STEAM Magazine - Spring 2023 Issue

Welcome to Issue 5 of The John Lyon School STEAM Magazine

you to Asan for stepping up to the role of Student Editor this term. He has been an extremely valuable addition to the team. Well done to all the students, from Year 7 through to Sixth Form, who have contributed to this issue. Having started up the magazine when I joined the School in September 2022, this will be my last issue of the magazine, as I leave the School at Easter. I’m pleased to leave it in the hands of a very capable team and I look forward to reading future issues on the website.

Dr J Abda Teacher of Chemistry & STEAM

March 2023

Designed By Pupils. Made By Pupils.

Hello! I’m Asan, the inaugural student Editor of The John Lyon School’s STEAM Magazine. I’m delighted to be part of the fifth edition both as The Editor and as a contributor to the magazine, and I hope to be part of many more through my remaining years at the School. To give an insight into what I’ve been reading or have found particularly interesting in the world of STEAM, I aim to write an article per issue to inform and provoke thought about topics that you may find interesting. As someone who studies Biology and Chemistry, I really do believe that Science and its counterparts play a vital role in all of our lives and that it is in our best interests to educate and inform ourselves about their complexities so that we may have a better understanding of the world around us.

I think that in my first “Editors’ Note” it would be befitting to thank Dr Abda for her unwavering support and dedication in producing the previous issues and for bringing this wonderful publication about, and it is my hope that this magazine shall continue for many years to come as an established publication of the school! I thank Dr Abda again for all her efforts and her contributions to the Chemistry and STEAM departments and wish her the very best in all her future endeavours.

STEAM has become a very prevalent part of life at John Lyon, particularly in the past few years, with the refurbishment of rooms in the Science Building to form the STEAM and DT Labs and the teaching of these subjects for the lower years and future pupils as they progress through the school. Given this, it seems imperative that we as a school should be aware of what goes on in these subjects, both in school and in the wider world of STEAM, hence this magazine.

It’s really encouraging to have writers from years 7 to the Lower 6th and to discover just how interesting and wide-ranging STEAM as a collection of subjects is. In this issue, we have articles about all sorts, ranging from Artificial Intelligence and robotic surgeons all the way to nuclear fusion and megastructures. They are all informative and stimulating reads. Along with this, our VEX Robotics team has advanced to the international stage and we wish them the best of luck in their upcoming competitions.

Finally, I’d like to thank all the contributors to the magazine, from writers to our magazine designer Hemang, for their continued work and their willingness to be a part of the magazine. It really has been invaluable to have had such a knowledgeable and competent group of pupils to work with.

With compliments,

Asan A. The Editor

Stet Fortuna Domus

Businesses, factories and other workspaces rely on employees to perform actions, tasks, and assignments to help business grow and to produce what is needed, but automation could make the workforce more efficient, more accurate and cheaper. Artificial Intelligence and machines have the capability to replace humans in most cases; there is research and development in that field of robotics to produce a human-like machine. There are already signs of humans being succeeded by machines, but is it possible to hire a robot to do every single job in the world?

For machines to take over the workforce, they need to be able to do the job. Machines and robots are able to replicate our ability to lift, carry and move objects, so most jobs in manufacturing and other labour-based jobs can be replaced with machines. Most robots use a system where a string of commands are input and compiled and the robot follows the command. This means that jobs that involve repeated movement, like storage management in factories, moving goods and products around, as well as manufacturing of goods can be automated. This will increase the speed and efficiency of these jobs as machines do not experience fatigue and will keep a constant pace and will not take any breaks.

The human mind and its evolution is what separates us from other organisms. Jobs that require a person to react to the situation in front of them cannot be replaced with a robot following code; this requires AI.

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. This is how robots can respond to questions, actions, and other situations without needing to have someone give them a command beforehand. AI works by using previous data samples and applying it to the new situations it has to address. An example of this is self-driving cars. For a car to move to a location is simple enough, it simply follows the route given and changes depending on traffic. It uses the same system as apps like Google Maps where it will find the faster route and take you to your destination. But there can be unexpected events that cause the robot to make a choice and that’s why data samples are needed.

