Science Spin 53

ISSUE

53

Summer 2012

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SCIENCE

SPIN

IRELAND’S SCIENCE NATURE AND DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

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GETTING CLOSE UP TO SATURN EXPANDING UNIVERSE TUNNELING INTO DUBLIN BAY SEA MATS

SCIENCE FOR EVERYONE Where creativity and great science meet

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SCIENCE SCIENCE

Ringsend WwTW EIS  The Proposed Scheme

SPIN SPIN

After years of service, Cassini continues to send back spectacular views of Saturn and its many moons.

Below: Tunnelling deep into limestone bedrock will bring treated wastewater far out into the mouth of Dublin Bay.

Publisher Science Spin Ltd 5 Serpentine Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. www.sciencespin.com Email: tom@sciencespin.com Editor Tom Kennedy tom@sciencespin.com Contributing editor Seán Duke sean@sciencespin.com Business Manager Alan Doherty alan@sciencespin.com

Upfront The expanding Universe Margaret Franklin explains how Nobel winning scientists discovered Figure 4.9 Existing Location and of Proposed Locationis accelerating. that theOutfall expansion the Outfall Universe

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Tunnelling into the bay Tom Kennedy reports that a nine kilometre long tunnel is to bring Dublin’s waste water out to sea.

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Alien Deep Lisa Fitzpatrick reports on a new documentary on the Atlantic’s Black Smokers.

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Picture research Source Photographic Archive www.iol.ie/~source.foxford/

Science for everyone Anthea Lacchia tells us what to expect to see and hear about at Dublin’s City of Science event.

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Printing Turner Group, Longford

Beautiful bryozoans Anthea Lacchia writes that sea mats, which have been with us since the Ordovician, are often found in Irish rocks.

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Design and Production Albertine Kennedy Publishing Cloonlara, Swinford, Co Mayo

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ON AIR Go to

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Getting close up to Saturn The Cassani space craft arrived at Saturn in 2004 after a seven year journey, and it continues to send back spectacular images of the gassy planet and its numerous moons.

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Young Scientists Students report that there is a natural solution to antibiotic resistance.

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Exploring clouds Dr How explains how droplets of water take many different forms.

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Books Exploring the planet, and the Quantum adventure liberated scientists from theories that had no future.

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UPFRONT

Moving genes

Micro-organisMs have the ability to pick up genes that will help them survive, and that’s why allowing drug resistant bugs escape into the wild is such a problem. genes seem to be a lot more mobile than previously thought, and in the Proceedings of the national academy of science an example is given of transmission from bacteria to an insect. The gene, known as HhMAN1, appears in a coffee borer beetle, Hypothenemus hampei enabling it to digest carbohydrates in the beans. scientists from cornell University report that the gene, giving the code for an

Good connections

acciDEnTs that sever nerve connections can leave people paralyzed, but Professor E Miller from the northwestern University Feinberg school of Medicine reports that it may be possible to by-pass neural gaps.

Prof Miller led a research project in which nerve signals were successfully recorded by electrodes and transmitted across blocked nerves to act on muscles. Post-doc researcher, christian Ethier and neuroscience student, Emily oby, used a local anesthetic to block nerve activity in the elbow of a monkey. This caused temporary paralysis of the hand. an implanted electrode picked up signals from the brain, and when these tiny currents, were transmitted to the muscles the monkey, as it had been trained to do, was able to pick up a ball. according to the researchers, the

Out of control

cancEr cells have an ability to keep on dividing because they can patch-up damage that should stop them on their tracks. researchers at the salk institute have found that cancer cells manage to by-pass the usual ageing process in a normal, healthy cell, there are structures, known as telomeres, that cap each end of a chromosome. The telomeres have a limited life, and eventually they wear out, causing cell division to stop.

However, as the salk researchers discovered, in about ten per cent of all human cancers, there is a back-up process that maintains the telomeres.

enzyme, does not occur in insects, but it is commonly found in gut bacteria.

The enzyme allows the coffee borer beetle to digest carbohydrates known as galactomannans. in the beetle genome, the HhMan1 gene is flanked by transpons, commonly known as ‘jumping genes’ because they have the ability to move around. in this case, its not just moving around within one genome, but the transfer has taken a jump from a bacterium to an insect. support for the research was motivated by the enormous losses caused by the boring beetle. The beetle, originating in Africa, has spread to coffee growing areas around the world, to become a major pest. The female beetle drills into the coffee beans, where she lays her eggs. The grub feeds on the storage carbohydrates. one of the lead researchers, Jocelyn rose, a plant biologist at cornell, said that scientists may have underestimated the frequency of gene transfer over such an evolutionary wide gap monkey was able to complete this action almost as well as it would without the anesthetic.

Prof Miller commented that in time the monkey would probably learn how to do the task perfectly, much as people, after some initial awkwardness, learn how to control a computer mouse.

This development, he said, has the potential to help people with spinal cord injuries. The best available devices rely on using muscle movement to trigger simple hand closing actions, but it is possible to extract much more information from brain neurons using electrodes. Prof Miller explained that a lot of information can be extracted from just 100 neurons, making it possible to have much greater control over actions. www.northwestern.edu The process, known as alternative lengthening of telomeres, aLT, involves an enzyme, telomerase, that seems to work by making up for the loss of material.

While hard to study in a human, the salk researchers were able to create a population of roundworms that rely entirely on the aLT pathway to survive.

To produce these roundworms, the gene coding for a telomere-binding protein, was knocked out, so to survive, the roundworms were forced to make use of the ALT pathway. The modified roundworms could survive, and even reproduce, but, as the researchers observed, they were not quite prospering

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Space travel

iT is hard to stay fit in space, and researchers have found another serious problem in that ageing may accelerate in the absence of gravity. While it is well known that weightlessness has a detrimental influence on bone and muscle, researchers at the University of Teramo, the European centre for Brain research and the santa Lucia Foundation have found that an enzyme, known as 5-LoX, becomes more active in weightless conditions. This particular enzyme is involved in regulating the number of times a cell can divide before death.

Blood samples from two healthy donors were set up to the international space station. one set of samples was left in weightless conditions for two days, while the other sample was left spinning in a centrifuge, which simulated gravity as it would occur on the surface of Earth.

Blood in the weightless sample had a higher level of 5-LoX enzyme activity, while those in the centrifuge remained identical with blood on Earth. as Professor Mauro Maccarrone from the University of Teramo commented, the results give researchers a target in identifying an enzyme that is involved in weakening the immune system. it is known that this enzyme can be blocked by drugs, and this suggests that scientists may have found a way to slow down the normal ageing process.

Amazing diversity

Marine scientist, Dr Tierney Thys has produced a brilliant video showing living plankton in amazing detail. To view: http://www.ted.com/talks/the_ secret_life_of_plankton.html

and their telomeres looked “scruffy.” To push the worms to their limit, the gene coding for telomerase itself, was knocked out, yet over a three year period, the mutants were able to survive through 180 generations. it seems that enough traces of telomeric Dna survived to keep the roundworms going using the aLT bypass, even if some of the chromosomes had become fused because they were no longer dividing properly.

While the exact details of what’s going on are not yet known, the findings could help researchers find a way to turn off the aLT pathway in human cancers.

Scouting Ireland and

Science in Tents!

“Even the quiet kids were really in to it! They got to play around with all the equipment and even came up with their own little experiments that we hadn’t event thought of.”

– Venture Scout volunteer aged 17.

Scouting Ireland’s JamÓige 2012 took place over the June Bank Holiday weekend at Ardgillan Castle in Skerries Co. Dublin, where over four and half thousand Beaver, Cub and adult Scouters gathered to take part in this hugely successful event. An interactive Science Tent sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) aimed to open the eyes of all participants at the event to the wonders of science, technology and engineering.

“Science In Tents!” is an innovative concept developed and driven by Education and Outreach Managers Aoibhéann Bird from CLARITY and Philip Smyth from Systems Biology Ireland. The aim of the initiative is to develop an appreciation for the subject while doing fun hands on science activities outside of the classroom. What differentiates this event from others, apart from its scale, is the training of staff volunteers. Over 50 volunteers were coached in science outreach and how to present new experiments to each level of participant. The staff were shown how to “let go of the reins” and let the youth members lead the learning through each experiment. This approach fostered by both Aoibheann and Philip allowed a non-prescriptive environment in which each child

gained a personal appreciation for their own scientific explorations. A further benefit of such an approach meant that staff volunteers could then take home with them a bank of knowledge, not only of the experiments that they were involved with on the day, but also more importantly a methodology of teaching science in a fun and interactive way.

Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) is Ireland’s national science promotion programme, managed by Science Foundation Ireland on behalf of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. DSE aims to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among students, teachers and members of the public. DSE’s primary science programme offers a number of activities that can be done at home. Visit the activities section on www.primaryscience.ie. Read more about DSE initiatives in helping to promote STEM education to students and teachers at www.Discover-Science.ie.

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Restless volcanoes

UPFRONT

UPFRONT

Satellite measurements show that volcanoes, such as etna in Sicily, do not remain at rest between major eruptions. in the case of etna, the volcano appears to breathe as a build 450 millionisyear old Crustacean, complete with fossilized soft upAof pressure relieved.

Many parts, hasconsidered been found in Herefordshire. One of the scientists volcanoes, dormant, involved in the discovery, Prof when viewed from a satellite areDavid Siveter from the University of Leicester, said that what made seen to show signs of activity. Somethe 5mm long fossil so special not that it is a are previously species, but that the soft ofisthese volcanoes adjacentun-named to parts have been preserved so well that eyes and the antennae large populations, and in a recent study of 440 volcanoes in 16 can be made out. developing countries, 65 were classed as posing a serious threat.

Theoffossil, named Nasunaris flata, belongs to thenot same group Yet, out the 440 volcanoes, the majority, 384, were being as water-fleas and shrimps.

Theirthe descendants are common monitored adequately, or at all, from ground. today in lakes oceans, and geologists the fossils as according to and the european Space agency,often all ofuse these indicators of past climates. volcanoes, and others around the world, can be monitored with great accuracy by combining radar images to produce Internal image of the When fossil showing the are soft superimposed parts and eyes. Image: interference patterns. two images David J. Siveter, Derek E. G. Briggs, Derek J. Siveter and Mark D. Sutton.

An old water flea

Mastering fire the ability to use fire is generally recognised as an important Bedrock of history stage in the development of humans, but when did this

JERUSALEM’s fate was determined by the underlying geology. breakthrough occur?

At Findings the annual Geological Society of America Cave meeting last from an excavation at Wonderwerk in South October, Michael Bramnik explained Africa indicate that the use from of fireIllinois began University much earlier than that underground passageways in the karst limestone enabled previously thought.

Reporting the findings in the Proceedings King to Academy take the city.

Water earlier was drawn fromMichael the Spring of the David National of Sciences this year, of Gihon,director which lay outside the city walls. soldiers Chazan, of just the archaeology Centre atDavid’s the University climbed down into the spring and by tunnelling under the walls got access to the city.

any difference shows up as an interference pattern. the resolution is so high that centimetre scale differences, corresponding to movements of the earth’s crust show up. in a report, published in Science, radar data from eSa’s envisat satellite revealed that there had been a 9 cm uplift of Mount longonot in Kenya between 2004 and 2006. according to one of the authors, Juliet Biggs, monitoring movements of the earth’s crust by satellite is a growing field.

Image; Interference patterns show how a pulse of activity caused uplift of the Mount Alutu volcano in central Ethiopia in 2008. In this image, each coloured fringes corresponds to a 2.8 cm displacement towards the satellite. Image: J Biggs, University of Bristol.

of toronto, explained that traces of wood ash, alongside Later, ofanimal David’sbones successors, fearing that stone toolsone and at thatKing caveHezekiah, are a million the Assyrians Jerusalem using of thedeliberate same approach, years old. Up towould then, take the earliest evidence fire rerouted the300,000 water into thelater. city via a 550 metre long tunnel. It lighting was years proved to an be aearly gooddate, decision, forwould in 701 have BC, Jerusalem was the At such this fire been tended only cityerectus that the Assyrians failedsapiens. to take. by Homo rather than Homo Water stillsituated remainsata the major factor in shaping the cave, edge of the Kalahari,modern had history in the region, anda Michael Bramnik said that he went in already attracted great deal of attention as anwhen extensive searchofofhuman hydrological mapsisfor other towns record occupation preserved there.and settlements he was often rebuffed with a claim that such maps do not exist.

www.gsi.ie gsisales.gsi.ie

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UPFRONT

Deanne Gallagher and Gráinne Nielsen from St. Catherine’s Vocational School, Killybegs, Co. Donegal who were awarded second place at the Debating Science Issues All-Ireland Final.

