause respiratory cancers.

“The two main cancers associated with asbestos are malignant mesothelioma (MM) and lung cancer,” he said.

“Asbestos is possibly the only, but at the very least the predominant, cause of MM. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer but asbestos can cause lung cancer independent of smoking.

“There is some evidence that the effects of smoking and asbestos exposure can be synergistic but this still remains controversial.”

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Dr Franklin together with UWA Senior Research Officer Nola Olsen was involved in research published in The Medical Journal of Australia that reviewed all Western Australian MM cases between 1960 and 2008.

Ms Olsen said there have been over 1600 cases of MM in that time period. She said they see about 90 new cases in WA each year, and that number seems to have plateaued.

“What we are seeing is a change in the significant exposures of the people who are being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

“It used to be mainly the miners and millers of raw asbestos and then cases were mainly being exposed to manufactured asbestos, for example people in the building trades and asbestos cement manufacture.

“In recent times we have seen an increase in the number of cases of mesothelioma where the significant exposure has been from doing home renovations and do-it-yourself projects or from having been in the vicinity as these activities have taken place,” Ms Olsen explained.

According to a 2002 study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, around 18,000 cases are expected by 2020.

Dr Franklin said asbestos exposure has also

been connected to non-respiratory cancers, but the evidence for this is not as strong.

“Other cancers that have been associated with asbestos exposure include gastrointestinal and colo-rectal cancers, laryngeal cancers, and ovarian cancers.

A couple of studies have found links between asbestos exposure and cancers of the brain, kidney and bladder,” he said.

Protective clothing, which includes; head gear, mask, goggles, shoes and disposable overalls. That would be the way to go Two different types of research have been conducted to find out more about asbestos exposure in relation to cancer: Epidemiological research – dealing with the incidence, distribution and control of disease – and laboratory research.

“There is a lot of epidemiological evidence for asbestos and cancer, particularly mesothelioma and lung cancer,” Dr Franklin said.

“These studies have mostly been conducted in occupational groups exposed to asbestos but there are also a large number of studies showing asbestos-related cancers as a result of non-occupational exposures.

“Of relevance to WA are the studies by our group into ex-residents of Wittenoom where asbestos tailings from the mine were used extensively.

“Causal relationships are determined by the strength of the relationship, the consistency of the findings, evidence of dose-response relationship (higher risk with increased exposure) and temporarility (exposure occurs before disease).”

Dr Franklin said asbestos is the only known cause of MM and the causal relationship is not questioned.

“There is plenty of evidence to show that asbestos is carcinogenic,” he said.

President of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia, Robert Vojakovic recommends people seek professional assistance when removing asbestos, or ensure they have the correct protective clothing.

“Protective clothing, which includes; head gear, mask, goggles, shoes and disposable overalls would be the way to go,” he said.

“In particular if they are renovating where there are already carpets or floor covers, definitely get a professional to

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get that removed, because once you contaminate your carpets there is no way you can ever remove asbestos fibres.”

Mr Vojakovic said a misconception some home renovators have is that they think they can see the asbestos fibres.

This is not true. There are hundreds and thousands of tiny fibres and they are the ones that put people in danger.

“My word, just get a professional,” he advised.

“I am quite sure that the local minister or authorities … will be able to send somebody, or if you are unable to get any of those people then obviously you can ring our office and we will send an inspector to assist you.”

“In a world awash with blogs, an e-news site full of real journalism is pure gold.”

NEWS BY ECU JOURNALISM S

Subscribe for free.

For more information about asbestos, contact the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia on (08) 9344 4077 or visit asbestosdiseases.org.au

http://3degree.ecu.edu.au

Obesity Drugs to Fight

Pill popping fatties article by Tanya Phillips illustration by Nicole Lee Feast or famine - for thousands of years our hunter-gatherer ancestors coped with this arduous cycle.

Now, in the day of credit cards, 24-hour convenience, and the Tim Tam Double Coat, who can blame us for not having such discipline?

But our affluence has come at a cost - nearly two and a half million Australians are obese, and most of us are overweight. Obesity is the silent assassin crippling our health system. But, it’s not like we haven’t tried to shed those extra kilos, it’s just that nothing ever works, right?

Melbourne physiologist, Professor Michael Cowley argues that diets don’t work and we need an obesity drug.

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Cowley speaks with wit and charm as he tells a room full of strangers why nearly every one of them is fat. He echoes one of those profound banalities - modern technology has rendered us loyal to the chair. The efficiencies we longed for have only given us more time to sit at an evermultiplying variety of screens. This, mixed with efficiently-marketed, readily-available, calorie-dense delicious food is the recipe for the obesity epidemic now weighing us down.

“We do so little physical activity and we’re practically rolling around in Mars Bars,” said Cowley, who too is a well-fed man. “Our brains haven’t caught up with the change.” He explains there are several components to why people become obese (scoring a BMI of 30 or over) with biology being the initial factor. “People have a predisposition to body shape that has several components. There’s a strong genetic component, and nutritional environment in early life is important in setting up your metabolic trajectory,” he said. Nevertheless, obesity is sweeping the globe at an alarming rate.

But this is not a question of vanity. This is a question of health and consequently, economics. The treatment of obesity and

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its myriad of co-morbid conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression are already putting a huge strain on the healthcare system, and it’s set to get far worse.

We do so little physical activity and we’re practically rolling around in Mars Bars The latest results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that one in four children aged 5-17 years are now overweight or obese. But with so much emphasis on losing weight and being healthy, why is it that none of it is working?

Cowley reckons he has the answers.

Until 2008, Cowley spent ten years in the United States working with hormones and developing drugs to treat obesity. The key to his research is the hormone leptin which had been found to regulate body weight. This hormone is found in brown fat, the type that keeps us warm. Brown fat is the reason why those crash diets just

don’t work. Cowley explained when we over-eat, our brains activate the brown fat and we burn the extra energy off. When we diet, our brains decrease the energy we put in to brown fat, making you lose less energy. If the balance of energy is in excess for an extended period of time, we become obese.

“In the short-term, the brain is quite capable of counteracting anything you do to it, but we’re doing something in the long haul that pushes the brain to where it can’t cope,” he said. “It turns out obese people are resistant to leptin, just like diabetics are resistant to insulin.”

Cowley identified the neurons in the brain that respond to leptin and found that leptin activated neurons that suppress weight, and inhibited neurons that increase weight. He mapped the neural circuits involved in controlling body weight, and then identified how to trick an obese person’s brain in to thinking they have overeaten. This led to Contrave.

As the founder and chief scientific officer of San Diego-based NASDAQlisted biotech company Orexigen Therapeutics, Cowley developed Contrave, a combination of two drugs that have

already been in use for nearly 20 years.

