The Biologist March 2012

Page 1

THE BIOLOGIST •The society of biology magazine • Vol 59 No 1 • MARCH 2012

TheBiologist The society of biology magazine

ISSN 0006-3347

societyofbiology.org

Vol 59 No 1

MARCH 2012

SPECIAL REPORT

homeopathy | children & nature | science media centre | kary mullis | stroke research | Paul de kruif

Testing the water Former homeopathist

Edzard Ernst on the diluted science of homeopathy

FEATURe

MEDIA

BIOGRAPHY

CHILDREN & NATURE How to engage kids with the outdoors

GET THE MESSAGE Ten years of the Science Media Centre

PAUL DE KRUIF Turning science into an adventure


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TheBiologist the SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY MAGAZINE

Volume 59 No 1 / March 2012

Contents

36 40

18

Les Rose on the lack of scientific thought in Parliament

11 Man or mouse?

How scientific breakthroughs are helping to reduce the use of live animals in research

18 Testing the water

Former Professor of Complementary Medicine Edzard Ernst examines homeopathists’ claims

22 Get your facts straight

Fiona Fox on 10 years of the Science Media Centre

The Nobel Prize-winner talks to The Biologist about his famous polymerase chain reaction technique

30 The great outdoors

The Peak District National Park’s Dr Richard Campen explores the importance of nature to young people

36 Paul de Kruif

Dr Vivian Wyatt celebrates the controversial author of the science classic Microbe Hunters

40 Stroke of genius

Emily Robinson on communicating advances in stroke research

homeopathy | children & nature | science media centre | kary mullis | stroke research | paul de kruif

10 Political science

26 Kary Mullis

THe biologisT •The socieTy of biology magazine • Vol 59 No 1 • MARCH 2012

In this issue

TheBiologist THe soCieTy of biology MAgAziNe

issN 0006-3347

soCieTyofbiology.oRg

Vol 59 No 1

MARCH 2012

5 Society news 53 Member news 56 Branch news

SPECIAL REPORT

TESTING THE wATER

former homeopathist edzard ernst on the diluted science of homeopathy

FEATURE

MEDIA

BIOGRAPHY

CHILDREN & NATURE how to engage kids with the outdoors

GET THE MESSAGE ten years of the science media centre

PAUL DE KRUIF turning science into an adventure

00_BIO_59_1_COVER.indd 1

News

01/03/2012 16:03

Regulars 3 Nelson’s Column 10 Opinion 12 Biofeedback 13 Policy update 44 Spotlight 46 Reviews 63 Crossword 64 Final Word

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 1


THE BIOLOGIST Vol 59 no 1 • March 12

Contacts Editorial Board

Editor Sue Nelson Assistant Editor Tom Ireland tomireland@societyofbiology.org Members J Ian Blenkharn MSB FRSPH Phil Collier MSc PhD CBiol FSB FLS FHE Cameron S Crook BSc MPhil CBiol MSB MIEEM FLS Rajith Dissanayake MSc FZS AMSB Catherine Duigan BSc PhD FSB FLS John Heritage BA DPhil CBiol FSB Sue Howarth BSc PhD CBiol FSB Allan Jamieson BSc PhD CBiol FSB Catherine Jopling BSc PhD MSB Alan Malcolm MA DPhil CBiol FSB FIFST FRSC Susan Omar BSc PGCE CBiol MSB FRGS Leslie Rose BSc CBiol FSB FICR MAPM Advisory Panel Ian Clarke, Horticulture Research International, UK Clive Cornford, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand Sharon Grimster, BioPark, UK Alan Lansdown, Imperial College London, UK Walter Leal Filho, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany Marios Kyriazis, Biogerontologist and anti-ageing physician, UK Don McManus, Bancroft Centre, Australia Peter Moore, King’s College, London,UK Brian Osborne, Australia John Scott, University of Leicester, UK Robert Spooner-Hart, University of Western Sydney, Australia Kathleen Weathers, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, USA Steve WIlson, Pfizer Animal Health

A Window on the Life Sciences The Biologist is a quarterly magazine that carries the full richness and diversity that is biology. Science is brought to life with stimulating and authoritative features, while topical pieces discuss science policy, new developments or controversial issues. Aimed at biologists everywhere, its straightforward style makes it ideal for educators and students at all levels, as well as the interested amateur. Submissions of interesting and timely articles, short opinion pieces and letters are welcome. Articles should be aimed at a nonspecialist audience and convey your enthusiasm and expertise. Instructions for authors are available on the Society of Biology website or on request from the editorial office. 2 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Staff and contact details

Chief Executive Dr Mark Downs FSB Jennifer Crosk, PA to Mark Downs jennifercrosk@societyofbiology.org

Membership, Marketing & Communications For membership enquiries, call 0844 858 9316 membership@societyofbiology.org Director of Membership, Marketing & Communications Jon Kudlick Marketing Manager Adam Timmins Public Engagement and Events Executive Dr Jenna Stevens-Smith MSB Marketing Assistant Zöe Martin AMSB Press Officer Dr Rebecca Nesbit MSB Editorial Assistant Karen Patel AMSB Education and Training education@societyofbiology.org Head of Education Rachel Lambert-Forsyth CBiol MSB Higher Education Policy Officer Dr Eva Sharpe MSB Competitions Co-ordinator Dr Amanda Hardy Qualifications and Skills Officer Natasha Neill Science Policy policy@societyofbiology.org Head of Science Policy Dr Laura Bellingan FSB Senior Science Policy Advisers Dr Barbara Knowles FSB Dr Caroline Wallace MSB Science Policy Officer Jackie Caine MSB Project Officer (Natural Capital Initiative) Daija Angeli Director of Parliamentary Affairs Stephen Benn Financial Administrator Surinder Sohal surindersohal@societyofbiology.org Professional registers Professional Registers Manager Dr Cliff Collis CBiol FSB cliffcollis@societyofbiology.org Senior Project Manager (Technicians’ Register) Dr Mike Trevethick MSB European Countries Biologists Association (ECBA) Representative Dr Tony Allen CBiol FSB tonyallen@societyofbiology.org HO Licensee Accreditation Board Fraser Darling CBiol FSB fraserdarling@societyofbiology.org

Society of Biology Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU Tel: 020 7685 2550 Fax: 020 3514 3204 info@societyofbiology.org www.societyofbiology.org Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or the Society of Biology. © 2012 Society of Biology (Registered charity no. 277981) The Society permits single copying of individual articles for private study or research, irrespective of where the copying is done. Multiple copying of individual articles for teaching purposes is also permitted without specific permission. For copying or reproduction or any other purpose, written permission must be sought from the Society. Exceptions to the above are those institutions and non-publishing organisations that have an agreement or licence with the UK Copyright Licensing Agency or the US Copyright Clearance Centre. Access to articles is available online; please see the Society’s website for futher details. The Biologist is produced on behalf of the Society of Biology by Think Publishing Ltd. 124-128 Barlby Road London W10 6BL www.thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 8962 3020 Design Alistair McGown Sub editor Cathi Thacker, Andrew Littlefield Publisher John Innes John.innes@thinkpublishing.co.uk Non-member rates: £116.00 ISSN 0006-3347 Advertising in The Biologist represents an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large community of professional biologists. For advertising information contact Rosanna Chambers rosanna.chambers@thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 8962 3026


Nelson’s Column

I It’s fair to say I’m a no-nonsense kind of woman – the very phrase ‘alternative medicine’ makes me wince with suspicion

t’s fair to say I’m a no-nonsense kind of woman. I don’t believe in psychics, I think astrology is ridiculous, and that aromatherapy is best suited for a relaxing massage than for treating digestive problems. Not surprisingly, the very phrase ‘alternative medicine’ makes me wince with suspicion and I have never been tempted by homeopathic remedies. But not everyone agrees. The NHS spends approximately £4 million on homeopathy each year despite vocal opposition from many scientists and calls from the British Medical Association to end this funding. The Government believes it is up to local trusts to decide and so tens of thousands of patients are treated at three NHS homeopathic hospitals in London, Bristol and Glasgow – although the latter’s homeopathic pharmacy closed in November. Edzard Ernst, it is fair to say, is one of the proverbial thorns in homeopathy’s side. Co-author with Simon Singh of Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial, Ernst is a former Professor of

Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter and a former homeopathic practitioner. This background is particularly relevant for his dissection of the science behind homeopathic claims. You can read his blistering assessment on page 18. It will be interesting to hear whether all members of the Society accept his criticisms. The New York Times once wrote that biology could be divided into “before PCR and after PCR.” PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, is a vital component of modern DNA analysis techniques. It won Kary Mullis a Nobel prize and in an interview with The Biologist, Mullis discusses its development and the excitement surrounding his current work on immunology. Scientists among our members who’ve ever given press interviews may already be familiar with the Science Media Centre. When science makes the headlines, it promotes the relevant experts and views of the scientific community. As the Centre celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, its high-profile chief executive (and

honorary Society member) Fiona Fox discusses the highs, the lows, and what progress has been made during the last decade. The Science Media Centre is always looking for scientists to engage with the media and a few months ago, during the Society’s Science Communication Awards, Emily Robinson sparkled when she gave a talk on her research into stroke. She shares her experiences on page 40. Also, on page 30, a senior manager from the Peak District National Park Authority explains the benefits of connecting children with nature, and Daija Angeli, from the Natural Capital Initiative, reports in our Policy section on a new network to share experience from projects that take a people-centred ecosystems approach. Finally, if you want any further proof on the benefits of communicating biology, read Vivian Wyatt’s article on the legacy of Paul de Kruif. If you have any suggestions for which biology book will inspire the next generation of biologists, let me know.

Sue Nelson, Editor

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 3


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Society news Generation next Thinking about A a future in the

new grade of membership has been launched for 14-19 year olds by The Society. The new grade, called BioNet, will help bridge the gap between the classroom and ‘real world’ biology. It aims to address the challenge science educators face in making the biology taught in the classroom as exciting as the biology that many of us actually do. School and college students can join for just £5 per year and gain access to a great range of services, including an online subscription to The Biologist magazine. The Society hopes that the diverse range of review articles will enhance students’ understanding of nature, biological processes, and its connection to the real world. Regular profiles of new members and interviews with leading life scientists can not only inspire the next generation of biologists, but also highlight the diverse range of careers that a life science qualification can offer.

New online members’ system

A

A new e-newsletter for BioNet members will bring together everything that is interesting The new in biology, from goats that are membership part spider to viruses zapped by for 14-19 plasma. It will also include careers year olds and revision advice and details of will help competitions and upcoming events. bridge A number of our members and the gap Fellows have volunteered to write Biology offers the key to solving many a series of articles for BioNet between the of the world’s most pressing challenges: members, which will add depth to classroom Food some of the topics theyproduction are studying and ‘real at school and college. Climate change world’ BioNet was officially launched at Healthcare biology the Association of Science Developing new energy sources Education Conference in Liverpool on the th January just £5 a year will receive: 2012you and 4For received e-subscription to The a positive Biologist magazine, featuring interviews with some of the world’s response from the leading life scientists and articles focusing teachers present. on the latest biological developments Please encourage A quarterly e-newsletter which will keep your students, you up to date with news, events, careers advice well as interesting links from sonsasand across the web daughters and any Quarterly articles sent straight to your grandchildren inbox which add depth to the topics who have an interest you are studying at school or college in biology to join. See www. www.societyofbiology.org/BioNet societyofbiology.org/bionet or contact adamtimmins@ societyofbiology.org for more information and posters. Adam Timmins, Marketing Manager Registered Charity No. 277981 Incorporated by Royal Charter

life sciences? Then join BioNet

new online members’ system is launching soon that will enable easy annual updating of your continuing professional development (CPD). CPD, a requirement for Chartered Status (CBiol) and best practice for many within the biosciences, is now organised through our Members Area, allowing you to update your records and upload

the evidence as you progress through the year. Irrespective of your membership level, access to this new benefit will help your

progression throughout your career. For any additional information on maintaining your CPD through the Society or applying for CBiol status, please contact Natasha Neill, Qualifications and Skills Officer, at natashaneill@ societyofbiology.org or call 0207 685 2571. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 5


SOCIETY NEWS PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION FOR TECHNICIANS/TEACHER OF THE YEAR/ASE CONFERENCE

Professional register for technicians is on the way

Bioscience Teacher of the Year 2012 finalists announced

T

he five finalists in the Society’s Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award 2012 have been announced. The award seeks to identify the UK’s leading bioscience university teachers and recognise the invaluable role played by teachers in higher education. The final five are: Dr Momna Hejmadi, University of Bath; Dr Dave Lewis, University of Leeds; Dr Roger Lock, University of Birmingham; Dr Neil Morris, University of Leeds; and Dr Chris Willmott, University of Leicester. Nominations were of an extremely high standard and the judges agreed that shortlisting just five finalists was a difficult process.

Case studies

T

he Society of Biology has been given a license to pilot the development of a professional registration for science technicians. The Science Council awarded the license amid reports of increasing demand for technician scientists and associated professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries in the UK, especially biosciences. Technician scientists often do not have a clear professional identity and career development opportunities can be inconsistent. This leads to a lack of recognition of the skills and the vital role of technician scientists. The pilot scheme has five key aims, as follows:

6 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Technician scientists often do not have a clear professional identity and career development opportunities can be inconsistent

■ Recognise the value, expertise and impact of biology technician scientists ■ Develop the awards of Registered Science Technician (RSciTech) and Registered Scientist (RSci), and allow progression to higher awards such as Chartered Biologist (CBiol) or Chartered Scientist (CSci) ■ Create a simple online application form ■ Develop a transparent fee structure, application criteria and progression route ■ Use input from key partners to ensure the scheme fits their needs The scheme will be launched in spring 2012. For more information please contact Mike Trevethick at miketrevethick@societyofbiology.org

The finalists will now submit a short case study to highlight how they have enhanced bioscience student learning. These case studies will be made publicly available on the Society’s website following the announcement of the winner at the Society’s AGM in May. The award is managed by the Society following the closure of the UK Centre for Bioscience in December 2011. For more information please visit www. societyofbiology.org/ teacheroftheyear


Society celebrates the biology of sport at ASE 2012

Teachers and other delegates discuss the day’s events over a bottle of wine at the Association for Science Education annual conference in Liverpool.

T

he Association for Science Education (ASE) Annual Conference once again offered the Society’s education team a chance to catch up with colleagues and friends, meet our teacher members and hopefully recruit some new ones too. The University of Liverpool hosted this year’s conference in January. It allowed teachers to engage in continuing professional development (CPD), pick up a range of new resources from organisations that support the teaching community, and attend an exciting programme of talks from our popular Biology in the Real World (BitRW) series.

Practical activities

The Society of Biology, along with some of its Member Organisations, exhibited across three days on a joint biology stand. Delegates were greeted with practical activities run by Science and Plants for Schools, The Linnean Society, Understanding Animal Research and the Association for Animal Behaviour.

Delegates were also able to browse the multitude of free resources available to support biology in the classroom. These included complimentary radish seeds, virus message bugs promoting www.practicalbiology.org, and a Happy Families Immunology Game that proved extremely popular with teachers and technicians alike. The Society held a range of Olympic-themed talks ahead of London 2012

A series of talks

The membership team also attend the conference to launch BioNet, our new category of membership for school and college students.

To find out more about the benefits and tailored services, see the article from our membership team on page 5. Also, for the ninth year running, we organised a series of talks as a member of the Nucleus Group for BitRW. As Britain hosts the 2012 Olympics, the theme was entitled ‘A Sporting Chance’, with talks ranging from drugs in sport and exercise to immunity and pressure in plants. The talks can be found on our website under the education pages and, if you’re on Twitter, search #BitRW for highlights.

Tenth anniversary

Our thanks to everyone who came and visited us on our stand or attended the BitRW talks, as well as all the excellent speakers who gave up their time to present their research to visiting teachers. Next year will be the tenth anniversary for BitRW and we are already planning an exciting range of talks, so we hope to see many more of you in Reading at ASE 2013. Rachel Lambert-Forsyth CBiol MSB Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 7


SOCIETY NEWS lIFE SCIENCES careers conference/competitions/Society agm

Life Sciences Careers Conferences 2011-12 Biologist went to press, and another is to follow in November – the details of which will be confirmed soon.

Research pathways

Both of last year’s events hosted presentations on career pathways in academic and industrial research, with information on the different opportunities available to graduates. There was also a series of talks on alternative research careers, covering areas such as the environmental sector, and highlighting the variety of jobs out there to suit different types of people. A talk on biomedical and clinical science careers explained how this valuable work helps to save lives within A&E.

Non-research careers

The final presentations explored the range of non-research careers available, including working in science policy, the various routes into teaching and career prospects for science communicators. The day ended with an interactive workshop on crafting CVs that will stand out, and on the different types of CVs for different employers. For more information on future events, please see our website www.societyofbiology.org/lscc

T

he Society has announced it is to host two more Life Sciences Careers Conferences in 2012, following on from two successful events last year. Around 350 students attended the Society’s two events in 2011, held at the University of York last November and at the University of Westminster last March. Organised by the Society of Biology in association with the Biochemical Society, the British Ecological Society, the Society for Endocrinology and the Society for Experimental Biology, the events hosted informative careers presentations and valuable CV workshops. Delegates mingled with biosciences careers experts, got advice on further study and picked the brains of scientific recruiters and employers.

Free to student members

This year’s conferences are free for Society of Biology student members, even if you join on the day, and only £10 for non-members. Our March conference was held at the University of Westminster as The 8 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Karen Patel AMSB Ron Cooke Hub, University of York Wednesday 16th Nov 2011 11.30 –17.30

Ron Cooke Hub, University of York Wednesday 16th Nov 2011 11.30 –17.30

Explore your career options in research, industry, science policy and more!