Debating science

IN APRIL secondary school students met at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin for the finals in the all-Ireland Science debating Issue competition. Students from Clonakilty Community College, Cork, emerged as winners, followed by St Catherine’s Vocational School, Killybegs, donegal.

The competition, now in its fifth year, encourages young people to engage in debating important ethical and other issues in science. www.debatingscienceissues.com Debating Science Issues All-Ireland Final winners, Clonakilty Community College students Paul Harte, Philip Poillot, Conor Ryan, with their teacher, Mary Lowery.

Graphene power

CARboN never ceases to amaze us, and one-atom thick graphene has gained quite a reputation as a wonder material.

With a structure that looks like ordinary chicken wire, the six-sided units link up to become a conductor of electricity, stronger than diamonds.

Now, another discovery has been made that could have many applications. If graphene is ‘doped’ it can have piezoelectrical properties. doping is a process commonly used in electronics to change the properties of silicon by introducing other elements. When materials with piezoelectrical properties are squeezed or deformed, they produce electrical energy.

Conversely, applying electrical power causes the piezoelectric material to change shape.

Researchers at Stanford university found that by doping graphene with various materials, such as lithium, hydrogen, potassium and fluorine, they could produce a piezoelectric effect.

After carrying out extensive computer modelling the team concluded that a lot depended on how the doping was done. doping both sides of the graphene sheet with the same sort of atoms, did not work because one side cancelled out the other, but if different atoms were used, they got good results.

Evan Reed, head of the Materials Computation and theory Group at Stanford, reported that the results opened the way to novel applications in a wide range of nanotechnology fields.

The researchers explained that the effect could be fine-tuned by controlling where atoms are placed during the doping process.

Brain size

Study of variations in the brain can be hampered by the limited supply of imaging scans. to overcome this problem, an international team of scientists, including those from tCd and NuI Galway, decided to pool their imaging and genetic data.

As a result, the team has been able to identify some of the genes that determine brain size. As their results, published in Nature Genetics, show, these genes are also associated with variations in intelligence. under Professor Paul thompson from the university of California LA, and Professor Nick Martin from the Queensland Institute of Medical Science, more than 200 scientists shared their data on over 21,000 individuals. up to 500 of these records came from tCd and NuI Galway. Participants underwent MRI brain scans and provided dNA from saliva samples. Analysis of this data at the neuropsychiatric genetics lab at tCd revealed the link between the size of the hippocampus, which is involved in memory, and the cranial cavity, with specific genes.

Commenting on these findings, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Gary donohoe, said that the research helps us to understand better how the brain develops, and it could, in time, identify targets for treatment of serious disorders.

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Locked into position

UPFRONT

One of the odd things about the Moon is that we always see just one side. This is because the Moon in its synchronous orbit always turns one face to the earth, and until space probes went up, no one had any idea of what the other side looked like, Various theories were put forward to explain why the Moon is locked into this orbit, and as Oede Aharonson, professor of planetary science at the Californian Institute of Technology pointed out, there is a reason why we always see one side. The Moon is not a perfect sphere, and this provided the clue that enabled scientists to work out how this strange matching up of rotation to orbit had originated. Millions of years ago the Moon would have rotated faster, so, viewed from earth, it would have presented its different faces.

However, the earth’s gravity pulled at the Moon, causing it to slow down and stretch into a slightly oblong shape. At the time, the Moon was still hot, making it easier for this distortion to occur. The greater gravitational pull on the bulge facing Earth acted as the final brake that locked the Moon’s rotation into its present synchronised orbit of one turn for every round of the earth. Given that elongation would have occurred on both sides of the Moon, why did we end up facing one side and not the other? The far side of the Moon, with its high mountains actually has more mass, so if gravity was the only factor, this is the side we should see. Computer simulation revealed that the situation was a bit more complex, in that the side we see was more effective in dissipating the energy of rotation, so in effect, the scales were loaded slightly, but enough to come down in favour of the familiar “Man on the Moon.”

Malaria

Food poisoning

AlTHOuGH malaria is not a problem we associate with Ireland, about half the world’s population is at risk of infection, and most of those who die prematurely are children under the age of five.

Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have been working on an anti-malaria vaccine and this is now undergoing clinical trials. The trials are being conducted in collaboration with the Jenner Institute at Oxford university as part of the european Vaccine Initiative.

A big problem with current treatments, explained RCSI’s Principal Investigator, Professor Sam Conkey, is that the malaria parasites have become resistant to drugs, and this in turn makes intervention with a cocktail of drugs more expensive.

Treatment is therefore out of reach of those most in need. The aim in developing the vaccine is to solve this enormous global health problem, and in support of this, the Irish government has awarded the researchers €5 million to cover their costs over the coming five years. The Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, said that this and other partnerships with the european Vaccine Initiative are focusing on the ‘neglected’ diseases. With many diseases, particularly in developing countries, there is little or no commercial incentive to fund research, yet it is often possible to produce effective low-cost treatments. www.rcsi.ie/tropmedresearch

Trade with China

AS a result of the recent trade mission to China in which 90 companies took part, contracts worth €35 million were signed at business breakfast events in Shanghai and Beijing. In addition a number of Memorandums of understanding were signed, paving the way for closer collaboration in areas such as finance, education and financial services.

Among those to come back with trade agreements were Cylon, General Paints, Panda Waste, Tipperary Crystal, Institute of Education, Aer Rianta, Griffith College, and Project Management.

Barry O’Leary, CEO of the IDA remarked that while there are to be immediate benefits, China is expected to become a major source of direct investment in Ireland over the medium to long term.

SAlMOnellA infections are common because the bacterium is so good at surviving in the stomach. Salmonella has ways to get around the acidic, anaerobic or salty conditions that would knock out most bugs, but as researchers at TCD have found, survival in a hostile environment depends on an ability to activate a series of genetic switches.

Reporting on this research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Jay Hinton explained that while the genes that enable Salmonella to produce invasive proteins had been known for some years, no one knew what switched them on.

The researchers discovered that Salmonella bacteria have more than 1,800 of these switches, known as promotors. Knowing what these are opens up the possibility of knocking them out, or overriding them using molecules of ribonucleic acid (RnA). until recently, the important role played by these relatively small molecules was not realised, but researchers have found that some could be used to block the genes that Salmonella depends on to survive in the gut.

Winning ideas

SOMe of the best known inventions, such as tinned food, were developed initially to win a prize. This approach has now been adopted by the European Commission which is offering a €2 million award to the inventor of vaccines that remain stable at ambient temperatures in developing countries. Announcing the offer, Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said that this approach to stimulating research and development had not been tried out before to encourage research within the european union, but it has a long history of success in the past.

Vaccines represent a problem in many countries where conditions of storage and distribution result in big losses. The World Health Organisation has estimated that half the vaccines supplied to combat diseases such as hepatitis B and measles are wasted, mainly because they cannot be stored under the right conditions.

Assuming that researchers can rise to the challenge, the €2 million prize will be awarded in late 2013.

According to the Commissioner, the use of prizes to encourage scientific breakthroughs is likely to be expanded under Horizon 2020, the EU’s funding programme for research.

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UPFRONT

Birth of a star

In thIs image, captured by the hubble space telescope, a young star at the centre of this region is ejecting material at high speed, causing

disruption of the gas and dust over a huge area. the star, known as s106, has a mass fifteen times that of the Sun and as it forms it upsets everything around it. Gas surrounding the young star is being heated up to 10,000ÂşC and the

Anti-cancer vaccine

ThE big difficulty in trying to develop a vaccine against cancers is that the tumours are derived from cells that are already accepted by the body. By adapting the immune response to tumours, TCD researchers led by Prof Kingston Mills, have developed an approach that gets around that problem.

The body makes an attempt to get rid of malignant tumours, but the tumours have an ability to suppress the immune response. By a combination of curbing the suppression while boosting the protection, the defensive tumour killer cells were in a better position to act.

Pre-clinical trials with mice show that this approach is effective, so in the next stage of development, the researchers are to proceed on into clinical trials.

Bluefin tuna

OnE of the largest, fastest, and most widely distributed fish species. The Atlantic Bluefin is an oddity among fishes as it is warm blooded, and this may contribute to its ability to thrive both in the cold waters of the north as well as the tropics.

This high level of adaptability, however, is not being matched by

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star’s radiation ionizes the hydrogen making it glow through darker, cooler layers of dust. the star is a few thousand light years away, and the area in view here is over two light years across. success as a survivor. The tuna is highly valued for its red flesh, so is in danger of being fished into extinction. It has been estimated that the global Bluefin tuna population has fallen by 80 per cent since 1970.

In a bid to halt the decline, 13 institutes across Europe have been working on a project to breed Bluefin tuna. The researchers involved in this SELFDOTT project report that viable eggs can now be produced from Bluefin tuna in captivity. The fish take a decade or more to reach maturity, so it is too early yet to say for sure that the species is suitable for aquaculture. However, even if this turns out to represent problems, the initial success suggests that it may be possible to top up the wild population. http://sites.google.com/site/selfdottpublic

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Close up

There is a limit to resolution when looking directly at objects through a microscope. The electron microscope was a big breakthrough in resolving fine detail, but since its invention, further advance was limited because the lensing elements were incapable of forming more detailed images.

Researchers at Sheffield University have found a way around that problem by reconstructing an image of the object from scattered waves, a method they refer to as ptychography.

According to the researchers, this approach of computerised reconstruction, will bring in a new epoch in electron imaging.

John Rodenburg, professor in the university’s department of electronic and electrical engineering, said that resolution can be improved by a factor of five, and that further improvements could result in a resolution down to one tenth of an atomic diameter.

Reporting their findings in Nature Communications, the researchers said that the technique can be applied to microscopes using any type of wave, including visible light.

Furthermore, with the new method, the researchers claim that it is possible to study living cells without having to stain or even disturb them.

Red deer

HoW long does a species have to be in residence before it becomes a native? Rabbits, frogs and squirrels are been here long enough to be thought of as natives, but compared to Red deer, Cervus elaphus, they are relative newcomers. By comparing the dnA of museum specimens with present day animals, researchers have concluded that Red deer arrived in ireland during the neolithic. the researchers, from ireland, Austria, the US and UK publishing their results of their study in Quaternary Science Reviews indicating

Break up

dURinG the Mesozoic era, the Earth had a massive landmass, Pangea, but about 150 million years ago it began to break up eventually giving rise to the continents we have today.

As a consequence of this break up, plant and animal populations were divided, so they continued to evolve in different ways.

UPFRONT

Switch for diabetes

PRodUction of glucose in the body is regulated by a pair of molecular switches, and as researchers at the Salk institute for Biological Studies report, one ramps up production, and the other brings it down. As these switches control the amount of sugar in our blood, the identification of these molecules means that researchers have found a possible way to treat insulin-resistant type ii diabetes.

As the researchers report in Nature, it is possible to turn these switches on and off in mice, which makes it almost certain that the same approach will work in humans. type ii diabetes is a major cause of illness and death, and for some years, researchers at the Salk institute have been trying to understand why our normally finely tuned balance goes out of control. during the day, we burn up glucose to give us energy, and at night we switch over to fats, except for the brain and some other organs that have to stay active. if the switch over fails to work properly, we end up with an excess of sugar. the production of glucose is regulated by specialised cells in our pancreas. these are the pancreatic islet cells, and they produce two types of hormone, glucagon, which triggers production of glucose in the liver, and insulin, which turns production of glucose off. Good health depends on maintaining the correct balance between the two hormones.

Both glucagon and insulin act on a specific genetic site, cRtc2, and problems arise when one of these hormones has a stronger signal. in type ii diabetes, the insulin signal does not work, so the liver goes into overdrive on glucose. over time this high level of glucose causes a variety of disorders, including heart disease, blindness and kidney failure. the researchers focused on molecules on the outside of liver cells that act as receptors to these hormones. Known as iP3 molecular receptors, they act as a gateway, or as the researchers describe them as tap-like ‘spigots’. When stimulated by the glucagon hormone, calcium ions are allowed to flow in. calcium is very often involved in signalling within cells, and in this case it acts on what is known as calcineurin, triggering off production of glucose. it is possible to turn off the iP3 ‘spigot’ using inhibiting agents, and as expected, doing this in mouse cells, lowers glucose production.

What researchers now have to find out is whether or not the same, or similar agents can be used as drugs to bring down excess glucose production in humans. that the Kerry Red deer descended from ancestors that were in ireland 5,000 years ago. The deer had been brought to ireland from Britain, so technically speaking, they are not a native. there is no evidence to show that red Deer were present during the earlier Mesolithic period, 9,000 years ago when humans first settled in ireland.

Fossil bone samples from the national Museum, some up to 30,000 years old, were used in the study which also revealed that red Deer were also imported on different occasions during the 19th and 30th centuries.

Although humans appear to have arrived first, deer were important to them. Antler fragments and other remains of deer are common in neolithic, Bronze Age and iron Age sites. As descendants of the original introductions, dr Ruth carden, from the national Museum, who led the study, said the Kerry population deserves to have special protection.

