Queen Mary’s Student Science Magazine March 2012 | Issue 02 | Free copy
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Science Predictions: Past and Future
We look at predictions for the next 100 years, as well as from the past
Phantom Limbs V M Ramachandran’s work on mirror neurons
Aquaponics The science of aquaponics, and how you can use it
Editor In Chief Aamna Mohdin Managing Editors Jennifer Toes Nisha Bargota Editors Michael Willis Chris Simmonds Rose Wolfe Keeren Flora Design Ismail Uddin Photography Keeren Flora News Aamna Mohdin Duncan McLean Outreach Rose Wolfe Aamna Mohdin Ask the Expert Eleanor Matthews Nasira Ahmed Lele Gelibter Frah Abdullahi Features Poppy Coppins Keeren Flora Mohammed Moosa Rebecca Harriet Scott-Jupp Tasmiya Wahed Almira Khaliq Mitshel Ibrahim Special Features Priyanka Bulsara Alexander Badrick Illustrations Priyanka Bulsara Maria D’Amico Ismail Uddin
queen mary student science magazine
Welcome to the second issue of QMSCI. In this issue, we speculate on the future of science and look at previous science predictions. Some turn to horoscopes or fortune tellers, but if you really want to know what the future holds, ask a scientist. Not just a renowned, seasoned scientist, but a fresh mind, someone who is asking themselves the questions that will define the next generation of scientific thought. We look at the predictions made 100 years ago and the ones being made now, which provide a startling vision of the future. The result is a medley of big ideas on topics ranging from tourism and to politics, fashion and cognitive enhancement. Our features cover a diverse range of topics, ranging from libel laws within science to London’s air pollution. It is a credit to our writers that we continue to publish a wide array of articles, covering topics across the spectrum of scientific research. I’m incredibly grateful for the huge amount of support we have received from both staff and students within the college. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped get QMSCI on its feet. The hard work shown by the editors and our contributors, who fit the magazine around their incredibly busy schedule, has been amazing. QMSCI and its associated community of scientists and science writers is something very special at QMULlong may it continue. QMSCI is funded by a grant from Queen Mary’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, in support of the College’s continuing commitment to public engagement.
Aamna Mohdin Editor in Chief
QMSCI Launch in Library Square
In late January, QMSCI’s first issue launched with a stall in Library square. We managed to distribute some 70 copies of the magazine in just under two hours. Here are some pictures from the launch event:
An Eye for Science Peter McOwan Carl Murray Martin Knight Yannick Wurm Original Photography Venus Ahmed Mallory Francis Bedford Pippasha Khan Lele Gelibter Keeren Flora Ismail Uddin
QMSCI Launch
Reviews Akash Makwana Faye Curran Dominic Barker
Special Thanks Peter McOwan Front cover illustration Rodrigo
Photography by Keeren Flora
Contents p4-5
News at QMUL Latest in Science Features
QM researchers take science Canada drops out of Kyoto protocol to the parliament Formula Student Interview with Dr. Garriott
p6-9
Ask the Expert
p10-11
Libel Laws in Science
p12-13
A brand new section in QMSCI where we ask Queen Mary experts a series of science questions
An in depth look at libel laws and how they affect science
Features
Phantom Limbs General Anaesthetics Living in a digital age
How to beat jet lag Air pollution in London Science of Aquaponics
Science Predictions: Past and Future We take a look at the top 10 science predictions that came true, and science predictions for the next 100 years
p14-19 p20-23
An Eye for Science
p24-25
Reviews
p26-27
A new section where researchers from QMUL discuss their research using a picture of their work
Books, Podcasts and TV shows reviewed
qmsci
NEWS AT QMUL
A scoop of the latest news and research coming from the Queen Mary’s Faculty of Science & Engineering
Image by Alvesgaspar
TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE Queen Mary scientists have uncovered a fascinating fact that bumblebees spy on honeybees in order to find the best food resources. The research shows that the bumblebee learns the tricks of identifying the more rewarding food source, within its habitat, from the honeybee, despite being separate species. However, the information also brought about the more alarming issue that competition between each bee species is more severe than first feared.
A music competition is to be launched by Queen Mary to judge the sounds and music produced by certain computers. The competition, also judged by a computer, is to celebrate the SuperCollider Symposium 2012, a music event and entrants are encouraged to either remix or create their own music by altering an original algorithmic dubstep.
Image by smarles
COMPETITION FOR COMPUTERS
Image by Mats Lindh
TALKING GOATS An interesting recent study has indicated that as goats grow older, they pick up various accents depending on which goats they socialise with. Dr Elodie Briefer and Dr Alan McElligott at Queen Mary have shown that despite previous beliefs that most mammals have limited flexibility with vocal sounds, kid goats are an exception to this rule and join humans, whales and bats, all who have the ability to speak with a different accent.
A study by experts at Queen Mary has shown that even though over 100 years have passed, ill health in London is identical to as it was in 1898-99. The map, originally drawn up by Victorian reformist Charles Booth, showed that London boroughs such as Newham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets suffered severe ill health when compared to poverty. Queen Mary scientists plotted those most at risk to type 2 diabetes with relation to poverty, and the results were superimposable. The research is designed to help NHS services to confront ill health in areas that need it.
Image by Sunil060902
EAST LONDON WORST FOR ILL HEALTH
Image by Steve Brown
PUTTING THE MAGIC BACK INTO MATHS
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Queen Mary, University of London has developed a new educational resource for teachers to help students use amazing magic tricks to learn about maths. The educational website (www.mathematicalmagic.com), which includes the ‘Manual for Mathematical Magic’ and a series of interactive videos, was led by Queen Mary’s Professor Peter McOwan with the help of the College’s resident stand-up comedian Matt Parker and semi-professional magician and maths teacher Jason Davison.
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qmsci
LATEST IN SCIENCE The latest in science news and research from around the world
THE MYSTERY OF BLUE BALLS Image by Muso
A resident recently collected an unknown substance that appeared in his garden, apparently falling from the sky. The material is described as ‘jelly-like’ with no particular smell but caused great speculation as to extra-terrestrial life. Scientists have since clamoured together and using an FTIR spectrophotometer discovered that the substance is not a life-form, but in fact sodium polyacrylate, which is often used in either nappies or for florists. The only mystery that now remains is how this material fell from the sky in the first place.
Image by Mihai Andoni
LASER GUIDED BULLET INVENTION A team of engineers from the USA have created a bullet that can guide itself towards a target that is over a mile away. The precision of this new invention allows the bullet to twist and turn through the air through the direction of a laser, reaching speeds of up to 730 metres per second. This newly unveiled invention is being tested for use in military machine guns.
Image by Jensflorian
CLONING BREAKTHROUGH AIDS MENTAL ILLNESS
DOUBLE FEAR FOR MALARIA The worldwide toll for the death rate of malaria may be twice as high as previously expected. The World Health Organisation had stated that it had anticipated approximately 655,000 deaths in a report for 2010. However, recent research has suggested that actually 1.2million people have died from the disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes. Also, the majority of the deaths were in adults or older children, by 42 per cent, and not babies as previously thought.
Image by Colonel Wildturkey
Brain tissues have been created at the laboratory famous for the creation of Dolly the Sheep. These particular brain tissues are unique in that they are from patients suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar depression. Researchers hope that by studying the neurons from the tissues that previously undiscovered secrets can be unearthed paving the way for potential treatments.
Image by Tomislav Alajbeg
IN THE GENES, BUT WHICH ONES?
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For decades, scientists have understood that there is a genetic component to intelligence, but a new Harvard study has found both that most of the genes thought to be linked to intelligence are probably not in fact related to it, and identifying intelligence’s specific genetic roots may still be a long way off. A team of researchers examined a several genes using large data sets that included both intelligence testing and genetic data. As reported in a forthcoming article in the journal Psychological Science, they found that, in nearly every case, intelligence could not be linked to the specific genes that were tested.
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qmsci
FEATURES | NEWS
Queen Mary scientists take science to Parliament
Queen Mary researchers have been chosen from hundreds of scientists across the UK to present their work at the House of Commons as part of the competition ‘SET for Britain’
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ngineers, Iffat Patel and Dr Julien Gautrot, at Queen Mary, University of London presented their research to politicians and a panel of expert judges in Parliament on Monday 12 March. Their research will be judged against dozens of other scientists and engineers’ research in the only national competition of its kind. The east London researchers, from Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science, were shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to appear in Parliament as part of SET for Britain- a poster competition for earlycareer researchers. PhD student Iffat’s research focuses on mimicking nature’s own nanoscale designs to produce new materials for packaging, defence armour and thin film technology. On presenting her work in Parliament, Iffat Patel commented: “This is a fantastic way to promote science and engineering to a wider audience. Not only will it encourage awareness of forthcoming technology but is a great opportunity to think about the bigger picture, and Parliament is the perfect place for it.” Queen Mary Lecturer Dr Gautrot will present his research into the design of biomaterials for biomedical applications. Dr Gautrot said: “This competition is an exciting opportunity to present our research and explain to our MPs why it is important to continue supporting our effort and how it will benefit our society.”