Bupropion is the active ingredient in widely prescribed anti-depressant Wellbutrin which decreases food intake and boosts energy expenditure, and Naltrexone is a treatment for drug and alcohol addiction which prevents the natural counteraction efforts of the body.

Phase III trials in 2010 showed at least five per cent sustained weight loss over a year, placing it in contention for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Dieticians Association of Australia states that losing 5-10 per cent body weight can improve glucose tolerance in people with or who are prone to diabetes, and it can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, both risk factors for heart disease. Contrave acts on the secondary condition of depression and it did not produce numerous other unpleasant side effects that have marred the production of other obesity drugs in the past.

In December 2010 Contrave became the first drug in over a decade to be recommended for approval by the FDA advisory committee. But all confidence was shot down three months later when the FDA declined to approve Contrave,

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requesting further trials. Concern arose from data showing slightly raised blood pressure and pulse rates in some patients, which are of particular concern to the elderly and obese.

The FDA wanted long term studies of three to five years which would cost approximately USD$400 million, effectively making the drug unviable.

It’s a stigmatised disease and that’s because we don’t understand it “You need to be bought by Big Pharma. If there’s no buyer, there’s no educator. If there’s no educator, there’s no development path for innovation,” Cowley explained solemnly.

When I met with Cowley in midAugust, he had relocated to Melbourne’s Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute and had refocused on discovering exactly how obesity is linked to metabolic diseases.

In the meantime Cowley is also tentatively exploring alternative avenues to acquiring approval in other international markets for his creation. The decision by the FDA had stonewalled obesity drug development and angered the industry.

In September following negotiations, Orexigen announced the FDA had agreed on a new cardiovascular outcomes trial to be carried out in under two years and requiring less than 10,000 patients.

Orexigen believes the requirements are “reasonable and feasible” and “should lead to approval.” The company said the USD$70 million it has in the bank will cover the trial costs, but it will still engage with its previous investors for any further funding.

So after a gut-wrenching eight months, it is possible Cowley may see his pride and joy on the market in 2014. So now the tense waiting game recommences.

What’s clear is that weight loss is not just an issue of willpower. “Obesity,” says Cowley, “is now where depression was twenty years ago. It’s a stigmatised disease and that’s because we don’t understand it. You can only change what you admit you have and I think that’s what we have to work towards - de-stigmatising the disease.”

Can Caffeine Counter CanCer? article by Alison Muir illustration by Rebecca Pearson

Could your flat white reduce your chances of developing cancer? A US study has found that the consumption of caffeine could assist in reducing the risks of developing the disease, particularly skin cancer.

Where caffeine was previously considered a possible carcinogen, researchers have been investigating the stimulant as a potential chemical to assist in cancer prevention.

The research team was able to confirm their hypothesis and link caffeinated drink consumption with significant decreases in several types of cancer, including highly prevalent UV-associated skin carcinomas.

The study was lead by Professor Allan Conney, a chemical biologist and director of the Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was a collaboration between researchers from Rutgers State University of New Jersey and the University of Washington.

With 1850 deaths a year from skin cancer, the study is of particular significance to Australia So does this mean consuming an abundance of coffee or adding caffeine to sunscreen will serve as adequate protection against the sun’s harmful UV rays and prevent the development of cancerous melanomas?

According to Cancer Council Australia CEO Professor Ian Olver, the US study

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suggested caffeine is a possible mechanism of protection and is a candidate for further research.

Prof Olver said although caffeine can cause sleep disturbance, arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) and have other minor side effects, it is a relatively safe drug.

He said the prospect of applying it as a sunscreen could now be tested on humans.

The research focused on the gene ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR). To test the theory, the ATR in a group of mice was genetically modified and diminished. The mice were then exposed to UV radiation.

While it’s still not understood how caffeine protects against skin cancer, the research group said the suppression of ATR selectively sensitized DNA-damaged and malignant cells to apoptosis; which means until they died off.

According to Prof Olver, the significant element of the research was that caffeine tended to protect the mice early in the pre-cancerous stage when the animals were made more susceptible to sunburn through altering the ATR gene.

With 1850 deaths a year from skin cancer, the study is of particular significance to Australia in terms of sun protection and cancer prevention.

Prof Olver said many of those deaths were caused by melanoma and with over 10,000 cases of melanoma a year; Australia has one of the highest rates in the world.

In addition, there are around 430,000 cases of non-melanoma skin cancer in the country making it a huge burden for Australia.

“Fortunately with melanoma we have had a couple of new drugs that are so-called targeted therapies that have been found to be useful. They’re probably the first drugs that have been useful in treating established melanoma, but they are still not curative,” he said.

“You can cure early melanoma surgically, however once it’s spread beyond its initial site it’s incredibly difficult to cure. So in melanoma it’s very important to prevent it rather than let it get established.”

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trouble in the nursery article by Chanel Darcey, Georgia Stout and Aine Ryan illustration by Jessica Brookes The birth of a child is widely recognised as the ‘happiest day of our lives,’ a time of joy filled with overwhelming feelings of love and admiration for the ‘precious gift of life’. But what happens when a mother does not have these emotions and feels nothing but stress, anxiety and depression?

According to Beyond Blue, an organisation that supports people with depression and anxiety, 10 per cent of women who suffer from depression during pregnancy increases to 14 per cent following the birth. Depression both before and after the birth can be harmful to the mother, the baby and their relationship.

Beyond Blue Deputy CEO and psychologist Dr Nicole Highet says the media’s portrayal of motherhood is a contributing factor in the increase of women suffering from depression.

“Perfect mother and baby experiences pervade media images of motherhood and images typically include the concept of the perfect mum, settled baby, and perfect house, fully restored body and with mum having nothing to do but to enjoy perfect moments,” she said.

“This places enormous pressure on women who try and live up to these images and if depressed and anxious, this compounds the feelings of failure, increased sense of isolation and symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

Director of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne Professor Anne Buist, who spoke at the 2011 Marcé Conference on perinatal mental health discussed the importance of motherinfant attachment at a time of high-stress and depression caused by PMD and the influence of society.

“There is so much pressure from society for women to be perfect mothers, and when women cannot achieve that some are left feeling like that have failed at parenting,” she said.

Professor Buist’s research is looking at the major barrier between mother-infant attachment, which is reflective functioning.

“That is the thing that is changeable and underpins attachment … it is the capacity to understand emotions in yourself and others and recognise them,” she said.

Professor Buist said if women cannot understand their baby’s feelings that will just contribute further to their stress and detachment.

“The other reason it’s important is because we know it’s associated with attachment security, that’s where I am heading with this. This is the next one we’re wanting to improve.

“So we’re starting not with the mother and baby, but trying to understanding the mother. We’re looking at and her relationship to her mother.”

