Science Spin 61

ISSUE

61

November December 2013

€5 including VAT £4 NI and UK

SCIENCE

SPIN

IRELAND’S SCIENCE NATURE AND DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

eDUcaTion

Building on firm foundations

The new fronTier

Stepping out into space Thorny barriers The Traffic lighT fish

www.sciencespin.com

www.spinstore.eu

SPIN STORE

Offering readers an expanding range of content-rich publications

The spinstore has been established as a platform for books about science, history, archaeology, the arts and local studies. Books from local Irish publishers feature strongly in our offerings. The Spinstore is also listing special interest DVDs and our gallery has a growing selection of high-quality prints from historic and contemporary art collections.

READER’S DISCOUNT Promo code: spinstore2013 Use this code to get 10% discount All readers and subscribers to Science Spin can claim this discount. When ordering simply include this code, which remains valid until the end of December 2013. At the end of December a new code will be issued to all Science Spin subscribers.

SCIENCE SCIENCE

SPIN SPIN

The International SpaceofStation The northern coast Hook Head, Co Clare Publisher Science Spin Ltd 5 Serpentine Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. www.sciencespin.com Email: tom@sciencespin.com Editor Tom Kennedy tom@sciencespin.com Editorial support Con O’Rourke Production support Marie-Claire Cleary marieclaire@sciencespin.com Contributing editor Seán Duke sean@sciencespin.com Business Manager Alan Doherty alan@sciencespin.com Design and Production Albertine Kennedy Publishing Cloonlara, Swinford, Co Mayo Picture research Source Photographic Archives Printing Turner Group, Longford

Subscribe from

www.spinstore.eu and get a 10 per cent discount from our growing selection of books on science, culture, and local studies

Are you involved in teaching or education? Follow our series on education over the coming issues. Your informed and considered opinions are always welcome.

Email us at:

education@sciencespin.com Upfront

2

A healthy balance

9

Irish stone

10

Building on firm foundations

12

Science and engineering careers

14

The public defender

15

Outpost on the new frontier

17

Thorny barrier

23

Weird and wonderful animals

25

SciFest 2013

26

Science Week

27

Science Wows

29

Young Scientists

30

Tom Kennedy reports on how some of the microbes we have inherited from the past can contribute to the rise in obesity

Shaping the built environment with Irish stone

Paula Kilfeather writes that interest in science begins early, so support for primary science is important

Some of the high-level jobs on offer

Seán Duke talked to Janette Carroll who ensures that pharmaceuticals pass the quality test

Chris Coughlan explains how the dream of venturing out into space has become a reality

Tom Kennedy takes the leap from hedge to hawthorn

Sive Finlay describes the big-jawed ‘traffic light’ fish

Getting ready for the top awards

A few of the many events taking place from 10th to 17th November

Dr How explores density

Euro winners, the yam that’s not a yam, and a smart way to clean up the fridge

www.sciencespin.com

UPFRONT

Follow the seasons

PlAntS and animals respond to the changing seasons. Birds migrate, leaves fall, and some animals go for their winter sleep. If you like keeping an eye on nature your observations can help keep track of how the seasons change from year to year. http://naturescalendarireland.com/

Resetting the breeding cycle

In the northern hemisphere the natural foaling season for mares is from May to October. the breeding season is determined by light, so breeders of thoroughbred horses often keep mares indoors under lights to advance the season. Earlier foaling is associated with increased weight and there are less problems afterwards with the mare.

Dr Barbara Murphy from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, working with Prof John Sheridan at UCD’s School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, has developed a light mask which makes it a lot easier and less expensive to achieve the same results. the mask works by delivering low-level light to one of the mare’s eyes the masks, which are being made in Ireland, are being marketed by Equilume, a research and development company based in County Kildare.

Fighting resistance

In England the sexually transmitted disease Gonorrhoea is on the rise.

According to Professor Cathy Ison, speaking at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Microbiology, the number of diagnosed cases jumped 25 per cent in one year, and that up to one third were repeat infections.

Concerns were expressed at the meeting both about unsafe sexual behaviour and about the spread of antibiotic resistant strains of gonorrhoea.

In England and Wales resistance to ceftriaxone and azithromycin actually fell in 2011, but globally the pattern is of increasing failure of infection to respond to antibiotics. no new antimicrobial agents are available, and England’s Chief Medical Officer has advised the government to treat this development as a civil emergency.

Killing pine pests

OnE of the threats to conifer forestry is the large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis. the weevil, which feeds on the bark of Sitka and other tree saplings, is regarded as a serious problem by foresters.

Different approaches have been tried to bring the weevil under control and, at Swansea University, a type of fungus has been found effective in killing larvae, pupae and adults. the fungus, Metarhizium robertsii, appears to have no adverse effects on mammals, birds or fish, but is lethal to the pine weevil.

Researchers, Dr Minshad Ali Ansari and Professor tariq Butt from Swansea University’s Biocontrol and natural Products Group, found that larvae and pupae are killed within a few days after being exposed to fungal spores. the researchers, who are also working with colleagues in nUI Maynooth on management of forest pests, suggest that spraying with a liquid suspension of spores in July and August would be an effective way to keep the weevils under control.

Big increase in data

ABOUt 90 per cent of the data held or passing through systems is thought to have been created in the last two or three years. to enable Ireland to keep up with this huge increase the Irish Centre for high-End Computing (IChEC) has received additional funding of €8 million.

IChEC provides high level computing services and support for colleges and industry and the funding will be used to take on 25 new staff.

Funding IChEC is in line with the plan to make Ireland a centre for big data companies. A number of big name companies such as Google and Amazon, already have substantial data processing facilities in Ireland.

Discover the Cosmos

Educational material on astronomy and high energy physics for teachers and students is available on the COSMOS portal. lots of free resources. http://portal.discoverthecosmos.eu/

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 2

Natural supports

YvOnnE lang, a PhD student at nUI Galway, is investigating a novel use for diatoms. these tiny organisms are encased in elaborate silica structures, and with over 100,000 species identified, there is an enormous range of patterns. Yvonne is looking at how these structures can be used as templates across a range of applications including drug delivery, separation science, and as supports for catalytic reactions.

At the 37th Annual Symposium of the Microscopy Society of Ireland, Yvonne was presented with an award for her presentation.

Spaceplane

AlthOUGh the Shuttle has been replaced by rockets, the idea of taking off in a plane that can travel up through the atmosphere and out into space has not gone away. the UK Space Agency has announced that €60 million is to be invested in developing an engine that can switch over to rocket mode. the engine, known as a Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, or SABRE, has been designed by Reaction Engines, and the plan is to use this in an 84 metre long pilotless craft.

Construction of the engine has been made possible by the development of a highly efficient precooler that has the capacity to chill hot air entering the engine as the craft travels at extremely high speed. Without this, the heat would melt engine components.

According to the European Space Agency, tests with the precooler have been successful, paving the way for design and construction of an air to space plane.

For the first part of its flight such a plane would use oxygen from the atmosphere, and then when this is no longer available, the switch would be made over to rocket mode.

www.sciencespin.com

Stem cell research

ThE irish Blood Transfusion Service has teamed up with researchers in Cork, Dublin and Galway to develop stem cell therapies. Blood transfusions have been carried out for decades and, in many ways, there are similarities to procedures based on delivery of healthy cells to replace those lost through injuries or disease.

The collaboration, led by the regenerative Medicine institute (rEMEDi) involves the National Adult Stem Cell Transplant Centre at St James’s hospital Dublin and the Centre for research in Vascular Biology at University College Cork.

The researchers are concentrating on three areas, transplantation techniques, manufacturing and clinical trials, and applications to arthritis, burns and diabetic wounds.

As the Scientific Director of REMEDI, Frank Barry, noted, stem cell treatments have great potential, but therapy is still largely experimental. The new research programme, he said, will help researchers to get past this experimental stage.

UPFRONT

Into the far beyond

ThirTy-seven years after its launch NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 have travelled further than any other man-made object and they are still sending back data about interstellar space. This is an extraordinary achievement, and in recognition of this the chief scientist for that mission, Edward C Stone, has been awarded the 2013 O’Ceallaigh medal by the Dublin institute for Advanced Studies. Edward C Stone was presented with the medal

by Prof Luke Drury from DiAS at the opening of this year’s international Cosmic ray Conference in rio de Janeiro.

The award was created in memory of Prof Cormac O’Ceallaigh, an irish physicist who worked on cosmic rays and was associated with the discovery of the K meson.

Both of the spacecrafts, launched in 1977, were able to continue on following their initial exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have reached Uranus and Neptune.

More on the Voyager mission: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 3

www.sciencespin.com

Innovative engineers

Patrick Byrnes, a student at cork institute of technology, and alister chambers from it carlow, were presented with Student Engineer of the Year awards for their innovative projects.

Patrick Byrne had looked at a ‘bottle neck’ in production of orthopaedic devices at Zimmer and has deveoped an automated cleaning and blast processs to solve this problem. alister chambers had developed a tractor-mounted device that enables farmes to assess straw moisture when picking up bales of straw.

Liam Mulligan from Siemens, sponsors of the awards, said that undertaking these projects challenges students to think conceptually and strategically.

High speed orbit

a rEd dwarf star, one fifth the mass of the Sun, is orbiting a black hole twenty times faster than Earth. according to astronomers, this million km per hour rate is a record breaker. completing an orbit every 2.4 hours, the previous record was for a star known as Swift J1753.50127, which takes 3.2 hours to complete its orbit. the black hole and its orbiting red dwarf were discovered initially by NaSa’s Swift space telescope, but it was not clear what was being observed.

Follow up observations by Japan’s MaXi telescope on the international Space Station and ESa’s Newton space telescope revealed that this is a binary system. the black hole is also revolving around a common centre of mass, but at a more leisurly 150,000 km per hour.

Cleaning up

aBout 330,000 cases of waterrelated diseases are reported each year throughout the Eu. to combat this problem the university of East anglia is leading a project involving the participation of partners, including teagasc in ireland. under the aquavalens project scientists and others from 39 organisations are to work on ways to clean up Europe’s water. children often have the highest risk of contracting water borne diseases, and one of the big problems is the delay in identifying the problem. teagasc will be addressing the issue of water safety in food and irrigation.

More information from: www.aquavalens.org

UPFRONT

Nitrogen fixers

SPrEadiNg fertilizer on farmland has caused lots of problems and apart from nitrogen run-off, costs are high. Professor Edward Cocking, from the University of Nottingham, has found that there is a way to break this dependency on commercial fertilizers. certain plants, such as peas, beans, clover and other plants have bacteria on their roots that fix their own supply of nitrogen from the atmosphere. However, major crop plants do not have this symbiotic relationship, and that is why nitrogen-based fertilizers are required to make them thrive.

Professof cocking has found that without any need for genetic engineering, seeds can be coated with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Over the past ten years researchers at the university of Nottingham have been conducting tests to prove that this approach works. Not only is it possible for the bacteria to take up residence, but as Prof cocking commented, the technique is environmentally friendly and can be applied to all crops.

The nitrogen fixing technology which has enormous potential to improve the yield of many crops while cutting down on the use of commercial fertilizers has been licenced out to a company, azotic technologies, for marketing. according to the company, we can expect this approach to be available generally within the next two or three years.

