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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Matthew Wilkinson explains why we shouldn’t underestimate the humble jellyfish Jellyfish are not normally considered to be the epitome of evolutionary advancement. They are more often regarded as little more than jelly-filled sacks with a mouth and tentacles.This opinion is unfounded: jellyfish belong to one of the most ancient animal groups, and the fact that they are still with us is a testament to the success of their biological design. They are also, in many surprising ways, extremely specialised, a fact illustrated most clearly by the remarkable box jellyfish, or cubozoans, shown in picture. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Davina E. Stevenson ventures into Nanoput In the land of the Nanoputians, science meets art. A research group at Rice University in Texas has achieved the ultimate in designed miniaturisation by making a family of molecules which resemble humans but are only 0.000000002 metres tall! The family name is derived from the Lilliputians that lived in Jonathan Swift’s classic story Gulliver’s Travels . The name also describes their size, as nano means 1x10 -9 (or 0.000000001 metres). |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Carina Lobley discusses the ethical concerns of stem cell research After fertilisation of a human egg, the resulting cell divides and eventually gives rise to an array of specialised cells that form a whole individual. Cells of the early embryo are also capable of forming stem cells, which divide indefinitely and can generate all the tissues found in an adult, from blood to brain to muscle. By the time of birth, all that remains are specialised stem cells, whose capability is restricted to a particular tissue type. The potential to generate cells of any type makes stem cell research both scientifically exciting and ethically daunting. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Laura Blackburn examines the two sides of the desert locust Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are hoping and praying that the locust swarms that have been darkening the skies in recent months will not destroy all of this year’s crops. In many cases it is already too late. Recent heavy rainfall in countries such as the Gambia and Mauritania has broken years of drought, thus providing ideal conditions for these insects to breed voraciously. Each swarm can contain billions of insects, and each insect can eat its body weight in food every day, enough food to feed thousands of people. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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John O’Neill looks into what makes our body clock tick Sun, sand, surf. We all appreciate the benefits of holidays abroad, but no one enjoys the miserable few days it takes to adjust to the new local time. We become jetlagged because of interference with the normal running of our body’s internal 24-hour timer: the circadian clock (circa – about, diem – daily). In recent years, groundbreaking research by circadian biologists has led to a new understanding of the clock’s molecular mechanisms. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Is the life of a Cambridge Fellow really a longer one? Rosie Clift investigates The archetypal Oxbridge fellow is male, chain-smokes a pipe, drinks excessive amounts of port and overindulges in rich delicacies such as roast swan, caviar, and foie gras. A lifestyle perhaps not conducive to longevity? |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Nerissa Hannink explores the curious world of rock eating bacteria “Ewww yuck, gross!” is often our first reaction when bacteria are mentioned. The idea that we live with microscopic organisms on our skin, in our bodies, and in our homes is for many an unpleasant thought. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Ewan Smith explains how we feel pain After cutting yourself shaving, it’s easy to curse, but have you ever wondered why it hurts? Pain is an important survival mechanism that acts to prevent injury. Although a painless life may seem enviable, a life without pain would be disaster-ridden. For example, if you pick up a hot dish from an oven, without protection, the pain will cause you to release it before serious injury occurs. If it didn’t hurt when you picked it up, you might not break the dish, but you would certainly burn your hand! |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Kate Miller takes a look at the portrayal of science on the stage The eminent physicist Richard Feynman once said “What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?” In saying this, he put his finger on the problem: how to represent scientific concepts in a non-scientific medium and convey understanding to an unfamiliar audience. Science and the arts have combined in a multitude of ways, from the machiavellian scientist villains of the Spider-Man films to the beauty of fractal art and the stunning images produced by the Hubble telescope. However, in the field of drama, science has failed to make the impact it has in other forms of art. Until recently plays about science have been few and far between; but why is this the case?
