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Vol 68 No 3 • Autumn 2021
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INSIDE
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INTERVIEW DAVID NUTT ON USING PSYCHEDELICS TO TREAT DEPRESSION
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A NEW FRONT THE RISE OF DISINFECTANT RESISTANT MICROBES
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THE COVID COHORT SUPPORTING PANDEMIC-HIT STUDENTS
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Moths in detail
The changing fortunes of Britain’s 900-plus species
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Gifts in in Wills Wills could couldbe bethe thekey keyto toprotecting protecting Gifts the future future of of human humanhealth health the
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Our experience of COVID-19 shows how suddenly a global health challenge can appear. As a member of our scientific community, you will understand that while nobody can predict what we will face next, we can be certain that the future will bring many more threats to human health.
who will make the fight against antimicrobial resistance her life’s work.
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As Chair of the Medical Research Foundation – the charitable arm of the Medical Research Council – I have seen the incredible impact that individuals who remember the Foundation in their Wills can have on the future of our health and wellbeing here in the UK. These gifts fund research and researchers which can have far-reaching implications for human health.
“As scientists, our duty is to secure the future of research for the generations that follow.”
With a gift in your Will you can play a key role in providing the science that will protect the health of future generations. Right now, the Foundation is funding research to tackle antimicrobial resistance, and investing in researchers like Dr Myrsini Kaforou –
Professor Fiona Watt, President of the Medical Research Foundation and Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council.
Your Will can fund the rational response to health challenges that medical science provides. While we don’t know what the future holds for human
“The funding I received through the Medical Research Foundation will be transformative for my research.” Dr Myrsini Kaforou
health in the UK, we do know that research, and the brilliant scientists driving that research forward, are the key to meeting those challenges for years to come. But many of these scientists rely on the generosity and foresight of fellow members of the scientific community – people like you, who are willing to leave a gift to medical research in their Wills. At the Medical Research Foundation, over 90% of our voluntary income comes from individuals who choose to include a gift in their Will – they are crucial in the Foundation’s ability to fund research that will enable the next generation of scientists
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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PROFESSOR NICK LEMOINE MD PHD FMEDSCI, CHAIR OF THE MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PROFESSOR NICK LEMOINE MD PHD FMEDSCI, CHAIR OF THE MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY www.rsb.org.uk
Vol 68 No 3 • Autumn 2021
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VOLUME 68 NO 3 Autumn 2021
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INSIDE
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY 1 Naoroji Street, London WC1X 0GB Tel: 020 3925 3440 info@rsb.org.uk; www.rsb.org.uk
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EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Tom Ireland MRSB, tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk
INTERVIEW DAVID NUTT ON USING PSYCHEDELICS TO TREAT DEPRESSION
THE COVID COHORT SUPPORTING PANDEMIC-HIT STUDENTS
Moths in detail
The changing fortunes of Britain’s 900-plus species
Editorial assistant Emma Wrake AMRSB, emma.wrake@rsb.org.uk
tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk
A NEW FRONT THE RISE OF DISINFECTANT RESISTANT MICROBES
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ON THE COVER
22 Lepidopteran leaps Fifty years of research on the changing distribution and abundance of Britain’s moths
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk @RoyalSocBio www.youtube.com/ royalsocbio
Chair of the Editorial Board Professor Dan Davis FRSB, The University of Manchester SUBS
Editorial Board Professor Matthew Cobb FRSB, The University of Manchester Dr Anthony Flemming FRSB, Syngenta Professor Adam Hart FRSB, University of Gloucestershire Dr Sarah Maddocks CBiol MRSB, Cardiff Met University Dr Esther Odenkule MRSB, GSK Professor Shaun D Pattinson FRSB, Durham University Dr James Poulter MRSB, University of Leeds Professor Diane Purchase FRSB, Middlesex University Dr Natasha de Vere, National Botanical Garden of Wales
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Contents
UP FRONT
04 Society News The RSB’s work ahead of COP26; Biology Week events 08 Opinion Support for university students after disrupted A levels
Membership enquiries Tel: 01233 555665; membership@rsb.org.uk
10 Policy news Links Day focuses on climate change; the latest consultations
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Subscription enquiries Tel: 020 3925 3464; info@rsb.org.uk The Biologist is produced on behalf of the Royal Society of Biology by Think Media Group, 20 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JW
12 Policy analysis The RSB responds to a review of gene-editing regulation
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Senior designer Juanita Adu Production editor Sian Campbell Sub editor Kirsty Fortune Group account director John Innes john.innes@thinkpublishing.co.uk ISSN 0006-3347
14 Exclusive book extract: The Secret Body The ‘magical’ revelations of super-resolution microscopy 18 Cleaning conundrum Can we turn the tide on disinfectant resistance?
Advertising in The Biologist represents an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large community of professional biologists. For advertising information contact tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk; 020 3925 3464 Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or the Royal Society of Biology.
Ashley Ambrose and Daniel M. Davis, University of Manchester
© 2021 Royal Society of Biology (Registered charity no. 277981) The Society permits single copying of individual articles for private study or research, irrespective of where the copying is done. Multiple copying of individual articles for teaching purposes is also permitted without specific permission. For copying or reproduction for any other purpose, written permission must be sought from the Society. Exceptions to the above are those institutions and non-publishing organisations that have an agreement or licence with the UK Copyright Licensing Agency or the US Copyright Clearance Center. Access to the magazine is available online; please see the Society’s website for further details. This magazine is sent in biodegradable wrap that can be composted or placed with food waste. Cover: Common Quaker moth, Shutterstock
22 Winging the changes Report charts the rise and fall of British moth populations 26 Interview: Professor David Nutt On why psychedelics could be the next big thing in psychiatric medicine
26 Interview: David Nutt The new director of Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research 32 Interview: Christian Rutz Studying the ecological impact of the COVID-19 ‘anthropause’
REGULARS
18 Cleaning up our act How increased sanitising is driving resistance to disinfectants
14 The Secret Body Super-resolution images reveal the intricate workings of human cells
36 Members 40 Book reviews 42 Branches 46 Obituaries 47 Crossword 48 Museum piece Kew’s fragile metal flowers, Kew Gardens, London
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Brain enigmas
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n this issue we interview Professor David Nutt, head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. This research centre aims to investigate the clinical use of psychedelics in treating mental health issues, especially depression. Mental wellbeing spans all sorts of issues, but from a biological perspective the trouble is that we do not understand enough about how the brain works. Most scientists agree that what is crucial for understanding the human brain is its circuitry: which neurons are connected to which other neurons. Yet even this has proved exceptionally difficult to study. The paramount problem is that the thin protrusions that connect neurons to one another are notoriously difficult to track and there are a truly vast number of them. After all, a human brain has 86 billion neurons and every one of them has multitudes of long thin strands protruding from its main cell body, creating an unfathomably complex network of connections. So far, a miniscule piece of brain, a million times smaller than a cubic millimetre, has been mapped out in detail, containing 1,407 axons and
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Dan Davis FRSB Chair, Editorial Board of The Biologist 193 dendrites, connected by around 1,700 synapses. Even then, we don’t really know how to interpret such a detailed map of neuronal connections. In short, nobody knows what ‘being able to ride a bike’ looks like in a brain. As well as the number of neuronal connections, the brain is remarkable in other ways. For example, it is incredibly efficient. As Bill Bryson quipped in his book The Body, the human brain runs on about 400 calories a day – about the same as you get in a blueberry muffin. Back in 1989, prompted by scientific reports urging greater understanding of neurological disorders and mental health, US president George Bush declared the 1990s to be ‘The Decade of the Brain’. This led to an explosion of activity in neuroscience. It also led to new interactions between biologists and computer scientists, for example. Nevertheless, underlying principles of how the brain works remain undiscovered. As Matthew Cobb surmised in his book, The Idea of the Brain, mysteries will eventually be solved “in ways I cannot begin to guess”. Perhaps we need a new Decade of the Brain.
Lisa Maltby; Martyn Warren www.martynwarren.com
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Editorial and BioPIc, 1
BioPic MAN-FACED STINK BUG By Martyn Warren The man-faced stink bug (Catacanthus incarnatus) is so called because the dark splodges on its scutellum can easily be mistaken for a pair of eyes. This image is taken from a series of intricate digital bug illustrations by Martyn Warren, each one taking up to 60 hours to complete.
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UPFRONT
Society news, policy updates, opinion and analysis
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COVID-19
Wildfires in Greece and Siberia highlight the need for decisive action on climate change
Safety key for future in-person events
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The RSB’s in-person events remain suspended until October as the Society explores how a return to physical events can be done safely and responsibly. The Naoroji Street office in central London is open for a limited number of staff, who must pre-book space, but meetings are to remain virtual or online-only until further notice.
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PARLIAMENT
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Stephen Benn joins House of Lords
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ADVOCACY
Society urges PM to show climate leadership
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he RSB has written to prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of November’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, urging them to do justice to the UK’s history of leadership on environmental issues.
As well as setting out the urgency and importance of reducing carbon emissions, the Society’s chief executive Mark Downs asked that policymakers “choose the options with benefits to nature and avoid accumulating damage to health and the environment”. Downs cited this year’s Dasgupta Review on the economics of biodiversity, commissioned by the Treasury, which highlighted the need for 4 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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connected policymaking across many different areas. The Society’s letter calls for UK leadership that sets a positive example to the rest of the world and which supports other nations “in taking a path towards a greener and healthier future”.
The full text of the letter can be found at rsb.org.uk/news and more details of the RSB’s policy work ahead of COP26 can be found in Policy News on page 10.
The RSB’s director of parliamentary affairs, Dr Stephen Benn, will be leaving the Society this month to enter the House of Lords. Benn, also known as Viscount Stansgate, is taking the hereditary seat that his father Tony vacated in 1963 in order to remain an MP. The seat precludes Benn from continuing at the RSB, meaning he will leave in September, exactly 10 years after he started in the role. Benn has been instrumental in strengthening links between biologists and parliamentarians, and organises several annual events in parliament where RSB members and scientific organisations can meet MPs and policymakers. SOCIETY
New presidential role for Dame Julia Goodfellow The Society’s strategic partner the Biochemical Society has announced that current RSB president, Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow, will be its next president. Professor Goodfellow will take office in July 2022, subsequent to the conclusion of her term as RSB president next May. The RSB’s next president will be marine biologist and government scientific adviser Sir Ian Boyd FRSB who takes over from Dame Julia in 2022.
Upfront news, 1
In case you missed it...
The editor’s pick of stories being shared online
Paul Downie COMPETITION
Glasgow’s Downie voted Teacher of Year Paul Downie from Hyndland Secondary School, Glasgow, has won this year’s RSB School Biology Teacher of the Year Award. The award seeks to identify the UK’s leading secondary education teachers, and their invaluable role in inspiring the next generation of biologists. Downie’s teaching draws on wider contexts to generate lesson storylines with direct relevance to students’ lives. He has created and hosts the Higher Biology Podcast and is the coordinator for West OS, an online school of recorded video lessons. “It’s a great honour to accept this award after an incredibly challenging couple of years, and I am grateful to the Royal Society of Biology for the opportunity it has presented to reflect on my own practice,” said Downie. “Biology will be central to many of the global challenges our young people will face, and it has never been so important for us to enthuse and inspire the next generation of biologists.” He is the first teacher in Scotland to win the award, and will receive a prize of £500 from Oxford University Press (OUP) and his school will receive £500 of resources from OUP. He also receives one year’s free membership of the Royal Society of Biology. The two other finalists, Amber Barnard from Ark St Alban’s Academy, Birmingham, and Matthew King from Westcliff High School for Girls, Essex, will receive one year’s free subscription to the Journal of Biological Education.
What the pluck?
Behind the report
Ecologists from the University of Illinois have coined the term ‘kleptotrichy’ for the ‘common but overlooked’ behaviour whereby birds steal hair from mammals for their nests. A common assumption is that birds gather shed hair or hair from carcasses, but the study’s authors confirm anecdotal reports that some birds pluck hair directly from live mammals. Several species of bird, including chickadees and titmice, were observed pulling hair from distracted or sleeping animals, including humans.
An article in The Conversation explores how the IPCC’s latest blockbuster report on climate change was developed. A group of 234 scientists, nominated by IPCC member governments around the world, cited more than 14,000 research papers and addressed 75,000 comments from reviewers before publication. The report, focused on the physical basis of climate change, made headlines for its stark warning that climate change is now widespread, rapid and intensifying. It is the first of four reports in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, with further work to come on impact and mitigation.
ECOLOGY bit.ly/kleptotrichy
Something in the air Two groups of researchers have shown this year that DNA from nearby animals can be detected simply by sampling the local air. Researcher teams from Queen Mary University and the University of Copenhagen sucked up air from zoos in Cambridgeshire and Copenhagen respectively, and used PCR to amplify tiny traces of DNA in the samples. They detected the DNA of the species at the zoos as well as genetic material from the animals’ food and even local cats and dogs. The researchers say the technique could help ecologists monitor biodiversity without disturbing wildlife or in environments which scientists cannot reach.
THE CONVERSATION bit.ly/Behindthereport
A mammoth undertaking Scientists at the University of Alaska Museum of the North have used the bands of material in a preserved mammoth’s tusk to understand where it lived at various points in its life. The researchers measured strontium isotopes in the growth bands of the tusk, which formed at its base daily. The strontium, contained in grass eaten by the mammoth, provides clues to the area’s underlying rock, and therefore the region. The data suggests the mammoth migrated in some years, but not others, and moved gradually north over the course of its life.
THE GUARDIAN
BBC
bit.ly/DNA-thin-air
bit.ly/mammothlife
Zoo animals’ DNA can be detected in the air, say researchers
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2–10 October
The Society’s annual celebration of the life sciences WEDNESDAY 6 OCTOBER SUBS
Annual Awards Ceremony | All day
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A virtual celebration of the winners of the Outreach and Engagement Awards and Apprentice of the Year Award. The social media campaign will include video statements from the winners and be complemented by an event for the UK-based Outreach and Engagement Award winners. WEDNESDAY 6 OCTOBER
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SATURDAY 2 AND SUNDAY 3 OCTOBER
UK Fungus Day 2021
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This weekend of activities aimed at offering something for everyone includes local fungal forays, talks by scientists, crafts, competitions, and activities for children. Full details: www.ukfungusday.co.uk MONDAY 4 OCTOBER
Policy Lates: Rethinking our food system | 18:30–20:30 BST
Chaired by Dr Simon Doherty FRSB, senior lecturer, Queen’s University Belfast, the panel will explore different landscapes associated with food, and the challenges and choices they present. This will be the third Policy Lates event of 2021 and is supported by the Biochemical Society, British Pharmacological Society, Society for Applied Microbiology, Society for Experimental Biology, and The Physiological Society.
