I, Science - Issue 15 (Summer 2010)

I,Science

I, Science (Print) ISSN 2044-2114 I, Science (Online) ISSN 2044-2122

Summer 2010

Inside: P.8 I, Science Editor interviews Simon Singh

1

From the editor Editorial TEam Editor in chief Adrian Giordani Production Henry Lau Aurelie Perthuison Contributers Anne Coleman Adrian Giordani Ailbhe Goodbody Laura Greenhalgh Pippa Hough Henry Lau Chris Noble Jon Primmer Dom Rees-Roberts Sophie Robinson Cecilia Rosen Phil Sandwell Rhiannon Smith Greg Szulgit COVER ARTWORK Trilce Sandoval Similä I,science is produced and published in association with Felix, the student newspaper of Imperial College I, science (Print) ISSN 2044-2114 I, science (Online) ISSN 2044-2122 Felix Newspaper Beit Quad Prince Consort Road London SW7 2BB T: 020 7594 8072 E: felix@imperial.ac.uk Copyright © Felix 2010 Printed by Indigo Press Cambridge Road, Southampton S014 6TB, 023 8023 1196

2

I, Science is back for one more run! And what an issue we have in store for you. If, like me, you’ve been enjoying the World Cup, take a breather from the disappointment and excitement, and pick up the latest I, Science issue. Read the exclusive interview I had with Dr. Simon Singh about his recent libel case win with the British Chiropractic Association. Also, discover the scientific controversy surrounding the Icelandic volcano, ‘Eyjafjallajokull’ and the terrible consequences of what is possibly the worst man made oil spill in history. Find out the science that could make the possibility of mechanical devices move independently of electricity and how science is both ‘hero and villain’ in the world of high performance sport.

With the prevalence of pseudo-scientific theories such as homeopathy, scientology and creationism, it is now more important than ever to differentiate fact from fiction. Through peer review, open public debate and intellectual scrutiny, dubious ideologies should be put to the test. One would think rationality would prevail but humans are also inherently irrational. The majority of people behind pseudo-scientific / denialist theories are well organised, maybe conventional science should adapt this trend if they want their voice to be heard.

Check out the latest science communication news and features on our website at http://dougal.union.ic.ac. uk/media/iscience/. You can email us your constructive comments / criticisms about this issue and for any other questions at i.science@imperial.ac.uk, or post them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/I_science_mag.

I also wish to thank all our proof-reading, illustrating, producing and writing staff for their original contributions. I previously mentioned that the last issue was our final publication, so let me categorically confirm that this issue is really the last I, Science magazine from the current team. As our tenure is up, we hope you’ve enjoyed our science news and features throughout the academic year. I’ve personally enjoyed every minute of it and I hope next year’s I, Science team will maintain and improve upon its quality and dedication - have a great summer and farewell from I, Science 2009/2010.

Summer 2010

Contents

News and Events

04|

Top News

Vitamin A fights disease, Sleeping sickness solution and Sniffer rovers

Features 05| 06| 07| 08| 10| 12| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19|

Ash Wednesday You thought you had it hard Asian Beauties I, Science Editor interviews Simon Singh A Tale of Catastrophe Brain versus Brawn From heart attacks to liquid computers Technology, Tubes and Tone Vertebrates Versatile Vision Two Sides of the Same Coin Genius or Crackpot Charging all the way

06| Asian Beauties

08| I, Science Editor interviews Simon Singh

10| A tale of Catastrope

15| Technology, Tubes and Tone

19| Charging all the way

3

s w e N Top Vitamin A boost fights diseases in developing countries - Cecilia Rosen

A

rare genetic variation in maize may hold the key to a nutrition boost in developing countries. Vitamin A deficiency, an important cause of disease, could be tackled with a cheap and powerful method combining advanced genetics and traditional agriculture.

A new study in Nature Genetics shows that genetic analysis is able to detect higher levels of beta–carotene, a source of vitamin A, in maize. Carotene-B deficiency causes diseases in five million children and ten million pregnant women every year, according to the World Health Organization.

The research found that changes in two genes in one variety of maize produced up to five times more beta–carotene than in other varieties.

Other sources of food, like carrots, contain high concentrations of vitamin A, but are unaffordable in poor countries.

Scientists looked for a way to improve nutrition in maize. By surveying genes in different corn varieties, they found a link between genetic variations and an increase of carotene-B. After using natural plant breeding, researchers introduced these variations into tropical maize strains commonly grown in developing countries.

The final breeding, researchers found, contained a concentration of more than fifteen micrograms of beta–carotene per gram of grain; enough to alleviate nutritional deficiencies where maize is a dietary staple.

Jianbing Yan, project coordinator at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre said the technique will soon be applied in Mexico and China.

“This is the right approach because it has a great potential for assisted breeding and of success in features that are of interest for the agricultural industry and the nutritional aspect. And it does not imply the biosecurity risks that transgenic

4

modification does carry, favouring maize conservation”, says Mexico’s National University researcher Elena ÁlvarezBuylla.

Sleeping sickness solution could alleviate poverty in rural Africa - Rhiannon Smith

A

new strategy in the battle against sleeping sickness could help to overcome poverty and disease in Africa.

African sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite – ‘Trypanosoma brucei’ – which is carried by the tsetse or ‘tik tik’ fly. Scientists have developed a new technique to kill this deadly parasite – by damaging a crucial protein, which it uses to evade the immune system.

University of St Andrews’ scientists are confident that they can use this technique to “develop effective, safe and cheap drugs against this neglected disease”, says lead researcher, Dr. Terry Smith.

African sleeping sickness infects approximately 60,000 people each year, and without treatment it is fatal. Symptoms include fever, headaches and joint pains – and as the disease progresses – confusion, lack of coordination and disruption to the sleep cycle; giving the disease its name.

Currently, there are only two drugs available in treating sleeping sickness; one, ‘Melarsoprol’, is arsenic-based and kills five percent of patients and the other, ‘Eflornithine’, is too expensive and insufficiently effective to be used on a wide scale in developing countries. This new development could help to overcome such limitations.

The same parasite also infects cattle, causing a disease called ‘nagana’. This kills three million livestock each year, with serious ramifications for poor farmers. “The disease in cattle is a major obstacle to the economic development of the rural areas affected”, said the WHO. Together, sleeping sickness and nagana cost the African economy more than £2 billion every year.

Sources: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2010/

Title,50474,en.html http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs259/en/

Yin and Yang - Adrian Giordani What do alien life and pregnancy tests have in common? These concepts seem worlds apart but UK scientists have been performing technological alchemy with instruments designed to search for life on Mars.

The ExoMars mission is the first attempt to locate organic material from samples one to two metres just below the surface of Mars. The aim is to explore the chemistry, mineralogy and the evidence of life on the Red Planet. Perhaps the most likely type of life-related organic matter is fossil material.

Professor Mark Sephton from Imperial College works on the Life Marker Chip (LMC). Its system acts like a detergent by using ‘surfactants’ to trap organic material in an emulsion so that they’re suspended in water. The surfactants are of potential advantage to the petroleum industry. “The petroleum industry encounters a number of problems when it comes to using toxic organic solvents or cleaning water used in the production of oil. The UK is heavily involved in this industry and the technology can make the process cleaner, greener and more efficient.”

Professor David Cullen from Cranfield University works on the analysis phase of the LMC, which is based on ‘lateral-flow immunodiagnostics’. The common use of the technology is in modern pregnancy test kits in high street chemists. “It is also used in more clinical settings for rapid diagnosis of various diseases and research is now on-going into spinning the technology into other fields such as environmental applications, security and defence.” One potential application would be for rapid onsite results from drug tests of roadside suspects.

ExoMars technology has an ‘Earth-bound yin’ to its ‘Mars-bound yang’. While the ‘new science’ will not begin operations on Mars until 2019, the terrestrial applications are already here or just around the corner. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/uol-lom060210.php

Ash Wednesday W

eeks, nearly months, after the initial outburst of the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, much of Europe is still experiencing the havoc wreaked by the plume of ash billowing 20,000 – 30,000 ft above us. As a result of this micro-sized dust, with the potential to shutdown aircraft engines, much of the aviation industry was brought to a sudden and prolonged standstill on the 14th April 2010. Travellers, workers and cargo alike were left stranded. But the dramatic Dunkirk style rescues and tales of epic journeys home are old news.