Sea advancing on delta

THE sea is advancing over the highlypopulated ganges-Brahmaputra delta in india. the geological Society of america has published evidence to show that sea levels are now higher than they were in the past. in a study led by JJ till from the university of Bremen, salt-producing kilns in the delta were examined. Kilns built in the early 18th century are now submerged and it was estimated that the outer delta sank by about 5mm a year while sea levels have gone up by about 0.8mm a year.

Southern Bangladesh has had very serious problems with flooding, and the geologists suggest that a well-managed approach to sediment accretion is needed to keep the delta above sea level.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 4

Diabetes 2

aS the incidence of diabetes 2 due to the sharp rise in obesity continues to increase, scientists have been trying to find ways to prevent excess storage of fat. Fat that is surplus to body energy requirements effectively blocks the action of insulin, and as a result diabetes 2 develops. researchers at the karolinska institutet have reported that this kind of excessive storage of fat can be blocked. a joint research project with partners from industry and other institutions has found that a protein, known as VEgF-B, is involved in the transport of this fat. By using a drug to deactivate this protein, deposition of the fat can be halted. in animal studies, using rats and mice blocking the action of VEgF-B was found to prevent the development of diabetes 2. according to the researchers, targeting the VEgF-B protein opens up a new way to tackle diabetes 2 without the problems associated with existing treatments.

Secondary schools invited to participate in unique space competition 2014 European CanSat Competition now open for entries ESERO Ireland, the European Space Education Resource Office in Ireland, is calling on secondary schools around the country to register a team for the 2014 European CanSat competition. The competition offers students their first practical experience of a real space project by challenging them to build a CanSat or mini rocket — a simulation of a real satellite integrated within the volume of a soft drinks can.

The test for teams of Senior Cycle students is to include all the major subsystems found in a satellite such as a computer, power, sensors and a communication system. The CanSat is launched to an altitude of a few hundred metres by a rocket or dropped from a platform or captive balloon to accomplish its missions. The Primary Mission is to measure temperature, air pressure, transmit the data to the ground station and achieve a safe landing. The teams work together at all stages of the process - designing the CanSat, selecting its mission, integrating the components, testing, preparing for launch, receiving the data on the ground and then analysing and presenting the data to a panel of judges.

Participating students will develop key STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills such as electronics, programming, sensors, mechanical designing and atmospheric temperature. In addition, skills with broader application such as information processing, creative and critical thinking and communication will be fostered.

The first round of the competition will see teams compete at a regional level in Spring of next year, with the winners moving on to a National Final. The team who are successful in the national competition will then have the chance to compete at European level in Andoya, Norway in June 2014.

CanSat is a joint collaboration between ESERO Ireland (esero.ie) and CEIA (ceia. ie) and is co-funded by the European Space Agency and Discover Science and Engineering education and outreach programme, which is managed by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

For further information and to register a team, please contact the following regional hosts: l Leinster – Mark Deegan of Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) mark.deegan@dit.ie l Munster – Dr. Eamon Connolly of Cork Electronics Industry Association (CEIA) - connollye@ceia.ie l Connacht – Carina Ginty of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) - carina.ginty@gmit.ie

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 5

www.sciencespin.com

UPFRONT

Island mountain

Spectacular whether viewed from land or from space, is the uluru ayers rock in australia. Not surprising that it is sacred, the rock rising 340 metres above the surrounding desert in the northern territory is also a geological wonder.

Millions of years ago the rock formed in a shallow sea as layers of sand built up and solidified. Then the layers of sandstone were tilted by almost 90 degrees, and as softer deposits were worn away the rock we see now stood out. Not so obvious from the ground, but from above the layering that was once horizontal can be seen exposed, edge on, in this image captured by the Kompsat-2 satellite.

Revising volcanic view

the ancient volcano at ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland is usually described in text books as arising from three successive magma chambers. there was intensive volcanic action here 58 million years ago, but a group of geologists from a number of universities led by uppsala have challenged the prevailing view that there were three successive chambers. there are many basalt intrusions exposed on the peninsula, but the researchers from Sweden, canada and the uK, claim that 3D modelling based on surface observations, indicates that there was a single elongated magma chamber. the six km long chamber was about 1.5 km below the present land surface.

Commenting on this, Dr Steffi Burchart from Uppsala university, said that even when features such as ardnamurchan had been studied by generations of geologists, there is always something new to be discovered.

Taking flight

accorDiNg to the Central Stastics Office emigration increased by 350 per cent from 2008 to 2012. in a study to determine what sort of pattern lies behind this increase Dr piaras MacÉinrí from university college cork conducted a survey among 500 people who attended recent working abroad exhibitions in Dublin and cork. unemployment seemed to be a major push factor with 17 per cent stating that they were working part-time and 22 per cent were unemployed. the highest number of those out of work were, not surprisingly, in construction, followed by nurses and other health professionals.

One significant finding was that almost half of those in fulltime employment are considering emigration, and more than half, 62 per cent, were not happy about their career prospects. under the eMigre project, Dr MacÉinrí plans to extend the survey to households around the country, and to conduct indepth interviews with emigrants. http://migration.ucc.ie/workingabroadexporev2.htm

Hydrogen without emissions

hyDrogeN can be recovered from hydrocarbons, but the problem is that conventional processes release carbon dioxide. using clean burning hydrogen as a fuel would be much more attractive if a way could be found around this problem, and researchers at the Karlsruhe institute of technology (Kit) believe that they can develop a solution. according to the researchers at Kit hydrogen production currently releases about 5 per cent of world carbon dioxide emissions, yet it is possible to thermally decompose methane into hydrogen and carbon in a liquid-metal bubble column reactor. this approach had been used by scientists at the institute of advanced Sustainability Studies (iaSS), but the formation of carbon on the walls of the reactor column meant that decomposition could not continue.

By allowing the bubbles themselves to form the wall, the researchers aim to achieve continuous production of hydrogen.

A 500 cm high column is filled with liquid metal at 1000ºC. Methane enters from the bottom and, as it decomposes, methane carries the carbon bubbles up where they burst on the surface. a similar approach was developed at the argonne National lab in the uS some years ago, but the process was not developed further. By examining the reaction in more detail the KIT scientists aim to achieve a more efficient way of producing hydrogen from hydrocarbons without having to release carbon dioxide.

Beaufort marine centre

coNStructioN has begun on a maritime science and engineering institute at ringaskiddy, cork. Named after Rear Admiral Beaufort who developed the Beaufort Scale, the building will house the irish Maritime and energy resource cluster and the National ocean test facility. the centre operates as part of university college cork and prof tony lewis is director of research.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 6

www.sciencespin.com

UPFRONT

Research awards

The hairless Mole Rat. Photo: Roman Klementschitz

ThREE Irish researchers, Aoife Gowen, David hoey and Niamh Nowlan, have been presented with European Research Council grants worth up to €2 million each. The awards are given to support exceptional work in fundamental research. Under this round of funding 287 early career researchers throughout Europe were chosen out of over 3,000 applicants to receive grants aimed at boosting support for fundamental research.

Aoife Gowen, from Kilkenny has been working on chemical imaging techniques that enable scientists to see in great detail how water reacts with surfaces.

David hoey from Mullingar has been working on how stem cells sense and react to physical loading, a process that helps us maintain a healthy skeleton.

Niamh Nowlan from Rathfarnham in Dublin, a TCD graduate, is working at Imperial College London on how movement in the womb affects development of a baby’s bones and joints.

Cancer free

WhILE naked mole rats would never win a prize for their good looks, they have a quality that makes them very attractive to researchers. Mole rats, small hairless rodents, can live for 30 years, yet they have never been known to develop cancer.

It seems that a sticky substance, known as hMW-hA, (hyaluronan) provides the hairless mole rats with protection against cancers.

Andrei Seluanov and Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester became interested when they found that cultured cells from mole rats produced a viscous substance which they then identified as HMW-HA. This was unusual in that cultures of human cells, like those of mice and guinea pigs, did not produce this substance.

The researchers wondered if this could have a role in providing the mole rats with their resistance to cancers. Confirmation that this is indeed the case came when mole rat cells were cleared of hMW-hA. These cells then became susceptible to tumours.

Further research identified that a gene, HAS2, is involved in producing hMW-hA. Although it has yet to be demonstrated that this substance can provide humans with protection against cancers, the researchers pointed out that there is some indirect evidence to support this possibility. Similar substances are being used to relieve pain from arthritis in knee joints and for “anti-wrinkle” injections.

The researchers also point out that cancer researchers usually focus on animals that are prone to develop tumours. Studying cancer-free animals, they maintain, could be a more productive strategy.

Cold life

A bacterium capable of surviving in the permafrost of Ellesmere Island has attracted the attention of scientists from McGill University. As Professor Lyle Whyte, who led a study of about 200 high Arctic microbes, explained in the ISME Journal, the bacterium, Planococcus halocryophilus OR1, remains active down to an extremely low temperature of minus 25ºC. “We believe that this bacterium lives in very thin veins of very salty water found within the frozen permafrost,” he observed.

The bacterium has adopted various survival strategies, such as maintaining high levels of compounds that act as an antifreeze.

The fact that life can exist under such severe conditions leads scientists to postulate that similar microbes may be discovered on planets such as Mars.

Funding up

TEAGASC reports that European Framework Programme funding for its research from 2009 to 2011 went up by more than three times the amount secured under the previous F7 programme. Dr O’Mara, Director of Research, said that as a result we can expect Teagasc researchers to increase participation in European level projects, and he added that increased support from the Irish government have given Teagasc researchers the capacity to engage with European collaborators in big scale projects.

Marine Institute Foras na Mara

Our Ocean - A Shared Resource Ár n-Aigéan - Acmhainn Comhroinnte Ireland’s National Agency for Marine Research and Innovation An Ghníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Thaighde Mara agus Nuálaíochta

www.marine.ie

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 7

www.sciencespin.com

UPFRONT

Higgs — the inside story

For the past 25 years Prof Eilam Gross has been hunting down the Higgs particle and on 25th November he will be at the rDS to explain why this search is so important. Discovering that the particle exists brings us one step further in understanding how the Universe came to exist, hence the popular term “God Particle”. As Prof Gross will explain, it took years of research and millions of high-energy collisions at the Large Hadron Collider to prove that this elusive particle is not just a figment of the imagination. This is the particle that provides the ‘glue’ that binds everything together by giving material mass.

In this talk, which is open to everyone, Prof Gross will describe what the particle is, what it does, and how scientists finally managed to show that it exists.

Admission is free and, for booking, contact:

librarydesk@rds.ie

For more information www.rds.ie/speakerseries

Not so simple

WE might not think that mosses are complex, but in terms of numbers one species, Physcomitrella patens, has far more proteinencoding genes than humans. An international group of scientists led by Professor ralf reski from the University of Freiburg have found that this moss has 32,275 protein-encoding genes compared to about 10,000 in humans.

Physcomitrella patens has no roots, no flowers and does not produce seeds, but it retains many of the genes that other organisms have apparently discarded as they evolved.

This means that the moss could provide scientists with a deep pool of genetic material.

The researchers have reported that 13 per cent of the Physcomitrella genes seem to be unique in that they have not been found in other organisms.