The future of this attachment research is heading towards creating an effective psychosocial assessment for evaluating mother-infant communication and in turn developing more mother-infant intervention and therapies.

It is a long road, but the more research that goes into it the better, because, as Professor Buist said: “babies can’t wait.”

If you know anyone suffering depression, visit www.beyondblue.org.au

Is it just the baby blues?

The baby blues occur between three and ten days after giving birth, and they are blamed on changes in hormone levels following childbirth and usually disappear within a few days, without treatment.

Postnatal depression develops between one month and one year after the birth.

Symptoms can develop suddenly or gradually and usually require treatment by counsellors or medical professionals.

• One in six Australian women will experience postnatal depression • The baby blues affect around 80 per cent of mothers • One in 500 mothers suffer from postnatal psychosis • One in five people experience depression at some point in their lives

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better fake Breast milk article by James Mooney illustration by Xuting Lao CSIRO and bioactive nutrient company Clover Corp are teaming up in developing a new generation of infant formulas using ingredients similar to those found in breast milk.

The new formula hopes to offer a product similar to natural breast milk, allowing newborns to have the same nutrition with the right balance of essential fatty acids.

The partnership will continue over three-years, with the two organisations working on a $1.2 million program.

In a statement released on August 18, CSIRO’s research team leader, Luz Sanguansri, described breast milk as the gold label product. However, times and situations will arise when breast milk is not available, Sanguansri explained: “Not all mothers and babies find breast feeding possible and in situations when infant formulas are needed to supplement or replace it, those formulas need to be as close to the real thing as possible.”

The challenge of the research is to find a working formula allowing the product to be stable and a strong substitute for breast milk.

The statement from Clover Corporation Ltd described the omega 3 fatty acid DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) as one of the essential acids that can be used to help infants nutritional development and strengthen their immune system.

Sanguansri spoke of the difficulties in finding the correct process of keeping DHA stable from the time of distribution until home use. The process would also need to account for the correct balance of formula for the digestive processes of a child.

“Because many of the bioactive components of breast milk are not stable, their inclusion in infant formula is not straight forward,” she said.

Stem Cells in Breast Milk

by Jasmine Amis A new potential use for breast milk has been discovered, as it has been shown to contain properties that could replace the controversial embryonic cells being used in stem cell research.

This groundbreaking research by UWA’s Dr Foteini Hassiotou shown that the cells in human breast milk behave like embryonic cells and can turn into different cell types.

Dr Hassiotou explained: “The discovery of stem cells in human breast milk opens new avenues for the use of these cells to further understand how the human body works.”

Science and Innovation Minister John Day said that this is world-first research taking place in Western Australia.

“The field of stem cell therapy is a promising and rapidly developing field,” he said.

The embryonic-like stem cells accessed non-invasively from breast milk can develop into different body cell types such as

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“We need to be sure that these bioactive components are stable and reach the right part of the infants’ digestive tract for absorption, so that the benefits for development and immune function are maximised.”

In previous work between CSIRO and Clover there has been success in protecting DHA during distribution, along with minimising the fishy taste.

Clover Chief Executive Officer Ian Brown spoke of the 15 year working relationship between the two corporations, with positive aspirations for the upcoming project.

Brown hopes the CSIRO and Clover partnership will produce a new generation of nutritional ingredients aimed at better nourishing babies.

brain, liver, fat and bone cells. Dr Hassiotou said that although there is still a long way to go before human trials, the results so far are very promising. The research began early last year when she joined The Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group.

“I was fascinated about the idea of stem cells in breast milk and what roles they may play for the breastfed infant,” she said.

Not only do her findings open up significant avenues for breast milk uses, Dr Hassiotou believes this revelation is momentous as it also emphasises the importance of breast-feeding.

“The message of the presence of these cells in breast milk must reach the everyday person, the breastfeeding mother.

“The findings emphasise how important breastfeeding is for yet another reason and demonstrates that breast milk is much more than nutrition for the baby. Therefore it can never be replaced or substituted by formula,” she said.

Dr Hassiotou recently won the national AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellent Award 2011 for her ground-breaking work. She also received a travel grant of $7000 to present her research at an international conference.

snorting insulin for ALZHEIMER’S article by Amy Carmichael illustration by Ada-Yijun Pany New imaging technologies and drug research are making promising progress in the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Recent breakthroughs, recorded in Australia and the US, have researchers excited about the future.

A study conducted by Dr Suzanne Craft and colleagues at the Veterans Administration’s Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, looked at the use of insulin to treat Alzheimer’s.

The trial tested 104 Alzheimer’s sufferers who were separated into three groups. One group was given placebos and the other two groups were given two different strains of insulin.

The patients suffering from the early stages of the disease, were administered the insulin nasally, which then travelled along the nerves and into the brain.

The study, published in the journal Archives of Neurology, produced positive results. The patients who were administered the lower dose of insulin showed improved memory and cognitive functioning after a two month trial. The study is in its first stages but researchers will continue to explore this new method of treatment.

We spoke about some breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment therapies with Professor David Ames, the Director of the National Ageing Research Institute and University of Melbourne Foundation Professor of Ageing and Health, and Dr Ralph Martins, the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care and the Foundation Chair of Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease within the School of Medical Sciences.

“We’re concentrating on treatment for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and looking at how beta-amyloid forms in the brain,” Professor Ames said.

Beta-amyloid coats the brain in Alzheimer’s sufferers and is the main culprit of the disease. This discovery, led by Dr Martins, has led to major breakthroughs in diagnostic testing and technology.

Dr Martins described new brain imaging

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technology called Positron Emission Tomography (PET)., saying; “We’ve developed new brain imaging scans, which allow us to look in the brain during life and see the build up of the toxic protein we call amyloid.”

Dr Martins said the technology allows them to see parts of the brain light up where the amyloid is forming.

“We use a radio-active tracer compound that has a tag that glows when you look at it under x-ray and it binds the amyloid.

“This allows us to detect which parts of the brain have the amyloid and how much there is.”

Dr Martins anticipates this technology will be available here in Perth in five to ten years. Perth could be the first city in the world to use this technology, which aims to identify the disease 15 years before onset.

As an addition to this new technology, Dr Martins is excited about an early diagnostic blood test that he and his team have developed, which can diagnose the disease quickly and accurately.

“The best time to intervene for effective therapy is before the patient has experienced any symptoms.”

Professor Ames said the research teams are also pleased to announce a collaboration with drug company Pfizer.

“We’re going to produce antibody therapies, which will be trialed around the world.”

Dr Martins described the breakthrough further, saying; “This will place us at the stage where we can basically block the disease, stop it in its tracks or at least delay it very significantly.”

The next step is prevention trials, which he hopes will take place in the near future.

