Showering could be bad for your health

How would you like a face-full of harmful bacteria to start the day?

Scientists have found a third of showerheads contain high levels of a potentially lethal bug called mycobacterium avium. This microscopic nasty is easily inhaled in water droplets and can cause lung disease in people with weakened immune systems.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

A Secret of Human Brain Evolution Discovered

Scientists have discovered that a protein called AP2gamma plays a key role in neural development within the human cerebral cortex—the area of the brain responsible for higher brain function, memory and sensory experience. The discovery could lead to neural regeneration therapies for patients with diseases involving the cortex, like Alzheimer’s, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy. It is also a clue as to how the brain may have evolved into higher sophistication in mammals from previous structures related to vision.

Image: killermonkeys - Flickr
Source: Nature Neruoscience

PM apologises to computer genius

The Prime Minister has given a public apology for the "appalling" way computing genius Alan Turing was treated for being gay.

Turing, who worked as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during WW2, went on to develop the first modern computers, including Pilot ACE which we have here at the Museum.

In 1952 Turning was prosecuted for admitting a sexual relationship with a man and committed suicide two years later.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Physicists Propose a 'Schrödinger's Virus’ Experiment

Physicists are going to see if a virus can be made to exist in two different physical states at once by subjecting it to the strange rules of the tiny subatomic realm. They propose an experiment similar to the famous ‘Schrödinger's cat’ thought puzzle, which illustrates how in the microscopic world of atoms and quarks, particles behave in a totally different way from objects in our everyday experience. In the case of the cat, when subject to these subatomic rules it could exist in two different states simultaneously (alive and dead). If these physicists are successful, they will be able to do the same thing for a living virus in the real world— a first in quantum physics.

Image: Frederic Poirot via Flickr; Dale Chihuly exhibit, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

Foreign Language Classes in Nursery?

Preliminary results from an EU-funded study on foreign language learning are showing that kids as young as three perform admirably on tests in their second language. This is certainly good news, though there were sizable differences in individual performance, as well as performance levels of the different preschool classes studied. Future studies will attend to discovering the most effective teaching practices and understanding what makes individual children do well or poorly.

Image: lisibo - Flickr

Poor Funding May Ground NASA

‘The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory,’ according to a report by a panel of experts convened by President Barack Obama. The committee was brought together to assess the financial feasibility of plans for manned missions to the Moon and Mars, the fate of the International Space Station and hundreds of other NASA projects. The news was bleak. One projection showed that with the current budget astronauts will not even be able to leave low Earth orbit until 2028. Now Obama is left with the unenviable task of either finding billions of dollars more in funding, or making devastating cuts to the future of space travel.

Image: centophobia - Flickr

Possible Complications from Swine Flu Vaccine

The latest issue of The Lancet Neurology warns that doctors will need to be vigilant in monitoring possible neurological complications from both swine flu and swine flu vaccines. The cautionary is based on new case reports from the Centers for Disease Control showing a connection between swine flu and encephalopathy in children, as well as complications reported following panic-driven vaccination campaigns for a similar strain of flu in the 1970’s. Considering that this flu strain has been relatively mild in the majority of patients, the report warns that we should carefully weigh the benefits of large-scale vaccination against risks of potential complications.

Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control

New Research Funds will Curb the Need for Testing in Lab Animals

The European Commission has announced that it will match the €25 million already given by the European cosmetic industry to fund the development of new non-animal-based methods for safety testing cosmetics and household chemicals. The Commission hopes that substantial funding for research into cheaper, smarter alternatives to animal testing will increase public safety and simultaneously attend to ethical concerns over product testing in animals.

Image: *yasuhiro – Flickr

Massively Recycled Racer is Giving Formula Three Cars a Run for Their Money

With a steering wheel of carrot fibres, a chassis snatched back from the landfill, and running on a soup of chocolate and wine-making waste, the greenest Formula Three car ever to hit the road is scheduled to race competitively at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent this weekend. Despite the strange list of ingredients, this car is a piece of serious race-engineering, reaching speeds of 170 mph, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds—better than many of its competitors. The car's inventors at the University of Warwick intend to show the racing world just what is possible from a sustainable vehicle.

Photo courtesy of University of Warwick Communications Office

Scientific Link Made between the Timing of Meals and Weight Gain

A Northwestern University study indicates that weight gain is not just about what you eat, but the time when you eat it. Mice given a high-fat diet during the hours when they would normally be sleeping gained more than twice the weight as mice which were fed an identical diet during wakeful hours. While medical research indicates that obesity has a complicated set of causal factors, only one of which may be the timing of meals within our sleep cycle, these scientists are hopeful that their results will lead to smarter treatment for the condition.

Image: Chris Devers – Flickr

A Virus Could Be Responsible for Some Prostate Cancers

A virus known to cause cancer in animals has been discovered in cancerous human prostate cells. An American team of researchers which examined hundreds of normal and cancerous prostates found that 27% of the cancerous tissues contained a gammaretrovirus called XMRV, compared to only 6% of healthy samples. Most importantly, the team believes XMRV to be directly related to tumor-growth because viral proteins were found almost exclusively in the cancerous cells of infected prostates.

Image: logan.fulcher - Flickr

Brain in a Dish

A working ‘replica’ of the human brain will be within reach in 10 years time according to neuroscientist Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland. Makram’s team has already modeled brain microcircuitry that ‘started to display some interesting emergent properties,’ and they are beginning a model of the whole brain that would run on a powerful supercomputer. The team hopes that such a model will help us to understand everything from the subtle mechanisms of brain disease to our perception of reality.

Image: Gaetan Lee -Flickr

Fish full of . . . Cocaine? Our Poisonous Wastewater

There is a lot of hand-wringing this week at the Royal Society over the questionable state of our water. With new research showing everything from pharmaceutical estrogens, to illicit drugs and dangerous disinfectants streaming through treatment facilities and right back into the environment (possibly back into your drinking glass), these top-notch scientists are calling for better research methods and more attention to the problem of water contamination in their latest publication.*

*Royal Society (Great Britain). Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 367 (1904). (London: Royal Society, October 2009) .