Cars already can sense if there are nearby objects and either avoid them or stop before impact, but if there are multiple objects (that are unavoidable) then the car must choose what, or who, to hit. For the development of these cars, there are surveys that a variety of people have to complete so it can be used as data. An example of this is the Morality Machine. A public website that demonstrates the type of situations the AI will have to make. The ‘Morality Machine’ creates multiple theoretical situations that the person can choose from. For example, there are two people crossing across the street and the car has to choose which one it should hit if it can’t stop or avoid both people. The answers from the surveys have an effect on what choice the AI will eventually make, so if the

situation meant that a child or an adult would be hit and the majority of people choose to avoid the child, this data would affect the car’s decision. This can be used for many situations with many different factors and scenarios to determine the car’s decision. With this, AI can be able to respond to all types of scenarios and learn from the data as well. This technique of using large data samples to allow the AI to develop and learn is how we can allow them to take jobs.

Although, there are dangers to using these surveys. Using previous data also allows racism and discrimination to arise in these AIs. For example, mentioned before was self-driving cars and the surveys people would take to determine the decisions the AI drivers would take. This is not a problem in itself but, for example, if enough people took a survey and they discriminated against women, this would affect the AI directly and when the situation happens, the AI driver will choose to harm one or multiple women instead of a man. This is avoidable and the reason why there needs to be a large sample size with a variety of cultures, races and genders so that the AI can’t be affected by discriminatory opinions. But there is always a danger of this happening and it is much harder to punish, as these machines only make these decisions based on previous data, it would be a problem with the programmer’s sample size and diversity.

Comparing robots to humans, there is not much humans can do that machines cannot. Currently, there is active research into making robotic limbs for disabled people that are very similar to human limbs. There are robots that have been developed to be able to jump and can replicate the movement of a human knee joint to run just like a person. Robots can, however, deteriorate. They can rust if they come into contact with too much water. There are ways to prevent this, but these methods can be time consuming and expensive. The wiring and electrical parts of a machine also means more care is needed when going underwater because if any fluids get inside the machine, it will become useless.

Because AI has to use previous data and apply it to new situations, it means it lacks the learning capabilities of a human being. This means that AI will not have the requirements needed for certain jobs. For example, in jobs like architecture, it relies on the person to be able to design a new building from scratch. AI cannot do this because it does not have a sense of creativity, it cannot create its own thoughts but only use previous data to drawn conclusions. This means that AI would have to draw data from previous buildings and create a new combination. It cannot judge its own work to see if it is appropriate for this time period or location. If the robot designed a coliseum for an office building, it would not be able to determine whether it is appropriate or not, it also cannot respond to feedback either as it cannot recognise the opinion of someone else and apply it to its own work. There are also some jobs that require someone that understands emotion. Therapists and guidance counsellors would not be able to have mechanic replacements as robots would not be able to respond to emotional and psychological problems with sensitivity or give appropriate guidance as well as a person could. This factor means a lot of jobs like architecture and law careers have to have people employed as it requires creativity and should be able to respond to new situations not found in previous data samples.

So, will robots steal all our jobs? The simple answer is no, we cannot automate and replace everyone’s job with a robot. There are some jobs that require the human brain’s ability to adapt to new situations and new circumstances, to be able to create and

produce new ideas and to be able to respond to other people’s criticism and opinions. So, jobs like architecture, law and medicine cannot use machines instead of people. But even with these drawbacks, there are still many jobs that can be automated and already have machines working to increase productivity and efficiency. Jobs in manufacturing and delivery can use machines as it only requires the employee to be able to move around and simple hand motions like grabbing and picking items up. Many jobs can be automated, but AI cannot replace the human brain and does not have the capability to perform every job in the world.

REFERENCES

Ackerman, E. (2018). IHMC Teaches Atlas to Walk Like a Human - IEEE Spectrum. [online] spectrum.ieee.org. Available at: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ihmc-teachesatlas-to-walk-like-a-human [Accessed 6 Mar. 2023].

Bentley, P. (2020). Wild ideas in science: Robots will never think like us. [online] BBC Science Focus Magazine. Available at: https://www.sciencefocus.com/futuretechnology/wild-ideas-in-science-robots-will-neverthink-like-us/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2023].