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Dr. Julien Gautrot
SET for Britain is a poster competition in the House of Commons - involving approximately 180 early stage or early career researchers - judged by professional and academic experts. All presenters are entered into either
death in 2007, the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, with support from The Royal Academy of Engineering, The Institute of Physics, the Society of Biology, The Royal Society of Chemistry, the Physiological Society, the Wellcome Trust and the Society of Chemical Industry are working together to further his legacy. Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said, “This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers. ‘These early career scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is
“These early career scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is politicians” the engineering, the biological and biomedical sciences, the physical sciences (chemistry), or the physical sciences (physics) session, depending on their specialism. Judged by leading academics each session will result in the reward of Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates. Bronze winners will receive a £1,000 prize; Silver, £2,000; and Gold, £3,000. There will also be an overall winner from the four sessions who will receive the Westminster Wharton Medal. SET for Britain was established by Dr Eric Wharton in 1997. Following his untimely
politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.” Early stage or early career researchers include university research students, postgraduates, research assistants, postdocs, research fellows, newlyappointed lecturers, part-time and mature students, returners, those people embarking on a second career, and their equivalent in national, public sector and industrial laboratories, and appropriate final year undergraduate and MSc students, all of whom are engaged in scientific, engineering, technological or medical research.
Iffat Patel
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee run the event in collaboration with The Royal Academy of Engineering, The Institute of Physics, the Society of Biology, The Royal Society of Chemistry, the Physiological Society, the Wellcome Trust and the Society of Chemical Industry, with financial support from BP, Airbus/EADS, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, AgChem Access, Oxford Instruments, IBMS and GE Hitachi. by Aamna Mohdin
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FEATURES | NEWS
Canada drops out of the Kyoto Protocol
Image from Wikimedia Commons
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s 2011 drew to a close, there were a few questions on everyone’s mind; is 2012 really the year the world will end? Does anyone truly like Frankie Cocozza? But more pressingly, the question that should now be on everyone’s lips is why did Canada pull out of the Kyoto Protocol? Global warming has been at the forefront of worldwide concern for many years. Its implications are far reaching, rather severe and worst of all; evidence points to it being caused by us. Burning fossil fuel, deforestation and general industrialisation, have led to increasing concentrations of gases that interfere with the climate and are already beginning to have very serious repercussions. Therefore this brought about the formation of the Kyoto Protocol.
both signed and ratified the protocol, not every country produces the same amount of emissions: there is a discrepancy in the industrialisation of the UK compared to that of Benin. Since developed countries produce the most GHGs and fluorocarbons, it makes sense that there are different rules for different countries. According to the Protocol, developed countries are supposed to reduce their emissions of various gases by a set amount between 2008 and 2012 and as the Kyoto Protocol is a legal agreement, if the target reductions are not met by 2012, there will be harsh penalties. A country that proves unable to lower its emissions of the various agreed gases will lose certain rights within the context of the treaty, as well as having the short fall in reductions
Countries particiapting in the Kyoto Protocol as of December 2011. Brown = countries that have signed, Blue = no intention to ratify.
Introduced in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty, aimed at controlling anthropogenic causes of climate change. This combat against global warming was to be achieved by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs); hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons emitted by the signatories of the Protocol. Although 191 countries
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added to its post 2012 emission target, proving to be particularly expensive to those that fail. Canada, classified as a developed country, was therefore given the job of reducing its emissions by 6 per cent by 2012 or risk facing the penalties. However, in 2006 a new government took charge and realised that emission levels were soaring and by 2012 were likely to be around 28 per cent above their goal
Image by LeLe Gelibter
and as a result would fail to make the target set. According to Peter Kent, Canada’s Environmental Minister, it would cost Canada $13.6bn (£8.7bn) to meet their recommended targets. This money would have been used to buy emission permits, vouchers that allow a country to produce a certain amount of gas, even if it means they go over their target. By purchasing nearly $14bn worth of permits, Canada would have paid for the excess emissions and according to the Kyoto Protocol, would have reached its goals. In order to reduce its emissions without purchasing permits, Canada would be forced to marginalise parts of its own industry, losing revenue in the process. Kent went further to say that no matter how much effort was made to cut emissions, it would be irrelevant due to the world’s largest polluters, USA and China, not being covered by the Protocol. “We believe that a new agreement that will allow us to generate jobs and economic growth represents the way forward,” he added. This withdrawal hasn’t gone down too well as many people feel the gesture of pulling out shows a lack of commitment to a global problem, despite the pull-out being anticipated for many years as
well as being entirely legal. In addition to many countries criticising the move, such as France and Japan, this is a sentiment echoed by students alike. “Although the actual consequences of Canada’s withdrawal don’t seem too problematic, it’s more a case of them not showing solidarity with the majority of the rest of the world.” Former Queen Mary biology student, Peter Jackson stated. However, with global warming an increasing anxiety, Canada has not given up on decreasing the emissions of GHGs and fluorocarbons. In fact by 2020, Canada hopes to have reduced its GHG emissions by 17 per cent. Interestingly, Russia and Japan had previously stated that it would not re-commit to the Protocol after 2012. Likewise, Canada’s early withdrawal only seemingly has drawn more negative attention to the entire cause but brings up a whole new question: will other nations follow suit? by Duncan McLean
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qmsci
FEATURES | NEWS
Formula Student
A motorsport competion, where university engineering students are challenged to design and build single seat open racing car to compete in a racing environment.
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tudent teams from fifty UK universities will take on students from across the globe at Formula Student 2012, to be held at Silverstone on 13-15 July. Run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Formula Student challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year. The cars are then judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills. Jon Hilton, Chairman of Formula Student, said: “Formula Student not only acts as one of the best testing grounds for young engineers, but it is also one of the most exciting competitions on the motorsport calendar. No other international competition sees so many cars from so many countries go head to head. Last year’s event was the most successful in our 15 year history, and 2012 is shaping up to be even bigger and better.” Formula Student 2012 will be the first to pit electric and
petrol-powered cars against each other. The competition will also feature more countries than ever before. Silverstone will host universities from as far afield as Australia, Thailand, Egypt, Iran and South Africa this July. Established in 2009 by Oscar Woolnough, now a 3rd Year Medical Engineer, Queen Mary Racer is run and led by students. “I started the team to help students at QM have an opportunity to apply all the theory they’ve learnt in their degree to a real practical prob-
Rendering of QMR 12
lem while developing experience working in a team with people from loads of different backgrounds, getting something really amazing to put on their CV and hopefully having an fun, memorable experience.” Queen Mary Racer will compete for a second year with their car ‘QMR12’. The team comprises of 1st to 4th year students from all engineering disciplines as well as
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materials scientists, designers, physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians. QMR-12 boasts an ergonomic layout that is designed to excel in every aspect; from acceleration and handling to fuel consumption and cost effectiveness. It has a Steel tubular space frame chassis and a Triumph TT600 engine. “Joining the Formula Student team is the best decision I’ve made at university,” says Chris Holgate, a 2nd Year Sustainable Energy Engineer. “There’s no better feeling than
walking out of that workshop, putting away my notebook or closing that program knowing I’m just a little bit closer to getting in that car.” Students have to produce a prototype car for evaluation. In addition to technical skills, the exercise teaches management, marketing and people skills. The motorsport industry regards this as an ideal standard of achievement for students making the transition from college to workplace. “Signing up to the QM formula student has allowed me to broaden my horizons in terms of job opportunities as we are doing everything from scratch, from the design/ boardroom planning to the actual manufacture of the
car,” says Qassim Mawjee, 2nd Year Aerospace Engineer who is head of electronics on the team. “A lot of engineering companies look at these traits in graduates and I feel that being part of this process gives me a better chance to go forward and achieve my personal best.” Last year’s Class 1 winner was the University of Stuttgart. Stuttgart, of course, is home to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, and the University is renowned for its advanced automotive engineering. Gottlieb Daimler himself was a student there, and Wilhelm Maybach received an honorary doctorate from the University at the age of seventy – names to conjure with! To find out more about QMR-12 visit http://www.queenmaryracer. co.uk
by Aamna Mohdin
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qmsci
FEATURES | INTERVIEWS
Dr Richard Garriott
A video game developer and entrepreneur, Garriott was recently awarded an honourary Doctorate of Science from Queen Mary for his work in promoting the importance of science and mathematics. to space. While that’s still really expensive, it means that anybody who is willing to save up that much can, and many people will - I know I would.” In order to make back
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“To go suborbital, it’s only $15,000 in energy so, armed with $20-50,000, anybody could fly themselves to space” a small fraction of what he paid to go into orbit, Richard undertook scientific research while aboard the ISS; the research, surrounding protein crystal growth, was only possible in space. He suggests that this will be the best route for aspiring, entrepreneurial cosmonauts to go to space themselves. “The problem with going to orbit is that the energy cost is currently very high. The first thing I did was to find some productive
The way people are going to be able to get to space is not through tourism – that’s not going to happen anytime soon, if happens at all – but as soon as the price of going to space decreases and we start focusing on things like reusability, the cost will drop by tenfolds. Elon Musk (cofounder of Paypal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors) sincerely believes he can get the price of access to space down to one million dollars per person,
Image by NASA
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ichard Garriott is a famous video-game developer, a highly successful entrepreneur and a space-touring astronaut. After being told by an optician that he wouldn’t ever be able to become an astronaut due to his bad eyesight, he made it his life’s ambition to pay his own way into space. It reportedly cost him $30 million to get there. He underwent training at Star City in Moscow for eight months before being propelled from earth in the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft and eventually landing on the International Space Station on October 23rd, 2008. Garriott firmly believes that we’re currently living in a golden age of space travel. “I would say I am very fortunate to have literally millions of dollars and clearly that’s not available for everyone, but here is why I’m so bullish on the future on space: in the next decade or so, there are two primary ways of reaching space; one is suborbital, which is very worthwhile and relatively inexpensive but still as cool as actually going to orbit, which unfortunately isn’t going to be cheap within the next twenty years. The fundamental reason for this is energy cost. To go suborbital, it’s only $15,000 in energy so, armed with $20-50,000, anybody could fly themselves
the tens of millions I’d spent, but if the price of access was only ones of millions then I would have been able to make a profit. I only spent one year looking for this work, too.