As for deciding on their status as a native, dr Allen Mcdevitt, one of the lead geneticists from Ucd, remarked that having arrived with early humans, the Red deer are every bit as irish as we are.

Scientists at the Ludwig Maximilians university in Munich, LMU, have been able to trace this divergence in cypress trees, a family that was well established before the break up of Pangea. LMU biologist, Professor Susanne Renner, examined genes from the 122 cypress species that grow around the world today. in the millions of years since Pangea, lots of events have occurred to confuse

the records, but by looking at the small genetic differences that accumulate over time, Prof Renner was able to determine points where divergence into different species began.

As Prof Renner found, the cypress family is very old, and the divergence into two major sub-families coincided with the break up of Pangea. once the lineages were separated, they continued on separate evolutionary paths.

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Headaches Robotic winners

EnginEEring students from UCD pitted their robots against each other to compete in the Siemens robo rugby Competition. Martin Cowan, John Faulkner and Conor McKiernan emerged as the winning team. Alison Murphy, Robert O’Keeffe and Ruth Quinn came in second, and third place went to Seán Craddock, Angus galla, Jerico Pingul and Andrew Webb. The best looking robot was submitted by Maoliosa Bradley, Peter Cassells and garvan Keenan.

Over 60 students took part in the competition which is as much a challenge in design and construction as it is a fight to the finish for the robots.

Commenting on this, Brian Mulkeen from the UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, said that when students come into university they are simply reciting learned answers from the Leaving Cert, but the competition motivates them to think inventively and independently. There is no substitute for learning by doing, he said.

Ocean connections

OCTOPUSES from the ross and Weddell Seas are so similar that scientists conclude that it is not long since they were separated by Antarctic ice. A team of scientists from nUi galway, Liverpool University and La Trobe University in Australia, examined the genetic make up of over 450 Turquet’s octopuses and found that the two currently isolated populations are identical. According to Dr Louise Allcock from the ryan institute at nUi galway, the West Antarctic ice sheet may have collapsed as recently as 200,000 years ago. At that stage the species would have occupied a continuous territory, but since then, the two populations have been separated by about 10,000 km.

A significant number of people suffer from migraine and headaches which occur for no apparent reason. Scientists at nUi galway’s Centre of Pain research explain that not enough research has been done in this area, so a study has been started on people who have severe head pain on fifteen or more days every month.

Dr Jonathan Egan, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at nUi galway, said that recruits will take part in a pain-management programme and this is part of research being carried out by Angeline Traynor on the various factors that lie behind pain.

More information from Angeline Traynor, at 086 0378562 Or email: angeline2@ nuigalway.ie https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/headachemanagement

Reducing impact of brain injuries

SWELLing of the brain after injury, stroke, or cardiac arrest is a major cause of death, and for the past treatment of this condition has not improved. researchers at TCD have announced a breakthrough that is expected to reduce swelling. Publishing their results in Nature Communications, the researchers explained that a relatively simple procedure, involving injection of medication to a peripheral vein, can open cellular channels allowing fluids, mainly consisting of water, to drain back into the blood stream. The medication was developed using a technique, known as rnA interference. rnA transcribes instructions from DnA, and in the past few years it has been found possible to deliberately modify, or suppress, these messages.

The procedure has been shown to work in animals, and as Dr Matthew Campbell, the lead author of the paper, explained, the technique was initially developed to relieve pressure on the visual cortex area of the brain, but it was found that the same approach works for all other areas of the brain.

The next step is to begin clinical trials and Avena Therapeutics, a recently established company, is involved in commercialising the result.

Confusing fluke

There has been a long campaign to eradicate TB in cattle, but defeating the disease has proved to be difficult, and often controversial. Scientists from the universities of nottingham and Liverpool have found that one of the problems is likely to come from the presence of parasites in cattle. According to Dr robin Flynn from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of nottingham, the presence of the common liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, lowers the sensitivity of skin tests used to detect TB. The discovery was made by studying more than 3,000 dairy herds in England and Wales. Scientists from a number of institutions, including University College Dublin, collaborated on the project which identifies an important barrier against effective control, and may cause scientists to rethink current strategies such as badger culling.

According to Dr Flynn, 70 to 80 per cent of the dairy herds in the UK show signs of liver fluke infection. In Ireland, wet grasslands provide liver fluke with an ideal breeding ground.

Professor Diana Williams, from the University of Liverpool’s institute of infection and global Health, believes that testing is useless if cattle are already infected with liver fluke. in ireland, where about €11 million was spent on the eradication programme last year, badgers are being captured and vaccinated in a trial to determine if this makes a difference to transmission of TB to cattle from wildlife.

Biorefining

gALWAy company, Cellulac, has been given a €2.8 million grant from the European Commission to commercialise the production of lactic acid from agricultural waste.

There is a strong demand for lactic acid which is used to make cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biodegradable

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 9

plastics. globally the market for lactic acid has been estimated to be worth €4 billion and demand has been rising at 19 per cent a year.

Company CEO, Fin Murray, said that Cellulac is actively engaged in raising funds from investors to establish a large scale production plant.

The Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion.

The expanding

Universe

Margaret Franklin explains how three 2011 Nobel Physics Prize winners discovered that expansion of the universe is accelerating

W

hen Einstein developed his theory of Relativity about 100 years ago, he believed that the Universe was static. A few decades later, scientists had accepted that the universe is expanding. Even more surprising is the recent discovery that this expansion is accelerating. Last year’s Nobel Physics Prize acknowledged this amazing finding.

The 2011 Nobel Physics Prize was awarded to three cosmologists “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae” Half of the prize went to Saul Perlmutter, who heads The Supernova Cosmology Project at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. The other half was shared equally between Brian P Schmidt, Head of The High-z Supernova Search Team at

the Australian National University and Adam G. Riess who is also a member of the same team, but is based at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. All three studied at Harvard University, where Schmidt obtained his PhD and met his future wife, Jenny Gordon, who is Australian. In 1994, they moved to Australia. In 1998, the two research teams presented their findings independently, causing cosmologists to re-think their concept of the universe.

Back in 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered the cosmological ‘red shift’ by analysing light from distant galaxies.

The characteristic line spectra of specific chemical elements could be identified in this light, but Hubble noticed that the wavelengths were slightly longer than expected. Red light has a longer

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 10

wavelength than blue light, so the spectral lines were ‘shifed’ towards the red end of the visible spectrum. This could be explained by assuming that the distant galaxies are moving away from us, causing the wavefronts to be stretched out behind them, making the light appear redder. (On the other hand, if a source of light is moving towards us at great speed, the wavefronts would be ‘bunched together’ in front of the light source, making the light appear bluer.)

From the cosmological red shift, it was concluded that the Universe is expanding. This is believed to be because of the so-called ‘Big Bang’ which occurred about 14 billion years ago, when the Universe came into being. But if an initial explosion caused the universe to expand, we might expect it to slow down as time goes on. So it was quite a surprise to scientists to find that the expansion is speeding up.

Astronomical distances are extremely difficult to calculate. For stars that are relatively close to us, the parallax method is used. You can demonstrate how this works as follows. If you look at two distant objects, you can tell which one is farther away from you by closing one eye while moving your head from side to side. The closer object appears to move in the opposite direction to your head.

For more distant stars, astronomers use cepheid variables as ‘standard candles’. These are pulsating stars, whose brightness is related to the period of the pulsations. The brighter ones have longer pulses. If two cepheids have the same period, they have the same intrinsic brightness, but if one appears to be dimmer than the other, then we know it must be farther away. If we know the distance of the nearer one (perhaps using parallax), then the distance to the farther one can be calculated. However, cepheid variables are no longer visible at very large astronomical distances, so something brighter is needed. This is why supernovae are used.to measure distances to the very farthest galaxies.

Last year’s Nobel Prizewinners used a particular kind of supernova, type Ia. This is an explosion of a very dense star, known as a white dwarf. Such a dwarf star can have about 1.4 times the mass of our Sun, packed into a volume as small as the Earth. Type Ia supernovae have an intrinsic brightness that fades over time in a predictable manner. This allows them to be used as ‘standard candles’ to estimate their distances from earth.

Type Ia supernovae can be identified by the particular wavelengths present in the spectrum of light they emit. These

indicate what chemical elements are present in the stars. Hydrogen is notably absent, as it has all been used up by the time the supernova explodes. A type Ia supernova can emit as much light as a whole galaxy.

However, the light intensity from over 50 of the distant supernovae found by both teams was dimmer than expected.

From this, they concluded that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.

The big problem with using supernovae explosions is that it is almost impossible to know in advance, when and where such an explosion will happen. In a typical galaxy, supernovae occur only a few times in a thousand years. In our own Milky Way galaxy, supernovae have been occasionally observed with the naked eye, for example, by Chinese astronomers in 1054 and by Tycho Brahe in 1572.

But to spot supernovae explosions in a distant galaxy, very powerful telescopes are needed.

Perlmutter’s group had great difficulty in getting enough telescope time to scan the sky for supernovae. They developed methods to detect supernovae in a given patch of the sky. The group would observe thousands of galaxies over a few nights just after new Moon. They imaged the same patches of the sky again about three weeks later, to select batches of about a dozen or so new supernovae at a time. Then they needed to plot the brightness of each supernova, as it peaked and then declined over several weeks. Perlmutter begged colleagues all over the world for the use of their telescopes for an hour or two on short notice.

He was totally astonished by the unexpected result, that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up. But the fact that Schmidt and Riess independently made similar findings gave credibility to the discovery. The acceleration is thought to be driven by something called ‘dark energy,’ but scientists do not yet understand what this is. It remains an enigma.

Top, Saul Perlmutter Right top, Brian P Schmidt Right, Adam Riers By observing distant supernovae, the three cosmologists concluded that expansion of the Universe is accelerating

A supervova, known as 1994D, viewed from the Hubble Space Telescope. The supernova is the bright spot below the galaxy known as NGC in the Virgo Cluster.

Read Margaret Franklin’s column on science in The Westmeath Examiner.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 11

Site for the shaft

Ringsend treatment plant

Tunneling inTo The bay The Ringsend Wastewater Treatment plant needs to be upgraded but the present outfall is already unsatisfactory, and does not allow for expansion. The plan is to move the outfall out into the Bay, and that means constructing a nine km long tunnel, but before burrowing down into bedrock, engineers needed to know what exactly what they are getting into. Tom Kennedy reports on how drilling rigs probed into the previously unexplored depths of Dublin Bay.

W

hat do most people do first thing in the morning? Apart from the obvious things like getting dressed or being tripped up by the cat, the one thing that we all do for sure is flush the WC. In the greater Dublin area the day begins with a massive surge of sewage flooding into a system that is already working above maximum capacity.

At present the equivalent of almost two million people are flushing away 60 grams each a day, and it all ends up at the Ringsend treatment works. At a Geoscience conference in Dublin in April, Henning Moe from the engineering consultancy company, CDM Smith, put this into perspective. The flow into the plant, he said, is about seven cubic metres a second. That’s four and a half times the flow of the Dodder, or 95 per cent of the Boyne.

The treatment plant, he explained, is working beyond its design capacity, yet there is, as he put it, “a dire need for expansion.” City planners are calculating on having to deal with a population equivalent of 2.4 million by 2025, and already the plant is causing problems.

Remedial action had to be taken to reduce the odours wafting over to disturb

the residents of Dublin 4, but less easy to solve is the increasing load of nutrients discharging into the bay.

Instead of dispersing out to sea the discharge usually veers off to the north, swirling around by Howth to Bull Island.

While that is less than ideal, it shows clearly that any increase in discharge would cause serious problems by enriching coastal waters around the north side of Dublin Bay. Removing the nutrients at the treatment plant, said Henning, had been considered, but costs were considered prohibitive, and besides, in spite of being adjacent to the controversial Irish Glass Bottle site, the space is not available for accommodate the necessary expansion.

After considering the problem, the preferred solution to this growing problem is to begin construction in 2013 of a nine km long tunnel out into the far reaches of the bay. As Henning pointed out, this is an enormous undertaking, and the decision to go ahead was only made after long and detailed study of how such a long tunnel could be made, how deep it would have to be, and how it would have an impact both on port activities and on the environment. This study,

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 12

which involved collaboration between a large team of planners, engineers and geologists runs to a few hundred pages packed with lots of technical details. As a public document, it is freely available to download from the Dublin City Council website.

The plan is to excavate a vertical shaft on shore to one side of the treatment plant, and from this, the tunnel with a diameter of up to six metres will go though bedrock to the outer reaches of the bay before rising up into a discharge shaft below the water surface.