Image: *Leanda - Flicker

Two Genes the Culprits in Alzheimer’s

In the largest ever genetic study of its kind, scientists have confirmed a link between two genes and the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease— an illness which currently robs some 417,000 people in the UK of critical memory and brain functions, and which eventually leads to death. The lead researcher, Professor Julie Williams, believes that the discovery will enable genetic screening to determine risk, as well as new treatments which could ‘reduce the chances of people developing Alzheimer's by almost 20%.’

Image: robhengxr - Flickr

Arctic temperature reaches 2,000-year high

The Arctic is hotter today than it has been for 2,000 years, scientists have found.

By collecting information from lake sediments, tree rings and ice cores, researchers found that Arctic summer temperatures began climbing in 1900 and have peaked in the last ten years.

Rising levels of greenhouse gases are responsible, say the scientists, and the warming looks set to melt ice and raise sea levels around the world.

Image: Darrell Kaufman, Northern Arizona University

The European Family Tree Gets Weirder and Weirder

Surprising new studies of ancient DNA suggest that (1) Europe’s first farmers came from foreign shores, and (2) that we have no idea where the DNA of most modern Europeans comes from. The recovered genes of ancient neolithic farmers were found to be entirely unlike those of the native Ice Age hunter-gatherers which preceded them. When compared with Europeans alive today there was not much overlap with either group. This came as a shock to researchers who previously thought that we may all share a branch of the old family tree. Now scientists are left to explain where the genetic inheritance of modern Europeans comes from if not from either of these two cultures.

Artwork: Line Drawing of a Banyan Tree, courtesy of Pearson Scott Foresman and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Lose Weight, Gain Insight

It’s not often you hear about positive side effects of weight loss surgery. Yet, gastric bypass, which reduces the stomach to walnut-size and bypasses to the first section of the small intestine, has side effects intriguing researchers. Post-surgery, patients don’t feel as hungry and diabetes symptoms quickly improve. Understanding why could lead to new, nonsurgical treatments of obesity and diabetes.

Image: The Garlands - Flickr

Self-Cleaning Plastics: Tough on Grease, Light on the Environment?

American scientists have engineered a plastic coating which repels oil so well that it could turn water into the only detergent we need. This could save a lot of scrubbing and cursing over everything from dishes to garage floors, but more importantly it could reduce the need for detergents which currently turn our waste water into a toxic cocktail for marine ecosystems.

The house of the future should be like one giant non-stick frying pan, according to head researcher Dr. Jeffrey Youngblood, with everything from wall-paint to floors, mirrors, counters, and everything in your cabinets sealed in a layer of this stuff. Aside from reducing the soap and detergent content of waste water, it could also prolong the life of items that would normally be discarded when soiled. The key to this technology is the clever placement of a layer of water-attracting polyethylene glycol under a layer of a Teflon-like material which repels oil.

Yet, with projections that this coating will be commercially available in just a few years, the promise of a grease-free future must be balanced with the knowledge that this plastic will also end up in the waste stream. Given recent studies on both the biological threats of plastic degrading in our ocean, as well as the startling discovery that most of us have Teflon-related chemicals in our bloodstreams, this should give you pause.

Image: gromgull - flickr

Living Cities

A relatively old way of modelling urban consumption and waste has gained new vigor at the 238th meeting of the American Chemical Society. The “urban metabolism” model, which likens big cities to living organisms in the ways they devour resources and excrete a variety of wastes, has shed light onto problems of regional and global pollution.

The report details how aerial waste streams of the world’s “megacites” effect populations, agriculture and ecosystems downwind—just think of these cities as the kid that pees in the swimming pool, ruining it for everyone nearby. Ultimately the effect of all this foul wind is global as the tonnage of greenhouse gasses ‘excreted’ from such cities wind up in the atmosphere. The report's author suggests that understanding and reducing urban metabolism could be a critical step in keeping our air palatable, our crops viable and our planet from cooking us.

The number of megacities, (metropolitan areas with populations of 10 million or more) went from only three in 1975 to about 20 in 2009, and more people and economic activity in urban centers means more emissions sullying a wider swath of the landscape. A few simple changes like removing lead from gasoline in some African nations and increasing rail-based mass transit could have a huge payoff, but it would have to be a financial priority, and that is a difficult thing to ask from struggling economies.

Photo: ninahale - flickr

Follow up: Awash in Plastic

Last week we blogged about a UNEP report with some scary statistics about the colossal amount of plastic rotting in our oceans, as well as the lack of studies on its biological impact. Well, a report given recently at a meeting of the American Chemical Society is cautioning us that these soggy plastics are already releasing carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) as well as compounds that meddle with reproductive hormones as they decay in our oceans.

This report directly contradicts previous assumptions that plastic remains fairly stable in the ocean, suggesting instead that many common plastics like polystyrene begin to decompose within just one year, leaving a variety of nefarious new styrenes to worm their way into the food chain. The worst of these have been shown to effect animal reproduction and cause cancer. Lead researcher Dr. Katsuhiko Saido has commented that this is “giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future.” This is especially worrying because the amount of plastic in our oceans is only growing.

Feel compelled to get involved? The Marine Conservation Society’s Annual Beachwatch event is the 19th and 20th of September—visit their site to find out how you can volunteer to help monitor marine litter and clean beaches in the UK.

Image: René Ehrhardt - Flickr

Getting More Nutrients for Your Money - Junk Food Tax

Despite your feelings about brussels sprouts, would you eat them if they were cheaper than crisps? To fight obesity, a report from the U.S.’s Institute of Medicine and National Research Council recommends taxing junk food, while giving tax breaks to grocery stores in disadvantaged communities, requiring calorie counts on restaurant menus, and opening school playgrounds and athletic fields to communities.