– CV workshop – Presentations – Meet the experts – Careers advice – Lunch and refreshments – Exhibition Register in online at: Explore your career options research, www.societyofbiology.org/education/careers/lscc industry, science policy and more!

– Presentations – Meet the experts – Exhibition

Organised by the Society of Biology

– CV workshop – Careers advice – Lunch and refreshments

In association with:

Register online at: www.societyofbiology.org/education/careers/lscc

Sponsored by:

Organised by the Society of Biology

In association with:

Sponsored by:

This year’s conferences are free for Society student members


Biology competitions update I n 2011, we welcomed the new Competitions Coordinator, Amanda Hardy, to the Society of Biology. Amanda’s role is to work with the UK Biology Competitions Special Interest Group to promote and administer the Biology Challenge (BC) and the British Biology Olympiad (BBO) competitions. These competitions continue to be highly regarded by the schools and colleges who take part, and are successfully used to help inspire further interest in biology by their students.

Our four BBO winners in 2011 went on to represent the UK in the International Biology Olympiad, held in Taiwan

The first round of BBO was held 6-10 February 2012 and the second round began 27 February. Students will be competing in BC this month (5–23 March) and the top students from both competitions will be invited to an award ceremony at the Royal Society, London on the 28th June. If you would like to find out more on how the competitions are run, or how to enter students in 2013, contact Amanda Hardy on amandahardy@societyofbiology.org

Society of Biology Annual General Meeting 2012 Thursday 3 May 2012 at Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU

The nomination must include a citation of no more than 200 words, the name and qualifications of the nominee, a description of any issues which should be recorded in the Society’s register of interests (to avoid conflicts of interest) and the names and signatures of two other Members Organisations who support the application (thus three in total). In the event of more than one nomination, a formal election will then be held. All nominations must be received by the Chief Executive at the above address by 17:00 on Friday 6th April 2012.

This year’s AGM will start at 11:30 (refreshments from 11:00). At 12:00, Professor Julia Buckingham FSB, Professor of Pharmacology at Imperial College London, will provide the Charter Lecture, followed by lunch.

Attendance and voting at the AGM

Up to two representatives from each Member Organisation of the Society can attend the AGM. However, just one representative from each full Member Organisation is entitled to vote, and supporting Member Organisations may not vote. Members from all grades are entitled to attend but only those at member grade MSB and above are entitled to vote.

Nominations for membership of the Society’s Council

There is one vacancy on Council to be filled from the College of Individual Members. This is currently held by Dr Elizabeth Lakin FSB, who is eligible to serve another four-year term and has indicated a willingness to stand again. Individual members at MSB grade and above may nominate other members as candidates. The nomination must include a citation of no more than 200 words, the name and qualifications of the nominee, a description of any issues which should be recorded in the Society’s register of interests (to avoid conflicts

Agenda

The AGM will be held at Charles Darwin House

of interest) and the names and signatures of five individual members supporting the application. In the event of more than one nomination, a formal election will then be held. There is also one vacancy on Council to be filled from the College of Organisational Members. This is currently held by Professor Keith Gull FSB, who is eligible to serve another four-year term and has also indicated a willingness to stand again. Each full Member Organisation of the Society may nominate other candidates but no more than two serving members of the College may be nominated by one Member Organisation.

■ Welcome and minutes – Prof Dame Nancy Rothwell FSB, President ■ CEO Report – Dr Mark Downs FSB ■ Receive and approve Council’s and Committees’ reports ■ Confirmation of the Honorary Treasurer (Dr Marshall FSB) and Honorary Secretary (Dr Kirk FSB) ■ Election of other Council members ■ Receive and consider the Annual Report and Accounts for year ending 30 September 2011 (found online at www.societyofbiology. org or sent by post on request) ■ Appoint auditors and authorise Council to fix their remuneration ■ AOB (notified in writing at least 48 hours in advance to the Chief Executive) If you are attending please send an email to jennastevensmith@ societyofbiology.org or write to the above address to help catering plans. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 9


OPINION POLITICAL SCIENCE/RESEARCH ON ANIMALS

Politics: An unscientific business? Clinical scientist Les Rose FSB voices concerns about scientific illiteracy among politicians and the Government’s unwillingness to listen to the experts

P

arliament now has fewer MPs with a scientific background than it has had for decades. That is bad enough, but scientific understanding among politicians in general is woeful. For example, in 2008, Tony Blair illustrated a pervading misconception among politicians in a New Scientist interview: he saw science primarily as a means to economic strength. Blair admitted to doing badly in science at school, because he didn’t “understand the basic concepts”. When asked about aspects other than economic benefits, he did not think of the scientific method and how we obtain and use evidence. This unwavering belief in economic outcomes assumes that we can forecast potential benefits when research begins, but when Faraday demonstrated electricity to the Prime Minister of the day, he was asked what possible use it could have. Such an argument may be too abstruse for the political mind. It appears that, even when science stares politicians in the face, they are still unable to grasp what it is. There are many examples of this in applied biology. The previous Government rejected the advice of its drugs advisors and even sacked Professor David Nutt for publicly disagreeing with policies that flew in the face of the evidence. The new coalition pledged to remedy this but has done quite the opposite, removing the need for scientists to sit on such a committee at all. In The Biologist’s Final Word column last year, Mark Downs requested “a clear statement on homeopathy” from the Government. This came at long last from Chief Scientist John Beddington, whose predecessors had preferred to appease the anti-science establishment. An article in this issue of The Biologist dissects the claims made by homeopaths, but still the Government takes no notice whatsoever. Repeated questioning of ministers reveals that evidence-based clinical practice plays no part in the Government’s proposed NHS reforms. In other words, the 10 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

We now have fewer MPs with a scientific background than we have had for decades… Tony Blair saw science primarily as a means to economic strength

politicians who create healthcare delivery policy are not in the least bit interested in scientific medicine. It has even been shown (by Dr Ben Goldacre and others) that the NHS reforms are founded on misrepresentation of studies in healthcare delivery. This suggests not only a poor understanding of science, but a positive disdain for it. The few politicians who have tried to stand up for science have sometimes had a hard time doing so. Liberal Democrat Dr Evan Harris, of the Science and Technology Committee, lost his seat at the last election because of what appeared to be an unholy alliance of antiscience candidates. It’s not just healthcare that bears the brunt of poor political decisions. Successive governments have undermined the now irrefutable evidence supporting evolution, for example, in the headlong rush to expand faith schools, some of which

have been teaching creationism as if it is a credible hypothesis. Why do we have this problem and where might it take us? I am less worried about the education of scientists than I am about that of non-scientists. Do arts and humanities graduates have any grasp of objective evidence? These are typically the specialisms of politicians and civil servants. Service on the Biomedical Sciences Committee of this Society some years ago revealed to me that, while advice to Government by scientists may well be valid, the message is often sanitised by civil servants before it reaches Ministers. Respect for evidence is not just important in science – it permeates all decision-making. I need hardly remind you that a Government inquiry recently examined, again, the repercussions of ignoring evidence on the international stage. Two previous inquiries concluded that it was not necessary for Tony Blair to verify the evidence for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But perhaps I am being too hard on politicians. Very occasionally, in the face of determined lobbying by scientists, they will change a policy. The Department for Education recently announced that “free schools” (set up by local groups including parents, and commonly aligned with religions) will not be allowed to teach creationism as science. The same appears to apply to academies, and it is worth noting that certain religions have identified opportunities for sponsoring these. It is now easier than ever to build a dialogue with MPs via websites such as www.theyworkforyou.com. The example above shows that lobbying can get results. If we scientists are unhappy with the way politicians handle scientific issues, should we be surprised if we have not bothered to engage with them? Les Rose FSB is a freelance clinical scientist and serves on the editorial board of The Biologist. les@pharmavision-consulting.co.uk


Man or mouse? NC3Rs’ Dianne Stilwell explains how breakthroughs in science are helping to reduce the use of live animals in research

NC3Rs prize-winner Dr Ludovic Vallier

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ach year the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) recognises a scientific paper that has contributed most to the welfare of laboratory animals or a reduction in their use. The centre recently named Dr Ludovic Vallier (pictured right), from the University of Cambridge, as winner of its 2011 prize for his work in modelling liver disease with human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) instead of animal liver cells (hepatocytes). His award, presented by NC3Rs last month, includes a £2,000 personal prize and an £18,000 research grant. HiPSCs have been attracting attention for the possibilities they offer in regenerative medicine. But it was their potential to reduce the number of animals used for drug screening that peaked NC3Rs’ interest last year. Human hepatocytes cannot be grown in the laboratory and so animal models, especially transgenic mice carrying genetic mutations that replicate human diseases, are currently the preferred system to study liver disorders or to screen

for new therapeutics. Differences between rodent and human physiology and metabolism mean that it is rarely possible to recreate the human disease completely in rodent models. The use of rat or mouse hepatocyte cultures is also limited by important species differences. Dr Vallier’s paper “Modelling inherited metabolic disorders of the liver using human induced pluripotent stem cells” was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2010. His team took skin cells (dermal fibroblasts) from seven patients with a variety of inherited liver diseases to generate a library of patient-specific hiPSC cell lines which were then differentiated into hepatocytes. The hiPSCs produced have a hepatocyte phenotype and can provide in vitro models for basic research and drug discovery, and their use has already reduced the use of animals needed for the production of primary hepatocytes in the laboratories that have adopted this technology. The cells could also reduce dependence on animal testing in the investigation of

1 Rashid, T.S. et al. Modelling inherited metabolic disorders of the liver using human induced pluripotent stem cells. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 120, 3127-36 (2010). 2 Zhang, H. et al. Central nervous system remyelination in culture – a tool for multiple sclerosis research. Experimental Neurology 230(1), 138-48 (2011). 3 Pettitt, S. J. et al. Agouti C57BL/6N embryonic stem cells for mouse genetic resources. Nature Methods 6, 493-496 (2009)

chemical/drug-induced liver injury, a major concern for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Dr Vicky Robinson, chief executive of the NC3Rs, said the number of applications for the 2011 prize rose by a factor of six from previous years. “The entries show the breadth of approaches researchers are taking to further the 3Rs,” said Dr Robinson. “The judging panel was so impressed by the overall quality of the entries that this year it decided to award two highly commended prizes in addition to the main award.” Dr Anna Williams, of the University of Edinburgh’s MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, was highly commended for her work developing a culture model of remyelination, to repair damage to the myelin protective coating of nerve cells caused by diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Her paper describes a culture system using slices of mouse brain that allows the effective and simultaneous screening of tens of compounds in a short timeframe. In vivo testing for one demyelinating toxin takes four weeks and uses 40 mice; by using brain slices from 40 humanely killed mouse pups, 20 compounds can be tested at two doses within five weeks. Dr Stephen Pettitt, currently at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, was also highly commended for his work to advance the production of genetically modified mice, carried out while at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. He isolated an embryonic stem cell line from C57BL/6 lab mice with the agouti (mottled) coat colour gene repaired. It allows mutant mice to be made in the C57BL/6 strain directly without the need to carry out extensive back-crossing, meaning far fewer animals need to be bred for every mutation studied. All winners received their prizes from Professor Paul Matthews OBE of GlaxoSmithKline, the prize’s sponsors, at the NC3Rs’ Annual Science Review Meeting in London on 28th February. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 11


LETTERS THE BEE ORCHID, READER SURVEY

THE BIOLOGIST •THE SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY MAGAZINE • VOL 58 NO 4 • DECEMBER 2011 THE DETOX DELUSION | CHRISTMAS TREES UNDER FIRE | JANE GOODALL | PHOTO COMPETITION | SIR ROBERT EDWARDS

TheBiologist THE SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY MAGAZINE • ISSN 0006-3347 · SOCIETYOFBIOLOGY.ORG

VOL 58 NO 4 • DECEMBER 2011

INSPIRING IMAGES

The winning entries in our photography competition

OPINION

INTERVIEW

FEATURE

DETOX DELUSION Debunking quick health fixes

JANE GOODALL The primatologist talks chimps

CHRISTMAS TREES Under fire from pests and disease

00_BIO_58_3_COVER.indd 1

29/11/2011 18:35

Biofeedback Letters, news and views from our members

Readers’ digest

A bee landing on a flower? Look again…

The bees’ knees

Send your comments to Biofeedback, Society of Biology, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU or email biologist@ societyofbiology.org The Biologist reserves the right to edit letters where appropriate.

Further to my e-mail of 17 June, bemoaning the lack of references in The Biologist articles (other than online), may I say how delighted I was to see your introduction of a fourth column in December’s issue. As to bee orchids, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to read the report ‘Chalk and Talk’ (from the Kent, Surrey & Sussex branch) of the deception practised by the bee orchid to attract its pollinators, since Simon Humphreys is in good company, as shown by the dust jacket of Steve Jones’s Darwin’s Island, and also by Nature Notes in The Times of 1 July. But as explained by Stephen Blackmore in Bee Orchids (Shire

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Natural History, 1985), the bee orchid attracts males of a particular species of Eucera bee by emitting a scent which mimics the female bee’s male-attracting pheromone. This leads to pseudo-copulation and pollination of the orchid. However, this particular species of bee, which services Mediterranean bee orchids, does not occur in Britain, so that our island race relies (very successfully) on self-pollination. Perhaps climate change has enabled Mediterranean bees to reach Surrey, but otherwise Simon, along with other naturalists and teachers in this country, might prefer to cite Spider and Fly orchids as models for this pseudo-copulation. David Harding CBiol MSB

There was an excellent response to The Biologist’s readership survey at the end of last year – just over 1,300 of you gave feedback on the magazine. By comparing these results to those of our last survey in March 2011, we’ve been able to assess the impact of some of the recent changes we’ve made to The Biologist’s content and design. The results were largely very positive: the percentage of readers marking the content as “excellent or good” has increased from 77.5% in March to 81.4%. The number who felt it was “excellent” has increased from 13% to 17%. And the percentage of readers marking the new design as “excellent” has almost doubled, from 13.5% in March to 26.5% now. Many respondents couldn’t think of much they disliked about the magazine. But we’ve taken on board all of your feedback and helpful comments about the relevance, length and depth of our articles, the importance of each section of the magazine, and other ways it can improve. Tom Ireland, Assistant Editor


Policy update

Growing our graduates

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UK employers still report shortages of STEM graduates

Dr Eva Sharpe MSB Higher Education Policy Officer

he UK has the most productive research base in the world, producing over 10 percent of global scientific output despite having only 1 percent of the global population. Our scientific base is also widely acknowledged to be vital for the country’s economic growth. Yet despite this excellence in research, university recruitment to some science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects continues to prove a major challenge, and employers still report shortages of STEM graduates. The Society was recently invited to provide oral evidence to the House of Lords’ Science and Technology Committee inquiry, which is tasked with ensuring the UK produces a sufficient supply of STEM graduates to meet its needs. Our chief executive Dr Mark Downs spoke about the Society’s Degree Accreditation Programme, and our aim to drive up the already high standards of teaching and learning in biology. The Society has also convened a Higher Education Task Force,

made up of members and Member Organisations. It found employers are concerned that graduates are lacking both generic transferable skills and more specific research skills and experience. Basic mathematical and statistical capability, ability to apply scientific and mathematical knowledge, and practical and analytical skills were all highlighted in the response. As many as 43 percent of employers report a problem recruiting staff with the right STEM skills and increasingly, employers tend to recruit candidates with at least Masters level qualifications to ensure they have more of the desired skills. To address these gaps, changes need to be made early on in the education system. The Society advocates the need for more 16–18 year olds studying the appropriate combinations of sciences and mathematics at A-level to ensure we produce enough STEM undergraduates to meet demand in the UK. Any cuts to funding for 16-18 education or increases in class sizes will have negative implications for

the practical teaching of science, at a time when universities are already reporting that new undergraduates lack basic skills. At the level of higher education, research-informed teaching is crucial to produce STEM graduates with the high-level skills required for employment. The current focus of the Research Excellence Framework does not incentivise or recognise teaching, which could lead to further divisions between academics who focus on research and those with teaching responsibility. The decrease in teaching funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for higher education institutions will create a serious shortfall for laboratory subjects, which are costly to teach – resulting in either less practical experience for undergraduates, or potentially, the closure of departments. Additionally, as research resources are increasingly focused into narrower ‘islands of excellence’, even in research-active institutions, the proportion of well-funded researchers falls. Strenuous effort must be made to maintain integration of these staff into the teaching agenda, ensuring that degrees in STEM subjects are not lost. With the costs of undergraduate study increasing, many students may now feel they can’t afford to continue into postgraduate study, particularly as there is no current route of funding for students to take taught Masters courses. There is also some concern that UK postgraduate students’ training does not compare favourably with research training abroad, where postgraduate training takes longer. Anecdotal evidence suggests that postgraduate students from the UK are losing out on postdoctoral research positions to overseas applicants as a result. Read the full response to the enquiry at www.societyofbiology.org/ policy/consultations Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 13


POLICY UPDATE commercialising science/impact reports/university admissions process

Great ideas can wither and die without proper investment

Crossing the ‘Valley of Death’

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igh-quality research has ensured that the UK is second only to the US in a number of research disciplines, and first amongst the G8 for research productivity. We produce more science, mathematics and computing graduates annually than the rest of the EU together. We’re well networked, with international standing.

On this basis, the potential for growth is great: new drug therapies; better healthcare; agricultural improvements; energy efficient technologies, and a healthier, wealthier nation. However, translational research – the intermediary stage between basic research and the commercialisation of a new product

Making an impact

wealth, well-being, environmental improvements, better public policy, skilled people and education. It may seem obvious that scientists receiving public money should be expected to use that money to deliver public benefits – and explain what those benefits are – yet this process is controversial. Some people, including the President of the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse, and former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury (both Honorary Fellows of the Society), say that this “impact agenda” is going too far. Many of the huge benefits delivered by science to society, for instance, were unanticipated when the researcher applied for funding or made their discovery. Therefore, the argument goes, it is pointless

Should scientists be expected to explain upfront the public benefits of their research?