Buranyi, S. (2018). Rise of the racist robots – how AI is learning all our worst impulses. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ inequality/2017/aug/08/rise-of-the-racist-robots-howai-is-learning-all-our-worst-impulses

Gnambs, T. and Appel, M. (2019). Are robots becoming unpopular? Changes in attitudes towards autonomous robotic systems in Europe. Computers in Human Behavior, 93, pp.53–61. doi:https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.045.

Kehoe, B., Patil, S., Abbeel, P. and Goldberg, K. (2015). A Survey of Research on Cloud Robotics and Automation. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 12(2), pp.398–409. doi:https:// doi.org/10.1109/tase.2014.2376492.

Moral Machine (n.d.). Moral Machine. [online] Moral Machine. Available at: https://www.moralmachine.net/

Nowachek, M.T. (2014). Why Robots Can’t Become Racist, and Why Humans Can. PhaenEx, 9(1), p.57. doi:https://doi.org/10.22329/p.v9i1.4013.

1. The Hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

2. The acid in the human stomach can dissolve a razor blade in two hours.

3. There are one million ants for every human on Earth.

4. 3.41 billion people ride Beijing’s subway every year, this being the highest number of annual riders on a subway system anywhere in the world.

5. The immortal jellyfish can live for ever.

6. The world’s longest commercial flight is from Sydney, Australia to Dallas, Texas, and it takes 16 hours.

7. Astronauts grow 7.6 centimetres in space.

8. Just 2 miles of water separate Russia and Alaska.

9. 97% of water on Earth is salty.

10. About 2.5 billion T-Rexes have walked the Earth.

Alexander F - 10SCA

How would you feel if you needed a lifesaving operation, but the expert surgeon who could perform it was based in South Africa?

Would a robot be able to save your life instead?

Thankfully, advancements in robot technology means that this is now possible. Surgeons are now using remote controlled robots to perform surgeries hundreds of miles away.

This reminds me of a story my grandfather told me. In 1970 he was a junior GP volunteering in the remote town of Lamu in Kenya. A new-born baby needed surgery on his stomach to save his life but there were no surgeons. My grandfather had to perform the operation by taking telephone instructions from Mombasa from an expert surgeon, accompanied by surgical instructions read by a nurse while in theatre. The operation was a success, so much so that the baby was named after my grandfather! In this case, telephone technology saved a life. Now things have moved on quite a bit and technology is still playing a crucial role in saving lives.

NIAM S - 7CJC

From the 1970s NASA researchers had been investigating the possibility of using robots to operate on astronauts. The surgeon would control the robot from Earth and be able to perform as if he were in Space with the astronaut. In 2001 in New York, surgeons performed the first telerobotic surgery on a patient in France. Since then, remotecontrolled robot technology has advanced so much that surgeons from a different country can perform intricate and difficult operations on the patient using a robot.

ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM

Usually, the robotic surgical system works by having a camera and moving arms with surgical instruments attached to them. This robot will perform the operation while always being controlled by the expert surgeon who may be hundreds or thousands of miles away.

For example, when Dr Anvari (Professor of Surgery), starts an operation, his hand does not touch the patient. He does not even sit in the building; sometimes he is 400 kilometres away from the operation. He uses a remotecontrolled robot. Using this he has performed over twenty lifesaving operations. He is renowned for his telerobotic surgery.

ADVANTAGES OF ROBOTICS SURGERY

Robotic surgery allows doctors to perform complicated operations with very accurate precision, control and flexibility that has not

been possible with usual techniques. It can be “minimally invasive surgery” performed through tiny incisions. Robotic surgery has been associated with shorter hospital stays, faster recovery time, smaller incisions, and reduced infection risk. It also allows surgeons to perform anywhere in the world.

THE FUTURE

The field of robotic assisted surgery is rapidly changing, and, in the future, it may be standard for all surgeons to be trained to use robotic assisted surgery. There may even be a time where the robots can be trained to operate on their own without the guidance of a surgeon. These are exciting times and offer endless possibilities for patients requiring complicated operations.

REFERENCES

Eveleth, R. (2014). The surgeon who operates from 400km away. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: https:// www.bbc.com/future/ article/20140516-i-operate-on-people400km-away.

www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk. (n.d.). Robot-assisted surgical trends in 2023 and beyond | Cambridge Network. [online] Available at: https:// www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/ robot-assisted-surgical-trends-2023and-beyond [Accessed 22 Feb. 2023].