Wind catcher

By mounting a shroud to channel wind into turbine blades power output can be boosted. According to Airsynergy, an Irish company established in 2008, the shroud can double the power production of conventional wind turbines. For the past five years the company has been developing the concept, and their claim is that the shroud system will greatly expand the the wind energy map, while lowering the cost.

The company is initially targeting the smaller 5kW wind turbines, but plans are to move up in scale and expand into the international markets.

Watching wildlife

Advice on moths and three apps for wildlife watchers from the excellent website — www.biology.ie

Resisting GM

ScienTiSTS from the Institut de recherche pour le Développement working with partners in Africa have reported that insects have developed resistance to genetically modified maize. Bt Maize was created by introducing a toxin-producing gene from a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The toxin is expressed on the leaves and stems and, until now, it killed insect predators within days. However, a moth, Busseola fasca, has developed resistance to the toxin and what also concerns growers is that the trait is dominant, so having just one gene in a pair is enough to give the insect protection.

When first developed, the GM maize had an advantage in that the toxin was only effective against the larvae of moths, so there was no need to mount a defence with broad spectrum insecticides. As with other GM crops, the natural evolution of resistance was held back by the simple expedient of planting non-GM crops in an adjoining plot. Any insect developing resistance to the toxin was likely to breed with its cousins in the adjoining plot, so the trait for resistance would be diluted. Grand in theory, provided the trait is recessive, because it would take two parents with resistance to produce resistant offspring. However, the moths got around this problem by coming up with a dominant gene. results published in PLoS ONE report that the strategy adopted by growers was successful for about seven years and then it was noticed that in South Africa the insect pests were on the increase. Breeding tests revealed that resistant moths, crossed with normal non-resistant moths, produced resistant offspring. Thus, for the first time, it was discovered that resistance to Bt maize can be inherited as a dominant trait. How the moths managed to do this is still a mystery.

Growers are now resorting to back-up pesticide spraying, and GM scientists, having been taken by surprise are now considering introducing a second toxin with the idea that it will take the moths a long time to come up with a second line of defence.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 8

SPIN STORE www.spinstore.eu

All these and lots more from

www.spinstore.eu

Setts from Parnell’s quarry in Foster Place, Dublin.

Background, Irish ‘marble’ from Co Cork in the GPO, Dublin.

IRISH STONE

Parnell Monument in O’Connell Street, Dublin with red granite from Galway.

Ireland’s diversified geology has provided us with a wide choice in building stones. Basalt in the north east, a range of granites, patterned slates in Kerry, red sandstones, and limestones that take a fine polish.

These few examples are from Irish Rocks, a popular guide to the different stones that occur throughout Ireland.

Irish limestone cladding on the Céide Fields visitor centre, Co Mayo. Photo: Feely Stone.

Variations in local quartzite add to the attraction of this dry stone wall near Bohola, Co Mayo.

High Cross, granite, Castledermot, Co Kildare.

Monkstown Church, Dublin was built from local granite.

Decorative stonework in the TCD Museum building include polished ‘marble’ from Co Offaly.

Just out Irish Rocks

by Paddy Gaffikin

A popular guide to the different types of stone that occur throughout Ireland.

48 page paperback with fold out cover.

€9 Albertine Kennedy Publishing

Available from www.spinstore.eu SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page xx

BuIldINg fIrm fouNdaTIoNS

For a knowledge-based society to thrive, citizens need to be sufficiently familiar with science to appreciate its value. Interest begins early, and primary school pupils are naturally receptive to science, yet, as Dr Paula Kilfeather points out, teachers need more support if they are to be effective in delivering science education Naturally curious and eager to learn. The demonstrations at the BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition are a big bit with the young.

T

he importance of scientific literacy for all citizens has been well documented and has become a primary objective of a general education. Scientific literacy is needed to comprehend and take part in everyday modern life. It is also necessary in order to understand how science and technology affect people as individuals and at a wider societal level. Indeed many people would argue that a scientifically literate population is required to maintain Ireland as a knowledge-based society in the 21st century and to re-ignite economic growth and development.

Most importantly scientific literacy is needed so that people can appreciate the beauty, creativity and imagination that science and the scientific endeavour involves.

Science education is crucial in developing a scientifically literate society. However, not everyone will wish to study science at third level and not every student studies science even at second level.

It is essential therefore that science and an awareness of scientific issues should be a core area of education at primary school level.

Science education needs firm foundations.

Primary science education in Ireland has come a long way in the last thirty years. Over the years numerous reports, both national and international, expressed concern about the state of science education in Ireland. In 1988 an international report revealed that Irish children aged 9 to 13 did less well in science than children in other countries. In particular Irish girls did badly in science related activities. This was largely attributed to the lack of science in primary school. A later international survey indicated that Irish 9-year-olds performed poorly in

physical science topics. To address this problem a primary science curriculum and accompanying teacher guidelines were published in 1999 and became compulsory from junior infants to sixth class in 2003.

Science in this curriculum encourages creativity and imagination and if properly implemented fosters the child’s natural curiosity. Children are encouraged to appreciate the contribution of science and technology to the social, economic, cultural and other dimensions of society. They learn about the biological and physical world through four strands; Living things (biology), Energy and forces (physics), Materials (chemistry) and Environmental Awareness and Care.

Along with scientific content children are expected to develop science skills. In addition the aim is that children should develop a scientific approach to problem solving which emphasises understanding and constructive thinking.

Independent enquiry and creative action are encouraged through design and make activities.

The primary science curriculum is flexible and can be adapted to suit the circumstances. It is not intended that all topics be taught in each year although some may well be and as a result this means that teachers have a certain degree of independence. With no state examinations or points race looming and no rigid syllabus to be followed, conditions in

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 12

primary school should be ideal for the teaching and learning of science. There is no place for rote learning and set-piece experiments. However, challenges remain and it is not clear that all primary school children are provided with appropriate opportunities to experience science.

Children enjoy science lessons where they have hands-on experiences. In a primary school classroom with twenty-five to thirty children this can be a messy and time-consuming endeavour. In addition given an already busy, some would say overcrowded, curriculum, finding the time to provide such practical hands-on science experiences can be a major difficulty for many teachers. Similar issues have been reported elsewhere such as in Northern Ireland, England and Wales and in Australia.

However of all the factors impacting on primary science, report after report indicates that teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach science is the major issue of concern. Again this is not unique to Ireland. One of the main factors causing this low confidence is the lack of provision of scientific content knowledge at pre-service level. It is essential therefore that science and an awareness of scientific issues should be a core area of study for student teachers in colleges of education.

Most teachers in Irish primary schools have studied for a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree at one of the colleges of teacher education in Ireland. They will all have completed courses relating to primary science but the number of hours provided for such courses varies from college to college. Up to 2012 the number of hours varied from 12 in one college up to 44 in another with 35 being an average figure. In some colleges these hours were not solely devoted to science but included history and geography. This is hardly an adequate amount of time in which to cover both scientific content and teaching methodology! As a result most teachers in situ have had limited exposure to science education.

Within the B.Ed. the two largest colleges of education have a long tradition of enabling students to study specialist subjects alongside their educational studies. There is a wide variety of arts/humanities subjects on offer. However up to 2012, despite lip-service about the importance of science, students have not been able to avail of a similar specialism in any science subject.

The exception was one college where students could study biology for just one year. You have to wonder about the mindset behind this reluctance to engage with science.

The situation is improving slowly. Since 2012, student teachers will study for a B.Ed. degree over a period of four years. The two largest colleges of primary teacher education in Ireland now offer a ‘specialist’ science education course which will occupy similar time and status to the other academic/specialist subjects currently available to B.Ed. students at these colleges. These specialist courses are in addition to any existing provision of primary science courses intended for all B.Ed. students. Teachers with such specialist background in science education will be in a strong position to promote and improve scientific literacy among pupils in our primary schools. There will be a cohort of teachers who will be confident and enthusiastic about implementing the primary school science curriculum.

The rationale for increased science education at pre-service teacher level is obvious. These teachers have their whole careers ahead of them, so providing a firm foundation during preservice education will reap long-term benefits for the primary system. The demand for such courses among student teachers is huge.

In one of the colleges, where figures are available, the number of students wishing to do this specialist science course is over twice the number of places available. This situation has arisen every year since the course became available. It is obvious that student teachers want to learn about science education but

EDUCATION they are being denied the possibility. Human resources, in the form of additional science staff, must be appointed to colleges of education. If government talk about the importance of science is genuine, it needs to look seriously at this issue. Similar expansion of dedicated science education courses also needs to happen in other colleges and the amount of science provided by online courses also needs to be carefully examined.

However, most teachers, who are now in situ, took their degrees before such specialist courses in science were available.

While these teachers make a valiant effort to implement the science curriculum it has to be asked whether it is fair to expect them to be at ease and enthusiastic about a subject in which they got very little instruction.

Support in the form of continuing professional development must continue to be available for the foreseeable future for these teachers. It needs to be on-going and continuous for extended lengths of time. If the government is serious about its commitment to science it must be prepared to follow through with the possibility of time off for teachers to take part in such courses. After all, the professional development of primary teachers is a life-long learning issue. Resources and initiatives that are already in existence to support primary science such as the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, Regional Support Services, Discover Primary Science, the K’nex challenge, Eureka, also must continue. However these supports would be much more effective if they were supplementary to a solid foundation in science education at pre-service level rather than a primary source of instruction.

Decision makers who value science in schools also need to put money into the provision of non-human resources. While there is no need for science laboratories in primary school there is need for materials and equipment. An annual grant per school that is ring fenced for science equipment would go a long way to alleviate the pressure on teachers preparing for hands-on science lessons. There are certain materials that wear out, get broken or used up and need to be replaced on a regular basis. Bulbs, batteries, insulated wire and magnets are constantly required and constantly need to be replaced.

Perhaps the time also has come to consider the possibility of some specialist science teachers at primary school level. While a class teacher at every level is an integral and desirable part of the primary school system it is unlikely that every teacher is going to be equally interested in art, drama, music, science and all the other subjects that they are required to teach. Already it is common practice in many schools for specialist teachers to provide classes in a variety of these subjects. Such specialist teaching could also be a gentle and gradual introduction to the system pupils are going to be confronted with at secondary level. The teachers graduating from colleges with specialisms in science education would be in an ideal position to perform the role of specialist science teacher or co-ordinator within a school or an area.

It is encouraging to see that the importance of science education is at last beginning to be recognised at primary level.

None the less, nearly half a century of under-investment will take some time to rectify. Science education is showing some ‘green shoots’ but if we are to reap the benefits Government needs to invest in and support the growth in a real and meaningful way.

Dr Paula Kilfeather has been involved in research in science and science education over the past forty years. Dr Kilfeather is a staff member of St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, and has produced a series of science textbooks and resources for primary schools.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 13

SCIENCE, ENGINEERING and TECHNOLOGY CAREERS Job Title: Chemical Engineer Location: Cork A Chemical Engineer is required for a multinational blue chip pharmaceutical company based in Cork. The facility is a leading API producing site and is currently undergoing expansion.

Experience in Chemical Engineering within the Pharmaceutical or Biopharmaceutical industry is required. Candidates who have experience in providing technical support to process teams, technical transfer, scale up and installation of new processes.

Candidates who are proficient in troubleshooting, have strong analytical and problem solving skills are preferred. Excellent communication skills are required.

For more information please contact Jenny Hill at 01-6146194 or at jenny.hill@cpl.ie.