The two researchers are proud of their achievements so far.

“We have a great team of scientists, researchers and clinicians who have come

together from Perth and Melbourne and we’re going to have a very enjoyable and rewarding time unraveling this major disease,” Dr Martins said.

Professor Ames continued by saying we may not find a cure in time for people already in their 60s but the younger generations stand a great chance of beating the disease.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to prevent Alzheimer’s in the next 10 years.”

Party Drug or parkinson’s cure? article by Judith Reczek illustration by Kyle Williams Party drug ecstasy (MDMA) could one day play an important role in the treatment of blood cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Scientists from Western Australia and England have modified a compound that eliminates the psycho-activity of MDMA, and boosts its cancer killing potency 100-fold.

Earlier this year, Professor Piggott from University of Western Australia (UWA) began research into modifying MDMA to treat Parkinson’s disease.

At the same time, scientists on the other side of the world were modifying the same drug to treat blood cancers. The research team at UWA picked this up and now the two teams are working together.

Blood cancers are a huge problem around the world, with lymphoma the fifth most common cancer in Australia.

Many of these cancers have a very poor prognosis and current treatments are not very effective.

Cancer drugs are known for their unpleasant side effects. Prof Piggott said this is because the current treatments attack the healthy cells as well as the cancerous cells.

“Although a lot more research is required, early indications are that the best compounds discovered so far are active against cells derived from strains of blood cancers that are difficult to treat with existing drugs,” he said.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor John Gordon from the University of Birmingham said the discovery was built around observations that the same pathways seen in cancer cells as those present when drugs act on the brain.

“Those very bits of the cells that ecstasy was working on in the brain were also in the cancers of white blood cells,” he said.

“What does ecstasy do to these cancer cells? Well, it kills them.”

These “bits” Prof Gordon refers to are neurotransmitter receptors; serotonin and dopamine. They have a part to play in mood disorders, and are affected by use of MDMA. Prof Gordon’s team found that these receptors are not only found in the brain

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but in cancer cells. They then questioned if psychoactive drugs would affect receptors in cancer cells similar to the way they affect receptors in the brain.

Prof Gordon and his team wrote a paper published in 2005, which showed the ability of MDMA to kill cancer cells.

However at that time the dose of MDMA was potentially toxic and the psychoactive effect was worrying.

Ethical questions are often raised about the use of illicit drugs in medical treatments.

Prof Piggott said that it has always been their intention to improve potency against cancer cells, but at the same time eliminate the psycho-activity of MDMA. “The further we get away from the structure of MDMA, the more potent the compounds get. Although it will probably be possible to see similarities between MDMA and the new drug candidates, I expect they will be quite different,” he said.

Although this is possibly a breakthrough for cancer treatments, the results so far are based on test tube research. Animal testing is the next stage, and it could take up to a decade before the drug can be considered for prescribing.

“Human trials are not on the agenda at the moment. We would need to find compounds that are 10-100 times more potent than the best ones we have,” Prof Piggott said This is not the first time MDMA has been used in medical trials.

In Switzerland, USA and Norway there are on-going studies and trials into how MDMA can help Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

First synthesised in 1912 by Merc Pharmaceuticals, MDMA was used as an appetite suppressant. The USA used MDMA in therapy in 1970 to enhance communications. There were also trials

done on Vietnam War veterans as a treatment for PTSD. Ecstasy first appeared in Australia in the mid eighties, and was classed as an illegal drug in 1987.

the lotus effect:

Inspiring nano tech

article by Yoaran Yu and Faraz Hedayat illustration by Xun Shao The water repellent characteristics of some plants have been attracting the attention of scientists for a long time – and in the comparatively new field of material sciences, natural stay-dry properties have potential to improve our current technology.

The Asian lotus plant is notorious for being water repellent: it’s so good at it a phrase has been coined – the lotus effect.

Use of the term the lotus effect began in 1964, when scientists Dettre and Johnson examined the water repellent properties of the lotus. But, it was not until 1997, when German botanists Barthlott and Neinhuis discovered secrets behind the plant’s the water repellency.

According to the pair, the surface of lotus leaves is textured with small bumps, allowing a water droplet little contact with the surface of the leaf itself. This is called being super hydrophobic.

Lotus leaves have inspired many scientists since then and Edith Cowan University’s Hua Guo is one such researcher. He’s a member of an ECU research group working on a project called Bio-inspired Surface Engineering on Super Hydrophobicity and Water Collection.

The 30-year-old researcher was born in Hubei Province of China, where the famous Wu Dang Mountain is located.

After finishing his Science Degree in China, he went to the US to complete his Masters Degree in Science and he’s now pursuing his PhD at ECU, and helping colleagues collect data from leaves.

According to Guo, more than 200 kinds of plants and animals have water repellent capacity. For a long time, scientists have dreamed of turning this capacity into practical applications, such as ‘water-proofing’ clothes, and making water-repellent building materials, anti-rain window-panes, and/or materials with low friction in water that could be used on speed boats and swimsuits.

‘Water-proofed’ clothes could bring a totally new experience because the droplets will bounce off without leaving traces on the surface.

It definitely reinforces the structural strength of the whole building Water-repellent building materials have broad prospects as well. Concrete and brick have water seepage and leaks due to their inherent porosity. This means water can intrude and damage the structural strength of buildings.

Mr Guo said new materials science developments could provide solutions to these problems.

“If we can put a layer of water repellent coating on the top of building materials, the droplets of rain will not be able to get inside the concrete or bricks. It definitely reinforces the structural strength of the whole building, and the building stands longer than before,” he said. The lotus

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effect has another advantage: self-cleaning.

There are two reasons for this: firstly, as already mentioned, water does not completely settle on lotuses; and secondly, rain water absorbs the dust present on their surface, and given that most of the water ‘glides’ off, the water takes the dust with it.

Other applications, such as low friction coatings, can decrease friction on the surface of boats, for,example, thus reducing the energy required to operate them.

Water repellent coating can also be used in the aviation industry, effectively eliminating the buildup of ice on the wings and tails of airplanes.

One of the Continental Express tragedies, flight 3407, crashed near Buffalo, New York, in 2009 killing 48 people. Ice build up on the windshield and wings of the craft was believed to the cause of the accident.

In spite of these potential applications, very few products are currently using water repellent surfaces because the water repellent material available isn’t very durable. The surface of water repellent material is very fragile, easily damaged and destroyed by impact.

Another problem with the current generation of water-repellent materials is that although they have self-cleaning capabilities when it comes to water-soluble dirt, they are vulnerable to oily substances and this hampers their longevity making it not very economical.

Although the prospects look promising, for industry and market purposes, Guo

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and his colleagues need to overcome some inherent difficulties.

Another challenge is a shortage of lotus plants in Western Australia.