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n the 4th January, the UK research councils published their “impact reports”, their summaries of the effect £3 billion of public money has had on research and training this year. Impact is broadly defined to include a wide range of benefits to society including health, 14 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Jackie Caine MSB Science Policy Officer

OPINION

Dr Barbara Knowles FSB Senior Science Policy Adviser

– is needed for sustainable growth. This stage is commonly referred to as the ‘Valley of Death’ because of the toxic combination of factors that can kill the chances of concept to commodity transition in the UK. These include complex licensing arrangements required for patents and intellectual property, financial risk, a lack of knowhow and insufficient funding for commercialisation. The Government appears to have recognised that commercialising research is a key factor in economic stability and growth. It recently published the Innovation & Research Strategy for Growth and a Life Sciences Strategy that promises £180 million to bridge the ‘Valley of Death’ for new medical breakthroughs. The work of the existing Technology Strategy Board is also meant to help research get past this difficult stage. The question is whether they can deliver. The Science & Technology Select Committee is attempting to find out, with its inquiry into how the commercialisation of research can be improved. The Society of Biology is responding to the inquiry, highlighting routes to successful commercialisation alongside potential areas for improvement. Public and private sector collaborations are vital to spread the financial risk of investing in new products and share expertise. But unsurprisingly, many problems

or counter-productive to make researchers specify in advance what impacts their research will have. Scientists should be trusted to explore the boundaries of knowledge and maximise the results of that exploration without having to explain themselves to the taxpayer. Arguments of this sort have merit but they risk appearing self-serving to hard-pressed taxpayers in difficult economic times, and are unlikely to persuade HM Treasury to direct more money towards research. I am not arguing in favour of a system that encourages scientists to hype the potential or benefits of their research, nor of undervaluing blue skies research. But I do believe that it is a good thing for all of us to think carefully beyond the


Commercialising research is a key factor in economic stability and growth are financial. The Life Sciences Strategy actually contains little new money – only half of the catalyst fund is new spending, and many measures have already been implemented. Furthermore, the financial pledges in the Innovation & Research Strategy for Growth still leave the UK lagging behind investment in Germany and the US. While finances provide essential fuel, skilled, motivated people are the engine of progress. Policymakers lose sight of this at all our peril. There is a concern that government focus rests too heavily on the pharmaceutical industry, to the detriment of a range of sectors, including agricultural biotechnology. If the Government is to achieve its growth-centred economic targets, the Life Sciences and Innovation strategies are a good start, but will need to be backed up by real, longterm investment.

immediate outputs of our work and about the broader range of its potential benefits and impacts. There must be few biologists unable to identify the intended benefits and beneficiaries of their work, and any potential for wider applications. While we might not like all of the manifestations of the “impact agenda” being pushed by the Government, research councils and funding councils, it is up to scientists themselves to improve the current process and work constructively with it. As members of professional bodies, peer review committees, advisory panels and so on, scientists hold the key to improving the system of delivering and reporting the societal benefits of science to the Government and taxpayers who fund their work.

UCAS reviews university admissions process

A UCAS review could mean postA-level university applications

Dr Eva Sharpe MSB Higher Education Policy Officer

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CAS has proposed moving to a post-results application system after a review of the current higher education application process. The proposals would mean A-level exams moving forward to allow time for applications after students receive their results. Due to less uncertainty over predicted grades, UCAS has also proposed a limit of two applications per person. The proposals follow a review of the application system by UCAS in 2010, 50 years after its predecessor organisation UCCA (Universities Central Council on Admissions) began processing higher education applications. The review took into account the increased volume of applications, the diversity of qualifications held by applicants and advances in technology over this period. It found that the process is often confusing, inefficient and unfair to students, owing to variety in the guidance students receive, and the complexities of the current system – which includes predicted grades, insurance choices and the clearing process. Other proposals made by UCAS include opening application streams

throughout the year for applicants who already hold qualifications and for applicants who receive no offers during the main application round. The suggested timetable for reform involves an interim solution for students starting higher education in 2014, leading to full reform of the system for students entering in 2016. The Society responded to a consultation on the proposals in January, after seeking input from members and Member Organisations. Whilst broadly supportive of reform, the Society felt that the practicalities of the proposals are not viable and that they will have a negative impact on international students, course content and widening participation. The Society would welcome the development of a system that is transparent and fair, enables students to make informed applications, and is workable for the higher education sector and schools. Our full response can be found at www.societyofbiology.org/ policy/consultations. UCAS will be analysing the consultation responses and a summative report is due to be published in March 2012. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 15


POLICY UPDATE NATURAL CAPITAL INITIATIVE/TREASURER’S REPORT

Building Natural Capital

An ‘ecosystems approach’ ensures that decision-making takes the value of environmental assets into account

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Daija Angeli is Project Officer for the Natural Capital Initiative

healthy natural environment is the foundation of a sustainable future and prosperous communities. In the UK and elsewhere, pioneering projects are exploring new ways of managing land and sea environments. Increasingly, they are taking an ‘ecosystems approach’: a big picture view of managing the natural environment that puts its benefits at the heart of planning. It ensures that decision-making takes the value of environmental assets into account and that environmental limits are not crossed. The Natural Capital Initiative (NCI), a special interest group of the Society, is involved in developing a new network to share experience from projects taking an ecosystems approach. Called the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN), it will stimulate debate and practical learning between groups across the UK. It also aims to promote understanding of how an ecosystems approach can help build sustainable communities. The EKN is free to join and open to anyone with an interest in an ecosystems approach. The network

will support the practical use of an ecosystems approach by: ■ Developing an active membership

of people and organisations interested in benefiting from an ecosystems approach ■ Encouraging the sharing of information and experience between projects and between experts and newcomers to the approach ■ Engaging with and involving people who might not otherwise be aware of how an ecosystems approach can benefit them

The EKN has been sponsored by DEFRA and NCI will develop it, in collaboration with the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Fabis Consulting, the University of Exeter’s Centre for Rural Policy Research and Countryscape. For more information about the network, or to register your interest, please visit www. naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk/ekn, contact the network team at ekn@naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk or telephone 0333 240 6990.


From the Treasurer Honorary Treasurer William Marshall reports on a strong financial year for the Society

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he Society has had a very successful year, engaging with the public to promote the importance of biology, advising Government and other public bodies on biological matters, developing an accreditation programme for university bioscience degrees, and improving the range of member benefits among many others. We also relocated from Red Lion Court to Charles Darwin House, a building we co-own with the Biochemical Society, the Ecological Society and the Society of Experimental Biology, with space that is let to various other biological organisations. Such activity would not be possible without a sound financial base and it is a pleasure to be able to report that the Society has had a successful financial year (end year being 30 September 2011). The surplus of operating income over expenditure was £381,000 on a turnover of £1.75 million. Around £301,000 of this was a surplus from the sale of the building leaving an “operating surplus” of £79,000 against a budgeted surplus of £9,000. The Society currently holds a revenue reserve fund of £456,000 in line with Council’s policy. Our auditors have issued an unqualified report for 2010-11. Income from both individual and organisational members continues to be the major source of the Society’s funding. But during the year we have been successful in obtaining grants to support a range of initiatives including, for example,

TURNOVER

£1.75m SURPLUS INCOME

£381k

the establishment of a Technicians’ Register (Gatsby Foundation grant of nearly £200,000 over three years) and the degree accreditation programme (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council – £20,000). I cannot, however, over-emphasise the importance of growing our membership. Increasing the attraction of a membership to the Society is of course important, and is a major preoccupation for our staff, but all our members have a role to play in seeking to encourage friends and colleagues with a biological bent to join the Society. We have plenty of promotional literature to help you! A major constraint on the Society’s finances in the recent past has been the necessity to provide additional funds for the former Institute of Biology’s (closed) defined benefits pension scheme. By agreement with the scheme’s trustees, we have been making annual payments with the aim of paying off the deficit (originally about £2.3 million) over a 14-year period. Council decided to devote some of the proceeds from the sale of Red Lion Court not required for the purchase of Charles Darwin House to fund a one-off payment to the pension fund. As a result, of this and other previous payments, the liability has been considerably reduced. We hope this will give us scope to negotiate with the fund’s trustees to reduce both the amount of the annual payment and the period for which it has to be paid. Council has resolved to devote the moneys becoming available in part

to increase the range of benefits for members and in part to support the Society’s core activities. Looking ahead, we have made a sound start to the present financial year, and are on target to achieve the small budgeted surplus. The full annual accounts for 2010-11 will be published on the website as part of the Annual Report of Trustees once they have been approved by Council, and will be presented to the Annual General Meeting in May. Members and Fellows requiring a full hard copy should apply to the Membership Department at Charles Darwin House. A summary version is included with this edition of The Biologist. It is a great pleasure to thank Mark Downs, who doubles as Director of Finance as well as being our Chief Executive, for his astute financial management. I also thank Surinder Sohal, our in-house Finance Administrator; AccountAbility, our external financial advisers for their advice, and PFK, our auditors, who have been invaluable in helping us strengthen some of our internal financial controls. Mark and I meet regularly to review our finances and the Finance Committee meets twice a year to review budgets and performance, and make recommendations to Council. I am grateful to colleagues who serve on both bodies for their essential input to keeping the ship on an even keel. William Marshall FSB Honorary Treasurer Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 17


opinion homeopathy

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TESTING THE WATER

Edzard Ernst, the world’s first professor of complementary medicine and a former homeopathic practitioner, analyses the arguments for homeopathy

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omeopathy was invented by Samuel Hahnemann about 200 years ago, when medicine was still in its pre-scientific era. It is therefore perhaps understandable that its fundamental assumptions fly in the face of much of what we know today1. The two main principles of homeopathy are: like cures like, and less is more2. The “like cures like” principle postulates that if a substance causes a certain symptom in a healthy person, it will cure that symptom when introduced into a patient. This clearly disregards many of the known facts about physiology and pathophysiology. The principle of “less is more” holds that serial dilution of a substance renders it not less, but more potent, contrasting with the laws of physics, chemistry and pharmacology. Homeopathy is thus biologically implausible1. Homeopaths know, of course, how bizarre these assumptions are. To make them more acceptable, they have modified their main claims and today stipulate that: ■ Homeopathic

remedies generate health effects in human patients and animals that are superior to those of placebos. ■ Dilutions beyond Avogadro’s number (6.02 x 1023) have been shown to differ from pure water (the “memory of water” theory)3. To support the second claim,

BIOgraphy

Professor Ernst studied and trained in Germany, became Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine first in Hannover (Germany) and then in Vienna (Austria). Since 1993, he’s been Professor of Complementary Medicine at Exeter. His most recent book Trick or Treatment was co-authored by the science writer and physicist Simon Singh.

homeopaths tend to cite conclusions from reviews apparently suggesting that the majority of in vitro research on the topic generates positive results. Thus they remain adamant that highly dilute solutions have distinctly different properties from pure water. This notion neglects the fact that the only up-to-date (not cherry-picked) review concluded that “there is a lack of independent replication of any pre-clinical research in homeopathy. “In the few instances where a research team has set out to replicate the work of another, either the results were negative or the methodology was questionable.”3 It is significant that this conclusion was published by an author who, at the time, was working for the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. The claim that a sizeable proportion of basic research supports homeopathy can be extremely misleading and disregards the quality or reliability of the individual experiments. It is probably not difficult to find people to provide us with “data” showing that the earth is flat, or that alien abduction is a reality. Yet their data are invariably flawed and cannot be independently reproduced. A further, crucial point in this discussion is often forgotten. Even if, in some physicochemical aspect, a homeopathic solution differed from pure water and water did indeed have a “memory”, several important

questions would still remain unanswered: ■ How would this difference explain

positive health effects? (The water in my kitchen sink also differs from pure water after I’ve washed up, but this does not mean that it is good for my health.) ■ How does the “memory of water” explain the alleged benefits of homeopathic globuli, which do not contain any water at all? ■ How are only the positive health effects memorised by the water? Why not the negative ones? Why are homeopathic remedies of arsenic, for instance, not more poisonous than pure, undiluted arsenic?

Reviewing the data

But never mind these unresolved, perhaps somewhat pedantic issues, the central question in homeopathy is whether highly dilute (homeopaths call them “potentised”) remedies generate clinical outcomes superior to those caused by a placebo. In order to arrive at a positive answer to this question, homeopaths have adopted several strategies. Either they show that an impressive proportion of the published clinical trials are positive – and stress that this percentage is more than expected by chance – or they state that, for this or that indication, the available trial data are, in fact, positive4.

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 19


opinion homeopathy

The flaws in both arguments are embarrassingly obvious. Percentage figures disregarding the quality and reliability of the research can be next to meaninglesse.g.4. Similarly, reviews of the available trial data must be complete. It is obviously misleading to cherrypick positive studies out of a bag of mostly negative evidence; yet some homeopaths do this regardlesse.g.5. So what do the most reliable systematic reviews of the totality of the available trial data show? Here are quotes from the conclusions of all currently available Cochrane reviews of homeopathy. Cochrane reviews are generally considered to be the most reliable type of evidence in healthcare. It is worth mentioning that all of these reviews have homeopaths as authors, and none of them carries my name. The allegation of “anti-homeopathic bias”, which homeopaths so readily voice, is therefore not applicable. Homeopathy for: ■ On

asthma: “… there is not enough evidence…”6 ■ Dementia: “… there were no studies...”7 ■ Induction of labour: “There is insufficient evidence…” ■ Influenza: “… the data were not strong enough…”9

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Professor Ernst on his own experience as a homeopath “My first job after studying medicine was in a German homeopathic hospital and I learned about homeopathy and got several months of hands-on experience. Later I did a PhD in a basic science area, and my outlook changed. I still had a keen interest in homeopathy, but now I wanted to understand it in a scientific sense. When I became professor of complementary medicine at Exeter in 1993, that was precisely what I set out to achieve.”

■ Adverse

effects of cancer therapies: “This review found preliminary data in support…”10.

While four of these conclusions are straightforward6-9, the tentatively positive conclusion of the last review10 requires an explanation. A closer look at the article10 reveals that this conclusion was based on just two trials, both of which did not actually use highly diluted remedies. Thus their positive results are most likely due to pharmacological rather than homeopathic mechanisms.

A new approach?

Whenever one outlines this state of affairs to homeopaths, they either stubbornly deny that these arguments are convincing or they find other arguments in support of homeopathy11. They insist, for instance, that the generally accepted methodology of the clinical trial is not a research tool that can assess homeopathy adequately. Instead they show us observational studies suggesting that “real life” patients benefit from consulting a homeopath in “real life” circumstancese.g.12. This line of argument implies that negative evidence from rigorously controlled trials is unreliable, whereas the observational, uncontrolled data can be trusted. Some enthusiasts even speak of the

need of a “paradigm shift” in research of homeopathy13. Scientists tend to call for a paradigm shift when there is an unbridgeable gap between a generally accepted theory and the actual experimental data. Yet, on rational analysis, there is no contradiction at all and the data do fit the theory perfectly: homeopathic remedies are devoid of specific effects (i.e. they are placebos) which, due to a range of non-specific (e.g. placebo) effects, can nevertheless be associated with clinical benefit. This is a logical and likely explanation for the apparently discrepant results. Unsurprisingly, it was also confirmed by the results of a clinical trial (conducted by homeopaths)14.

More than a placebo?

But homeopathy is gentle and benign so, even if it is a placebo, why not endorse and use it? After all, many patients want it and seem to benefit from it11. This is the argument the current UK Government seems to have adopted. Unfortunately it is not logical and not in the best interest of the patients. I can easily think of a whole host of reasons why it is seriously flawed. Here are the three which are perhaps most important. Firstly, homeopathy could be (and often is) used as an alternative to effective interventions. A relatively well-researched example is the attitude of many homeopaths


towards immunisations, where advice from homeopaths not to immunise has become a major cause of low vaccination rates15. If this trend continues, our population will lose “herd immunity” from infectious diseases, and epidemics from the past would re-emerge. Anyone who argues that this is exaggerated or alarmist should take a look at the long list of “homeopathic vaccinations” sold by major UK manufacturers of homeopathic remedies. Secondly, the strategy of using homeopathy as a benign placebo can only work if clinicians do not tell the truth to their patients. If we told them: “Take this remedy, it contains nothing and the trials are not positive either, but it might nevertheless help you via a placebo effect”, no placebo response would be generated and the benefit would be nil. Modern medical ethics states that patients must be fully informed, and that telling lies to patients is not acceptable. It follows, I think, that the Government’s decision to continue offering homeopathy on the NHS is not ethical. Thirdly, we should remember that any well-administered, effective treatment also generates a placebo response, and that conventional doctors can also be compassionate and empathetic. It may sound paradoxical, but one does not need a placebo to benefit from a placebo

effect. If a clinician prescribes an effective treatment to a patient in a kind and empathetic manner, this patient will benefit from the specific effect of the treatment plus from the non-specific effect of the encounter, which we often call placebo effects. Only using the latter would therefore deprive the patient of the former. Yet this is exactly what homeopaths do.

An evidence-based approach

In conclusion, the notion that homeopathy is more than a placebo can only be upheld by ignoring or misrepresenting the best evidence available to date. Claiming that we simply do not yet understand how homeopathic remedies work, is misleading. In fact, we know that there is no possible mechanism of action in line with our current knowledge about the laws of nature. Numerous, rigorous systematic reviews of the totality of the reliable clinical trials have shown that highly dilute homeopathic remedies have failed the generally accepted tests of clinical effectiveness. Finally, the assumption that homeopathy cannot harm patients is demonstrably wrong. The inescapable conclusion from all this is that homeopathy is a fascinating chapter from the history of medicine – but not an evidence-based, ethical therapeutic approach.