Crew of Soyuz TMA 13. Left to right: Richard Garriott, Yuri Lonchakov, Michael Fincke
work I could do in space in order to offset the enormous price I would be paying. I researched in great detail what work I could do - I’m willing to do basically anything, and I found some legible business ventures I could partake in while I was in space. Through doing this work, I was able to make millions of dollars; not
and I assure you that finding work to do in space is no trouble at all.” Garriott recently received an honourary Doctorate of Science from Queen Mary for his work with the college in promoting the importance of science, mathematics and space exploration. “Educational outreach programmes
are much better managed here in the UK; I see students and faculty members more excited. I think the UK should be proud of what it’s doing with STEM students, compared to a lot of other countries. The good thing about space is that it’s a pretty interesting thing for everyone and it’s more than simply physics, so it attracts a wide variety of people. When we did the X Prize, I realised how easy it would be to get students excited about science. The number two competitor was a company called Armadillo Airspace; it’s run by a computer developer like me, John Carmack, who decided he was going to make a rocket. All the parts he needed to make the rocket he got from the internet and all the materials he needed to put it together were available online, too – the only thing he didn’t get from the internet was a special aluminium tank to hold the fuel, and the rocket nuzzle which he invented himself and actually made reusable. All of this totalled to about $100,000, which - compared to a rocket that cost billions of dollars wasn’t much. What this tells you is that any student group who has the ability to compete in a robotics contest could build a rocket that will travel into space, and that represents a profoundly different moment of time that we’re in. You think of a space shuttle and you think it requires NASA, but these things are slowly becoming available to us. Building a rocket to space would have certainly kept me awake during physics lessons!” by Rose Wolfe
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Ask The Expert
qmsci
Lele Gelibter asks lecturer Dr. Ashworth about the science behind yawning:
Why do we yawn? Image by Riyas Rasheed
your try to take a big yawn, cover Next time you’re in a lecture chain a off set ’ll you tch to see how mouth out of courtesy and wa ind beh at’s Wh s. uth wide-open mo reaction of deep breaths and to Dr ning? I’ve asked this question yaw of ic this mysterious epidem Mary. Physiology lecturer at Queen Rachel Ashworth, Biomedical ry nta olu inv an is bodily motion Firstly she explained that this e in ath bre and e wid s n our mouth action which causes us to ope yawns, on g brin ily eas m ness or boredo deeply. While fatigue, drowsi n most there’s more to yawning tha Dr Ashworth points out that oxygen re mo in w dra yawning to people think. Our bodies induce carbon of up ld bui a ove low, or rem when its levels in the lungs are e, xid dio bon car re ple produce mo dioxide. Larger groups of peo ess exc the of rid get and act to draw in more oxygen we ere wh ns atio situ which means our bodies would up gro s to explain why we yawn in r clea not it’s r, eve carbon dioxide. This theory help How ure! ed to do it, like during a lect are most probably not suppos ding about it makes us do it rea or g nin yaw else e eon som g rin hea or yet why just seeing article? I hope not too many. you yawn while reading this too. So, how many times did
Dr. Rachel Ashworth Senior lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London
Potrait by Lele Gelibter
Frah Abdulahi inquired about emotional capabilities in men and women. Dr Tina Eliola replied:
Does gender affect our emotio nal capabilities?
Women are often thought of as being more emotional and perceptive of others emotions than men. Does this perception have scientific basis? A recent study by Hoffmann and colleagues found that women were better at recognising subtle emotions in faces. When tested on highly expres sive faces, men and women per formed equally well. Thus, this sugges ts that women may be more sensitive to subtle emotional cues in fac ial expressions than is the cas e with men. Some studies have found evidence that accuracy in rec ognising emotions may depend on wh ether the person expressing em is a male or female, and the otio n kind of emotion they are exp ressing: Men seem to be more accurate at detecting ang er and disgust in male faces, whereas women tend to be better at recognising sadnes s and fear in female faces. Wo men have been also found to be more expressive across a range of emotions. Howeve r, this should not be taken to suggest that women actually feel emotions more strongly. Emotional expressions ser ve a social function to provide info rmation about oneself to oth ers, such as how powerful and trustworthy they are. The refore men and women may express emotions to different degrees because of the social context they are in that require different levels and kinds of emotions to be expressed. For example, Fischer’s resear ch suggests that women in egalitarian societies express mo re direct anger in intimate rela tionships than is the case with more traditional societi es.
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Dr Tiina Eilola Lecturer in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, at Queen Mary, University of London Illustration by Ismail Uddin
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Ask The Expert
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Eleanor Matthews speaks to Dr. Jenny Schmid Araya about why the Mile End Park canal is so green:
Why is the canal green? Image by Ismail Uddin
The reason our canal is green is because of a tiny plant call ed duckweed, which is also known as bayroot. These aqu atic plants are from the sub-fa mily called Lemnoideae, which arose from the family Araceae. Duckweed plants are very simple in structure they consist of small, green, leaf-type structures that floa t on the surface of the water and sometimes have very tiny , rootlets. They’re usually found in small ponds and lakes, where the water is slow movin g. They are found in the can al because the run-off from somewhere upstream creates a nutrient rich environment for them to live in, full of phosphates and nitrogen wh ich is ideal for these little pla nts. In the summer when the is less rain and so the movem re ent of the canal slows, they tend to proliferate rapidly and cover large expanses of the canal. They can reproduce so quickly because they have the ability to perform both ase xual and sexual reproduction . Although they can cause problems in the food chain by blocking light from reaching the depths of the canal, these plants are actually tho ught to be very beneficial and currently research is being undertaken into the possibility of them being a source of ren ewable energy.