Easier said than done, especially as so little was known about what lay below. It was known that the dark Calp Limestone that underlies Dublin extends out into the Irish Sea, but it is draped by a thick blanket of sand and glacial deposits. To the south and north of the bay there are the Bray and Howth slates and at Dalkey there is granite. Besides, these rocks are not exactly uniform. There are lots of cracks, junctions and long faults, and all of these potential obstacles are hidden from view.

To find out what lay below, a series of nineteen four inch diameter boreholes were drilled offshore and two on shore. As two large drilling rigs, with retractable legs, were deployed, observers on shore began wondering if oil had been discovered off Sandymount, After all, it is not that long ago that serious consideration was being given to mining the coal that lies under the Kish Bank.

Drilling went down for about 100 metres, and as expected, there was a lot of dark Carboniferous calp, the hard and brittle rock familiar to us from so many public buildings. The rock itself was covered by sedimentary and glacial deposits, and it lay at various depths from the surface, usually from 30 to 55 metres. Over the ages, what had been the limestone surface had been exposed to weathering, and one of the concerns was that it might once have been high enough above water to become karsified, like the landscape of the Burren.

While no evidence of this was found, geologists were able to read off many other significant features from all these cores. In general, the rocks became younger towards the west. There were siltstones, some shales, pyrites, and veins of calcite, and of most concern to the engineers were the physical characteristics of the rock that they will be asking contractors to tunnel through.

Contractors will bid for the job on the basis of the geotechnical evidence presented to them so it is important to kee costly surprises down to a minimum.

4.9 Existing Outfall Location and Proposed Outfall Location

INLET SHAFT 0.00 m

LIMESTONE

CLAY

SAND

GRAVEL

SILT

SEA LEVEL OUTLET

-10 m

-20 m -30 m -40 m -50 m

bED ROCK -60 m -70 m

-80 m -90 m -110 m

TUNNEL

Giving some idea of how choosing a route means balancing out a number of interests. The black lines are described as seabed constraints, and the green line indicates faulting where deep fractures run through bedrock. The sky blue bands are shipping channels, an anchorage position and a turning area for large vessels. The red dots and stars are drilling points where cores were taken, and the green dots are the preferred outfall sites, of which the furtherest to the right was the final choice. A close inspection of this chart shows where numerous wrecks lie below having failed to make it safely back into port.

If put end to end, all of the cores would add up to 11,000 metres, and all have been stored for posterity at the Pigeon House. As Henning observed, “this is an incredible resource,� and the boxed and labeled cores are likely to keep geologists busy for a long time to come.

The biggest shock, said Henning, came not out in the bay, but on land. At about 38 metres down the drill encountered extensively fractured rock. There had been a lot of disturbance, and, perhaps due to extremely high salinity at some stage, the limestone’s calcium carbonate had been converted into calcium magnesium carbonate, a process known as dolomitisation.

This was unexpected, and with depth the situation did not getter any better. Once back into the classic calp, the cores revealed a mass of microfractures.

From an engineering point of view, this means extra work in construction, but at least the problem is known and can be solved on land. The shaft will have to have a wide enough diameter to accommodate lowering of machinery before it begins to crunch it way through the rock below.

A massive tunneling machine, similar to the one used for the Port Tunnel, can grind along at a rate of just over 16 metres a day, and at that speed it should reach its destination in 18 months.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 14

The tunnel has to be deep enough down into bedrock to avoid variations and upper weathering which can extend down for five to ten metres. So, from a start that has to be kept as shallow as possible, the nine km length will have to be about 66 metres below to make sure that the cover is secure.

Selecting a suitable site for the outfall also presented quite a few problems.

Dublin is a busy port, and as Henning pointed out, there are a lot of different interests to take into consideration.

There are two shipping lanes, there is a spoil dumping area, there are anchorages, there is a ship turning circle, and there are established fishing grounds.

A number of possible points were considered, and for various reasons, including lack of depth, they were eliminated in favour of the Burford Bank, a sand ridge of about 5 km in length that lies across the mouth of Dublin Bay. The bank, which rises to within five metres of the surface, is well known to shippers who avoid it with good reason.

Treated waste water will flow through the tunnel at seven cubic metres a second to emerge at a depth of about 20 metres, and studies, modeling currents in the bay, show that dispersal will be more than adequate. The difference between the old and the new outfall positions,

The hundreds of cores stored by the Pigeon House represent a valuable resource on understanding the geology of Dublin Bay. said Henning, “is quite staggering.”

Modelling indicates that all the outflow will disperse and the current backwash into the northern side of the bay will come to an end.

The tunnel will be expensive, said Henning, but in the long term it is viewed as the most cost-effective solution for dealing with Dublin’s problem.

To comply with the EU’s Waste Water Treatment Directive, nutrient removal would have to achieve 10 mg per litre or less per litre, and 1 mg per litre for total phosphorous. Engineers argue that

meeting this target at the treatment plant would increase power demand by up to 80 per cent, and they could be left with a mountain of about 10,000 or more tonnes of dry sludge to dispose of each year.

If all goes according to plan, the tunnel will be completed in 2016, and unless something unforeseen happens, it will last as long, if not longer than the Victorian sewers. The official lifespan is given as 100 years, and a neat little detail is that planners have taken into account a possible rise in sea level within that time.

Look before you Leap KnoWIng what lies below, said Koen Verbruggen, Acting Director of the geological Survey, is important not just for tunneling, but for all sorts of reasons.

The cores taken in preparation for the tunneling project, he said, have enabled us to get a much clearer picture of the bay’s underlying structure. Likewise, the Infomar project is enabling us to update charts that have not been revised since Captain Bligh carried out his survey in 1880. The numerous wrecks that lie on the Kish Bank, provide ample evidence of how unseen and uncharted features can be a serious hazard to shipping, yet, as Koen remarked, outside the dredged channels, “no one has a clue about what’s there.”

The original charts may have been state-of-the art in their day, but conditions on the sea bed change, and indeed, the surveyors could miss important features, as they did at Clifden in galway. As Koen explained, the Bay was supposed to have a depth of 34 metres, but two years ago, surveying revealed a previously unknown hazard where the depth was just 12 metres.

not knowing this, he said, could quite easily has resulted in a major disaster, and as he explained, the reason for this might not at first be obvious. Ireland has an obligation to direct ships that have run into trouble or severe storms at sea into safe havens. As luck would have it, there was never a call to send a supertanker into Clifden Bay. While it is relatively easy to imagine obstacles at sea, Koen said that many other geological hazards are not so obvious, yet knowing that they are there can save a lot of time and resources. For a engineer or architect, the equivalent of a shipwreck at sea, is having to deal with the consequences of building on unsuitable ground. Strange as it seems, developers and planners, often start to build before checking if the site is suitable.

Consulting a geologist, before pouring cement, observed Koen, can be a lot cheaper, and less time consuming than having to undertaking remedial work. one of the essential roles of the geological Survey, he said, is to help planners to anticipate problems such as

SCIeNCe SpIN Issue 53 page 15

flooding, subsidence, or landslides. “This is not something we are as focused on as we should be,” he said, and a lot of common problems can be anticipated and avoided. one of the tools that will enable planners to make more informed decisions will be a new on-line landslide viewer, based on studies that have been ongoing since 2003. Some areas are at high risk from landslides, and not many people realise how the ground below them can shift. Satellite observations, said Koen, have greatly added to the accuracy of these measurements, showing that, as in Cork city, the ground can move up or down by several millimetres a year, and this is why many houses there have had to be buttressed.

It’s all to easy, said Koen, to criticice planners and local authorities for making bad decisions, but often this is the result of having inadequate access to geological data. Making this data available, he said, is just as important as convincing developers of the economic benefits.

Hydrothermal vents occur where cracks in the Earth’s crust allow seawater to penetrate downwards into areas of subterranean volcanic activity. Here the seawater is not only heated to boiling point, but also permeated with dissolved minerals and suspended solids from the molten rock. This heated seawater then gushes back upwards into the ocean, giving rise to ‘black smokers’ and ‘white smokers’ – similar in appearance to miniature erupting volcanoes.

National Geographic

‘Alien Deep’

Lisa Fitzpatrick reports that the series is to premiere at ESOF

A

National Geographic documentary on the discovery of a field of hydrothermal vents 3000m below sea level along the mid-Atlantic ridge will premiere at the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2012, in Dublin this July.

Spectacular deep sea video footage of the discovery of the Moytirra vent field, named after a mythological Irish battlefield (meaning plain of pillars) was filmed by National Geographic as part of a documentary series, Alien Deep. The survey onboard the National Research Vessel, Celtic Explorer last august will also be the focus of an exhibition at the Convention Centre Dublin, July 13-15th.

The discovery of rust coloured chimney structures bellowing super heated (350 degrees C) sulphur enriched seawater more than 3000m below sea level was made by team of scientists led by Dr. Andy Wheeler, University College Cork, together with the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, Geological Survey of Ireland and University of Southampton and National Oceanography Centre in the UK. The Holland 1 ROV (remotely operated vehicle) was deployed diving to depths of 3000 meters taking video footage and grabbing samples of the strange sea creatures that live on the vents, including a shrimp that sees in infrared with a third eye.

“This discovery of the only black smoker known between Iceland and the Azores challenges our understanding of

volcanic processes on slow spreading plate boundaries and the dispersal of deep sea exotic life forms” says Dr. Andy Wheeler (Head of Geology - UCC), chief scientist on the National Geographic showcased VENTuRE survey.

“Ocean exploration is always hard but this discovery could not have been more difficult – crushing water pressure (3000m), hot volcanic fluids, all tucked at the base of a 200m vertical cliff”

“Only a few countries have the capacity to launch such a challenging expedition, Ireland has both the technology and the expertise to do ground breaking deepocean exploration. It is hard to explain the sense of awe in being the first people to see these towering chimneys of volcanic sulphides emitting searing hot metal rich water covered in bizarre lifeforms” The VENTuRE survey was supported by the Marine Institute through the 2011 Ship-Time Programme of the National Development Plan.

ESOF is the largest convergence of the Sciences, Humanities and Culture in Europe and the programme for the Convention Centre Dublin includes a number of sessions of interest to the marine science community. The Atlantic - A Shared Resource, is the subject of a Symposium taking place Thursday 12th July. During this session, Professor John Delaney, University of Washington will take a look at what once divided and now unites the USA and Europe highlighting historical, cultural and scientific links between the two continents and the challenges and opportunities that require a united approach.

A presentation marine science communication titled Atlantic Ocean Literacy: A Grand Challenge also on Thursday 12th July looks at ocean literacy efforts in the USA and Europe and aims to define key concepts and issues for those connected to the Atlantic Ocean to know and understand.

Attendance at ESOF 2012 is by registration only - you will find full programme and registration details at http://esof2012.org/ The Dublin City of Science Festival is a yearlong celebration of Science with over 160 events that will showcase the best of Irish culture, arts and science. For info visit http://www.dublinscience2012.ie / The ROV Holland 1 is suspended into the water where it is controlled by a pilot on the RV Celtic Explorer The ROV Holland 1 is able to take samples from the VENTS at 3000 metres below sea level.

Photographs: copyright Marine Institute and University College Cork

IN NEWSAGENTS NATIONWIDE or SUBSCRIBE

Books from Albertine Kennedy Publishing Rock around Ireland Peadar McArdle shows us the structure of Ireland. paperback €15 Colour The science and art of colour explained by Margaret Franklin and Tom Kennedy Paperback €15 The Exemption Vera Hajnal has an extraordinary story to tell of survival through one of the world’s darkest periods. Hardback €25 St Vincent’s Fairview Aidan Collins describes the history and the literary associations.

Softback €20 Bewley’s Hugh Oram account of how the café became a national institution in this facsimile of the original book. Paperback €12

.... and more to come.