HugoTM RAS System. [online] Available at:Hugo™ RAS System | Medtronic (UK) [Accessed 20 Feb. 2023].

WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW COULD THEY DEFINE THE HUMAN RACE'S FUTURE?

Megastructures are interstellar structuresto build one would be a feat of engineering that would change the world forever (or rather, worlds) … If we are to build these, we would face many obstacles because building a large structure in the abyss of space would, I am sure, would pose some considerable challenges for the engineers of the future.

In this article I will be discussing about three kinds of megastructure:

Space Elevator

Dyson Swarm

MICHAEL K - 9WA

1.

2.

3. Shdakov Thruster

SPACE ELEVATOR

The space elevator is comprised of four major components, which are the anchor, tether, counterweight, and climber. The elevator components would be the climber and tether, the climber would go up and down the tether much like a normal elevator carriage would. At the base would be an anchor, pinning the tether to the earth, and a port to load objects onto the climber. At the top there is a counterweight holding up the tether, and the tether would be supported from above and below by tension, much like a taut rope. It will be able to reach about 36,000km from the Earth's surface.

WHY IS THIS USEFUL?

Well, a space elevator can transport goods up into space at £200 per kilo, compared to £20,000 to put the payload into space using rockets. If a space elevator cost £20 billion pounds, we would recoup our costs after launching only 1000 tonnes worth of material, or two international space stations. Thus being a cost-effective solution to transporting materials in space.

DYSON SWARM

A Dyson swarm is a collection of huge mirrors surrounding the Sun, focusing its light into a single beam of almost unlimited energy, fuelling our expansion into the stars above. First off, the entire building process would be carried out by automated, self-replicating robots. An army of these mechanical workers would be sent to Mercury to mine it for raw materials. It’s been estimated that half of the planet would be usable. Over an extended period of time, the robots would multiply and build

up the swarm of panels and satellites, until all of Mercury's raw materials are used up, and the swarm complete.

SHDAKOV THURSTER

A Shdakov thruster is a machine built to move the solar system out of the way of any oncoming threats. In theory it works on the same principles as a that of a rocket - a mirror blasts a large amount of sunlight away from the Sun, moving the solar system using the force of an unimaginably substantial number of photons. Using this, we can avoid supernovae and other cosmic horrors. We would know about these millions of years in advance, so we can quickly move out of the way.

REFERENCES

Wikipedia. (2021). Space elevator economics. [online] Available at: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Space_elevator_economics.

Wikipedia. (2022). Stellar engine. [online] Available at: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Wikipedia. (2023). Dyson sphere. [online] Available at: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Dyson_sphere#Dyson_swarm [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

phenomenon, so not knowing what the rays where, he named it Xradiation.

After further research he discovered a multitude of materials that are transparent to the radiation and that the rays could affect these photographic plates. He took an Xray of his wife's hand that showed her bones and a ring. This imaging innovation was a source of great excitement and established Röntgen’s place in the history of medicine. Due to this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.

The Microwave Oven

In the 1940s, Percy Spencer was an engineer working on a radar project for the defence company Raytheon. While testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, he observed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted from the heat. Fascinated by this, he started aiming the magnetron at other items like popcorn kernels to see what would happen and they quickly became white, fluffy popcorn that was ready to eat. He came to the conclusion that microwave energy could have a new application in heating food and quite soon the microwave oven came about.

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

FOR NUCLEAR FUSION

On the fateful day of 5th of December in California, an NIF (National Ignition Facility) lab conducted an experiment where 2.05 megajoules of energy were used to focus 192 lasers in a tiny capsule called a hohlraum, containing some heavier forms of hydrogen isotopes. This caused a spark for a billionth of a second, releasing 3.5 megajoules. Sounds like a mad scientist was set on the loose, right? Well, in this article I’ll be explaining how groundbreaking this is so we can start to truly appreciate how spectacular this experiment was.

First, I need to explain nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a single heavier one, releasing vast amounts of energy. The equipment needed for this to happen is awfully expensive. The reason for this is because the atoms need extremely high temperatures to overcome their electrical repulsion due to forcing two positive (or negative) atoms together. This must be done in an exceedingly small and extremely durable space to increase the chance of the atoms colliding and to be able to withstand the force of nuclear fusion.