Homeopaths insist, for instance, that the generally accepted methodology of the clinical trial is not a research tool that can assess homeopathy adequately

REFERENCES (1) Sharp, J. A complementary alternative? The non-sense of homeopathy. The Biologist 57(1), 28-34 (2010). (2) J onas, W.B. Mosby’s Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Elsevier Mosby St Louis US. 2005). (3) V ickers, A. J. Independent replication of pre-clinical research in homoeopathy: a systematic review. Forsch Komplementarmed 6, 311-320 (1999). (4) Mathie, R. T. Systematic reviews of RCTs in homeopathy: a focused appraisal. FACT 15(2), 104-106 (2010). (5) Ullman, D. & Frass, M. A review of homeopathic research in the treatment of respiratory allergies. Altern Med Rev 15(1), 48-58 (2010). (6) McCarney, R.W. et al Homeopathy for chronic asthma. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Issue 1. Art. No.: CD000353. DOI: 10.1002/14651858. CD000353.pub2 (2004). (7) McCarney, R. W. et al Homeopathy for dementia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003803. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003803 (2003). (8) Smith, C.A. Homoeopathy for induction of labour. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev Issue 4. Art. No.: CD003399. DOI: 10.1002/14651858 (2003). (9) V ickers, A. J. & Smith, C. Homoeopathic Oscillococcinum for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like syndromes. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001957. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001957.pub3 (2003). (10) Kassab, S. et al Homeopathic medicines for adverse effects of cancer treatments. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev Issue 2. CD004845. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.pub2 (2009). (11) Ng DY-H. A discussion: the future of homeopathy in the National Health Service (NHS). Homeopathy 100 (3), 183186 (2011). (12) Spence, D.S. et al Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: a 6-year, university-hospital outpatient observational study. J Altern Complement Med 11 793-798 (2005). (13) Swayne, J. CAM. Br J Gen Pract April: 280 (2008). (14) B rien, S. et al Homeopathy has clinical benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients which are attributable to the consultation process not the homeopathic remedy. A randomised controlled clinical trial. Rheumatology 50(6), 1070-1082 (2011). (15) Schmidt, K. & Ernst, E. Welcome to the lion’s den - CAM therapists and immunisations. Focus Altern Complement Ther 10(2), 98-100 (2005).

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Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 21


COMMUNICATION SCIENCE MEDIA CENTRE

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT A typical media briefing at the Science Media Centre

The Science Media Centre first opened its doors in 2002 and, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, chief executive Fiona Fox reflects on the journey so far

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T

he Science Media Centre (SMC) recently held one of our now trademark background press briefings. It was on shale gas and two of the UK’s best-qualified scientists on the subject briefed a room of 20 national news reporters on all aspects of the science behind this new source of energy. Like many subjects addressed by the SMC, shale gas extraction is both contemporary and controversial, and is already subject to bewildering claim and counterclaim in the media from industry groups keen to start drilling in the UK and protest groups

determined not to let that happen. “Fracking” for shale gas is just one of many contentious issues in which science plays a central role – nuclear energy, animal research, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, stem cell research, mobile phones – I could go on. The SMC’s role is to ensure that the media and, through them, the public and policy makers, have access to the evidence and to relevant expertise, to ensure informed debate and decision-making. The Centre was set up in response to past media frenzies around subjects like BSE, MMR and GM


crops – debates in which expert scientists played either no role at all or barely had their voices heard among the din of media-savvy protest groups and campaigning newspapers. The hope was that a new organisation could help create a level playing field for the scientists who actually research the matters in hand. Having first opened our doors in 2002 at the Royal Institution, the SMC has now moved offices to the Wellcome Trust, and continues to play a central role in the British media’s reaction to many big, global stories. Proactive as well as reactive One of the very biggest was the nuclear crisis at Fukushima, brought on by the tragic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last year. While we mostly failed to temper alarmist headlines, the SMC met the demand for comment with three emergency press briefings, a daily diet of expert comments and literally hundreds of interviews with scientists and engineers from our database. Former education minister Estelle Morris, who is behind an effort to set up an Education Media Centre based on our model, recently said publicly that she had learned a lot about the basic science of radiation as a result of hearing lots of scientists commenting on Fukushima. This reaffirms another central tenet of the SMC’s philosophy – that science in headlines is an opportunity as well as a threat. While we are largely and understandably reactive to the national and international news agenda, the Centre also tries to be proactive – giving the best science and scientists to journalists in the time frame and format needed. Whether it’s animal research, swine flu, the sacking of David Nutt or the comprehensive spending review, the SMC will offer journalists a list of great scientists available for interview, expert comments for articles and reliable fact sheets. In between breaking stories, the Centre helps to put the weekly diet of stories coming out of scientific journals into context, offering comment from third-party experts that often helps science reporters

persuade their editors not to splash the latest “cause of” or “cure for” cancer on the front page. Retaining independence Having first thought we would never actually run press conferences, we now average two a week, regularly attended by ten to 20 national news journalists. These briefings can range from background on a bubbling controversy, like shale gas; a complex study that may show a correlation but not a cause; or the launch of a new report on a contentious issue like primate research. Of course being a press office that specialises in the issues that many feel are too hot to handle is not always comfortable – and the SMC has its fair share of critics. Some accuse us of being in the pockets of

the big companies that fund us and even our friends accuse us of encouraging the sort of lazy journalism, often referred to now as ‘churnalism’, where original reporting is replaced by copying and pasting press releases. The truth, of course, is that if we were in the pocket of industry, journalists would have rumbled us by now. Also our unique funding model, which involves taking small amounts from nearly 100 different institutions and a rule that no single supporter can donate any more than 5 percent of our income, has guaranteed that the Centre is independent from its funders. The charge of encouraging churnalism is more difficult to reject: pressures on the media result in journalists filing four or five science

While I never take offence at the label, we are much more than a PR outfit for science

BIOgraphy Fiona Fox is Chief Executive of The Science Media Centre and an honorary fellow of The Society of Biology Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 23


COMMUNICATION SCIENCE MEDIA CENTRE

stories a day, leaving little time to hunt out original stories or even factcheck the ones they receive. But these journalists use the SMC because we have earned their trust over the years for the quality, independence and accuracy of what we offer. While I never take offence at the label, we are much more than a PR outfit for science. “Glass half full” approach Perhaps the most unusual criticism of the SMC is the charge that we have become apologists for the media, often passionately defending the quality of much of the nation’s science coverage and urging scientists to celebrate good reporting as well as criticising the bad. This “glass half full” approach also reflects one of the major changes in both the media and in the SMC’s modus operandi over 10 years. Originally, the SMC team assumed we would focus most of our efforts on the general news, consumer affairs and political reporters who played such a major role in the misreporting of MMR and GM. However, it did not take long to work out that the best allies of good science reporting are the specialist science, health and environment reporters employed by most UK outlets. One science editor even told me that he saw himself as a shop steward for science, doing battle on behalf of the scientific method in a newsroom full of humanities’ graduates who cannot distinguish between good and bad science stories.

Despite doom-laden predictions about the future of the media there is still cause to hope that editors see science as ever more important

Having learned this, we set about ensuring that the science specialists were armed with the contacts and material they needed to claim more stories from their news editors. At the same time more and more editors were acknowledging that they might have got things wrong in bypassing specialist reporters. The SMC has seen the status of specialist science journalism in the UK’s newsrooms grow. Even in the middle of the passionate parliamentary debate on whether to legalise research involving hybrid human-animal embryos, news outlets did not take the story away from the science specialists and give it to the political hacks, as would have happened in the past. Instead, seasoned science regulars like the BBC’s Fergus Walsh and Mark Henderson, former science editor of The Times, reported from the House of Commons.

Charting the next ten years Despite doom-laden predictions about the future of the media, there is still cause to hope that editors see science as ever more important. In the past few months both the BBC News and Channel 4 News have announced new, senior science editor posts. The Guardian now has a news editor and two sub-editors with a specialism in science, and I continue to marvel at the fact that The Sun and Daily Mirror both recently employed science and environment reporters to add to their existing health teams. This appetite for science stories is likely to keep the SMC busy for some time to come. I realised how far the SMC has come in 10 years when I sent a note to friends and colleagues in the scientific community, asking who was planning to submit evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. When reply after reply suggested that the SMC was best placed to do it, I allowed myself a moment of real pride that the SMC had earned the credentials to speak for the scientific community on issues involving the media. Writing our submission reminded me why I have the best job in the world – because the way science is covered in the news has a massive impact on the public interest and the SMC gets to influence that for the better on a daily basis. Now that’s what I call job satisfaction!

The Science Media Centre promotes informed debate on scientific issues

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Registered Charity No 207043

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INTERVIEW KARY MULLIS

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Perfect Technique KARY MULLIS

Sipa Press/Rex Features

The Nobel Prize-winner talks to Joseph Milton MSB about developing the famous polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and his more recent breakthroughs in immunology You originally trained as a chemist – what inspired you to get into biology? The chemistry thing started when I was a kid. Little boys love things that burn fast or blow up and I was into rockets and propellants and mixing things together. While I was studying chemistry at Georgia Tech I was attracted to the most complex part of chemistry – biochemistry – which I went on to study at Berkeley. I got more into biology after I spent a couple of years at Cetus Corporation, synthesising DNA, making short pieces of DNA, as there were machines that could do it faster than we could. I was trying to figure out what we could do with short pieces of DNA. I wasn’t looking for a way to amplify DNA, because the way to amplify DNA in 1981 was to clone it. It was a new enough technique that everybody was pretty much satisfied with, even though it could take a couple of months to clone a particular DNA sequence and to examine it. Nobody, including myself, ever thought that we needed to improve on that. I was just looking for a method to use oligonucleotides to get a particular bit of information from DNA – a sequence. Suddenly, while driving my car, I thought to arrange two oligonucleotides symmetrically around the DNA molecule. I thought, “My God, if I just extend those oligonucleotides using DNA polymerase (a DNA repair enzyme) and then heat that mixture and then repeat the same process, I will have doubled and then redoubled the amount of DNA where the oligonucleotides sequences bind.” That was long before the internet was common, so I couldn’t just find

Opposite page Kary Mullis pictured in the Californian sunshine in 1993 after winning the Nobel Prize

Little boys love things that burn fast or blow up and I was into rockets and propellants and mixing things together

out instantly whether anybody had ever tried this before but it turned out that nobody had. It exposed me to a whole lot of biologists and all the intricacies in human DNA and human biology. I was still an organic chemist and I slowly learned biology. And it was later that you came up with the idea of using the DNA repair enzyme from a hydrothermal vent organism (Thermophilus aquaticus)? Once I was studying the new procedure, I had to heat and cool this tube, then open it up and put more enzyme in it, and then heat it again, and then cool it again, and so on. Eventually it occurred to me that I was introducing impurities and other DNA sequences into the tube. As it happened, a colleague was working on thermally stable bacteria that could live at high temperatures, and I thought those must have DNA polymerase or they wouldn’t be able to live, and that their polymerase must be stable at the temperatures that they live at – sometimes they were living at 100°C in hot springs. I thought if I could use one of those polymerases, I wouldn’t have to open the tube to add new polymerase all the time. I finally convinced somebody at Cetus to purify it. Nobody really saw the need to do it because they didn’t really understand how it could change molecular biology. So, people didn’t really realise the usefulness of it until it was there… When people outside Cetus started using it, that’s when the company realised it was a really big deal. It spread pretty quickly because it was an innovation that was necessary

and useful, and it was really easy to do with things that were available in lots of labs – nobody had to go out and buy anything. As soon as we started using the thermostable polymerase it was obvious that you could do it with an automated device. The first automated device was built at Cetus. The guys down in the electronics shop just put it together in a week. You buy a microprocessor off the shelf for $39 and attach it to a little heating block that can heat up tubes. One guy at the University of North Carolina made his out of relays [relay switches] that he got out of the washing machine, which I had a lot of sympathy for because I used to take relays out of my mother’s washing machine and make all kinds of things. What has been the most important impact of PCR? It really made DNA more accessible. Before PCR, biochemists had to go through a long period of cloning or get DNA from their colleagues. PCR totally democratised that in a sense – all I had to do to get a DNA sequence was to order components, follow the protocol, and you had your DNA in a week. It upset the whole apple cart because the people who had access to lots of DNA were no longer running things; you didn’t have to be friends with the guy who happened to have the right DNA. It also connected a lot of biology in medicine to DNA. The chemicalisation of medicine had been happening for a long time but PCR focused a lot of attention on the connection between the chemistry, the DNA, and all kinds of biological questions. Biology before PCR and biology after PCR are two different beasts. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 27


INTERVIEW KARY MULLIS

mark robert halper

Once you had studied a project related to his specialty, you could do anything you wanted to. By the time I left I had published a paper in Nature called “The Cosmological Significance of Time Reversal”, which had nothing to do with biochemistry – but that was the kind of thing he supported. Most graduate students learn what they have to learn and get into a specialty and that’s the end of their education in a sense. In my opinion, that’s not learning anything about life and the world, and philosophy, and whatever.

Did you foresee the impact of PCR, as used in genetic fingerprinting, on the judicial system before you came up with the idea? I assume it’s had a big effect on cops because they used to call me on the telephone to be a witness in cases. I didn’t like doing that because it was boring, but also it didn’t seem fair – I felt the cases were not being decided on anything but my personality, because often the jurors didn’t understand the technical part of it. If you hadn’t become a scientist, what would you have done instead? Well, the guy who rejected me from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) said I really should be a novelist. He said, “You don’t really have the attributes of a good scientist.” He was basically saying I should be a writer and I said, “No, I don’t think so.” So I went to Georgia Tech and became a scientist. I’ve always liked to know how things work and to understand them. I got very interested in astrophysics and cosmology and stuff like that and I still am. You left science for a couple of years at one point and managed a bakery. How did that happen? After I got through my PhD, I went to Kansas and got a job at the University of Kansas Medical Centre working with a couple of paediatric 28 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Above Mullis today

cardiologists and a pathologist. I got tired of killing rats and I left there to go back to Berkeley because I had a daughter there. I wasn’t planning to get a job in a bakery – I was going to travel around California through the summer. But my first wife had a bakery and I moved in next to her to be close to my daughter and I started working for her after a while. She needed somebody to work in the restaurant on an emergency basis and I liked it – I liked all the people and it’s a different kind of experience than working in a lab. What took you back to science? There is something lasting about a science career, especially if, like me, you’re not terribly focused on one thing. Life is more interesting than working in a bakery all the time – after a while that got pretty boring.

The guy who rejected me from MIT said, ‘You don’t really have the attributes of a good scientist.’

Which scientist or biologist in particular do you most admire? I like [the American physicist] Richard Feynman. The guy that really impressed me a lot, though, was my PhD adviser at Berkeley. He was a very humanistic kind of a scientist. He didn’t take advantage of his graduate students – working in his laboratory was an experience among equals. You weren’t there to further his career, which is the unfortunate situation a lot of graduate students find themselves in today.

What you are working on at the moment? It occurred to me that there are various things that humans are already immune to, including something called the alpha-Gal epitope – a little tri-saccharide found on bacteria which is chemically synthesizable. I wondered if you could take advantage of that immune response and adapt it to go after other things. So, if you could make a chemical that has the alpha-Gal epitope on it as part of its structure, but also binds specifically to some pathogen that was bothering you, you could divert your own antibodies to that pathogen. We are going to design a molecule that will link the pathogen that you want to be immune to, to this immunity that you already have in spades. You can do that chemically, ending up with what’s called a DNA aptamer. So, we’ve got an aptamer that binds to Staphylococcus aureus by means of a particular protein on its surface and when I synthesise the aptamer, on one end of it I put a little molecule of the alpha-Gal epitope. Then I give that to a person that has the anti-alpha-Gal antibody and that construction will bind to the Staphylococcus in the person. It will drag in a bunch of antibodies from the individual’s serum that normally wouldn’t be interested in the Staphylococcus, but are interested in the epitope that has been plastered all over the organism by my chemical aptamer. In cancers there is the same problem – if you could direct your immune system towards a tumour you could eventually wipe it out. Whether we will be able to cure cancer or not is another question, but in the cancer field, if you give someone an extra year, that’s worth taking the drug for.

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EDUCATION CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Connecting children and young people with nature

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If future generations are to engage with science and the environment, they must be able to enjoy nature as children, says Richard Campen, director of operations at the Peak District National Park

D

uring a recent nature discovery day in the Peak District, a six-year-old discovered a slug under a stone, stroked it, and declared that it “feels like toothpaste”. There is something special about working with children, young people and adults through environmental experiences, and connecting with nature. There is a sense of discovery and appreciation, which can be fairly low-key with some teenagers, but is often manifest as outright excitement with younger individuals. The event, organised by the Peak District National Park Authority’s Learning and Discovery team, was one of a wide range of programmes and activities for children, young people, families and communities. The overall aim is to promote understanding of the special qualities of the National Park and relate that to the wider environment.