People are even tiring of hearing about my own treacherous trek back from Portugal (it was a sixty-hour marathon involving almost all forms of transport).

The time has now come to ask different questions. Questions such as, why we had a blanket ban on flying for six days when the levels of ash may have been at an acceptable concentration for air travel. Why did airlines and associated organizations react so vehemently against the scientific advice given in accordance with safety regulations?

And what can we do to overcome this ‘ash-ridden problem’, which looks set to impact upon the way we travel for the next twenty years? Perhaps even more importantly, the infallibility of science has been brought into disrepute yet again. As we face more issues that require science to save the day, are we putting too much pressure on expert knowledge to provide us with solutions?

In this consumer society where people want things now, does the lengthy and fluidic nature of science no longer live up to our expectations?

This story begins in 1982 with the near crash landing of a British Airways flight over West Java, Indonesia. Ash from the erupting Mount Galunggung nearby had been sucked into the aircraft turbines and was exposed to the 1,500 °C heat of the roaring engines. Powdery ash melts at 1,000 °C so inside the engine it immediately became like molten glass.

This ‘gooey’ substance then coated the turbine blades causing the engine to shut down. With nerves of steel the pilot managed to glide the plane down to land, but something strange happened at 20,000ft. With the engines off and cool air flowing into them, the molten

ash started to solidify and shatter; crumbling off the blades. Miraculously, the engines started to work again, though the pilot proceeded with an emergency landing.

This near catastrophic accident caused the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO – pronounced I-Kay-Oh) to identify volcano ash as a serious aircraft hazard and a zero-ash-tolerance level was introduced. Volcanic advisory centers were also set up around the world, including London. When the Icelandic volcano went into its second phase of eruption in April 2010, we were not as unprepared or unaware as the media may have led us to believe.

By Anne Coleman consistent with the predicted plumes” (Ryall, Nature 2010); the subsequent test flights sent up by KLM, Lufthansa, BA, and aircraft maker Airbus returned successfully with no damage. Airline leaders began to question the validity of empirically-based models. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), who support the interests of airlines, were

Revenue of up to $130 million a day was being lost worldwide.

With flights and fleets of aircraft being grounded across Europe, the airline industry was beginning to feel the pinch.

Revenue of up to $130 million a day was being lost worldwide. The safety conscious ash tolerance level established by ICAO was brought into question. It turned out that airline and engine manufacturers had been reluctant to commission studies on the impact of ash on their aircraft, so ICAO were going on minimal evidence.

With mounting pressure, mechanics and engineers set to work establishing whether planes could actually tolerate a higher threshold of ash. All the while, a blanket ban was imposed. Government officials had no choice but to keep in line with a - no evidence could still imply a potential risk - policy. But when the safety level of ash tolerance was raised to 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre six days after the initial flight ban, airlines couldn’t help but feel hard done by. However, Andrew Haines, chief executive for the Civil Aviation Authority, backed the scientists’ work, “we achieved what often takes years in 96 hours. When you are dealing with people’s lives it is not enough to say, this guidance looks a bit restrictive, let’s just make up a less restrictive one, you have to agree new safety guidelines that are evidence based.”

Whilst ash concentration was one debatable issue, another highly criticized tool was a computer model used by the Met office to predict the movement of the ash plume. This model originated from a radioactive tracker after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Although scientists claimed to have predicted ash dispersion correctly, “observations so far have been

quick to state their criticisms, “we must make decisions based on the real situations in the sky, not on theoretical models.” Science has been distrusted in the past for not listening to the knowledge of ‘lay specialists’ who may not be scientists, but who have a great deal of experience working within their field. IATA drew on the notion that academic science can seem abstract and detached from reality.

Arguments aside, months after the initial disruption we are still faced with this seemingly unsolvable problem. Whilst preventing the ash from escaping seems unlikely (though far fetched solutions such as putting a cap on it have been suggested) our only hope of side stepping Eyjafjallajokull may be to develop new computer programs installed in planes to detect the presence of ash. These would allow the pilot to chose a different flight path if necessary. Pressures from outside the academic sphere may speed up this development of new technologies, with the likes of Sir Richard Branson calling the ongoing closures “beyond a joke”.

However, as lengthy a process as it may be, if we can rely upon science to remain relatively unconflicted, without additional economic influences or airline shareholders to placate, it does remain our best bet in terms of keeping us safe in the skies above.

References: BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8634276.stm New Scientist - http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/04/paul-marks-technology-correspo.html Nature – Questions fly over ash-cloud models - http://www.nature. com/news/2010/100427/full/4641253a.html Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/17/ashcloud-disruptions-continue-airports Brian Wynne Talk on Monday 19th April 2010 from 12-2p.m. at Imperial College

5

You thought you had it hard

By Sophie Robinson

S

ummer is on its way and with it comes the annual invasion of the greenfly. Gourmet meals from sweet smelling rosebushes provided by gardeners across the country, free public transport as they attach themselves to the bright yellow, high-visibility jackets of cyclists, and as the warm evenings draw to a close, swimming a few laps in a refreshing glass of chilled wine. What more could these creatures ask for? But these little critters, more commonly known to science as aphids, don’t always have such a pleasant existence.

Girls, if you thought the male to female ratio at Imperial was bad, think again, you should try being an aphid in summer time. Often the entire population consists entirely of females, and most of these will never get the chance to have sex. They spend the entire summer reproducing ‘asexually’, creating miniature clones of themselves. I’m sure we’ve all heard about the horrors of child birth, but child birth for the aphids is much worse. Aphids not only give birth to their daughters, but within the abdomens of the daughters, granddaughters

ance just in time to have sex. Unfortunately, in aphids such as the woolly apple aphid, the production of sexual organs sometimes comes at the expense of mouthparts, so a conversation over a romantic dinner for two is out of the question.

But, the troubles of life as an aphid do not end at childbirth. Ants such as Lasius fuliginosus have learnt to exploit aphid species such as the oak aphid (Stomaphis quercus), and the thyme aphid (Aphis serpylli). The ants are able to win over the aphids with a little bit of stroking and massaging, sometimes called ‘milking’.

But this is not an act of good-will by the ants, they have ulterior motives. The aphids get so excited that they excrete a bit of honeydew, which is lapped up by the ants. In return for this sugary fix, the ants take on the role of bodyguard and babysitter, keeping the aphids from harm by fighting off their enemies.

Another troubled aphid: the cabbage aphid, (Brevicoryne brassicae), is the suicide bomber of the aphid world. These aphids take up chemicals from their host plants called glucosinolates and store them in their circulatory system; the haemolymph. They also have the ability to produce an enzyme called myrosinase which is capable of breaking down glucosinolates. Myrosinases are kept spatially separate from glucosinolates in muscles close to their heads. Thus, the cabbage aphids essentially become biological weapons, although they don’t set off their bombs unprovoked.

If enemies such as ladybirds dare to attack them, any injury to the aphid body which brings myrosinases and glucosinolates into contact will result in the rapid, explosive formation of toxic mustard oils - BOOM! The mustard-oil bomb damages the

Often the entire population consists entirely of females, and most of these will never get the chance to have sex are already developing. This phenomenon is known as ‘telescoping generations’ and means that the poor aphids have to lumber around during pregnancy, carrying two generations inside of them. If that wasn’t bad enough, they also have to give birth up to ten times per day!

After the females have done all the hard work through the summer and into autumn, when winter is drawing near, males finally make an appear-

6

enemy ladybird and warns other aphids to move away and find somewhere safe to shelter.

So this summer, when a little aphid casually lands in your hair, think twice before you reach to squash it, life as an aphid is actually tougher than you think.

References E. Kazana, T. W. Pope, L. Tibbles, M. Bridges, J. A. Pickett, A. M. Bones, G. Powell, J. T. Rossiter (2007) The cabbage aphid: a walking mustard oil bomb Proc. R. Soc. B. 274:2271-2277 B. Stadler, A. F. G. Dixon (2005) Ecology and evolution of ant-aphid interactions Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

36:345–72 N. A. Moran (1992) The Evolution of aphid life cycles Annu. Rev. Entomol. 37:321-48 D. C. Gautam, L. R. Verma (1983) Life history of sexuparae and sexual morphs of woolly apple aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum Hausmann) Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. Anim. Sci. 92:247-251

Asian Beauties

T

hey appeared overnight in May, occupying the streets and parks of London. Commuters hurrying to work paused to marvel at the colours and patterns that brightened up an otherwise dreary morning. It became a game with people competing to see who could find the most colourful big-eared creatures.