Job Title: Analytical Chemist Location: South East An Analytical Chemist is required for an expanding pharmaceutical facility in the South East. The ideal candidate will have experience in HPLC, Dissolution, UV-vis and a range of analytical techniques. Further to experience in the routine use of the analytical techniques the candidate will have experience developing and validating methods. It is a requirement for the candidate to have experience developing and validating HPLC methods in a pharmaceutical GMP environment. The successful candidate will hold a degree in a relevant scientific field.

For more information please contact Killian Maher at 01-6146008 or email at killian.maher@cpl.ie

Job Title: Process Chemist Location: Cork An API production facility in Cork is seeking a Process Chemist to develop API production processes in order to reduce costs and increase yields. The ideal candidate will hold a PhD in Organic Chemistry and have experience working in a GMP lab environment. Candidates will need to have experience in lab based skills including synthetic chemistry and have experience in analytical techniques. Candidates who are proficient in troubleshooting, have strong analytical and problem solving skills are preferred. Excellent communication skills are required.

For more information please contact Jenny Hill at 01-6146194 or at jenny.hill@cpl.ie

Job Title: Senior Manager Drug Substance Technical Services Location: Dublin A Biotech Company setting up in Ireland is seeking a senior manager responsible for technical services in their Drug Substance manufacturing operations. The successful candidate will have substantial technical services experience in working with mammalian cell culture and will have experience in purification and filtration methods. The candidate will have experience in transferring technology at a commercial scale and have experience in managing a team. There is significant opportunity for growth within this organisation and would be a career changing move for the successful candidate. For more information please contact Killian Maher at 01-6146008 or email at killian.maher@cpl.ie

Job Title: Microbiologist Location: Dublin A biotechnology facility based in Dublin requires a Microbiologist to work in a contract capacity in the quality control laboratory. The facility is a growing facility with a number of product lines. The successful candidate will have previous GMP experience and have a degree in a relevant life sciences subject. The ideal candidate will have experience in analytical techniques such as Bioburden, Endotoxin, Total Viable Count and Gram Staining. Ideally the candidate will have additional experience in environmental monitoring and water testing.

For more information please contact Jenny Hill at 01-6146194 or at jenny.hill@cpl.ie

Job Title: Quality Assurance Specialist Drug Substance Manufacturing Location: Dublin A Quality Assurance Specialist required for external manufacturing drug substance department of a start-up Biotech facility in the Dublin region. The successful candidate can have either a background in Manufacturing or in Quality Assurance. Requires experience in CAPAs, deviations, change controls, investigations and documentation.

The successful candidate will have experience in working in drug substance manufacturing or working in the quality function in a drug substance manufacturing environment. The candidate will have a degree in a relevant scientific field and clear communication skills.

For more information please contact Killian Maher at 01-6146008 or email at killian.maher@cpl.ie

Job Title: Technical Writer Location: Cork A Cork API facility is looking for a Technical Writer to join their technical writing team. Previous experience in the development, review and update of GMP documentation, including SOPs BOMs EBRs and EBRAs is required. The ideal candidate will have worked in a similar capacity within production in a GMP facility.

Experience in EDMQ is a distinct advantage. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills both written and verbal and will have a clear and concise writing style.

For more information on this role please contact Stephanie Gallagher at 01-6146082 or email stephanie.gallagher@cpl.ie

Job Title: Associate Director of Manufacturing Location: Dublin Job Description: An Associate Director of Manufacturing is required for a new Biotech company setting up in the South West. The successful candidate will have substantial experience in managing large teams in operations and will have worked at a senior level within the pharmaceutical industry for a minimum of 10 years. The successful candidate will be responsible for all facets of commercial scale production of recombinant proteins in the facility. The candidate will manage a number of production managers and will provide leadership in operations.

For more information please contact Killian Maher at 016146008 or email at killian.maher@cpl.ie

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 14

CAREER PROFILE

CAREER PROFILE

Supported by

The last line of defense that protects consumers against badly made medicines and drugs are quality control analysts. Seán Duke talked to Janette Carroll, who works on quality control with Forest Laboratories in Dublin.

S

ome five million prescriptions are written every year in Ireland for mental illnesses alone. Each and every tablet must have a precise balance of ingredients to ensure that it works properly in the body and is safe to use.

The people that ensure this happens and act as the consumer’s last line of defense are quality control scientists, like Janette Carroll, a contract scientist at Forest Laboratories.

Janette, who hails from Galway, was always curious as a child, and was naturally drawn towards science. As a teenager, she began to avidly read crime fiction, and the works of authors such as Kathy Reichs, a former forensic anthropologist in the US. She loved Reichs’s novels, which focus on the use of science to solve crime, and enjoyed trying to solve the crime ahead of the narrative.

ThE PubLIC DEFENDER

When she was younger she played rugby, and these days she plays a lot of softball.

She has played for the Irish academy team in the world softball series and hopes to graduate onto the senior Irish team soon.

Neither of Janette’s parents worked in science. Her mother is still a teacher for children with physical and learning Curiosity disabilities, while her father is a mechanic Some of the other writers that Janette that builds customised cars for people likes to read including Patricia Cornwell with disabilities, or people that have (she has read all of her books), Karin suffered a serious car accident and, Slaughter and Dick Francis. perhaps, lost several limbs.

Some of her friends, she Janette grew up with her The QC job is a says, question why she father’s garage beside the wants to read about all responsible one, house, and often helped of this terrible stuff, but Janette says, which him with his work. People for Janette it is all about sought him out after they required good curiosity. These authors, had an accident and he she says, know their planning skills as adapted vehicles to suit audience well, and they each person. Janette did well as scientific often give out information learn from watching her ability and on specific tests being done, father, but didn’t want to or chemicals used, which rigorous attention follow his career path. “I help those with a keen eye have a small idea of how to to detail – like Janette – to solve the service my own car,” says crimes.

Janette, “but I’d prefer to Janette’s other great interest in life is pay someone to do it for me.” sport. She has always been interested in Janette doesn’t remember any sport, and is good at it. She used to horse particular teacher that piqued her ride all the time, and compete in events, interest in science. That interest was though she doesn’t compete these days. simply there, and from a young age. Her She also plays basketball twice per week, parents recognised this and one year and acts as a referee at the weekend.

Santa brought Janette a microscope for

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 15

Christmas. She loved it. “I didn’t read the instructions,” recalled Janette. “I just shoved things under it. You could read the instructions, but that ruins the fun of just being curious.”

Thus, when a career guidance teacher at St Enda’s College in Salthill told Janette about a new course in Pharmaceutical and Forensic Science that had started at Limerick Institute of Technology, she was captivated.

However, there was still a career choice for Janette to make, as she was also very interested in studying veterinary science, and had a strong interest in horses and horse riding.

She decided to do the science course.

The course was very interesting, but she soon realised that the opportunities available in the area of forensic science – one part of the course – were far less than in the other part, which focussed on the skills required to work in the pharmaceutical industry. After graduation, in 2007, Janette got a job with Wyeth Laboratories. This was a great job, she recalls, and she was earning a lot more than most graduates, straight out of college, could hope to earn.

Rewarding

The job at Wyeth was as a quality control (QC) analyst. Many of Janette’s college classmates also ended up working in QC with one now employed at Roche and

another with Merck, Sharpe and Dohme.

The QC job is a responsible one, Janette says, which required good planning skills as well as scientific ability and rigorous attention to detail. Janette has found it challenging and rewarding.

After a while at Wyeth, Janette decided to go travelling, and picked up a job at the Charles River Laboratory in Scotland. This was a great job, she recalls, which involved working on the early stages of drug development, rather than on the testing of a drug that had already been designed. Although she doesn’t particularly like research, prefering to get stuck in, in the laboratory, using equipment and re-agents, she loved the intellectual challenge of early design and drug testing.

One of the great things about science, and working in QC, says Janette, is that there are plenty of jobs available, and this means it is always possible to travel and pick up contract work. That’s what she did after Scotland, and this time her destination was Australia. There she spent four months working on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, which involved spending up to six hours underwater every day. Janette didn’t mind this, in fact she loved it, as scuba diving is one of her big interests.

The idea of diving into the depths off a boat into waters populated by all manner of fish and predators would be a terrifying prospect for some, but

not Janette. “It is not scary really,” says Janette. “I am confident enough that I’d be able to handle myself and someone else in a rescue situation (underwater).

It won’t ever be scary for me,” she says, while adding “sometimes in the dark in the night, with a torch, and with the sharks around you, your heart skips a beat.”

After such adventures ‘down under’ it is perhaps inevitable that Janette regards life in Ireland, by way of comparison, as “a little boring” yet “it’s home”. She spent two and a half years away and was ready to return home. However, even though she arrived back in the middle of the worst economic crash in Irish history, she still had no problem picking up work straight away. The degree she took and the experience she has gained as a QC analyst means she can work almost anywhere.

Jobs

When Janette came home, she got a job as an analyst with Forest Laboratories, a multi-national pharmaceutical company with two plants in Ireland. The plants at Clonshaugh and Baldoyle in Dublin make drugs to combat psychosis, heart disease and Alzheimer’s exclusively for the US market. The Baldoyle plant produces Sudocream, which every parent will be familiar with, and recently a new drug gained approval for the US that will

Cpl Science, Engineering & Supply Chain is unique in that we have strategic partnerships with the majority of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies in Ireland and globally.

As a result of our reputation for quality, excellence, delivery and understanding of our clients’ needs we are also the first port of call for any new scientific business ventures that are considering setting up in Ireland.

be produced in Dublin; a big boost for the Irish plant.

There are a couple of main stages of getting a drug through a quality control laboratory. There are the raw materials, which include active ingredients – the medicines – and the other ingredients.

The drugs must be what they say they are, and there must be a consistent quality in all tablets produced. The QC work is very important, says Janette, as it protects the public from any harm. It requires a lot of discipline and organisation, but she admits that aspects of the job are boring and repetitive. That said, she would still highly recommend a career in science and QC for anyone considering it.

“It’s still amazing (a career in science) and easy to get a job,” says Janette.

“The money is really good and there is plenty of opportunity to travel. Contract work is easy to pick up if you want to move about a bit when you are younger without having to take up permanent jobs, or set up a pension when you are 22 and just coming out of college,” she says, while adding that security and long term jobs are also there for those that want to work and settle down straight from graduation.

Cpl truly appreciates and values finding the “perfect technical match” and we provide candidates and clients with an individualised, quality service, carefully tailored to meet the specific needs of our customers.

CPL Resources plc, 83 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Phone: +353 1 614 6000 Email:info@cpl.ie www.cpl.ie

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 16

Outposts on the new frontier At certain times during the year if you gaze upwards on a clear night you will be able to discern a slow moving bright dot crossing the night sky from right to left. This Earth orbiting dot is around 400 km away and is the largest man-made object in space — the International Space Station (ISS). Chris Coughlan reports that this is a tribute to international cooperation and research and it is a frontier for future and further space exploration.

Von Braun’s concept of a rotating space station, 1952. Illustration Chesley Bonestell.

History of Space Stations

In 1869 the first proposed concept of a space station was described in an American novel which told about a “brick moon” in orbit around the earth to help ships navigate the sea. The novel by Edward Everett Hale was published serially in The Atlantic Monthly. It described a sphere built of bricks that was launched into orbit around the earth. By accident it was launched with people on board. Therefore this was the first fictional description describing both an artificial satellite and space station.