It has been argued that a tax on junk food would have a negative impact on poorer communities. However, this report outlines strategies for promoting healthy eating options and education, plus ways to increase exercise no matter what your socio-economic status is.

According to the Department of Health, approximately 1 in 4 adults in England are obese and the cost of overweight and obese individuals to the NHS is estimated to be £4.2 billion. Preventing obesity is cheaper than treating obesity.

Do you think a government imposed tax on junk food is a viable way to prevent obesity? Or, does it take away your rights as a consumer?

Image: Eschipul - Flickr

Eyes to the Skies

Space is a hazardous place and the little ball of rock we call home faces a constant threat - asteroid strike. Luckily, a team of British scientists have designed a special space craft capable of shifting the path of an asteroid to prevent a devastating collision.

Their invention, called a "gravity tractor", would be sent about 20 years in advance to meet any rock detected to be on a collision course with Earth and fly alongside it, just 160ft from its surface. Since all objects with mass exert a gravitational effect, the 10 ton craft would draw the rock towards it and over several years change the course of the asteroid so it whizzes harmlessly by.

Floating around in the asteroid 'shooting gallery' of space makes it just a matter of time until the design may be called to action and built to tackle asteroids up to 430 yards across - big enough to release 100,000 times more energy than the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945. NASA are so edgy about the whole thing they have an expensive programme intent on keeping track of every object that might come close. Here's an interesting situation though - What if we were only able to shift the asteroid so it hits one place rather than another?
Settle that people of Earth!?

Image: matt.ohara -Flickr

Food Processing & Additives – Ace in the Hole or Ambush?

Yesterday’s post regarding visitor’s ideas about nutrition revealed that many people are curious about what exactly is in our food. What are all those chemical names on the ingredients list, what is ‘food processing’ and is it good for you? It’s your body; it makes sense to know what’s being put in it.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, food processing “includes any action that changes or converts raw plant or animal materials into safe, edible, and more palatable foodstuffs.” Food processing even includes peeling apples. That doesn’t sound bad. What’s the fuss about? Where the concern lies is when food processing includes the addition of additives.

Advantages of additives are said to be improving the look, colour, and texture of food; extending shelf life; and helping prevent food poisoning. Disadvantages include destroying vitamins and some may be harmful to humans. For example, certain additives injected into fresh-meat are a health risk for people with kidney disease and some are linked to hyperactivity in children.

Want more information? Try Food Standard Association, World Health Organization or Truth About Food Additives?

Image: Telstar Logistic - Flickr

Future of Waste Part 1: Scum-Bots, Organic Circuitry and the New Computer

Some sci-fi-calibre developments in the world of organic robotics and nanotech this week could radically transform the way our technology looks and works, as well as how we dispose of it. A team of Chinese and Danish researchers have succeeded in growing partially organic electric nanocircuits and a team at the University of West England have designed a fully organic robot made of slime mould.

While the results of the UWE experiments look more like a plateful of boogers than anything deserving of the suffix “-bot,” project lead Andy Adamatzky explained that “plasmodium is a naturally-occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence,” and it can be trained with light, magnetic fields and substrates to be a “fully controllable and programmable” robot. The Chinese-Danish nanotech team hopes to “grow” partially organic transistors both smaller and more efficient than silicone chips.

It’s certainly weird science, but thinking of waste (as I always am), this research could also be promising in terms of creating more biodegradable, less eco-crummy electronics. I had a chat with Cientifica’s chief nanotech adviser and ardent blogger, Tim Harper, who put it this way: “What we do as a human race is quite crude—we spend a lot of time changing and fabricating things when nature has already perfected a lot with millions of years of trial-and-error. We’re just beginning to mimic and master some of those innovations.”

For more on the current predicament of electronic waste check out wasteonline’s guide to e-waste and e-recycling in the UK.

Image: Southernpixel -Flickr

Unleashing the Power of the Pint

We here at antenna enjoy seeing people take waste problems and turn them into solutions—people like Wolfgang Bengal, who looked dreamily into his glass of stout and saw a way to power breweries on their own grain slops. Waste-powered breweries would mean less waste carted off in trucks to landfills, and recovery of up to 50% of the energy it takes to make your favourite brew from the very muck it produces. That’s a greener pint.

Here’s how it works: the grain first has to be dried, treated and then burned in a controlled environment to create steam and biogas, and these can in turn be harnessed to provide power for the brewery. Of course anything involving combustion raises a carbon-conscious eyebrow with us, but apparently the addition of cleaning and filtering equipment has passed muster with the German environmental protection agency TÜV, so perhaps cautious optimism is in order.

Wondering how waste-conscious your pint is? Take a look at Greenopia’s ratings of the environmental impact of the world’s 15 largest breweries which came out earlier this month.

Image: tomilym -flickr

Nutrition: What’s On Our Visitors Minds?

At the Science Museum we are interested in your ideas and opinions, so today 16 Antenna Gallery visitors were asked about their thoughts on nutrition. Here is a summary of their views and concerns:

1. What exactly is in our food? What are all those big chemical formulas on the ingredients list, what happens in ‘food processing’ and is it good for me?
2. We’ve all read the news reports, one week food ‘x’ is good for you and next week it’s bad for you. Who and what should we believe?
3. How do factors like genetics, metabolism, environmental conditions, age and geographical location affect what I should eat?

From this survey, a theme emerges; we are disconnected from our food supply, most of us don’t know what is in our food or where it’s been. And, it worries us, rightly so.

Let’s hear more from you, tell us:
What issues about nutrition are important to you?
What aspect of nutrition would you like to know more about?
What worries/excites you about nutrition?

