Author: Fin O’Reilly

  • Nourishing hearts and minds

    Three of my intrepid colleagues – Greg Blackman, Eleanor Waters, and Warren Clark – are currently hard in training, preparing to take part in the Cambridge Half Marathon next month, writes Tim Gillett.

    While this is worthy news in itself – and I am full of admiration for anyone who can run 13 miles – I’m particularly impressed by the group’s chosen charity, FoodCycle. Greg, who is a senior editor at Europa Science, has been volunteering for the charity for the last seven years.

    Foodcycle is a national charity that builds communities through surplus food, volunteers and spare kitchen spaces. Volunteers create tasty three-course meals for vulnerable people across the UK, and are united by the simple belief that food waste and food poverty should not co-exist.

    Surplus food is food that is fit for human consumption but has no commercial value for a retailer. This food may have become damaged in transit, might be past its ‘best before’ date or might have been over-ordered. It’s still perfectly good food, and the charity puts it to good use.

    In the UK alone, an estimated 12 million tonnes of food is wasted each year, while four million people are affected by food poverty. FoodCycle is doing something about this by making use of edible food to create nutritious three-course meals for those who need it.

    FoodCycle works with supermarkets, small independent grocery shops and markets to source perfectly edible surplus food in a safe and responsible way. It only reclaims fresh fruit and vegetables, while it buys extra ingredients such as dried foods to make its meals as balanced and nutritious as possible.

    The charity works in the most deprived communities to support vulnerable groups including older people, homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers, people affected by mental ill health and people on low incomes. All of our projects work with a community partner that addresses an identifiable need within their community, and offers local expertise on the problems their community faces.

    Food poverty is the inability to get enough healthy, affordable food. This can be due to lack of income, poor transport to local shops, knowledge about what constitutes a healthy diet, and the skills to create healthy meals. Due to this complex mix of factors, people on low incomes have the lowest intakes of fruit and vegetables and are far more likely to suffer from diet-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and coronary heart disease.

    FoodCycle works in a different way from a food bank: addressing food poverty by providing a hot, nutritious three-course meal rather than items for people to take home. By providing a sit-down meal in a warm and welcoming atmosphere, we work to reduce social isolation – as people who often feel excluded get the chance to mix with others and feel a valued part of their community. Volunteers sit down and eat with guests and have a chat, and meals are served with warmth and dignity.

    The very best of luck to Eleanor, Warren and Greg! To sponsor them, and raise money for a fantastic cause, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teameuropascience

  • Publishing wizardry!

    In the latest issue of our Research Information magazine, there is an article on the subject of augmented reality – and the possibilities of using the technology in the world of academic publishing.

    On page 20 is an image portraying an imagined front page of a newspaper – the Daily Impact. While the image is on the face of it quite unremarkable, if look at it through your mobile phone using an app called Zappar it springs to life and begins to play a short animated video that is ‘locked’ to the magazine page beneath.

    The technology, being developed by Cactus Communications, is remarkably reminiscent of the magical newspaper, the Daily Prophet, that appeared throughout the Harry Potter series of films – but it could have exciting implications in the world of education and academia, and in many other areas of publishing.

    Imagine technical drawings that spring into animated life in the pages of medical textbooks or journals, short videos of laboratory processes that might otherwise take thousands of words to explain, or animations that sum up technical features or white papers.

    Indeed, the best way to experience this technology is to download the Zappar app, let your phone hover over the image above, and check out the wizardry yourself (though you can read a longer explanation here).

    Wingardium leviosa!

  • ‘Virtual lens’ could replace endoscopy

    For many people – including this one – the prospect of an internal examination with an endoscope would be concerning to say the least, writes Tim Gillett.

    Technology that could one day obviate the need for invasive visual examinations would be a boon for many; not least, I would imagine, for the medical staff that are tasked with carrying out these procedures.

    This week our title Electro Optics features research by Maysam Chamanzar and Matteo Giuseppe Scopelliti, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, USA, who have showed that they can use ultrasonic wave patterns to create a virtual ‘lens’ within the body. This can be used to focus light within the tissue without needing to implant a physical lens. The pair say this enables them to capture images previously inaccessible through non-invasive means.

    Currently, the biggest – literal – barrier to imaging deep in the body is biological tissue itself, which blocks most light. However, ultrasound can be used to make tissue more transparent, allowing more penetration of light and the creation of a virtual lens that can be moved around at will – crucially, in a non-invasive way.

    ‘Being able to relay images from organs, such as the brain, without the need to insert physical optical components will provide an important alternative to implanting invasive endoscopes in the body,’ explained Chamanzar. ‘This method can revolutionise the field of biomedical imaging.’