In 1929 Romanian Hermann Oberth was the first to use the term Space Station in his publication By Rocket into Planetary Space, when he described a wheel-like structure to launch astronauts to the Moon and Mars. In later works he speculated about space-based telescopes and space suits.

The origin of his interest begun when at age 11 he read the novel From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon by Jules Verne. During his lifetime he designed and built rockets exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry. In later life he was also greatly influenced by the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered to have inspired the Russian space program and to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics. Tsiolkovsky’s works contain designs for rockets, multistage

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 17

boosters, airlocks, space elevators and space stations. Oberth’s numerous contributions to space travel have been recognised by an asteroid and a crater on the moon being named after him. In Star Trek an Oberth class starship was named in his honour.

Born in 1892 Herman Potocnik (pseudonym Herman Noordung) is regarded as one of the founders of astronautics. In 1929 his only book, The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor, describes, both in design and calculations, a wheel-like space station in geostationary orbit. During the second World War German scientists considered the concept of a space station that contained a sun-gun which would utilise the Sun’s rays and energy.

Salyut 1 orbital station. Launched 1971 1 Rendezvous system antenna 2 Solar panels 3 Radio-telemetry system antennae 4 portholes

5 Orion stellar telescope 6 Air regeneration system 7 Movie camera 8 Pluto camera

In 1952 Dr. Werner von Braun, a student of Oberth, published his idea of a space station in Collier’s Magazine. He described a spinning wheel like structure that would be used as a stopping and launch point to journey to the Moon and Mars. He gave it a diameter of 250

feet, and an orbit of 1000 miles above the Earth, spinning to provide artificial gravity through centrifugal force. Very similar to the one depicted in the 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey.

In 1971 the Soviets launched the first space station Salyut 1(Russian for

A cut-away illustration of Sky Lab.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 18

9 Bio research equipment 10 Food refrigerator 11 Altitude control jets 12 Propellant tanks 13 Micrometeorite sensor 14 Running track 15 Work table 16 Central control panel 17 Pressurisation system 18 Cosmonaut’s visor 19 Soyuz propulsion system Fireworks), a decade later they put the first man in space. The first crew had to return as they could not get the hatch open properly. The second crew of three did succeed in getting on board and spending 24 days in space but all three tragically died, due to an air leak, as their capsule returned to earth. At the time no space suits were worn.

Salyut 1 was followed by a series of Salyut stations in the 1970s and 1980s with the cosmonauts spending more and more time in space studying its long term effects. These space stations came in two categories, the civilian Durable Orbital Station (DOS) and the military Almaz (Russian for Diamond). Salyut 2 was launched in April 1973 but after less than two week in space its engine exploded and fell to earth. No cosmonauts were on board. Salyut 2, 3 and 5 were the Almaz series used for military purposes. The Salyut 4 failed to reach orbit while the successful Salyut 6 and 7 had two docking ports, one had the return/escape ship while the other port was used for visiting ships either manned or unmanned.

Unmanned ships were used to bring supplies and remove the garbage.

The next Soviet station was a secret one called Kosmos 557. It was intended to take spy ground photos, however, before anybody arrived on board, engine trouble again caused it to go out of control and crash to earth eleven days after launch.

In 1973 the United States launched its first space station Skylab. To save money

the large leftover Apollo boosters called Saturn Vs were used for Skylab and as a result it was over three times larger than Salyut. However it was abandoned in 1974 after only hosting three crews. This was because there was no way for getting crews back and forth as during the period the Apollo program had ended and the space shuttle was not ready until 1981. In 1979 it fell to earth and killed a cow in Australia.

In 1986 the Russians launched the first modules of the Mir space station (Russian for peace). Unlike The Salyuts it was designed for expansion. Since then cosmonauts have nearly continuously manned the station. From 1994 to 1995 cosmonaut Valery Polyakov set the human space duration record with 438 days in orbit. Over time seven components were added to Mir. It hosted a series of American and other foreign astronauts. In 1995 a fire broke out on board but was extinguished without any major damage. In 1997 a Russian - American crew nearly died when Mir collided with a supply ship.

The visiting crews, including Americans, gained valuable experience by living on Mir which became a valuable test place for developing new procedures and equipment. In 2001 after 15 years in orbit the abandoned Mir burned up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

The International Space Station

In 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union it was decided that the ageing Mir would not be replaced due to cost.

Also, due to costs, the US Space Station Freedom program was cancelled after being planned for ten years. Instead the cost burden for developing a new space station, the International Space Station (ISS), was shared between US (NASA) and Russia (RSA) and also with Canada (CSA), Japan (JAXA), Brazil and European (ESA) countries, UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

In November and December 1998 the first two modules, Zarya (Russian for dawn) and Unity were launched and joined together while they were in orbit.

The Russian built Zarya was launched using a Proton rocket, from Kazakhstan, this provided electricity, storage, propulsion and guidance for the initial construction stages. The US built Unity, one of the connecting nodes, was launched from Kennedy Space Centre. It was delivered by the shuttle Endeavor whose crew connected both modules.

Mir, viewed from Space Shuttle Endeavour 1998 During 1999 and 2000 the shuttles Discovery and Endeavor delivered tools, cranes and supplies in preparation for the third module After many financial delays in Russia, costing NASA millions of dollars, the third module Zvezda (Russian for star) was eventually launched and installed in July 2000. This was the main habitat for the astronauts. This was followed by a number of space shuttles, including Atlantis, which marked the 100th shuttle mission and provided equipment and supplies in preparation for the arrival of the first crew. The first crew arrived on

board, flying in a Soyuz rocket, in Nov. 2000. They were Russians Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev and American Bill Shepard. The call sign for the International Space Station is Alpha. This first crew was replaced in March 2001 by Americans Jim Voss and Susan Helms and Russian Yuri Usachev. The ISS has permanent long-term accommodation for six and short-term accommodation for fifteen during space shuttle visits.

Each long term crew usually stays on board for up to six months during which they conduct experiments, research and maintenance work.

The Space Station provides a platform for getting out into space

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page xx

Other modules followed including, two multipurpose logistic modules Leonardo, a cargo bay and Rassvet a cargo storage and docking port, Canadarm 2, a robotic arm, Quest the joint airlock used for spacewalks and the Russian docking compartment called Pirs (Russian for pier). Various nodes including, Unity, Harmony and Tranquility were also installed. A number of laboratory modules such as Destiny, Columbus from the ESA and the Japanese Kibo (hope) module which was so large that it had to be launched in two parts. Another interesting module was Cupola a 7 window observatory. Double sided solar panels track the Sun to provide electrical power while multiple redundancy electronic systems on board both Zvezda and Destiny generate oxygen. The atmosphere aboard the ISS is maintained the same as Earth at sea level.

The growth of modules increased the mass of the ISS from 20 tonnes initially to the ninth module which brought it to a mass of over 300 tonnes. Its total weight on the Earth’s surface would now be about 450 tonnes and is large enough to cover a space the size of a football field, while its actual cabin size is approx the size of a Jumbo Jet. In all over fifty missions were needed to assemble the ISS. It is the largest artificial structure to orbit the Earth. It completes 15.7 orbits a day at an altitude of between 330 km and 435 km Up to 2010, its first ten years of operations, it completed 57,360 orbits of the Earth which was a distance of 1.5 billion miles. It was visited by 204 people and a total of 162 space walks with a total of 1,021 hours spent outside the ISS. The

Gardening on board the ISS. Sergi Volkov viewing how plants grow in the absence of gravity during Expedition 28.

Top right: a flame on Earth compared to one on ISS. Right: our immune system protecting us against disease does not behave normally in space. One of the important experiments being carried out on ISS is to study how these immune cells move through their surroundings.

ISS orbit over the Earth can be tracked on www.isstracker.com The ISS is divided into two main sections, the US operational segment (USOS) and the Russian orbital segment (ROS). The USOS sections were brought to the station by the space shuttles and manually attached while the ROS

segments were launched, docked and connected automatically without human involvement using Proton rockets Since the ending of the Shuttle program, manning and escape from the ISS is dependent on Russian Soyuz vehicles. Additional ATVs (Automated Transfer Vehicles) are used to bring supplies and take away rubbish from the station. While docked the engines of these vehicles are used to maintain the proper orbit of the ISS. There are also orbit-boosting engines on the Zvezda module. After leaving the station the AVCs are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The first AVC Jules Verne was launched in 2008 on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, followed by Johannes Kepler in 2011, then Eduardo Amaldi and Albert Einstein in 2013.

Luca Parmitano on the International Space Station performing an experiment on getting robots to move around each other in space.

Purpose of the ISS

This has been stated as “to enable longterm exploration of space and provide benefits to people on Earth” The ISS was basically intended as a research laboratory orbiting approx. 400 km above the Earth. Scientific research and experiments are conducted in microgravity and space environment which are not possible to do on Earth. These experiments range from growing tissue to studying the effect on the physics of fluids and flow and superconductivity. For example it has been found that microorganisms in microgravity increase in virulence and aggression and that certain genes change their protein expression in space. This valuable information is being used by scientists to develop new vaccines to combat these changes. In addition to research into the behaviour and effect on humans living and working in space another important aspect is the testing of technology and materials needed for future space exploration. Today not only is it regarded as a laboratory but also an observatory, a factory and a transportation , maintenance and staging base for possible missions to the Moon and Mars. In recent years also its purpose has encompassed commercial, educational and diplomatic areas.

Recent news of the ISS

Luca Parmitano viewing earth from ISS Cupola. Luca spent six months on ISS. The views, like this one of an active volcano are often spectacular.

In April 2013 the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on board the ISS came a step closer to answering one of the most fundamental questions about the Universe with results showing the possible detection of Dark Matter which scientists believe constitutes 22 percent of the Universe.

Ireland’s man on the ISS

During this year, Ireland and the ISS featured a number of times due to the enthusiasm of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield during his command of the ISS. Commander Hadfield has over a half a million followers on twitter and most of his followers are familiar with his tweets about Ireland including his tweets “as gaeilge”, his spectacular pictures of Ireland from the ISS and his singing of Danny Boy from the ISS on St. Patrick’s Day. If it tried the Irish Tourist Board would not have been able to achieve or afford this type of publicity. In recognition surely the Irish Government must bestow him with the title of Hon. Irish Ambassador to Outer Space (mileage expenses not included!).

A lesson from space broadcast throughout China from Tiangong 1. In the absence of gravity water can form a perfect sphere.

The most recent incident on the space station occurred an hour into a scheduled six and a half hour space walk when the Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano’s helmet began to fill up with water. Although not in immediate danger the walk was abandoned and became the second shortest walk of the 171 space-walks outside the space station totalling 1,075 hours and 22 minutes in all. Most space walks involved repairs and replacement of equipment or preparation work for new modules.

Two space stations in orbit and more to follow

In addition to the ISS there is also a small Chinese space station in orbit. This is the Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace) launched in 2011. It is designed to hold three people but there is only room for two sleeping on board so the third person sleeps on the docked Shenzou spacecraft.

The Chinese CNSA plans to launch T2 and T3 by 2015 and they intend that these will form the basis of a multi-module space station by 2020 as the ISS comes to an end.