Sparking an interest in nature

It is essential that children and young people have access to opportunities for a positive experience of the outdoors and nature. Learning outside the classroom helps equip children with the skills and confidence they need, as citizens, to participate actively in addressing environmental problems. After all, many biologists and environmentalists will be able to recall those direct experiences of nature that inspired them towards

BIOgraphy

Dr Richard Campen MIEMA, CEnv is director of operations at the Peak District National Park Authority and an associate lecturer at the Open University, where he teaches practical environmental science.

their career pathways or engagement with environmental issues. “Promoting understanding” is part of the twin statutory purposes of National Parks. The first purpose is to conserve and enhance their natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage, and the second is to promote opportunities for the understanding of the special qualities of the parks by the public (www.nationalparks.gov.uk). While the National Park Authority is responsible for leadership in the management of the National Park, many other organisations contribute to these purposes, often through partnership working. The National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and RSPB are among those organisations actively promoting understanding through environmental learning services. But what of the people leading these events? Not all are biologists, though many will have studied biological sciences. Some come from teaching, or a range of other backgrounds. What gets people hooked to become involved in environmental education, and is it a concern that future generations may not be as enthusiastic about nature? Whatever the motivations, there is often a memorable point or period at which an interest in nature was sparked. How many biologists or environmental educators remember growing something from a seed for the first time, or absorbed things about the natural world around them from days spent in gardens or the

countryside? In fact, some of us probably did things that might be regarded as destructive, such as collecting birds’ eggs. But at some point we all had the opportunity to experience, observe and learn to value the natural world. Environmental educators often draw on their own experiences to enthuse and inspire others. The number of children who experience nature first-hand, however, appears to be decreasing and evidence suggests that children and young people are spending less and less time outside (House of Commons, 2010). A survey of school and local authority respondents, commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills and published in 2006 (National Foundation for Educational Research, 2006), found a general perception that the amount of learning outside the classroom within school grounds had remained the same or even increased over the preceding five years. School trips and visits, however, were not seen to have flourished, especially day or residential visits to natural environments (House of Commons, 2010). If the number of children who get this type of experience declines, where might the biologists of the future come from? From a learning service delivery perspective, it is hard to say at what point “understanding” is achieved

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 31


EDUCATION CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

and it is hard to know what the benefits will be to the individual, society or the environment, or when these might be achieved. A longitudinal study would be needed, and that is not something which an organisation like a National Park Authority can resource. As practitioners though, based on our own experience and the application of our skills and knowledge, we firmly believe that there will be benefits and this is borne out through research (for example, House of Commons, 2005 & 2010). The Government’s Natural Environment White Paper (DEFRA, 2011a) includes a theme that is particularly welcome in the context of the introduction to the present paper. It states: “Our ambition is to strengthen the connections between people and nature. We want more people to enjoy the benefits of nature by giving them freedom to connect with it. Everyone should have fair access to a goodquality natural environment. We want to see every child in England given the opportunity to experience and learn about the natural environment. We want to help people take more responsibility for their environment, putting local communities in control and making it easier for people to take positive action.” A specific action in the White Paper is “to get more children learning outdoors, removing barriers and increasing schools’ abilities to teach outdoors”. While not new (see OFSTED, 2008), from an environmental educator’s perspective it is encouraging to see this policy clearly stated as part of the overall set of ambitions. It reflects the important evidence base quoted in Making Space for Nature: A Review of England’s Wildlife Sites and Ecological Network (often referred to as the “Lawton Review”). This report notes the importance of access to green space in relation to overall levels of physical activity and raised attention levels in children with attention deficit disorder. Unfortunately, children spend only half as much time outdoors compared to 20 years ago (Maclean, 2010). Importantly though, children often prefer to play in natural or wild places which helps them develop their cognitive, physical and social skills. A good environmental education 32 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

activity will accommodate all of these aspects of skills development. Activity leaders will bear witness to the fact that connecting with nature is not just about achieving the mini-beast safari. The “Learning Outside the Classroom” quality badge focuses on a range of benefits for young people’s learning and personal development outside the classroom, such as the skills they need to become active and responsible citizens (see www.lotc.org.uk). In “The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It)” (Saylan & Blumstein, 2011), the authors propose that environmental education has not kept pace with environmental degradation. They point to failure in political institutions and the fact that environmental curricula have not been implemented on a broad public scale. In his recently published book A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change, Gardiner makes the point that we delegate our responsibilities and powers to social and political systems, and this is not effective – the responsibility comes back to us to solve the problems ourselves, or create new institutions to do the job. Gardiner says that as individuals we could be subject to moral criticism for having failed to discharge our original responsibilities. Such arguments reinforce the relationship between social and political institutions and the preparation of citizens to take action to address environmental issues, or confidently participate in the democratic process to change those institutions.

Playing a part in conservation

It might seem like a big leap from nature play-day types of experience to making a real difference, but we have a duty as scientists and educators to play a part. Saylan and Blumstein advocate approaches that are echoed in the White Paper: the integration of environmental education in education as a whole, coupled with the development of active citizenship. Saylan and Blumstein’s point is that what matters is how environmental awareness is taught: an ageappropriate mix of facts about environmental problems, together with a significant social component to nurture critical thinking, creativity and cooperation. The Peak District National Park Authority’s Learning and Discovery team aims to do just this. With

limited resources, it focuses on people (particularly children, young people and families) in the local communities of the park so that they can understand and value nature and consider making a personal contribution to conservation. It also works with those who have, for whatever reasons, a number of barriers giving them limited access to nature and the national park. The latter is of importance because, as DEFRA (2010) has noted, most people in the UK are distanced from the benefits that the natural environment provides and therefore, nature. In addition to ‘mini-beast’ safaris seeking out creepy-crawlies in the undergrowth (and you are never too old or knowledgeable about nature to learn or experience something new), the National Park Authority works with its partners to deliver a range of programmes to encourage individuals and communities to play an active part in conservation.

Increased sense of ownership

The Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change Initiative (MICCI) is an innovative project involving secondary school students in and around the Peak District National Park. Through a series of creative investigations, young people learn more about our connection with natural systems by exploring the role that peat plays in carbon sequestration. Each school was given a moorland site to investigate and collectively they covered most of the upland areas of the Peak District National Park. Students and teachers were engaged in the planning stage using email and a chat room facility called Campfire to discuss the design of investigations with scientists and each other. Fieldwork was conducted during National Science Week and samples were tested at school and Manchester University (a partner in moorland conservation work). Teachers have commented that there has been an increased sense of ownership and responsibility by students for their local environment and the National Park, and how it links with the global issue of climate change. These visits show how outdoor learning can add value to activities by developing teamworking skills improving confidence and engagement back in school.


Unfortunately, children spend only half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 33


EDUCATION CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

REFERENCES DEFRA (2010) Delivering a Healthy Natural Environment, http://archive.defra.gov. uk/environment/policy/naturalenviron/documents/healthy-natenviron.pdf (accessed 5 September 2011). DEFRA (2011a) The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature, www.defra. gov.uk/environment/natural/ whitepaper/ (accessed 5 September 2011). DEFRA (2011b) Biodiversity 2020: A Strategy for England’s Wildlife and Ecosystem Services, www.defra.gov.uk/ publications/files/pb13583-biodiversitystrategy-2020-110817.pdf (accessed 5 September 2011). Gardiner, S. M. A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (OUP, Oxford, 2011).

The project matches science curriculum needs by looking directly at the effects of human activity on the environment, applying students’ scientific thinking outside the classroom, as well as broadening their understanding of climate change. It has also provided the students with access to the world of ‘real’ scientists and given researchers the chance to engage the public about their work.

Climate change project

Elsewhere in the Peak District, the National Park Authority Learning and Discovery team worked with school groups from Greater Manchester and the north of Derbyshire on a climate change project with eight primary schools. The schools all took part in activities while visiting a moorland area to find out about how climate change could affect the plants and animals in that area. The children worked on experiments to help them develop an understanding of climate. The schools were then able to participate in OPAL’s (Open Air Laboratories’ network) Climate Survey, a national online survey (see www.opalexplorenature.org). Again, this formed a direct link to ‘real’ researchers and experiments. The children also found out about the importance of peat as a carbon sink and how climate change might affect this. One of the strengths of this project was that staff followed up this visit with a return visit to 34 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

school to see the actions the pupils had carried out at school to reduce their carbon footprint. This type of project helps to build a more direct link between experience and changing behaviour and – who knows? – might produce the scientist who makes a key discovery one day.

Inspiring future biologists

Working with children and young people in the environment – experiencing their delight and perceptions – can be a real joy and a reminder that, for children, such experiences must not be a rare event. There is value in just ‘being in the moment’. Our experience shows that, as part of the process, young people can actively contribute to science and understanding of issues such as biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change. In doing so it is widely recognised that children and young people benefit in a number of ways as part of their personal development as active citizens. As professionals we must be firmly committed to learning in outdoor environments. How will we ever get the message across about the need for sustainability without an understanding of the links with the natural systems on which we depend? And, without the opportunities for young people to become engaged with the natural environment, how will our future biologists be inspired?

Above The Peak District is the focus for all kinds of activities aimed at getting children to engage with the environment and the great outdoors

House of Commons (2005) Education and Skills Committee, Second Report of Session 2004–05, Education Outside the Classroom, the Stationery Office, London, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ cm200405/cmselect/ cmeduski/120/120.pdf (accessed 5 September 2011). House of Commons (2010) Children, Schools and Families Committee, Sixth Report of Session 2009-10, Transforming Education Outside the Classroom, the Stationery Office, London, www. publications.parliament.uk/pa/ cm200910/cmselect/ cmchilsch/418/418.pdf (accessed 5 September 2011). Lawton, J.H. et al (2010) Making Space for Nature: a review of England’s wildlife sites and ecological network. Report to Defra. Available at www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/biodiversity/ documents/201009space-for-nature. pdf (accessed 27 June 2011). Maclean, N. Twenty-five key questions in ecology in Silent Summer – The state of wildlife in Britain and Ireland (ed Maclean, N.) (CUP, Cambridge, 2010). National Foundation for Educational Research (2006) Education outside the Classroom: An assessment of activity and practice in schools and local authorities, https://www.education.gov.uk/ publications/eOrderingDownload/ RR803.pdf (accessed 13 January 2012). OFSTED (2008) Learning Outside the Classroom. Available at www.education. gov.uk/publications/ eOrderingDownload/Learning_outside_ the_classroom.pdf (accessed 5 September 2011). Saylan, C. & Blumstein D. T. The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It) (University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, 2011).

Do you have an opinion on this article? Contact us AT biologist@societyofbiology.org


ISSN 0021-9266

Volume 45

Number 3

September 2011

Contents Editorial Note from the Editor

David Slingsby Number 2 June 2011

117

Guest editorial Authenticity in biology education: benefits and challenges

Anat Yarden and Graca S. Carvalho

118

Journal of Biological Education

Journal of Biological Education

ERIDOB ISSUE

Volume 45

ISSN 0021-9266

Volume 45

Number 3

September 2011

ERIDOB ISSUE

Research paper Children’s attitudes towards animals: evidence from the RODENTIA project

Maria Joa˜o Fonseca, Nuno H. Franco, Francis Brosseron, Fernando Tavares, I. Anna S. Olsson and Ju´lio Borlido-Santos

121

Research paper Supporting learning of high-school genetics using authentic research practices: the teacher’s role

Hadas Gelbart and Anat Yarden

129

Research paper Developing a pedagogy of risk in socio-scientific issues

Ralph Levinson, Phillip Kent, David Pratt, Ramesh Kapadia and Cristina Yogui

136

Research paper Learning progress in evolution theory: climbing a ladder or roaming a landscape?

€ Zabel and Harald Gropengiesser Jorg

143

The reasoned arguments of a group of future biotechnology technicians on a controversial socio-scientific issue: human gene therapy

Volume 45

Laurence Simonneaux and Habib Chouchane

Number 2

Clas Olander and A˚ke Ingerman

158

Book reviews

165

150

Research paper Towards an inter-language of talking science: exploring students’ argumentation in relation to authentic language

June 2011

Volume 45 Number 3 September 2011

Research paper

CYAN

MAGENTA

Journal of Biological Education Journal of Biological Education is firmly established as the authoritative voice in the world of biological education. The journal aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, providing information, ideas and opinion, in addition to critical examinations of advances in biology research and teaching. Through the coverage of policy and curriculum developments, the latest results of research into the teaching, learning and assessment of biology are brought to the fore. Each volume of JBE contains four issues and members of the Society of Biology can subscribe for just £40 a year. Contact JBE@societyofbiology.org for more details. www.tandfonline.com/rjbe Published on behalf of the Society of Biology by Routledge

YELLOW

BLACK


PROFILE PAUL DE KRUIF

Stranger than fiction Dr Vivian Wyatt FSB explores the controversial author of the science classic Microbe Hunters, Paul de Kruif, who dramatised the pioneering work of early bacteriologists

M

icrobe Hunters by Paul de Kruif (1890-1971), was probably the most influential biological book of the 20th century. Published in 1926, his bestseller told the highly romanticised biographies of a dozen famous scientists and influenced tens of thousands of its readers to become doctors or scientists. I have always admired de Kruif and his book. My American paperback copy, bought in York in 1947, was possibly brought to England by a GI and had already been reprinted 67 times. It was still in print when the parasitologist Eli Chernin wrote a paper about it in 1988, after reading it as a teenager, and was most recently republished in 2005 with a new foreword.

From scientist to writer

A bacteriologist by training, de Kruif had served in the US armed forces in France during the Great War before he began work at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. Here he began writing popular but anonymous articles for The Century magazine. Simon Flexner, the director of the 36 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

BIOgraphy

Dr Vivian Wyatt, PhD FSB, was formerly Honorary Research Fellow in Public Health Medicine. After degrees in biology and zoology, he gained a PhD in microbiology and held posts in the USA, UK and the West Bank and has taught and researched in Malta, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Institute, objected to de Kruif’s criticism of certain fellows in his articles (de Kruif’s pieces were also captioned MD instead of PhD), but rather than be fired, de Kruif resigned to become a writer instead of a researcher. He collaborated with Sinclair Lewis on what was to have been a joint novel with a microbiological theme, and the pair spent several months travelling around the West Indies together. Lewis published the novel Arrowsmith in 1925, but credited de Kruif merely as a consultant. De Kruif was angered by this and the relationship between him and Lewis cooled. The book is believed to be a thinly disguised account of staff at the Rockefeller Institute, and went on to be translated into more than a dozen languages. It was the basis of two Hollywood films (Yellow Jack and Dr Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet), a Broadway play, and inspired puppet shows by the New Deal Federal Theatre Project. Microbe Hunters by de Kruif was published a few months after Arrowsmith. It tells the stories of

the pioneering heroes of microbiology when curing disease was still miraculous, describing the personalities, eccentricities and life stories of Louis Pasteur, Antony Leeuwenhoek and Robert Koch, among many others. Bernard Dixon, a former editor of New Scientist, wrote that this book “must have drawn hundreds of thousands of young people into either biology or medicine”. “Nowadays its rumbustious portraits of Pasteur, Koch and their peers seem not so much inspirational as over the top. Yet this was an enthralling and accessible account for readers of all ages, one of the great episodes in the development of modern medical science.” (Dixon, 1996)

Influencing others

James Watson once wrote: “My father encouraged me to borrow Paul de Kruif’s celebrated 1926 book Microbe Hunters. In it were fascinating stories of how infectious diseases were being conquered by scientists who went after bad germs with the same tenacity as Sherlock


Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 37


PROFILE PAUL DE KRUIF

One of the biographies from Microbe Hunters was turned into a Hollywood movie starring Edward G Robinson in 1940

Holmes pursuing the evil Dr Moriarty. “Some months later I brought home Arrowsmith, in which Sinclair Lewis, helped by Paul de Kruif, relates the never-realised hope of his hero to save victims from cholera by treating them with bacteria-killing viruses. The protagonist’s youth gripped me and made me realise that science could be like baseball: a young man’s game whose stars made their mark in their early twenties.” (Watson, 2007) Joshua Lederberg, who won a Nobel prize for his work on microbial genetics and later became President of Rockefeller University (the new name of Simon Flexner’s old Rockefeller Institute), also acknowledged the influence of the book on his career – as did Jonas Salk, Eli Chernin and Daniel Koshland, biochemist and editor of Science. The immunologist Michael Oldstone began a preface (2000) with: “This book is conceived in the spirit of Paul de Kruif’s book Microbe Hunters which I first read in junior high school”, and the obituary of the British biochemist Alec Bangham said he decided to do medicine after reading Microbe Hunters (Heap, 2010).

His critics

However, not everyone was a fan. Ronald Ross and his colleagues Aldo Castellani and David Bruce wrote a scathing letter to the BMJ complaining that the book libelled them (Castellani et al., 1926). Their letter, also published in The Lancet 38 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

REFERENCES Castellani ,A. et al A disclaimer. BMJ 2, 617 (1926)

and the JAMA, led to the chapters about Ross and his colleagues being quietly deleted from the British edition of Microbe Hunters. In the original de Kruif had called Ross a “mad poet”, “this lunatic”, “wild as the mad-hattest of hatters, topsy-turvy as the dream of a hashish-eater”. Fielding H Garrison, the great American historian of medical history, described de Kruif as simply “clever”. Edward McSweegan ended an essay on Microbe Hunters by saying, “as a period piece – a window into past ideas and attitudes – it is interesting reading. Beyond that it should be relegated to the dustbin of history.” (McSweegan, 1996)

Branching out

In 1935 de Kruif was invited to be the secretary of the President’s Infantile Paralysis Research Commission, with $240,000 to spend on research. Although he was a good bacteriologist, virology was still a poorly understood discipline. He supported a vaccine for polio developed by a Canadian researcher, Maurice Brodie, and William Park, a Professor of Bacteriology at New York. The pair treated the poliovirus with formaldehyde, like Salk 20 years later, but the vaccine used spinal cord tissue from monkeys. After some promising initial results, it eventually led to the death of some children, and many others were very ill. Kruif described it as a “deplorable debacle” (de Kruif, 1962) and Brodie committed suicide. Although it was assumed that the

vaccine still contained live virus, it is more likely that the injected monkey cord tissue was provoking paralysis by circulating wild viruses (Wyatt, 1981). In 1936 President Roosevelt invited de Kruif and his committee to lunch and a long day of talks to discuss the committee’s future. The research was resumed as basic science under Tom Rivers (the ‘father of virology’). Although de Kruif continued as secretary of the new committee, he concentrated on working as a spokesman for the surgeon general’s fight against venereal disease.