Watch out for new titles this year.

www.sciencespin.com

SCIENCE FOR EVERYONE Anthea Lacchia advises us to make the most of Dublin City of Science 2012

P

ut Dublin on your itinerary this for the Public Understanding of Science year: not only is it hosting Europe’s at Oxford University and Brian Greene, largest general science conference, best known for his ground-breaking the European Science Open Forum discoveries in the field of superstring (ESOF), which runs from 11th to 15th July, theory. but it has also been declared City of Science The scale and significance of hosting ESOF cannot be 2012 to celebrate this preeminent event. underestimated: “Since its inception in Stockholm in 2004, the While the conference takes up five exciting yet intense days, ESOF series has evolved into the largest and most commanding the City of Science Festival runs throughout the entire year, science event in Europe,” says Cunningham. “It has grown with about 200 events celebrating science. These events are not in scale and importance over the years, and we expect to take just for the enjoyment of the scientific community, but they also it to new levels. As part of our campaign to win the bid, we seek to bring science closer to society by embracing different participated strongly in the Barcelona ESOF in 2008, and having media such as art and literature. Read on! won it, we had an ever-stronger presence at Turin in 2010. Each Four years ago Ireland’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor of these was a successful event, with over 4,000 participants in Patrick Cunningham, put the bid for ESOF together. But where each case. do the roots of this idea lie? “The idea of bidding for ESOF “ESOF2012 in Dublin has a number of innovations, started in a discussion with a delegation from the Institute of including four intercontinental partnerships (with China, Physics of Ireland,” he says. “They were pressing for Africa, USA, and the ASEAN countries), as well Ireland to join CERN. I suggested that if we as a special policy day, which is receiving a did, Ireland should host an international lot of attention.” Policy day will take meeting of physicists to celebrate the place on Friday, July 13th and will occasion, and that Dublin could include over 20 sessions on topics perhaps compete for the title of such as international research European City of Science. I then collaborations, policy implications searched the Internet on this of climate change, sustainable title and found that it did not growth and fracking. exist, but that there was a thing The intercontinental partnerships called Euroscience Open Forum, are explored in four symposia, one of which had been started some years which takes place each day, from 12th earlier. After further investigation, to 15th July. The four themes explored I concluded that this was a large by the symposia vary from City of Science team members stepping out with and important enough series, the Atlantic Ocean as a shared Government Minister, Richard Bruton. Top, Comedian and that Ireland should compete resource, to futuristic cities, to the and science graduate, Dara O’Briain. to host it. The Government of value of science to the economic the day backed the bid; we beat development of Europe and The line up of speakers for ESOF is truly Vienna in the final evaluations Africa. For more details, see and for the last three years have exceptional, with keynote speakers such as: www.esof2012.org, where you can been building towards delivery James Watson, winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize browse the programme of events of ESOF.” and create your own schedule. If and best known as the co-discoverer of the The line up of speakers for you haven’t already done so, you ESOF is truly exceptional, with structure of DNA; Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN should register online in order to keynote speakers such as: James attend the conference.

Director General; Charles F Bolden Jr, NASA Watson, winner of the 1962 administrator; Marcus de Sautoy, Professor for “In addition,” says Nobel Prize and best known as Cunningham, “we have greatly the co-discoverer of the structure the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford expanded Science in the City, of DNA; Rolf-Dieter Heuer, a programme of associated University and Brian Greene, best known for CERN Director General; Charles events throughout the year — on F Bolden Jr, NASA administrator; his ground-breaking discoveries in the field of everything from electric cars to Marcus de Sautoy, Professor superstring theory. gene therapy.”

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 18

CITY OF SCIENCE 2012 projects were selected. They span One of the strengths of the everything from exhibitions to largeoriginal bid, explains Vincent scale interactive installations, street McCarthy, Curator of Dublin City of performances, buskers, tours, trails, Science, was the following aspect: treasure hunts etc.

“As part of ESOF, there is Science Our message is that science is for in the City, usually referred to as everyone, not just something done the public outreach program of in research labs. It’s a tool for all of ESOF. It involves events outside the us to connect with ourselves and conference venue to get the public with the world around us.” and the delegates involved in the With a plethora of events to choose culture of the city. As part of Ireland’s from throughout the year, from bid, we put forward the idea that that could extend throughout the entire At ESOF in Turin. With each event numbers grow, making an environmental-archaeology year, and that’s what became Dublin this the most important showcase for European research. walking tour of Dublin City Centre by the Irish Palaeoecology City of Science: it was designated and Environmental Archaeology as such by Lord Mayor Andrew Network (IPEAN) on July 12th, to a reading of award-winning Montague in January.” playwright Paul Meade’s new play with a bioethical theme, So far this year, the response of the public to events has been Begotten Not Made, in Smock Alley Theatre on July 8th, Dublin excellent, says McCarthy: “the events have been very creative and imaginative and the first big one for us was the St Patrick’s Day Festival.”

Left, Professor Patrick Cunningham led the bid to host the ESOF “When we won the bid,” he comments, “Ireland was flush event. with cash, but now we’re in a different economic scenario.

Right, the official launch earlier this year. Apart from the scientific However, even though we were not in a position to be able to sessions in July, many associated events are taking place throughout do what was possible back in 2007, we’ve been very fortunate the year. because the positive energy from the community of people and Background, the Conference Centre where the core scientific partners we work with has been really amazing.” programme is taking place.

“We originally set up an open call so that people could approach us with their ideas for events that would run throughout the entire year. We were amazed with the response: around 330 applications, from which 160

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page xx

Science h is as mucish r part of I as culture are the arts

CITY OF SCIENCE 2012

City of Science is an opportunity for science to be rediscovered as an integral part our culture.

“The idea is to get the cultural community involved in the promotion of science,” says McCarthy. “Science is part of our culture. We’re well known for our arts and humanities, well known for science from a business point of view, but science is part of our heritage, our culture. Dublin City of Science seeks to engage people with science, to tap into people’s innate curiosity about the world around them.”

The interconnection between science and the arts is explored through different events in this year’s busy calendar.

Within ESOF itself, there are talks centred on the theme of art and science, such as the discussion What does art bring to science? on July 14th. As McCarthy puts it: “Richard Feynman, American physicist, famously said that scientific creativity is imagination in a straitjacket. Art can allow you to imagine any world, whereas science in a sense restricts you because you’re stuck in reality, but it’s amazingly imaginative! It’s that art and science crossover point that’s so exciting for people.

“Ireland is at a crossroads at the moment and we need new ideas, new approaches and people who can understand different worlds, whether they be an arts world, a science world, or a technical world. People need to be able to jump from world to world because ultimately they are all the same world. It’s a way of being creative, adaptable, and using tools like the scientific method to understand the world.”

Of course, the Science Gallery is at the cutting edge of a movement at the art-science interface. Science Gallery Founding Director Micheal John Gorman comments: “Dublin City of Science is an opportunity for the whole city to put Ireland on the international stage with regards to the intersection between art and science.”

“Ultimately”, adds McCarthy, “we’d like all institutions to embrace science in whatever medium they think is suitable. For example, this year we have already had enthusiastic responses

from the National Museum of Ireland, IMMA, Irish Film Institute (IFI), UCD, Imagine Science Film Festival.”

Visit www.dublinscience2012.ie for more details on events.

Is there life after 2012? Or are we inevitably condemned to glance nostalgically at the Convention Centre?

Well, unfortunately ESOF and Dublin City of Science will finish up, “but we see this only as the first step with regards building a community of people who engage with science and engage the public with it on a regular basis,” says McCarthy. We’re looking at the idea of a Dublin City of Science Festival, which would only last a few days. The idea would be to link in with the World Science Festival and the Cheltenham Science Festival and really create that festival feel in Dublin. In addition, there’s a science festival in Cork called CuriousCity, supported by Dublin City of Science, and in the future we hope to be able to further the connections with Cork.”

There are many levels at which Ireland will reap the benefits of ESOF’s legacy, as Cunningham explains: “The most important is in its reputation. Ireland has, for ten years, been building its position in the world of science, and has now reached a level of output from our science investment equivalent to the UK and Netherlands. Ireland has earned a reputation as a country that is serious about science, and ESOF2012 is an unequalled opportunity to reinforce our position in the world. Secondly, since our economic future depends so critically on further development of the high tech sectors of industry and business, Ireland will greatly reinforce our attractiveness to inward investment. Thirdly, ESOF2012 will provide an opportunity to draw international attention to the many projects and institutions that are doing high-level scientific work in this country. Finally, this will be the largest event held in the Convention Centre Dublin since it opened three years ago, and will be of considerable direct economic benefit to the tourist business in Dublin and Ireland.”

A few highlights from ESOF

will ask the question of whether it is possible for researchers to move back and forth between the two worlds of academia and industry in a flexible way.

Keynote Address: Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr.- NASA and a New Era of Space Exploration, Thursday July 12th, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.

Keynote address: Bob Geldof- Making a difference, Friday July 13th, from 2:45pm to 3:45pm.

Science and the future of cuisine, Thursday July 12th, from 12:15pm to 1:45pm. This discussion addresses the progressive role that science is playing in the advancement of cuisine and the way we look at food. Speakers include the “father of molecular gastronomy” Hervé This (AgroParisTech), President Obama’s Executive Pastry Chef, Bill Yosses, and Mark Post (Maastricht University), who has developed a process for growing meat in vitro. Following the discussion, attendees will be able to sample some futuristic cuisine.

The perennial career dilemma: academia or industry - is there a third way?, Friday 13th July, from 12:15pm to 13:15pm. This event will be of interest to many young researchers who are struggling to decide on a future career in science. The speakers

Urban sustainability: Homo urbanis and crucibles of the future, Friday July 13th, from 8:00am to 9:30am. Given that by 2050 it is predicted that 75 per cent of us will live in cities, urban sustainability is ever more important. This event will look at the value of approaches such as “smart cities” and discuss sustainability goals, with a focus on climate change and resource depletion.

Alien Deep- premiere of National Geographic documentary, Thursday July 12th, from 1:30pm to 2:30pm. The Discovery of mid-Atlantic deep-sea Smokers episode, one of a five-part series to be televised in the autumn, shows the discovery of a rare system of deep-sea smoking volcanic vents and chimneys in the mid-Atlantic.

Science Meets Poetry, Saturday July 14th, from 09:15am to 18:00pm. Lectures and presentations on the theme of science and poetry will take place throughout the day. For the poster session, attendees are encouraged to bring one sonnet on any theme within the spectrum of “Science”.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 20

If the scale of the forum and the choice of available events have left your head spinning (or Science-Spinning!) we have selected a few to whet your appetite IMMA’s (Irish Museum Benglis, Michael Craig-Martin, Barry of Modern Art) Time out Flanagan, Isaac Julien, Cristina of Mind exhibition explores Iglesias, Callum Innes, William the connections between art and McKeown, Elizabeth Magill, Eva science through the work of 27 Rothschild and Daphne Wright. artists focusing on themes such as The Time out of Mind exhibition runs time, memory, space, permanence until 2nd September. For details on and impermanence. The exhibition upcoming talks and performances, is located in the suggestive galleries visit www.imma.ie. of Earlsfort Terrace, formerly part of the National University’s HACK THE CITY at the Medical School, adding to the Science Gallery, Trinity College general theme of passing time and Dublin. With most of the The city as a playground. Florian Riviére explores the its effects. Medusae, a 30 min video urban environment as part of Hack the City. Photo: Science world living in cities, we are becoming

by Dorothy Cross and her marine an urban species. This show seeks to Gallery. biologist brother, Professor Tom Cross, apply the hacker mindset to Dublin is of particular relevance to science: together, they studied a with a view to improving our everyday lives and shaping the lethal jellyfish, spurred on by naturalistic curiosity as much cities of the future. The exhibition and event series ask visitors to as philosophical enquiry. Another powerful piece by Dorothy reimagine our city, looking at the challenges we face and trying Cross, Parachute, features a gannet hanging from a parachute. to find solutions to current problems. The local and international The artist, having observed that young, inexpert gannets often curatorial team includes artist and designer Teresa Dillon, break their necks when diving, took one of the many dead hacker and TED speaker Josh Klein, Trinity College Engineer gannets washed up on the beach and transformed it into this Linda Doyle, Martin Kelly of IBM and Science Gallery Founding moving piece. Marcel Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs (Optical Discs) is Director Michael John Gorman. a play on optical illusions, while Grace Weir’s Dust Defying Speaking about HACK THE CITY, Michael John Gorman Gravity is a 4 min video with a cosmological theme: shot in said: “It will demonstrate that by redesigning and rethinking Dunsink Observatory, Co. Dublin, the video shows telescopes, how we navigate, share ideas and innovate in our cities, several measuring instruments and a mechanical model of we can create an environment that inspires ideas and offers the solar system, all in a dusty atmosphere. In fact, the dust in opportunities for creative collaboration. We’re looking forward to inviting the citizens of Dublin to join artists and scientists the air of the room is the true focus of attention. In the same at the epicentre of these creative collisions, to reimagine the disused lecture theatre, Grace Weir’s Paper Exercises is a short future of the city together.” The exhibition will see visitors introductory film about Einstein’s theory of relativity. But any reflect on new uses for Dublin’s ghost estates and they will be visit wouldn’t be complete without a look at Marie Foley’s able to view an augmented reality art exhibition on hijacked sculptures, displayed in 19th century cabinets which formerly billboards by artist Evan Roth. It runs from 22nd June to 8th held Egyptian artifacts in the National Museum. The porcelain September, with countless events, workshops in HACKLAB sculptures are reminiscent of ocean dwelling creatures like and interventions. “It’s a really cool event and it will extend foraminifera and are stored in jars, akin to specimens in a beyond the Science Gallery into the city as well,” says Vincent science lab. Pieces such as Monument to a Dead Man, though McCarthy, curator of Dublin City of Science. See www. perhaps a little macabre, truly capture the imagination. sciencegallery.com.