Similarly after the decommissioning of the ISS the Russian Space Agency plan an orbital construction yard for spacecraft too heavy to launch from Earth. Called OPSEK (Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex) it will initially consist of the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) which is currently part of the ISS.

Future

Commercial space stations are being planned, for example in the United States by Bigelow Aerospace and in Russia by Orbital Technologies. These Commercial Space Stations (CSS) will not only be intended for research, product development, emergency backup to other space stations and satellite servicing but also for Space Tourism… where are you going for your holidays in 2023?

Dr. Chris Coughlan, is a Senior Manager at Hewlett-Packard, Galway and an Adjunct Professor at NUI, Galway

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 21

A healthy balance

Rather than trying with little success to pick out and culture the individual types that occur among the millions of microbes that inhabit our gut, Tom Kennedy reports that scientists at Teagasc solve that problem by identifying their genetic sequences

B

ecause our distant ancestors could never be sure where the next meal was coming from, making the most of any food could be a matter of survival.

Because of this, some individuals likely benefited from the presence of microorganisms in their gut that very efficiently extracted energy from food.

By comparison, an abundance of high-calorie food is now available on every supermarket shelf. In addition, most of us have jobs that require little physical effort. As a result, possessing these ‘energy-extracting’ gut microbes is no longer an advantage and, indeed, their presence may contribute to the development of obesity.

Dr Paul Cotter, a research scientist with Teagasc, points out this has become a serious health issue — 39 per cent of Irish adults are overweight and 18 per cent are actually obese. Being overweight causes general health to decline, the incidence of diabetes increases and, apart from the financial costs involved, about 2,000 premature deaths a year in Ireland are directly linked to obesity.

As Dr Cotter explains, the microorganisms associated with weight gain are part of a huge and diverse gut population. The ‘bad bugs’ are often those that simply get out of control and, in a healthy population, other microorganisms help to maintain the balance by keeping the growth of the ‘bad bugs’ in check. This can be due to the production of bacteriocins, some of which act like very narrow-spectrum antibiotics. Compared to the broadspectrum antibiotics that are being used so widely, theses bacteriocins act like “Guided missiles rather than weapons of mass destruction.”

Dr Cotter first became interested in bacteriocins at University College Cork when studying how bacteriocins produced by dairy bacteria can be used for the preservation of foods, and this led to him being recruited by Teagasc to continue this research, and to study the microbial populations in foods and in the gut, at Moorepark.

The diversity in the gut microbiota of an adult, said Dr Cotter, could be compared to the enormous range of species we find in a rain forest, and if this goes out of balance, or becomes impoverished, we suffer

Website: www.teagasc.ie

the consequences. Reductions in the diversity have recently been associated with a number of different diseases and syndromes including, quite recently, obesity.

While this is good to know, the problem for researchers, said Dr Cotter, is that there are so many different types of microorganism in the gut that identifying the particular obesity-associated species is extremely difficult. Indeed, many of the microorganisms are so specialised that they cannot be cultured for study in the lab.

To overcome that problem, Dr Cotter looks at the genes because these reveal what microbes are present and what they might be doing. While culturing may not be possible, the microorganisms can be studied. “What we do,” he said, “is collect fecal samples and, rather than trying to grow the microorganisms, we extract all of the DNA.” These small samples of DNA can be multiplied up using conventional (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) techniques so that the DNA sequence of the genes can be read off by a sequencing machine. Often compared to a bar code, this pattern can enable researchers to make a match to Dr Paul Cotter is using advanced sequencing machines to match up the genetic identity of gut microorganisms.

known genetic sequences. This involves the use of high-end computing to search through large datasets that have been generated from different bacteria.

What has revolutionised this fast expanding field, said Dr Cotter, is the growing power of the sequencing machines and, in this, Teagasc is playing a leading role. There are now four advanced sequencing machines in operation at Teagasc, Moorepark. At the start of the year, the only machine present at the institute at the time could generate a million sequence readings for a cost about €10,000. “We now have a new instrument that can generate about 18 million reads for approximately one fifth of that cost,” said Dr Cotter, adding that the rate of development in sequencing was greater than that of Moore’s Law with respect to compute power.

Using this approach has enabled researchers to gain a deeper understanding of how microorganisms, such as Lactobacillus salivarius, can inhibit, and therefore control, some of those that cause weight gain. Such microorganisms are now of great interest as health enhancing probiotics that can be incorporated into foods.

The discovery that one way to tackle the growing problem of obesity may be through rebalancing of gut microbiota is highly significant and, as Dr Cotter explains, the same approach has revealed that many other disorders could have similar origins. For this reason encouraging and maintaining a rich and diverse gut population is likely to keep us in good health.

The sequencing facilities at Moorepark, he said, are not just relevant to research on obesity, but are enabling scientists to follow up many diverse different lines of enquiry in areas such as health, genetics and crop breeding.

Using an Infrastructure Grant from Science Foundation Ireland, two additional new sequencing machines have been installed at Moorepark, enabling researchers from other institutions to benefit from a highly advanced service.

Hawthorns framing the round tower at Grangeferagh, Co. Kilkenny.

Photograph: Tom Kennedy, Source Photogtraphic Archives.

Thorny barrier

Tom Kennedy makes the leap from hedge to hawthorn and reports about one controversial variety that manages to get the seasons mixed up

M

ost hedges are fairly tame, neatly trimmed barriers that shield us from inquisitive neighbours. However, the word ‘hedge’ had its origin in a more substantial form of enclosure and the old Saxon “haga” referred to the large scale enclosure of land. So we have Den Haag in Holland, which must have once existed within a Haag, and it takes no great leap in imagination to go from hedge to the hawthorns that divide up so much of the Irish farmland.

As a robust form of hedging, prickly hawthorns are highly effective in keeping the cattle from straying, and we can probably thank the Normans for starting their spread, but they had already been here long enough to have been well established as one of the old Gaelic “Commoners of the Woods”.

The hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, is not just common in Ireland, but is

distributed widely throughout Europe, from Denmark to the Black Sea, and south to Greece. The species name, Crataegus, is from the Greek, ‘kratos’ referring to the strength of its finegrained wood which was once used by engravers and for making cog-wheels and handles. The wood is fine, but slow to grow. While we mostly see hawthorn as a bush, given time it can become a tangled and contorted 10 metre tree.

At this time of the year the hedgerows are full of red haws, which strictly speaking are not fruits, but poms, as are apples. This distinction has to do with the way their fleshy part develops, not from the ovary of the flower, but from the apex of the supporting stem known as the receptacle.

Birds feast on these succulent poms, and for those so inclined, haws, after extraction of the single nut, can be eaten or made into jam.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 23

The haws, known as Fructus crataegi to the pharmacists of old, were harvested from the wild for medicinal use and in eastern Europe the flowers, Flos crataegi, were also collected. Constituents, classed by chemists as triterpenic acid flavonoids, dilate blood vessels, and there is a tradition of using hawthorn to treat heart diseases. In Germany, where herbal preparations are very popular, retail sales of cardiac drugs based on hawthorn have been reported to be worth about €100 million a year.

The creamy white, five-petalled flowers which appear early in the year have a scent which is suggestive of decay and according to chemists this arises from a concoction of ammonia, trimethylamine and propylamine. Not as attractive as mint, lavender or roses, but pollinating insects are drawn by the promise of something they think is nice to eat.

Above, creamy white flowers in Spring attract the insects with a hint of decay.

Crataegus monogyna is just one of a big family, and opinions are divided on just how many species exist, and some of the hawthorns in Ireland are likely to be hybrids between the one stoned C monogyna and the two-stone Midland Hawthorn, C laevigata.

Flowers of C monogyna are sometimes seen to have a slight blush, but petals of the slightly less vigorous Midlands Hawthorn, often grown in suburban gardens, can be red.

Like many wild plants, there are varieties, among them one known as the Glastonbury Thorn, Crataegus praecox, which is an oddity in that is seems to

A Glastonbury Thorn adorned with rags, a common practice with trees and bushes that have sacred associations. have mixed up the seasons, flowering in winter as well as in spring. Also, this particular hawthorn has a peculiar story attached to it. As those who pay close

attention to the Bible might know, Joseph of Arimathea caused a fuss by asking Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion, so that he could lay him to rest in his own tomb. Joseph is then said to have gone out and about, spreading the word, and on landing on the fabled Isle of Avalon, stuck his hawthorn staff into the ground and went for a snooze. He woke up to find that his staff had blossomed, so he built a church, which later became Glastonbury Abbey, and the staff became the original Glastonbury Thorn. Apparently, the Puritans did not approve of what they regarded as a relic of superstition, and the tree was cut down, but not before cuttings had been taken. Amazingly, centuries later, a tradition continues of sending a budding branch to the Queen of England every Christmas, and feelings about the hawthorn, which has iconic significance, are obviously still high and divided. All the jumbled up myths about Avalon, Joseph, King Arthur and the arrival of Christianity have acted as a magnet for the ‘New Age’ spacedout community, and no doubt there are inhabitants who would prefer not to live beside such a combination of star attractions. The surviving Glastonbury Thorns have been repeatedly attacked over the past few years, the latest, beside a ‘Peace Pole’ being hacked at and destroyed in 2013.

However, in spite of these problems the Glastonbury Thorn has managed to survive. As with other botanical ‘sports’, seeds do not retain the Christmas flowering trait, but the variety struggles on from cuttings and at Kew Gardens these have been grafted with success onto common and far les less troublesome hawthorn stock.

Left: the bright red haws help birds survive the winter months, and although not to everyone’s taste, they can be used for making jam.

Left, bright red haws help birds survive the winter.

Photo: Tom Kennedy, Source Photographic Archives.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 24

Weird and wonderful animals

Sive Finlay introduces us to the Stoplight Loosejaw fish. Inhabiting the depths it produces two colours of light and can snap large prey with enormous hinged jaws

Stoplight Loosejaw, Malacosteus niger.

From Ocean Ichthyology by G Brown Goode and Tarleton H Bean, 1896.

V

enture beyond the placid surface waters around our coast and you will find a world of truly weird animals. Deep sea creatures spend their lives in a dark, high-pressure, cold and often lonely world. Clearly very specific adaptations are needed to survive in such seemingly inhospitable environments.

The mesopelagic zone (2001000m deep) marks the transition between sunlit surface waters and the impenetrable darkness of the deep. Among the many monstrous creatures which call this zone home, the Stoplight Loosejaw fish are some of the strangest. Comprised of two species of dragonfish belonging to the Malacosteus genus, Stoplight Loosejaws are found worldwide with the exception of the polar regions. The clues to their weirdness lie in their name…

Stoplight Loosejaws have tear-drop shaped bioluminescent photophores (light-producing organs) under their eyes. They produce light of two different colours; red from the upper photophore and blue-green light from the one below (hence I would have called them “Traffic light” fish but you get the gist). If you live in a dark, watery world, being bioluminescent (creating your own light) can be quite handy. Light production can have lots of useful functions; from blending in with lighter surface waters to avoid predators to attracting potential mates. Stoplight Loosejaws, however, use their luminance powers to become invisible hunters.

Sunlight is made up of a spectrum of colours of different wavelengths. Only the short wavelengths; the blue/green end of the spectrum penetrate past the surface waters – hence we have the “deep blue sea” and you won’t bleed red if you cut yourself in the deep.