Dr Jenny SchmidAraya Senior lecturer in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, at Queen Mary, University of London
Nasira Ahmed pondered about why glass is transparent. Dr Kostya Trachenko explains:
Why is glass transparent? Image by Paweł Grzywocz
roles widespread use and has vital Glass is a substance that’s in to ent g from laboratory equipm in science and industry, rangin how is glass transparent? reinforcement materials. But the fact Kostya Trachenko, It is due to According to our expert Dr visible en wh , . Usually in solid atoms that glass is made up of atoms ble visi by ed packets of energy possess light passes though, discrete n tro elec and used to promote an light (photons) are absorbed s not ited state. The atom then doe (in its ground state) to an exc en wh s pen through it. This only hap allow the visible light to pass to al equ n the two states is exactly the energy difference betwee case. orbed. In glass this is not the the energy of visible light abs so ed, visible light to be absorb The energy gap is too large for few the atom. Glasses are among light passes strait through the to be ss gla ws that allo pass through it, and it is this to t ligh ble visi w to allo rgy can t ene solids tha there is enough -energy light, like UV light, her hig in r m eve ato How the nt. h are transp passing throug UV light. This stops UV light orb abs and n tro elec an te promo t! making glass opaque in UV ligh
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Dr. Kostya Trachenko Lecturer and EPSRC Advanced Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London
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qmsci
FEATURES
Keep libel laws out of science
"Scientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by the methods of litigation." Underwager v. Salter 22 Fed. 3d 730; 1994
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ibel laws, publically exhibited are not just restricted to cases of serial infidelity splashed across the gossip pages of popular magazines, but also within the halls of scientific appraisal. The publication of such falsehoods, with direct impact on the livelihood and welfare of an individual’s life, has been openly condemned by Simon Singh, Ben Goldacre, Peter Wilmshurst, Francisco Lacerda and Henrik Thomsen. Their libel cases highlighted the vast differences between the forms of popularised scandal and the more serious implications against scientific commentators, despite the lack of legal differentiation between the two. It is this lack of distinction and re-evaluation of libel laws within the English law courts which has led to a growing trend of what Ben Goldacre coined, ‘libel tourism’. The charging of libel within British
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courts, which often holds little to do with the country itself, have a higher likelihood of being passed on the plaintiffs’ terms. One of the key campaign aims of The Libel Reform Campaign and Sense about Science, (to name but a couple of the organisations backing calls for libel reform), is to challenge legal discrimination with the intention to update English Libel laws to standards at the very least comparable with its US and South African cousins.
mean that our libel laws are okay, because I won despite the libel laws - we still have the most notoriously anti-free speech libel laws in the free world.”-Simon Singh, 2010 Strange though it may seem, that the United States holds a more liberal view, it is certainly true within Libel Laws. In a country notorious for everyone suing everyone else; free speech has far greater liberal standards than our own. But this has not
“Free speech is a right, not a compromise” A Very British Divide ‘English libel law is so intimidating, so expensive, so hostile to serious journalists that it has a chilling effect on all areas of debate, silencing scientists, journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and everyone else who dares to tackle serious matters of public interest…My victory does not
always been the case. In 1797 William Cobbett was sued for libel in Philadelphia for stating that the highly respected American physician Benjamin Rush had "contributed to the de-population of the earth" in the wake of major yellow fever epidemics in 1794 and 1797. Cobbett’s statement followed Rush’s advocacy of blood letting popularised in the 16th century where life expectancy averaged 47 years. As with
Simon Singh
most former British colonies at the time, the legal system almost mirrored England’s own. Cobbett’s now medically recognised critique lost. He was consequently ordered to pay $5,000 compensation to Rush - then the largest award ever paid out in Pennsylvania. It was not until 1964 that these laws were re-evaluated in the US; alongside the Civil Rights Movement where the New York Times/ Sullivan case evoked a complete legal re-framing.
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Simon Singh a new turn?
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he $5,000 Cobbett was ordered to pay Rush pales in comparison nowadays to the legal fees that scientific commentators compile in debt even before a court hearing. On the 15th April 2010 the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) dropped its libel case with noted scientific journalist Simon Singh; bringing with it one of the most publicised challenges to British libel laws in decades. Mr Singh’s two year case over an article he wrote in The Guardian cost him over £200,000 in legal fees, he will not be reimbursed. He expressed concern over some of the BCA’s treatments being encouraged, despite knowledge of their failure to meet standards they’ve portrayed owning. The crux to the case clung to whether Singh was stating a fact that BCA treatments didn’t work, or if it was just his opinion. Within the US context, so long as the report is not the
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deliberate publication of malicious falsehoods, the right of expression falls to the journalist. Singh’s lawyer, Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave LLP, noted at the time his hope that this turning point in British libel lawsuits would be inducted into the wider change of libel policies:”What this case does is give a strong steer to the lower courts that when you’re talking about scientific research and scientific debate, you should assume it is comment”. It appears that slowly this wish may be upheld. On the 27th May 2010 Lord Lester’s Defamation Bill, seeking to adjust the libel law discrepancy found within the English legal system, was published. It aims ‘to reduce the chilling effect on freedom of expression and recourse to selfcensorship that results from the vagueness and uncertainty of the present law’ as a press release at the time of its publication declared. However, doubts have surfaced over the real effect of the Bill. Movements to introduce its new
policies within British law have been side lined several times now, this coupled with Lord Lester’s history of slow acting polices have called in to question the government’s commitment to real libel reform. Regardless of the new proposals made by the cabinet to reform libel laws, one must look at the current coalition history of sudden reversals of proposals and promises. All three of the front line parties pledged, within their manifestos, an agreement to address Britain’s libel laws. As students we know how lack lustre these promises can be. Considering this with the lack of action following the publication of the Defamation Bill reiterates how vital the campaign to re-evaluate Britain’s libel laws is, for both the scientific world and wider academia. Within all academic fields the necessity to evaluate and re-evaluate is implicit in the creation of new knowledge. A student cannot complete a dissertation necessary for most degree courses without in some way criticis-
ing the field within which they study. As a nation we often parrot our belief in a liberalised world. This freedom cannot be restricted to merely the physical portrayals of ourselves, but the less tangible relinquishment of invisible chains both on the individual front and as a community. As a community we must strive towards freedom in the pursuit of knowledge and the expression of our findings to be re-evaluated and addressed to the communal improvement. For as Simon Singh noted in his 2010 defence: ‘Free speech is a right, not a compromise’. by Poppy Copins
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Phantom limbs
V. S. Ramachandran’s work on mirror neurons, and phantom limbs
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fter the unfortunate event of having a limb amputated two thirds of patients continue to feel the vivid sensation of a limb that is no longer there. 50-80 per cent of patients experience incredibly painful burning, crushing, or cramping in their missing limb, leading many to depression and suicide. The phenomenon of a ‘phantom limb’ is one that usually diminishes in time; but for some these phantom limbs stay present for years. Now a neuroscientist from San Diego has come up with a novel way of relieving people of their phantom. V. S. Ramachandran’s first patient had lived with his phantom arm for 11 years, before which his arm was in a sling and paralysed due to a severed nerve. After the amputation the patient had a phantom arm that was still chronically painful and he believed to be paralysed.
Image by Quasar Jarosz
A schematic of a typical sensory neuron.
his phantom arm disappeared and there was a remarkable reduction of pain. The fact that sensations of paralysis and pain were perceived as being in the arm before and after the amputation is crucial in understanding what causes the sensations in a phantom limb. Prior to the amputation the brain sent
“V. S. Ramachandran’s first patient had lived with his phantom arm for 11 years” Ramachandran placed him in front of an upright, side on mirror and told him to place his left phantom arm behind the mirror and his right normal hand in front of the mirror. He wriggled his fingers on the remaining hand and watched the reflection in the mirror. To his surprise he could see and, for the first time in 11 years, feel his phantom arm moving, the pain was also instantly reduced. After three weeks of daily practice with this mirror box
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signals to move the arm, but it received sensory input that the arm would not move. From this feedback the brain learnt the paralysis. So when the arm was amputated, and the brain was not receiving any input from it, the brain assumed it was still paralysed. However, when in front of the mirror the brain was receiving a flurry of new mixed messages about the arm. The muscle cells in his stump were telling the brain there was no arm, and in front of the mir-
ror box his motor command and vision told him there suddenly was a fully functioning arm. Eventually the brain gave up on the arm, and learnt that it was just a phantom. It all comes down to a part of your brain called the somatosensory cortex which processes all tactile sensations received from sensory nerves all over the skin. The absence of sensory input from an amputated arm does not mean that part of the somatosensory cortex is necessarily idle, but continuously active; which is where the bizarre sensation of a phantom limb comes from. The somatosensory complex tends to start reorganising itself directly proceeding amputation, and for several years after, to try and compensate for the loss of sensory input. Another patient of Ramachandran had a painful phantom left arm, and he discovered that when touched on the right side of his face he felt the sensation in his arm. They were able to map sensations for each of his fingers onto his
face. A map of sensory input to the brain shows the area of the somatosensory cortex that deals with face representation is next to that for hand representation. It was concluded that when the cortex received no sensory input from the arm, the area of the cortex representing the face began to invade the hand region; creating the misplaced sensations in the phantom limb. Considering the plastic nature of the brain as demonstrated here, it would be reasonable to suggest that in those who had a phantom limb which disappeared in time, their brain accepts the visual information of the limb not being there, and somatosensory complex reorganises itself to not have an area for the limb which is no longer there. by Keeren Flora
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Should general anaesthetics be given so generally?