Other artists whose work is showcased here include Lynda

l

l

SCIENCE FOR EVERYONE

Marvels of Science: books that changed the world exhibition at Marsh’s Library in Dublin. It showcases more than 70 rare and important scientific texts produced across Ireland and Europe over the course of the Scientific Revolution. Well-known items, such as Galileo and Newton, and more unusual items are side by side. For example, one book describes the dissection of an elephant accidentally burnt in a fire in 17th century Dublin. The exhibition is brought to life by the videos produced by a group of German students, who recreated experiments originally performed for a paying audience in 1743 Dublin. The exhibition runs until June 2013. For more information, see www.marshlibrary.ie/marvels-of-science.

Dublin Mini Maker Faire on Saturday July 14th in the Science Gallery. This event is the first of its kind in Dublin and it will see the coming together of tech enthusiasts, crafters, inventors, DIY and science enthusiasts. During the faire, people show others what they are making and share their learning. The event

is the fruit of a collaboration between the Science Gallery, the Irish Robotics Club, NUI Manooth and the hacker space TOG. This event is for families.

See www.makerfairedublin.com.

Icarus at the Edge of Time on Saturday July 14th in the National Concert Hall. Brian Green, famous physicist and founder of the World Science Festival, created this brilliant production with composer Philip Glass. It is a futuristic recreation of the Greek myth, set in outer space: a young boy goes too close to a black hole instead of the Sun. Performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, including a film and animation piece, the concert will also feature the Star Wars Suite

by John Williams and Ceres by Mark-Anthony Turnage. As Vincent McCarthy puts it: “It’ll be a really beautiful event and will serve as a kind of finale event for the week.”

See www.nch.ie.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 21

IRISH FOSSIL SERIES Fenestella sp, from Devonian, Palencia, Spain. Photo, University of Corunna.

Beautiful bryozoans Anthea Lacchia writes that sea mat colonies have been with us since the Ordovician.

T

hey are small and delicate, yet beautifully complex: they are bryozoans. These marine or freshwater colonial invertebrates first appeared in the Ordovician and survive right up to the present day. About 20,000 fossil species and 5,000 living species are known. Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa), occasionally referred to as moss animals, sea mats or lace corals, belong to a group of invertebrates, the lophotrochozoans, which also includes annelids, molluscs and brachiopods. Only one group, the phylactolaemates, live exclusively in freshwater.

The individual animals, or zooids, are typically less than 1 mm in size and form the building blocks of colonies of various shapes and sizes (typically up to 100 mm in diameter). It is the skeleton of the colony, usually made of calcite, which forms the fossil net-like patterns we see in rocks today. So only the empty chambers of colonies survive as fossils, like ghost estates of time.

An individual colony can contain from just a few to tens of thousands of zooids.

Most zooids are adapted for feeding

and they are called autozooids. Others, called heterozooids, serve functions such as defence, cleaning or support. Some heterozooids evolved a sharp mandible: these are known as avicularia, named for their resemblance to a bird’s beak.

Autozooids consist of a polypide, or feeding unit, and epithelial tissue which secretes the skeleton. The polypide consists of a tentacle ring, known as lophophore, a U-shaped gut and reproductive organs.

The lophophore functions through the beating of tiny, hair-like cilia along the tentacles, a motion that creates inhalent water currents which carry food particles to the mouth, as well as exhalent currents that carry waste away. The lophophore could retract into the zooidal walls if danger loomed.

Classification of bryozoans is based largely on skeletal features. These are present in fossil forms, so that zoologists and palaeontologists do not need to develop different classification schemes- a rare and pleasing occurrence!

Skeletal chambers are arranged into two main patterns: the stenolaemate pattern,

where living chambers are generally simple and cylindrical in shape, and the gymnolaemate pattern, where chambers are box-like.

Most bryozoans are sessile organisms, cementing to a substrate, be it a rock, a shell or seaweed. There is one exception: a form which moves along the sediment surface.

Many colonies are erect, an adaptation that enables them to live in cleaner, fasterflowing waters.

For most bryozoans, poison is the main defence mechanism against large predators such as fish. The main poisons include alkaloids and organic compounds with cancer treating properties known as bryostatins.

Bryozoans are hermaphrodite and reproduce sexually, with gametes fusing to form a larva. The larvae are either released directly into the water or moved to the safety of a brood chamber until they mature further. Once the swimming larva is released, it settles on a substrate and new tissues start to form: thus, the larva becomes the first zooid of a colony, known as ancestrula.

Reticulate meshwork forms are often adopted by Fenestella, a bryozoan which can be found in Hook Head, Co. Wexford.

In these forms, waste-water passes through openings called fenestrules. Larger colonies with no meshwork sometimes developed hummocks, called monticules, on their surface, thought to have acted as chimneys, facilitating the exit of exhaling currents.

Bryozoans are common reef dwellers and generally live in shallow water environments of any latitude.

Carboniferous bryozoans are commonly found in Ireland’s carbonate rocks. To see a modern form, just pick up seaweed strands washed up the beach and examine what you see attached to them.

These delicate net-like colonies, be they modern or millions of years old, really do have the capacity to capture and draw you in.

To find out more…

Fossil Invertebrates by Paul D. Taylor and David N. Lewis Introducing Palaeontology: A Guide to Ancient Life by Patrick N. Wyse Jackson Fossils: the Key to the Past by Richard Fortey Left, Hornera, a modern reticulate bryozoan from New Zealand. Right, Rhabdomeson progracile, a cylindrical cryptostome bryozoan from the Mississippian of Co. Fermanagh.

Photographs courtesy of Patrick Wyse Jackson, Trinity College Dublin

SaturN

An artists impression of Cassani making its approach to Saturn.

Getting close up to a gassy giant and its satellites

The gassy giant, nine times larger than Earth, is the sixth planet out from the Sun. Although only about one eight the density of Earth, Saturn is thought to have a heavy core wrapped within layers first of metallic hydrogen, then liquid hydrogen and helium under a dense blanket of gas.

The planet is surrounded by nine rings of ice, dust and rocks, and about 62 satellite moons, the exact number depending on how big a rocky fragment has to be before it can be regarded as more than just a mere moonlet.

For a number of years Saturn has been under close observation, and the moons present a picture of diversity, some incredibly pock-marked, others spongy, and some showing signs of inner activity.

Until space probes could be sent to take a closer look, our impression of Saturn and its moons was hazy, but that began to change dramatically when Pioneer 11 made its fly-by in 1979. This was followed by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes which sent back the first high-resolution images, before the spacecrafts were sent off into deeper space. Amazingly, after more than 34 years of service, Voyager 1 and 2, launched before many readers of Science Spin were born, continues to transmit

A collage of some of the numerous moons orbiting Saturn

Dione

Hyperion

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page xx

Epimetheus

Iapetus

data back from the outer reaches of the Solar System to Earth.

In 2004, after a seven-year long journey, the Cassini spacecraft arrived to orbit the planet. This was a joint European Space Agency, NASA, and Italian space agency, ASI, project with the ambitious aim of landing on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. While the Cassini spacecraft remained in orbit, the Hugens probe was released to descend suspended from a parachute through Titan’s dense nitrogen atmosphere.

Hugens, blown about by winds of up to 430 km per hour took just 28 minutes to reach Titan’s frozen surface, For the first time ever, the dense haze that had made it impossible to observe the surface had been penetrated to reveal a surprisingly beach-like scene, with what appeared to be rounded boulders and sand set among hills of rock-hard ice, and instead of rain, there were showers of methane and ethane.

Since then, we have continued to learn more about Saturn, its moons and rings.

In one of the latest images, recorded in March this year, jets of water ice and vapour can be seen streaming out from the south pole of Enceladus, a 504 km diameter moon. A strange phenomenon, which instrumentation on board Cassini has helped to explain. With temperatures below minus 93°C, a giant plume of water vapour is not to be expected, but Cassini’s spectrometer sniffed out ammonia, and this acts as an intifreeze, so water can remain liquid down to minus 97°C.

An icy plume rising from the south pole of Enceladus, highlighted by the Sun.

Saturn, viewed in natural colours from the Hubble space telescope.

Enceladus, the 504 km diameter moon, captured in different wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet to infrared, and colour enhanced to show significant details. The impact cratered surface is covered with powdery ice which becomes more compact within fractures.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 24

In this image, captured by Cassini in January this year, Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is to the right, and the ring, viewed side on, casts a huge shadow on the planet.

Titan’s surface, strewn with rocks and pebbles of water ice, viewed from a distance of just 85 cm.

Titan presents a hazy view of itself. and the murky atmosphere makes it difficult to discover what lies on the surface.

An artists impression of Hugens turbulent descent onto the surface of Titan.

By using infrared instruments and radar, Cassini was able to penetrate the dense atmosphere to observe details of Titan’s surface. Last year, a mosaic of these observations was assembled to produce this image of Titan’s surface. Some features are thought to hage volcanic origins, and powerful winds have left long streaks of particles.

Enceladus orbiting below Saturn’s rings and Titan can be seen faintly in the background.

An impression of what might greet a visitor to Titan, a gloomy smog of orange and possibly a hydrocarbon sea lapping up against frozen shores.

Mountains, up to ten km in height, on Iapetus. Recorded by Cassini’s narrow-angle camera from a distance of 3,870 km.

One of the most recent images of Saturn with the rings edge-on to Titan.

The two dark bands are the shadow cast by the rings on Saturn’s surface.

Some of Saturn’s numerous moons. Only the largest are shown, and below them Saturn.

Painted Lady. One Pearl-bordered of our large migratory Fritillary is Ireland’s butterflies originating rarest butterfly. It is in North Africa and found in the ‘Burren’ Southern Europe. The area of Co Clare and numbers arriving in the adjacent area in in Ireland are very south Co Galway with dependent on successful their thin soils over breeding in Morocco limestone pavement. and favourable timely winds.

In our previous issue the captions for the photographs of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary and the Painted Lady were transposed, and they should have appeared as here. The photographs

by Deirdre Hardiman are from from the outstanding new book, Ireland’s Butterflies, published by the Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 26

A NAturAl solutioN to

ANtibiotic resistANce

A

s we are constantly being reminded, resistance to antibiotics is on the rise, and the more we use the higher the risk of catching a disease that cannot be treated. One of the reasons for this is that we have a limited range of antibiotic products, new ones are extremely expensive to develop, and as soon as they come into widespread use the bugs they are supposed to kill develop resistance.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is an enormous and growing problem, and it is being made worse by the casual way they are prescribed for a whole range of illnesses, even those caused by viruses, against which antibiotics do not work.

Bacteria are adept at swapping genes, and this makes all to easy for them to pass on resistance and this is why so many hospitals have become breeding grounds for super bugs.

Excessive use on humans is bad enough, but it pales in comparison to the use of antibiotics on animals, and as two students from the Cistercian College in Roscrea pointed out, something like 80 per cent of antibiotics globally are being used on food animals.

Angus Baker and Mark Dowley decided to look into this because they had learned that there is actually a good alternative to relying on antibiotics, and not only is it safe, but it is free.

While we always think of disease bacteria attacking us, the bacteria, in turn are in a constant battle against attacking bacteriophages. These are extremely small viruses that after latching onto a bacterium’s surface, give it an injection of their own DNA or RNA, relatively simple, but lethal instructions to replicate

at host’s expense. Within a short time so many of these little phages have been produced that the bacterium bursts, releasing them to do the same all over again.

What is also remarkable about these phages is that all types of bacteria are susceptible to this form of attack, the phages are very specific in choosing their host, and they are there for the taking, so, as the students wondered, what’s stopping us from making use of them?

They also wondered if bacteriophages are as good as they are supposed to be, so they decided to run some tests based on treating mastitis in cows. Mark comes from a farming background, so he was very aware of how dairy cows are so susceptible to mastitis. This is a serious problem, and apart from the health risk, it means that the cow is no longer productive. Mastitis is triggered initially by bacterial infection of the teat canals.

The normal procedure is to treat the cows with an antibiotic, and as long as any traces of the the drugs are in the cow’s system, all milk has to be discarded.

Angus and Mark explained that to test the performance of these antibiotics against a phage alternative, they started by taking a mastitis sample and having it analysed in a veterinary lab to identify what sort of bacteria species are involved.

Several species of bacteria can cause mastitis, but the ones focused on was E coli.

Their objective then was to find out how commercial antibiotics compared to a bacteriophage in dealing with E coli. Angus and Mark wanted to do this testing themselves, so rather than taking

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 27

the risk of being infected themselves, they obtained a non-pathogenic strain of E coli.

The students got a lot of support from their teacher, Jim McManus, and Prof Ronal Russel at TCD was enthusiastic, helping the project by supplying the students with a bacteriophage that specifically targeted E coli.

