Author: David Bradley

Jonny Wilkinson, Physicist Extraordinaire

Jonny Wilkinson

On this side of The Atlantic, there is growing interest this week in Jonny Wilkinson’s balls, and more to the point how he kicks them. Wilkinson’s drop goals are testament to his keen understanding of the physics of aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and possibly even the Bernoulli effect. Perfect fodder for a physics science project.

However, it’s not all about the shape of the ball nor the swing of the leg, according to UK research published this month. The prodigious kicking success of England rugby player Johnny Wilkinson may rely more on what he does with his arms than his legs, according to a paper published in the journal Sports Biomechanics. Scientists at Bath University analysed the kicking techniques of professional and semi-professional rugby players to see which technique is most successful.

They found that players who swing their non-kicking-side arm across their chest as they make contact with the ball are the most accurate kickers, particularly over longer distances. It could be that the increased momentum produced by this arm movement helps the kicker control the amount of rotation in their bodies so that when they kick the ball their body is facing the target for longer.

Although Wilkinson’s trademark posture in lining up for the kick is well known, it is his arm movement you should watch out for in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final, it might just signal defeat for the Springboks. Or, maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Two RWC victories in a row, could it happen, could England swing it?

A Tricorder for Blood Disease and Breast Cancer

Med-tricorder

Science news with a spectroscopy bent from my desktop hit the virtual newsstands today over on SpectroscopyNOW.com First up, an atomic coilgun that can stop atoms in their tracks using a sequence of pulsed magnetic fields has been developed by US scientists. The device opens up the possibility of slowing and trapping atoms regardless of atomic number, which is not possible even with Nobel prize winning laser trapping science, which works only for specific atoms. The new approach could allow technologically important elements such as iron, nickel, and the most fundamental element of all, hydrogen, to be slowed to a standstill.

Next, we have a story for fans of Italian cuisine in which scientists have figured out the details of how enzymes in the fragrant herb basil give it its sweet zing so beloved of pesto fans. structure of eugenol synthase, frozen in mid-action as it makes its natural product, eugenol. The researchers at the University of Michigan have taken an X-ray snapshot of basil’s enzyme eugenol synthase working on a substrate molecule key to the biological synthesis of the aromatic component of fresh basil leaves, eugenol. Apparently, the enzyme has a rather unique action in that it involves a push-pull mechanism that evolved from a simpler enzyme seen in other plants and basil’s ancestors.

We also have a rather gory story in this week’s issue related to sticky blood. In it, an entirely new approach to testing for the sticky blood disorder known as Hughes syndrome, or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is developed. The technique involves a statistical analysis of near-infrared (NIR) spectra recorded for suspect blood samples. The accurate results suggests that NIR might one day be developed as a non-invasive test that can be carried out without piercing the skin for a blood sample. Some observers are already suggesting this is yet another step towards a Tricorder type device for medical diagnostics.

Finally, NIR spectroscopy is also being investigated as a new approach to detecting the microscopic calcium salt crystals that form in tissue during the early stages of breast cancer. A Harvard medical team is developing the novel scanning technique and has invented an easy to make compound that latches on to the microcalcifications and lights up in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. Presumably, the same observers heralding a medical Tricorder type device for blood diseases will see this as another example of so NIR and yet so far.

Rush Natural Science

Rush natural science, photo by David BradleyEarlier this week, I went to see “one” of my childhood musical heroes, progressively rocking Canadian three piece Rush. The band was on top form as ever and the crowd jostled to the music almost in synchrony like so many atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) as the band raised the energy levels. They played most of their latest album, covering themes of humanism and faith without religion as well as resurrecting some stonkers from their vast back catalogue including the epic Natural Science from 1980 album Permanent Waves.

It was just before that album came out, 78-79, that I first got into Rush, perhaps it’s no coincidence, that the technicality of their music appealed to my early noodlings on the guitar while the content of their lyrics, which aren’t so much sword and sorcery as science and nature, appealed to my inner geek. Not the more usual sex, and drugs, and rock & roll for the maturing Rush of late 1970s, more the cynical take on our place in the world, with tracks such as the aforementioned Natural Science discussing the balance between the natural and the synthetic world and how integrity of purpose could allow us to reach an equilibrium between control and understanding through science.