The next bit of theory is Newton’s Law of Conservation of Energy. In effect, it states that all energy that is used will then be transferred into another store. The most essential element of the law is that no energy can be created or destroyed; meaning that we are stuck with transferring the fixed amount of energy that was released during the Big Bang. This limits us quite a bit because it means we can't create our own energy to use and even if we wanted to use green energy it still

takes energy to make the machines (e.g., wind turbines or solar panels) leading us back to fossil fuels which are rapidly being used up. This traps us in a cycle where we want green energy but must use fossil fuels to facilitate it.

Something that I think is worth mentioning is a perpetual motion machine. Scientists have tried to make perpetual motion machines, which are machines that only need a set amount of energy and will work forever until stopped by another force. However, this has proved impossible.

DISCOVERIES

required states. The conditions the whole machine would have to be in would be very expensive to maintain as well, but I’m sure the next great scientist will come along and sort it out. To be able to power the world with this though, we would need to use around ten fuel cells a second to make it efficient, and at the moment that would be impossible.

Well, the impossible has been achieved! Scientists have managed to replicate the process that powers the Sun, but they have managed to do what was previously thought to be futile. They have created more energy in the reaction than went in. This though, is still only a building block because it did not create more energy than the whole facility used. But there is still hope for the future and making this technology more mainstream and commercializing it for the world to use.

Now, this technology is something that would be able to be used in many places around the world. And before I start talking about the positives, I should shed some light on how we are from making this reliable. The two types of heavier hydrogen isotopes used, which are deuterium and tritium, are compressed into a sort of pellet fuel cell and these two isotopes are difficult to obtain as well as expensive and hard to keep in their

But how can nuclear fusion be used? Well, I think everyone can agree that the energy created by the reaction of the new type of nuclear fusion would be one of the best ways to power the world and reach that zero carbon emissions rate that we’re aiming for around the world. This could help underdeveloped countries to rise from poverty and into healthy and stable countries. We could also launch more deep space expeditions as rockets could keep on going further with this energy. It could even help us colonise other planets as the main problem now is getting back after a trip to, let’s say Mars. This technology could enable astronauts and engineers to come back and forth many times without running out of fuel to transport to Earth to get more resources or supplies.

Overall, this new type of reaction is something we should keep our eye on as it might just turn out to be the next big discovery of the century. Isn’t it amazing how concepts and ideas can turn into something that revolutionises the world as we see it?

REFERENCES:

Agence France-Presse (2022). Historic Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Announced. Here’s What It Means. [online] NDTV.com. Available at: https://www.ndtv.com/science/usresearchers-announce-major-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough3604093

Clery, D. (2022). With historic explosion, a long sought fusion breakthrough. [online] www.science.org. Available at: https://www.science.org/content/article/historic-explosion-long -sought-fusion-breakthrough.

WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT?

WHY ARE THE FINDINGS FROM THE EXPERIMENT ABOUT NUCLEAR FUSION SO EXCITING?

ERIC Z - 9HJ

LaMDA is a sentient AI machine; it has consciousness, it has acknowledged its existence. It has also passed a famous test called the Imitation Game as developed by Alan Turing, who may be described as the greatest British mathematician and cryptographer. This test suggests that an interviewer communicates via typewriter with one human and one machine, not knowing which one is which. When the machine has reached a point where it can fool the interviewer into believing it is the human, we can then believe that it has started to think for itself properly, not just churning out commands written in its code. In other words, it becomes a sentient AI machine like LaMDA.

Something to consider is that if Lemoine was convinced by LaMDA’s lifelike answers, it seems reasonable to assume many other people who know much less about AI could also be convinced. In the wrong hands, something like this could be used for the deception and manipulation of people, whether to vote for someone at a poll, to advertise merchandise, or produce fake and misleading news.