Outreach & Engagement Awards | 19:30–20:30 BST
Chaired by a member of the Outreach and Engagement Awards judging panel, this short webinar will include two presentations from the winner of the New Researcher and Leadership categories, followed by a Q&A. The event will be aimed at bioscience researchers in industry and academia, and offers them the opportunity to hear and share good practice in outreach and engagement. THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER
School Biology Teacher of the Year Awards | 19:30–20:30 BST
Chaired by a member of the School Teacher of the Year judging panel, this short webinar will include presentations from the winner and two shortlisted School Teacher of the Year Award recipients. This event will be aimed at secondary school biology teachers and showcases good practice in education. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A.
Nancy Rothwell Award Exhibition | 15:00–17:00 BST | Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER
An exhibition of the Nancy Rothwell specimen drawing competition shortlist and a special Manchester Medal award. The exhibition launch event will include a conversation with former RSB president Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell and gallery director Alistair Hudson on the benefits of art-science collaborations. FRIDAY 8 OCTOBER
Annual Awards Ceremony | All day
#iamabiologist | All day
A virtual celebration of the winners of the Nancy Rothwell Award. An extended social media campaign will include video statements from the drawing competition winners. This event will complement an exhibition of the Nancy Rothwell Award 2021 shortlist at the Whitworth gallery, Manchester.
For more information or to register for an event, visit rsb.org.uk/biologyweek
This social media campaign celebrates the diversity of the roles available within the biosciences. Join in on the day by posting with the hashtag #iamabiologist.
TUESDAY 5 OCTOBER
Annual Awards Ceremony | All day
A virtual celebration of the RSB Photography Competition with video statements from the winners.
Big Biology Quiz | 19:30–20:30 BST
A free, family-friendly online quiz on the wonders of biology.
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Celebrating Biology Week in Parliament in 2019
Upfront news, 2
ON RECORD
James McCulloch is an entomologist and the winner of the inaugural Gilbert White Youth Award for terrestrial and freshwater recording
The ivy bee (Colletes hederae) can be identified by the ginger coat on its thorax and sharply defined stripes
Our latest column on under-recorded species to look out for at this time of year
The ivy bee makes its move u
As autumn approaches you could be forgiven for thinking that this is the time when all insect life starts to wind down. However, the flight seasons of some specialist species are only just beginning. As the work of many entomologists also begins to wind down, these autumn emergers suffer from under-recording, even though they can offer vital clues to the effects of climate change on species’ distributions. One such example is the ivy bee (Colletes hederae). Flowering ivy provides an essential source of pollen and nectar during the autumn months, with even nonspecialists such as the honey bee (Apis mellifera) taking up to 90% of their pollen from ivy at this time of year. But ivy bees have tailored their flight season to perfectly coincide with the peak of ivy blooming in September and October. Along with all other invertebrates, ivy bees rely on external heat to raise their body temperature to the threshold
required for flight and other activity. Autumn in the UK is not known for warm weather, but as the climate heats up this appears to increasingly be less of a barrier to the northward expansion of this species. Soon after the bee was first recorded in the UK in 2001, surveys initially found the species to be moderately frequent in coastal Dorset and some other sites in south west England, but nowhere else. The latest National Biodiversity Network map shows records from across the UK up to the northernmost extent of Cumbria, and the species seems poised to cross the border into Scotland in the very near future. The best way of finding and recording ivy bees is by searching autumnal ivy blossom, where ivy bees can be abundant and easy to spot once you know what to look for. Their thorax is covered in a thick coat of ginger hairs and the abdomen is black, with sharply delineated buff transverse stripes (in contrast, the honey bee thorax has a duller coat, and the abdomen is orange with dark stripes).
SPOT THE BALL
The behaviour of ivy bees away from the blossom can also make them noticeable, as the females often attract the attention of more males than they can handle, forming striking mating balls with the female in the centre and a dozen writhing males in a layer around her. If you are lucky enough to experience the buzzing spectacle of hundreds of ivy bees busily nectaring on an ivy bush, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Scheme (BWARS) has developed a specialist mapping project to collate records of this rapidly spreading species. You can report your sightings via the following link: bit.ly/BWARSMapping
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OPINION
Dr Nigel Francis FRSB is the recipient of the 2021 RSB Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award and a senior lecturer at Cardiff University School of Biosciences
Leah McClure is head of science at Colton Hills Community School, Wolverhampton, and a previous winner of the RSB’s Secondary School Biology Teacher of the Year Award
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Preparing for the COVID cohort RSB bioscience teacher of the year Dr Nigel Francis and colleagues examine the pandemic experiences of A-level students, and how universities can aid their post-school transition
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The global pandemic has presented some singular challenges for educators, particularly those teaching practical-based subjects. Students beginning university now have had two years of their A-level studies affected by COVID-19, which will have a knock-on effect for universities. These extend beyond the most obvious challenge of providing hands-on practical experience and may require universities to offer additional support for 2021 entrants, and even forward plan for the next three to five years. One of the first things to highlight is that students will have had very different educational experiences over the last two years. This has always been the case, but in previous years those discrepancies have been relatively minor compared to the broad-ranging skill development and knowledge gaps that may have occurred. Some class bubbles will have been required to self-isolate repeatedly during periods when face-to-face teaching was permitted for others, and schools have adopted diverse educational strategies. The disparity between state and private education may be even more pronounced this year. Much more work will need to go into ensuring a level playing field as rapidly as possible.
ASSESSMENT AND GRADES
The switch to teacher-assessed grades (TAGs) with, in some cases, a quite narrow range of exam board assessment materials, may have led to students learning the answers to questions without truly understanding the concepts behind those answers. Teachers have also come under pressure from students and parents to be as generous as possible in their grading. Most 8 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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Extra work will be needed to ensure a level playing field among this year’s students
teachers are resisting these pressures, but academics must appreciate that the grades with which students come into university may not always accurately reflect their ability – and be prepared to work harder with these students. Students also worry how these TAGs will be viewed in the future. It is worth reminding them early and frequently in their university career that everyone has been in the same position, and that by the time they finish university their skill sets, knowledge and the graduate market will have moved beyond A-level results. The high-profile move to TAGs may also mean students have an even less healthy relationship with
assessment and grades than previous cohorts. In higher education we already see evidence of students fixating on the mark and never accessing the feedback on their work, with students carrying similar mistakes through into subsequent work. Additional strategies to ensure students appreciate the benefit of feedback1 may need to be put in place early on. These could include feedback workshops or, for example, asking for a reflective statement about the feedback before the overall grade is released.
KNOWLEDGE GAPS AND LAB EXPERIENCE
To compound the challenges associated with assessment, students
Shutterstock
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Opinion, 1
may well arrive at university having covered very different elements of the curriculum. In terms of the provision of laboratory classes during the pandemic, many schools took the entirely sensible approach of prioritising Years 11 (GCSE) and 13 (A level), but students have still not had anywhere near the same opportunities as previous cohorts. In some cases students have only used pieces of equipment once over the two years of their A-level education2. This will inevitably result in a lack of confidence when they arrive at university. A concerted effort must be made to upskill these students as quickly as possible with additional or targeted laboratory skill sessions. It is not just the hands-on experience of using specific equipment that has been affected; students will have had little opportunity to critique experimental design or analyse their own experimental data. A lack of large-group teaching, compounded by restrictions on mixing freely with peers, means students will also have had limited opportunities to discuss ideas, concepts or areas of confusion. Many students will have missed out on traditional freshers weeks
Geoffrey Robinson/Alamy Stock Photo
Shutterstock
Chris Willmott MRSB is associate professor at the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Leicester
SOCIAL SKILLS
There is already anecdotal evidence that first-year students in 2020-21 have a lack of confidence in their ability, feel less prepared than their peers, and are generally more anxious about university education and life in general. The first few weeks of university are always daunting, but the feeling of being overwhelmed is likely to be magnified this year and academics will need to consider this when dealing with tutees, larger first-year lectures or laboratory classes. (It is also worth noting that current first-year students going into their second year have not had the traditional ‘freshers’ experience, and as restrictions start to ease may well attempt to make up for lost time.)
REFERENCES 1) Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning. Education Endowment Foundation, 2021. (Although primarily aimed at school level, contains advice that is relevant to any educator giving feedback) 2) Good Practical Science – making it happen post-COVID-19. The Association for Science Education, 2020.
PANDEMIC POSITIVES
So far, these themes paint a pretty depressing picture. But there are also
Students will have had limited opportunities to discuss ideas, concepts or areas of confusion
potential benefits for students educated during the pandemic. There was a widespread observation that 2020 entrants adapted more readily to new online and blended learning approaches than second and third-year students as they had not experienced the more traditional teaching methodologies. The 2021 entrants will probably be even more comfortable with digital platforms. Despite teachers’ best efforts, students will also have had to develop independent study skills to thrive in the virtual classroom, especially those not confident in asking questions virtually. The enhancement of self-directed learning, self-motivation and online digital skills may help break the toxic notion, held by some, that education is a passive experience rather than something with which the students must actively engage. If this is the case, then the early steps of creating independent, lifelong learners will have been taken.
WE SHALL OVERCOME
In summary, it is important not to generalise – and no one-size-fits-all approach will be appropriate for every student – but there are going to be particular challenges associated with varying levels of student experience, subject knowledge and social skills. University staff will need to be especially sympathetic and understanding. On the flip side, students may be more independent and adapt more readily to blended learning approaches – a good grounding for them to become self-sufficient, scientific practitioners of the future. The past two years have been incredibly challenging for both students and educators, and the hard work and dedication this has required cannot be overstated. There is no doubt that the new academic year is going to remain challenging for school teachers and university lecturers alike but, as with most of the challenges that have been presented by COVID-19, they will be overcome. Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 9
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Alok Sharma: “It is vital science lights the way [on climate change]”
RESEARCH
Open access drive continues
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The UKRI has published its longawaited policy on open access, which the funding body says “will increase opportunity for the findings of publicly funded research to be accessed, shared and reused”. From April 2022, all papers submitted to journals that acknowledge UKRI funding must be published for immediate open access or deposited in an accessible institutional repository. The policy also requires that monographs, book chapters and edited collections should be made open access within 12 months of publication from January 2024.
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Full details can be found at UKRI.org.uk RESEARCH
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US review of science and government
ENVIRONMENT
Links Day focuses on climate collaboration
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he RSB’s annual Parliamentary Links Day, which brings together scientists, policymakers, politicians and sector leaders, this year focused on climate change.
Taking place less than six months ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, a range of keynote speakers discussed collaborative, international and individual approaches to tackling climate change. The event was opened by Dame Eleanor Laing MP, deputy speaker for the House of Commons, and was chaired by Stephen Metcalfe MP, chair of the Parliamentary and Scientific 10 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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Committee, with a pre-recorded keynote address from Alok Sharma MP, the president of COP26. Sharma highlighted the importance of collaboration in ensuring evidence reaches a wide audience. “It is vital that science lights the way and that relationships continue to be built between researchers, politicians and peers,” he said. Sharma’s and other talks from the event can be seen at youtube.com/royalsocbio
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy is expected to deliver a review of policies related to scientific integrity in September. It has held public listening sessions as it attempts to reverse the damage done to scientific organisations and research programmes with outputs that did not align with the previous administration. Researchers have urged President Joe Biden to safeguard independent scientific work and communication, and take measures to prevent improper political interference in scientific research. RESEARCH
Animal use in British research down in 2020 The Home Office has released the statistics for animal use in science in Great Britain for 2020, with the total number of procedures down 15% on 2019 – the lowest number since 2004,
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POLICY NEWS
and most likely related to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were a total of 2.88 million regulated procedures involving live animals completed in 2020. Some 1.44 million (50%) were experimental procedures, while the other half involved the generation or breeding of genetically altered (GA) animals. The Society supports the efforts of the scientific community to replace, reduce and refine animal experiments (3Rs), and advocates transparency in reporting the justifications and outcomes of research involving animals.
Policy inbox • Ahead of COP26 in November,
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the RSB has written to Boris Johnson (see p4) urging leadership and action. In the build-up to COP26 the Society has also run climate-themed policy events (see Links Day story) and increased coverage of climate-change mitigation efforts in The Biologist. The Society has submitted a response to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee inquiry on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, and to a Defra consultation on the Draft Policy Statement on Environmental Principles. The Society is developing a report into the impact of the RSB’s policy work and knowledge-exchange opportunities over the past three years, the results of which will be summarised in The Biologist in December. The RSB joined the UK One Health Coordination Group (UKOHCG), a cross-disciplinary coalition seeking to attain optimal health for animals, people and the environment.
All recent RSB policy work and consultation responses can be found at rsb.org.uk/policy
“I really love connecting different people,” says Hall
POLICY PROFILE
Dr Jade Hall MRSB The RSB senior science policy officer aims to help all scientists thrive What do you do at the RSB? I’m responsible for policy activities that tend to be related to the individual scientist – so anything from science funding to research integrity or publication policy. In the last couple of months work around diversity and inclusion (D&I) has really taken off and that now takes up a large part of my role. I support the Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group (consisting of representatives from RSB’s Member Organisations) and the Diversity and Inclusion Network (consisting of a D&I representative from each of the RSB’s many committees and groups). I also focus on disseminating policy news – working on the Society’s science policy newsletter, its research communications newsletter, and managing the RSB Policy Resource Library. Which aspects do you particularly enjoy working on? The pandemic has exacerbated and brought to the surface the inequalities of marginalised groups within the scientific community, and it has been insightful getting people in the same room who have expertise across our Member Organisations to share best practice about the fantastic resources and initiatives that are currently out there. I really love connecting
different people, and a great strength of the RSB is its ability to bring people together across the whole biological discipline. What are the big topics and challenges on the horizon for your areas of policy? In my opinion it’s making sure that we are supporting our next generation of scientists – looking at work culture and research culture, and making sure that we’re providing an environment where they can really thrive regardless of background. I also think the continuation of public trust is also important, making sure that we’re reaching the different communities that make up the public. How did you get into working in science policy? My background is very varied: I worked for a biotechnology company during my biology undergrad, have an MSc in ecology, evolution and conservation, and a PhD in biomechanics and animal welfare science. After my PhD, I felt the transferable skills from my PhD would be well suited to supporting and disseminating roles. I like learning about a broad range of scientific topics and explaining them to a range of people. And I have friends that work for Defra, who inspired me to investigate a role in policy.
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Alessandro Coatti MRSB and Dr Jonathan Carruthers MRSB are both senior science policy officers at the RSB
The RSB policy team explain their response to Defra’s post-Brexit consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies
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rules are implemented at the EU level. In 2018, scientists were dismayed by the European Court of Justice’s decision that all genome-edited products were to be treated as genetically modified organisms, with the same roadblocks to reaching the market. The UK’s departure from the EU has allowed Boris Johnson’s government to review the status and regulation of genome-edited products, with a consultation announced by the environment secretary just days after the transition period ended.