The Elephant Parade had begun.

The Elephant Parade consists of 258 model elephants scattered around London, from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Greenwich. Each one is the size of a baby Asian elephant, and is decorated by a different artist. It is the largest ever outdoor exhibition of its kind.

The parade, founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits, was organised to raise funds for the Elephant Family, a charity aiming to save wild Asian elephants from extinction.

By Ailbhe Goodbody Corridors are ancient migratory routes that elephants have used for generations to travel between forests. Many of these areas have been built on, or are being used to produce palm oil and soy.

Elephants continue to try using these corridors as they search for food and for mates, resulting in elephants raiding vegetable patches, trampling crops, and damaging property. Elephant and human conflict is inevitable.

The Elephant Family and other charities are working to secure as many elephant corridors as they can. But why go to all this effort for the Asian elephant?

Helen Pitman has been involved in the Elephant Parade through her work for the Cambridge-based charity Flora and Fauna. She told me: “They are a beautiful animal, gentle and very intelligent. I think humans have quite a connection with them because they are such an emotional animal and they live in family groups, like humans do... There aren’t many things that will take your breath away as much as seeing a herd of wild Asian elephants; it’s quite spectacular and very special to see.”

In the past 100 years the population of wild Asian elephants has diminished by 90%, and their available habitat has reduced by 95% in the same period

In the past 100 years the population of wild Asian elephants has diminished by 90%, and their available habitat has reduced by 95% in the same period. Today, there are only 25,000 to 30,000 wild Asian elephants left, in thirteen countries, living in a patchwork of isolated forests. Their range once stretched from the far corners of China to Syria, covering an area the size of Canada – now their range is smaller than the size of Spain and decreasing. Asian elephants are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as ‘endangered’, and on current trends it could be extinct in the wild within the next three decades.

Though poaching of elephants for ivory is a problem, the main threat to the future survival of Asian elephants is their loss of habitat. Asian elephants are amongst the world’s largest land mammals and require a lot of living space. Farming, the building of housing and transport links have forced the Asian elephant into smaller and unsustainable pockets of land.

Each elephant in the parade will be auctioned at the beginning of July, with the proceeds donated to the Elephant Family and other charities involved in the project. The London Elephant Parade is a creative way of drawing attention to the plight of the Asian elephant and gaining support for the Elephant Family’s campaign to get governments to act before it is too late. All funds will go towards protecting this beautiful, exotic and endangered creature. Plus, Londoners can simultaneously have fun elephant spotting.

Tykee Malhotra, a conservationist from the charity WildAid who is involved in the Elephant Parade, said: “Protecting elephants is not a very easy job. They’re large mammals, and they need large spaces and a lot of food. Preserving isolated spaces is not the way to go. It’s better to protect [land] corridors so that the gene pool of the elephant stays mixed, and also so that they don’t suffer from losing parts of their herds because they cannot actually cross from one part of the land to the other.”

7

I, Science Editor interviews Simon Singh

By Adrian Giordani

T

he Editor of I, Science managed to get hold of Dr. Simon Singh to talk about the recent success in his libel case with the BCA (British Chiropractic Association) and his views on libel law and science communication.

What does the positive outcome of your libel case mean for science communication and libel law?

Had I lost, it would have put the fear of God into science journalists. The message would have been: “Look at what happened to Simon Singh when he stood by his article. He lost a lot of money and reputation. We’d better not dare stand up for our journalism.”

Because I’ve won, there are two outcomes. First, I hope that it will make journalists more confident about defending their writing.

Second, the three appeal court judges said that when a science journalist writes about science or medicine, the reason they’re raising an issue is because there’s a debate or different interpretations over the evidence. Therefore, when looking at the defences that a science writer has in a libel case, the default position should be ‘comment’, as opposed to ‘fact’, which is an easier defence, i.e., you have to show evidence to support your comment, as opposed to absolute proof to back up a fact.

stifles scientific debate, then science struggles to move forward. Society in general progresses through open discussion - the current libel law hinders the progress of society.

Do you now feel it’s easier for science communicators to use ‘fair comment’ as a defence?

The ruling in my case is a small step forward. It’s not enough to change the landscape for science journalists. What’s needed is a ‘robust public interest defence’ which says if you’re writing about a matter of public interest, then the libel laws will cut you some slack. They have such a defence in America and Canada, which means that if you think there’s a public interest issue (e.g., relating to health), then the libel laws will protect you.

As long as you can back up what you’re saying with some evidence. If the public doesn’t have access to those criticisms, then we are being deprived of the truth. That’s the other fundamental problem with our libel laws; the public only ever gets to hear half the story.

I read the blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter.

These were all really important to me personally in keeping me sane

Even though I won, the odds are still against the journalist. Today, Lord Lester – the Lib Dem peer – announced that he is going to present a libel reform bill. If the Government adopts Lord Lester’s bill we might have a new landscape for libel, one that’s less hostile and fairer to journalists.

Was Lord Lester’s bill a direct or indirect result of you winning your case?

Every ten years libel law crops up, but this year there was a perfect storm in favour of libel reform. The Common Select Committee came out with a report condemning our libel laws and Jack Straw had a working group look at libel reform. Charities ‘Index on Censorship’ and ‘English PEN’ published a report: Free Speech is not for Sale. ‘Sense About Science’ showed how libel affected me, Dr. Peter Wilmshurst, Dr. Ben Goldacre’s, Prof. Francisco Lacerda’s and Henrik Thomsen in our free speech cases.

Moreover, the Americans have made it clear that they find our libel laws unacceptable. They have created legislation to block the impact of English libel law on American citizens.

The science aspect has been critical in terms of libel reform. Science progresses through open discussion, frank debate and robust criticism. If libel

8

... And in your case, the public got to hear the other half of the story My case was about chiropractic – I don’t think chiropractors should be treating children. Chiropractors probably think they should, although they seem to be changing their minds now. What is the public supposed to do if they have a child who has colic? I want the right to say, “I don’t think that’s a good idea to take your child to the chiropractor and these are the reasons why.” If I can’t say that then parents don’t have access to all the information.

What’s happened to chiropractic now that you’ve won? Are people more critical?

The odd thing is people already have been more critical. The British Chiropractic Association tried to block my criticism by suing me for libel. However, while my case was ongoing, bloggers began looking at chiropractic websites and now one in four chiropractors is now being investigated for allegedly misleading claims. There’s a lots of scrutiny being applied to chiropractic. I hope that the Chiropractic community is looking at what they did wrong. They need to go through deep reflection about what their responsibilities are.

Were there times you wished you were back in science, or was it important that you were unravelling a major flaw? How did you feel when you won?

I defended my article because I thought what I said was fair, accurate and important. There were periods when I felt incredibly depressed, because

for 90% of the libel action I was against the ropes. It looked bad. It looked like I might lose; lose my case, lose £200,000, lose my reputation. The reason I kept on with my defence was because of the huge support I received; Felix and bloggers published articles, and sceptic groups around the world raised concerns about my case.

I now have a lot of people to thank. In fact, this morning I emailed the father of sceptic movement, James Randi, explaining that if he hadn’t backed me at a crucial stage, then I don’t know if I would’ve had the confidence to continue.

When I won, it was an extraordinary time because on March 20th I became a father. On April 1st the appeal court ruled in my favour. From being on the ropes for two years; I suddenly landed the knockout blow.

On April 15th the BCA dropped its case. It’s hard to put into words... I wish I could put it into words. I’m a journalist, I’m a writer, I should be able to put it into words and I’m failing dismally.

As I, Science Editor I also take libel into consideration when reviewing articles. Where does the line need to be drawn?

At the moment the balance is on the side of the claimant. The balance needs to move so it’s fairer. The law of libel should require journalists to make statements that are fair and backed up by reasonable evidence, but it needs to stop the current situation whereby the entire burden is on the defendant.

We could reform the law by getting rid of libel for large companies. Currently, the message is; “for God’s sake don’t criticise large corporations’ because they’ll come after you”.