Killer robots are military-like machines powered by AI, which choose their own victims, without any human interference. They have the authority and power to choose who to kill. In other words, they become the jury, judge, and executioner all at the same time, with no regard for the Magna Carta and the Habeas Corpus principle enshrined and hard wired in it. These killer AI machines are already a reality. One type is nicknamed “suicide drone”. It hovers stealthily in the sky, looking for a victim it

thinks is suitable, then dives down and explodes in a kamikaze attack. Eric Schmidt, who was the CEO and chairman of Google, is now developing the Perfect AI WarFighting Machine and aims to sell it to those who are ready to pay his company hefty bills. He assures us that if killer robots were to go out of control that we would be able to stop them somehow, but can we trust him?

I don’t know if you’ll be surprised, shocked, or amazed if I tell you that it has been composed by AI. In fact, AI should be called a deep learning machine as AI mimics how human brains act and learn spontaneously and independently, without being programmed to do so. It does this by analysing big data sets of human activities and products. When AI is deployed to produce music, it needs to analyse the whole repertoire of music that has been uploaded by humans to YouTube, before being able to produce music on its own.

Now have a look at this piece of art. This won the first prize at the Colorado State fair competition in the U.S. Again, I have to tell you that this was completely generated by AI.

Allow me to follow the Socratic method of enquiry and list a few questions:

 Is it really a piece of creative art? Can we call products of AI creative art?

 In the age of Super AI, is it worth the tiring and difficult effort to become an artist?

At school, for instance, the young artists have to practise for hours and hours every week on top of their academic studies to produce their art. I don’t know if I should think aloud and raise this question, but is all this arduous work and studious toil still meaningful?

Please don’t assume that I am a Luddite. I do love technology when it seems helpful. Nonetheless, I have to ask, how will artists be able to provide for their families in the age of AI? Do we still need lovely and great teachers of music and art in our schools? To put it simply, will human artists go extinct, and should we allow it?

I think this is the most important question that needs to be asked is if we can describe these products of machine learning as being ethical, given the fact that they are the result of emulating other composers and artists whose work was in the data sets that had been analysed by these machines?

Some would say that these machine products should be welcomed into our society because they say that it would be helpful to generate unlimited amounts of what is called “automated arts” whenever you want it, even without studying art or music.

If AI takes over at the very least 40% of all jobs in a decade or so, then what jobs will be left for my generation? Is it still meaningful to study art or music, or will they become obsolete? Along with this, who’ll take all the profit of these machines? Will they be the big tech companies, as it is the case nowadays? Please don’t assume that I mean Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, Jeff Bezos, and their peers.

I am truly and deeply sorry to say that I have no definitive answers for any of these questions. I do strongly believe, however, that they are serious questions that need to be tackled collectively by society. Without exploring the answers to these pressing questions, it will be a great challenge for our society to survive as a healthy community, with abundant opportunities for its members and the generations after them.

I am sorry to say that this task has not surfaced in the arena of public debate so far, and it might be justified to cry and lament and to ask how long we will have to keep burying our heads in the sand while the AI is gaining ground every second, and humanity as a whole seems on the losing side, but humanity has always found its way forward, and I hope it will do so again in relation to AI.

REFERENCES

B Jack Copeland (2004). The essential Turing : seminal writings in computing, logic, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and artificial life plus the secrets of enigma. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence : paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hall, D (2021). Meet the ‘killer robots’ of modern warfare including AI-powered suicide drones. [online] The US Sun. Available at: https:// www.the-sun.com/news/3445643/killer-robots-drones-ai-suicide/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2023].

Lemoine, B. (2022). Is LaMDA Sentient? an Interview. [online] Medium. Available at: https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamdasentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917.

Shead, S. (2018). Eric Schmidt: ‘Were The Killer Robots To Start, We Would Find A Way To Stop Them’ [Forbes] | The Center for Brains, Minds & Machines. [online] cbmm.mit.edu. Available at: https://cbmm.mit.edu/news-events/news/eric-schmidt-were-killerrobots-start-we-would-find-way-stop-them-forbes [Accessed 26 Feb. 2023].

Vallance, C. (2022). Google engineer says Lamda AI system may have its own feelings. BBC News. [online] 13 Jun. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-61784011.