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The RSB is pushing for regulation that can be adapted to the technologies and applications of the future
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The advent of genome editing (GE) is the latest and perhaps the most impactful chapter in humans’ long history of changing the genetic make-up of organisms around us, which has been accelerating since the advent of farming 10,000 years ago. The versatility of new genetic technologies is opening up novel avenues of research and a whole host of applications: from human health to crop development, from animal breeding to remediation of environmental pollution. In our view,
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biotechnology, including genome editing, holds great potential for positive impacts on society, the environment and living ecosystems through its use in medicine, agriculture and conservation. In crop breeding alone, products are being developed that can enhance health and wellbeing, help reduce the impact of food production and help feed a growing world sustainably. For decades, genetic technologies have been all but impossible to use commercially in Europe due to the way that the GMO directive
In our response to the Defra consultation, we told the government that genome editing is no more likely to lead to harmful, unintended effects than traditional breeding methods. A recent study published by the EU Commission1 shared this view, particularly in the case of plant products. Research methods and applications evolve fast, so regulation should deal with any novel emerging risks in rapid and adaptive ways – for example GE may need to be used to fight zoonoses, or in gene drives for conservation or control of vectorborne human diseases. As the global climate warms and its population grows, all available tools are needed to feed the world without further damage to nature (see box, right). Regulatory approaches should acknowledge uncertainties, when they exist, and
We aim to offer a nuanced and balanced perspective that allows us to be a recognised and trusted voice
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ETHICAL QUESTIONS
Other ethical questions to consider are the effects of GE on farmed animals’ welfare; participatory ways to include citizens’ views; fairness of access and inclusivity in the decisionmaking processes; and how to ensure research conduct that is culturally appropriate and avoids exploitation of other nations’ resources. As part of this, it is important to make sure that genetic technologies are not perceived or utilised solely as a ‘western’ technology. The issues are complex, and extend beyond science into questions of personal values and what society wants from food production. In developing and communicating our position on genome editing, the RSB aspires to understand and represent the views of our membership – the
Read more on the future of genetic technologies A group of new articles exploring the regulation and funding of genetic technology can be found at biologist.rsb.org.uk – looking at issues such as inequality, sustainability and geneediting in agricultural, animal and microbiological science. “In order to meet humanity’s projected food, feed and fibre needs, and the need for agriculture that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we need technical breakthroughs and we need them very soon. But will they emerge in time – and be accepted by governments, manufacturers and consumers – unless we adopt a crisis mode?” Professor Richard Flavell CBE FRSB argues that now is the time to define and set global targets for the development of new high-yield and sustainable crops “As scientists we all want our work to have meaning, but only for a few does this realistically translate directly into real-world applications … To move from the lab to the farm requires brave decision making on the part of policymakers.” Dr Simon Lillico of the Roslin Institute on the regulation of gene-edited animals “There are several considerations for the regulation of modified microbes depending on whether they are the product, still associated with the product, or are used only for manufacturing a product that
REFERENCES 1) Study on the status of new genomic techniques under Union law. European Commission 2021.
One author is calling for a global agreement on the goals of plant science for the planet
is purified away from the microbe cell factory … without a consolidated, sciencedriven regulatory framework, where public/consumer perceptions are considered, such improvements may not come to fruition.” Professor Ed Louis FRSB from the University of Leicester on consolidating the regulations covering a multitude of microbial genetic technologies “The majority of GE crops are the world’s most economically important crops, such as maize, alfalfa and soya bean. But in foodinsecure countries, the impact of the GE crop is almost nonexistent.” Matthew Venezia and Dr Kate M Creasey Krainer FRSB on why the inequity of genetic engineering’s impact cannot be repeated
community of biologists from the UK and beyond. We are grateful to RSB members and Fellows with whom we have discussed these issues through our committees, workshops and through personal correspondence. Through continued, careful engagement, we aim to offer a balanced and nuanced perspective
that allows us to be a recognised and trusted voice in this space. Trust will be essential if we are to successfully communicate our position to both policymakers and the public. The RSB’s full response to the Defra consultation on genetic technologies is available at rsb.org.uk/policy
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mitigate risks - for example by gathering additional evidence before progressing products to market – but they must not hinder innovation disproportionately. Contrary to how EU regulations have operated, risk assessment should focus on case-specific attributes of the products and their uses, and consider all relevant impacts – on human health and wellbeing, animal health and welfare, biosecurity, the environment and biodiversity – but not rigidly focus on which breeding method is used. Regulations should assess risks in a proportionate and evidence-based way that enable a single regulatory approach that covers all forms of breeding, including future breeding methods. The transparency and robustness of the regulatory process should also engender citizens’ trust. Research and innovation are inherently political activities, and who funds what projects and where matters to the debate (see box, right). Governance of genetic technologies should not fail low-income countries, and there are important aspects of trade regulations and a need for global alignment and common standards.
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A whole new world
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An exclusive extract from Professor Dan Davis’s new book, The Secret Body, explains how super-resolution microscopy is revealing the workings of cells in “magical and humbling” new detail
Ashley Ambrose and Daniel M. Davis, University of Manchester
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I sit in a darkened room with the temperature exquisitely controlled – there must be no flux in the environment. The machine itself fills two large tables. The main body of the microscope sits on a table that is especially bulky, because it includes a pneumatic system to isolate it from ambient vibrations in the room. To witness nature on a nanoscale, things need to be held steady on a nanoscale. A series of metal boxes, stacked to the side of the tables, house lasers and their electronic controls, which feed light into the microscope along optical fibres. I rarely need to look down the microscope’s binocular eyepiece because what I would see is also displayed on a large computer screen in front of me. An adjacent screen shows graphics of sliders and drop-down menus to adjust the power of the lasers, the sensitivity of the light detectors, the pixel size, the speed at which the lasers scan the sample, the number of times a sample is scanned, the distance the objective lens moves to capture different depths, the pinhole size, and much more. For anyone who hasn’t used a super-resolution microscope before, the experience is other-worldly. Going for a walk in a field, in a forest or along a trail brings us close to nature, but in a blackened room with the air hardly moving, we witness its deepest secrets. Super-resolution images obtained in my lab have led to a new idea for treating patients with a rare genetic 14 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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disease called Chediak-Higashi syndrome. Children with this syndrome are unable to fight infections that would normally be dealt with easily, and often die young. In normal circumstances, immune cells kill aberrant cells – including cancer cells or virus-infected cells – by secreting toxic enzymes into them. These enzymes are stored inside immune cells within small droplets of liquid, called lytic granules, each enclosed by a thin layer of fat molecules. When an immune cell encounters a diseased cell, such as a cancer cell or a virus-infected cell, receptor proteins protruding from the surface of the immune cell will detect molecules on the outer coating of the diseased cell that identify it as a threat. The immune cell will then flatten up against the diseased cell, establishing a tight surface contact. Once the cell is in position, the lytic granules – containing the toxic enzymes – take about a minute to gather together at the edge of the immune cell, next to the diseased cell, and there they pause momentarily. Then, in a process that still isn’t entirely understood, some of these lytic granules fuse with the outer edge of the immune cell (the coating of the lytic granules and the surface of the whole cell are made up of similar fat molecules), so that their contents – the deadly enzymes – are expelled from the immune cell on to the diseased cell. In a few minutes or so, the diseased cell visibly
The secret body book extract, 1 An image of the protein CD9 in an activated human macrophage, captured using super-resolution microscopy (STED)
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Ashley Ambrose and Daniel M. Davis, University of Manchester
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bulges and bubbles. Less easy to see directly, the diseased cells’ proteins and genetic material are chopped up and degraded. Remnants of the dead cell are then engulfed by another type of immune cell, where they will be broken down further and their chemical components re-used, in the same way that when we are buried, our molecular parts may be re-used by organisms in the earth. But in children with ChediakHigashi syndrome this process doesn’t work. Working with Polish scientist Konrad Krzewski at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, therefore, we deliberately mutated a gene known to cause ChediakHigashi syndrome in immune cells in a lab dish, and examined them with a super-resolution microscope. We hoped to understand how this genetic mutation changed immune cells, to help explain why children with this syndrome are especially susceptible to certain types of infection. We found that these genetically altered immune cells had larger-than-usual bags of toxic enzymes inside – about twice as big as normal. We discovered that they were simply too big to pass through the structural meshwork – a bit like the strings of a tennis racquet – that underlies the cell surface and gives the cell its shape, and would therefore be unable to launch an attack on diseased cells. This could indeed be part of the reason why children with this syndrome can’t deal with some types of infection very well, because their immune cells can’t easily launch an appropriate attack. This in turn led us to think that finding a way to open up the meshwork – increase the size of the holes between the racquet strings – might restore the affected immune cell’s ability to kill diseased cells. I knew about a drug that can do precisely this, used to treat patients with certain types of cancer, because it kept my own father alive. It is also responsible for one
Above: An image of the protein CD81 in the protrusions of a human macrophage, captured using super-resolution microscopy (STORM) Below right: An image of the actin cytoskeleton of a human Natural Killer cell, captured using super-resolution microscopy (STED)
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of the world’s worst ever medical tragedies. The use of thalidomide to help pregnant women with morning sickness led to many thousands of babies being born without fully developed limbs and with a host of other deformities. Roughly half of them subsequently died young. Nobody knows how many miscarriages were caused by the drug. However, thalidomide was also observed to have some positive effects on various diseases, including leprosy and cancer. The US pharma company Celgene created a safer derivative of thalidomide, sold as Revlimid, by switching one oxygen atom for a nitrogen atom in its chemical structure. My father, afflicted with multiple myeloma, took this drug for many years. It’s not entirely understood how it works – thalidomide and its derivatives have many effects in the body – but one thing it does do, as we found out in my own lab, is boost the opening up of an immune cell’s structural mesh, making it easier for them to kill cancer cells. Krzewski and I first got chatting about ChediakHigashi syndrome at the hotel bar during a scientific meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, in September 2013: the most valuable encounters at scientific meetings are usually the informal ones. He was studying the illness directly and my lab had expertise in using superresolution microscopy to watch immune cells kill. Although we didn’t have any clear plan at first, it seemed like we should join forces. I had a Polish researcher in my lab at the time, Ania Oszmiana, who was also at that meeting. That she and Krzewski shared a language and culture probably helped get things going – rapport between scientists is at least as important as a good idea. Eventually, this led us to test whether the drug my father was taking to treat his cancer might also help
The secret body book extract, 2
The membranes were in fact tubular structures, so densely packed that when viewed under a normal microscope they looked like flat sheets
Ashley Ambrose and Daniel M. Davis, University of Manchester
Ashley Ambrose and Daniel M. Davis, University of Manchester
children with Chediak-Higashi syndrome. By the time we arrived at a clear set of experiments to do, Oszmiana had achieved her doctorate, largely based on other work using super-resolution microscopy, and she had left my lab to work in Australia. These experiments were done by an Ethiopian student in my team, Mezida Saeed. Giving children with the syndrome the drug directly was not an option and, besides, we couldn’t then have given them a deliberate viral infection to see how they fared. Instead, we isolated immune cells from their blood and tested whether adding the thalidomide derivative would rescue their ability to kill diseased cells in a lab dish. The answer turned out to be yes, to some extent. This is not a medical breakthrough, because we didn’t try any experiments on animals or humans, and the drug could, for example, have unwanted side-effects. But scientifically, it was a useful advance – understanding a disease and what sort of approach might work as a treatment – and all brought about by super-resolution microscopy. In my view, there are two ways to use a superresolution microscope. Most commonly, it is used in the way I have just described: to investigate a process we already know to be important – in this case, how toxic proteins emerge from an immune cell to kill a diseased cell – revealing crucial new detail. But the other way to use a super-resolution microscope is more akin to the way Hooke used a microscope in 1665: to explore nature, without setting out to see anything in particular. By using a super-resolution microscope simply to watch cells or combinations of cells, something entirely new might be revealed. Perhaps a
new part of a cell will be discovered, or an unexpected way in which two cells interact will be witnessed. Both approaches – digging into the details of known mechanisms and open-ended exploration – are vital. But it’s the second approach that leads to the most magical feeling of discovery. In 2016, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz and her team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute used a superresolution microscope to look at the elaborate structure inside cells where proteins are manufactured and processed, called the endoplasmic reticulum, or ER. It was thought that this structure, which fills a large part of the cell, was made up of sheets and tubes of membrane. But it turns out that this view, found in high school textbooks, wasn’t really right either. LippincottSchwartz’s team revealed that the supposed sheets of membrane were in fact tubular structures too, so densely packed that when viewed under a normal microscope they looked like flat sheets of membrane. There had been nothing to suggest that this would be the case. It was an entirely unexpected discovery. Super-resolution microscopy has set us a new challenge: understanding what this means. A dense tubular structure might increase flexibility, which could be important when the cell moves. Or it could provide greater surface area, the better to store or facilitate reactions. As yet, we do not know. Exploring cells with these new microscopes is akin to the moment you put on a new pair of prescription glasses. Details are revealed which you had no idea were there. The technology is still so new that a tremendous amount is still being discovered. In the same way that Samuel Pepys stayed up until 2am reading Hooke’s Micrographia, I relish the new views of cells described in this chapter. They reveal an intricacy to what we are, far beyond anything we might have imagined without the development of super-resolution microscopes and other tools. These details are magical and humbling. But, personally, I find it existentially unsettling to realise how much is going on within my body without my awareness. Discoveries made with super-resolution microscopy elevate that feeling to a whole new level. The technology continues to improve. Other new microscopes are being built right now, allowing us to see more and see better. New wonders will be found that will affect our lives, not least in creating new medicines. Professor Daniel Davis FRSB is professor of immunology at the University of Manchester. His previous books include The Beautiful Cure and The Compatibility Gene. He is currently chair of The Biologist Editorial Board.
The Secret Body: How the New Science of the Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live is available through Penguin Books.
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From public transport to school classrooms, the use of disinfectants has risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Too much of a good thing
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Heightened sanitising during the COVID-19 pandemic is driving bacterial resistance to our most commonly used and important disinfectants, writes Samantha McCarlie
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Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing global threats facing humanity – potentially greater even than viral epidemics or climate change. Multi-drug-resistant bacteria are already causing hundreds of thousands of deaths a year, a figure that could rise to 10 million each year by 20501. As we urgently try to develop antibiotics and methods to treat infections, these dangerous strains of bacteria are kept at bay in healthcare and other settings by the regular disinfecting of equipment, rooms and surfaces. But what if these dangerous pathogens become resistant to disinfectants too? Our use of disinfectants and antiseptics has increased drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in future, our dependence on these products is expected to rise exponentially. Disinfectants are crucial in many sectors and industries – helping prevent hospital-acquired infections in healthcare systems, destroying pathogens in the food and beverage industry, protecting livestock and, by extension, global food security. This makes it troubling that scientists have found resistance to disinfectants is also emerging at an alarming rate. For example, Enterococcus faecium is responsible for about 10% of healthcare-associated infections globally and has well-documented antibiotic resistance capabilities2. In 2018 a study in two hospitals in Melbourne found isolates of E. faecium that are alcohol-tolerant and resistant to killing by 70% alcohol surface disinfection2. This followed a study in 2010 that 18 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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found E. faecium isolates with alcohol tolerance tenfold higher than older isolates, essentially caused by an increase in disinfection in hospitals2. Within the food industry the occurrence of resistance to disinfectants known as quaternary ammonium compounds is also increasing annually. As many as 30% of Pseudomonas sp. isolated from the food and food-processing industry show some form of resistance to these disinfectants, along with 13% of Staphylococcus sp., 10% of Listeria monocytogenes, 1.5% of lactic acid bacteria and 1% of coliforms3. These disinfectant-resistant microorganisms have led to food-borne outbreaks, including a wave of listeriosis in South Africa in 2017–2018, which was caused by contaminated meat products and resulted in 1,060 infections and 216 deaths4.