Companies wouldn’t have libel anymore in the situation I’m describing but they would have access to ‘malicious falsehood’. A company can sue a journalist for malicious falsehood if they think that a journalist has written about them unfairly and without reasonable evidence.

Absolutely, very much so.

How can the new coalition Government assist you to reform libel law?

Before the election all three parties manifestos’ were committed to libel reform. The way I looked at it was whoever wins this election should still have libel reform on the agenda. In point 10 of the Conservative / Lib Dem coalition agreement, they’ve specifically agreed to the idea of reviewing libel.

We interviewed Ben Goldacre for I, Science; he thinks scientists should be the predominant science communicators and that there should be more science editors instead.

the current libel law hinders the progress of society

That’s a very good point. For ten years I assumed that we needed more science communication and more science in the media. In fact, what we need is not more science, but more ‘good’ science in the media. I would not be bothered by less science coverage as long as it’s of high quality.

We don’t need to cover all scientific research. What we need to cover are the major systematic reviews and research that really affect how the public think.

Are you planning any TV shows / books or will you go after other pseudoscientific claimants?

I’m going to spend the rest of the summer getting my life back in order and enjoy being a father. Towards the end of the summer I hope a new

In fact, what we need is not more science, but more ‘good’ science in the media. I would not be bothered by less science coverage as long as it’s of high quality How did you utilise the internet during your case and are you now using it for libel law reform?

I haven’t used it much. When you’re a defendant in a case like this, you’re advised not to say anything, because everything you say will be open to legal scrutiny. For the first year and most of the second year I said very little in my case. However, everybody else started talking a great deal and the internet played a huge role. I read the blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter. These were all really important to me personally in keeping me sane. They were important in spreading the word that there’s something wrong with libel law generally. Once campaigning started, the online communities I mentioned were really important in getting people to back the campaign for libel reform. We now have 50,000 people signed up. If you haven’t’ signed up already, the place to visit is www.libelreform.org. Sign up; show that you support science, free speech and reform of the English libel laws.

So a ‘grassroots groundswell’ built up around you, organically growing through people connecting and speaking out online.

project will emerge. My career has taken lots of odd turns. When I was at Imperial I wanted to be a particle physicist. When I did my PHD in particle physics I moved into TV. When I was in TV I moved into writing books. When I was writing books I moved into broadcasting. From broadcasting I’ve moved into campaigning for libel reform. Anything could happen.

The full interview is also available on the I, Science website: http://dougal.union.ic.ac.uk/ media/iscience.

Get in touch and let us know what you think via http://twitter. com/I_science_mag or email us at: i.science@imperial.ac.uk.

9 9

O

n 20th April, the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon was in the final stages of drilling an oil well on the ocean floor when a blowout triggered an explosion, injuring seventeen workers and taking the lives of eleven others. Over one month later, despite the ongoing effort to prevent the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, this spill is expected to be the worst environmental disaster in United States history.

A blowout occurs when pressure systems controlling a well fail, causing an uncontrolled release of oil. These are not uncommon; thirty nine were reported on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in the first five months of 2009. The Deepwater Horizon itself suffered eighteen minor spills and fires in its nine-year lifetime, but its final accident proved to be catastrophic when the failsafe device, the well’s blowout preventer (BOP), failed to engage. It is thought that the explosion was powerful enough not only to cut the communication lines between the rig and the BOP, meaning it could not be activated, but also to disable the automatic backup system. With the well 1,500m below sea level, remotelyoperated underwater vehicles were sent to investigate and later close the valves manually. Although the smallest of the three discovered leaks was capped, the flow of oil into the ocean was not reduced.

The next attempt to prevent the oil flow was to place a 125 tonne dome over the largest leak and pipe the collected oil to a storage vessel on the surface. While this technique had been used on many previous blowout leaks, it was untested at this depth and ultimately failed when gas leaking from

10

A Tale of the pipe combined with the cold seawater to form methane hydrate crystals, which clogged the piping. A second dome was later lowered to the seabed but will only be used if a different strategy, lowering a pipe into the leak, is unsuccessful. This pipe currently collects around 2,000 barrels (320,000 litres) each day, while preparations to pump heavy fluids into the broken blowout preventer are made.

This would restrict most of the flow from the well before it is finally sealed with cement. To permanently close the leak, a relief well will be drilled into the original, to allow a controlled retirement of the well, a procedure which successfully

stopped the Montara oil leak off the coast of Western Australia last year.

Since the leak is on the ocean bed, an accurate measurement of the rate of oil flow is very difficult. This is compounded

by BP, the owner of the well, refusing to allow independent researchers access to the leak.

BP initially estimated that 1,000 barrels (160,000 litres) were leaking into the ocean per day. They have since increased this estimate to 5,000 barrels per day. A method known as ‘particle image velocimetry’ was used, in which fluids are seeded with tracer particles to investigate the speed of flow.

Associate Professor Steven Werely of Perdue University Containmen t booms in Indiana cal-

culated the leak rate at around 70,000 barrels per day. After the release of a new video on 19th May, he said “I can’t say how much in excess of 70,000 [barrels per day] this leak is, but I would use the word ‘considerable’.”

Just ten days after the original blowout, aided by cold, strong southerly winds, the spill area reached 10,000 square kilometres. A model released by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hypothesised around 35% of the crude oil spilt would evaporate but 50-60% would remain within 30cm of the surface, with the remainder dispersed into the deep ocean. However Robert Bea, who serves on the National Academy of Engineering panel on pipeline safety, disagreed.

“There’s an equal amount [of oil] that could be subsurface too,” he argues, in the form of huge undersea plumes, but it is “damn near impossible to track”. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi identified an oil plume from their boat measuring 16km long, 4.8km wide and 91m thick; this explains why BP’s approximation, derived from data collected from satellites, was so much smaller than the estimate calculated

by Werely’s particle image velocimetry.

A coordinated response was launched to contain the oil as much as possible. Initially led

by BP until the involvement of the American military, the response was a multi-pronged attack. Primary among the preventative measures was the deployment of almost 150km of containment booms along the Louisiana coastline.

These long floating barriers have sheets up to a metre long hanging beneath them as they

Catastrophe rest on the water, blocking the passage of the oil. Despite some success, the booms were often rendered ineffective

Over 2.5 million litres have already been deployed.

Soon, the environmental im-

this spill is expected to be the worst environmental disaster in United States history when the height of the ocean waves allowed oil to pass over them. The makeup of the oil itself hindered the cleanup effort; Ed Overton, head of a federal chemical hazard assessment team, explained that the oil emulsifies with sea water well, and the mixture of oil and seawater takes longer to evaporate than other crude oils, is more viscous, less flammable and cannot be consumed by microbes as easily. “That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons”.

On 1st May, two US Department of Defense aircraft were deployed to spray oil dispersants over the affected area. Oil dispersants exploit wave energy in breaking up the oil slick into much smaller particles, thereby aiding their dilution into the seawater and eventual biodegradation by microorganisms. While the two dispersants deployed were approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, they were neither the least toxic, nor most effective of twelve available to BP, who selected them. Although both chemicals are banned from use in United Kingdom waters, BP justified their use despite their possible toxicity, as they were the most readily available.

pact began to be felt as the oil washed ashore. The Governor of Louisiana declared a state of emergency as over 400 species, including the critically endangered Kemp’s Ridley turtle, inhabiting the Gulf Coast’s islands and marshlands were put at risk by the impending oil slick. Sea birds are particularly vulnerable as crude oil permeates their plumage to reduce buoyancy and insulation, as well as causing damage to internal organs by ingesting the oil when they clean themselves with their beaks. When the threat of the oil moving towards Florida became apparent, the state opened the shrimping season one month early to protect its valuable industry, while the area closed to deep sea fishing in the Gulf was extended over 120,000 square kilometres.

The spiralling cost of the clean-up mission increases every day. On May 13th, BP revealed the cost of the oil spill alone was $450 million, increasing by $10 million per day. In addition, five companies connected to the disaster, including BP, the manufacturer of the blowout preventer and the owner of the Deepwater Horizon, cumulatively lost an estimated $21 billion from their share prices. Immediate

inspections of all deep-sea oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were ordered by the Secretary of the Interior, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger withdrew his support for offshore oil rigs along the Californian coast.