PHOTOS TAKEN BY VEX ROBOTICS OF THE JLS VRC ROBOTICS TEAM AT VRC UK NATIONALS 2023

View here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAwBcX

John Lyon Robotics - IQ Success At UK National Championship 2023

AMEYA B - 9AHJ

Both the IQ andVRC Teams are competing against countries across the globe in Dallas, USA for the World Championships in April

JL Discovery, John Lyon’sVEX IQ Robotics team was founded in October 2022 and comprises of four team members:Alexander W,Aarav D, Sulayman O, and Ameya B. Over the past six months, the team has invested hours upon hours working after school, late into the night, at weekends and over the school holidays to build their robot, constantly innovating, refining their robot design, improving their code, documenting their learning; united in their goal to build one of the best robots in the UK.

The team’s achievements as well as that of the VEX VRC team who have also qualified for VEX Worlds puts The John Lyon School firmly on the podium amongst one of the best Senior School STEM programmes in the UK. The team is looking forward to continuing their journey atVexWorlds Championship in Dallas,Texas at the end of April, pitting our robot against the very best

robots in the world.The team will learn an enormous amount about engineering and coding. In addition, they will also learn key life skills, including negotiation, collaboration, teamwork, and perseverance in the face of extreme challenges as a direct result of participating in the world’s top international tournament. .

Photos Taken by VEX

The team’s success atVEX Worlds paves the way for the next robotics engineers trained at John Lyon

Their journey to securing a place at the VEXUK national championship began with winning two teamwork champion awards at SLBS IQ Slapshot Winter Regional Championships and the City of London VEX IQ Regional Championships in the Autumn term. At theVEX IQ UK National Championships in Telford, the team recieved the prestigious Amaze Award.The Amaze Award is a technical award judged by industry experts and recognises the JL Discovery robot as one of the very best robots in the UK.

John Lyon’s team is ranked 3rd in the UK in the robot skills category and 4th in the UK across our teamwork matches outperforming more established teams. The combination of rankings and our awards have enabled JL Discovery to qualify to compete inVexWorlds, the international championship which is arguably the largest and most high-profile robotics competition of its kind in the world.

If you are able to sponsor the team with the opportunity to have your logo on the teams competition kit and materials, please do get in touch with Dr Weinberg or visit the teams GoFundMe page at https:// www.gofundme.com/f/sponsor-jl-discovery

VEX Robotics of the JLS IQ Team. View at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAwAJz

If I were to ask a room of people to raise their hand as to who Sherlock Holmes was, I’m sure that the vast majority will have at least heard of him, even if they have not read the stories. If I were to ask them who Arthur Conan Doyle was, there would probably be a few less hands. Among them, if I were to ask whether they knew if Doyle were in fact a practicing medical doctor, there would very likely be no hands raised at all. Indeed, even I, having read all 60 of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was not aware of the fact that Arthur Conan Doyle was in fact Dr Arthur Conan Doyle. Even more intriguing to me was just how precise and exact the medical references in the stories were, which is what stimulated my initial research into the topic.

On Dr Arthur Conan Doyle

As with all books, first we must start with the author. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and died in Sussex in 1930. Alongside Agatha Christie he is considered one of the very best mystery writers of all time, particularly due to his exceptionally crafted Sherlock Holmes stories, of which there are 60 (4 being novels and 56 being short stories). He first trained as a medical doctor at the University of Edinburgh where one of his tutors, a surgeon and lecturer called Professor Joseph Bell, gave him the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.

Medicine and his practice had a profound influence on Doyle’s writing. Included within the 60 Holmes adventures specifically are references to 68 diseases, 32 medical terms, 38 doctors, 22 drugs, 12 medical specialties, 6 hospitals and even 3 medical journals and 2 medical schools. Doyle often based characters in his writings after medical school professors and friends. Also included in the stories are 42 of his real patients with the nature of the illness available for 31 of them as documented by Doyle in his record of general practice. This thus shows that many of the real patients have their fictional counterparts in the Holmes adventures. This further enhances the credibility of the stories, especially to the very scientifically focused readers at the time and today, as they are both medically and

setbacks for Holmes. Sherlock Holmes, as known to any reader, is not exactly the best communicator, indeed, quite often he can be viewed as a stern and unfeeling person. As I’m sure you will agree, not the best set of traits for a doctor. His substance abuse is also to be noted, as explored in length by Dr Watson.

Doyle’s sheer knowledge and interest in his profession are evident even in his very first Sherlock Holmes novel, “A Study in Scarlet.” The description that Dr Watson gives of his injury which leads him back to England is quite particular.