RESISTANCE IN THE HOME
Disinfectant resistance is not isolated to heavily sanitised industries and medical environments – resistance to common household cleaning products is now well recorded too. The cleaning products we use in our homes every day are made up of many kinds of disinfectants and other antimicrobial compounds, but pathogenic bacteria (including L. monocytogenes) have been found with resistance to sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride, the common ingredients in washing-up liquids that we assume will kill the bacteria on our utensils. Bacterial biofilms can be resistant to sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in bleach and many
Disinfectant resistance, 1
ANTIBIOTICS, ANTISEPTICS AND DISINFECTANTS In general antibiotics have specific intracellular targets, whereas antiseptics and disinfectants work on multiple targets at the cellular level. This broader activity spectrum makes it more difficult for resistance to develop against disinfectants and antiseptics. Traditionally antiseptics were antimicrobial chemicals that could be used on living tissue, while disinfectants could not be used on living tissue. In recent years these definitions have become vaguer, with non-toxic disinfectants developed that can be used on living tissue. Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 19
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Right: Bacteria in hospitals have been found with resistance to 70% alcohol – the optimal concentration for disinfectants and hand sanitiser
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Bottom right: Resistance to chlorine, used to sterilise drinking water and swimming pools, has emerged in E. coli
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‘all-purpose’ cleaners and stain removers. Streptococcus sp. have been identified exhibiting resistance to fluoride, the common antimicrobial in mouthwash and toothpaste, and an additive in drinking water. Chlorine is used globally to treat drinking water and in swimming pools, and because of widespread use, resistance to chlorine and associated compounds can be found within Pseudomonas sp., Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Enterococci to name a few. Disinfectant resistance is a relatively novel field of study with significantly fewer publications available compared with antibiotic resistance. It is hard to quantitatively assess the scale of the problem, but the number of publications on disinfectant resistance is increasing year on year.
HOW RESISTANCE DEVELOPS
In general, resistance to disinfectants develops in a similar way to antibiotics, emerging slowly after many years of exposure, with isolated outbreaks once a particularly resistant strain evolves. Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance over the past few decades has shown that the number of disinfectant-resistant isolates and nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections is increasing, and outbreaks of disinfectant-resistant bacteria are becoming more frequent.
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In addition, overall levels of susceptibility to disinfectants are decreasing in areas where they are used frequently. The exposure of any microbial population to any antimicrobial will create selective pressure that can drive the emergence of resistance, but overuse and improper dosage can accelerate that emergence. Disinfectants have multiple cellular targets and as a result, for resistance to evolve, microorganisms must have several resistance mechanisms working simultaneously. The most common mechanism of disinfectant resistance is via efflux pumps – proteins found on the bacterial cell membrane that literally pump antimicrobials out of the cell, lowering the concentration inside the cell and limiting intracellular damage. The formation of tough biofilms is also common among pathogenic bacteria as a means of defence against disinfectants. Bacteria can also modify the chemicals in disinfectants and in rare cases metabolise them5. Many of these defensive mechanisms can be traced back to specific genes harboured on mobile genetic elements5. These genes confer resistance to their host cell and are easily transferred within a bacterial population and between species. Some mechanisms, such as multi-drug efflux pumps, can lead to cross-resistance to several types of disinfectants and antibiotics, and some resistance mechanisms can help bacteria develop resistance to both disinfectants and antibiotics. For example, a study in 2018 found that the evolution of resistance to the disinfectant benzalkonium chloride promoted the
THE FIGHT OF THE FUTURE
Recent advances in sequencing technology and gene editing will shape the way we study and fight back against antimicrobial resistance. Through this technology, scientists can track the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance. Likewise, surveillance of rapidly emerging disinfectant resistance is crucial to study the spread of multi-drug-resistant isolates and gene transfer between populations. If specific outbreaks, industries and regions can be targeted and monitored, it could help inform more intelligent and targeted day-to-day disinfection procedures. A better understanding of the mechanisms of disinfectant resistance may help hinder the emergence and spread of decreased susceptibility and even reverse resistance altogether. For example, efflux pump inhibitors have been designed and used in various studies to increase bacterial susceptibility to biocides7. Furthermore, studies have shown that CRISPR-Cas technology can be used to resensitise resistant bacteria to antibiotics8,9. This has been performed successfully on both extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli8 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)9, where antibiotic resistance genes within these bacteria were targeted and disrupted. Although we still have a way to go, advances in sequencing and gene editing technology will be indispensable tools in the fight against antimicrobial resistance both for antibiotics and disinfectants. As mentioned, these multi-drug-resistant isolates evolve at a faster rate when antimicrobials are used improperly or are of poor quality. However, it is important to note that even when antimicrobials are used properly at the correct dosage, selective pressure is still created. Most resistant strains are isolated from medical environments and the agricultural industry where antimicrobials will always need to be used extensively.
creating their own antimicrobial products. Many of these new products are not tested thoroughly and therefore may not be effective, but are attractive to consumers as they are often cheaper. However, on an individual level some steps can be taken to prevent the development of resistance to antiseptics and disinfectants. If you are buying an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, ensure that it contains 70% ethanol, the optimal level for killing microorganisms effectively. Alcohol-based products with higher percentages of ethanol tend to evaporate faster so lower the contact time needed for a microbicidal effect, whereas lower concentrations of ethanol may not be sufficient for killing microbes at all. Second, if you are using a non-alcohol-based sanitiser, or household cleaning products, make sure you do not dilute the product below the recommended level. Mixing a range of cleaning products with different active ingredients can ensure you have the best coverage against different resistance mechanisms (although bleach and other very strong cleaners such as sink-unblockers should not be mixed with other substances). If we use disinfectants and other antimicrobials responsibly, the emergence of resistance can be controlled in time for new formulations to be produced and for further research. In 2015 the World Health Organization released the ‘Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance’ with the aim of ensuring responsible use of medications (and other antimicrobials) for successful treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. The issue of disinfectant resistance is starting to be recognised on a global scale and it is not too late to turn the tide to prevent another large-scale resistance crisis, which will no doubt have very serious implications for humankind.
REFERENCES 1) World Health Organization. Healthcare-associated infections fact sheet. World Health Organization (2015). 2) Pidot, S. J. et al. Increasing tolerance of hospital Enterococcus faecium to handwash alcohols. Sci. Trans. Med. 10(452) (2018). 3) Langsrud, S. et al. Bacterial disinfectant resistance – a challenge for the food industry. Int. Biodeter. Biodegr. 51(4), 283–290 (2003). 4) Situation Report (PDF). Department of Health, Republic of South Africa. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2019. 5) McDonnell, G. & Russell, A. D. Antiseptics and disinfectants: activity, action, and resistance. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 12(1), 147–179 (1999). 6) Kim, M. et al. Widely used benzalkonium chloride disinfectants can promote antibiotic resistance. App. Environ. Microbiol. 84(17) (2018). 7) Baugh, S. et al. Inhibition of multidrug efflux as a strategy to prevent biofilm formation. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 69(3), 673–681 (2014). 8) Kim, J. S. et al. CRISPR/Cas9mediated re-sensitization of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli harboring extendedspectrum ß-lactamases. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 26(2), 394–401 (2016). 9) Bikard, D. et al. Exploiting CRISPR-Cas nucleases to produce sequence-specific antimicrobials. Nat. Biotechnol. 32(11), 1146–1150 (2014).
Samantha McCarlie is a master’s student at the University of the Free State, South Africa, following a degree in microbiology. To date she has published three scientific papers on disinfectant resistance and works as a scientific consultant in the chemical industry.
RESPONSIBLE USE
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on our reliance on disinfectants and sanitisers as a method of infection control. The use of disinfectants and sanitisers has increased massively during this pandemic, and therefore selective pressure on microorganisms has increased significantly. In addition, to meet the substantial demand for disinfectants and sanitisers over the past year, numerous companies and individuals have started Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 21
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simultaneous development of antibiotic resistance6. This occurred in an isolate of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa that was exposed long-term to benzalkonium chloride, but had no exposure to any of the antibiotics to which it later became resistant6. This suggests that when bacteria are under stress, antibiotic and disinfectant resistance genes can be co-selected to create isolates resistant to both disinfectants and antibiotics.
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A warmer climate means that swallowtailed moths (Ourapteryx sambucaria) are now reproducing twice in one season
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Moths on the move The world is facing a biodiversity crisis, but the fortunes of insects, which make up at least 60% of all species on Earth and play essential roles in ecosystems, remain poorly understood. Claims of impending ‘insect Armageddon’ have been amplified by the media but savaged by many biologists, who point out that the available data is woefully inadequate to make global assessments1. However, British moths are an exception, thanks to millions of moth sightings contributed by volunteers 22 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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through the National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS) and to the Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS), the longest-running standardised monitoring of insect populations in the world. Any sightings of moths (or their eggs, caterpillars or pupae) anywhere in the UK can contribute to the NMRS and, as a result, this dataset has very broad geographical coverage and is good for assessing the distributions of moths. The RIS, in contrast, is a network of automated
light traps that operate every night of the year and can be used to monitor the abundance of nocturnal moths. Using these datasets, a team of scientists from Butterfly Conservation, Rothamsted Research and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology recently published The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 report2. They calculated long-term trends in abundance and distribution for Britain’s larger moths as a whole, and for hundreds of individual species, finding changes in abundance
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A new report paints a detailed picture of the changing fortunes of the hundreds of moth species in Britain over the last 50 years, as Dr Richard Fox reveals
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Many moth species are expanding northwards, seemingly in response to climate change, with increases in distribution and sometimes abundance and distribution, and time of emergence, plus over 50 extinctions and more than 100 new colonisations. In Britain ‘larger moths’ (also known as macro-moths) comprise roughly 900 species in 15 Lepidopteran families, and are traditionally (but arbitrarily) distinguished from other moths and butterflies. The total abundance of all larger moths caught in the RIS light-trap network in Britain over a 50-year period (1968–2017) decreased significantly by 33% (see Figure 1, p24). Splitting the data to produce separate trends for northern and southern Britain revealed significant abundance declines in both regions, but a greater loss in the south (a 39% decrease) than the north (a 22% decrease). The NMRS distribution data reveals a different overall picture. A multi-species indicator created by combining the individual distribution trends for 511 species showed that, on average, larger moths increased in extent in Britain by 9% over a 47-year period (1970–2016) (see Figure 2, p24). These overall summary measures obscure great variation in the fortunes of individual species over the past five decades. Of 427 widespread species with sufficient RIS data to calculate long-term population trends, 175 species (41% of the total) had decreased significantly, 42 species (10% of the total) had increased significantly and the remaining 210 species (49% of the total) had non-significant trends. Thus, four times as many moth species declined in abundance as increased. However, more species increased in distribution in Britain than declined since 1970 after variation in recording effort was taken into account. Of a sample of 511 species, 165 species (32%) showed significant distribution declines, while 187 (37% of the total) showed significant increases and 159 species (31%) had non-significant distribution trends.
On average, therefore, enthusiasts and scientists monitoring moth communities may have witnessed an increase in species richness, but a simultaneous, substantial decline in total abundance over the past 50 years. Apart from shedding light on how one group of insects is faring during the unfolding biodiversity crisis, why should we be interested in the state of Britain’s moths? In addition to being beautiful, fascinating creatures, moths play numerous roles in ecosystems. Moths, and in particular their caterpillars, are essential in the diets of a wide range of predators, including bats and many birds, and act as hosts for a huge diversity of parasitoid flies and wasps. Moth caterpillars are important herbivores, while adult moths have understudied and undervalued roles as pollinators of plants. Recent studies in Britain have revealed that moths transport pollen from a wide variety of plants3 and some wildflowers, such as orchids, depend on pollination by moths.
CLIMATE CHANGE
While the destruction and deterioration of wildlife-rich habitats is considered to be the main driver of declines in Britain’s moths, climate change also seems to be exerting a big influence on species trends. A number of species adapted to cooler climates in northern and western Britain appear to be retreating, including the grey mountain carpet (Entephria caesiata) with an 81% decrease in distribution (1970– 2016); the red carpet (Xanthorhoe decoloraria) with a 62% decrease; the grey chi (Antitype chi) with a 57% decrease; the autumn green carpet (Chloroclysta miata) with a 38% decrease; and the glaucous shears (Papestra biren) with a 38% decrease. At the same time many other moth species are expanding northwards, seemingly in response to climate change, with increases in distribution and sometimes also abundance. On average the
northern limit of species distributions shifted northwards at a rate of 5km per year from 1995 to 2016, and 71% of 487 larger moth species assessed had spread north. The Devon carpet (Lampropteryx otregiata), for example, has undergone a rapid range expansion since the 1970s, from south-west Britain northwards to reach southern Scotland. Its distribution has more than doubled (an 118% increase from 1980 to 2016) and its abundance has increased by 526% (1968–2017). The warming climate is also causing many moth species to emerge earlier in the year compared with the 1970s. For example, the mean flight dates of the grey birch (Aethalura punctulata), great prominent (Peridea anceps) and common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) have advanced by at least 13 days since the 1970s. Research indicates that early emergence benefits moths that have more than one generation each year in Britain, but not those with a single annual brood4. Some moth species, such as the buff arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) and swallow-tailed moth Although black arches (Lymantria monacha) have increased in abundance by 161% (1968–2017), four times as many species have declined in abundance as increased
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Change in the total abundance of all larger moths caught in the RIS light-trap network in Great Britain and the Isle of Man 1968–2017. The linear trend is a statistically significant decrease of 33%.
Multi-species indicator of change in distribution of larger moths in Great Britain and the Isle of Man 1970–2016, with smoothed indicator. The long-term trend is a statistically significant increase of 9%.
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(Ourapteryx sambucaria), which historically only had a single annual generation in Britain, are now having a small second generation in the autumn.
EXTINCTIONS AND COLONISATIONS
extinctions and colonisations of moth species and reviews work undertaken to conserve threatened moths. A total of 51 moth species (including micro-moths) are considered to have died out in Britain since 1900. The rapid decline to apparent extinction of once widespread species such as the stout dart (Spaelotis ravida) is particularly alarming given that the causes are often unknown.