Image: PR® - Flickr

Winter Weight Loss Program: Sunlight

Okay, sunlight isn’t the next miracle weight loss solution, but it is associated with the activity of Brown fat, which is the fat that burns more calories than any other tissue and is more active in the winter.

You have two types of fat in your body Brown adipose tissue (BAT) and white adipose tissue. BAT can produce 300 times more heat per unit than all other tissue. This means more energy expenditure, which means more calories burned. However, we naturally have less BAT as adults, and on top of that, research has shown that BAT activity is reduced with obesity.

New research led by Professor Michael Symonds at The University of Nottingham has shown for the first time that one of the main mechanisms that control BAT activity is sunlight. So…this winter turn off the central heating, head outdoors and get some sun. That is if it’s not cloudy, which it often is in the winter...

On the bright side (no pun intended), when it is cold outside, we'll be exercising to keep warm. It's a win, win situation.

Image: Odalaigh – Flickr

Flotsam and Jetsam . . . and more Flotsam

We’ve all been there: a bright day at the beach, lulling waves, sand underfoot and then . . . a crisps bag . . . a yogurt lid. According to the 2009 UN Environmental Programme report on marine waste, the astronomical amount of flotsam we generate is more than just a holiday-wrecker, it causes millions of pounds of damage to vessels, fisheries, wildlife, tourism and the economy in the UK, and the problem shows no signs of improvement.

Some statistics from the report that will make you permanently disavow romantic walks on beaches: in our region an average of 542 items of marine litter were discovered per 100 meters of beach; 60 of these were sanitary waste (bleck!) and most of it (around 75%) is plastic. So much plastic, in fact, that 94% of our seabirds (fulmars, to be exact) are now part plastic from eating the stuff. Want to take a dip? Samples from the North Sea show concentrations of tiny plastic particles around 150-2400 per square meter, and the consequences of that are . . . ? Well scientists just don’t know for certain yet.

For those unmoved by the demise of trash-gobbling birds, the cost should be sobering. Sunken nets and debris cost regional fishermen around £120 million annually in “ghost fishing,” and 69% of Shetland fishermen surveyed reported having a catch irrepairably contaminated by marine waste. Each boat is estimated to lose between £6000 and £30,000 annually in catch, fouled propellers, equipment and anchors. The Royal National Lifeboat Association alone spends £900,000 annually on rescues necessitated by floating rubbish— mostly tangled propellers leaving people adrift. This translates to more expensive fish on your plate, not to mention bad news for the flagging economy.

Solutions? The report urges better monitoring and enforcement, improving harbour reception facilities and a national awareness campaign. Because all of these require a lot of money and politicians agreeing to spend it, I remain dubious as to whether this study will have any measurable effect except to horrify beachgoers.

Waste Not Want Not: "3D Printing," and the Future of Manufacturing and Design

New laser and computer technology is drastically changing the way we might manufacture everything from your dental crown to aerospace components. It’s called '3D printing' or 'laser-sintering' and after seeing some of the results this morning in the Antenna Gallery—everything from hinged nylon structures formed all in one piece to a detailed miniature chess set the size of a cracker—I have to say that I'm fairly smitten.

In addition to just being fun to watch, sintering could be a greener option to traditional manufacturing processes which often require heating up a lot of material (using a lot of energy), and then leaving a lot of scrap (which frequently cannot be re-cast). In laser sintering a thirty watt laser atomizes and then re-deposits the source material layer by layer—everything from nylon to stainless steel—creating complex three-dimensional structure from a two-dimensional computer sketch. This relatively new technology, explained Stephen Crownshaw from Electro Optical Systems, can 'infinitely reuse leftover metals from manufacture' because the leftovers can always be re-atomized. Engineers are also beginning to find ways to reuse a large portion of plastics in a 50/50 mix with new material.

Aside from being green, this new process enables many individually-customized items to be manufactured simultaneously from the same block of raw material, like hundreds of personally-fitted dental crowns. This saves material and makes customizing objects easier than before. It is also opening up the doors of design as it can create objects which could not have been manufactured just a few years ago— everything from structurally-improbable design objects like the Artificial Intelligence Lamp by Assa Ashuach to light-weight aerospace components. Its ability to quickly create in 3D from 2D design sketches means that it could also significantly reduce the time it takes to prototype and test new parts and designs.

Want to see it in action? Please do. The laser sinter, a weird and wonderful array of objects crafted by it, and several designers and engineers who employ it in their work will be on hand from the 25th to the 27th of August at the Science Museum's Antenna Gallery.

Image: Fluid Forms - Flickr

I carried a watermelon

Baby may have carried a watermelon to fuel her crush on Johnny in Dirty Dancing, but now it seems watermelons will be able to fuel our cars.

The sweet juice of watermelons has been found to readily ferment to produce ethanol.

Each year around 20% of the watermelon crop goes to waste due to surface blemishes or being misshapen. Instead of just ploughing these left overs back into the field the researches from the Agricultural Research Service in Oklahoma, USA, say that they could be used to produce 220 litres of ethanol per hectare of farm.

But wait - There's more. Just when you thought that producing vast amounts of bio fuel from a waste product was great, it turns out that watermelons are also a source of the 'nutraeuticals' Lycopene and L-citrulline. (Nutraeuticals are compounds found in foods that are thought to have medical benefits). In fact the research team suggest that there is enough demand for these chemicals that extracting them is economically worthwhile. Then after you have extracted the chemicals you can still use the juice to make ethanol.

Watermelons may not have made super-food status but perhaps we could start a new list of Superior-foods, where their benefits are more than just nutritional.

Are there any other foods that should be given Superior-Food status?