Thirty years ago a similar blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the Ixtoc I, which leaked oil at a rate of about 12,000 barrels per day for nine months before eventually being stopped, after which it became the largest accidental oil spill in history. If the Deepwater Horizon were to continue to leak at its current rate it would easily surpass the Ixtoc I, with the wildlife along the Gulf Coast and Louisiana’s delicate wetlands paying the highest price. Samantha Joye, Professor of marine science at the University of Georgia, does not understate the impact this accident will have on the environment. “It could take years, possibly decades, for the [ecosystem] to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas. We’ve never seen anything like this before.

It’s impossible to fathom the impact.”

By Phil Sandwell article7127306.ece “Gulf Oil Spill, by the Numbers”, CBS News, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/30/ national/main6447428.shtml “BP fights to stop the Gulf of Mexico spill – and salvage its reputation”, The Guardian, http://www. guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/16/bp-gulf-ofmexico-oil-spill “US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days”, Wall Street Journal, http:// online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100503-700843. html “AP Top News at 10:50 a.m. EDT”, Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/ article/ALeqM5g8-DEMtAE9q4i4ySQ0eV_qZefmRQD9FOLFA80 “Relief Wells and Subsea Containment”, BP, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/ STAGING/local_assets/images/relief_well_diagram.jpg “BP MC252 Gulf Of Mexico Response Continues To Escalate On And Below Surface”, BP, http:// www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=20129 68&contentId=7061663 “Oil spill is the ‘bad one’ experts feared”, MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36878803/ns/ technology_and_science-science/ “In Gulf oil spill, how helpful – or damaging – are dispersants?”, Christian Science Monitor, http:// www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0515/In-Gulf-oilspill-how-helpful-or-damaging-are-dispersants “Agency Orders Use of a Less Toxic Chemical in Gulf”, New York Times, http://www.nytimes. com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21disperse. html?ref=us “BP says its Gulf oil spill costs now $450 million”, Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGgVQq-uQHlrMhFKLy_ V0Hz_7XNwD9FM08MO0 “Companies involved in the U.S. Gulf rig accident”, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/ idUSN3011545120100430 “California’s Schwarzenegger turns against oil drilling”, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ world/americas/8658825.stm

References: “How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?”, BBC News Magazine, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8664684.stm “US says BP move to curb oil leak ‘no solution’”, BBC News, http:// news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8685969.stm “Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf”, New York Times, http:// www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/ us/16oil.html WCCO Video Library, CBS News, http://wcco.com/video/?id=78277 “Fed: Government can’t push BP aside on oil spill”, Yahoo News, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ us_gulf_oil_spill “Oil slick spreads from sunken rig”, CNN, http://edition.cnn. com/2010/US/04/22/oil.rig. explosion/index.html “Obama denounces ‘big oil blame game’ as experts question information on leak”, The Times, http://www. timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ world/us_and_americas/

11 11

Brain ver

Y

ou could be forgiven for thinking that science and sport lie at opposite ends of the spectrum. It is rare that we see the stereotypical scrawny science nerd using his scientific prowess to match the muscular brawn of the high-school jock.

Premiership footballers seldom moonlight as nuclear physicists just to keep their grey cells ticking.

But while some may struggle to achieve the ultimate mix of brains and brawn, science and physical athleticism themselves are not so incompatible. Were it not for a radioactive spider bite, Peter Parker would never have scaled the heights of Manhattan’s tallest buildings as Spiderman. Without physics, Bruce Banner would not have realised the unlimited strength of the Incredible Hulk.

In the same way, today’s real-life athletic superheroes depend wholly on science in their quest to reach the ultimate peak of human sporting achievement. But in the world of high performance sport, does science fulfill the role of hero or villain?

The heroic scientists Athletes of today rely on scientists to maximize their training and performance. A top-level athlete will rarely be seen without a physiologist, taking regular blood samples to make sure the athlete is exercising with exactly the right amount of lactate (the chemical produced during exercise which causes the burning sensation in muscles) in their body. The scientific knowledge of physiologists is vital in helping design better training programs for each athlete.

ments in real time to hone their technical skills. The athlete wears goggles wirelessly connected to a camera in the hands of their coach, inside which a live computer-generated image of themselves rowing is displayed.

The rower is able to see this live footage whilst out on the river.

Allowing the athlete to see their technique for themselves can be an extremely effective method of coaching, instead of relying

the latest developments in mechanics and engineering are beginning to conflict with the fundamental philosophy of sport: the ethos of fair play solely on audio communication in which some elements are ‘lost in translation’.

Biomechanical telemetry equipment is also used to measure the quality of each stroke during training. Real time data on power, length, angle and pace measured to thousandths of a second has replaced the traditional reliance on eyesight and repeated ‘trial and error’.

Real time number crunching means coaches can reinforce what they are seeing with hard evidence, and athletes get immediate feedback on their progress.

A false hero?

e training camp at

g team. High altitud

GB Olympic Rowin

Silvretta Lake in

Austria

Aside from their ‘trusty sidekick’ physiologist, an athlete has constant contact with doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, and surprisingly engineers. Despite being the newest development within sports science, the field of biomechanics is having a significant impact at the top end of sport, where a millionth of a second can be the difference between glorious victory and agonizing defeat.

In the last ten years the Great Britain Rowing Team has used biomechanical expertise to fine tune a near-perfect rowing technique, gaining that extra edge over their world-class rivals.

The Visual Immediate Feedback System, designed in 1999 by Biomechanist Valery Kleshnev, allows rowers to view their move-

12

But in other sports the latest developments in mechanics and engineering are beginning to conflict with the fundamental philosophy of sport: the ethos of fair play. In swimming, suit technology has been making headlines for the last ten years since Speedo introduced their “Fastskin” suits. Designed for the Sydney Olympics, they were modeled on shark skin in an attempt to reduce water drag.

Since then, continuing technological developments have resulted in the production of increasingly efficient, but increasingly controversial swimsuits. Technology became the deciding factor in who won the race.

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a 50% polyurethane full-body LZR Racer swimsuit broke world records galore, with 94% of gold medals won by swimmers wearing the suit. The latest develop-

rsus Brawn ment, a 100% polyurethane suit, finally prompted swimming authorities to take action and ban all performance-enhancing, non-textile swimsuits since January 2010. This has, for now, returned the sport to a race against the best athletes, rather than those with access to the best technology. In this case significant performance enhancement was obvious; the difficulty in future will be differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable levels of augmentation in the technological arms race that now dominates international sport.

The darker side of science This illustrates how 21st century technology has progressed to the stage where its use in sport constitutes ‘technological doping’. But using science to cheat in sport is not a new phenomenon, and ‘biological doping’ has been carried out for decades by the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Anabolic steroids have been part of many doping cases like the BALCO scandal, in which several highprofile athletes including British sprinter Dwain Chambers were convicted of using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone. Synthesized for medical treatment of conditions such as suit muscle wasting from cancer, swim racer LZR this testosterone-related drug binds to androgen receptors in muscle cells and alters gene expression. This builds muscle mass and reduces recovery time by blocking the effects of the stress hormone cortisol, thus enhancing athletic performance.

By Laura Greenhalgh

cheats in developing tests to catch offenders. In addition, the accuracy of some tests is questioned, as they do not fully take into account the effects of different genotypes. The current test for anabolic steroid use measures levels in urine, but a 2008 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism showed that certain individuals are likely to record a negative result even if they have taken steroids, or a positive result when they haven’t, simply as a result of their genetic makeup.

At least anabolic steroids are detectable. More worrying are the improvements in gene therapy technology that have occurred in recent years. Designed to treat life-threatening diseases, this technology is providing hope for the medical world but conversely the biggest potential undetectable threat to sport: genetically modified athletes.

Gene therapy involves inserting genes into cells using a virus, to cure diseases caused by malfunctioning genes. The technology is still immature and cannot yet be carried out without harm. But evidence of treatment success is increasing and there is already a growing level of interest in the sports world for ‘gene doping.’

Scientists working on cures for diseases like muscular dystrophy or blood disorders are being approached by sports figures, with at least one known case of a German trainer attempting to obtain experimental material. In the future, it may be possible to use gene doping to increase athletic performance, but it is difficult to know how this could be detected.