New research reported from the Mayo Clinic in America suggests that multiple exposure to general anaesthetics before the age of 2 significantly increases the chances of developing learning and cognitive difficulties later on in life. Image by Mallory Francis Bedford
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t is widely known that exposure to the vast majority of anaesthetics leads to neurodegeneration in young animals including primates, but few studies have looked at the clinical significance of this until now. In a cohort matched study that adjusted for health status, researchers in Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic were able to show a significantly increased risk for developing learning difficulties in reading, mathematics and written language. They were also able to show similar patterns between multiple exposures and scores in the achievement and cognition tests conducted as part of the study. Among the 350 children in the study that were exposed to anaesthesia 81 developed learning difficulties before the age of 19, and out of the 700
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unexposed 138 went on to develop learning difficulties within the same time frame. 36.6 per cent of participants that were exposed more than once went on to develop learning complications before the age of 19. If repeated by other research groups the implica-
the heart. These conditions can vary considerably in their level of severity and physical symptoms, from syndrome to syndrome and patient to patient, and will also determine the amount of surgery required. One such syndrome is Apert Syndrome; a condition
“36.6 per cent of participants that were exposed (to anaesthetics) more than once went on to develop learning complications before the age of 19” tions of these findings in the fields of medicine, specifically reconstructive surgery could be huge. Dozens of congenital conditions and syndromes are known that will require surgery affecting different parts of the body; ranging from bone such as the skull and face to major organs like
structural defects to their skull, face, hands, and feet. To correct otherwise potentially life threatening abnormalities such as craniosynostosis, (premature fusion of the bones which make up the skull), complex procedures are undertaken by reconstructive surgeons. It is not uncommon for multiple procedures to have to be performed correcting different defects at different times of the child’s development. Some patients have dozens of major surgeries performed and dozens more doses of anaesthetics all before becoming a teenager. Despite not being able to prove or disprove neurodegeneration in children this study has huge potential ramification on the treatment of children born with complex structural problems such as Apert Syndrome. More research needs to be undertaken so that we can fully understand the effect anaesthetics have on children and whether changes can be implemented so that paediatric surgery is safer in the future. by Mohammed Moosa
caused by mutation of the FGFR-2 gene which codes for a protein that directs immature cells to become bone cells and also tells them to stop becoming bone cells. In Apert syndrome the latter function of FGFR-2 is lost, so sufferers of this syndrome are born with and develop severe
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Technology in the 21st century
The consequences of living in a digital age.
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he email asking me to write this article popped up on my phone on a Monday afternoon; its title making me all too conscious of the next few minutes spent scrolling through Facebook updates, texting friends and checking the value of the Boltzmann constant for the experiment I was supposedly doing at the time. All on the same portable, little device. How could I resist? Everyone now relies so heavily on the internet for everything from coursework submissions to television to keeping in touch with friends and family on the other side of the globe; it’s a wonder society ever functioned without it. Nanotechnology, microchips, satellite navigation and communication, fibre optics, radiation therapy, Skype... I could go on. We live in an era which is rapidly making everything smaller, faster and more efficient. Future technologies could cure cancer, move us to another planet and perhaps even find the answer to life the universe and everything. Here’s hoping that CERN will outperform Deep Thought of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by providing something slightly easier to interpret than “42”. Wikipedia, along with many other well known sites, recently blacked out in a protest against the new piracy legislation, SOPA, urging us to “imagine a world without free knowledge”. A difficult thing to do, as students, we expect everything to be at least next to free and knowledge seems to be a basic human right. However the truth is that the
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information has always been there and, more often than not, for free. The only difference now is that knowledge is so freely accessible and instantaneous. Whereas our parents had to spend hours upon hours trawling through library books to look up a fact, figure or reference an article we can simply Google everything. Smart phones have made pub quiz cheating an awful lot easier. But what does this mean for the future of our minds? Are people are getting dumber, smarter or just plain lazy? Some would argue that having all of the world’s intellectual resources at your fingertips means that no one ever really has to learn anything other than how to type what you are looking for into a search engine (which now even cor-
Image by Venus Ahmed
the question to the answer 42. The sort of information that is getting easier and easier to come by isn’t purely academic either. Is anyone else terrified by Facebook’s newest “timeline” feature? It’s possible to view a person’s entire online history, conveniently organised for the reader by month and year, from their very first post onwards with a
“Are people are getting dumber, smarter or just plain lazy?” rects your spelling). We need to be cautious that we do not come to rely entirely on what we have created. The electricity powering your laptop and the elements that make your phone so tiny are finite resources and the technologies are still susceptible to faults. The problem is that you never realise how much you need something until it’s gone and you’re back to the old school paper version. In my opinion, having faster reliable access to the answers doesn’t inhibit anyone’s ability to ask questions in the first place which is, after all, the most important part. Deep Thought had design an entire planet to find
couple of clicks. You can even add information from before you joined Facebook – by the way if you do decide to do this, be prepared for a goldmine of targeted advertising. Is it really ok to have so much personal information available to the general public? And do people really care what I had for breakfast in July 2007? But intrigue into the personal lives of others is so ingrained into human nature that people are bound to do just a little bit more digging now that their friends’ entire social history is just sitting waiting. I refuse to believe there is anyone who hasn’t already partaken
in a cheeky bit of Facebookstalking. Our entire lives are documented online; and it won’t be long before this is the norm from birth. Parents already use social networking as a modern version of the Family Photo Album to post baby pictures and update the world on behalf of their offspring. By the time these children are old enough to want their own Facebook account their entire pre-account timeline will already exist. We are free to access and broadcast information faster and more easily that any generation before us, mainly thanks to the internet. Provided that all of this is sustainable the future holds unimaginable progressions that will even further revolutionise the way we live. 2012 is only the beginning. by Rebecca Harriet ScottJupp
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Jet lag
Beat jet lag by restting your body clock
“Jet lag is caused by disruption of the circadian clock. Everyday activities like sleeping are controlled by the circadian clock” Image by Venus Ahmed
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ave you recently got back from a long haul flight and wondered why you are so tired unable to adjust in the new time zone? This is called desynchronosis or most commonly known as jet lag. Jet lag is caused by disruption of the circadian clock. The circadian clock controls the biological function of organisms in a day-night mannered cycle. Everyday activities like sleeping are controlled by the circadian clock. In mammals it is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus which is an organ in the brain. The SCN receives information on light via ganglion cells which relay this information from the retina in our eyes to the SCN. The SCN then passes this information to the pineal gland which secretes melatonin hormone depending on your regular rhythm of daylight and darkness. Mela-
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tonin peaks during darkness and is suppressed by daylight. When the circadian clock is altered, for example due to jet lag, it causes a disorientation of the regular day-night rhythm. The body is not used to this new routine of exposure to light at a different time of the day and as a result we suffer from fatigue, headache and irregular sleeping patterns. Jet lag can last for a few days depending on how many time zones were crossed; however, the severity of jet lag can be reduced if precautions are taken. This can include avoiding dehydration and a break in the journey for example taking a transit into another city for few hours before continuing. Extensive research has been carried out to discover whether jet lag can be minimised or avoided all together. Studies in mice have shown that fasting during the transition period between time
zones could help to change to the new time zone in one day without experiencing the common symptoms of jet lag. Within the circadian clock we have what is known as the food entrainable oscillator. This helps to regulate sleep in our daily routine. This is common in animals and although slightly dormant in humans it is also located in the hypothalamus. If the body is starved for about 16 hours, the food entrainable oscillator is activated. This takes over the sleeping pattern causing the body clock to be reset when you eat at the first regular meal time at the new destination. Although the study was carried out on mice and not proven in humans, the theory was put to test by Dr Patrick Fuller from Harvard University. It was carried out with two male participants who regularly fly between the UK and America. Firstly a series
of response tests to record their concentration levels were carried out. This was done before and after the flight to compare the difference between the two, as concentration level should be lower if suffering from jet lag. Participant one did not eat for the duration of the flight from Los Angeles to London in contrast to participant two, who could eat whatever he wished. On arrival participant one consumed the first regular meal at destination (breakfast in this case as they have arrived in London at 7.30 am) to reset his body clock to local time. Response tests were then repeated again a day after landing to record their concentration level. The results from the test showed that participant one, who fasted during the flight, was much more responsive and had a good night’s sleep compared to participant two. It is therefore proposed that if we fast during the flight and eat at the next regular meal at destination, we can beat jet lag. Try this next time you go on holiday and you could have more time having fun than being stuck in your hotel room fighting the urge to sleep. by Tasmiya Wahed
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Something in the London air What living in a polluted city can do to us. Image by Pippasha Khan
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hen I first arrived in London in September I felt the difference in the air, it felt heavy and hazy in appearance, but now 12 weeks later I hardly notice it. London is often thought of as being a congested city but little attention is actually paid to what effect this could be having on our health. With recent statistics from Transport for London, (TFL), estimating that there are around 9.9 million drivers in London; what does this mean for air quality and should we be worried? Air pollution is the presence of chemicals and particulate matter in the air that can cause harm to humans. This pollution can come from a number of sources, such as the burning of fossil fuels and industrial processes. However, the majority of air pollutants come from road vehicles particularly diesel-fuelled lorries and trucks. This is because car engines release substances, such as particulate matter and sulfur dioxide, which are responsible for 4300 deaths per year in London
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alone. Research by Asthma UK has found a strong link between living near busy, congested roads and the development of asthma.