Image courtesy of Jamelah

The Joy of Recycling . . . or Not

If there is one thing that can be agreed upon in the debate about what and how much we should recycle to make the most of our resources and energy, it's that public participation and motivation is essential. Why do you recycle? Myself, I stare down into the bin full of tidy sorted boxes, bags, tins and other brick-a-brack, and while I don’t really feel as though the small amount of garbage I've saved is anything more than a drop in the bucket in terms of the global environmental crisis, there is a sense of duty there— I’ve done what I can and am able feel reasonably high-minded about that. A study about the motivations for participating in mandatory kerbside recycling programmes shows that I am not alone. The most common justifications for participation are simple habit as well as a sense of civic duty and lawfulness, rather than any grandiose ideas about preserving the planet for future generations. Furthermore, dissidents of these programs often cite differences in recycling regulations from one municipality to another, feeling that the laws are unfair, that they are burdened more than their neighbours. So essentially, compliant or not, there are precious few of us that are intrinsically thrilled about the act of recycling.

According to another recycling study sponsored by Defra and conducted by the Open University, people tend only to recycle what is permitted in their kerbside bins, even people who may have previously gone through the extra effort to drop off a wider array of recyclables at a collection centre. All of this begs the question: what would make the act of recycling and reusing more rewarding? If stonger motivation equals better compliance, and if most of us are not blithely sorting our rubbish dreaming of the immaculate landscape we are helping to create for future generations, then maybe we should consider redesigning the recycling process to incorperate some perks.

Novelty? What about a cell phone that when planted will biodegrade and grow into sunflower?

How about a government-funded pizza party for schools which recycle the most?

What would it take for you to recycle with zest rather than resign? Tell us.


Image: rhastings - flickr

Water Born of Bacteria

''How can we be short of it? It doesn't go anywhere. The only time it does is when people take some into space and don't bring it back!?'' Despite Jason Manford's (Channel 4's excellent '8 Out of 10 Cats') comic incredulity towards the idea of a world short of water even western countries have to consider options to avoid a future in which the tap drips dry as improving lifestyles and changes to the global climate put the squeeze on water supplies.

While it's true we aren't short of water per se, it takes a huge amount of electricity to convert sea water into the fresh unsalted variety we like to drink, bathe in or sprinkle on the garden.

An ingenious proof-of-principle system has been developed using bacteria to remove 90 per cent of the salt from a seawater-like solution.

The researchers swapped the external source of electricity with a microbial fuel cell, essentially a 'bacteria battery'. When the bacteria breakdown nutrients they generate protons and electrons. The researchers then used these positive and negative charges to drive desalination by electrodialysis.

This is the first time the possibility for a new method for water desalination and power production that uses only a source of biodegradable organic matter and bacteria.

In this instance the researchers fed the bacteria expensive laboratory-grade acetate but work is in progress on cells nourished by waste water. This would bring our little man-made water cycle full circle and is almost too good to be true. Which is why it will be fraught with technical obstacles, stultifying politics and folly or asLars Angenent, a microbial fuel cell researcher at Cornell University in Ithaca, puts it: "It is possible, but is it economical? I'm sceptical, but after a couple of beers I'm much more positive." Like all good science then.


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The Metabolic Detective

I have yet to hear this on a CSI-type show, “Take him into custody, we’ve got a metabolic profile match.” However, the latest research in metabolism is showing that your metabolic profile is as unique as your fingerprint. Could this mean personalized medical care or individual diet and nutrition advice is on the horizon?

You see, metabolism is a set of chemical processes that organisms perform to maintain, well, life. These chemical processes help your body use medication, repair damage from disease or injury, turn food into energy and grow.

It is an organism’s metabolism that determines what substances it will find nutritious. And, it is our metabolic rate, or speed of metabolism, that influences how much food we require.

One article on this subject, explains the implications of this discovery as “[doctors] could pick drugs and treatments that are best for each individual, rather than today's one-size-fits all medicine.” Similarly, if we understand our personal metabolic profile, it seems that we could make informed decisions about our own personal nutritional needs. Apparently, you can do this…for a fee. For example, this is being done for weight loss and sports training programs.

Does this news help explain why the latest ‘miracle diet’ really is a miracle, as in, “it’s a miracle if it actually works?”

Image: Paurian – Flickr

Going Around About Caffeine

A recent study reports that caffeine causes headaches…I mean cures headaches. No wait, it does both. This study is giving me a headache.

Norwegian scientists published a report in the Journal of Headache and Pain concluding that people who consume high amounts of caffeine each day are more likely to suffer occasional headaches than those with low caffeine intake.

Now before all those tea and coffee junkies get upset, listen to this, those that consume low amounts of caffeine are more likely to suffer from chronic headaches (defined as headaches for 14 or more days each month).

Once again, a study about what we put in our bodies leaves me feeling slightly confused (see posts on junk food and organic food). I’m going to quote the comment from Kelly C. Porter on the Junk Food Wars post because she sums up my feelings nicely in that the final decision on what we should put in our bodies comes down to our “own biology, activity-level and health-risks, and those are best assessed by a physician.“ I do believe that it is important to eat a balanced and nutritious diet, but I’m starting to think that the details of exactly what that looks like are very personal.

In the In The Future exhibit at the Science Museum there is a game about a futuristic toilet that could analyse your…well you know what it analyses…and then tells you what you need to eat to be healthy. I want one.

Image: Joe Penniston - Flickr

How About a Lovely Vacation to the Isle of . . . Rubbish?

Most of us are all too aware of the limited space on this planet for rubbish, but sometimes, so it seems, garbage might be a solution to limited space rather than a dilemma. In the Maldives, the growing problem of rubbish disposal resulting from the small island nation’s booming tourist industry has forced a creative solution: they built a tropical island out of their trash. It’s called Thilafushi, and it is now home to a number of residences, as well as a cement factory, workshops, warehouses and a boat yard. More than 450 tons of garbage are brought to the still-growing island daily according to an article made available by the World Health organization.