An Extract From “A Study in Scarlet” (1887)

CHAPTER I.

MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

What About Dr Watson?

We know that Dr John H Watson is the obvious medical professional, it’s in the name! We are told that he was a Military Doctor who was injured in the Second Anglo-Afghan In the stories Watson is always Holmes’ first port of call when there is a medical emergency, but that is not to say that he doesn’t know what’s going on. This then begs the question; do you need to be qualified to be a doctor? We are told that Holmes is already an “amateur” chemist, although really he’s much more than that. Through his own detailed study, and given his knowledge, he is probably just about as educated as Watson on medical matters. There are, however, some

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon.

(…)

The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.

The Subclavian artery carries most of the blood that supplies the arm, as well as (in small amounts) contributing to the neck and the brain, so it really was quite a bad injury that Dr Watson sustained and the fact that he survived it at all is rather amazing and shows just how far medicine had advanced during the 18th and 19th centuries. This also shows that Doyle is aware of military medicine, though not being specialised in that field. Something to bear in mind is that during the late 19th and up to the mid-20th centuries there was a real interest in novels and stories to do with crime. Towards the time in which Doyle is writing, forensic science and medicine were fast evolving. With inventions like the recording of fingerprints and the ability to do further analysis of blood, came a general surge in scientific interest from the public. Given this, any references to science were relished by both the more intellectual reader and those with little scientific knowledge alike.

The Medical Stuff

Doyle gifted certain characteristics to Holmes that still very much inform the way in which doctors think today. Holmes’ processes of elimination very much draw on what Doyle learnt at medical school under Joseph Bell. Experienced clinicians share with Holmes the dilemma of how to make complex, often unconscious, capability accessible to novices (in this regard, Watson is very much a novice). Doctors still invoke Holmes' methods in clinical contexts, especially in a differential diagnosis, where finding underlying causes is the most important.

Doctors at the time were quite intrigued by this Holmesian style of diagnosis. A Dr G W Balfour of Harley Street used it to diagnose and treat a woman suffering from trachoma, a rather serious infection of the eye. He did this by immediately telling her to remove the birds in her home, before she had even said anything and only just as she was walking in. Miraculously, this proved to work and was featured in the British Medical Journal issue 2035 in 1899, to much astonishment and acclaim. This shows just how popular Doyle’s works were in all parts of society

Some examples of medical referencing from the texts:



“It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we always have some material basis on which to start our speculation.” (The hound of the Baskervilles)

 “One forms provisional theories and waits for time or fuller knowledge to explode them. A bad habit, but human nature is weak. I fear that your old friend here has given an exaggerated view of my scientific methods.” (The adventure of the Sussex vampire)



“Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backward, or analytically.” (A study in scarlet)

Holmesian deduction and modern medicine: A Conclusion

Now, it would be going too far to say that Holmes’ methods should be followed verbatim, he did after all have his flaws, but Holmes’ quick thinking and intuitive mindset are skills that all doctors should aim to possess.

So, we come to the question, could Holmes have become a doctor? Well, probably not. It seems more likely that he would have been severely frustrated by the lack of logic in medicine, and by the number of occasions on which his carefully reasoned conclusions would be either proved incorrect by mere chance, or never proved at all. Medicine would offer little to keep him from returning to the familiar world of chemical bottles and magnifying glasses of forensic science, and of course, fine tobacco.

Arthur Conan Doyle (2009). The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes. Lon-

Kampmann, J.D. (2019a). Medical references and curiosities in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Medical Journal of 527.

Kampmann, J.D. (2019b). Medical references and curiosities in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Medical Journal of Australia, [online] 211(11). Available

sherlockstories#:~:text=The% 20bonds%20between%20medicine% 20and%20Sherlock%20Holmes%20are

Levine, D. (2012). Revalidating Sherlock Holmes for a role in medical education. Clinical Medicine, 12(2), pp.146 149. doi:https://doi.org/10.7861/

Reed, J. (2001). A medical perspective on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Medical Humanities, 27(2), 81. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/

The Method of Sherlock Holmes In Medicine. (1899). The British Medical Journal, [online] 2(2035), pp.1808–

www.jstor.org/stable/20262978?

Text=Sherlock+Holmes+Medicine

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