Science saves the day Science in sport has progressed from helping athletes achieve impressive feats to providing methods for those who wish to cheat. But can science redeem its heroic role in sport? The latest idea may be a step in the right direction against drugs cheats: the biological passport. Proposed in 2007 by the World Anti-Doping Agency, this involves haematological profiling which establishes the normal biological state of an athlete. Each subsequent blood test can then be compared to the athlete’s normal state, with significant variations from this representing indirect evidence of doping. The biological passport was introduced in the world of cycling in 2008 and has already resulted in several suspensions from the sport.

Science plays the role of both hero and villain within the world of competitive sport. This technological arms race continues to escalate, as each year we see ever-increasing stakes for athletes and the reputation of science. Hopefully, science can ultimately triumph as hero in this battle, and maintain the spirit of fair play essential for continued respect of real life, natural superheroes in the world of high performance sport.

References: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/swimming/8161867.stm http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/29/2013052.aspx Jakobsson Schulze, J. et al. (2008) Doping Test Results Dependent on Genotype of Uridine DiphosphoGlucuronosyl Transferase 2B17, the Major Enzyme for Testosterone Glucuronidation, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism,93:7.

Friedmann, T. et al. (2010) Ethics: Gene Doping and Sport, Science, 327:5966

Anti-drugs agencies often lag several years behind the drug

13

From heart attacks to liquid computing

I

t is widely accepted that chemistry has a unique place in science, bridging the gap between physics and biology. Despite being important, chemistry is overlooked by the media, with physics and biology often dominating science headlines. The amount of practical chemistry students can take part in school is falling, presumably due to health and safely reasons. Fortunately, our very own Imperial College has set up an outreach scheme, enabling school kids to do ‘proper hands on science’.

In secondary school I was lucky enough to do a lot of practical chemistry and remember a reaction that stuck out from the rest for being that little bit more mysterious. At first glance the ‘chemical clock reaction’ seems to be an illusion, but it actually serves as a great example of how a straightforward reaction can be applied to many different areas of science.

Chemical clock reactions get their name from the periodic changing of colour that occurs once the reaction starts. The most common clock reactions are based on iodine, which turns from dark blue to colourless. The process of going from reactant to product happens via the intermediate chemical iodine.

What are the applications of such reactions?

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, named after Boris Belousov and Anatol Zhabotinsky has proven particularly useful.

The interesting property of this clock

14

reaction is that when carried out in a petri dish, the reaction starts as a formation of distinct spots. As the reaction continues, waves of chemical change occur, forming interlocking concentric rings and spirals, indicative of a system

collaboration of scientists, aims to construct a ‘wet’ computer from water droplets coated in fat, much like living cells, capable of performing information-processing tasks.

The droplets will contain the BZ reaction chemicals and be

Using ‘chaos theory’ scientists have successfully controlled rabbit heart tissues induced into a chaotic beating pattern in ‘chaos’. Mathematicians have studied the BZ reaction in an attempt to understand the propagation of chaos, and how it might be controlled.

The mathematics behind the BZ reaction parallels the electrical impulses that travel through muscle tissue like the heart. Using ‘chaos theory’ scientists have successfully controlled rabbit heart tissues induced into a chaotic beating pattern, as well as controlling arrhythmic hearts (erratic beating) in human test patients, by administering small stimuli to the heart at irregular times. This could revolutionise the treatment of heart attacks, by using small impulses instead of administering huge jolts of electricity that puts the heart under intense stress.

The BZ reaction has demonstrated how chemistry can have profound effects in mathematics and medicine, but researchers have found a further use. The switching between two chemical states is similar to the ‘on and off’ function in binary computer programming. Prof. Andy Adamatzky from the University of the West of England has demonstrated that the BZ reaction can perform simple logic functions in a liquid state. A new European

capable of receiving a stimulus that can produce a controllable response, like a computer processor.

The scientists aim to mimic neurones found in the nervous system of complex organisms, and hope to construct a computing device that mimics neuronal pathways. It’s not predicted that this technology will be used to run business software, but it might provide the possibility to compute in new environments, control molecular robots and chemical assembly at the molecular level, and design intelligent drugs.

The BZ reaction also has the potential to make chemically driven robotic devices. Researchers at Waseda University Tokyo have used the BZ reaction to make a chemical gel that can walk like a caterpillar or inchworm. Hashimoto’s ‘lab worm’, although a couple of millimetres long demonstrates the possibility of making mechanical devices which can move independently of electricity. The cyclic reaction makes gel polymers shrink and grow, resulting in a tiny movement which is amplified by tension built into a curved gel structure.

We are living in a digital age,

By Dom Rees-Roberts dominated by electrical devices and silicon chips. The future holds the possibility of devices controlled by chemical brains.

A curious chemical reaction can be harnessed for mathematics, medicine, computer design, material engineering and robotics.

Physics and biology receive a considerable amount of media attention. They answer the big questions about life and the universe, or have applications that directly affect us. Chemistry is sometimes left behind, but as the BZ reaction demonstrates, it has far more to offer the real world. It underpins many of our technological advancements. Next time you’re watching a chemistry demonstration be sure to pay attention - it may just hold the key to future innovations.

Working Party of the Environment, Health and Safety Committee. Health and Safety Legislation and Practical Chemistry Teaching in School. Royal Society of Chemistry. 15th May 2002. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/outreach/reachoutlab http://www.practicalchemistry.org/experiments/ iodine-clock-reaction,55,EX.html Gray C. (2002) An Analysis of the Belousov-Zhabotinskii Reaction, Undergraduate Math Journal, 3(1) Field RJ, Koros E and Noyes RM.(1972) Oscillations in chemical systems, Part 2. Thorough analysis of temporal oscillations in the bromate-ceriummalonic acid system, Journal of the American Chemical Society,94 Petrov V, Gaspar V, Masere J and Showalter K (1993) Controlling chaos in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, Nature, 361 Beeler GW and Reuter H. (1977) Reconstruction of the action potential of ventricular myocardial fibers, Journal of Physiology, 268 Garfinkel A, Spano ML, Ditto WL and Weiss JN (1992) Controlling cardiac chaos, Science, 257(5074) Christini DJ, Stein KM, Markowitz SM, Mittal S, Slotwiner DJ, Scheiner MA, Iwai S and Lerman BB (2001) Nonlinear-dynamical arrhythmia control in humans, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(10) Zhang L, Adamatzky A. (2009) Collision-based implementation of a two-bit adder in excitable cellular automaton. Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 41(3) from: http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about/ news/2944 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8452196.stm Maeda S, Hara Y, Yoshida R, Hashimoto S. (2007) Chemical robot – Design of self-walking gel.

Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

San Diego, CA

Technology, Tubes and Tone

By Chris Noble

T

echnologies continue to evolve, improve and leave their predecessors behind them. However, certain inventions remain in use even after they have been technically surpassed by newer solutions. The thermionic valve (or vacuum tube) is one such technology and has seen a resurgence in use over the past few years, especially in audio equipment.

Many people reading this may not know what a thermionic valve is. The simplest valves are glass tubes that contain electrodes, a control grid and a heater, resembling old-fashioned energy inefficient light bulbs. In most examples air has been removed from the tube to create a vacuum, although in some applications valves are filled with a specific mixture of gases.

Inside an operating valve, the cathode is heated and electrons flow from cathode to anode across the vacuum. This current is controlled by applying a voltage to the control grid so valves can be used to control a flow of electrons in electronic systems.

Valves were primarily used to amplify signals in radios, telephone exchanges and to switch binary signals in primitive computers.

The Pilot ACE - one of the earliest computers and profiled in the previous edition of IScience contained over 800 valves.

Musicians, especially electric guitar players, are also valve fans because of the characteristic sound produced by valve amplifiers. It is doubtful that the distorted guitar sounds first associated with classic rock and blues music would ever have been produced without the invention of the valve amplifier.

The relatively small market for valves today, compared with the first half of the 20th century when they were being manufactured in the millions, has meant an increase in price. Valves are now several hundred times more expensive than transistors or microchips. There is also a demand for vintage valves manufactured by companies such as Philips and General Electric, to what many believe is a higher standard than the current manufacturing processes from China and Eastern Europe. Sought after vintage valves can sell in excess of £50 each and as many modern guitar amplifiers contain between five and ten valves, replacing all of them can be a costly business.

valves are used in the detonation systems of nuclear weapons as high speed switching devices

Valves revolutionised the communications industry until they were replaced with smaller, cheaper and more reliable transistors in the 1950s. They were still widely used by the military long after this due to the valve’s higher resistance to disruption by electromagnetic pulses – of the kind produced by nuclear explosions. In fact, valves are used in the detonation systems of nuclear weapons as high speed switching devices.