So is it a tropical paradise or a noxious dump? According to a 2009 Guardian article, the increasing but still relatively small amount of electronics, batteries and other potentially hazardous waste that are making their way to Thilafushi could be poisonous to marine life if not properly handled, not to mention a serious health risk for the island’s residents-- most of whom are Bangladeshi migrant workers who sort the trash by hand for recyclables that can be traded for a profit.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and this is certainly the case in the Maldives where land space is no laughing matter. The chain of islands will be one of the first areas completely submerged as sea levels rise due to climate change. A similar set of land constraints has pushed Sri Lanka to build an offshore rubbish tip called Pulau Semakau that has rather surprisingly become a destination for ecotourism as it hosts an incredibly biodiverse assortment of rare plant and animal species. Can our garbage save us as our seas swell and space in our landfills runs out? Only time will tell as we watch the marine ecosystems and human populations of these man-made islands. But truly, you have to hand it to the very audacity of trying to save yourself with your own filth.

Image: notsogoodphotography - flickr

Junk Food Wars

Popcorn and cereal are finally getting a little respect. Researchers have found that these delicious snacks, commonly deemed as junk food, are high in disease busting antioxidants.

Specifically, it is popcorn and other whole grain cereals that contain “surprisingly large” amounts of polyphenol antioxidant which is linked to lower risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

Looking to boost your polyphenol antioxidant intake? Here are some other tasty options:
1. Drink more red wine and coffee.
2. Consume lots of chocolate.
3. Go ahead and get the large tub of popcorn at the cinema.
4. There are old-fashioned options, like eating more fruits and vegetables.

This research begs the question, is popcorn and cereal “junk food” or not? Do we need to consult Jamie Oliver for help here? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been known to pop a few kernels in my day, but should I overlook the high sugar, salt and fat content in many of these snacks? For a while now, fibre has been touted as the “healthy” aspect of certain cereal and snack brands. Do I smell a new marketing campaign? Oh no, that is just my buttery, salty, healthy snack coming out of the microwave?!

So let us know: what do you consider junk food?

Image: Darren Hester - Flickr

The Chicken and the Nanotube: Parables of Creative Waste Management

What does a chicken have in common with a nanotube? As it turns out they may both hold promise for solving one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of the widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells. While engineers and sustainability buffs alike have great optimism for autos powered by hydrogen, which would not only slash auto emissions but would yield double the efficiency of combustion engines*, the stable storage of hydrogen is a tricky matter due to its explosivity. So far carbon nanotubes have been a front runner in the materials research that seeks to solve this storage problem, but recently some plucky researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that a few extra crispy chicken feathers might be just the ticket to an affordable fuel cell.

An American team lead by Richard Wool have shown that carbonized chicken feathers, while still not quite up to the US Department of Energy’s rigorous 2010 and 2015 hydrogen storage targets, perform essentially as well as carbon nanotubes, and have the added bonus of being made from an abundant waste product of Wool’s home state: chicken fluff. While nanotubes may sound sexy— conjuring images of sealed research chambers and Nobel Prize laureates dressed in gleaming white haz-mat suits—they are also diabolically expensive, and potentially toxic. Despite the hurdles left to overcome in finding vehicles that will not add to the problem of climate change, the notion of using waste material to solve high-tech problems is to be commended, and this got me to thinking: while we often gravitate to high-tech, top-shelf, slick multi-million dollar science, sometimes the best solutions come from creatively rethinking a problem from the ground up. Wool’s research has the virtue of killing two birds with one stone, if you'll forgive the pun. Waste is transformed into a valuable product and an elegant solution.

While we all know that we should recycle and curb our consumption, what if some of our waste is a goldmine of future scientific breakthroughs? Furthermore, this creative rethinking does not have to be restricted to the bonafides of University research labs; perhaps we could all take another look at our rubbish bins and see a solution. So let us know: what clever things do you do with your trash?

Sources:
*Jesse L. C. Rowsell and Omar M. Yaghi, Angew. Chem. Int. 2005,44, 4670-4679
Image: Fuzzy Gerdes - Flickr

Straw with that?

Pigs learnt the hard way not to build houses out of straw but who knows what Mr Wolf would make of a chair made from drinking straws. Glaswegian designer Scott Jarvie seems to think it's a good idea and after being inspired by the tube like structure of the inside of trees decided to build the 'Clutch Chair' from 10,000 standard drinking straws.

Trees use a series of long capillary tubes called Xylem to shift water large distances with little more than the sucking action created by the evaporation of water from its leaves and the strong 'hydrogen' bonds between water molecules which creates a moving column within the tree. This structure also provides lateral strength as the tree grows upwards and the chair will be suprisingly resistant to compression and light weight due to the thin tubes supporting each other.

Apparently the designer feels it 'passes comment on our disposable culture'. Quite how I'm not really sure - it is ultimately just a disposable item made from small disposable items. Comfy? maybe not, but it is pretty eye catching.

The Bionic Tongue

Here's some science to chew on. Scientists in Illinois have developed a small, inexpensive, chip sensor or “electronic tongue” that accurately identifies one of the five primary human tastes, sweetness.

This business-card sized new sensor can identify with 100% accuracy a range of natural and artificial sweet substances, including 14 common sweeteners. The “lab-on-a-chip” works by converting the chemical properties of things that smell or taste into a coloured visual key (Image 2).

You may inquire, “What is it good for?”

Well, for those refined connoisseurs’ of fine fizzy pop, juices and other sweet beverages, such as, beer, quality and standard of taste is imperative. Ensuring a consistent and predictable flavour is the most likely use for this “sweet-tooth” sensor, at this time. Though the story doesn’t end there, doctors and scientist foresee using modified versions of the sensor for a variety chemical-sensing purposes including, monitoring blood glucose levels in diabetics or identifying toxic substances in the environment.

Do you think you’ve got a bionic tongue?