Drops of three different antibiotics were put into three separate E coli cultures, and the phages went into the fourth petri dish. Angus and Mark observed the reactions, hour by hour, and what they found was that bacteriophages were just as good in killing off the E coli as were the antibiotics. The phages came in just behind the most powerful antibiotic, and ahead of the two other rivals. Better still, was that the phages did a better job because once they had finished, they disappeared off the scene, and there is no problem with a build up of resistance, while with antibiotics it can take quite a while for all traces to be eliminated.

Given the potential to deal with this and lots of other serious problems, the students were astounded that so little research has been done on phages in Ireland. One place where quite a lot has been done however, is at the Teagasc research station in Moorepark. The reason for this is that while phages can cure, they can also kill off friendly bacteria, such as those that we rely on to make cheese.

Researchers at Moorepark are collaborating with scientists at UCC on discouraging, rather than encouraging phages, but they are also very aware that this is like looking at two sides of the one coin.

Angus and Mark talked to a number of scientists working with phages, and they discovered that many were frustrated by a lack of progress in taking advantage of an opportunity to deal with a whole range of diseases. Strangely enough, a large part of this problem stems from the fact that phages are free, they occur abundantly in nature, so no one can claim to own them. they are also highly specific, so diagnostic skills have to be quite good.

Although antibiotics are extremely expensive to develop, they can be patented and sold as a branded product, so the money put into research can be recovered and the investor can make a profit. As the students observed, ireland is doing very well from the pharmaceutical industry, but it is market driven. it is easy, they said, to get funding for drug development project that is clearly going to end up as a commercial product, but much harder, they added, would be to raise anything like the same level of support for research that would simply be good for public health.

Ruairi o’neill and Eoghan Flynn from Blackwater Community School, Lismore, Co Waterford, were in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, representing ireland in the intel international Science and Engineering Fair. in 2011 the studnts had entered their project “Polyfuel, a novel solution to fuel shortages and disposal of ELPs’ in the SciFest event at Waterford institute of technology. At Wit they were present with the Best Project award, and they then went on to compete against other SciFest winners from around the country.

As they observed, it’s a strange sort of dilemma, and it has a lot to do with how we do our sums. While the west embraced branded antibiotics, the situation was quite different in the former Soviet Union, particularly georgia, where research on phages goes back 80 years.

As a result, georgia now has a world reputation in this largely neglected field.

Sooner or later, observed Angus and Mark, the pharmaceutical companies in ireland are going to have to meet this challenge because their pipeline of existing patents is running out, and rather than seeing phages as a threat, they might be better off using their marketing skills to sell cleverly branded phage packs. these companies know the market, and whoever gets in there first is likely to stay in the lead.

As fifth year students Mark and Angus are starting to think of their own futures. no surprise in hearing that both are keen to go on to college, and having discovered that something needs to be done to combat the rise of antibiotic resistance, they may well be the ones to rise to that challenge. (tK)

Eoghan and Ruairi with their project in the US.

Apart from Ruairi and Eoghan, other students from ireland were at the Pennsylvania event. Henrik Bruesecke, from St Columba’s Comprehensive School in glenties, Co Donegal, and now a student at tCD, presented a project on a program that exploits the power of multiple processors.

Aoife gregg, from Loreto College, St Stephen’s green, presented her work on how letter frequency had changed in gaelic over a period of 1,400 years.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 28

Dara Kyne at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibiton.

Topping up without a lead

Rooting around in a drawer to find the right charger a dead mobiles is often a pain, but Darragh Kyne, gary o’Flynn and Philip Mooney student at Coláiste Phádraig, Lucan in Dublin maintain that there is a handy solution. With induction, they said, there is no need for a wired connection. to show what they mean, the students made up two coils of insulated copper wire. to one they connected an alternating current power supply, and to the other coil a light emitting diode was connected. Moving the powered coil over the other makes the diode light up, so without any physical contact, a charge is transferred. Moving the coils closer makes the light brighter, so the transfer is more efficient, and moving them further apart is like using a dimmer switch.

As they pointed out, this is how we could be charging our mobiles. With a suitably adapted mobile, all that would required would be to bring it close up to the charging coil, and as he suggested, it might even be possible to make a charging table. Just lay the phone down, and it would pick up the charge. the idea for the project was sparked off by a class discussion on wireless transfer of energy, and it got them thinking of what might be possible to do on a small scale. Borrowing a power kit from a contact at the institute of technology in Letterkenny they discovered that induction could indeed prove useful for all kinds of devices that don’t require a lot of energy to keep them going. (tK)

Dr. How's

Science Wows! ...exploring Clouds!

What are Clouds?

Clouds at ground level are called “fog”.

The study of clouds is called Nephology.

Lets learn more!

Clouds are carried along by the wind and can often travel quite fast; Thunder clouds (Cumulonimbus) usually travel about 40 miles per hour (mph).

The highest clouds (above 20,000 feet) can reach speeds of 100 mph!

There are lots of ways to describe clouds but they are usually named based on their height in the sky, their shape or the weather they can bring!

If a cloud name starts with “cirr-” then you know it must form very high in the sky (over 20,000 feet).

See it!!!

If a cloud name has “Alto”- in it then it is in the middle section of the sky (between 6,500 and 20,000 feet).

Clouds with “Strato-” in the name are found in the lowest part of The clouds that the sky (below 6,500 feet). are really high in the sky are mainly made up of ice crystals as the air is so cold.

Clouds named according to their shape will contain one of these latin words in their name...

“Cumulus” - heap “Stratus” - layer “Cirrus” - curl of hair

Cumulus

Therefore a cloud named Altostratus would mean a cloud that forms in layers and sits between 6,500 and 20,000 feet above land.

Cirrus

Did you know... other planets contain clouds made up of chemicals other than water? Venus has clouds made up of sulphuric acid, chlorine and flouride.

Neptune is covered by bright blue methane clouds!

Altostratus

Experiments you can try

Junior science by Dr. Naomi Lavelle

Clouds are made up of tiny drops of water or ice crystals.

They form when warm air picks up water vapour from the land or sea and carries it into the sky turning it imto water droplets or ice crystals!

Did you know... all clouds are white but can appear grey or dark when seen from below?

This may be due to the amount of water they contain and shadowing by clouds above them.

Cloud in a bottle!

Fill the plastic bottle one third full with warm water. Put the cap back You will need... an empty 2 litre on and squeeze and then release the bottle. Nothing happens. plastic bottle, warm water and Ask an adult to light the match and put it into the bottle. Replace the cap a match quickly. Try squeezing and releasing the bottle again.

What happens this time?

So what is happening?

Once the match has been added to the bottle a cloud forms when you squeeze and then release the bottle (if you squeeze again the cloud dissapears and reappears when you release). To make a cloud you need water vapour, small particles (like the smoke) and a decrease in air pressure

Clouds called Cumulonimbus are often referred to as thunder clouds as they usually bring thunder storms!

Cumulonimbus clouds are the tallest of all the clouds.

Did you know... a sinlge cloud can hold billions of pounds of water?

The latin word “Nimbus” is used to name rain clouds!

Cumulonimbus

Cumulonimbus looks a bit like a giant cauliflower in the sky!

If you want to know HOW something works why not write to Dr. How and ask? Send your e-mail to naomi@sciencespin.com

Searching for gold in County Wicklow, by the late 18th century Irish landscape artist, Thomas Sautell Roberts.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

GOLD FRENZY The story of Wicklow’s gold by Peadar McArdle

IN

1795, following the chance discovery of a nugget, there was a gold rush as people were drawn by the prospect of picking up instant wealth from Wicklow’s Goldmine River. Gold has always been mankind’s enduring passion, and long after the initial rush which the Government tried to crush, the belief persisted that great wealth remained undiscovered among the Wicklow hills. Charles Stewart Parnell was among those eager to support the prospectors, and with independence, nationalists were convinced that Ireland was about to rediscover its source of ancient gold.

In his entertaining and highly informative book, Peadar McArdle, former Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, describes how the frenzy has never really died down, and to this day, panners dream that one day they might strike it rich.

Gold Frenzy is available from the Science Spin website, Dubray’s, Kenny’, Hanna’s, the GSI store and from other sselected bookshops.

Hardback €20 IBSN 0 906002 08 7

Albertine Kennedy Publishing, Cloonlara, Swinford, County Mayo

Order on line from

sciencespin.com

for post-free delivery Ireland, UK and EU

REVIEWS

Planet Earth

We alWays knew, or at least accepted, that the earth is old, but discovering just how old it is came as a shock. The 17th century archbishop of armagh’s declaration that the earth began on the 23rd October 4004 BC was so widely accepted that scientists who dared to delve a bit deeper into the subject, were reluctant to suggest that James Ussher’s calculations might be a bit off. The French naturalist, George Buffon, taking the inspired view that the earth must have been derived from the sun, decided to investigate by heating up balls of iron and waiting to see how long they took to cool down. On the basis of these experiments, Buffon thought 75,000 years might be nearer the mark, but in turn the 19th century mathematician, James Fourier, allowing for factors such as the insulating crust, concluded that the earth must be 100 million years old. like Einstein so many years later, Fourier was shocked by his own conclusions, and, reluctant to upset the biblical scholars, he simply published the mathematical formula on which the age had been based.

Now we know that Fourier was also wrong, and by 100 million years ago, the earth’s surface was, literally crawling with life. Nor was this the last of the shocks, as scientists discovered that terra is not so firma after all. At first dismissed as absurd, we have no problem now with the idea of tectonic plates floating around, bumping into each other, and pushed up mountains, or indeed causing massive earthquakes in Japan. astrophysicist and science writer, John Gribbin describes this journey of discovery in his book Planet Earth,

bringing us up-to-date on what we now know about our home planet. Described by the publishers as a beginners guide, the author provides readers with a clear and concise account of how we began to understand how the world works and where it came from.

This journey of discovery is far from over, and as the author explains, there could be more surprises in store. Was the earth always the same size? apparently not, and way back, in the Jurassic, it might even have been 80 per cent of its present size. snowball earth, mass extinctions, our position in space, the emergence of life, they are all there in John Gribbin’s compact and readable paperback, Planet Earth.

(TK) Planet Earth John Griffin Oneworld Publications, london.

The Quantum Adventure

UP TO the beginning of the 20th century everyone thought that science could explain everything. However, that’s when it all began to go wrong, and we now inhabit a world where the old rules sort of, but don’t really apply, at least not when you get into the finer details.

Max Planck, observing emissions of light from hot metals was among the first to realise that something was seriously amiss in mechanistic explanations, and that scientists were simply observing what happens without questioning why.

In their book, The Quantum Adventure, alex Mountwill and ann Breslin, follow the story of how this suspicion that the old rules did not explain everything grew until it forced scientists to move out of their comfort zone. That comfort zone was so well established that Max Planck had been advised, as a student, not to study physics because there was nothing more to be discovered.

The authors, from UCD’s school of Physics, explain how einstein, Bohr and Born took up Planck’s radical ideas, and by doing so broke through to a reality that seemed so utterly strange and perplexing as to defy belief.

During an intensive period of discovery, many of the scientists were in close contact, and as the authors point out, personalities sometimes clashed, and indeed rivalry is nothing new.

When einstein came up with his yet unproven theories, Philipp von leonard,

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 53 Page 31

who had made the important discovery that wavelength was more important than intensity in liberating electrons, dismissed Relativity as a “Jewish fraud.”

Perhaps that’s as well, for von leonard was an ardent supporter of the Nazi party.

Prominent scientists would be quite defensive about their theories, and almost as soon as the young Niels Bohr arrived at Thompson’s lab, he was asked politely to leave because he had questioned the great scientist’s ‘pudding bowl’ notion of how particles are distributed in atoms.

Bohr, who was then 26, then made a far more productive move to Ruthford’s lab in Manchester.

In a way, these scientists made progress because they were prepared to break with tradition, and they were not afraid to ask difficult questions. As the authors point out, difficult questions often lead to sensible answers. long ago people often asked, “why does the sky not fall down?” They always knew that this did not happen, that was just a fact of life, but they had to wait until Newton came on the scene to explain why planets, unlike something they dropped, can fall without getting closer to each other.

In much the same way, there was no way for us to understand what’s going on in the quantum world until science was finally liberated from theories that were going nowhere.