A great educator

De Kruif became a journalist and his research experience ensured that his books were scientifically accurate and impactful. In 1922 he wrote an article in International Magazine where he accused a vaccine manufacturer of murder. De Kruif and the editor were sued for $1.6 million, but after appealing to medico-legal experts, the case was finally dropped in 1926. The book won high praise that year: “One of the noblest chapters in the history of mankind,” wrote the celebrated US essayist Henry Mencken (see de Kruif’s autobiography, 1962, p 133). Paul de Kruif must be one of the great educators of all time, though it is doubtful if he thought of himself as that. How far was he responsible for the advances in science and medicine since the war, having inspired so many to take up medical research as their careers? And where is his successor today?

Chernin, E. Paul de Kruif’s Microbe Hunters and an outraged Ronald Ross. Rev Infect Dis 10, 661-667 (1988) de Kruif, P. The Sweeping wind. Rupert Hart-Davis (1962) Dixon, B. Microbe Hunters – Then and Now. BMJ 313, 1340 (1996) Heap, B. Obituary of Alec Bangham. Guardian 1 April 2010 McSweegan, E. Rethinking microbe hunters. ASM 62, 61-62 (1996) Plotkin, S. The late sequelae of Arrowsmith. Paed Infect Dis J 21, 807-9 (2002) Oldstone, M. B. A. Viruses, plagues and history. (OUP, 2000) Oshinsky, D. M. Polio. An American story. 138(OUP, 2005) Summers, W. C. Microbe Hunters revisited. Internatl Microbiol 1 65-68 (1988) Verhave, J. P. A Norse and Dutch friendship. www.hektoen international. org 2(1): 10 pages (2010) Watson, J. D. Avoid boring people. 1920 (OUP, 2007) Wyatt, H. V. Provocation poliomyelitis: neglected clinical observations from 1914 to 1950. Bull Hist Med 55, 543557 (1981) Wyatt, H. V. Microbe Hunters. BMJ 340, c98 157 (2010)

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POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH BRAIN INFLAMMATION AND STROKES

40 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1


A STROKE OF GENIUS

Emily Robinson, winner of the New Researcher category at the Society’s Science Communication Awards, explains how public engagement has enriched her work on the immune system in stroke

I

t’s an easy mistake to make when communicating science to the public – turn up the ‘wow factor’ and turn off the content. There is a definite need to engage the public but I believe that some scientists severely underestimate the ability of people to grasp science concepts and their desire to learn. During my PhD I organised numerous public engagement events and have been involved in various science communication projects. Through these experiences I have discovered that the best science engagement is rooted firmly in scientific fact. I was incredibly fortunate. My PhD supervisor, Dr Stuart Allan, was heavily involved in public engagement projects and shared the view that scientists have a moral obligation to interact with the public. After seeing how much I enjoyed volunteering, he encouraged me to start organising events myself.

Getting started

Initially I started by organising family-oriented events with handson activities, such as ‘Meet the Neuroscientist’ at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). I soon realised that taking on these responsibilities was no small feat, but the sense of achievement that comes from delivering a successful event and receiving positive feedback makes all

BIOgraphy

Emily Robinson is a PhD student in the Brain Inflammation Group at the University of Manchester, researching the role of inflammation in brain injuries, such as stroke. She is the winner of the Society of Biology’s New Researcher Science Communication Award.

the effort worthwhile – and acts to spur you on to further projects. As a result, I became a winning contestant in the Wellcome Trust competition ‘I’m a scientist… get me out of here!’ This X-Factor style competition puts a scientist’s communication skills and knowledge in the spotlight as they battle for votes by answering a constant stream of eager questions posted online by secondary school students and in frenzied live webchats. The scheme differs from conventional public engagement as the students get to direct their own learning depending on their interests, with brilliant questions such as, “If iron is magnetic and we have iron in our blood, does that mean we’re magnetic?” The students’ innate curiosity and off-the-wall ideas made me realise that we shouldn’t shy away from difficult or controversial concepts when talking to the public. This inspired me to try and communicate my own research in future events.

Communicating research

As a PhD student working in the Brain Inflammation Group (BIG) at the University of Manchester, my research focuses on how inflammation can intensify brain damage after a brain injury, such as stroke. A stroke is the result of blood flow to the brain being disrupted, preventing vital oxygen and glucose

reaching vulnerable brain cells, leading to their death. It is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in the UK. Stroke can be classified as either ischaemic or haemorrhagic, due to the initial cause being the blockage or burst of a blood vessel. At present there is only one drug treatment available to patients after having a stroke, which is the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). The treatment situation is made worse as only a small amount of patients will be eligible for this treatment. By the drug’s very nature, tPA can only be given to patients with a stroke caused by a clot, as treating patients who have had a bleed would be very detrimental as it would increase bleeding. There are also many other restrictions on receiving tPA. A major factor is time, as only patients who are still within the first three to four hours of having their stroke will be given the drug. Therefore new treatments for stroke are greatly needed to improve the outcome for patients and also to reduce the cost to the NHS. My research looks at how inflammation caused by a brain injury, like stroke, leads to increased damage to the brain. A simple way of understanding inflammation is to think what would happen if you hit your thumb with a hammer. Your thumb would hurt, turn red, Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 41


POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH BRAIN INFLAMMATION AND STROKES

become hot, start to swell and you could possibly lose some of your thumb’s function. It used to be thought that the brain was protected from inflammation. However it is now known that the brain can become inflamed and this is characterised by immune cells from the blood crossing into the brain and also the activation of immune cells that are present inside the brain. Inflammation is a normal part of the body’s defensive immune response to infection or injury, which is designed to prevent further damage and to kick-start repair processes. But in the brain this response can become out of control and harmful to healthy brain tissue, leading to an increased amount of brain damage. By studying how inflammation is triggered by chemical signals, called proinflammatory cytokines, we hope that future treatments could target and reduce this excessive inflammatory response and hopefully preserve as much precious brain tissue as possible after brain injury. At present I am specifically investigating the mechanisms involved in the release of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1a), using a combination of in vivo and in vitro techniques.

42 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Target your audience

It used to be thought that the brain was protected from inflammation

I have learnt that it is important to think carefully about the audience you want your message to reach, in this case the concept of targeting inflammation after stroke. It is all too easy to use the term “general public” and to hold the mistaken belief that science communication has to be aimed at children or a family audience. It may be more beneficial to concentrate your efforts on a particular group in society who you believe would benefit most from being informed about your research. But no matter what the audience, plan your approach carefully and use understandable language and clear imagery in all explanations. I also noticed during my “I’m a scientist…” experience that using digital applications, such as the MSN-style webchat, really helped break down barriers between the students and scientists. This made me assess how accessible my own lab’s research was to the public and motivated me to create our own Twitter account – @BIG_research – and contribute to the development of a lab website www.braininflame.com.

I was honoured to be involved in events in collaboration with my research group that communicated our research to stroke patients and carers, using a mixture of presentations, discussion and visual aids. Although challenging, these experiences were extremely rewarding as it gave me the opportunity to talk one-to-one with the very people this disease affects, putting our research in context. The events were a success with feedback such as “very interesting” and “very welcome research”, although it was suggested that we could introduce further patient group led input into our research directions in the future. This has given me the enthusiasm to introduce our research into other aspects of our public engagement work. A large part of our research focuses on the risk factors that increase the chances of stroke, for example, obesity, uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension, and their connection with brain inflammation.

Looking ahead

Our next project will aim to communicate this message to our local community, particularly to areas that represent a traditionally hard-to-reach audience, with diverse ethnic backgrounds and low socioeconomic status, who are unlikely to attend science events at more traditional venues, such as a museum. Although it has been a steep learning curve, the science communication experiences gained during my PhD taught me some very valuable lessons. Engaging the public in science can come in all different shapes and sizes, and so it should do. When planning a project it is important to consider your desired outcomes, your target audience and the most effective delivery methods. Finally, we should move away from a superficial one-size-fits-all approach and tailor science communication to our diverse society – even if that means as scientists we have to step outside our own comfort zone.

Do you have an opinion on this article? Contact us AT biologist@societyofbiology.org


NEW FROM FROM GARLAND GARLAND SCIENCE NEW First Course Course in in Systems Biology AA First textbook designed designed for isis aa textbook advanced undergraduate undergraduate and advanced graduate students. students. Its main focus graduate is the development of is the development of computational models models and and their their computational applications to to diverse diverse biological biological applications systems. systems. This book book provides provides the the reader reader This with the the background background and and mastery mastery with of methods to execute standard of methods to execute standard systems biology biology tasks, tasks, understand understand systems the modern modern literature, literature, and and launch launch the into specialized courses or into specialized courses or projects that that address address biological biological projects questions using using theoretical theoretical and and questions computational means. means. The The format format computational is a combination of instructional is a combination of instructional text and and references references to to primary primary text literature, complemented complemented by by sets sets literature, of small-scale exercises that of small-scale exercises that enable hands-on experience, and enable hands-on experience, and larger-scale, often open-ended larger-scale, often open-ended questions for further reflection. questions for further reflection.

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Chapter 1: Biological Systems Chapter 2: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling Chapter 3: Static Network Models Chapter 1: Biological Systems Chapter 2: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling Chapter 3: Static Network Models Chapter 4: The Mathematics of Biological Systems Chapter 5: Parameter Estimation Chapter 6: Gene Systems Chapter 4: The Mathematics of Biological Systems Chapter 5: Parameter Estimation Chapter 6: Gene Systems Chapter 7: Protein Systems Chapter 8: Metabolic Systems Chapter 9: Signaling Systems Chapter 10: Population Chapter Protein 11: Systems Chapter 8: Metabolic Systems Chapter 9: SignalingData Systems Chapter 10: Population Systems7:Chapter Integrative Analysis of Genome, Protein, and Metabolite Chapter 12: Physiological Systems Chapter 11: Integrative Genome, Metabolite Chapter 12: Physiological Modeling: the Heart as ExampleAnalysis Chapterof13: SystemsProtein, Biologyand in Medicine andData Drug Development Chapter 14: Design Modeling: the Heart as Example Chapter 13: Systems Biology in Medicine and Drug Development Chapter 14: Design of Biological Systems Chapter 15: Emerging Topics in Systems Biology of Biological Systems Chapter 15: Emerging Topics in Systems Biology

Online Resources Online Resources Online resources for students and instructors can be found Online resources for students and instructors can be found at www.garlandscience.com/systems-biology. at www.garlandscience.com/systems-biology. For qualified instructors: For qualified • Artwork ininstructors: JPEG & PPT formats. • Artwork in & PPT formats. • SolutionsJPEG to end-of-chapter exercises. • Solutions to end-of-chapter exercises. For students: For students: • Online flashcards. • Online flashcards. • Data tables for end-of-chapter exercises. • Data tables for end-of-chapter exercises. • Hints to end-of-chapter exercises. • Hints to end-of-chapter exercises.

“The exercises combined with the explanatory notes “The exercises11] combined with the explanatory notes in [Chapter make a complete student project. inThis [Chapter 11]material make afor complete student project. is ideal a standalone practical This is ideal material forstudent a standalone practical course, or for the final assignment in a course, or for the student assignment a longer course as itfinal is very open-ended andinwill longer course asthe it iscurrent very open-ended reflect literature.” and will reflect the current literature.” ANDREW DALBY,

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SCIENCE MICROBIOLOGY

SPOTLIGHT ON

MICROBIOLOGY

What is microbiology? Microbiology is the study of microorganisms (or microbes). They are are found in every habitat on Earth, including in and on humans, and make up the vast majority of the diversity of life on Earth. Scientists estimate there are 2-3 billion species and they occur in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. Microbes are divided into one of six groups: fungi, bacteria, algae, protozoa, viruses and archaea. Microbiologists study microbes in their natural environment, examining their survival strategies, how they interact and how we can exploit their activities. Microbes have a huge impact on our lives – in both positive and negative ways. Why is microbiology important? Microbes play key roles in health, food production and the environment. They can cause disease, but also are 44 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

used to make antibiotics that fight infections and vaccines that prevent disease. Microbes also play key roles in climate change – they are responsible for most of the methane produced on earth, but also produce over half the oxygen and are used in the production of biofuels. Microbes are responsible for cycling carbon and nitrogen, helping plants acquire nutrients from soil, and can even be used to help clean up pollution. How do I pursue a career in microbiology? Most microbiologists have a university level qualification in either microbiology or more general biosciences. A full list of first-degree microbiology courses is available on the Society for General Microbiology (SGM) Careers website. Universities, research institutes, hospitals and industrial

companies employ microbiologists to do medical, environmental, healthcare and agricultural research. Microbiologists are also employed in hospitals to diagnose and monitor disease. Industrial microbiologists work in a range of companies, from big pharmaceutical, biochemical, biotechnology and food businesses to smaller companies developing specialist microbial products. Where can I get more information? The SGM provides information on diverse areas of microbiology through podcasts, briefing papers, educational resources and an inhouse magazine, Microbiology Today. As well as a careers site, SGM also has an education website (www. microbiologyonline.org.uk) which contains information and activities to support microbiology teaching and learning in schools.


Interview At a glance

Describe a typical day. I lecture medical students and postgraduates on infections, immunity and cancer. I manage a research team, supervise PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, and also do some experimental lab work myself.

Name Dr Karen Robinson Profession Professor of Infections and Immunity, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre Biomedical Research Unit, University of Nottingham Qualifications BSc (hons) in Bacteriology and Virology from the University of Manchester; PhD in Immunity to Infection from the University of Manchester Research Interests Interactions between gastrointestinal infections and host, especially Helicobacter pylori infections of the human stomach

What do you enjoy most about your job? Doing research is like solving a very complicated puzzle. Every day is different, and it can bring results that are really exciting. It’s brilliant when you find something important, and so rewarding to be able to help my students to develop as independent researchers and go on to do great things.

We use microbes to do all sorts of things in our daily lives – to be able to just build something to do what you want is going to be so powerful

What’s the focus of your research? We’re studying how infections in the gastro-intestinal tract cause or even prevent disease in people that they infect. We’re especially interested in a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, which is the main cause of stomach and duodenal ulcers and stomach cancer. This is a really common infection – most people don’t ever have any problems from it or even know it’s there – but in those who develop stomach cancer only about 15 percent survive five years so it can be really nasty. I’m also really interested in the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ – how we need

What made you decide to specialise in microbiology? I had a really inspirational biology teacher in sixth form, who got us involved in some very basic practical microbiology. We grew bacteria from our skin, looked at yoghurt bacteria down a microscope, transferred fungi from rotten to fresh fruit, and we also visited a diagnostic microbiology lab at a local hospital. I was absolutely fascinated. What are the hot topics in microbiology at the moment? One is synthetic biology, which has the potential to allow us to build microbes artificially. From a medical perspective, there’s a lot going on to find out about the myriad of harmless bacteria that are present in our bodies. Many of these organisms cannot be cultured, but we’re realising that they have a big impact on health.

exposure to certain infections as children to prevent conditions like allergy and autoimmunity. Having worked on the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, does there appear to be a clear link between sterile conditions as a child and the development of autoimmune disorders and allergies? People are finding these associations but it’s quite a difficult thing to prove. There are animal studies showing directly that infections can protect against allergies and autoimmune diseases, but there are so many different factors to take into account. Genetic susceptibility to these conditions plays a big part in it as well, so you probably already need to have susceptibility in your genes in the first place. Perhaps if you have the right infections and the right kind of environmental triggers, this can protect you. But if you don’t have that protection and are genetically susceptible you’ll be more likely to develop the condition. Craig Venter famously built an artificial genome and successfully implanted it in a ‘hollowed out’ existing bacterial cell. How close are we to being able to genuinely build a bacterium from scratch, and what would the implications of that be? I’m sure people are working towards it but I think that’s still a way off in the future. The implications are huge. We use microbes to do all sorts of things in our daily lives – to be able to just build something to do what you want is going to be so powerful. Where is microbiology headed as a subject? Microbiologists are working more and more with scientists from

other disciplines, such as chemists and engineers, to find solutions to global challenges like food security and climate change. Technological advances are also making a big impact – it’s possible to have a bacterial genome sequence in days, whereas this used to take years. This is transforming many areas of microbiology, providing us with so much information that we didn’t have access to before. I expect it’ll become a standard lab technique, leading to many important breakthroughs and new products. As the process becomes faster and cheaper, it will probably become a standard diagnostic test, which is quite mind-boggling. What are the different roles bacteria can play in our efforts to mitigate the effects of global warming? There are lots of different approaches being taken on that. Biofuel research is really taking off – scientists are engineering bugs so that they can produce chemicals that are more efficient biofuels. As a strange-sounding example, kangaroos apparently don’t produce much methane, so people are trying to figure out what kinds of bacteria they have in their gut and whether you could manipulate farm animals so that they have the same kinds of organisms in theirs. Do you have any advice for budding microbiologists? Be reassured this is a very good subject to study. Microbiology is a fundamental part of so many different disciplines and technologies, so there are lots of diverse career paths. There’s something there for everyone.