Might I suggest an experiment? Perhaps a blind taste test? I don’t recommend the common taste test of mapping out the four areas on your tongue that are associated with sweet, sour, salty and bitter, as a 2006 article in Nature reports this notion of tongue mapping to be bogus. Instead, test the palettes of friends and families on say, the subtle flavours of chocolate.

Here’s what you do:
1. Gather an assortment of chocolates or varying flavours and brands.
2. Find a blindfold.
3. Find a partner or two or three or ten and blindfold one person.
4. Place a small piece of chocolate on their tongue and see if they can identify the ingredients. You may want to check the labels to verify.

Okay, it’s not rocket science, but it can be fun. If you are not into chocolate try something else. Let us know how it goes and share other ideas in a comment. If you have video documentation of your experiment, post that too.

Image 1: Slightlynorth – Flickr
Image 2: Kenneth Suslick, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Nod to the pod

The idea of a personal transport pod has been banded about for the best part of half a century and is a staple in science fiction's visions of the future - from Logan's Run to Minority Report no far-fetched city scape would be complete without a network of shiny, zippy, self driving pods. A bit like 'proper' space ships and holographic displays it is an idea we know so well from fiction that we can be forgiven for being a little miffed that they are yet to be in common use.

The idea has had a bit of a chequered past with opinion ranging from it being the ultimate solution to our transport woes to it being an unfeasible idea and a potential waste of public money.

However, due to recent advancements in technology and computing the concept is set to step into the light and last week we hosted a very popular Antenna Live event featuring two ‘pod-cars’ from the new fleet of electric driverless vehicles going into Heathrow.


The £25 million project is the work of Bristol based 'Advanced Transport Systems' (ATS) and is the first example of a personal rapid transit (PRT) being implemented as a public transport solution in the world and will provide transport from the airport car park over to Terminal 5 with more destination options to come later.

Engineers, designers and content rich video displays engaged around 9000 visitors over the three days and most seemed enthused by the benefits the system may offer though many remained cautious of having a computer control their journey instead of a driver. In a similar way I imagine wealthy Victorians, faced with the unkown, sheepishly stepped into the 'horseless carriage' or how I still feel about my microwave (I have my eye on you). Strange new technologies need to keep the people onside if they are to have a chance of taking off - just ask the cube shaped tomato.

Windy happenings...

We were blessed with 3 days of fine weather as we hosted Greenbird - the record breaking wind powered machine - in a little used space outside behind the museum. Visitors were welcomed into the Antenna gallery by Simon Notley whose involvemnt as part funder made him an excellent guide to a video of the project’s history and designer and pilot Richard Jenkin’s record breaking run on a dried up lake bed in the US. Appetites whetted, visitors then headed out to see the vehicle and chat to Richard as well as George Seyfang whose work at British Aerospace in the area of aerodynamics made the project a perfect hobby horse for his retirement.

The project website has this great little slide show to explain how the vehicle got to a whopping 126 mph off a 35mph wind with what looks like such a small 'sail' to anyone involved in traditional sailing.

To Be Organic, Or Not Be?

The debate about organically versus conventionally produced food feels a bit like watching a tennis match. Here is the latest volley from a team of researchers, led by Alan Dangour, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Side 1: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2009): “there are no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food.”

Side 2: The Organic Center (2008) “New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods”

What is a poor, confused, conscientious consumer to do? I all ready struggle with tough questions at the supermarket like: What should I have for dinner? Or, is it really a good idea to shop for food when I’m so hungry?

There are other reasons besides nutrition and health benefits that a consumer may choose organic foodstuffs. In fact, the 2009 review admits to not addressing some of these concerns such as, the environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural practices. Nor does the study address “contaminant content,” meaning the residues of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides potentially found in organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. For instance, a recent study has shown a link between pesticides and increasing mortality rates of Alzheimer's, diabetes and Parkinson's diseases.

So, the question still remains organic or conventionally produced food? We’ll also have to wait for further research to find out if it’s a good idea to shop when you’re hungry.

Image: Marcin Floryan

Space spectacular

Today's the last day of our space-themed Antenna Live event, featuring a new skin-tight spacesuit and some awesome 3D projections from the European Space Agency. It's running until 4pm so if you want to discuss spacesuit design with the experts and hear about the extreme effects of space on the human body, head down to the Antenna gallery.

As well as some fascinating objects we're got speakers on space medicine and an unusual British project called MoonLITE, which aims to fire missiles at the moon.

The 3D images of astronauts working on the International Space Station are really quite incredible, especially when projected onto a 3-metre screen. It's almost like you're up there floating around with the astronauts. It's probably best not to think too much about the space toilet and vacuum-packed food we also have on display though...

Image: Donna Coveney/MIT (see this new spacesuit, designed by Dava Newman of MIT, at our event)

I swear that hurts

A new study from Keele University has shown that swearing can increase your pain tolerance.

The team originally thought that swearing while experiencing pain would exaggerate pain, making you less able to cope. However contrary to the hypothesis, individuals who repeated a swear word while their hand was submerged in ice water were able to keep their hand in longer than those who chanted a non-swear word.

While it isn't clear how or why there is a link between swearing and increased pain tolerance, the scientists believe that the pain-lessening effect occurs because swearing triggers our natural ‘fight-or-flight’ response.

They suggest that the accelerated heart rates of the volunteers repeating the swear word may indicate an increase in aggression, in a classic fight-or-flight response of ‘downplaying feebleness in favour of a more pain-tolerant machismo.’

The fact that swearing triggers a physical response in people and not just an emotional response may explain why the ancient practice of cursing developed in the first place. It may also explain why swearing is almost universal in all human languages and still exists today.

Image credit: Jonnyalive - Flickr

Brain scanner takes to the skies

Swiss scientists have created a tiny scanner that can measure the electrical impulses in birds' brains as they fly. Wired up to the brain, Neurologger2 also records the bird's flightpath. By recording information on what a bird is flying past and what's going on its brain, the device is helping scientists understand the different visual landmarks that birds use to find their way around.