(TK) The Quantum Adventure alex Montwell and ann Breslin Imperial College Press

Dust from space

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onnes of dust from space rain down on earth every day. No one is sure how much reaches the surface because estimates vary from as low as 5 tonnes to 300 tonnes a day. satellite observations suggest the higher figure while radar and laser measurements give a lower amount. one way or the other, the quantiry of dust reaching us from space is high, and the aim of a project launched in march this year is to come up with an accurate assessment. the cosmic Dust in the terrestrial atmosphere, coDIta, project, funded by the european research council, involved a five year study by a team of scientists from the uK, the us and Germany. professor John plane, the lead scientist from the university of Leeds, said that space is far from empty. If all the material between the sun and Jupiter were to be compressed, it would form a ball 25 km across. most of the dust arises from collisions between asteroids and from material evaporating from comets as they travel close to the sun. In space, these particles are travelling at great speed, and on entering the earth’s atmosphere, depending on whether or not they are going in the same direction as us they may be flying in at anything from 38,000 to 248,000 km per hour. friction soon heats these particles up to above 1,600ºc, and if over 2 mm in size, evaporation produces a shooting star trail. over time, cosmic dust has brought a substantial volume of material down to earth, and it has a significant impact on the atmosphere. cosmic dust, explained prof plane, is involved in the formation of our highest noctilucent clouds. Ice crystals form around the fine particles, and the metals affect ozone chemistry as well as providing nutrients for marine phytoplankton.

Light scattered by the Zodiacal dust cloud, as seen from Paranal (Chile).

Photograph produced by the European Southern Observatory.

Credit: ESO/Y.Beletsky

E C N E I C S IRISH

K O O B D N HA SCIENCE

S P IN

ruCtures e grOups, st CHArtiNg tH H sCieNCe is ir iN AND seCtOrs

2012

Biotechnology Agencies ls Pharmaceutica Associations IT and communications institutions l sciences Environmenta s p u ro g research Medical devices innovation Energy Engineering Food sciences search Agricultural re Health care Marine science rth sciences Geology and ea training Education and sciences Mathematical Physics Astrophysics gy Nanotechnolo X 6002 15ing isBN 0 90ned y publish Albertine Ken

The essential reference tool for everyone involved in science, innovation and research in Ireland.

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Who does what and where — from local clubs to internationally recognised research groups, they are all described and listed in the Irish Science Handbook ORGANISATIONS

A selection of associations, organisations and public groups 091 Labs

denis.kearney@ul.ie fields and comprises members www.amt.ul.ie from academia, enterprise Artificial Intelligence and professional sectors and Association of Ireland a representative from Forfás, Applied A group made up from people Ireland’s policy advisory board working on artificial intelligence Nanotechnology for enterprise, trade, science, in Ireland. There are a number of Technology Competence Centre, technology and innovation. The groups from DCU, Queen’s, TCD, CCAN Council is chaired by Dr Tom UCD, UCC, NUI Galway, UL, UU, A national organisation McCarthy. The ACSTI is a subwww.091labs.com DIT and from industry. established to enable IrishBoard of Forfás which manages Chairman Barry O’Sullivan based companies to increase the work of the Council and Aungier Street, Dublin 2.

University College Cork, Cork. competitiveness by developing Academy of Medical provides it with research and Tel: 01 4027179 021 4205951 nano-enabled solutions and analytical support.

Laboratory Science, Email: hothouse@dit.ie b.osullivan@CS.UCC.IE products that satisfy industrysciencecouncil@forfas.ie www.dit.ie/hothouse A selection of centres and needs. organisations involved with innovation AMLS www/4c/ucc.ie/aiai defined CCAN is led www.sciencecouncil.ie www.

The Academy is the recognized by an industry steering board forfas.ie professional body responsible Dublin Business and can easily access research Association ofAIIP-COR www.enterprise-ireland.com Create Ireland Researchers, for the standard of training and expertise from all the major Irish Innovation Centre Teachers’ Education Runs a training Café programme for All Island initiative bringing Alchemists education required to practice universities. CCAN has offices in Established in 1988 to support people setting upofdigital media academics in andIreland, postgrade As an Irish branch the Café medical laboratory science in Centres Carlow Campus CRANN at TCD and the Tyndall business start-ups. companies. Run

by IADT and students involved in innovation Scientificique movement, Ireland.

National InstituteCentre at UCC. One ATECI Innovation Communications Debbie the Digital Hubdiscussions with Enterprise together. informal public Executive Officer Tom Moloney of the Technology Centres Representing 21 full-time centres Assisting knowledge based Chapman Irelandtopics support.

Chair Dr Nicola Hewitt-Dundas about of scientific interest established by develop EI in collaboration 31 Old Kilmainham, Dublin 8 and 9 part time education companies to by debbiechapman@dbic.ie Frederic Queen’s University Belfast are held inHerrera cafés, bars, restaurants with the IDA. centres. providing incubation space and www.dbic.ie create@ladt.ie nm.hewitt@qub.ac.uk and other locations outside the Executive Director Dr Alan Hynes Secretary Dolores Hammill access to research expertise. www.createireland.ie academic environment. The Adtroshack, J65 Tyndall National Institute, Dyke Kildare Education Centre Enterprise Development A small privately run observatory movement began in 1998 at Electronics Production Competence Centres Parade, Cork. secretary@ateci.ie Manager Brian Ogilvie Leeds, and have since spread run by Dave McDonald in ArcLabs Research and 021 A joint initiative of IDA and EI to ERIC,4904056 Carlow Institute of and Innovation Centre, to other centres. Meetings are Celbridge. The observatory, establish high-level centres of info@ccan.ie Technology, Carlow.

Innovation Centre Astronomical Science EpiCentre free and open to everyone but a recognized by the International expertise in applied research. www.ccan.ie 059 9175223 Providing new and early-stage Providing local industries with hat is usually passed around for Astronomical Union, provides Group of are Ireland, The centres based inASGI third brian.ogilvie@itcarlow.ie enterprises with access to access to specialised equipment contributions. scientific data to the Minor Founded 1974 to foster scientific level colleges and are run in www.itcarlow.ie/enterprise/ R&D resources and business and expertise. The centre alchemistscafe@goodlemail.com AquaTT Planet Centre and other links between astronomers collaboration with industry. See campus-innovation.htm development support. works in partnership with the http://www.alchemistcafedublin. An organisation founded in organisations. working in the Republic and separate list for the nine existing Manager Tom Corcoran 1922 by UCC and NUI Galway to University of Ulster, Institute of com Dave McDonald Northern Ireland.

Two meetings a and five planned competence Waterford Institute of provide CoLabproject management, Technology Letterkenny, and dmcdona@eircom.net year in which researchers present centres.

Technology, West Campus, dissemination of information, Providing support and space North West Regional College. www.astroshack.net their work.

Enterprise Ireland All IrelandWaterford.

Cooperative and Carriganore, training inAsupport of for new firms. programme for School of Computing and Chair Dr Peter Gallagher www.enterprise-ireland.com 051 302975 Research Oncology sustainable of start-ups is management run in association Intelligent systems, University of 01 7084658 Advisory Council for info@arclabs.ie aquatic resources. with IT Sligo.

Ulster, Magee, Northland Road, Group, ICORG peter.gallagher@tcd.ie www.arclabs.ie Convergence Council Scientific Officer Dr Gill Science, Technology Patsy Donaghy Derry. BT487JL Northern Ireland A grouping of cancer experts http://www.astrophysics.ie/ A group drawn from IBEC, IDA, Marmelstein Letterkenny Institute of Tel: +44 28 7137 5153ß aiming to give patients early and Innovation www.is EI, Shannon Development, PO Box 8989, Dublin 2 Technology, Port Road, info@epicentreireland.com ta.ie Bio-incubation Centre The Advisory Council for Science, access to new treatments.

Atlantic Corridor Forfás and Office of Chief 01 6449008 Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

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10 Building, Burling College The association was established Institute of Technology Carlow, Cork.

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Ashford, Co WicklowDenis 01 614010 021 in 1984 to nurture growth of the 490412 Carlow.

0 7 . authori in the STI arena. The Council ty for Dublin.relationship Bogan Technological Park, CDVEC 01 7086017 to Earth. There is an Christine Cambell Plassy w.revill electronics industry in the Cork 059 9175223 e@ucc. ie active programme of science in gathers the expertise and 22 schools and college The Innovation has Centre, Limerick. john.scanlan@nuim.ie s 0404 40563 region. Membership includes Geologists’ brian.oglivie@carlow.ie ENFO offering thefurther community, and the grounds Belfast experience of members who Northern Sciencesecond Park, level, 061 331588Ireland 087 674908 local firms and multnationals.

Theevery Regenerative www.itcarlow.ie/enterpriseformer educatBelfast open to visitors day. are recognised leaders in their Society environmental ion and adultare Queen’s Road, Island, educat ion anyone4science@eirco Malachy McElroy Community Enterprise platform-programme information centre at Andrew m.net programmes and service 9DT Medi cine ’s s. www.anyone4scienceBT3 Instit ute Industry House, Rossa Avenue, Street in Dublin is now .com Courses are also given Centres +44 (0) 7808776196 An annual debating science an online Cork. through more than a hundredThere hosted are over aservice hundred of by theBishopstown, Institute declan@biobusinessni.org Library science issues compeFocas centres tition 087 2252857 BT Young Scienwww.biobusinessni.org providi country.

In June The Institute provides a ng a range of tist and throughout Dublin. these across theBoard. encourages school studen info@ceia.ie ts to core facility and conten t resources. theDublin Government announced common, Technology Exhibition Town Hall, Ballsbridge, 4. ethical wwwceia.ie examine cultural and equipment www.enfo.ie 01 6680614 that business development for research Thousands of school studen issues in biomedical science Business Partner ts . in science and info@cdvec.ie managers are to be appointed activities enter projects in this annual NUI Galway Programme www.cdvec.ie Hothouse to 37 of these. Galw Operating engineering. It has received competition, one of the 091 495166 ay under ScienceDIT and most The technology transfer centre Enterprise ireland, the managers further significant funding successful of its kind inThis is a programme run by info@re medi.ie Techn the ology Festiv Enterprise Ireland matching al Institute at Dublin of Technology will be responsible for promoting under PRTLI Cycle 4 as part of world. Over the years many www.re medi.ie lopm This two week Festival of and Deve investors entrepreneurs ent business development with responsibility for locally. the multi-institutional National the award winners have Educ gone ation and Tom Hayes culminates with a family with emerging technologies day commercialisation of research.

Biophotonics and Imaging on to become distinguished exhibition at NUIGalway, l Colle that are considered ripe forNetw Enterprise Ireland.

Resea which withRoya Working a number of ge ofPlatform, Ireland (NBIPI) and rch scientists. The next exhibit ork, attracte ion d c.24,000 people in companies toSurge provideons expertise thed, Integrated NanoSciences will be at the RDS fromcommercial development. in Irelan DERN 2011.

9th This free festival aims to up events have been Match and technology, and assists to Platform for Ireland (INSPIRE) 12th January 2013.

RCSI Cluster of people involve Community nurture an interest in science d in inventions. knowledge-intensive ups. and has established significant Freephone 1800 924362held to showcase Foundedstart educat ion and outreacof in 1784 to train and technology from a or from Ireland. h atInnovation NUI Enterprise young Bernadette O’Reilly links with key researchers in NI 0800 9171297 surgeo Galway working to enhanc ns, the college age and encourage students provides e to education for healthcare sharing of knowledge. choose STEM subjects at third professionals and is the National Univdersity of CALMAST level. largest Ireland medical school in Ireland Galway Galway.

Established in 2003 to promot Marketing and Administration . RCSI e is also an active centre for 091 493490 science and engineering Anne Casserly basic and clinical research. clionadh.0keeffe@nuigalway.ie through educational activitie 086 8033709 s, Communicvations Manag publications and events. galwaysciencefestival@gmai er l.

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01 6073184 Association Director Dr Eilish McLoug info@sc ience.ie An associa hlin tion of over 1,000 Scoilnet Dublin City University, Dublin www.discover-science.ie science teachers in Ireland 9.

A portal run by the Nationa .

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Tyrone House, 47 Eyre Square, Galway. info@o91labs.com

Price €10 Order on line for post-free delivery www.sciencespin.com The digital edition with thousands of live hyperlinks links to email and web addresses is free to view on the Science Spin website

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Director Prof Mark Bailey College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland. +44(0)2837522928 info@arm.ac.uk http://star.arm.ac.uk and http:// climate.arm.ac.uk

INNOVATION

SCIENCE EDUCATION

Renewable energy, nanotechnology, space technology, computer animation and game development: A career for you?

MyScienceCareer.ie is a new website which aims to provide resources for students, career guidance counsellors, teachers, parents and people of all ages who are interested in finding out more about a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Check out career profiles written by young professionals from all areas of science, along with useful resources such as video interviews, for some valuable insights into a career in science.

Find out the difference between various sciencerelated jobs, what subjects you would need to study, what a typical day involves and what other areas could be open to you in the future by pursuing a career in STEM. Use the Resources section to direct you to some important websites that will help you to get more information on what colleges to consider, what points you may need and what options are open to you. Read about Ireland’s rich scientific history and famous Irish scientists of the past, as well as finding out more about our brightest Science Ambassadors of today.

www.MyScienceCareer.ie is an initiative of the national integrated awareness programme Discover Science & Engineering.