The lappet (Gastropacha quercifolia) has seen a 98% decrease in abundance (1968–2017) and a 61% reduction in distribution (1980–2016)
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Aside from the relatively widespread moths for which long-term trends can be estimated, The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 report also assesses the
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In contrast, 137 moth species (including micro-moths) have colonised since 1900 and remain resident in Britain today, 53 of which have become established this century. Some of these colonists have arrived naturally, mainly as a result of climate change enabling them to extend their range from continental Europe. Others have arrived as unintended consequences of the global horticultural trade, unwittingly imported into Britain with plants (both native species and exotics) from around the world. Across Britain, ambitious projects are under way to prevent the loss of rare and threatened moths. Landscape-scale habitat creation is providing a more secure future for species such as Fisher’s estuarine moth (Gortyna borelii) and the black-veined moth (Siona lineata) in south-east England by increasing the size, connectedness and number of colonies. Optimising woodland management is benefiting the netted carpet (Eustroma reticulatum) in the Lake District and north Lancashire, and the drab looper (Minoa murinata) in South Wales, by creating suitable habitats for their caterpillar host plants. In Scotland the only remaining UK
Moths, 2 REFERENCES 1) Montgomery, G. A. et al. Is the insect apocalypse upon us? How to find out. Biol. Conserv. 241, 108327 (2020). 2) Fox, R. et al. The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021. Butterfly Conservation, Rothamsted Research and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wareham, Dorset, UK (2021). 3) Macgregor, C. J. et al. Construction, validation, and application of nocturnal pollen transport networks in an agro-ecosystem: a comparison using light microscopy and DNA metabarcoding. Ecol. Entomol. 44, 17–29 (2019). 4) Macgregor, C. J. et al. Climate-induced phenology shifts linked to range expansions in species with multiple reproductive cycles per year. Nat. Commun. 10, 4455 (2019). 5) Froidevaux, J .S. P. et al. Moth responses to sympathetic hedgerow management in temperate farmland. Agri. Ecosyst. Environ. 270–271, 55–64 (2019). 6) Merckx, T. et al. Hedgerow trees and extended-width field margins enhance macro-moth diversity: implications for management. J. Appl. Ecol. 49, 1396–1404 (2012).
The distribution of small elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila porcellus) has increased by 147% in Britain (1970–2016)
The rapid decline of once widespread species such as the stout dart (Spaelotis ravida) is particularly alarming given that the causes are often unknown colony of New Forest burnet (Zygaena viciae) has been safeguarded over the past 30 years by building and maintaining fences to exclude sheep from the remote site.
Bob Eade
LOOKING AHEAD
Overall, the new report confirms continued rapid change to Britain’s larger moth fauna, but it is a complex picture. While substantial numbers of moths are expanding their distributions and new species colonising our shores, there is also clear evidence of worrying declines, which
are likely to have a negative impact on the plants that moths pollinate and the many animals that prey upon moths. While the precise causes of these declines are not fully understood, conservation action is required now to try to stop the ongoing erosion of moth populations. This will require greatly increased support for wildlife-friendly farming measures such as wide field margins, more hedgerow trees and less frequent hedge cutting, all of which lead to increased abundance and species richness of
moths5,6. Rewilding of ecologically degraded land, whether in urban parks or on country estates, could also greatly benefit moths and other wildlife – something you could try, in miniature, in a corner of your own garden by allowing the grass to grow long or planting some native wildflowers or shrubs. You can read The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 in full on the Butterfly Conservation website at www.butterflyconservation.org Dr Richard Fox is associate director of recording and monitoring at the UK charity Butterfly Conservation and was lead author of The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 report. He led the creation of the National Moth Recording Scheme and has been involved in numerous research papers focused on UK butterflies and moths.
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Mind-blowing research The use of psychedelic substances as treatments for conditions such as depression will revolutionise mental health care and represents the biggest innovation in psychiatry since the 1950s, says Professor David Nutt 26 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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Professor David Nutt is a neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in drugs that affect the brain. He recently took over as director of Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research, which since opening in 2019 has been exploring the use of psychedelic drugs in mental health care and as tools to study consciousness. There is growing evidence that psychedelic substances, in combination with psychotherapy, can be used to treat mental illnesses such as depression and addiction. But in almost every country in the world psychedelic drugs remain classified as Schedule 1 controlled substances, defined as ‘having no therapeutic value’, and therefore cannot be lawfully possessed or prescribed. Despite the complications this creates for research there has been a renaissance in this field of study in the last decade, with promising results in trials for disorders
including severe depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Earlier this year Nutt’s group at Imperial began a new trial comparing psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’) therapy with a conventional antidepressant drug. Trials on similar substances for obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain and anorexia will begin later this year.
Tom Ireland: Can you explain briefly what happens to the brain of a person taking psychedelic drugs?
David Nutt: The cortex is loaded with receptors called 2A receptors, where psychedelics act. Back in the 1980s, when I first started to try to understand what a psychedelic experience was, we couldn’t study these receptors with psychedelics, so we used a drug that blocked them instead. The paradox was that when we blocked these receptors very little happened. The
Magic mushrooms, which contain the powerful hallucinogen psilocybin, were reclassified as a class A drug in the UK in 2005
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only significant thing you find is the brain synchronises into deep sleep more easily. What does that mean? The blockers were explored as sleep improvers and anti-anxiety medications, but never got off the ground. Now, almost 40 years on, we actually can do studies where we give the agonist of these receptors, and can say wow – they do exactly the opposite. The antagonist increases brain synchronicity, but the agonist disrupts: they make a very disorganised or chaotic brain, an entropic brain. That was our great discovery, that psychedelics basically disorganised the structured way in which the brain circuits work as a segregated series. That’s why you get strange experiences like synaesthesia, hallucinations and distortions.
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The Centre for Psychedelic Research launched in 2019, the same year that the Johns Hopkins University also announced a big centre dedicated to psychedelic research. What led to the field of psychedelic research making this big step forward at this particular time?
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Obviously I’m biased, but I think our group did two really landmark things: showing how the brain was changed by psychedelics, and how the processes changed were compatible with
antidepressant, anti-anxiety or even anti-addiction effects. While we worked out how these drugs work in the brain, a group in the USA showed that in depression the particular network that encodes a sense of self, known as the default mode network, was over-engaged in depression. Well, with psychedelics, you completely destroy the default mode network, which is why people feel that they’re not themselves, and some people say they atomise, or they float out of the scanner and they go off to another universe or other dimension. So we thought if the default mode is driving depression and we can disrupt it, maybe we can disrupt depression. Also, one of the areas in the brain that is particularly affected by psychedelics is the subgenual cingulate cortex. Many studies – studies of antidepressants, of psychotherapy, of electroconvulsive therapy – have shown that getting better from depression, even if it’s a placebo effect, involves reduced activity in this region. So we thought that if we can disrupt the default mode network and we can switch off the subgenual, maybe it’ll work in depression.
There are a range of different substances being explored as potential
aids to psychotherapy – psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD, DMT (ayahuasca). How do they differ?
They are not as profoundly different as you might think – it’s all dose related. They all basically desegregate the brain, so it becomes much more connected. DMT is an unusual drug and also works on another receptor of the brain called the sigma receptor. So it is possible that some of the effects of DMT are driven by that sigma stimulation. However, the major difference is in the pharmacokinetics. The reason DMT blasts people into another dimension is because it changes the brain so fast that the contrast is overwhelming. Whereas with drugs such as LSD and psilocybin taken orally, the effect builds up over 30 minutes to an hour and the brain therefore is adapting to some extent. There are different psychedelics such as salvia, which works in a different part of the brain, so it’s not hallucinogenic but it’s very distorting of our perceptions. Then there are GABAergic psychedelics – no one’s ever scanned people on those. That’s the Alice in Wonderland pill that makes you go bigger and smaller; it probably works largely in the visual cortex to distort size perception. So, yes, there are different psychedelics, but all the ones that work on the 2A receptor are probably doing almost exactly the same thing.
A key question in this field is whether the intense emotional and often spiritual experiences that accompany the administration of the drug are fundamental to a successful outcome. Could pharmaceuticals be developed that don’t involve the mind-blowing trips? Great question! There are four strands to answering that. First, lots of people use microdosing LSD or mushrooms – a dose that doesn’t cause a psychedelic effect – to improve their mood or creativity. The evidence is that it’s mostly placebo, but
The centre has also explored the effects of ‘microdosing’, used by a growing number of people to supposedly improve mood or creativity
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Depressed people don’t generally come back saying that they’ve seen God … What they do get are insights into the nature of their depression
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Professor David Nutt heads up Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research
that’s fine – half of what we see in all medicine is placebo. Second, there are now lots of companies trying to work in the psychedelic space and some are claiming that they can make non-hallucinogenic drugs that are also going to be therapeutic. This is normally based on some derivative of psilocybin that doesn’t cause a head twitch in mice. My view is that I don’t know that head twitching in a mouse is a very good proxy for the human experience. It’s great for raising investment money, but I think we’ve got to give it to humans first. The third is about dose: it might just be that a bigger dose is more likely to be mystical as well as an antidepressant. But the fourth thing is: these powerful experiences, are they more than just a dose effect? I think they might be. One of the things we have learned from our work is that depressed people don’t generally come back saying that they’ve seen God; they don’t have a mystical experience in the same way that people using these drugs to achieve insights and transformation do. What they do get are insights into the nature of their depression and the factors perpetuating their illness. They might see their parents as the devil, for example, or speak to an abuser that has caused them lots of pain. So I think those
What psychedelics do is break down the existing modes of thinking. So people become more interested in what’s outside rather than what’s inside
kinds of insights, which are not mystical in the traditional sense, are very powerful. Ketamine, which is an anaesthetic, can disrupt depressive thinking, but not for very long. We think that might be because it actually blocks the systems required for new learning and new concepts. And so, even if it did make you trip, you wouldn’t remember it.
the neuroscience, because what psychedelics do is break down the existing modes of thinking. So people become more interested in what’s outside rather than what’s inside.
How do you record these ‘insights’ and hallucinogenic experiences, which might be so strange that the patient can’t even express it in words themselves?
We’ve done a lot of surveys of people going on retreats and taking psychedelics and other drugs. It’s very useful because you can get them to log in and do rating scales, cognitive tasks or look at things such as personality variables before and after. We get information that we could never get experimentally. Our microdosing study was a self-administration study and we even managed to blind it. That data shows what people are using the drugs for, and usually it’s not for fun or just to get high. It’s usually for trying to make sense of their lives and have a better understanding of themselves. It also gives us lots of safety data because we discovered that there are relatively few unwanted effects. It also has given us some pointers – for instance, one of the things we have discovered is that people with quite severe personality problems tend not to do very well on psychedelics.
We don’t do any work during the trip. It’s just impossible to engage with people when they’re in a whole new place so we record interviews with them the day after. It’s not my field of expertise, but there are algorithms that work out the nature of the speech and the content and themes that enable us to code and analyse them. One of my favourite papers explores the narratives of people recovering from depression under psilocybin. One of the key things is connectedness: people coming out of trips, whether they’re depressed patients or not, feel more connected with the world, with nature, to other people. This actually fits rather beautifully with
I saw that you’re gathering data from people who take psychedelics in their own time. Can you tell me a bit more about that and what you hope to gain?
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FURTHER READING 1) Carhart-Harris, R. L. et al. Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109(6), 2138–2143 (2012). 2) Watts, R. et al. Patients’ accounts of increased “connectedness” and “acceptance” after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. J. Humanist. Psychol. 57(5) (2017). 3) Trial of psilocybin versus escitalopram for depression. N. Eng. J. Med. 384, 1402–1411 (2021). 4) Carhart-Harris, R. L. et al. Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study. Lancet Psychiatry 3(7), 619–627 (2016). 5) Carhart-Harris, R. L. et al. Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms. Sci. Rep. 7, 13187 (2017).
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A therapy room at Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research
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I’m not lobbying for a regulated market for psychedelics. I am lobbying for them to be available in medicine because it is truly outrageous that they’re not and they haven’t been for 50 years Tell me a little bit about how you’re funding this work because I noticed that you’re not funded by any of the major research councils. Have they refused to support this work? The first depression study was funded by the MRC. Every other funding application I’ve put in subsequently – studies in eating disorders, pain, obesity – have been rejected. I think it’s because the model doesn’t fit the traditional pharmaceutical model. Fortunately, there are plenty of people out there who have made a lot of money and think psychedelics have contributed to that and fund us philanthropically. Furthermore, now there are companies being set up [to manufacture therapeutic psychedelics] and it may be that they will also facilitate our work. We get our medicines from those companies at present, which saves us some funding. 30 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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Your name has become synonymous with the idea of liberalising drug laws. Do you think that will have an impact on how people view your research on psychedelics and the work of the Centre for Psychedelic Research?
How dare you – I call it rationalising drug laws! Of course, some people will think: “It’s just crazy Nutt banging on again.” However, one of the reasons I was able to start this work with confidence when we did our first administration of psilocybin to humans in 2008 was because I had, working with the government, produced the definitive way of assessing drug harms. Those data showed me absolutely, categorically, without any equivocation, that psilocybin was a very safe drug. I was confident that using it in science was going to be relatively benign and it has been. My arguments with the government have been that the drug laws are
actually not based on any evidence. On top of that now it’s increasingly clear that those drug laws are a severe impediment to research. It’s actually the worst censorship of scientific research in history. Before LSD was banned in 1967 there had been six US-funded trials of one or two doses of LSD to treat alcoholism, and the effect size was one, which is twice the effect size of any subsequent treatment for alcoholism. Since 1967 there has not been a single further trial of it as a treatment for alcoholism. Suppose that LSD had worked on just 10% of 100 million people who have died from alcoholism since?
Do you think governments will reconsider the laws around the use of psychedelic drugs?
These drugs are still illegal in every country in the world, except ayahuasca in South America. They are still controlled Schedule
There’s a strong history within psychedelic research of scientists testing substances on themselves. Have you or do you use any of the substances we’ve talked about?
I never answer questions about anything that might get me arrested. And I never answer questions about that because it takes the focus away from the science – I don’t want to be the subject of discussion. And whatever I say is wrong: half the world will hate me either way.
Presuming further trials are successful, how could this model of treatment be scaled up? Treating patients in this way is very different to giving someone a packet of pills or existing talking therapies.
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We need more therapists, we need psychiatrists who are interested, we need psychologists who are interested. I think this is going to be the great revolution in psychiatry in the next 20 to 30 years, bringing psychotherapy and pharmacology together into psychedelic psychotherapy. It’s a very exciting time. This interview focuses on the administration of psychedelic substances under controlled clinical trial conditions, not through self-administration or recreational use. For more information see www. imperial.ac.uk/psychedelic-research-centre
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1 substances. We can’t even use them in medicine yet, except in research, which is outrageous. I think patient pressure will force governments to open them up for patient use in the same way as patient pressure opened up the use of medical cannabis. I don’t like the term ‘recreational use’ for psychedelics, as I think people who use psychedelics are not doing it for fun. People use them for self-exploration. Personally, I’d be completely comfortable with a regulated market for psychedelics, where you might be able to get them on a prescription on a smart card, maybe three or four times a year, from a local pharmacy. But I’m not lobbying for that – I am lobbying for them to be available in medicine because it is truly outrageous that they’re not and they haven’t been for 50 years.