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 45


Reviews

Our regular round-up of books published in the fields of biology and related sciences

Expect The Unexpected: A First Course in Biostatistics

MONKEY BUSINESS The Chimpanzees of Bossou & Nimba

The Chimpanzees of Bossou & Nimba “The collection of papers is accessible to the nonspecialist, making it a detailed species portrait of great merit”

Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Tatyana Humle & Yukimaru Sugiyama (Eds) Springer, £135.00 The wild forest chimps of Bossou have been the focus of intensive studies since 1976. This volume presents 40 papers from some 30 contributors (chief of whom is undoubtedly Tetsuro Matsuzawa), that pull together the considerable achievement of the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute in West Africa. Chimpanzee numbers have decreased in the wild to less than 200,000 individuals, with many populations outside conservation zones. Bossou and Nimba are located in a centre of endemism where the borders of Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia meet. Threatened by hunting, and now by human disease, this is a tenuous and critically endangered state for the animal. Half the papers in the collection explore the diversity of chimpanzee tool manufacture and the big questions still surrounding ape

46 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

culture and its transmission. The focus of the other papers is on social life, intelligence, neighbouring Nimba mountain chimps with their different ecology and culture, and the numerous education and species conservation issues to be addressed in order to link now separated populations by protected forest corridors. Here, with genius, the tree species being planted are reared exclusively from tree seed collected from chimp faeces. Well written, the collection of papers is accessible to the nonspecialist, making it a detailed species portrait of great merit. Lavishly illustrated, it has seven appendices, full index and references. Accompanying this volume is an excellent DVD of video clips of the Bossou chimps exemplifying their cultural sophistication in stone tool use, the mother-offspring bond, social play, conflict and communication. This DVD will be invaluable for teaching. Stephen P. Tomkins CBiol MSB

Raluca Balan & Gilles Lamothe World Scientific Publishing, £37.99 It has long been my belief that to understand statistics it is essential to have a firm grasp of the principles of probability. This is the first biostatistics course book I have seen that sets out to specifically develop this concept from first principles including consideration of the axioms of probability, conditional probability, independence, and the difference between discrete and continuous variables. The authors then turn to consideration of aspects of statistics including random sampling, data description, sampling distributions, point estimates and assessment of normality. They describe the background and procedures for estimation of confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, comparison of data sets for continuous and categorical data; and finally regression and correlation. Each chapter uses examples drawn from biological publications or theoretical situations to illustrate the concepts discussed, and provides further ‘problems’ for the student to analyse independently. Unfortunately no proofs are provided for the examples so the tyro will need to consult a more experienced colleague or a statistician to be sure that the problems have been completed properly. Generally, the book is well presented but there are some typographic errors that may catch out the unwary, and there is no index. The style is somewhat pedantic and quite repetitive (presumably to ensure that the student doesn’t overlook essential key issues), a characteristic that I found rather irritating. Nonetheless, the overall approach is sound and provides information on the background of selected statistical tests and how to do them – or not. Professor Basil Jarvis CBiol FSB


Atlas of Stem Anatomy in Herbs, Shrubs and Trees Vol. 1

Fritz Hans Schweingruber, Annett Börner & Ernst-Detlef Schulze Springer-Verlag, £90.00 At a time when traditional plant science is disappearing rapidly from the curriculum of most preuniversity biology courses, it is reassuring to find it alive and well in the reference book sector. In many ways this is a stunning book, laden with top-quality colour photographs of both whole plants and photomicrographs. The first four short chapters provide an introduction to the main content and illustrated explanations of the anatomical features revealed in the photomicrographs. These are essential reading since they set the context and framework for what follows. The real substance of the book comes in its 442 page, A4-size treatment of 1,627 species drawn from 85 Angiosperm families (arranged in alphabetical order with a common format for each). Excellent photos of a representative sample of the species covered either illustrate the whole plant, or representative foliage and floral structures. The photos are grouped into two basic themes of xylem, and phloem and cortex, with a commentary describing the salient features, and ecological source of the material. The quality of the illustrations is somewhat let down by a number of issues in the text. There are a few typo errors, and some of the sentence construction in the introduction is unwieldy to the point of being confusing. However these are minor criticisms and should be seen in the context of a book that genuinely celebrates the diversity of plant structure and function. This is clearly a magnum opus that represents a life-time’s commitment to the project on the part of at least one of the authors. However there is no discussion of a potential audience for the book in the introduction and it is perhaps surprising given the current concerns relating to plants and climatic change this has not been discussed as a potential context. It is certainly beyond the reach of most degree level botanists, but as a reference book and source of inspiration it should be on the shelf of any plant science institution’s library. Barry Meatyard CBiol MSB

The Sea: A Photographic Celebration of the First Wonder of the World

Nic Compton Adlard Coles Nautical, £25.50 The sea and photography are among my greatest passions, so I was eager to see a large-format picture book about the sea, with over 150 pages of large, well-printed photographs. It is certainly a lavish collection of spectacular photographs, which is what you might expect as the product of the marine specialist photographic agency Bluegreen Pictures. Born of a desire to showcase the agency’s collection, the book achieves just that. Its scope is extremely broad, touching on diverse aspects of the sea and our relationship with it. As such, it cannot do more than skim the surface by showing a few examples of each topic before moving on to the next, so that the chapter on wildlife, for instance, is too brief to draw in natural history enthusiasts. It would require some wellthought-out text to pull together such disparate themes as marine life, yacht racing and exotic holiday destinations, and this is where the book is less successful. The limited text comes across as a rather glib afterthought that, to my mind, adds little to the pictures. As it is the pictures that make the book, the layout is of prime importance. Generally it works fine, although there are a few images that would have benefited from a border separating them. All in all, this is a vehicle for some beautiful and eye-catching images, particularly those of the environment, in a coffee-table book format. Linda Pitkin CBiol MSB

Crop Ecology: Productivity and Management in Agricultural Systems

D.J. Connor, R.S. Loomis & K.G. Cassman Cambridge University Press, £38.00 One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is the provision of sufficient food in the face of a rapidly growing world population and global warming. Increasing food production

by as much as 70 percent in the next 40 years must inevitably focus on the use of soil, water and nutrients, crop improvement and quality management/education. This will require an understanding of the components in agricultural systems and their relationships, for which this book is a sound starting point. The first two parts examine biological components, i.e. trophic structures, community concepts, genetic resources and crop development processes and physicochemical attributes, notably climate and soils. Part three considers the processes that link the biological components with the physicochemical components with an emphasis on the nitrogen cycle, water exchange, photosynthesis and respiration. Part four features resource management with emphasis on soil management and rain-fed and irrigated agricultural systems. The final section focuses on past, present and likely future agricultural systems through the use of examples. These include wheat production in Australia, various systems of corn and soybean production in North America and Brazil, and intensive rice production in Asia, with a commentary on possible future developments. This is a good introductory text for students of agriculture and environmental science though there are omissions such as reference to the vast environmental impact of agriculture, and limited information on genetically modified crops. Dr Antoinette Mannion

Atlas of Stem Anatomy in Herbs, Shrubs and Trees “As a reference book and source of inspiration it should be on the shelf of any plant science institution’s library”

Good Food for Everyone Forever: A People’s Takeover of the World’s Food Supply

Colin Tudge Pari Publishing, £9.99 The world’s human population will grow from the current 7 billion to 9 billion or more by the middle of the century. Many of these people already have a poor diet, go hungry and die of starvation. As a farming and science journalist, Colin Tudge has observed the farming and food industries around the world. He believes that there is no justification for food shortages, nor should there be any shortage for the future expanding human population – provided we change our ways. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 47


REVIEWS BOOKS

The Last Great Plant Hunt “The quality of the text and photography is excellent, but do not consign this book to the pile on the coffee table”

Tudge blames governments, “corporates”, banks and their advisors for the current inadequacies of the world’s diet and food supply. He is also critical of the workings of most political systems, including present forms of democracy. Writing on behalf of The Campaign for Real Farming, he states its aims as: “To provide food for everyone, forever: at the same time to create agreeable ways of life for farmers, and for everyone else involved in the food chain…” In part, Tudge argues that one in 10 of the British population should be encouraged to engage in smallscale farming, perhaps on a part-time basis; direct selling from farm to consumer; and those of like mind to coordinate their activities without resort to Government involvement. The campaign website www.campaignforrealfarming.org is designed to be a rallying place for the exchange of ideas for achieving its aims. There is some food for thought here but I was not persuaded by Tudge’s form of presentation nor argument. John C. Bowman CBiol FSB

The Last Great Plant Hunt: The Story of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank

Carolyn Fry, Sue Seddon & Gail Vines Kew Publishing, £26.60 The Millennium Seed Bank is a sophisticated seed vault located at Wakehurst Place, Sussex. It is owned and administered by Kew Gardens and carefully stores seeds from species that are especially vulnerable. This book explores the project, and succinctly and effectively discusses the importance of seeds. The current world population, set at approximately 7 billion, is projected to increase to 9 billion by 2050, and the book covers the pressure this increase will put on land availability and potential loss of plant biodiversity. An estimate produced by the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment is that over this period between 60,000 – 100,000 plant species will be threatened with extinction. With many of these species not yet fully documented, this represents a staggering loss of genetic resources. Its impact will be felt by many whose lives are governed by the growth and exportation of plantderived products, as well as those of the more industrialised economies seeking alternative natural sources of 48 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

chemicals currently synthesised at high prices. There are many features of this publication that make it worthy of reading. The content deals with the need to conserve natural plant species for their intrinsic right to exist, their natural beauty and the way they enrich our planet, together with their possible applications to the betterment of mankind, all without a judgemental tone. There is a personal dimension in the form of the experiences of past and present seed collectors and detailed exposition of how seeds are prepared for storage, and the tests carried out to monitor their viability and longevity in storage. The book also examines the work on restoration of threatened habitats throughout the world and safeguarding plants for the benefit of communities dependent upon them. The quality of the text and photography is excellent, but do not consign this book to the coffee table. Read it and, if suitably influenced by the urgency of this work, support their quest in any way you can. Stephen Hoskins CBiol FSB

Plant Galls

Margaret Redfern The New Naturalist Library, £30.00

Plant galls are ideal objects of research for natural historians. Abundant and diverse, these are available for study in every garden. They are also local centres of biodiversity, with the gall causers often supporting a diverse array of inquilines and parasitoids belonging to taxonomic groups that are otherwise unlikely to be encountered through general observation. They have been studied for centuries, yet the molecular mechanisms by which their sometimes great complexity is achieved are still largely a mystery. Margaret Redfern has devoted much of her long career to the study of plant galls, and it shows. This large, fact-laden but also well written book provides a wealth of knowledge. It begins with an examination of what galls are and what is known about how they are generated. The subsequent chapters then classify galls according to their physical appearance and where they are formed on the plants. Ecological,

evolutionary and biogeographical aspects are then covered, followed by chapters examining the relationships between man and plant galls. Plant Galls will be a standard text for years to come. It forms a perfect companion to the practical identification guide British Plant Galls. In combination they offer a comprehensive introduction to these fascinating structures and the organisms that inhabit them, and a great platform for personal study. Stephen Compton

The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature

Rupert Sheldrake Icon Books Ltd, £9.99 I am much indebted to Dr Sheldrake’s book for encouraging me to research the central theme of morphic resonance. The hypothesis is that a particular form establishes a collective “morphic field”. The particular form will read the collective information through the process of morphic resonance, using it to guide its own development. Morphic resonance seems to imply a non-energy transfer, more of an informational transfer from innumerable previous similar organisms, which in turn gives rise to morphic fields that are essentially composites or an average of previous forms. The fields cannot be sharply defined, but are probability structures. Such morphic fields of an organism are responsible for organising the different levels, with each level having its own field. For me the jury is still out as to whether I am convinced of their existence based on the evidence provided by Sheldrake. I believe there is a great deal of speculation surrounding Sheldrake’s ideas. For example, he assumes that morphic fields affect all structures from the size of planet Earth to organisms. This leads me to express concern that Sheldrake’s book has associations with New Age mysticism, which leaves me uncomfortable in the absence of rigorously controlled and repeatable scientific results. The future may well prove his ideas correct but for now I remain sceptical. My recommendation is to get hold of a copy of this publication, read it, and come to your own conclusions. Stephen Hoskins CBiol FSB


The Perfection Point John Brenkus Macmillian, £12.99

The Perfection Point addresses the limits of our sporting endeavour and is a must-read before the Olympics come to London. Using world records as a stepping stone, Brenkus breaks down and discusses each aspect of a record-breaking event. This is perhaps best illustrated in the first chapter, which addresses one of the most coveted sporting titles: the 100-metre sprint. Usain Bolt’s record-breaking sprint at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (9.69 seconds) is a starting point and the author considers the best possible time for each section of the race. The shortest allowable time to react to the starting gun, for example, is 0.1 seconds, 0.07 seconds quicker than Usain Bolt’s start. Brenkus goes on to consider the ideal body composition and muscle capacity, as well as the impact of external factors such as the altitude of the race track. Considering all these factors, Brenkus comes to the so-called perfection point, the record which will never be broken. In the case of the 100-metre sprint, this is a staggering 8.99 seconds with a maximum speed of 29.4 mph. Throughout the book the author applies this method to a range of sports from weightlifting to golf, clearly discussing all the factors that will impact upon the perfection point. Overall it is a fascinating and equally astonishing book and will leave you full of “Did you know…?” sporting facts. Faith Mayer

Recent Advances in Biostatistics: False Discovery Rates, Survival Analysis and Related Topics (Series in Biostatistics Vol 4)

M. Bhattacharjee, S. K. Dhar and S. Subramanian (Eds) World Scientific Publishing, £56.00 The theme of the first three articles is the application of new concepts of multiple test methods for False Discovery Rates, an area of active research in a number of fields.

This is followed by eight articles on different aspects of Survival Analysis and finally four articles on a miscellany of topics. Although these topics are largely concerned with analysis and interpretation of clinical trial data, many of the concepts have potential application in other areas of biostatistics. For instance, analysis of survival data is important in areas as diverse as environmental studies and in industrial and applied microbiology. Genomic analyses are of importance to geneticists, and false discovery rates are important in many areas of bioscience. I found the paper on “Efficient Algorithms for Bayesian Binary Regression Model with a Skew-Probit Link” to be of considerable relevance to problems in microbial distribution. The editors have produced a series of peer-reviewed articles that were presented originally at a conference on “Frontiers in Applied and Computational Mathematics”. But these are not just “proceedings”. The index is simple and there were few typographical errors. However this publication is aimed primarily at the professional biostatistician rather than the biologist who uses statistical protocols. Professor Basil Jarvis CBiol FSB

Tropical Ecology

John Kricher Princeton University Press, £56.05

Kricher’s A Neotropical Companion (1997) is still in a league of its own for helping to understand the mysteries of the rainforest. A new tome by the same author hardly needs to be reviewed, as it is again a superlative compilation. The author has written this book for advanced undergraduates and graduate students to help them understand more about the biogeography and evolution of rainforests, species richness, climate change and the effects of man. Tropical Ecology is much larger and longer than its companion, so is perhaps best suited in a university library rather than carried to a rainforest base camp as an aide-mémoire. Kricher deals with habitats from high montane areas, riverine ecosystems, savannah, dry and wet forests, and investigates the interrelationships that occur between

flora and fauna. The book can be dipped into for an in-depth read on many subjects and it is liberally scattered with colour photographs, graphs and quotes from many current research papers. Overall this is a comprehensive account of the ecology of the neotropics and is highly recommended for students. John Feltwell CBiol FSB

Why Millions Survive Cancer – The Success of Science

Lauren Pecorino Oxford University Press, £16.99 The author of a highly regarded textbook on the molecular biology of cancer, University of Greenwich lecturer Lauren Pecorino, has now written a short, cogent book for nonexperts. Indeed, she was prompted to do so by seeing feedback on Amazon. com from a survivor of the disease who had turned to her earlier book for help in understanding the science of cancer. The result is an illuminating review on the underlying causes of cancer. It is also reassuring in its reminders that countless individuals now survive the disease, buoyant in its portrayal of therapies and their conceptual foundations, and optimistic as regards future rewards from the judicious application of ever-more sophisticated science. Pecorino is realistic about unconquered problems, reminding us that cancer is still “hideous”, accounting for more deaths under 85 than any other disease. Yet the balance of her approach is quite properly positive and confident. At a time when wishful thinking about alternative modes of cancer treatment remains widespread, and when the health sections of bookshops give prominence to totally spurious concepts such as detox, Pecorino’s perspective is that of the imperfect yet outstandingly successful application of real science. I have not been able to find the word “holistic” here. Biologists will appreciate two facets of this book in particular. The first is the author’s skill in linking clinical and therapeutic aspects of her subject with the genetic and physiological processes. The second is her use of recent literature, with references to papers published in the past year. Scientists and lay readers alike can be confident that this is not only a highly readable account of cancer and its successful control but also one that is fully abreast of the very latest thinking about its management. Bernard Dixon

Why Millions Survive Cancer “Pecorino’s perspective is that of the imperfect yet outstandingly successful application of real science”

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 49


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Product News Building on the success of the mosquito liquid handling portfolio mosquito HV offers further flexibility in the low volume range for highly accurate sample dispensing and handling for a wide range of chemical and biological-based applications beyond serial dilutions and plate reformatting. These include compound and small molecule screening, cell or bead based assays, enzyme kinetics assays, ELISAs, molecular biology applications such as PCR, RNAi screening and SNP genotyping. The mosquito’s extremely accurate and precise pipetting and mixing capabilities ensure good quality, repeatable data, with c.v.’s of below 2.5% throughout its volume range, whilst minimising run times and reagent wastage. Joby Jenkins, product manager for the mosquito product range commented, “It is exciting to be able to launch mosquito HV which has come about as a result of a number of requests for a higher volume version of our renowned mosquito HTS”. For further information on the mosquito HV, visit our website at