Science and Rush were always a likely match. They did a song called Chemistry, after all, and a two-part conceptual epic spread over two albums about the black hole Cygnus X-1, and guitarist Alex Lifeson is on record as being quite a science fan. I’m quite proud of the sheer coincidence that not long after I published an article about earthshine, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart saw fit to write about that very subject as an allegory of the public perception of our inner selves. But, it’s no coincidence that Rush generally top the ubergeek’s playlist.

In fact, just for fun here’s a few other scientifically minded fans of the band: Paul May, chemist, Bristol Uni, creator of MotM, Steve Sain, statistician, unfortunately also confesses to having seen Billy Joel in concert, Mark Lewney, physicist, and rock doctor (think Einstein meets Hendrix), Nicole Biamonte, Iowa University music theorist, David Muir, educational computing guy, Arvind Gopu, lead systems analyst for the Open Science Grid Operations group at Indiana University, Anthony Francis, artificial intelligence researcher and science fiction author, Jon Price, geotechnogeek at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Let me know if you want to add your name and link to the list.

Now, tell me what is the biophysics behind post-gig ringing in the ears?

Nobel Prize for Peace 2007

Oscar winning politician Al Gore and the hundreds of scientists of the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change established by the United Nations) have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace for their work on raising international awareness of our responsibilities when it comes to climate change.

The award highlights the fact that climate change could have a significant impact on international relations and world peace. Indeed, former IPCC chairman Dr Bob Watson, said that, “What the Nobel Committee has done is to demonstrate to the world that climate change is not just simply an environmental issue but an issue of peace. Climate change can threaten security both at the national and regional level and has brought into sharp focus just how serious this issue is.”

Current chairman Rajendra Pachauri said that this is a prize for all scientists pushing for action against climate change. UN Secretary General said that the Prize, for them, shows that it is beyond doubt that climate change is affecting the world.

Solar Power, Japanese Hair, X-Rays, and Winning SONS

Japanese women

This week, The Alchemist learns of awards to two chemists funded by the European Science Foundation and undertaking cutting edge multidisciplinary work in solar energy and liquid crystals.

It turns out that when it comes to crystallography size no longer matters, thanks to developments in how well x-ray beams can be focused and the positioning of microcrystals for analysis by diffraction. Also this week, could an extract from bilberries be effective against certain types of tumor or even prevent specific cancers developing in the first place?

And, while water cannot burn, there is new evidence that a novel photocatalyst is getting solar energy experts hot under the collar in the search for the perfect hydrogen-production process. In inorganic chemistry, mercury shows its true mettle when confronted with plenty of fluorine and, finally, Raman spectroscopy can now see through even the most highly pigmented hair, revealing the secret of aging Japanese locks.

Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2007

Gerhard Ertl

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2007 goes to Gerhard Ertl of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces. Congratulations Professor!

We have the semiconductor industry of the 1960s to thank for the emergence of surface chemistry. Gerhard Ertl was one of the first to see the potential of the new techniques and has pioneered methodology for different experimental procedures that give us a clear picture of surface reactions.

I wrote about Ertl’s work on several occasions for ChemWeb.com in its previous incarnation and reported on a catalyst surface science meeting of the UK’s Royal Society in 2004. There is a list of past winners on Sciencebase together with links and a brief summary of their research here.

Mapping Chemical Industry Knowledge

Joana Mendonça and Rui Baptista of the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research at the Technical University of Lisbon, working with Paulo Conde of Solvay in Brussells, Belgium, have examined how innovation occurs within the chemical industry, by examining the processes and activities undertaken by the Portuguese branch of a multinational chemical company. They have looked at the company’s formal innovation process and from that they have gleaned a map of the knowledge bases used in the search for innovative, new products.

Europe is a major player in the global chemical industry, but recently supply has begun to shift towards the Asian and Middle East markets. Demand from these regions is increasingly rapidly but their own fast-developing industries may not face the same high production costs and strict environmental regulations that increasingly make Europe a less attractive investment.