“THE LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE BLURRED” WHAT’S IT LIKE TO RECEIVE PSYCHEDELIC PSYCHOTHERAPY?
With their GP’s permission and after discussing the treatment carefully, patients who meet the criteria for the trial come to the centre and receive a dose of psilocybin in a relaxing room in the presence of therapists. The experience takes up to five hours, with drugs on hand to calm patients or to stop the effects if necessary – although Nutt says this has only once been required. Patients discuss their experiences the following day. Patients may return for a second dose a few weeks later. Jemma Rapley, treated for depression at the centre in 2019, describes her experience: “The treatment room was dressed up like a spa and my two therapists made every effort to put me at ease. Then came the first dose, a capsule taken with water. I was nervous but eager, and donned an eye mask and headphones for an immersive experience. For me, there were no swirling colours or hallucinations – it was more like a waking dream: images in my mind’s eye with no substance, but conjured by my imagination to interpret what I was feeling. “As I sank into the trip I felt a pressure in my chest and remember thinking my heart was breaking, then it slowly extended until I felt crushed
under the weight of my depression. The literal and figurative blurred – it felt like real weight, but it didn’t physically hurt. Suddenly the pressure vanished and I was alone in the dark. No, not alone, there was another ‘me’ there: my self-doubt. So manifested, I was finally able to let go of ‘her’ completely. My unburdened self was then reintroduced to positive emotions – love, happiness, appreciation, and many others I’d forgotten. I was able to understand with clarity the people and things that were important to me. “A few hours in, I removed the eye mask. Everything had taken on a red/ green hue as if looking through 3D glasses, and as I breathed the world breathed with me, literally pulsing. I felt delighted and truly connected. I looked at myself in the mirror and for the first time in years was happy with what was reflected there. “The whole experience was incredibly healing and uplifting in ways I couldn’t have imagined back when depression still darkened my life. Psilocybin crystallised the root of my illness as self-doubt and it allowed me to let go of that and reconnect with friends and family after years of feeling alone and isolated.”
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Is nature healing?
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It is estimated that in April 2020 over half of all people on Earth were confined to their homes as governments responded to the escalating COVID-19 crisis with strict lockdown or quarantine measures. In a paper1 published later that year Professor Christian Rutz and his co-authors coined the term ‘anthropause’ to describe this massive, sudden, global reduction in human mobility. (The word went on to feature in the Oxford English 32 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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Dictionary’s words of the year alongside ‘furlough’ and ‘covidiot’.) The paper set out how the global lockdown – although born out of tragic circumstances – represented an unprecedented opportunity to quantify the effects of human activity on wildlife and the environment generally. Rutz, a professor in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews and founding president of the International Bio-Logging Society, is now co-leading a global consortium of biologists, data
scientists, conservationists and geographers to pool biologging data from before, during and after the lockdowns of 2020 in order to build a picture of the effects on different species in different places. Rutz hopes this could provide key lessons on how we can live alongside wildlife more harmoniously. In the media it has been assumed that amid this vast reduction in human activity wildlife and ecosystems were recovering from the pressures we have put them under. But the real picture is more complicated.
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The ‘anthropause’ caused by COVID-19 restrictions has allowed nature to temporarily rebound in some ways, but also reveals how crucial humans are to the fates of animals and ecosystems, Professor Christian Rutz tells Tom Ireland
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Some sea turtle populations have been thriving without humans on their nesting beaches
We can make very small tweaks to the way we live our lives that will have significant benefits for other animals As we made clear in the paper we published last year, we think it is incredibly important to keep that in mind when considering this as a research opportunity. First and foremost, during the COVID-19 pandemic many people lost their lives or lost loved ones: it’s a massive human tragedy.
Bearing that in mind, can you tell me a bit more about the types of studies that could benefit from these unprecedented times?
Tom Ireland: In terms of reductions in human activity, has there ever been anything comparable to this before?
Christian Rutz: There have been sudden reductions in human activity confined to a certain area – for example, the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters led to exclusion zones where human activity was basically reduced to near zero. The plague, which affected large numbers of people across Eurasia and North Africa, also caused major disruption to human activity. When we were coining the term ‘anthropause’ we were thinking about the global-scale shock to the system COVID-19 has caused. This really is unprecedented – I can’t think of any other circumstance where scientists have had an opportunity to study human-wildlife interactions in this quasi-experimental manner, at such spatial scales and across so many different taxa. What is important to say is that in most cases any reduction in human activity is associated with massive human suffering.
We felt that these extraordinary conditions afforded a research opportunity that we as a community couldn’t afford to miss. It enables us as ecologists to look at the effect of changing human activity levels across sites and across systems, across species and terrestrial ecosystems, and in the marine realm. Of course, you have the temporal component as well, so you can look at systems before, during and after lockdown. These are basically the key ingredients you need for something ecologists or environmental scientists call a ‘before after control impact’ design. So you compare a system before and after the perturbation happens and you have additional control sites where no perturbation happens. Those could be areas that are so remote that it didn’t really matter whether humans were locked down or not and the change in disturbance was quite minimal. One of the key objectives of the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative is to use animal tracking data to specifically inform how we humans can share quite limited space on this planet with other animals, and to look at opportunities for restructuring transport networks and our general day-to-day behaviours in a way that benefits the natural world. I should say here that we are not asking, and we will never ask, for humans to
stay home – that’s not a viable proposal. What we hope to get is ideas about how we can make very small tweaks to the way we live our lives that don’t impact what we enjoy or have to do, but have significant benefits for other animals. That could be changing the topology of a road network, it could be changing the timing of vessel traffic in particular areas, it could be a very time-limited protection of a particular area that is very important for a local animal population. There are reports of some sea turtle populations, for example, really benefiting from the absence of humans on their nesting beaches. We’re talking a window of a few weeks that makes a massive difference for these animals. These are the kinds of lessons we can learn and can take forward as we think about how to live our post-pandemic lives.
What do the first results from studies investigating lockdown effects on wildlife suggest is happening?
The first indications are that it’s a mixed bag of effects. So although the initial response from the media and on social media was to focus on this idea that nature is rebounding and everything is better when there are fewer humans out and
Twitter memes make fun of exaggerated claims that ‘nature is healing’
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Nubian ibexes take advantage of the lack of human activity during lockdown with a stroll through the streets of Mitzpe Ramon, Israel
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about, there are actually quite a number of studies that illustrate that humans, in modern human-dominated landscapes, fulfil a very important role as custodians of biodiversity. Once they are no longer available to do their monitoring and protection work, then certain systems can come under increased pressure. Many of us have personal experiences of seeing wild animals in places where we hadn’t noticed them before. That is what led to these headlines in the media about nature rebounding or ‘healing’. We have to take those anecdotal observations with a pinch of salt, because there are likely observation biases: we had more time to look for wildlife as we were asked to stay at home, and more people developed an interest in wildlife watching. However, it looks as if some studies that use more controlled data collection have
indeed found such effects for some species – that they moved more widely and explored areas that they would not otherwise visit. For example, in Israel there are reports of griffon vultures roaming more widely when air traffic was reduced. In terms of other positive effects there are now compelling quantitative studies documenting a reduction in roadkill. There are also negative effects. As I mentioned some species have come under increased pressure because they have become quite reliant on food discarded or intentionally provided by humans. Also, in places where wildlife wardens were no longer able to patrol or there were fewer eyes to watch out for criminal activities, there is clear evidence to show that led to increased levels of persecution and poaching. There are reports of increased use of snares in
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areas of Uganda and of a spike in raptor persecution in the UK, for example. So we need to view these effects on a case-by-case basis, species by species. It’s a fairly nuanced story.
In terms of animal ranging behaviour increasing, which I think is probably the focus of most of the media attention – goats taking over a town in Wales springs to mind – is that necessarily always a positive thing for those animals? They might find nothing useful to them or come into danger.
That is a very good point – we shouldn’t interpret all of these occurrences of wildlife in unusual places as a positive outcome. And, of course, we shouldn’t forget that this reduction in human activity is a transient phenomenon. Whatever opportunities may have arisen may close again post-pandemic. At the same time, I would say that this provides animals with an opportunity to gather information about their
environment, to learn about the availability of resources and perhaps also to have an opportunity to habituate to human presence as they re-enter the landscape.
Could you explain how the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative collects data on animal behaviour?
It brings together researchers from around the world who use small tracking devices to find out where animals go when humans can’t observe them. In most cases these are GPS loggers that give positional data and enable wildlife ecologists to see where an animal flies or swims or hops. In other cases those tags include additional sensors, such as accelerometers, that enable us to make inferences about the animal’s activity. This is a very active field and each year hundreds of studies deploy these tracking devices in their chosen study species – from small songbirds to large whales and everything in between. We realised that when the world went into lockdown early last year, tens of thousands of tags remained on these animals and they continued collecting and delivering data, which is a goldmine of information we can tap. So we mobilised the international biologging community, asking who had tags on animals and who could potentially share data. Within a few weeks we had this amazing reaction from the community, with hundreds of responses. That convinced us that there was enough support to build a consortium. Over the past 12 months we’ve brought together researchers, data analysis experts, human geographers, all sorts of colleagues who can contribute relevant expertise to pull together these animal-tracking data sets. We then combine them with information on changes in human mobility to analyse these anthropause effects on animal movement. By the latest count we’ve been offered data for more than 13,000 tagged animals from all the world’s oceans, all continents
WITH HUMANS AWAY, DO RAPTORS PLAY? The Global Anthropause Raptor Research Network (GARRN) is a key collaborator of the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative. Raptors are known to be quite sensitive to human disturbance and interaction with humans, and a group that in some areas of the world is under intense pressure from humans through persecution. The project offers an opportunity to go beyond tracking, with many studies on raptors globally that also collect data on factors such as diet composition, pollution levels and reproductive output. We decided to try to capitalise on that by launching this initiative that looks at the responses of raptors to lockdown effects more broadly, including longer-term, populationlevel consequences. While our COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative has secured funding through the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the National Geographic Society, we are still looking for support for the raptor project. We have just published a paper that shares our vision for that project and indicates how these lockdown analyses could really transform raptor conservation globally if we move fast and make good use of the lockdown data.
REFERENCE 1) Rutz, C. et al. COVID-19 lockdown allows researchers to quantify the effects of human activity on wildlife. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 4, 1156–1159 (2020).
and across a diverse range of taxonomic groups, from small terrestrial animals to large marine mammals. We are expecting to pass one billion GPS fixes pretty soon. It’s important to make very clear that our initiative is open to everybody, so it’s not restricted to people who are data owners. We welcome contributions in terms of local knowledge and conservation expertise. That is the spirit of these projects – they are community driven and are not the initiatives of one particular research group. This is meant to be a vehicle for the research community to come together to produce useful outputs.
What are the next steps and what do you foresee happening with all this data?
Developing the necessary infrastructure for a project of this scale was no trivial feat and we’ve spent a long time on that. Dealing with hundreds of projects contributing data sets that are formatted in slightly different ways creates real challenges in terms of data harmonisation, standardisation and ownership. We are now at the stage where we are crunching the numbers. I think we can expect first papers on specific questions – questions focused on certain taxonomic groups or regions – to come out in the near future. In terms of the analysis required, it’s really complex work and some projects will take longer. We know that there is a sense of urgency. We know that the world wants to hear the answers to some of these questions. We have plans to ultimately pool all the data to paint a global picture of anthropause effects on animal movement. That will be most likely the crowning output of these initiatives, but that will take years to accomplish. The COVID Bio-Logging Initiative is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the National Geographic Society. For further information visit www.biologging.net
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Raptors are particularly sensitive to human activities
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MEMBERS
A snapshot of our members at work and leisure
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The parasitic plant Rafflesia patma, which grows in Indonesia PRODUCTION CLIENT
in Indonesia I work with my small team to learn about developments in biotechnology, put the ideas into papers and disseminate my research results in webinars or workshops. I also work part-time as a biology teacher. Being a researcher and PhD student means I can give my students a real overview of biology instead of relying completely on textbooks. About half my time is spent teaching students, which I do largely from home, pre-recording video or podcast lectures and coming up with ways to adapt workshops and practicals that are usually run face-to-face.
A day in the life
PhD student Adhityo Wicaksono MRSB on his scientific projects in both Finland and Indonesia MY ALARM GOES OFF…
At 5am to pray and enjoy the first fresh air of the morning. I always enjoy waking up this early to give myself some moments to pause and project today’s activities clearly. Before the pandemic I would be off to Bogor Botanical Garden in Indonesia to do my field study. Now I work from home. My laptop is my lab, my classroom and my gateway to people.
MY WORK INVOLVES…
Three roles. As a PhD student at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, I work with mudskippers, the amphibious tree-climbing fish, learning from their biomechanics in order to build a bio-inspired robot model. As head of the biotechnology division at the Genbinesia Foundation 36 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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I WORK WITH…
Some amazing organisms, such as mudskippers and the world’s biggest flower, Rafflesia, an enigmatic parasitic plant. I also work with some amazing people! My research supervisor, Sofi Mursidawati, has worked with Rafflesia for 20 years and my PhD supervisor, Dr Parvez Alam FRSB, is one of my role models in science. I also have a wonderful team at Genbinesia.
RIGHT NOW I AM…
Analysing my data on my laptop. I am working with my colleagues to use Rafflesia bioinformatics for in silico studies, including drug discovery and synthetic biology. Learning something new is important to keep me going. Strengthening these links in biology can keep me productive despite being away from fieldwork.
AFTER WORK…
I enjoy the good local meals available in Bandung, Indonesia, where I live – you will never go hungry here! Since the pandemic I’ve been in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend. So I love spending my time with her by video call – she is also a biologist!
Members, 1
My Society and me Lucy Hudson MRSB explains her work supporting bioscience technicians
Over the last 25 years I have been fortunate to be able to progress my career from technician to research assistant, laboratory manager and then operations manager at the University of York. I have long been an advocate for improving career development opportunities for technicians at York through informal conversation, performance reviews and establishing a technical forum. In the last four years there has
been significant national exposure for the improvement of technical careers in higher education, especially through the Science Council’s Technician Commitment and societies such as the RSB, Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Physics. Their work has certainly changed the culture for technicians to seek external career advice and to become professionally registered. And that is why I became a
member of the Society in 2017 – to further my knowledge using the Society’s CPD scheme, attend events and courses, and network. In May I was delighted to hear that I had been elected as a trustee for the RSB. With my technical background and work on the Technician Commitment, and as an external adviser for the National Technician Development Centre, I hope to work with the Society to
demonstrate the benefits and encourage technicians in higher education to join the RSB or other societies. I would love to hear from anyone interested in our work on improving career pathways for technicians.