    Read more about this revolutionary technology in Electro Optics.

  • Tech to get your teeth into

    Even as a grizzled old hack, I occasionally learn a new word, writes Tim Gillett.

    This week’s mot nouveau is biomimetics – defined on Wikipedia as ‘the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems’.

    Probably the most obvious example of this is the early study of birds and flying mammals in the quest for human flight – check out Da Vinci’s designs for a ‘flying machine’, which closely resemble the look and structure of bat wings. Or consider the study of termite mounds in architects’ quest to create a building that stays cool without the need for air conditioning.

    So when I was asked by Matt Dale, editor of our title Laser Systems Europe, to write a feature on laser machining for aerospace, I was intrigued to learn that two German companies have been inspired by shark skin as a way to reduce drag – and thereby increase fuel efficiency – in aircraft.

    Laser specialist 4JET and aircraft paint supplier Mankiewicz have introduced a laser process for the creation of ‘riblets’ – like small ridges – automatically lasered directly onto painted aircraft surfaces.

    By splitting a laser beam and then recombining it on a painted surface, the companies are able to create a mind-boggling 15 kilometres of riblets – equal to about a square metre of riblet surface – in less than one minute. The process can reduce drag by 10 per cent, and potentially result in fuel savings for commercial airlines.

    In these days of increased environmental concern, that can only be a good thing.

    Read more at https://www.lasersystemseurope.com/news/shark-inspired-surfaces-increase-fuel-efficiency-aircraft

  • Zooming in on piggy welfare

    Face recognition technology seems to be a widespread feature of our world these days.

    Airport immigration is nowadays controlled by means of facial recognition, the most modern mobile phones use it as a security check, and China is said to be using a huge system to track its Uighur Muslim minority – even if the US city of San Francisco is said to be close to banning the technology outright.

    However, it’s not just human beings that are subject to having their faces scanned in the most minute detail.

    As reported in our Imaging and Machine Vision Europe title, face recognition technology is being used in an attempt to detect different emotional states in pigs.

    Research by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in Edinburgh has shown that pigs can signal their intentions to other pigs using expressions. There is also evidence of different expressions when they are in pain or under stress – and scientists are hoping to develop a tool that can monitor individual animals’ faces and alert farmers to any health and welfare problems.

    It’s not just pigs hogging the limelight – the Centre for Machine Vision in Bristol, UK, is working on a system to monitor the welfare of dairy cows. We wouldn’t want to use that as an excuse to milk the puns any further though. That would be udderly boaring.

    Read more about the project – and the equipment being used in the research – here.

  • Too much pi?

    As previously noted in this blog, there are a lot of big numbers floating around in the world of science, writes Tim Gillett.

    Today it was announced (and reported in our Research Information publication) that an employee of Google in Japan has managed to calculate pi – the number you get if you divide a circle’s circumference by its diameter – to an astonishing 31 trillion decimal places, give or take a few hundred billion.

    The news was released today to coincide with Pi Day (14 March, or 3.14 – the first three digits of pi), and the calculation has been recognised by Guinness World Records. Unsurprisingly, the story has gained a lot of traction on the world’s media – clearly something of a publicity coup for Google Cloud!

    My question is this: does such a calculation serve any real purpose?

    Using 3.14 as a value for pi is roughly half a percent away from its true value, while pi calculated to five decimal places gets you to within 0.000084 percent of ‘absolute’ pi. Even NASA only uses 16 digits for the programmes that control spacecraft – so is a sum of this magnitude actually of any use?

    Either way, the thought of such calculations is sending me pi-eyed.

  • Throwing light on street art

    Graffiti is one of those things that often provokes a strong reaction – sometimes positive, sometimes negative, writes Tim Gillett.

    Personally – and controversially among some of my friends, work colleagues and family members – I absolutely love it. Good graffiti can brighten up the dullest architectural spaces, at the same time as allowing talented artists to express themselves. Good graffiti can make a humorous or political point, or it can be a brilliant and legitimate art form.

    That doesn’t mean graffiti should be everywhere, and I’m not advocating that St Paul’s Cathedral – or King’s College Chapel in my home town of Cambridge – would be better off covered in spray paint. That would be vandalism.

    I was intrigued, however, when my colleague Matt Dale – editor of Laser Systems Europe magazine – told me about a process for removing graffiti using an infrared laser. A group of volunteers in Florence, Italy – nicknamed the ‘Angels of Beauty’ – are using the system to erase graffiti from the Ponte Vecchio stone bridge over the Arno River.

    The process actually evaporates the graffiti without damaging the underlying stonework, and while it is still a slow procedure – up to 20 minutes to clean a 10cm by 10cm square – the lasers have already been used in some 28 UNESCO heritage sites around the world. The technique can also be used to restore (more traditional!) works of art.