Couple this socioeconomic and geographical shift in production with a fall off in R&D spending in Europe and the exodus of skilled labour and on the surface it appears that chemical industry innovation within Europe is on the wane. Faced with this prospect, Mendonça and colleagues suggest that it, “is of crucial importance to analyse its processes within the chemical industry.”

Their analysis of the chemical industry has allowed them to produce a map showing the spread of the industry’s widely distributed knowledge bases and to demonstrate how knowledge flows between them and how it is used. They have found that the ability to generate value-creating knowledge is concentrated in the early stages of the industry’s lifecycle regardless of region. In contrast, the Portuguese industry is mostly concentrated on activities that have already reached maturity and, in some cases, are in decline rather than looking to innovation. “Owing to this asymmetry, disembodied knowledge flows are difficult to create, and other types of relationship should be pursued,” they suggest.

They also point out that multinational companies tend to rely strongly on internal improvements and do not seek new knowledge from outside sources that might lead to profitable innovation or improvements in efficiency. Indeed, any innovative activities that take place are actually focused on preventing “unwelcome surprises and to minimise risk” as opposed to facilitating the kin of “freewheeling, imaginative, and risk-taking approach that characterises entrepreneurship”.

All is not lost, add the researchers, “large multinational companies can have a decisive role in the innovation process by providing their market expertise to entrepreneurs and the case study presented shows a path other companies may follow.”

The original research paper, “A map of the knowledge bases for the chemical industry” can be found in the current issue of the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (2007, 7, 245-262)

Nobel Prize for Physics 2007

This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics went to Albert Fert (France) and Peter Grünberg (Germany), who share the prize fifty:fifty for their discovery of giant magnetoresistance in which a very weak magnetic change gived rise to a major difference in electrical resistance of a system.

This effect underpins the technology that is used to read data on hard disks. It is thanks to their discovery that it has been possible to miniaturize hard disks so radically in recent years. Sensitive read-out heads are needed to be able to read data from the compact hard disks used in laptops and mp3 players, for instance.

You can read more details on the Nobel site here

Ten Improvements on the ACS Website

The American Chemical Society (ACS) website got a makeover. They haven’t gone totally two-point-oh (thankfully) but they have made a few improvements (ten to be precise, at least according to their announcement), two of which are comprehensiveand at least 2 or 3 of which amount to the same thing. Still, it is nice a nice layout, albeit, a bit toooo web one-point-ohhhh and a little more 2005 than 2007. If you’ve used the features leave a comment and tell us about your experiences.

Anyway, here’s the top ten according to the ACS itself:

  • Consistent, global navigation
  • Unified look and feel
  • Ten comprehensive categories
  • Member focused
  • Home page highlights
  • Comprehensive search
  • Easier to read
  • Faster access
  • One stop for help
  • User Tested and Approved

Cutting the Cost of Watts and Soaking up CO2

Environmental research

In this month’s Intute Spotlight, I report on a new approach to carbon storage that researchers hope will allow us to reduce or stabilise atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, although I have my doubts.

Carbon sequestration is a well-studied theoretical approach to reduce carbon emissions by locking up carbon dioxide deep in the ground or on the ocean floor in various forms. Whether or not such an approach is tenable in terms of the overall energy balance is open to debate but experimental efforts at developing efficient systems to extract the gas from the emissions of electric power stations are underway. The latest effort was recently patented by researchers at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.

A nanostructured polymer membrane that can extract carbon dioxide from a gaseous flow and convert it to bicarbonate ions could be the key to carbon sequestration in the fight to control levels of the greenhouse gas.

Also high on the green agenda, improving the efficiency per unit cost of solar energy panels, which seems a reasonable alternative and could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, with the proviso that making, installing, maintaining, and recycling such panels still costs energy and resources, despite the implications made by some environmentalists that they offer free energy. The work in question claims to have cut costs to less than $1 per Watt produced. Finally, there are some doomsayers who would say that we need not worry about the long-term threat of climate change and the decline of fossil fuel supplies because we are long overdue for a catastrophic asteroid impact. The European Space Agency’s “Don Quijote” mission hopes to tilt at asteroids and help give us a clear view of incoming.