Go ‘behind the scenes’ with RSB members online All recent member profiles from The Biologist are now available online, alongside a new series of interviews exploring Society members’ laboratory groups and the work of RSB staff. Professor Petra Oyston FRSB explains the unique projects and working life at the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, Dr Parvez Alam FRSB tells us about his group’s ‘bioprospecting’ fieldwork, and Dr Jade Hall MRSB explains how the society is bringing together best practice on diversity and inclusion in the biosciences. To find these and more visit thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/meetour-members
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Opportunities, awards and events REPRO OP
A round-up of upcoming RSB activities for members
PUBLICATIONS
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The Biologist is looking to recruit new members to its editorial board, especially those with expertise in stem cell or reproductive biology, ecology, conservation and mental health. Editorial board members help review articles and feed ideas from their subject areas to the editorial team. For more information about what is involved and how to apply, contact tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk
PRODUCTION
The Society now offers more than a dozen free e-newsletters and bulletins for different ages and interests, including job alerts, our popular policy and COVID-19 newsletters, and regular updates aimed at those
working in schools, industry, plant science or natural capital. Visit the ‘my subscriptions’ section of myrsb.org.uk to subscribe.
EVENTS
The RSB is hosting an online Fellows’ Lunch in September. The informal virtual meeting will provide Fellows of the RSB with the opportunity to discuss current biological issues and the Society’s overall direction. For a rundown of RSB events taking place during Biology Week 2021 see page 5 or rsb.org.uk/events for further information and booking.
INTERNSHIPS AND GRANTS
Two UKRI policy internships at
the RSB in 2022 will soon be open to applicants, funded by Animal Health Research, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, and NERC. Further details on these three-month roles are available on the UKRI Policy Internships Scheme webpage by visiting bit.ly/UKRIpolicy
learning for an indefinite period. The RSB’s education during COVID-19 web pages continue to be regularly updated, with advice, resources and announcements for schools, students and parents. For more details visit www.rsb. org.uk/education/educationduring-covid-19
The RSB’s grants for outreach and engagement events have been delayed until 2022 for applications to fund in-person events or activities that year.
The Society is offering 40 state-funded primary schools in the UK free access to the RSB’s Gopher Science Lab online training course. The project supports the transition from primary to secondary school, with peer-to-peer learning across age groups. Contact amanda.hardy@rsb.org.uk to apply on a first-come-firstserved basis.
EDUCATION
Educators across the UK are dealing with new challenges and meeting continued disruption to face-to-face teaching and
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Education and training The Society’s programme of online courses
LEADERSHIP IN A LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT 7–8 September 2021 Video conferencing via Zoom Held over two days, this introductory course aimed at laboratory team leaders, principal investigators and postdoctoral researchers aims to develop participants’ skills in forming teams, providing leadership and dealing with any issues that emerge. 21 CPD POINTS FROM £90 + VAT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATION 13–14 September 2021 Video conferencing via Zoom A two-day introductory course for biological and medical scientists
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PROGRAMMING FOR BIOLOGISTS 29 September – 10 October 2021 Video conferencing via Zoom Split over smaller sessions online, this course covers an introduction to programming for biologists using Python. Coding is an essential skill for the modern biologist, and this course will teach you how to use Python, a popular and powerful computer language, through the popular Jupyter system. 27 CPD POINTS FROM £85 + VAT who wish to explore computational biology, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The course aims to develop the theoretical, practical and strategic skills needed to collect,
understand, manage and analyse data. This course contributes to the Royal Society of Biology’s Industry Skills Certificate. 15 CPD POINTS FROM £100 + VAT
For more information about RSB training courses and to see courses provided by our Member Organisations and other partners, see rsb.org.uk/events
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REVIEWS
Books for biologists, nature lovers and their families
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BACTERIOPHAGES: BIOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, THERAPY
David Harper, Stephen Abedon, Benjamin Burrowes and Malcolm McConville (Eds) SPRINGER REFERENCE, £499.00
SUBS ART PRODUCTION Shutterstock
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Bacteriophages, or simply ‘phages’, are the viruses that infect and kill prokaryotes. There are thought to be at least 10 times as many phages as bacteria and archaea on the planet, making them by far the most abundant and diverse form of life on Earth. Infecting, manipulating and killing prokaryotic cells in every environment, these viruses help control bacterial populations, drive genetic diversity and evolution, and influence biogeochemical cycles on a global scale. As a tool they have played a key role in most of the great advances in molecular biology since the 1950s. The revolutionary technology CRISPR is derived from a prokaryotic defence system against phages. Discovered in the early 20th century by eccentric self-taught microbiologist Félix d’Hérelle, phages’ bacteria-killing properties quickly found use in the fight against infectious disease in the 1920s and 1930s. Preparations of phages were used to treat a range of infectious diseases long before penicillin was widely available. Because of the challenges of working with viruses, the concept was largely abandoned by western medicine as more convenient and mass-producible antibiotics came on to the market. That is, except for a few pockets of the former Soviet Union – namely Tbilisi in Georgia, where phage therapy has been practised continuously since the 1930s. With the antimicrobial crisis becoming ever more acute, phage therapy is once again being explored in the USA and Europe to treat infections where conventional treatments have failed. Efforts to modernise and standardise this forgotten treatment are attracting huge interest and funding, so this book is published at an exciting time. This reference guide to bacteriophages is arguably even broader than its subtitle suggests. At well over 1,000 pages the book not only covers phage biology, and the technological and medical applications of phages, but also touches on the fascinating history of phage science, the use of phages in environmental and agricultural contexts, and the relatively young field of phage ecology. 40 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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The book contains chapters from well-known figures in the field, from the historian William Summers, known for documenting the early years of phage science and the fascinating career of d’Hérelle, to Nina Chanishvili and Zemphira Alavidze from the Georgian phage therapy centres that hold decades’ worth of therapeutic experience and useful phages. Those who study phages know their time in the spotlight is well overdue. For those who don’t this book is a good place to start. Several clinical trials of a modernised version of phage therapy are set to conclude this year and, after almost a century of false starts, phage therapy could soon become a mainstream treatment. Outside of the medical sphere, microbiologists are only just starting to understand the impact of these fundamental, fascinating and potentially life-saving viruses on the evolution and ecology of life on this planet. Tom Ireland MRSB
THE GLITTER IN THE GREEN: IN SEARCH OF HUMMINGBIRDS
Jon Dunn
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING, £20.00 (HARDBACK)
Captivatingly written and gorgeously illustrated with the author’s own photographs, this is a heartfelt paean to hummingbirds. Endemic to the Americas, most of the over 300 hummingbird species are concentrated in the neotropics, although hardy species survive in the harsher climes of Tierra del Fuego and Alaska. Perhaps even more impressive for such small birds, some of those Alaskan hummingbirds migrate from Florida, 3,500 miles away, although others have more limited ranges. Exploring the length of the American continent in search of hummingbirds, the author introduces us to many such memorable characters and locales. We also learn about hummingbirds’ unique biology, including their co-evolution with the exotic blooms that depend on them as pollinators as much as the birds rely on their high-energy nectar. Hummingbird hearts beat at an incredible 1,200 times per minute, powering their relatively huge pectoral muscles to beat their blurred wings
between 50 and 200 times per second. No wonder they hum so loudly. Also described is the cultural significance of these iridescent marvels, both in their native Americas – it is no coincidence that one of the 2,000-year-old images in Peru’s Nazca Desert is of a giant hummingbird – and elsewhere, for example in more recent European art and fashion. Unfortunately, their glittering plumage, attractive to Aztec emperors and Edwardian milliners alike, has led to hummingbird deaths in incomprehensible numbers. Endemic island species such as the Juan Fernández Firecrown are particularly vulnerable to environmental change, but other hummingbirds are also perilously close to extinction. As the author says, unless we respond quickly, many of the species encountered on this American odyssey may not survive the current human generation. Mike Smith FRSB
Reviews, 1 Hummingbirds’ wings can beat up to 200 times per second
BARN CLUB: A TALE OF FORGOTTEN ELM TREES, TRADITIONAL CRAFT AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT
Robert J Somerville
CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING, £20.00
The Carley Barn in Hertfordshire was built from elm by hand in just one year using ancient skills. Barn Club describes how a group of around 15 craftspeople and willing apprentices, all volunteers, worked together to build this barn. Much is made of the practical skills used, particularly woodworking, but also the benefits of working together as a community. Not all ideas may sit comfortably with all biologists, such as elm being a tree with an enduring life force and that our “cells are completely at home” when we walk through a wood. Nevertheless, there is much good biology included, particularly in the Wych
Elms, Field Elms and Wildings chapter, where the natural history and historic importance of elms are described. Memorable nuggets include the comparison of emerging elm leaves with the shape of red squirrels’ tufted ears, which forms the basis for the old saying that beans should be planted when elm leaves are the size of squirrels’ ears. It is encouraging to read that the author estimates that about 1,000 elms remain in the UK with trunks more than three feet in diameter, although how these have survived elm disease remains a mystery. Overall, the book tells a unique story with drawings and photos to complement it. Barn Club is likely to appeal to arboriculturists, foresters, plant pathologists, green architects and creative woodworkers. It would be essential reading for anyone thinking about trying a similar project. Dr Sue Howarth CBiol FRSB
WHAT IS A BIRD?: AN EXPLORATION OF ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND ECOLOGY
Tony D Williams (Ed)
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, £30.00 (HARDBACK)
This is a compendium of knowledge covering just about every aspect of a bird’s life. The book introduces us to an animal group that is astonishingly diverse. The many adaptations developed by birds to achieve such diversity are explored using a range of examples and high-quality colour images, and supported by scientific studies. The book is designed to appeal to the interested ‘birder’ or the keen naturalist, with the hard science kept in the background. However, with interesting and sometimes unusual detail, even professional scientists may find something of interest. Dr Alan Woolhead Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 41
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BRANCHES Upcoming events near you and event reports
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EAST ANGLIA
Event calendar September 2021 onwards Honeybee foraging in the flowers of an apple tree
NORTH WESTERN
AGM AND LECTURE
SUBS
Wednesday 22 September
ART
The AGM will be followed by an online lecture (TBC). This event is free to attend and open to all. Advance registration is essential. Online
BIOLOGY WEEK: HONEYBEE ANATOMY DEVON AND CORNWALL PRODUCTION
AGM AND LECTURE
Tuesday 28 September
CLIENT
AGM and a talk by Professor Jennifer Littlechild, professor of biological chemistry at the University of Exeter, on enzymes and their contribution to a sustainable biocatalytic approach to a circular economy. This event is free and advance registration is essential. Online
Did you know honeybees have built-in antenna cleaners on their legs and suction cups on their feet? Find out more in a talk by Janet Preece from Lancashire Beekeepers Association. This event is free and advance registration is essential. Online
10 June 2021
Nicholas Duggan from Viadynamics provided a comprehensive presentation centred around innovation, connecting and networking despite the virtual environment we now find ourselves in. The event went far beyond the reaches of the east of the UK with attendees from as far afield as India and Hong Kong. Duggan walked us through the translation of scientific discovery into the world of business and his experience as the founder of Cellesce, a biotechnology start-up based in Cardiff. The session tackled subjects such as how to pitch to businesses, what business is like and how to understand your niche. A recurring theme from the event was the importance of relationships and how to forge links online. If you missed this excellent CPD-approved training session, you can watch the full event at www.youtube.com/royalsocbio Natalie Lamb RSci MRSB
WESSEX
EAST MIDLANDS
CONSERVING AMAZING APES AND CRYPTIC CATS
WILDLIFE MONITORING AND NATURAL HISTORY WEEKEND
POSTGRADUATE POSTER COMPETITION
Friday 1 October – Sunday 3 October
22 April 2021
Dr Susan Cheyne is co-director of Borneo Nature Foundation International, leading a team working on the conservation of primates and wild cats. This talk is free to attend and open to all. Advance registration is essential. Online
Anthony Roberts FRSB invites local RSB members for a weekend of wildlife monitoring at the nature reserve that he owns near Arreton on the Isle of Wight. This event is free to attend and advance registration is essential. Haseley Manor, Arreton, Isle of Wight PO30 3AN
This year the East Midlands branch tested a novel online format to host a research poster competition for postgraduate students. The competition was open to both UK and international students in any field of biology and there were very interesting posters from the UK, Nigeria and Russia. After the submission stage selected students were invited to participate in the online conference along with academic speakers via Zoom. There were fascinating talks on bacterial genetics, water, poultry, sepsis and broccoli. As a result of the competition two students – one from the UK and another from Russia – won a one-year RSB membership. In addition, the competition highlighted the RSB and its social media platforms. We are keen on continuing to promote more interest and public engagement in the RSB and hope to help strengthen the network between biologists worldwide.