Most marine bioluminescent creatures produce blue/green light and deep sea fish have evolved only to see these colours. Clearly there’s a gap in the evolutionary niche for animals which are not restricted to the usual light forms – enter the Stoplight Loosejaws.

The fish produce red light which acts as their own, private signal. Their red light communications with other Stoplight Loosejaws are the ultimate Enigma code as they cannot be detected by species which are blind to red light. Similarly, the red light beacon illuminates redcoloured crustacean prey which would otherwise appear black to the animals which can only see blue light. So Stoplight Loosejaws can have private communications and locate prey in the murky deep thanks to a unique light ability… sneaky!

Stoplight Loosejaws seem to rely on a specific diet to fuel their unique bioluminescent abilities. They eat a large volume of copepods; small crustaceans which are a major component of zooplankton. Copepods contain a derivative of chlorophyll (the green pigment molecule which is necessary for photosynthesis) which the fish need to produce their red light. So a copepod diet seems logical when it comes to light production but not when you think about the “Loosejaw” part of their name.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 25

Relative to their size (around 30cm), Malacosteus have one of the widest gapes of all fish species – their loose lower jaws can measure up to a quarter of the fish’s total length. They also have no base to their lower jaws but rather an open gap between the two rows of teeth which allows them to open and close their jaws very rapidly without much resistance from the water. All of these characteristics; large gape, rapid-moving jaw and lots of sharp teeth – appear to be good adaptations for hunting large prey, not the small copepods which make up the majority of their diet.

With their red-light stealth-hunting tactics and oversized jaws, yet having primary reliance on unexciting copepod prey, Stoplight Loosejaws may seem to have gone for the “overkill” side of evolutionary adaptation. While they might have to rely on the “bread and butter” of snacking on copepods, they are still ready to make use of fleeting opportunities for large meals which are often missed by other predators.

If you’re in the deep sea, diversity and flexibility are key – and if you’re weird and wonderful enough to use a communication and hunting systems which are undetectable by most other creatures you can go far.

Sive Finlay, a Zoology graduate, is currently working as a postgraduate scholar with the Macroecology and Macroevolution group at TCD.

SciFest 2013

finalists prepare to compete for top award

O

n Friday 22 November hydrogen sulfide, from slurry twenty-seven of the tanks. Conor Begley from brightest students from Coláiste Rís in Dundalk set second-level schools all about solving this problem by over Ireland will travel designing a sensor which can be to the Science Gallery in mounted on the agitator and the Trinity College to compete warning system placed in the in the SciFest 2013 national tractor cab or outside the shed. final. Each of the students Once agitation is completed the is already a winner, having sensor can be placed on the rear been awarded the Science of the slurry spreader as a further Foundation Ireland/Discover precaution. Conor won the best Science and Engineering project award for his invention best project award at one of at the SciFest@College fair in the fifteen regional SciFest@ Dundalk IT. College 2013 events. Each of Solving another everyday Paul Clarke, St Paul’s College, Raheny, Dublin. these students will be presented problem, David Joyce, Cherie with a SciFest 2013 Excellence O’Keeffe and Wuraola Arisekola in STEM crystal plaque and the grand award winner/s will from Sutton Park School in Dublin designed a friction-free travel to the US with their teacher on an all-expenses-paid slowing system for disc brakes on a car based on Lenz’s law. trip to represent Ireland at the Intel International Science and They attached magnets to the spinning wheel of a car and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Los Angeles in May 2014. found that bringing it closer to a copper plate reduced wear on During the morning students will present their projects to a the brakes. team of judges, their teachers, parents and invited guests. Two The students have also tested a system to slow skiers on new awards will be presented this year. The first of these is an nursery slopes using the same principle. Their design won them all-expenses-paid trip for the winning students/s and their the best project award at IT Tallaght. teacher/mentor to the Long Night of Science in Berlin next May. Another project related to road safety was developed by The second award, sponsored by PharmaChemical Ireland, is Lisa Higgins from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Blarney who won for the best overall chemistry project. Lennox have generously the top award at Cork IT. Lisa’s project, Travel Safe, is a fully donated laboratory equipment which will go to the winner’s wireless system, which would make travelling on the roads school. safer for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. It consists of two Ten of the projects are from groups and the remainder from circuits, one which is in a vehicle and the other is with the individuals with technology, physical sciences and life sciences cyclist or pedestrian. The pedestrian or cyclist is home to the equally represented. transmitter and the receiving end is with the motorist.

Fifth year student, Paul Clarke from St Paul’s in Raheny, In the field of life sciences Rachel Byrne and Aoife Ryan Dublin won the top award in the physical sciences category. His from the Presentation Secondary School in Thurles discovered project, presented at IT Blanchardstown entitled ‘Solving the a link between the amplitude of accommodation in their fellow undirected Hamiltonian cycle problem’ students’ eyes and their ability to investigates the fields of graph theory study. They discovered that there was a Colin McDaid, T Darragh Clark and Diarmuid and computational complexity theory.

O’Connor, Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School, direct correlation between an inability The Hamiltonian cycle problem is an to concentrate while studying and low Tralee with Dr Padraig ÓMurchú, Intel and Dr unsolved routing problem in pure amplitude of accommodation. They Siobhan Mac Sweeney IT, Tralee mathematics and computer science. then devised a simple self-test which David Fleming and Conor Windsor students could use to diagnose the from Avondale Community College, problem. This won them a first place Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow competed at award at LIT Tipperary. the IT, Carlow. They designed a small portable calving alarm which alerts a Here to stay farmer when a cow goes into labour.

SciFest has only been in existence David and Conor believe that this for a relatively short time but device has potential not only to there are clear indications that save a cow’s life but also save the it is here to stay. Following a farmer time and money. pilot phase in the Institute of Another common problem Technology, Tallaght, Dublin, which can have fatal it was launched nationwide consequences not only for farm in 2008, jointly funded by animals but also farmers is the Intel Ireland and Discover release of the highly toxic gas,

and Engineering. The aim of SciFest learning with emphasis on real-world is not only to encourage interest problems make STEM subjects relevant in STEM through inquiry-based to all students. A unique feature of learning but also to make Science the project is that participating Fair participation inclusive and students are afforded the accessible to all second-level opportunity to spend the day in students. With no entry fee an institute of technology, meet and local competitions the some of the academic staff and numbers participating have third-level students and learn grown rapidly. In SciFest 2013 a about the courses available. total of 5368 students exhibited In addition to the main some 2262 projects. This was an sponsors, Science Foundation increase of 32% in participation Ireland’s Discover Science and on the previous year.

David Joyce, Cherie O’Keeffe and Wuraola Arisekola from Engineering and Intel Ireland, a In just six years the SciFest Sutton Park School, Dublin with Alva O’Cleirigh, Science number of other industries and project has grown to include not Foundation Ireland academic institutions also support only fifteen regional fairs hosted by SciFest.

Trophies at each SciFest@College third-level colleges (SciFest@College) but event are sponsored by Abbott Ireland, also local in-house school fairs (SciFest@ SEAI, Newstalk, PharmaChemical Ireland, School) and a national final. In total almost Seagate, NCE-MSTL, and ESERO Ireland.

19,000 students have participated in SciFest since it was first launched.

Report: Sheila Porter Own choice of topic, collaboration, hands-on activities, presentation skills and recognition of work done are all important components of SciFest. This type of active

Lisa Higgins is congratulated by her brother after winning the top award at Cork IT

During Science Week lots of lectures, workshops and other events are being held throughout Ireland. For the full up to date calendar of events near you log onto www.scienceweek.ie Here are just a few of the events in the lineup. Most are free but booking is required for a number of events. Contact details are available on the www.scienceweek.ie site

10th November, Sunday The immune system — how our bodies defend themselves. Workshop at UCC. To book a place email g.heelan@ucc.ie Vintage radio — follow the history of communications. Martello Tower, Howth, Co Dublin. (Entry fee)

Space work — Dr Norah Pattan talks about working with NASA and the International Space Station. 10 to 11am at University of Limerick.

Astronomy watch at Dunsink Observatory, Dublin. An opportunity to look through the Grubb Telescope. 7.30 to 9.30om.

Science Fair at Sligo IT. 12 to 5pm with about 25 events for all the family. Free.

Boyle Family Day at Lismore Heritage Centre from 2 to 5pm. Free.

11th November, Monday X-traordinary Science with Scientific Sue. 9am to 5pm at Cork Institute of Technology.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 27

Pharmaceuticals — a tour of the MSD plant at Ballydine, Co Tipperary. 9am to 4pm.

Science Fair at Cork City Hall. Big exhibition with lots of exhibits, continues to the 23rd November.

12th November, Tuesday Nature by numbers — primary students go exploring in a walled garden. 10am to 4pm, Ballina, Co Mayo.

Neuroscience — two neuroscientists talk about what goes on in our mind. 7.30 to 10pm, Little Theatre, Athlone. ________________________________

Are the laws of physics changing?

Is the Universe that existed billions of years ago the same as the Universe that we live in today? Prof John D Barrow from the University of Cambridge will talk on this topic at University College Cork on 12th November.

Venue: G10 Lecture Theatre, Brookfield Health Science Complex. 6pm More details from: www.ria.ie ________________________________

14th November , Thursday Tree rings — what they can tell us about the past. 11 to 12 noon at the Wexford Town Library.

Talk, quiz and exhibits with the UCC Science Society. 9am to 8pm. UCC Everyday Energy — workshop and demonstrations at the Library, ILAC Centre Dublin. 9am to 2pm.

Hands on primary science at the Athy Library. 9.30am to 2pm.

Astronomy — students take control of US telescope. Blackrock Castle Observatory Cork. 9.30am to 12.30pm.

13th November, Wednesday Fantastic Physics for primary students at the Institute of Technology Carlow. 10 to 11am Cold Fusion — is it real? At Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street. 10.30 to 11.30am.

Buttermaking — learn about the tradition at the National Museum, Turlogh, Co Mayo.

2.30 to 3.30pm.

15th November, Friday

Digestive system — senior students can learn about ruminant and monogastric digestive systems at Kildalton Agricultural College, Co Kilkenny. 2pm to 3.30pm.

Maths busking and drug discovery talks at Little Theatre, Athlone. 7.30pm to 10pm.

16th November, Saturday Ancient skills — how our ancestors made things. National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin. 11am to 4pm.

CoderDojo — a get together to exchange ideas. 9am to 6pm at Quality Hotel, Clonakilty, Co Cork.

17th November, Sunday

Open Science Day at Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh, Co Galway. 9am to 5pm

Printing — how it developed. National Print Museum, Beggars Bush, Dublin. 12 noon to 4pm.

Mad science, kitchen chemistry and physics fun at Lanesboro Community College, Co Longford. 10am to 1pm

Build your own electronics with Madlab.

For primary schools, at GMIT. 1 to 5pm

Open day at Dept of Science and Health at Institute of Technology Carlow. 10am to 1pm.

Science and technology open daty at GMIT Castlebar. 1pm to 5pm.

Technology of tomorrow, and what’s going on inside Intel. 10am to 3pm at Facility of Science and Engineering, University of Limerick.

Wetlands are long gone but the water remains

The once lush landscape is now a desert, but fresh water from thousands of years ago is still on tap at Al Jawf.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 28

Thousands of years ago this desert area in southeastern Lybia had rivers, wetlands and an abundance of wildlife.