“Things that can be annoying are the possibilities of finding a good inspiration model,” he said.

We don’t know how far we can go on this project, we are getting more clues Guo and his research team know that the lotus leaf is the optimum example of micro-scale bumps on leaves that repel water. However, in WA, they have been forced to look at secondary examples like the Eucalyptus plant.

“We don’t know how far we can go on this project, we are getting more clues with the project progressing,” he said Asked about how long it will be before durable water-repellent products are in production and on the shelf, Guo said it could take another 20 years.

But he is still optimistic about the future of water-repellent technology and the study project: “We can reduce disadvantages and give the coatings new attributes like self-cleaning and self-repairing characteristics,” he said.

“So, they can grow up themselves like a living organism. There is a great prospect on this project.”

nATURE’S POLLUTION POLICE article by Claire Broderick illustration by Xin Tu

Coal power plants in our country provide jobs, power and revenue to the Australian Government, companies and the general public alike, but they also emit pollution to surrounding areas and carbon into the upper atmosphere where it contributes to climate change. With concerns about air pollution growing, plant operators desperately need a good way of measuring the amount of pollution their plants are emitting. A young researcher from Edith Cowan University could have found the answer they’re looking for, with the help of a small fungus-like organism.

Meenu Vitarana, a PhD Candidate in Environmental Management at the School of Natural Sciences at ECU Joondalup, has been working on a technique to easily and effectively measure the amount of heavy metal pollution emitted from coal power plants. Basing her research in the WA town of Collie, south west of Perth with a population of around 7000, Vitarana is two-years into her three-year study. She is using proven theories from previous studies to demonstrate that lichens can be used as a cheaper option in measuring the amount of heavy metal pollution in the atmosphere.

“Lichens are actually a symbiosis between fungi and algae,” Vitarana explains. “They’re not really plants, they’re lower than plants. They’re quite unique in that they don’t depend on their substrate for nutrients. Unlike many other epiphytes, they get all their nutrients from the atmosphere.”

Essentially, lichens are small organisms that grow on varying surfaces, depending on the type of lichen they are. In her research, Vitarana uses the fruiticose lichen, which grows on trees and looks like a small fern in the way it branches out.

Because lichens absorb their nutrients from the air, they also absorb any pollution in the atmosphere too. Through measuring the amount of pollution residue in their

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tissue, Vitarana is able to effectively measure the amount of various metals they have absorbed from the atmosphere, including arsenic, copper, mercury, lead, zinc and nickel.

Vitarana, who is originally from Sri Lanka, has always been interested in the environment and has studied various angles of science, from biology and zoology to biotechnology. But in the end, it was the apathy of the coal companies that pushed her into conducting her Collie-based research. “I chose Collie because they have about four coal power plants there and there’s coal mining happening too without any proper monitoring of heavy metals in the area,” explains Vitarana.

the usual process for measuring heavy metals pollution is so complicated that most companies don’t bother “They’re trying to add more coal plants to the area and add extensions to other plants,” she continues. “There’s already

concern about these additions because the atmosphere in Collie is not in a good state already, so adding more coal power plants will increase the amount of heavy metal pollution in the area.”

The main companies in the Collie area, Wesfarmers Primer Coal and Griffins Coal have performed modeling, where the companies estimate the effect their work will have on the atmosphere and dispersal of pollutants, judging by previous work of the same nature. According to Vitarana, they have failed to properly estimate the amount of heavy metals in the area. “They have reported high levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide, and of particulate matter emitted to the atmosphere, but they haven’t individually measured heavy metal concentrations,” says Vitarana, further explaining that the usual process for measuring heavy metals pollution is so complicated that most companies don’t bother. The process requires large pieces of equipment that are difficult to set-up and operate. “It’s called precipitation analysis and the equipment needs to be deployed in very large areas and the analysis afterwards is very complicated.

“The equipment, especially when measuring pollution levels in a forest setting, is not good for the environment, and isn’t a very practical approach. My research shows that lichens are much easier

to use and don’t disturb the surroundings.”

Vitarana’s study uses three proven methods from around the world, and involves the use of 36 sites around WA’s south-west, ranging from controlled sites with no pollution to low, medium and high pollutant-exposed sites. By measuring pollution in these three ways, Vitarana can definitively show which process provides the clearest results.

“The first step was looking at the different species of lichens in my selected sites to see the species distribution,” explains Vitarana. “If it’s closer to a pollution site then there’ll be fewer lichens in the area and lower species diversity.”

“So I looked at how many species were in the area and I did a statistical analysis and tried to work out the pollution based on that step alone. I found some good trends that proved lichens can be used to test pollution.

“The next step was going to the same sites and collecting lichen samples and analyzing them in the lab for heavy metals.

I have controlled sites where there’s no pollution and sites that are really exposed to pollution. I collected samples from all my sites once every three months and then digested the collected lichens to measure the amount of pollutants present in their tissues. This experiment was carried out for one year.”

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Now in the final stage of the study, Vitarana removes lichens from the control sites and “transplants” them into the 15 sites of varying pollution. To transplant them, Vitarana puts the lichens into nylon bags, which allows the lichens to absorb pollutants through the pores of the bag.

As the lichens used are collected from tree trunks, Vitarana is careful to simulate the same environment after the transplant and hangs these bags from tree branches. The samples are left for three months then brought back to ECU for analysis.

Once back at ECU, Vitarana cleans each lichen by hand and grinds the lichen tissue to make them homogenous, meaning the lichens will all have the same structure. she then combines these lichens with acid to digest the samples and release the heavy metals into solution. This sample is then sent to Sydney for analysis through an Inductive Couples Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) because the spectrometer at ECU isn’t sensitive enough to be able to accurately read the levels of heavy metals removed from the lichens.

Unfortunately, Vitarana has struggled throughout her study because of major issues with funding. In her work as a PhD student, she received a small amount of money from the university, in the form of a Grad Student-account, to assist her with the cost of her research.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the samples needing to be sent to Sydney for analysis each time, Vitarana has been searching for funding through the industry, applying for grants from the Department of Environment and Conservation and from coal companies in the Collie area, but to no avail. As a result of the lack of funding, she has had to severely limit her study.

“Originally I was trying to look at seasonal affects on the lichens too, so I wanted to look at all four seasons, but I’ve had to cut it down to two seasons.

“I’ve finalised the results for one season and I’m in the process of finishing the other season, but if there’s a big difference between the results for the two seasons I’ll have a big problem in drawing a clear conclusion for this stage.”

While there have been problems with funding throughout her study, Vitarana believes her research could be extremely valuable to Australia and is working on publishing her thesis in four parts to make her research available to the international community.