Wednesday 17 November
LONDON
AGM AND BIOLOGY EXPERIMENTS
Tuesday 14 September
Heather Angel/naturepl.com
Tuesday 5 October
CONNECTING AND NETWORKING – ONLINE
The AGM and live family friendly interactive activities, where, at home, you will be able to extract DNA and uncover the wonders of pigments in plants. This event is free and open to all. Advance registration is essential. Online
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YORKSHIRE
MEET THE RSB YORKSHIRE BRANCH COMMITTEE
Monday 11 October
Learn about the diversity of career paths within the biosciences in this discussion with the Yorkshire branch committee. This event is free and advance registration is essential. Online
Dr Elena Hunter MRSB
Branches, 1 The Wildlife Aid Foundation rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of orphaned and injured hedgehogs a year
KENT, SURREY AND SUSSEX
WILDLIFE REHAB ROLLERCOASTER
Shutterstock
15 July 2021
Dr Mike Berwick gave us a detailed account of the work of the Leatherhead-based Wildlife Aid Foundation, a wildlife veterinary hospital founded in 1980. The charity has recently acquired a nearby 20-acre site where it is building a new facility to incorporate a commercial veterinary practice and a nature reserve alongside the wildlife hospital. The hospital has more than 400 volunteers, and both paid and volunteer veterinary surgeons operate around the clock every day of the year. It rescues and rehabilitates injured or orphaned wild animals, although it can often be difficult to apply measures of success to the survival of released animals. Should we view the function of such hospitals through the lens of conservation or of compassion? Wildlife Aid certainly serves a conservation function as it rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of injured and
orphaned hedgehogs each year, as this is an endangered species in Britain. However, the charity is no longer able to treat some other species such as grey squirrels and muntjac deer, owing to recent legislation that revoked licences to rehabilitate and release them. The most frequent injuries encountered involve domestic cats and discarded tins, plastic rings and garden and football netting – a good reason to keep pets under control and to keep our gardens tidy. Dafydd Lewis CBiol FRSB NORTHERN
IT’S NOT ALL GRIM UP NORTH: POSITIVE VIRTUAL TALKS IN LOCKDOWN January–June 2021
The Northern branch has enjoyed very well-attended and stimulating monthly virtual talks in 2021. We heard about overseas research, and the importance of collaboration and teamwork in science. Innovative fieldwork in Africa featured in
two of our talks: Professor Steve Lindsay’s experiments on house design to reduce the threat from mosquitoes included ingeniously raising houses to different heights; and work to determine environmental factors affecting early hominid distribution, described by Dr Patrick Randolph-Quinney, involved GPS and volunteers wearing rectal thermometers. Professor Nicola Curtin explained how collaborations and serendipity were vital in the development of rucaparib, a cancer drug, while both Dr Pen-Yuan Hsing and Jean Wilson MBE inspired us with the power of citizen science projects. Following Professor Keith Lindsey’s talk on plant growth strategies, one attendee claimed they had “forgotten how exciting plants were!” If you’d like to join the Northern branch, especially if you have an interest in promoting our sessions via social media, please get in touch at northern@rsb.org.uk You can view the branch’s online events at www.youtube.com/royalsocbio Ros Roberts CBiol FRSB Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 43
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VIRUSES, VACCINES AND THE VIROSPHERE 10 February 2021
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In February members of the County Armagh Wildlife Society, Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society, and Northern Ireland branch of the RSB heard Dr Matthew Jebb, director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, give a tour of the virosphere. It has been estimated that each day 800 million viruses fall on each square metre of our planet. Most are bacteriophages of Synechococcus, a marine cyanobacterium and the most numerous life form on Earth. Dr Jebb explored the impact of viruses, from how viral pathogens of wildebeest influence tree density and fires in the African savannah, to how the ancient healing power of the Ganges river might be explained by its high concentration of bacteriophages that destroy Vibrio cholera (the causal agent of cholera). He also touched on how viral genes are essential for long-term memory in animals and the relatively new recognition of the role of viruses in digestion and nutrition. In March Professor Louise Cosby FRSB, head virologist of the veterinary sciences division at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), discussed the science behind a range of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and vaccine strategies. She made comparisons with the molecular veterinary virus testing carried out at the AFBI, the degree of similarity enabling them to rapidly transition to COVID-19 testing. Comparisons were also made between the COVID vaccines and the joint Queen’s University Belfast and AFBI projects for veterinary recombinant vaccine virus development. Videos of branch talks are available at www.youtube.com/royalsocbio Dr Paul Matthews CSci CBiol MRSB SOUTH WALES
SUBSTANCE ABUSE: LIFE AND DEATH PERSPECTIVES 12 July 2021
A presentation by Dr Walter Tasosa, senior mental health nurse and lecturer in mental health nursing at the University of South Wales, provided a thought-provoking insight into his recent research into the ethnographic aspects of alcohol abuse in the Zimbabwean migrant community in the UK. 44 / THE BIOLOGIST / Vol 68 No 3
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The annual cost of alcohol-related harm in the UK, estimated to be £21bn, was contrasted with the (anonymised) life experiences of individuals affected. The financial and social cost of alcohol-related harm was thus emotively and starkly contrasted with the very human cost that can be too easily divorced from statistics. Dr Tasosa’s talk was followed by a presentation from renowned Cardiff University home office forensic pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter on investigating cause of death due to substance abuse. Dr Leadbeatter provided a fascinating discussion on the short- and long-term pathological effects of alcohol and other substance abuse, examining how intoxication and resultant disease informs indirect deaths due to accident and violence. He sensitively framed the issues he discussed in the wider psychosocial context of poverty, mental health and vulnerability, returning us to the human cost of social marginalisation. These engaging expert clinicians informed us of the impact of substance abuse on society and reminded us what society should aspire to in caring for its vulnerable citizens. Dr Steven J Walden CBiol MRSB
HOMO NALEDI AND THE EVOLUTION OF HOMININ MORTUARY PRACTICES 19 July 2021
How have awareness of mortality and the rituals associated with death and treatment of human remains evolved over time? Are we unique in our multi-stage reactions to grief, bereavement and mourning, and in our complex mortuary practices? These questions were explored by Dr Patrick Randolf-Quinney, a biological and forensic anthropologist from Northumbria University. He brought to life the challenge of mapping and cataloguing remains in the virtually inaccessible Dinaledi and Lesedi chambers of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa (dated to between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago), which have yielded the richest hominin assemblage recovered on the African continent to date: more than 1,600 fossil specimens of Homo naledi. Dr Randolph-Quinney walked us through the evidence that the remains of H. naledi were deliberately introduced into the chamber through the practice of funerary caching – the structured deposition of remains in a chosen place – a remarkable mortuary behaviour given the small brain size of H. naledi.
The Ganges has a high concentration of bacteriophages, which some believe may help explain its supposed healing and self-purifying properties
Explaining the analysis of cultural transmission of ritualised behaviours, Dr Randolph-Quinney revealed the implications for the African archaeological record and highlighted our understanding of the origins of our own species.
Dr Henrietta Standley FRSB
WESSEX
BIOLOGISE YOUR DEVELOPMENT 20 May 2021
Dr Phil Richardson FRSB offered a new approach to personal development based on biomimetics. Natural selection has driven the development of extreme adaptability and economy, including sparing use of local resources, efficient gathering, using waste as a resource and cleaning up afterwards. All of this enables organisms to remain in balance with the biosphere and is supported by the ability of organisms to diversify, cooperate and gather information. Dr Richardson has used these principles to solve specific challenges in different industries. The development of a self-cleaning paint was based on the rough surface of the leaves of Alchemilla mollis; Festo’s AquaJelly robots are artificial, autonomous jellyfish-like machines with a translucent body and
Shutterstock; John Bavaro Fine Art/Science Photo Library
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Branches, 2
Contacts BEDS, ESSEX AND HERTS Dr Jacqui Piner • bedsessexherts@rsb.org.uk DEVON AND CORNWALL Christine Fry • devoncornwall@rsb.org.uk EAST ANGLIA Natalie Lamb • eastanglia@rsb.org.uk EAST MIDLANDS Rosemary Hall • eastmidlands@rsb.org.uk KENT, SURREY AND SUSSEX Dafydd Lewis • kentsurreysussex@rsb.org.uk LONDON Professor Patrizia Ferretti • london@rsb.org.uk NORTH WALES Peter Thompson • northwales@rsb.org.uk NORTH WESTERN Dr David Wareing • northwest@rsb.org.uk
Scottish wildcats are under threat from hybridisation with domestic cats
‘tentacles’ for propulsion, and can be used to repair deep-sea cables; and packaging for cat-food sachets was reduced using the mechanism that holds and releases spores from the underside of fern fronds. Biomimetics can also be used to look at interpersonal relationships, using a symbiosis matrix that can highlight when a relationship has ceased to be of benefit to both parties. Dr Richardson even introduced the idea that crab ecdysis – the process of casting off an old shell and developing a new one – can be used as a model for personal development and growth. Dr Hilary Otter FRSB YORKSHIRE
NATURALLY NANO Shutterstock; John Bavaro Fine Art/Science Photo Library
28 April 2021
In one of a series of joint seminars run by the Yorkshire branch of the RSB and the Central Yorkshire Section of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr Sarah Staniland, a reader in bionanoscience at the department of chemistry at the University of Sheffield, discussed her research on magnetic nanoparticles, which have applications in biomedicine and nanotechnology. For all of these applications, uniform size and shape is
NORTHERN Dr Cathleen Thomas • northern@rsb.org.uk
key and, as is often the case, we can learn much by studying bacteria that have perfected making magnetic particles known as magnetosomes. Dr Staniland described approaches for mimicking the processes used by bacteria to synthesise magnetosomes in the lab in an environmentally friendly way. Some of these approaches may be applied to design novel proteins for use in nanotechnology. Dr Staniland’s talk is available at www.youtube.com/royalsocbio
NORTHERN IRELAND Jonathan Shields • ni@rsb.org.uk SCOTLAND Dr Andrew Spiers • scotland@rsb.org.uk SOUTH WALES Dr Rowena Jenkins • southwales@rsb.org.uk THAMES VALLEY Dr Ray Gibson • thamesvalley@rsb.org.uk WESSEX Dr Hilary Otter • wessex@rsb.org.uk
Dr Lynda Partridge FRSB
WEST MIDLANDS Lesley Payne • westmidlands@rsb.org.uk
Despite their small brains, Homo naledi appear to have practised funerary caching
YORKSHIRE Dr Lynda Partridge • yorkshire@rsb.org.uk HONG KONG Dr Gert Grobler • hongkong@rsb.org.uk AUSTRALASIA Professor Lloyd Reeve-Johnson • australasia@rsb.org.uk
Our branches need you!
Joining a committee is your opportunity to organise and support the sort of events and activities you would like to see in your region. Contact regions@rsb.org.uk for more information. Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 45
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OBITUARIES
The Society is sad to mark the death of two distinguished biologists
Rice farmers in Madagascar
Pioneer of genetic disorder research
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Peter Harper, who died earlier this year aged 81, was a leading expert on inherited neurological disorders and was part of the original group of British clinicians who helped develop medical genetics in the UK. Peter became especially interested in genetics at Oxford University in 1957. After completing his clinical training in London in 1964, he was determined to try to combine genetics and medicine in his career. At the time the concept of medical genetics as a specific area of medicine was almost non-existent. However, in 1967 he began working with Cyril Clarke, a pioneer in genetics in medicine, on familial oesophageal cancer (and insect evolutionary genetics). Clarke gave him a registrar’s job in his department and there Peter met Elaine Abel, the nurse he married in 1968. They had two children, Matthew and Emma, and adopted three more, Nicholas, Katy and Lucy. During a two-year Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA, Peter studied the genes associated with myotonic dystrophy, which would remain a key area of his research for the next 40 years. On returning to Britain in 1971 he developed medical genetics at the medical school in Cardiff, where he found that Wales’s population of 3m was ideal for clinically orientated genetic research on a range of major disorders. His work to find a genetic link between the muscular dystrophies and Huntington’s disease has led to accurate diagnostic and predictive tests for at-risk individuals and their families. Peter helped develop the concept and delivery of genetic counselling and similar services. He practised general medicine at University Hospital of Wales for 25 years and in 2004 he was knighted for his services to genetic medicine.
KEITH VIRGO FRSB (1941–2021) Expert on tropical agriculture
Keith Virgo FRSB, a former chairman of the Tropical Agriculture Association and a contributor to the RSB’s agriculture and plant science policy work, died earlier this year after contracting COVID-19 while recovering from heart surgery in hospital.
Keith had more than 30 years’ experience as a consultant in rural development in tropical and sub-tropical countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and central America. He began his career in agriculture and soil science, later diversifying into community-based rural development, project evaluation, watershed management and finally community-based tourism. Born in 1941 in Westhumble, Keith took an agriculture degree at Wye College, followed by an MSc in soil science at the University of Aberdeen and later a diploma in agricultural economics at Silsoe. Colleagues write of his love of cricket and beer, once embarking on an evening survey to ‘scientifically evaluate’ each pub in and around Wye for future students. Since 2001 he had been acting as a freelance consultant. As well as acting as chair and web manager for the Tropical Agriculture Association, Keith was a long-time member of the Cambridge Conservation Forum (CCF). Roger Mitchell, chair of the CCF, said: “Keith will be very much missed, and I’ll remember him especially for his welcoming smile, cheery conversations and wise contributions to both formal meetings and casual discussions in the David Attenborough Building. Our thoughts, sympathy and condolences to Keith’s family, friends and colleagues for the sad loss we all share.”
Molecular model of the extended messenger RNA molecule produced in type 2 myotonic dystrophy
Ramon Andrade 3dciencia/Science Photo Library
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Obits/crossword, 1
CROSSWORD The biology brainteaser
Your chance to win a £25 book token Across
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7 In favour of electric shock treatment (6)
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26 Sound requires air movement (8) 27 River entering Seine (6) Down 1 Soft feathers turn as they float in the breeze (8) 2 Most of officer types (6) 3 Tear, it spoilt clothing (6) 4 Bees fail? Change that – it can be done (8)
5 Some suitable material for accepting hot plate (5,3)
17 Is former partner one to cause sharp pain (8)
6 Do without – to the benefit of self (6)
18 Port’s the end of you – can produce grogginess (6)
8 On equal pay possibly – pay about right it appears (6)
20 Quote me the wrong way – it makes you sick (6)
14 Certain nothing changes response (8)
22 Marshland plant’s home first to see rapid flooding (6)
15 That is the best to imbibe cold summer treat (3,5)
23 Fantastic result – distinction (6)
This issue’s format Across entries are all from the world of biology, clued only by a subsidiary indication. Down clues are traditional cryptic combinations of a definition and a subsidiary indication. How to enter Send us your completed puzzles by 20th October. Please include your name, address, email and membership number. Post your entries to: Crossword, The Biologist, Royal Society of Biology, 1 Naoroji Street, Islington, London, WC1X 0GB Last issue’s winners Well done to Ian Masters FRSB and Joseph Corcoran CBiol MRSB. Book tokens are on their way to you.
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Could you recommend a member? The Royal Society of Biology represents, supports and engages with anyone who has an interest in the life sciences, and offers membership grades to suit all levels of expertise Existing members are uniquely placed to help grow our membership – and to increase the influence we are able to exert. A significant number of new members join as a direct result of a recommendation from someone they know and trust. If you have a colleague, friend or family member who would benefit from Society membership, please email their details to us – and let us know if you’d like us to mention your nomination. email: membership@rsb.org.uk
www.rsb.org.uk
Vol 68 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 47
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#49 Kew’s fragile metal flowers Kew Gardens, London
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In October 2021 17,000 intricately etched steel flowers will join one of the world’s most diverse collections of plants, at London’s Kew Gardens. Blackfield, the work of internationally renowned artist Zadok Ben-David, will explore the fragility of the natural world in Kew’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Ben-David’s work explores the relationship between humanity and the natural world, with the artist describing a “fascination with the idea of how humans rely on nature for survival yet seem to forget this fact in everyday life”. The thousands of metal flowers are each installed by hand and derive from illustrations within 19th century botanical encyclopaedias. Visitors are immersed within the 360° installation, with the 2D etchings creating a 3D field of plant sculptures, black on one side and colourful on the other, reflecting on the contrasts
Clockwise from top left Blackfield installations at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (photograph by Gene Ogami); Verso Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy; Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia; and Verso Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy Below Blackfield single flowers (both photographs by Soupdemots)
“between pessimism and optimism, between tragedy and endurance”, according to Ben-David. The exhibition has been shown in almost 20 countries and comes with key international climate and biodiversity talks set to begin later this year. Other works of Ben-David will also be on display, including The Other Side of Midnight, a three-metre circle comprised of more than 2,000 miniature hand-painted butterflies and insects, and a display of the artistic techniques used by Ben-David in the creation of Blackfield. Admission to the exhibition is included in a ticket to Kew Gardens. All visitors, including members, must pre-book a ticket and timed slot for entry to Kew Gardens.
Words by Emma Wrake
For Kew Gardens’ opening times and visitor information see www.kew.org
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