    Read more of Matt’s story here.

  • Jess is Africa-bound!

    Jess is Africa-bound!

    Our Electro Optics editor Jessica Rowbury will soon be taking some time off to complete a volunteer writing and communications placement for a charity in Tanzania. Here she details what she’ll be doing during her time there…

    In September, I will be taking a sabbatical to take on a 13-week volunteer communications and writing role in Tanzania for a sustainable development charity called Raleigh International.

    Raleigh focuses on providing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, protecting vulnerable environments, building resilient communities and supporting youth development. The charity works in partnership with local communities, organisations and project partners to encourage sustainable change.

    Approximately 75 per cent of Tanzanians live in rural communities, where adequate access to safe water and sanitation is limited, and few economic opportunities exist for young people.

    At the same time, Tanzania has a rapidly growing economy. With a large population of young people, there is a growing need for employment opportunities. One of Raleigh’s focus areas is supporting young entrepreneurs to set up small businesses in their communities, which benefit themselves and the people around them. In turn, their communities can become more resilient to social and environmental change.

    I’ll be using my experience as an editor to report on the charity’s three independent projects in Tanzania, which are being led by local groups such as the Tanzanian Forestry Conservation Group and the Ministry of Information, Youth, and Sport. I’ll be spending around half of my time working with office staff in Tanzania, doing things like planning media coverage and giving presentations to potential charitable donors, and the other half travelling to the three rural projects across the country to write about what’s happening in each location.

    I chose Raleigh because unlike some organisations working in Africa that want to ‘fix’ everything, I feel like the charity really takes into account the problems that can be created from certain kinds of ‘charitable’ actions, which can actually impede a community or country’s development. Rather than coming in and leading things, Raleigh works with local charities, businesses and government bodies to understand what’s genuinely needed and to ensure that they’re following the lead of local groups. Instead of just building something and leaving, Raleigh spends as much time as is needed in each location until the changes can be sustained without outside help. Also, at least half of all staff and volunteers are from Tanzania, rather than the charity being run by foreigners.

    In addition to doing something that will hopefully be worthwhile, I expect to gain communication and leadership skills that will enhance my capabilities as an editor.

    My last day in the office is the 31 August, and I’ll be back on 2 January. For any enquiries while I’m away, please contact greg.blackman@europascience.com.

    I’m fundraising to contribute to part of the cost of hosting volunteers; all money received will go directly to Raleigh International.  Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

    www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jessica-rowbury2

  • Exposed – camera shoots at 100 million frames per second

    Exposed – camera shoots at 100 million frames per second

    As an editor of scientific magazines I come across some astounding numbers – the number of floating point operations per second performed by the latest high-performance computers, for instance, or the vast quantity of scientific journal articles published each year, writes Tim Gillett.

    Occasionally, though, one is introduced to a fact that seems barely believable – one that instantly requires checking because it just *has* to be a typo, right?

    That was exactly my reaction when I was asked to proof-read a story for our magazine Imaging and Machine Vision Europe, referring to a camera that will be able to shoot an astonishing 100 million frames per second at one-megapixel resolution with the aim of imaging tissue in cancer research.

    The world’s most advanced high-speed video camera is being developed by the Rosalind Franklin Institute, based in Oxfordshire, UK, and will be used to further researchers’ understanding of a new cancer drug delivery method using ultrasound.

    Researchers will be able to see how ultrasound interacts with drug-loaded particles and tissue, and how that enables controlled uptake of drugs into cancer cells. The camera will help researchers understand the biophysical mechanisms behind the drug delivery method.

    The new instrument will be developed through a collaboration between an team at the University of Oxford and a UK-SME specialising in high-speed imaging, Invisible Vision. Once completed, it will be housed at the new Rosalind Franklin Institute (RFI) being built at the Harwell Research Complex in Oxfordshire.

    Eleanor Stride from the University of Oxford explained: ‘A major challenge with current delivery methods for cancer drugs is that they rely on the active molecules reaching and entering the tumour cells by diffusion. This makes it difficult to ensure that all parts of a tumour are treated and leads to terrible side effects because large volumes of healthy tissue also absorb the drug. We need to find a better way to get these drugs into cancer cells specifically, quickly and effectively.’

    She continued: ‘The approach we’re developing introduces harmless particles into the bloodstream and then uses ultrasound to activate them, in order to both release the drug at a specific site and helping to drive it into the tumour to reach all of the cells within in it.’

    Currently, the fastest long-record-duration framing cameras in the world best suited for these applications are still mechanical, operating at speeds of 25 million frames per second. The new camera will be smaller and more compact, around the size of a conventional video camera.