the sufferer has low levels of red blood cells. Similarly, lead inhibits certain enzymes thus affecting the formation of healthy red blood cells and affecting cell metabolism.
“carbon monoxide attaches to red blood cells more readily than oxygen, which reduces the oxygen efficiency” Additionally, two thirds of asthma sufferers report worsening of symptoms with exposure to traffic fumes. Some studies have also suggested a link between exposure to the air pollutants nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter and the development of late-onset asthma in adults. Whilst exposure to traffic does not always cause asthma, there does seem to be an increased risk associated with it. Recent research has shown a link between air quality and circulatory problems. Some of the pollutants released by car engines can have damaging effects on these systems. Benzene suppresses the development of red blood cells which can cause cytopenia, a condition where
As a result red blood cells die more quickly, leading to anaemia, a specific type of cytopenia. This reduces the amount of oxygen that these cells can carry, meaning that organs may become starved of oxygen. Finally, carbon monoxide attaches to red blood cells more readily than oxygen, which again reduces the oxygen efficiency. When organs are starved of oxygen for a long time they begin to die; if this occurs in cardiac tissue it causes a heart attack. According to statistics from the BBC, around one out of every fifty heart attacks that occur in London can be attributed to air pollution. With the Olympics just around the corner, air quality is a real concern. So just what is being done about it?
The European Union introduced air quality laws in 2004 to establish regulations for the accepted levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. According to these regulations, this legal limit could only be exceeded on 35 days of the year. Schemes such as Boris Johnson’s Barclays Cycle Hire have aimed to encourage people to use ‘greener’ forms of transport thus helping to reduce emissions. Offices and homes have also been fitted with energy saving devices to make them more energy efficient and thereby reducing electricity demand. There has also been a ban on taxi models older than 15 years old as they produce more pollution than newer models. More bizarrely, a calciumbased ‘glue’ has been applied to busier roads in order to attract dust particles and prevent them from circulating in the air. Unfortunately, current government legislation seems to be having limited effect. In 2009, when London failed to meet air pollution standards, legal proceedings were launched and the UK was threatened with a 300 million pound fine. Since then the UK government has requested and been granted an extension. However, there were 57 days in 2011 where pollution levels were breached; a clear indication that current measures are not sufficient to meet EU aims. It is unquestionable that rapid action needs to be taken in order to prevent both a hefty fine and to improve health. Whether or not Boris Johnson can step up the plate is an entirely different matter. by Almira Jahan Khaliq
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Growing your own via aquaponics Aquaponics becomes a viable solution.
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first heard about aquaponics whilst cycling through Dalston, I decided to stop for a coffee and it was there that I discovered a cafe called FARM:shop. Structured over two floors, as soon as you enter FARM:shop you immediately notice the water flowing from fish tanks into rows and rows of different types of salad greens. This is the aquaponics system. Once ready the salad is fed to the three hens on the roof. The eggs produced by these hens together with other vegetables and herbs grown on the first floor are then sold at the bar in delicious sandwiches and salads. This is an incredibly original example of sustainability at its best. As a nation, England is finally starting to understand that the threat of global warming is a significant one and as consumers we need to consider what effect our daily consumption of food has on the environment. Greengrocers are increasingly facing all sorts of questions regarding a product’s food miles, its carbon footprint and whether it is organic or not. ‘Food miles’ is a concept coined in the early 90s and refers to the distance a product travels from crop to plate. This is a big issue in the UK since 90 per cent of our fruit and 50 per cent of our vegetables are imported. Food miles however does not take into account the energy and material used to grow, process and package the food – this is the carbon footprint. Food carbon footprint is
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an important matter too, in fact, even if less than 1 per cent of UK food miles is air-freighted, it’s responsible for around 11 per cent of the total CO2 emissions from UK food transport. This is because plane transportation generates 177 times more CO2 than land transport. It is a common belief that eating organic food means doing the least possible damage to the environment. Unfortunately this is not always the case as most organic produce is imported as well. Despite improvements in agricultural techniques, soil-grown products (both organic and not) are still susceptible to dangerous bacteria commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract of warm-blooded animals, (such as e-coli). A solution to this is growing food through the use of aquaponics. Aquaponics, with its extravagant name, may sound like a trendy recent concept, however as shown in hieroglyphics of the day, it was a common practice in ancient Egypt. Aquaponics originates from the interaction between hydroponic (soil-less growing of plants) and aqua culture (raising fish). The process works as follows: Nitrosomonas bacteria process the ammonia from the by-product of the fish into nitrites which is oxidised into nitrates, (the usable form of nitrogen that plants can take up). While plants are feeding they also filtrate the water, returning it back to the fish, clean. Due to its many advantages aquaponics culture is becoming
increasingly talked about. Very little knowledge and experience is required to start up an aquaponics system. There are no annoying weeds, thus no need for herbicides. Fish are cold blood animals so are not susceptible to e-coli or salmonella. It is water efficient since only evaporated water is replaced and an aquaponics system requires little space since plants can be grown vertically. Last but not least, even if it is not a certified organic process, (due to the fact that the plants are in direct contact with animals), aquaponics products are the most organic you can possibly eat, given that no type of chemical are allowed in the system, which would otherwise make it collapse. After visiting FARM:shop I realised that growing your own food is not an impossible task even in a metropolis such as London where crop land is very limited. We may not all individually be able to start up our own aquaponics system but maybe our college does, right Queen Mary? Although there are other ways we can contribute, such as buying locally. Eating is the strongest political act that everyone does on a daily basis. So be more aware of where your food comes from and how it affects our planet. Consider growing your own food, even in this glorious city it’s not anymore of an absurd idea. by Mitshel Ibrahim
“Aquaponics, with its extravagant name, may sound like a trendy recent concept, however as shown in hieroglyphics of the day, it was a common practice in ancient Egypt” March | qmsci | 19
Science Predictions: Past
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John Elfreth Watkins, an American engineer made assumptions for the many years ahead of him for the 20th century. It was in the winter months of 1900, that J.Watkins produced this his predictions of the future in the ‘Ladies Home Journal.’ Here are 10 predictions…all forecasted accurately:
“Trains will run two miles a minute normally. Express trains one hundred and fifty miles per hour.” And what do we get 100 years later? Yes, you’ve guessed it, express trains. One is actually named the Acela Express, which is a high-speed rail line. It exists in America travelling through Washington, DC and Boston of up to 150 mph.
“Huge forts on wheels will dash across open spaces at the speed of express trains of today” Tanks. Well, Watkins didn’t actually name them as tanks, but he described them pretty well. It was even known that Leonardo da Vinci mentioned something like this along those lines, but Watkins gave us more detailed.
“Americans will be by taller by from one to two inches.” It sounds funny, but he was actually right. It was found that that your average American guy back in the 1900 was about 1.68-1.70 meters, but know have begun to stretch to about 1.75 meters.
“Ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishment similar to our bakeries of today.” We all have those lazy days when we can’t be bothered to cook, and so instead stuff a prepared meal in the oven…Well as it turns out this was another invention that was sure to come to the future.
“Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later…photographs will reproduce all of nature’s colours.” Jeff Wilson says that this is a far thought idea, and it is amazing that it has now become a reality. The new age of technology was foreseen and it was definitely going to impact the way we take photos.
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Science Predictions: Past
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“Strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great-great-grandchildren” GM food has allowed us to control the size and quantity of fruits that can be seen around us.
”Man will see around the world. Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles a span.” Our man foresaw that the future will have our own form of entertainment in our own homes with our eyes glued to it. That’s right, folks, I’m talking about our televisions.
“Vegetables will be bathed in powerful electric light, serving, like sunlight, to hasten their growth. Electric currents applied to the soil will make valuable plants to grow larger and faster. Electricity applied to garden seeds will make them sprout and develop unusually early.” We will be able to grow food day and night, spring through to winter, everyday because of our wonderful greenhouses and hot houses where we are able to grow our vegetables.
“There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America [the US].” Again these numbers may have extra zeros when there shouldn’t be, but Watkins wasn’t wrong in saying that as the generation goes by that there will be a gradual decline in population growth. But if there was still same growth rate in the U.S from the 1900s, by now the population would have least reached to about a billion. Now that’s a lot of people!
“Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be able to telephone to China quite as readily as we now talk from New York to Brooklyn.” Alexander Bell first invented the telephone. And so with the next step further of making our phones portable and wireless, it was a success story waiting to happen, just as Watkins predicted.
Section content by Priyanka Bulsara, Illustrations by Priyanka Bulsara
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Science Predictions: Future
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It is only fitting then that we should look to the future and make predictions, since we have been so successful in the past. Here are some some science predictions for the next 100 years in their respective fields
Neuroscience We’ll probably be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex for those who want it badly enough to risk the surgery. There will be smart drugs to enhance learning and memory and a flourishing black market among ambitious students to obtain them. That line of research will lead us to confront the question of whether we can reproduce consciousness by replicating the exact structure of the brain . If this theory of materialism turns out to be correct, then we will be well on our way to downloading our brains into computers, allowing us to live forever in The Matrix.
Weather Determined for a successful Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2008, Chinese scientists used a technique called “cloud seeding” – which involves shooting shells containing silver iodide into the sky – to dissolve any cloud formations and prevent rain. The same technique has been used to produce rainfall, and works by attracting water droplets in the atmosphere to each other, forming clouds. Futurologist Ian Pearson says on the BBC News website: “[In 100 years] We will probably have technology to be able to control weather when we need to. It won’t necessarily be cheap enough to use routinely and is more likely to be used to avoid severe damage in key areas.”
Tourism HG Wells described his 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon as a “fantastic story”, but it was just a story, in 1912 the idea of spaceflight was ridiculous. 2012 sees Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s venture into space tourism, preparing for its own maiden voyage. Galactic will offer sub-orbital spaceflights, which means their spacecraft will reach space, but not enter orbit, with a starting price of $200,000. A hundred years from now, there’s no doubt that businesses such as Virgin Galactic will have lowered the cost of personal space travel, but space tourism will most likely remain elitist.
Fashion Fashion is such an important part of the way in which we communicate our identity to others. Technology is already being used to create clothing that fits better and is smarter; it is able to transmit a degree of information back to you.
Politics Former Prime Minister is set to release a new book, 2025: Shaping a New Future, later this year. The Guardian quotes the book publishers saying Brown will suggest “that if the 20th century was the century of women’s empowerment through ending women’s exploitation, the 21st will be about a higher form of empowerment – women’s leadership as a force for change”, and that “the massive technological, demographic social and political forces – including the explosive growth of a global middle class” are “reinventing our world”.
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Science Predictions: Future
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Health Vaccines that prevent diseases such as measles and rotavirus, currently available in rich countries, will also become affordable and readily available in developing countries. A rapid point-of-care diagnostic test – coupled with a faster-acting treatment regimen – will so fundamentally change the way we treat tuberculosis that we can begin planning an elimination campaign.
Computer Science “We will see more computing devices built into our homes, cars, clothes, and even our bodies” says QM computer science Professor Peter McOwan. “Humanity will link and then blend with artificial intelligence. In the same way as we look back on history and wonder how we lived without glasses, penicillin, telephones and the printing press, in 100 years we will wonder how we lived without personally customised medicines, smart clothes with built in sensors and communications, adaptive smart buildings to minimise energy use, and even perhaps AI based politicians.”`
Energy Experts predict scientists will understand nuclear fusion in the next century. Unlike fission - the current method of generating nuclear power - which splits atomic nuclei, fusion produces energy by combining atomic nuclei, emulating the nuclear reaction in stars. Fusion is technically non renewable, but produces massive amounts of energy with very little raw materials, and releases no greenhouse gasses. Fusion also releases less harmful waste products than fission. Unlike the portrayal of nuclear fusion in blockbuster Spiderman 2, the method is much safer than fission.
Architecture Cities will be too big and complex for any single power to understand and manage them. They already are, in fact. The word “city” will lose some of its meaning: it will make less and less sense to describe agglomerations of tens of millions of people as if they were one place, with one identity. To be optimistic, the human genius for inventing social structures will mean that new forms of settlement we can’t quite imagine will begin to emerge.
Food In response to increasing prices, some of us may well have reduced our consumption of meat, the raising of which is a notoriously inefficient use of grain. This will probably create a food underclass, surviving on a carb- and fat-heavy diet, while those with money scarf the protein. The developing world, meanwhile, will work to bridge the food gap by embracing the promise of biotechnology which the middle classes in the developed world will have assumed that they had the luxury to reject.
Section content by Alexander Badrick, Illustrations by Maria D’Amico
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An Eye for Science
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An Eye for Science is a brand new section here at qmsci. In this section, research groups from QMUL’s Science and Engineering Department provide us with a picture from some of their recent work and talk to us a little about the science behind the picture!
Primary Cilia - The cell’s sensory atenna
Dr Martin Knight Medical Engineering and Materials Group School of Engineering and Materials Science Queen Mary, University of London
The image taken using a confocal microscope, shows three cells each with a single finger-like projection, 2-4 microns in length, called a primary cilium (plural: cilia). The cilia are stained in green and the nucleus of each cell is stained in blue. The vast majority of human cells have a primary cilium although the function of this structure is only just beginning to be understood. Dr Knight’s research group within Medical Engineering at QMUL is investigating the structure of primary cilia and how this regulates cell function in healthy and diseased tissue. In particular the group are interested in osteoarthritis whereby the articular cartilage in joints such as the hip and knee
starts to degenerate leading to stiff and painful joints. Research funded by the Wellcome Trust and Arthritis Research UK is showing that primary cilia are involved in sensing mechanical forces that are transmitted through the joints thereby keeping the tissue healthy. However, alterations in the structure of the cilia caused by arthritis lead to the breakdown of the cartilage. By investigating the mechanisms that lead to changes in primary cilia structure and function, Dr Knight’s research may ultimately provide an alternative, more effective, means of controlling or treating osteoarthritis and other diseases.
Living With Robots and Interactive Companions LIREC, Living with Robots and Interactive Companions, is a large European Union funded research project coordinated by Queen Mary and with partners spread across the EU, exploring how we can live with digital and interactive companions; specifically physical robots and avatars on computers. Throughout the project we’re exploring the best ways to design synthetic companions who can read human emotions and act accordingly, in effect creating robots with social skills. The project is looking at how these synthetic companions help us in real, complex, social situations over a long time period, like helping round the home, in the office or in supporting our education. We are
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also looking at how we can take the companion personalities and move them from a physical robot body to, for example, a smart phone, so the users still recognize their companion and want to continue to work with it. In this project we are also bringing together the world of ethology, the study of animal behaviors for example pet dogs, social science, psychology, engineering, design & computer science to create exciting future technologies, while also understanding how these new technologies and tools can benefit our current human society. Professor Peter McOwan Queen Mary, University of London
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An Eye for Science
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Fire Ants Genome The evolution of social life is associated to novel behaviours, physiologies and morphologies; as well as to tremendous ecological success. This is especially clear among the 20,000 species of ants: they are keystone members of many ecosystems, representing up to 25% of animal biomass in rainforests. Extensive research efforts have helped understand their ecology, evolutionary history and behaviour, yet until recently very little genetic data was available for ants. Thanks to a recent 10,000-fold plunge in DNA sequencing costs it is now possible to conduct modern genetic research on such emerging model organisms. In 2011 we thus published the genome sequence of the red fire ant Solenopsis invicta, making key evolutionary discoveries and opening up a new range of research questions. In particular, this genome contains exceptionally high numbers of genes involved in producing and perceiving odors [is it odour in the UK?], consistent with the importance of chemicals (pheromones) in intra-colony communication. Additionally, we identified several key genetic features of ants that are likely linked to regulating the division of labour and lifespan. Indeed, ants
offer unique opportunities for aging research because queens live up to dozens of years while workers live months, and males live for only weeks. The photo to the right shows a queen (larger), workers (smaller) and a pupa (whitish) of Solenopsis invicta fire ants on a portion of their genome sequence. Dr Yannick Wurm “Evolutionary and Organismal biology” group SBCS, http://goo.gl/VZChr References Wurm et al, 2011. The genome of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(14):5679-5684
Saturn’s F Ring
This is an enhanced, high-resolution mosaic consisting of 45 separate images of Saturn’s unusual F ring taken by the Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit about the ringed planet. The images were acquired on 9th June 2009. The narrow angle camera on the spacecraft stared at one location in the ring for almost 77 minutes, taking pictures at regular intervals. Each image covered 1.3 degrees of the ring with new material passing into the field of view as it orbited Saturn. The central part of the mosaic shows the bright core of the F ring located at a radial distance from Saturn of 140,200 km. The sloping lines of material emanating from the core are “jets” of dust that were most likely created when small (diameter 5-10 km) objects collided with the core. The brighter, near-vertical streaks are more recent collisions with even smaller objects (diameter <1km).