“I’m hoping my work will promote this type of research, especially in a country like Australia, and WA in particular, where there’s such a big increase in industrial activity such as mining, that this can be used as an effective tool. I’m surprised that nobody has thought of using this method before.”

DEAD BIRD SQUAWKING article by Jessica Allia illustration by Bryce Richards Fifty years ago the noisy scrub-bird was presumed extinct. Its existence is something of a miracle and 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of its rediscovery in Albany in 1961. This semi-flightless, elusive yet noisy bundle of feathers is now one of the region’s most famous wildlife species.

In an effort to guide future population management efforts, Curtin University PhD student Saul Cowen has teamed up with the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) to uncover the truth about the species’ genetic diversity. The new research, supported by Birds Australia, may also dig up the dirt on the bird’s mysterious love life.

if you don’t care and you’re not passionate about what you’re working with, what’s the point?

Cowen, an outdoorsy young scientist who has worked on bird conservation projects previously, conducts his research by sampling noisy scrub-bird populations on DEC managed areas in the south-west.

It is hard, frustrating work, but Cowen has fallen in love with the South-West, which he describes as “a really special part of the world” and an area dramatically more biologically diverse than his native England.

It is clear that the talkative, slightly exhausted crusader is passionate about what his work could accomplish for the squat little song-bird, whose long, sweeping call is as distinctive as it is loud.

“As a scientist I probably come across as being quite sentimental, but if you don’t care and you’re not passionate about what you’re working with, then what’s the point?” Cowen smiles.

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The noisy scrub-bird (Atrichornis Clamosus) has enjoyed protection from human disturbance since the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in Albany was established in the 1960s to protect the rare bird. Since their rediscovery, noisy scrubbirds have been taken from the original Mt Gardner population in Two Peoples Bay and introduced into new areas to increase their distribution, a process called ‘translocation.’

Despite this, the noisy scrub-bird may face a deeper issue. The original population suffered a rapid decline in numbers, also known as a ‘population bottleneck’. Subsequent translocations split the bottlenecked population into smaller populations, an effect known as a ‘serial bottleneck’.

Theoretically, serial bottlenecks can result in low genetic diversity because individuals may be closely related. Having a low genetic diversity may be linked to reduced fitness, which can lead to low reproductive success.

Cowen’s main aim is to assess the genetic diversity within the original population and the translocated populations.

While gene flow between the mainland populations of Mermaid Point, Mt Gardner and Mt Manypeaks is possible, the population on Bald Island is geographically isolated and cannot share genes with any other population. Therefore, Cowen expects to find the lowest genetic diversity on Bald Island. Although its population is currently thriving, low genetic diversity theoretically means the species’ long-term survival may still be at risk.

Cowen also hopes to learn more about pathogen resistance in the noisy scrub-

bird by studying diversity in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). MHCs, which may be fitness-related, are proteins found on the surface of cells. MHC proteins attach themselves to foreign proteins from pathogens and present them to the immune system so that it can fight back.

In theory, a higher diversity in the MHC increases the number of pathogens recognised by the individual’s immune system, which in turn may increase breeding success. MHC diversity is driven by evolution. When new pathogens appear, the affected population must adapt to both recognise and combat them.

“Individuals with a greater diversity or a population with greater genetic diversity would be deemed to have better evolutionary potential,” Cowen explains.

“So if a new disease comes along, a population with really low diversity in the MHC would in theory, have a lower chance of success.”

Both species show a high prevalence of pathogens such as chlamydia, making them prime candidates for MHC research To further test this theory, Cowen is also studying the MHC in two Barrow Island bird species - the Barrow Island black-andwhite fairy wren and the spinifex bird.

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Both species show a high prevalence of pathogens such as chlamydia, making them prime candidates for MHC research and a strong comparison to the noisy scrub-bird with its lower pathogen load.

Studying the noisy scrub-bird’s genetics is time consuming and fiddly work, something which Cowen admits has been a major challenge. So far, Cowen and his team have partially sequenced the noisy scrub-bird’s genome and are working on analysing blood samples taken from captured birds and almost 20 years’ worth of DEC samples taken from previously translocated birds.

While Cowen has learned new and exciting laboratory skills, his true passion is field work.

“I’d rather be working down on the south coast, rather than stuck in a lab up here,” he chuckles dryly, and adds that he hopes the project will be finished by the middle of 2012.

Genetic analysis may also help Cowen to understand the noisy scrub-bird breeding system and work out which individuals are able to contribute to the gene pool and which are missing out. One possible theory is that a dominant male noisy scrub-bird may allow subordinate, related males to share his territory – but not his ladies. Dominant males who monopolise all the females may have a negative effect on genetic diversity, Cowen explains.

Fire is another major threat to the bird, whose survival depends on areas of long-unburned habitat. Its population was severely reduced when a wildfire destroyed a third of its habitat on Mt Manypeaks during the summer of 2004 and 2005.

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Space Shrimp article by Sarah Molloy, illustration by Bonni-Loi Wilks Satellite technology and shrimps may seem worlds apart, but one researcher is uncovering how the complex vision system of the mantis shrimp could be used in space to monitor changes on earth.

Visiting Perth in August for the 21st Annual Combined Biological Sciences Meeting, Professor Justin Marshall presented his research into the complexity of the vision system of stomatopods, commonly known as mantis shrimps, and how they use colour and light in their reef environment. A Scottish neurobiologist now living in Brisbane, this self confessed “lover of these shrimps” has been studying the unique crustaceans, as well as other reef animals, for over 25 years.

His passion for the marine environment came from his parents who were both marine biologists. His mother was a natural history artist and his father was a curator of fish at the British Museum.

“I got my love of colour and form from my mother’s side, and of animals from my father’s side, that’s why I’m obsessed with colour and communication,” he said.

His chosen subjects are peculiar, yet fascinating creatures, and it is easy to see why someone would dedicate their career to understanding them better. Mantis shrimps resemble both shrimp and praying mantises, yet they are neither. They are one of the most colourful and aggressive animals living on the reef. They can strike with their raptor-like appendages at lightning fast speed. But what makes them truly fascinating is the way they see the world. Mantis shrimps have the most complex vision system of all animals,

and it is this system that could teach humans how to build better satellites, cancer screening devices and data storage technology.

Humans believe they see the complexity of the world. Sunsets, coral reefs and arctic auroras are amazing displays of colour and light visible to the human eye. The mantis shrimp, however, sees the world in such a profoundly different way that human vision is primitive in comparison.

It’s as if we suddenly discovered colour vision. It’s pretty monumental The small, compound eyes of the mantis shrimp have 16 different visual input channels, whereas humans have just four. Twelve of these channels are dedicated to colour vision, allowing them to see the full spectrum of colour, from infrared to ultraviolet. Humans see a threecolour visual spectrum of just red, green and blue. Prof Marshall set out to discover how the mantis shrimp uses these colour channels in its natural environment.