Today, valves have fallen out of favour and it is rare to find them in consumer electronic equipment. However, there are certain jobs where valves are still better than transistors. Many audio enthusiasts prefer the warmer sound of valve electronics over transistor-based systems. In high end recording or broadcast studios it is likely that a number of devices incorporate valves into their electronics; such as compressors, pre-amps and some microphones. In the consumer market it is possible to buy valve powered Hi-Fi equipment and even iPod docks, such as the “Fatman iTube”.

Many manufacturers have tried to emulate the sound produced by valves using modern technology and cheaper, more reliable components. But electric guitar players around the world still carry heavy, unreliable and expensive valve equipment because it gives them the tone they desire – valve tone.

Technology evolves with time and many other devices such as the VCR, Cassette, Minidisk and DAT (Digital Audio Tape) have disappeared from the public conscience. If you know where to look, it is possible to find outdated technologies in use today. The valve is a perfect example of how, in specific applications the predecessor may outperform its hi-tech replacement.

References: https://www.watfordvalves.com/pdfs/guitaristv02-01_biasing.pdf http://www.atatan.com/~s-ito/vacuum/vacuum.html

15

Vertebrates’ Versatile Vision

By Pippa Hough

W

e tend to think about vision from a human point of view. The electromagnetic or visible spectrum is the range of electromagnetic radiation that we perceive with our eyes.

Generally, we think of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum such as radio waves and gamma radiation as different to light. But, the only difference is in their wavelengths.

These ranges of the spectrum all behave in the same way, in that they are absorbed and reflected by certain molecules. We have

Howler Monkeys

evolved to see in the visible spectrum because it is part of the range of wavelengths radiated by our Sun. It is in enough abundance to reflect off surfaces, giving complex organisms’ spatial information about their environments. Our eyes evolved to see subtle differences in the colours around us that were important.

Photo receptors are cells that absorb wavelengths of light and transmit nerve signals when particular concentrations of light are absorbed.

In vertebrates there are two types of photo receptors; rods and cones, named after their shape. Rods measure the abundance of light and cones measure the abundance of light in a restricted wavelength range. Cone cell outputs are

16

compared to other cone cell types within the retina to get an approximation of the wavelengths being reflected by objects in the visual field.

Mammal vision Conventional wisdom says that mammals are colour blind. Actually, they just can’t see the difference between red and green. Humans can because we have cones that absorb light in the red and green regions of the visual spectrum, as well as the blue region.

Most mammals only have cones that absorb light in the yellow and blue regions.

Given that fish and reptiles have colour vision, early mammals must have evolved this lack of complexity because it gave no evolutionary advantage. It is possible that mammals had three or more colour pigments, but lost them (even some fish, amphibians, and reptiles, who share ancestry with us, have them). The primate family re-evolved ‘trichromacy’ (three cone colour vision), which is why our sight is made up from three wavelengths of light.

Current research suggests it is likely related to primates eating red fruit. Among some primate species trichromatic vision is not universal through the population; also known as genetic polymorphism.

In many Central and South American primates, the males are colour-blind because they possess either a red or green cone. The females can possess combinations of red and

green, only green cones or only red cones. Thus, only a small proportion of the population has trichromatic vision. This implies that variation in vision within the population has some advantage.

There is a consensus that colour-blind people are better at seeing camouflaged shapes blended into a complexcoloured background because they have less colour information to process. For New World primates, having variation in colour vision means that within large social groups’, tasks of spotting fruit or camouflaged predators is split depending on the type of sight an individual has.

Bird vision Birds can perceive light in the

as a filter to block some light wavelengths from reaching the receptor. Differing oil droplet filters on the same types of cones means they effectively become different. Therefore, two red cones can compare different amounts of red light reflected from the top and bottom range of the spectrum, increasing the sensitivity of colour perception. Increased sensitivity in colour perception means birds are brilliant at knowing precisely when fruit is perfectly ripe. However, to make these comparisons a lot of light is needed, so these birds can only function consistently in daylight.

Reptiles Some reptiles such as pit vipers can perceive the infra red (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. They

Some reptiles such as pit vipers can perceive the infra red (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum ultraviolet range as well as the human ‘visible spectrum’ because they have a fourth cone that absorbs UV light. Many fruits and flowers have UV pigmentation which humans cannot perceive. This extra cone makes it easier for birds to spot them in the same way as red and green cones give primates evolutionary advantages.

Some of the cones in a bird’s retina have oil droplets above the photo receptor. These act

effectively see the heat given off by their prey. Pit vipers have a ‘third eye’ in the middle of their forehead to detect IR. This eye is less complex than their other two but it does allow for basic shape perception.

This is only a brief overview of the variation in colour vision of vertebrates. The numerous ways these animals have evolved to perceive the world around them exemplifies the incalculable variation in the animal kingdom.

Two sides of the same coin

By Henry Lau

S

ome of us know someone who suffers from dyslexia. For dyslexics English can be baffling. But have you ever considered the possibility that a different language could make a difference to how dyslexia affects a person?

A brief history of dyslexia Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects people’s reading proficiency. It was only in 1994, that the government officially recognised dyslexia as a specific learning disability.

However, acknowledgement of dyslexia happened over one hundred years ago.

In 1878, Adolph Kussmaul, a German neurologist started taking an interest in adults who had damaged neurological systems. He noted that some of his patients had trouble reading, using words in the incorrect order. He described their condition as “word blindness”. This term was subsequently taken up and used in medical literature.

Later, in 1887 Rudolf Berlin, a German eye doctor, coined the term “dyslexia”.

In the nineteenth century dyslexia was considered by the medical profession as one of three things; a medical problem, a mental problem or just a lack of motivation. At the end of the nineteenth century this simple view was clarified from a report, by Jules Dejerine published in The Lancet. Dejerine reported how a patient lost the ability to speak and read after a head injury. Several other accounts reported similar cases. Thus, the brain was readily accepted as the root of reading and learning

difficulties. For a long time it was felt that the difficulties in learning were the province of medical professionals and not the realm of educational psychologists like today.

How languages work How would dyslexia work in Chinese compared to dyslexia in English? To answer this question we need to consider the inherent differences between the languages.

English is a language where each letter corresponds to a sound (technically known as a phoneme). In the word “bar” for example, each letter has a distinctive sound and when combined forms the sounds we recognise as a word. However, this isn’t always the case as English contains some irregular pronunciations, with words such as “through”, along with many irregular rules. It is also interesting to note that in Italian, where the sounds of words follow spelling more rigorously than English, the prevalence of dyslexia is lower.

On the other hand, Chinese is a pictorial language where each symbol links to a specific spoken syllable. For example, in the official language of China, Putonghua (or Mandarin) there are about 1,800 distinguishable syllables. Chinese also places more emphasis on tone in distinguishing between syllables, with four tones in Mandarin. Several meanings can be attached to individual syllables, but the different meanings are represented by different characters.

Characters are identified by memorising the configurations of the strokes and the associated pronunciation. A knowl-

edge of about 3,500 characters would be needed to read the equivalent of the Daily Mail and 6,000 characters for an average book.

Since the two languages are formed from two very different systems, one can assume that the two languages make different demands on the brain.

Brain scans of English speakers hearing English revealed high activity in the left temporal lobe. It is believed that this part of the brain links speech sounds together to form individual words. Chinese speakers rely more on the front of the brain, linked to memory, motor control and visualperception, as well as the right temporal lobe, associated with the ability to process music or tones.

Dyslexia differences With the differences between the languages, it is not too farfetched to presume dyslexia in a different language would be different. In October 2009, researchers from the University of Hong Kong reported a study in Current Biology. They looked at the brain activity of Chinese children with dyslexia and normal reading levels.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

reading levels.

The difference in the two requirements of both languages may help illuminate why there is a difference between the rates of reported dyslexia in Chinese school children (1.5%) to English school children (about 5-6%).

Moreover it could help explain how people can be dyslexic in a phonemic language like English, but a highly competent reader in a pictorial language like Chinese, Japanese or Korean. In 1999, a study reported a 16 year old boy who could read at an undergraduate level in Japanese but was dyslexic in English.