Image: Alexei Vyssotski

The UK's Taste for Science

Devonshire teas, Cheddar cheese and other West Country foods have been named the favourite regional foods of the UK. This is just one tasty fact found out by research mapping out taste preferences of the UK's major regions.

Professor Andy Taylor, an expert in flavour technology at The University of Nottingham and Greg Tucker a leading food psychologist proved that each region in the UK has its own unique ‘Taste Dialect’ of flavours and textures which have been forged by culture, geography and the environment.

Some other key findings include:

1) Scots are the slowest eaters but love mouth-melting creamy foods.

2) People from the North East seek tastes that offer immediate satisfaction, borne from a history of hungry heavy industry workers demanding foods that offer immediate sustenance.

4) The Midlands, known to be the Balti centre of the UK, were predisposed to enjoy Asian food long before it arrived in the UK. The region's taste dialect is for soft, suckable foods that impact the front of the tongue, and which can be eaten with their hands like naan.

5)The South: A melting pot of people and cultures from all round the UK and abroad, have a melting pot of preferences and have the least defined taste dialect of all the regions.

6) A quarter of Brits said that London was where they'd had their worst taste experience.

What amazing, yet utterly useless things to know! Part of me is incredulous as to how this research was approved let alone funded. The other part of me can't help being intrigued by it. I don’t know whether this research will improve our lives; but I do know that I will be bringing out one of these little morsels of information when I am next out to dinner, improving the occasion for everyone present. Perhaps there is a pool of funding for dinner table facts?

Redesigning life

I went to a conference last week at the plush London headquarters of The Royal Academy of Engineering. Scientists, sociologists, journalists, artists and ethicists gathered to debate a hot new area of science called synthetic biology.

This 21st century science is both hugely ambitious and very controversial. It involves 'redesigning' the DNA or other fundamental parts of an organism (typically a microbe) to make it produce something useful - like a new medicine or biofuel. Such worthy outcomes might sound attractive. But, given that it involves tinkering with biological systems and possibly creating entirely new forms of life, it's hardly surprising that the RAE and others are concerned about what the public might think...

So to test the waters of public opinion, the RAE carried out a 1000-person telephone survey and an in-depth discussion with 16 people. The results were reported at the conference and, perhaps unexpectedly, they seem to show that the British public are cautiously optimistic about synthetic biology.

63% of participants agreed with the statement 'creating new man-made microorganisms that will produce medicines or biofuels should be supported'. People were also not bothered about the idea of scientists creating entirely artificial new microbes, but they were strongly against the use of animals and plants. Releasing any synthetic microbes into the environment was a no-no too.

So what do you think about synthetic biology and the results of the survey? At the museum we're featuring synthetic biology in our centenary exhibition as an example of future science (see here for details). I'd be really fascinated to hear what people feel about this.

Happy Birthday Science Museum

A new exhibition opened at the museum this week to celebrate a centenary of science in South Kensington. That's right, it's the museum's 100th birthday and to mark this momentous occasion we've picked out ten of the most important objects from our collection. Can you guess what they might be? To find out about all ten objects and vote for your favourite visit the museum. Or, if you'd rather stay at home, take a peek at our new Centenary website.

At the opening Peter Mandelson (above left, answering questions in front of the Apollo 10 space capsule) wished the museum happy birthday and voted for his favourite object: Stephenson's Rocket.

I've been working on this exhibition for the last few months so it was really great to see it open. We'll be using the blog over the coming months to explore all aspects of the centenary, so keep your eyes peeled for new Centenary-themed posts.

Image: Mia Ridge

3D chic on the way

I love 3D films, but there is no way I will be seen wearing those awful, geeky looking glasses just to see a movie in more than two dimensions.

Luckily for me and all those other fashion victims missing out, the EU has funded two projects aimed at developing 3D viewing without the need for those wacky glasses.

The new technology presents the 3D image in a very similar way to light coming from a normal object. This removes the need for the special specs and also puts a lot less strain on the brain than current 3D projections.

Commercial applications are already being investigated with military training an obvious start followed by gaming.

3D TV is a way off yet, but according to Zsuzsa Dobranyi, Sales Director at Holografika "it’s only a matter of time!" - Yippy

Lose Cancer - Lose Fingerprints

A poor chap was held by immigration officials at the US border for four hours because he didn't have any fingerprints.

The man was a cancer patient who was taking the common anti-cancer drug Capecitabine. The drug is known to have a side-effect where your hands and feet swell, peel and blister and can lead to the loss of fingerprints.

After being detained in airport customs, officials let him enter American because they decided he wasn't a security threat. But they suggested next time he carry a note from his doctor explaining the situation.

What seems ludicrous to me is that this can't be the only thing that causes people to lose their fingerprints. Surely it happens quite regularly. A really quick Google search revealed that bricklayers, secretaries, and anyone who works with lime can all lose their fingerprints over time and often don't have enough pattern left to capture a print. As we all get older our fingerprints tend to fade as well and it is common for the elderly not to have any left. I don’t have a fingerprint on my middle finger after the pad was sliced off in a freak unicycling accident. Luckily for me I have nine others that still can be read. But what happens to all these other people when they go to the US?

Is there a better security system out there that could be used given how common it is not to have fingerprints?

When three genes are better than two

For years, scientists have been wondering why people with Down's Syndrome are less likely to get cancer than the rest of us. Now researchers writing in the journal Nature say they've found the answer.

People with Down's have three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two. This extra chromosome causes the disorder but, the scientists discovered, it also contains a gene that stops the growth of tumours.

The scientists identified the gene in question, known as Dscr1, by studying mice that have extra copies of many of the genes on chromosome 21. Humans normally only have two copies of Dscr1, but it turns out that an extra copy suppresses cancer by stopping tumours from growing blood vessels.

The discovery could lead to potential new treatments, say cancer experts.