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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by Philip Ball ( Oxford University Press, 2004). Reviewed by Sonia G. Schirmer  Philip Ball’s book about the elements is informative and an interesting read, detailing the journey from the four elements of antiquity to the modern periodic table. Unlike other similar titles, such as The Periodic Kingdom by P. W. Atkins, The Elements is not a tour of the periodic table, and does not describe the elements, their properties, and relations between them. Rather, Philip Ball takes a mainly historical approach to the development of the periodic table, introducing the key players from Aristotle to Lavoisier to Mendeleyev (and some lesser known figures), the questions that preoccupied them, their methods, and important discoveries.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Francis H. C. Crick, widely heralded as one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century, died on 28th July 2004 . Katherine Borthwick looks back at his career. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Just over 50 years ago, when Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA, it would have been hard to imagine the countless number of scientific advances to which their revelation has contributed. Nearing the end of 2004, we even have the ability to clone human embryos! So what is left for the scientific community to discover: where will science take us in the next 50 years? Some eminent Cambridge academics and researchers share their view with us. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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CHaOS is a science outreach group. Sophie Canfield recalls their summer tour Children and parents alike from around the country were impressed by the third Cambridge Hands On Science (CHaOS) summer tour.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Lucy Heady describes her experiences at a summer school in Iran Imagine it’s a Saturday night and a group of physicists are having a party. Cheesy music blares out of a cheap tape player and a few geeky boys are jerking arrhythmically on the dance floor.Now imagine that this innocuous party is actually illegal. Why? Because there are girls there, without chaperones and without headscarves and we are in Iran , number two on George W. Bush’s ‘axis of evil’.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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We PhD researchers may be well-trained experts in our own discipline, but we lack the ability to critically assess ourselves and step back from our research problems. In the middle of a career crisis, I seized the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC’s) offer to pay for a GRADschool course, and chose three very intensive days at Durham University .
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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 Emma Brennand is questioned by Nerissa Hannink about her time as a science festival helper
The Cheltenham Science Festival runs every year in June and attracts many prominent scientists and those promoting the public understanding of science. This year’s theme was perception, and topics ranged from animal consciousness to body language. Activities included talks and discussions on new research (including ethical aspects), as well as a free discovery programme where the public could interact with scientists in activities such as racing computers and digging for dinosaurs. It was the festival’s most successful year with 27 000 visitors and many of the events selling out.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Jonathan Zwart speaks to Ghim Wei Ho, a PhD student at the Nanoscience Centre, who is responsible for our stunning front cover image Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre is an interdisciplinary group of around 120 biologists, physicists, chemists and engineers led by Prof. Mark Welland of the Department of Engineering. These scientists work in the rapidly expanding field of nanotechnology. They are seeking to develop and exploit materials and construct devices (transistors, resistors and capacitors, to name but a few) at the atomic scale of one nanometre, or a billionth of a metre. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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The Millennium Mathematics Project is running a mathematics lecture series for schools and the general public. Each talk is suitable for different ages and abilities, and children are welcome. Topic range vary widely, and this term include paper folding, the solar system, catastrophies, and more. The series begins on 5th October, and you can find out more at www.mmp.maths.org |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Cambridge Discovery is a series of informal public talks and events highlighting the renowned collections of various Cambridge University Museums and their research. The Discovery talks are given fortnightly on Thursdays at 19.00 (doors open 18.00). Venues alternate between the University Museum of Zoology and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Admission is free, talks and events are open to all. Although most talks are written for adults and teenagers, some are suitable for younger children. To find out more visit www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/libmuseums and follow the link to Cambridge Discovery. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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What would it be? A beginner’s guide to geological time? The eye of the beholder? Mathematics, magic, and electric guitars? Or perhaps you would be looking for life in unlikely places? At www.xScite.com you can find online movies (produced by or in association with CUSP), as well as a number of online lectures. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Or rather, outside your subject: For a list of the University’s departmental seminars see www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/seminars.html |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Bernoulli’s principle and all? Think again. Dr Holger Babinsky (Cambridge University Engineering Department) challenges popular misconceptions in his lecture available online at the Engineering Department’s Virtual Open Day. Visit www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/openday/ virtual , and follow the links to the main lecture theatre on the ground floor. |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Oxygen by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, will be performed at the ADC Theatre on 26th-30th October at 19.45. There will be a series of pre-performance talks to accompany the play, including one by co-author Carl Djerassi. For more details see www.topquarkproductions.org.uk |
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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The Titan Arum, giant of the plant world, enveloped visitors in its rotten stench as it flowered for the first time ever at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden .
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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The Medical Research Council (MRC) announced funding of £1.5M towards a stem cell research centre of excellence at Cambridge .
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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The president of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology New Mexico Tech), Dr Daniel Lopez, and the head of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, Professor Malcolm Longair, formalised the collaboration between their two institutions to build the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer, the world’s most ambitious optical telescope array.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Research undertaken by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology with the Greater Glasgow Health Board’s Public Health Department has found a link between maternal blood levels of Alpha Feto Protein (AFP) in pregnancy and the risk of a baby dying of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or cot death. The research, headed by Professor Gordon Smith, was supported by a grant from the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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After seven weeks of painstaking work by staff and volunteers, the dinosaur Iguanodon is ready for re-installation in the Sedgwick Museum .
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Sunday, 08 May 2005 |
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Dear Dr Hypothesis, I am anxious about all the recent attention given to the complete sequencing of the human genome. I have never given a sample of my DNA and do not wish to, yet we are told that somehow this code represents us all. When they sequenced the human genome, exactly whose genome did they sequence? Genome Jean
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