Climate changed, and now the area is dry and covered by drifting sands. With much of the territory now blanketed with the sahara desert, only four per cent of the land is regarded as suitable for agriculture. however, water from 10,000 or so years ago is still abundant below the surface. The heavy rains of long ago flooded the surface, and water seeped down into the sandstone to a depth of 4km.

More than 6 million cubic metres of fresh water are now being piped from these aquifiers to supply the coastal population and desert communities, such as this one at al Jawf, are now able to grow crops.

This striking image, captured by Japan’s advanced Land observing satellite, shows how rotating arms of irrigation systems have created circular agricultural plots of up to a km in diameter.

Dr. How's

Science Wows!

What is Density?

...exploring Density!

Let‛s learn more!

A bit of history!

All objects are made up of molecules.

A Greek scientist called Archimedes (250 BC) is credited with discovering the concept of density.

The story goes that Archimedes was given the task of determining if the newly minted King's gold coins were genuine (or if they had been mixed with silver).

Archimedes was pondering this idea while lowering himself in to the bath. When he noticed how his body displaced a volume of water he realised he had cracked it!

If he compared a piece of pure gold with the same mass as the newly minted coin he could check if they displaced the same amount of water i.e. that their densities were the same. Turns out they were not and the King was beings duped!

The density of an object refers to how tightly packed the molecules are within it.

Think of a stone and a marshmallow of the exact same size.

Even though they are the same size the stone is much heavier.

That is because the molecules in the stone are more tighly packed together.

We say the stone has a greater density than the marshmallow!

Experiments you can try

Fireworks in a glass

The density of a gas changes if we change it from The gas one container molecules will to another. spread out to fill whatever space they are put into.

Make fireworks in a glass!

You will need.. a clear glass, water, food colouring and cooking oil

Fill the glass with water to about two thirds full. Carefully pour a layer of oil on top of the water to fill the glass.

Add drops of food colouring to the top of the oil layer and watch as they slowly drop down and enter the water layer.

They streak through it like mini fireworks!

So what is happening?

Food colouring and oil do not mix so the drops will fall until they meet the water layer.

Food colouring dissolves in water, the colour diffuses out into the water as the drops fall to the bottom of the glass, giving a lovely fireworks type display!

Buoyancy We can predict if one substance will float on, or sink in another by comparing their densities.

They say that Archimedes was so excited when he realised the solution that he jumped out of the bath and ran all the way home naked shouting "Eureka, Eureka" ("I found it, I found it" in Greek).

Density rainbow Experiments you can try

Junior science by Dr. Naomi Lavelle

Density of an object is the mass of the object per unit volume!

To work out the density of an object we divide the mass (weight) of the object by its volume.

Make a Density rainbow!

You will need.. few drops of food colouring a clear glass, golden First, addtoa the water and mix. syrup, honey, milk, Make a layer of substance by washing up liquid, gently pouring eacheach layer down the side water, food of the glass; colouring, Add each layer in the following order... cooking oil golden syrup, honey, milk, washing up liquid, coloured water and finally the cooking oil.

So what is happening?

The golden syrup is the most dense layer, followed by the honey, milk etc.

Each layer is less dense than the layer below it and that is why it floats on it!

The less dense substance will float on the more dense substance.

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

BT YOUNG SCIENTIST AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

Making fridges more effective

We all use fridges to stop food from going ‘off’, but there is only so much that lowering temperature can do. To make fridges more effective, Brendan McDonagh, a transition year student at St Clare’s Comprehensive School in Leitrim, came up with a smart way to zap the bugs before they tuck into the food before we do.

Brendan, who has a strong and practical interest in electronics, knew that exposing bacteria and fungi to a killing blast of ultra-violet light would put them out of action. However, as he explained, simply rigging up a UV light inside a fridge would not be a good solution. For starters, food closest to the light could get lightly cooked, while food further away would not benefit from exposure.

There was also a problem with heat, and introducing anything that would raise the temperature within the fridge would be counterproductive.

To get around these problems, Brendan constructed a system that spreads the light and circulates the air without raising the temperature. Using readily available components, Brendan attached reflective cups to a small motor.

Normally, he said, people would use a variable resistor to control the motor, but with this most of the energy goes into heat. In his system Brendan devised a transistor controlled approach that simply gives the motor an occasional

Brendan McDonagh has developed an energy efficient way to keep food in good condition.

nudge, which in turn makes the rotating cups spin for a while from their own momentum.

Brendan said he owes his knowledge of electronics to his dad. “He’s been telling me about these things for years,” he said, so he acquired most of his knowledge at home.

Brendan is keen to deepen his experience with electronics, and his aim now is to refine the fridge system and look at possible applications. He sees great potential for the system in situations where food has to be stored, and in particular it could solve some big problems in developing countries.

In many countries where food is scarce,

The yam that’s not a yam

WHO knows what would have happened if a South American tuber by the name of Oxalis tuberosa had been introduced successfully to Ireland in the mid 19th century. In many respects it is like a potato, easy to grow, but unlike the potato it is not susceptible to the fungal disease that caused the Famine.

Two 5th year students from Skerries Community College, Oisin Roche-Corbett and Cian Smullen, became interested in this tuber, and found out that it had, in fact, been introduced to Europe in 1830 as a possible alternative to the potato, but for some reason it had to travel further afield before it was accepted and renamed New Zealand Yam. However, as the young scientists pointed out, it is not a yam nor is it a potato, yet it shares the useful habit of producing a crop of nutritious underground tubers.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 30

money short and temperatures high, spoilage is a serious issue. Once again, Brendan suggests that intelligent use of low-cost electronics could help. “It did not cost me much,” he said to build his UV system, and if the same type of components could be used more widely costs would be even lower. Apart from refrigeration itself, the power consumption for a UV system would not be high, and could easily come from a solar panel.

Brendan, who worked with fellow student Brian Shannon on the project, said he expects to be back for the next BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with further developments.

BT YouNG SCIENTIST AND TECHNoLoGY EXHIBITIoN In South America, where it is known, among other names, as Oca, it is commonly planted just after the potato crop when it can take advantage of any organic leftovers. Like the potato in South America, there are many varieties, and as Cian and Oisin explained, Oxalis tubers come in a surprising variety of colours.

In this part of the world Oxalis is more likely to be grown as an exotic rather than a commercial crop, but the students were able to obtain some tubers from a friend who grows them in Skerries on a small scale. From these they discovered that Oxalis is fairly tolerant of soil type, and not that difficult to grow. Although they have their own pests in South America, diseases have not yet followed them across the Atlantic, and as ciam and Oisin found, the roots produce their own insecticide, harmine, which helps keep the predators at bay.

While the tubers may look like potatoes, the foliage is very different and similar to other members of the Oxalis Wood Sorrel genus. “everyone wants to know what they taste like,” they said, but cookery trials had to wait until the students had lifted their initial crop. However, as they explained, some of the more adventurous restaurants do have them on the menu, and like the colours, Oxalis comes in a wide range of flavours, some sweet enough to pass muster as a desert.

Emer Frances Hickey, Ciara Elizabeth Judge, Sophie Healy-Thow at Prague.

Euro wINNErS

Once again Irish students have come out tops in the european Young Scientist competition. emer Hickey, ciara Judge and Sophie Healy-Thow from Kinsale community School, cork, were in Prague in September to receive the First Prize in the 25th eU contest for their project on the effects of diazotroph bacteria on plant germination.

Diazatroph bacteria occur on the roots of plants in the pea and clover family, the legumes. This is a symbiotic

relationship in which the plants gain an essential nutrient. The bacteria can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, and because of this farmers like to see lots of clover on their land. Having nitrogen fixing plants on land cuts down the need to use artificial fertilizers.

The winning project looked at how two types of diazotroph bacteria have an impact on barley growth. With the bacterium Rhizobium leguminosarus

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61 Page 31

growth was increased by 17 per cent, and with Rhizobium japonicum the increase was 28 per cent.

Apart from the cash prize, worth €7,000, the winning team will be travelling to the London International Youth Science Forum.

Ireland’s record in the eU competition is outstanding, with 15 winners over the past 25 years. Last year, Mark Kelly and eric Doyle from Synge Street cBS were winners, and in 2011 Alexander Almini from castleknock college, Dublin, was the winner. All had previously been winners in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, and the enormous success of this has undoubtedly been a major factor in preparing Irish students to participate in international science.

Students from all around europe competed for prizes in the eU competition. 87 projects from 37 countries were presented at Prague during a fourday exhibition.

There were three First Prize winners, and the Irish team were joined by Perttu Pölönen from Finland and Frederick Turner from the UK. Perttu’s project involved creating a clock-like face that young students of music could select from twelve keys relating to chords, scales and notes, making it easier for them to comprehend theory.

Frederick’s project was on building a home kit for some basic genetic testing.

He designed and built a fully-working PcR machine which multiplies segments of DnA.

TRANSPARENT BRAIN A process has been developed that enables scientists to probe inside the brain without having to cut through, and possibly disrupt delicate structures. The process, developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at stanford University led by Dr Karl Deisseroth, has initially been used to render a mouse brain transparent, and it is thought that this is just the beginning for whole organ imaging.

In reporting on the development in Nature, the researchers said that the process, which they term cLArITY, will transform the study of the brain’s anatomy. Tests have shown that the process works equally well with human brain samples.

The cLArITY process works by removing opaque lipids and this enables researchers to see complex circuitry in great detail and in three dimensions.

Although neuroscientists had thought of doing this before, removing lipids was not possible because they are essential in giving the brain its structure, so removing them would have been disruptive.

To get around this problem the brain is immersed in a transparent hydrogel solution. When the hydrogen has completely infused the tissues, it is ‘set’ into a rigid polymer by raising the temperature. This polymer mesh holds everything together while the lipids are extracted by electrophoresis, leaving all the neurons and other important structures completely intact.

A see-through view up through a mouse brain.

To see a fly-through video — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xsVGRgx9IU&feature=youtu.be

T

Live fast and die young

hese African Killifish, Nothobranchius kadleci, only live for a short time but they reach maturity faster than any other vertebrate animal. While most animals can afford to take some time growing up, these fish inhabit temporary puddles left by seasonal rains, so, for the species to survive, they have to become sexually mature and lay eggs before the water evaporates.

Martin Reichard, and colleagues from the Czech Institute of Vertebrate Biology conducted a study of these fish from Mozambique and discovered that they can add 23 per cent to their body weight each day, and at 17 days they are ready to reproduce. The eggs can hatch in 15 days, so one generation can lead to another in as little as one month. The ability of embryos to remain dormant for months enables the fish to survive until the next rains fall.

As Reichard, reporting on this study in the Journal EvoDevo, observes, the rapid maturation is a survival stragegy that enables this fish to occupy a special, and rather unusual niche.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 61

SCIENCE WEEK 2013

NOVEMBER 10TH - 17TH

EXPLORE XTRA ORDINARY INVENTIONS, PLANETS, SCIENTISTS, ATHLETES, ANIMALS AND LOTS MORE XTRA ORDINARY THINGS ALL AROUND US

www.scienceweek.ie Visit www.scienceweek.ie for events and resources. Science Week is an initiative of SFI's Discover Programme.