“In terms of colour vision, we see millions of different hues with three

channels. Why do they need 12?” he asks.

The unique visual system also allows the mantis shrimp to absorb both linear and circular polarised light. They have four input channels dedicated to polarisation vision. Humans cannot absorb linear polarised light without the aid of polarised sunglasses or through the use of microscopes or camera lenses. Prof Marshall’s research has explained how mantis shrimps use this vision, something he describes as a “big discovery”.

“This is a completely unique and new visual system we didn’t know existed, it’s as if we suddenly discovered colour vision. It’s pretty monumental,” he said.

Circular polarisation vision is achieved by converting linear polarised light and essentially twisting it either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Humans developed a synthetic device, the “quarter wave retarder”, in order to convert light in this way. The technology is currently used in microscope imaging, cancer screening, DVDs and 3D television, however it currently works on just one colour of the spectrum. The mantis shrimp pre-empted human technology over 400 million years of evolution and has a built-in, all-purpose retarder that works across the entire spectrum.

Prof Marshall’s research has not only demonstrated how the mantis shrimp uses colour and light reflection for communication, but that it uses it in a way

no other animal can detect; a new kind of secret communication. Behavioural tests demonstrated, for the first time, how the mantis shrimp uses polarised light for communication. Prof Marshall filmed mantis shrimps under a polarised camera, and discovered they were communicating through minute tail flicks that reflected polarised light. This is a significant advantage in an environment surrounded by predators.

Prof Marshall has a theory to explain the unique vision system of the mantis shrimp; it has cochlear vision. He believes it works in a similar way to the hearing process in humans, where sound frequency receptors arranged along the cochlear determine the frequency of sound by which cells in the cochlear are activated.

Prof Marshall believes this system is used with light frequencies and photoreceptors in the mantis shrimp.

“That would be a fundamentally different way of doing colour and explains why they have so many photoreceptors,” he said.

He also believes this may partially explain why they use scanning eye movements. Mantis shrimps are the only known animal to use scanning eye movements with such a complex vision system. This is the space connection. The mantis shrimp scans its environment much the way a satellite does. With the ability to see full spectrum colour and polarised

light, Prof Marshall believes the mantis shrimp could help us to develop better satellites.

The potential for this research to contribute to satellite technology has caught the attention of the United States Air Force, which is funding 50 per cent of Prof Marshall’s research. Despite this, he says that sourcing funding for this kind of scientific research can be challenging.

There is also the pressure of continual turnover of results to attract funding and the need to demonstrate benefits to society.

I’ve seen reefs disappear over my lifetime, that’s why I’m determined not to let the Great Barrier Reef disappear Lucky for Prof Marshall, his research has continued to yield what he calls “big discoveries” with potential to improve modern technology. He strongly believes in doing research for the public good, regardless of the commercial benefits that could be gained.

“I fundamentally disagree with patenting biology,” he said.

“It’s morally wrong to me. It’s for

everyone to enjoy and exploit.”

And exploit they have. Biomimetics experts in Taiwan are close to developing a quarter wave retarder that works on multiple spectrums; a development that may change the face of data storage technology forever.

But commercial interest is not what drives Prof Marshall, he has another motive for researching mantis shrimps.

Coral Watch is a program designed to engage the community in science and create awareness about the impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, home of the mantis shrimp and one of the most beautiful and biodiverse places on earth. Using his knowledge of colour from his mantis shrimp research, Prof Marshall developed a coral colour chart and online database so members of the community can actively contribute to ecological monitoring of the reef.

“I’ve seen reefs disappear over my lifetime, that’s why I’m determined not to let the Great Barrier Reef disappear,” he said.

The program has been expanded to 60 counties with over 1000 users.

Prof Marshall hopes his mantis shrimp research will come full circle to save the reef environment he loves. If the vision system of the mantis shrimp can be used to improve satellite technology, it could detect small colour changes in the reef from space and potentially save the mantis shrimp and its reef ecosystem on earth.

Reviews

The science journalism class of 2011 chilled out and watched some sci-fi classics and had this to say about them ...

Would it be ok for Brad and Angelina to finance cloned human beings...

...the idea that animal cloning will lead scientists down the slippery slope...

The Island

The 6th Day

Chris Simonsen

Anup Latnekar

(2005)

After watching The Island one might be left with three technological conundrums regarding probability, practicality and of course ethics. Features covered in the film are the subjects of cloning, hover-bikes, and fancy desks with functioning as interactive displays.

I am not going to say a lot about the hover-bike because the G-forces alone would kill you.

If the director had kept the bike going horizontally, like in Star Wars III, they might have been able to play the Maglevcard. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t.

Now on to the fantastic looking computer screen desk; Although the desk in the film is manoeuvred by some sort of weird triangular mouse-supplement, the desk itself is not very far away from reality.

As a matter of a fact it is reality, as there are already manufacturers of this type of technology today, although it would probably murder your neck.

Now onto the cherry; cloning.

In The Island we see a field of

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fully mechanised incubators nurturing and providing for growing clones, almost like in a chicken farm.

This similarity to agricultural equipment is probably where it ends though, given few scientific setbacks.

First of all, there is a 1-2 per cent success rate, second it is highly expensive and third, there is a 30 per cent chance of severe problems in the samples that actually survive. This is according to the Human Genome Project.

While the scientific setbacks alone are enough to reject the notion of human cloning, there is of course the ethical aspect of it all.

Would it be ok for Brad and Angelina to finance cloned human beings, in order to harvest their organs if anything should go wrong, between all the acting and sunbathing?

Most of us would probably not play ball at that level, and if given a tour of a typical chicken farm I would be surprised whether anyone would argue Brangelina’s case.

HD Magazine Dec 2011

(2000)

The 6th Day is a techno thriller with more brains and social comment than an average sci-fi flick. It projects the darker side of cloning, at worst, it baffles your mind about negative repercussions of cloning, and at best it makes you think of the ethical issues involved in ever advancing science and new genetic technologies.

The 6th Day is an ultimate science fiction, certainly capable of sparking a debate within society about ethics in scientific research and regulation of the scientific community.

The movie intrigues by presenting ideas about the social effects of cloning on human existence and artificial human intervention in the natural process of evolution of life. It provokes thought of perhaps, the weakest element of human life that makes man an emotional animal – one’s family life.

The 6th Day conveys a message that dissolves the boundaries between cloning and genetic research.

It exaggerates ill effects

of genetic research which overshadow the benefits of its usage in a regulated, controlled and ethical environment, for example therapeutic cloning for research of diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and arthritis.

The movie overtly perpetuates the idea that animal cloning will lead scientists down the slippery slope like the development of “RePet’s” secretive side project of cloning people.