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At the time the images were taken, the Sun was crossing Saturn’s ring plane and this caused long vertical shadows to appear in the mosaic, thereby highlighting the presence of these “mini-jets”. The dark, sloped lines in the top half of the image are caused by the gravitational effects of Pandora, one of Saturn’s moons that orbits just outside this region. The Imagining Team on the Cassini spacecraft are trying to understand the wealth of structure visible in these images and show how they can be related to planet formation in astrophysical disks. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The spacecraft was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in July 2004. So far it has taken over 200,000 images of the planet, its rings and moons. The current plan envisages that the mission will end in September 2017 when the spacecraft will undertake a spectacular dive into the planet. Carl Murray, in the School of Physics and Astronomy, has been a member of the Imaging Team on the Cassini spacecraft since 1990 and has particular responsibility for studying Saturn’s F ring. His group consists of Nick Cooper, Gareth Williams and Nick Attree. Words by Professor Carl Murray School of Physics and Astronomy Queen Mary, University of London
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REVIEWS | BOOKS & PODCASTS
Podcasts
Twins
Review by Faye Curran
Lawrence Wright
A The Naked Scientists This live radio show is hosted by doctors and researchers such as Dr Chris Smith. It has a very broad scientific range and covers all areas of science and technology with very interesting topics such as: ‘Are any viruses good for you?’, and ‘Monitoring moods with mobiles’. It is an hour long, audience interactive show that is always entertaining.
Institute of Psychiatry This podcast is produced by Kings College University and it is all about mental health issues. Although it may seem complicated and hard to grasp it’s really not that bad. They have chosen many intriguing themes such as: ‘CARE or KILLING’ and, ‘Love is a delusion’. I would recommend you give it a try, its informative but easy going.
The Jodcast A clever podcast put together by The University of Manchester, it is all about astronomy and the latest news from the sky. It’s presented by a play on words in the title each episode with a different scientist each time. It’s fun and engaging with cool, quirky theme music.
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re we the creation of nature or the reflection of nurture? The battle rages on. Few scientists today would say that either is solely true, but the intricacies of which attributes are influenced and defined by each is a matter of huge interest amongst psychologists, geneticists and much of the wider public. In this short book, Wright showcases a number of fascinating cases regarding twins that have been separated at birth as well as some of those that have been brought up together or at least knew of each other and the results shown are, at times, so shocking that they are hard to believe. The individual generally believes that their actions are totally of their own free will, the ideal that each is the creator of their own destiny is an attractive and uplifting one, whereas the thought of our genes as the puppeteers and the living, breathing human beings complete with emotions, experience and consciousness simply puppets, is a hard one to stomach. ‘Twins’ provides some very persuasive evidence that this may in fact be the case. I will not reveal too much detail in this space as the discovery of these cases is one
The Magic of Reality
that each reader should be allowed to experience at their own pleasure, however be prepared for what at first may seem to be some unlikely coincidences but as the examples build upon each other it becomes evident that this number of striking coincidences must surely be close to a mathematical impossibility-if they are true ‘coincidences’ and not an outward sign of a deeper mechanism at work. Wright is a journalist at heart and so ‘Twins’ is written in a style that is palatable by those without any background in science at all. While this is a positive feature from some perspectives, to the mind of the keen young scientist its lack of real scientific detail may also be its downfall. In spite of that, it is a tremendous read and highly recommended.
Review by Dominic Barker
Richard Dawkins
T
he magic of reality is an apt title for Dawkins latest book. The book is an introduction to science, covering topics from evolution; to why bad things happen. It is aimed at children of about 10-12 but, I think, should be read by anyone who doesn’t have a background in science. It’s very well written using simple language – unlike other scientific literature which might put people off – that said, if you’re a hardcore student you might find it a bit basic. Each chapter starts with a question; “Who was the first person?” “Why do bad things happen?” Myths related to the question are then explored – which are quite entertaining – followed by a scientific explanation. The main point Dawkins is trying to make throughout the whole book is that the real explanation of why the universe is the way it is just as magical - “poetic magic”- as the myths and stories put into children’s imaginations. Its very well written and wonderfully illustrated – obviously as a children’s book – the illustrations for the myths are entertaining and for the scientific explanations very useful for clarity. I think my favourite parts of the book are the off-shooting stories my favourite of which is Major General Albert Stubblebine III who tries to walk through a wall – true
Podcast reviews by Nisha Bargota
story. The problem with trying to answer the 12 questions most important to the public understanding of science is that some of the chapters don’t go into much detail – remembering this is a introduction to science – if you were hoping for another book with as much detail as the greatest show on earth you will be disappointed. Now, is it worth spending your hard earned student loans on? That depends on your interest and understanding of science. If you are well verse in the three different sciences you might not learn anything. I would still say it was worth reading for entertainment and because its thought provoking, but that doesn’t mean you should spend money on it. I myself bought it twice after I gave my first copy to my girlfriend to read. Everyone should read this book as it has just enough science to get through life.
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REVIEWS
Wonders of the Universe
Prof. Brian Cox’s latest show on the science of our Universe
M31 Andromeda Galaxy photographed with a Hydrogen alpha filter by Adam Evans
B Available on
DVD and Blu ray Also watch on
BBC Two BBC HD BBC iPlayer
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rian Cox is a physicist at the University of Manchester and ex pianist of the pop group D:Ream which had one number one hit ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. His work has lead to discoveries in the field of particle physics namely his contributions to the hadron collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Although Cox is a physicists with a PhD he also has another passion which sets him apart from the rest, he is a presenter. Wonders of the solar system is the first in the series of two, Cox illustrates what is in our solar system by looking at it from the mere perspective of Earth. The five episodes are presented with beautiful photography of landscapes and colours which appeal to the mass audiences; he takes apart complex ideas and theories and breaks them down to the bare bone for people of all ages to understand. It is presented without ever coming across that you are being talked down to and let’s be honest taking physics and turning it into an attractive television show is not an easy job. From the start the
Prof. Brian Cox
enthusiasm breaks through and the end product is a science series that increases in interest as the episodes pass by. Cox takes us from the moon of Saturn to deep undersea of our own earth to present species which shouldn’t even exist, in order to prove that it may be viable in other worlds. Cox makes us feel more aware of the beauty in which we are surrounded, from the arctic to the auroras, at one point he even expresses how big out solar system is through the use of simply jellybeans and a lighter. Cox depicts aspects of the solar system through landscapes on earth which are similar; one of the comparisons which are made is between the
icy surface of Titan (Saturn’s biggest moon) and the glacier lagoon of Iceland. In one episode he looks at how water leaves its “signature” behind. The landscape of Mars is contrasted to that of the ‘scablands’ in the US, it is explained how once water existed and the “footprint” it left behind, Cox has the ability to settle the inner wondering child within us with an explanation that doesn’t require a glossary, this technique draws the audience in by opening up their potential experiences in similar conditions and allows them to relate to what they see is way beyond them in space. Scientists claim that the Earth is the most ideal planet, neither too big nor too small, the right distance from the sun for life to exist, in that sense wonders of the Solar system is the same, neither too trivial nor too technical. Professor Cox has created a series of hour length shows which leave you craving for more. by Akash Makwana
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