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.

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. .

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

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?

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