The variety in severity and manifestations of dyslexia shows its complex nature.

These new studies are illuminating new knowledge in how the brain processes languages and are a step forward in helping pin down how language affects dyslexia.

References: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335235940.pdf http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/ sep/23/research.highereducation2 http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/ post.cfm?id=its-all-chinese-to-me-dyslexiahas-2009-10-12 http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/12/2373 http://www.8asians.com/2008/05/09/chinese-vsenglish-how-the-brain-learns-to-read-can-depend-

Chinese is a pictorial language where each symbol links to a specific spoken syllable on-the-language/

the researchers found dyslexic children showed less activity in the part of the brain that is responsible for processing ‘visual-spatial’ information than the children with normal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3025796.stm http://online.wsj.com/article/ SB120965705088459637.html Taeko Nakayama Wydell, Brian Butterworth, A case study of an English-Japanese bilingual with monolingual dyslexia, Cognition, Volume 70, Issue 3, 1 April 1999, pp.273-305.

17

Genius or Crackpot?

By Greg Szulgit

H

ave you ever been engaged in a discussion about the ridiculousness of some crackpot pseudoscientist, only to have a bystander chime-in, “Well, isn’t that what they said about Galileo?”

I’m here to set the record straight. No, it isn’t what “they” said about Galileo. It’s what the radical fundamentalists in the Vatican said about him. Actually, when many scholars reviewed Galileo’s evidence and listened to his arguments, they were convinced that he was on to something important.

So what’s the difference between Galileo and someone like Andrew Wakefield, the surgeon who kicked off the ‘manufactroversy’ over the MMR vaccine? The difference is that, when Wakefield was asked to support his outstanding claims, he

so much? Is it because we have romantic ideals of a true genius striking out against the “establishment”? Is it because we identify with that struggling underdog? Or have we simply watched too many films in which the spurned hero is vindicated in the end?

Whatever the reason, can we take a dose of reality, please?

There are an absurd number of ‘nutty’ claims made in the name of science. Fortunately, we have ways of testing which ones are actually true and, like the legal system, the onus is on the claimant to produce the evidence.

For every Galileo, there are thousands of homoeopathists, scientologists, ‘Flat Earthers’, and simple con artists who prey on the uninformed. If you

is reasonable before the idea is taken seriously. If there is any group that doesn’t comprise an “establishment”, it’s the global scientific community, where most of the time, well-supported ideas catch on quickly.

In short, don’t fall for the allure of the maverick until his or her ideas have survived the rigours of the peer review and subsequent debate process.

Remember, that even the craziest sounding ideas (for example, the relativity of time and space) from the unlikeliest of sources (for example, a little-known patent clerk in Austria) will be accepted quickly by the “establishment” if the maths and evidence are on their side.

So, the next time some ‘nutter’

For every Galileo, there are thousands of homoeopathists, scientologists, ‘Flat Earthers’, and simple con artists who prey on the uninformed couldn’t. And neither could anybody else who tried to duplicate his study1, 2. In contrast, Galileo could.

Even though Galileo’s outstanding claims required outstanding evidence (as well they should have), he could produce it. So, was he a maverick? Well, it depends. If a maverick is a person who dissents from a group, then Galileo was a maverick, but only to the fundamentalists who would not let go of Aristotelian thinking. But he was not a maverick to his scientific colleagues. In retrospect, he was simply a brilliant scientific leader3.

Today, why do we still love the idea of a lone scientific rebel

18

want to know the facts, ask these claimants to prove their ideas. Furthermore, listen to the counterpoints presented against their arguments (these are easy to find – Wikipedia, believe it or not, is a great starting point). The crackpots will claim that experts from “the establishment” are suppressing their new ideas. Does this ever happen? Do some scientific experts unfairly attack new ideas? Absolutely.

There will be a few experts who are jaded and closed to new ideas, but not all of them will be, and it only takes a fraction of the scientific community to agree that an argument

claims that their revolutionary ideas are being suppressed by the scientific establishment, please don’t compare them to Galileo. The real people who deserve that accolade are the brilliant minds who are recognized as such by their scrutinising colleagues and are rejected by religious fundamentalists, just as Galileo was.

References: 1 Normand, M. P. and J. Dallery (2007) “Mercury Rising, Exposing the Vaccine-Autism Myth” Skeptic, June 20th [online] http://www.skeptic. com/eskeptic/07-06-20/#feature [accessed 25th May, 2010] 2 Kmietowicz, Z. (2010) Wakefield is struck off for the “serious and wide-ranging findings against him” British Medical Journal, News, 340:c2803.

3 Finocchiaro, M. A. (1992) The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History. University of California Press. 382pp.

Charging All the Way

By Jon Primmer

two motors within the chassis, whilst keeping the components uncluttered and accessible. Computer aided design (CAD) provided the team with that spatial framework.

O

ne small inconvenient truth ignited the Racing Green Endurance project; the general public like their luxuries. It is very difficult to persuade people to save energy by stopping them driving their nice cars or watching their plasma television. Why should they miss out on all the fun?

The answer must surely come from technology. What we all want is a green product that is equal to, or better than what we already have. We want a step up and something to desire. Well, how about a car that is as cheap as 1p per mile to drive, does 0-60mph in 6 seconds, goes up to 130mph and is as green as the electricity that powers it?

Enter the SRZero. So convinced of this dream, the Racing Green Endurance team have come an impossibly long way. They kitted out a Radical SR8 chassis with 54kwh of battery storage, two electric motors and a host of electronic control systems, mostly donated by sponsors, but much of it developed in house. It was an intense project, hampered by the fact that the car was in a workshop in Peterborough for the majority of the manufacturing process. The first challenge was to fit the largest ‘road-going’ battery pack and

On the 21st of March 2010 the SRZero drove under its own power for the first time, a huge milestone. However, electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the low voltage control system soon put the car back in the garage for modifications. The team needed to find a lasting solution, which came in the form of physical shielding and a redesign of the electronic system.

On the 29th April 2010, over a month after the car’s first drive, the team took the SRZero to Norwich. It passed the individual vehicle assessment (IVA) first time, becoming fully road legal in the UK and abroad. The team completed the process from design to the finished product in just 9 months.

‘taster’ of its capabilities.

Waiting at the lights attracted a lot of attention with people shouting questions and others rushing to take photos on their phones. Each journalist returned with an enormous grin.

That very night Alex Schey (Project Manager) and Toby Schulz (Chief Systems Engineer) broke a new record.

They drove the car round the M25 twice (268 miles) on a single charge – with ease.

The previous record was held by the Tesla Roadster, managing just one lap.

So what’s next? The team want to prove that the stereotypes of battery powered cars are unfounded. One of the biggest concerns that people still have is the range a battery can provide. To prove this wrong in a big way, the team intend to drive the car 16,000 miles from Alaska, down the

the team intend to drive the car 16,000 miles from Alaska, down the Pan-American Highway, to the tip of South America Momentum still high and less than a month after that, on the 27th of May, the car was revealed to the press. There was a great turn out with each member of the team doing their share of interviews.

Journalists were taken in the car one by one around South Kensington, giving them a

Pan-American Highway, to the tip of South America.

With a battery range of 270+miles, a great distance can be covered during the day, and overnight the car and the team can recharge. At major cities along the route the car will be showcased at key

venues suggested by the online community. Mainly via Twitter, people around the world are calling in favours, offering advice and making suggestions toward the team’s dream.

This trip will begin on 8th July 2010 and last roughly three months. With carefully targeted sponsorship and inspiring presentations the team have secured useful backing; cash has been pledged from many different companies, whilst others are contributing with resources. However, £80,000 still needs to be raised to ensure all targets are met, and any company that meets this will receive extensive benefits!

With strong momentum propelling the project, what will happen when they return in September? Alex Schey says “We aim to keep the car maintained in a road worthy condition, and possibly modify it for speed rather than endurance. Alongside this, we are very keen to keep the car going to events and helping to change peoples’ perceptions of electric vehicles, as well as continuing to promote our sponsors despite the fact that the project will have been declared finished!”

The team has worked tirelessly for incalculable hours with no pay (though not to say without reward), relying solely on external support, and each other.

One thing is for sure, this team moves quickly!

Web: www.racinggreenendurance.com Twitter: RGEndurance

19

20