The 6th Day overlooks the benefits of allowing scientists to extract stem cells from embryos left over from IVF programs and putting DNA from skin cells into ovules to produce an embryo from which stem cells can be used in genuine cases.

But there are also some nice ideas and concepts in the movie that facilitate discussion of the philosophical and ethical points like, would you have loved ones cloned if they were dying of an incurable disease and would you clone your pet?

illustrations by Allyana Goff and Nicole Wee

Spectrum Project Space is an initiative of the School of Communications and Arts, Edith Cowan University (ECU).

...hate is directed at the new social underclass of faith-birth people

Gattaca

(1997)

Tanya Phillips Clever and thought-provoking, the movie is set in the near future when human genetic engineering has become the norm. People no longer discriminate against colour, rather hate is directed at the new social underclass of faith-birth people, or “in-valids”.

The movie shows possible advancements in germline genetic engineering, profiling and IVF, as well as the use of DNA for identification. The logic of the day is to offer prospective parents a child that is “still you, simply the best of you” given the range of genetic options each parent provides. The couples undertake IVF, followed by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to choose gender, hair and eye colour, complexion, physique and IQ. The geneticists also use PGD to detect genetic disorders and disease in the embryos, plus any “potentially prejudicial conditions” such as obesity, which they eradicate at this time. This created a society full of highly capable and durable people, where the standard is set far beyond what the in-valids can achieve.

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Since opening in 2003, Spectrum has grown to be one of Perth's most important venues for emerging and established artists, providing a flexible exhibition and research space allowing artists to participate with the city's diverse arts communities and to engage publicly in the process of developing creativity through education. scca.ecu.edu.au/projects/spectrum facebook.com/spectrum.ecu

Countries like the US and Spain already allow couples to choose their unborn baby’s gender, hair and eye colour and complexion.

It is widely recognised that in the near future, positive genetic engineering will encompass physique and intelligence too.

This science began with negative genetic engineering which aimed to eliminate disorders such as diabetes.

Today, the Human Genome Project is attempting to uncover the fundamental information needed for genetic engineering which could potentially make Gattaca reality.

Such developments raise important ethical issues which are being debated in the science world today. Eugenics is the core issue of the movie, which raises further issues of human evolution, social equality and “playing God”.

With fluctuating media attention, the issues are not continually debated in the public sphere, but the science continues to be developed.

HD Magazine Dec 2011

Email: spectrum@ecu.edu.au Edith Cowan University 2 Bradford Street Mount Lawley WA

"Lotus Pond" by Sally Stewart

About...

HD Magazine

The third edition of HD Magazine is a collaborative effort by the Science Journalism and Vector Illustration classes of semester two 2011. The magazine showcases the work of high distinction students while providing the opportunity for students to engage in a bona fide publication project.

Science Journalism JOU2108 & JOU4108

Vector Illustration DES2104 & DES4104

Scientific and technological advancements have repercussions on the health of individuals, cultures, economies and the planet itself. Journalists play an important role in informing the public about the progress of science and technology and the media is a forum for debate about the social, financial, legal and ethical issues that scientific advancements bring. This unit seeks to familiarise students with the basic processes of scientific progress and to develop skills in communication about science to readerships with different vocabularies and knowledge bases.

This unit introduces students to a range of techniques, styles and applications involved in the design and construction of vector-based illustrations.

In particular the unit focuses on the communicative advantages of drawings and diagrams over photorealism. Students also examine the process of concept development in the print and digital media industries, where vector based drawing has a wide application.

These units are part of the ECU Bachelor of Communications and Bachelor of Creative Industries Degrees.

Each degree is made up of 24 units, and a set of eight within that 24 comprises a major. JOU2108 is part of the Journalism Major, and DES2104/4104 is part of the Graphic Design Major. For more information about ECU courses visit www.ecu.edu.au

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Including; • one-on-one training • partner training • circuit training • boxing • Chi-ball • fit ball classes • yoga • meditation

Find us at Unit 8 / 36 Buckingham Dve Wangara shapechanger.com.au facebook.com/shapechanger

Visualising Research Collaboration

GIN F O RI O E AC L P

ME DIA

NO FP RA CT I

CE Painting Mixed Media

11 - 15

N/A

Painting Mixed Media 31 - 35

26 - 30

Painting Sculpture Installation

16 - 20

Participant 15

BA

Painting

M

SPA

N/A

6 - 10

BA

Performance Photography

F BA

Participant 22

Installation Mixed Media 26 -30

M

Participant 23

BA

Participant 19

N/A

Participant 21

Photography 11 - 15

M

Painting

M

31 - 35

Participant 20

Diploma

31 - 35

Participant 18

Painting

Mixed Media

Participant 16

Installation 6 - 10

Diploma

M

11 - 15 F

F

Participant 17

BA

Participant 12

N/A

Diploma

11 - 15

Painting

F

Community Art Sculpture Environmental Art

Sculpture Painting

M

Participant 11

Participant 14

Peer to Peer Communication 47%

31 - 35

N/A

M

F

MA

Participant 8

Painting M

Participant 10

Printmaking

F

36 - 40

MA

Student to Teacher Communication 15%

21 - 25

Participant 7

Painting Installation

F

Teacher to Student Communication 38%

Painting

MA

MA

11 - 15

Participant 4

F

Participant 6

16 - 20

BA

Participant 3

M

16 - 20

F MA

Participant 2

6 - 10

GENDER

21 - 25

M

M

Ceramics

Bio Art

51 - 55

Painting Performance

M PhD

Honours

Participant 24

Participant 25

N IO T TA N E ES

The Visualising Research initiative brings together researchers from all disciplines across ECU and matches them with design students to focus on new and innovative ways to communicate and represent research. These include infographics, conceptual diagrams, data visualisations, illustrations and conference posters.

ST

L VE LE

RE P

R

QUAL ART

WA G

AL LE

RY

Are you a designer, photographer or animator?

You could use your skills to creatively interpret a complex project and include the visualisation in your portfolio.

HE G

Are you a Researcher or an Honours, Masters by Research or PhD student at ECU? You could collaborate with a designer to create conceptual diagrams, illustrations or other visual explanations of your research project.

HI

The Graduate Research School (GRS) supports this initiative by encouraging the collaboration, showcasing the wonderful research being undertaken by our research students and staff and the immense talent of design students within ECU’s School of Communications and Arts.

Contact Sharon Smart at the GRS who can help you find someone to work with on a visualising research project s.smart@ecu.edu.au

Numbers in bold green type represe number of participants for each dat

Illustrators: Thomas Altmanninger, Wambui Kabue, Linda Liebe, Danielle Le Moignan, Xiaonan Wang, Xin Wen