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TTP Labtech’s new arktic -80 C automated store provides exceptional high capacity storage per cubic metre, and a safe secure solution to biological sample storage. With the capacity to hold up to 95,000 0.5mL tubes, the modular unit can still fit neatly into a small footprint, making it ideal for space-restricted laboratories with biobanking needs. TTP Labtech, the provider of quality, robust, automated laboratory equipment solutions revealed the new arktic during the inaugural SLAS conference in San Diego, 4-8 Feb. 2012. Dedicated to developing systems to meet customer requirements, TTP Labtech launches arktic to meet the growing demand for the flexible storage and management of biological samples, which is low cost, safe, and secure. By incorporating the proven features of TTP Labtech’s compound storage system, arktic offers automated sample retrieval and secure sample tracking with easy connection to database and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). arktic provides storage under nitrogen or dry air in a hermetically sealed environment. In addition arktic’s

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Anachem’s new Online Certificate Archive

Impress your Auditor with Instant, Easy Access to Validation and Calibration Certificates Searching through files of paper certificates to check your pipettes calibration history can be a real headache, especially when you’re being audited. But now you can get immediate, easy access to validation and calibration certificates with Anachem’s new online archive. This personalised tool enables you to track the full calibration history of all your Anachem serviced pipettes, by simply visiting www.anachem.co.uk The online certificate archiving system is especially useful for auditing purposes, with quick, easy and totally secure access to your pipette certificates, whenever you want. Searching for your documentation couldn’t be simpler, even if you need to find multiple certificates. Once you have registered and been assigned access, the versatile system gives you multiple search options. Retrieve your data by defining the pipette’s serial number, your own customer reference ID, the certificate number or by pass or fail status. This can be really useful as you can then easily identify any pipettes that failed their specification checks and implement remedial actions. Customers with an Anachem service agreement can take advantage of this CONTINUES OVER >


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without 5’ phosphate modification depending on the required application. Each order is supplied as 200ng of dried DNA, ensuring maximal stability prior to use, with most orders delivered within 3-4 business days. Although the blocks are versatile enough to use with most published synthesis methods such as cloning with blunt ends, restriction sites or T/A overhangs, when combined via isothermal gene assembly, it is possible to create a completely custom 2kb construct in less than an hour. Combined, these features allow scientists to speed up their research and increase the number of gene design variants they include in their experiments. Shawn Allen, Synthetic Biology Business Unit Leader at IDT commented, “Response to the launch of gBlocks Gene Fragments last week at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference (PAG 2012, San Diego) was even better than expected. Synthetic biologists, pharmaceutical companies, and AgBio customers alike are already commenting about how gBlocks Gene Fragments enable them to do experiments they previously thought to be impossible due to cost and turn-around time.” Find out more at www.idtdna.com

Significantly reducing the cost of synthetic gene synthesis Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), the world leader in oligonucleotide synthesis, announced today that it is taking orders for a new product that represents a significant advancement for synthetic biology tools. gBlocks Gene Fragments are doublestranded, sequence-verified genomic blocks up to 500 base pairs. Their high sequence fidelity and rapid delivery time makes gBlocks Gene Fragments ideal for a range of biology applications, including easy assembly of multiple gene fragments to reliably generate larger gene constructs. Priced at US$99, gBlocks Gene Fragments significantly reduce the cost for synthetic gene synthesis to less than US$0.20 per base pair. Cost for traditional gene synthesis currently exceeds US$0.30 per base pair and is often subject to expensive complexity fees and long delivery times. gBlocks Gene Fragments are provided as linear double-stranded DNA rather than already cloned into a vector, meaning that they can be easily and quickly utilized for a wide range of applications including custom protein synthesis, microRNA analysis, in vitro transcription and many more. For this reason, they are available with or

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Biopharma Process Systems – easy-to-use controlled-rate freezing The FTS Systems BioCool is the most reliable, safe and easy-to-use controlled rate freezer for cryopreservation of human and animal embryos, and biological and tissue cell lines. BioCool is the only controlled-rate freezer that does not require expendable liquid nitrogen (LN2). Instead it plugs simply into a standard electrical outlet and quietly provides controllable, low temperature cooling to -40°C or -80°C. BioCool immerses samples in a wellcirculated, cold liquid bath, making sure a more consistent temperature profile is maintained at all locations. An easy-to-use programmable microprocessor controller allows programming and storage of different protocols with distinct segments specifying ramp rate, hold temperature and hold time. First choice for clinical, commercial and research applications. Telephone: 01962 841092, email: sales@biopharma.co.uk

Biopharma Process Systems want your used freeze dryers Freeze drying experts BPS are looking for existing freeze dryers to buy back or offer a generous part exchange allowance against a new freeze dryer. Machines will be evaluated individually on the basis of model, condition, service history and features. Should you have a freeze dryer that you wish to consider for this limited availability scheme then please contact us with details of your system and its serial number (if available). We are particularly interested in VirTisAdVantage systems. Telephone: 01962 841092, email: sales@biopharma.co.uk


Member news Our regular round-up all about you, our Society members

Social Notices Attention members and Fellows

Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London Several informal lunches have been organised to provide members and Fellows of the Society with the opportunity to highlight current biological issues and discuss the Society’s overall direction. Chief

executive Dr Mark Downs FSB will be holding a series of informal buffet lunches with small groups of members and Fellows in a round table format. Places are on a first come, first served basis. You must be a Society member (MSB) or Fellow to attend. Please contact Zoë Martin on 020 7685 2564 to attend or email zoemartin@societyofbiology.org 20 March Fellows’ lunch 22 May Fellows’ lunch 24 May Members’ lunch 15 June Fellows’ lunch 17 July Fellows’ lunch

Member Drinks reception

13 September 2012 18:00-20:00 Charles Darwin House, London Join us for drinks, canapés and convivial discussion of current biological issues in the new conference suite at Charles Darwin House. An opportunity to mingle in a relaxed and informal environment. Registration is essential and places are on a first come, first served basis – book now to avoid disappointment. This event is open to members and Fellows from the AMSB, MSB and FSB grades. Please contact Jenna StevensSmith on 020 7685 2554 or email

CHEMISTRY CONVERT Professor Craig Williams FSB

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) but also a Fellow of the Society of Biology. I enjoy both scientific fields immensely and cannot imagine doing anything else.

Having qualified with a chemistry PhD from Salford University researching microporous and mesoporous materials, I then completed two post-doctorals: one at Edinburgh and the other at Liverpool, looking at catalytic reactions using microporous materials. It was only when I accepted a lectureship at Wolverhampton that I started to look at the application of porous materials to the field of biology. I have now become not only a

I now work closely with microbiologists on the antibacterial applications of microporous materials. This has resulted in a number of publications in The Journal of Applied Microbiology. I still do straightforward chemistry research as well but at least half is now biologically-orientated. It is very important to ensure you have a healthy professional body. I already do committee work for the Royal Society of Chemistry and look forward to doing the same for the Society of Biology. In my spare time I keep and ride horses. At the moment we have a thoroughbred and a Shire, both of which are great fun to ride around the Welsh Marches.

I enjoy both scientific fields immensely

THE BIOLOGIST •THE SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY MAGAZINE • VOL 58 NO 4 • DECEMBER 2011 THE DETOX DELUSION | CHRISTMAS TREES UNDER FIRE | JANE GOODALL | PHOTO COMPETITION | SIR ROBERT EDWARDS

NEW MEMBER PROFILE

jennastevenssmith@ societyofbiology.org. Alternatively register online using the events calendar at www.societyofbiology.org

AGM

3 May 2012 Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London The Society’s annual general meeting will take place on 3 May. See www.societyofbiology.org for more details.

TheBiologist THE SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY MAGAZINE • ISSN 0006-3347 · SOCIETYOFBIOLOGY.ORG

VOL 58 NO 4 • DECEMBER 2011

INSPIRING IMAGES

The winning entries in our photography competition

OPINION

INTERVIEW

FEATURE

DETOX DELUSION Debunking quick health fixes

JANE GOODALL The primatologist talks chimps

CHRISTMAS TREES Under fire from pests and disease

00_BIO_58_3_COVER.indd 1

29/11/2011 18:35

IN BRIEF ■ From June, we are increasing

the frequency of The Biologist from quarterly to six times a year. For details about deadlines for contributions please contact Assistant Editor Tom Ireland at tomireland@societyofbiology.org

■ The Society of Biology has

launched a new grade of membership for 14-19 year olds called BioNet. School and college students can join BioNet for just £5 per year and gain access to a great range of services, including an online subscription to The Biologist magazine. Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 53


MEMBER NEWS NEW MEMBER PROFILES/NEW MEMBERS LIST MEMBER PROFILES

Qualified Persons Congratulations to our new Qualified Person – Ayo Ogunsanlu CBiol MSB. Qualified Persons play an essential role in assuring that the medicinal and veterinary products made and released by the pharmaceutical industry conform to the high standards demanded by legislation to ensure their effectiveness and safety. Only individuals who have demonstrated, in a demanding oral examination, that they have had the required training and experience to take on the responsible role can be entered onto the Qualified Persons register.

Michael Natt AMSB

Gemma Singleton MSB

John Campbell MSB

I currently work as a researcher for a science and nature television production company in Bristol, assisting in the development of new programmes while ensuring the science is up to date and accurate.

I am a biologist at a marine environmental consultancy in Edinburgh. I spend a significant amount of time carrying out taxonomic identification of benthic organisms. My work often also involves collecting seabed samples offshore and carrying out environmental surveys.

I am a senior lecturer in Nursing studies at the University of Cumbria. This involves teaching bioscience and other clinical topics to student and post-registration nurses. Bioscience is an essential area of understanding for all people involved in clinical work as people are, of course, biological systems.

After I gained a BSc (Hons) in applied marine biology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, I did an MSc in international marine environmental consultancy from Newcastle University. As part of this I volunteered with the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society helping their ongoing marine mammal observation work and carrying out my own research.

I studied biosciences as part of my own nurse training, which greatly increased my interest in the subject as I started to learn how the principles of physiology and pathophysiology could be used to inform clinical practice. I started to study serious academic science and biology with an Open University degree in biology. After this I also completed a more specific Master’s degree in health science.

From a very young age I have always been fascinated by the ocean so it was a given that my career would flow from this. Before taking my current job I spent three years working in pharmaceuticals to experience the bioscience industry from a different perspective.

How living systems work is intrinsically interesting. I am motivated by studying a science which can be used to help people, in outlets like agriculture and medicine. I’m interested in how biology can help the whole sustainability and conservation agenda. But perhaps the most fascinating area of biology is what we do not know, the mystery and wonder of life.

For me, nothing is more exciting than going outside and exploring the natural world, marvelling at the things we understand and wondering about the many things we don’t. The next most exciting thing is telling others about it. I graduated top of my class at the University of Manchester in July 2011, receiving a first-class BSc (Hons) in zoology. During my degree I took particular interest in marine zoology after studying coral reefs whilst on exchange at the University of Queensland. On graduation I was awarded the Society of Biology’s “Top Student” award from the University of Manchester and kindly gifted associate membership. I am an avid wildlife photographer, scuba-diver and naturalist. I am also a keen drummer and guitarist. I have recently started a website, www.michaelnatt.com, where I intend to document my experiences in science communication and upload my photography.

I joined the Society to be at the forefront of current bioscience issues and with the hope of being able to contribute to the Society in the future. I am also looking forward to meeting others who share my interests. I enjoy water sports like surfing, wakeboarding and scuba-diving where I can combine my passion for water with my love of sport.

I joined the Society as I wanted to learn more about what other biologists are doing, and how this may be related to my more specialist areas of interest. Also, I know biology has so much to offer humanity, and this is a coordinated voice to express potentially great benefits to us all. In my spare time I make educational videos. Away from work I like to dig my allotment, cycle, spend time with my family and am also a member of a local church.

54 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1


New, Transfer & Chartered Members Affiliate

Prof Michael Stark FSB I am a molecular biologist – using yeast as a model organism in which to study fundamental aspects of eukaryotic cells. My current interests centre on mechanisms that ensure faithful chromosome segregation during cell division and on regulation of the elongator complex, which is involved in tRNA modification and may play a role in translational control. After an MA in natural sciences at Cambridge, where I specialised in biochemistry, I completed a PhD in biochemistry at Leicester. I moved to Dundee University, where I am now Professor of Yeast Molecular Biology, after postdoctoral periods at Brown University in the USA and at Leicester’s Biocentre. Growing up in the countryside, I developed a keen interest in the natural world and was a keen ornithologist and lepidopterist as a child. With encouragement from my biology teacher, my interest focused on understanding how living cells function, and that led me to study biochemistry as an undergraduate. As a PhD student, I heard Paul Berg explain the basics of molecular cloning in Copenhagen and was inspired to apply the newly developed techniques of recombinant DNA technology to my research. Basically I’ve been doing that ever since. Being part of the Society is a great way to stay connected and to help promote the science policy and public engagement that life sciences need today.

Jamie Abbott, Lana Abrahams, Gabriella Adamescu, Usha Aiyadurai, Zain Amin-Uddin, Roslyn Anderson, Robert Andrew, Sophie Andrews, Sophie Andrews, Mohammed Anwar, Adam Ashford-Smith, Emelia Assar, Olivia Atkinson, Robert Atkinson, Umer Ayub, Fathima-Azra Azar, Azam Baig, Graeme Bain, Paul Baranowski, Alison Barkley, Shiva Bassi, Louise Beaty, Marcus Bedford, Martin Beedham, Siavash Beikoghlz Kalichoran, Kate Bennett, Meghan Betts, Guven Bickici, Ana Big, Mario Black, Roy Blunden, Edward Board, Iwona Bombelka, Stefanie Bonat, Andrew Boothroyd, Tess Brina, Sarah Brisley, Kelvin Butler, Ryan Buttery, Jenna Catlin, James Chamberlain, Stephanie Chaplin, Antony Chapman, James Checkley, Irina Chemshirova, Ruth Chitty, Peter Chovance, Molly Clark, Elizabeth Clements, Alexander Coles, Leonie Collingwood, James Connolly, Mairead Connor, John Cooper, Stephanie Cooper, Lucy Coppin, Ross Corcoran, Adam Corker, James Cox, Xiaotong Cui, Erin Cullen, Lauren Cunningham, Helen Cunnold, Aleksandra Cygan, Dotun Dada, Charlotte Davies, Frances Davies, Christopher Daykin, Tom Deane, Laura Domicevica, Natalia Dominik, Charlotte Donald Wilson, Samantha Duffield, Rebecca Duit, Laura Dulat, Siobhan Easton, Charlotte Ediker, Amy Edwards, Mark Edwards, Samantha Edwards, Lauren Elshaw, Silvia Emmanuel, Marilyn Eshikena, Rita Esuzor, Nathaniel Evans, Alex Finn, Alice Fodder, Nicholas Foot, Elisavet Fotiou, Laura Fraser, Roxanne Gardiner, David Gardner, James Gardner, Thomas Garner, Rebecca Garrard, Blaise Gashugi, Rebecca Gaynon, Barbara Gebala, Seeta Ghowry, Stephanie Gibson, Melissa Golby, Laura Gourley, Ilja Gromov, Jack Gudyer, Vanesha Gupta, Bijay Gurung, Lunan Gurung, Veshkala Gurung, Kathryn Hamilton, Rachel Hanwright, Fiona Hartley, Scott Haston, Ahmad Hatami, Katharina Hess, Indianna Hill, Martin Hill, Leanne Hodgson, Claire Hopwell, Stanford Hu, Joe Humphreys, Elsa Hunt, Harriet Hyde, Raza Ilyas, Jessica James, Guramrit Jheeta, Jamie Johnson, Llewelyn Jones, Rebecca Jones, Jenny Jones, Gaurav Joshi, Fatemah Kalabizadeh, Asiah Kamal, Megumi Kamata, Stephanie Keane, Lucy Kelly, Kimberley Kemp, Zahedul Khan, Lindsay King, Zeynep Kurugollu, Sam Lane, Andrew Lareen, Rosanna Lea, Carole Lee, Barnaby Leigh, Oliver Lennon, Rhoswen Leonard, Aleksandra Lewicka, Bethan Lockett, Jan Lyczakowski, Alice Lynch, Andrew Maeer, Emma Marecki, Phillip Marks, Charlotte Marshall, Jethro Masere, Caroline Masterman-Smith, Anna-Marrie Matczak, Rui Mauricio, Katie McDermott, James Meatyard, Claire Metcalf, Hannah Miller, Lawrence Miller, Alexander Money, Hannah Moody, Robert Moorcroft, Katy Moreton, Stephen Moss, Ross Mould, Sifa Mukende, Anthony Mullin, Lidiya Nedevska, John Nesbitt, Aileen Ng, Brian Nicholls, Nabeela Nighat,

Benjamin Nilsson, Luiz Nobre, Joyce Odeke, Isevbuwa Odigie, Precious Ogbizi-Ugbe, Ashleen O’Kane, Bukola Okesola, Teri Oliver, David Orwin, Bobbie Osborne, Melissa Pacey, Mario Paredes Caballero, James Parker, Sarah Parkinson, Daniel Patrick, Emily Patten, Steven Peake, James Peard, Mauro Peretti, Simone Pilgrim, Helen Price, Liam Price, Sadia Qureshi, Puja Ramji, Matthew Ravenhall, Andrew Rees, Hilary Reid, Eva Reucker, Jenna Ridley, Rachel Robertson, Jessica Robinson, Christopher Roe, Cecilia Rosa, Alice Rowan, Frances Rowley, Jack Rowntree, Keri Russell, Jannah Ryan, Olivia Sales, Connor Scott, Alexander Selwyn, Rizwaan Shah, Devon Shannon, Guy Sharp, Zoe Shaw, Imogen Shephard, Elizabeth Shepherd, Louise Shuttleworth, Ioanna Sigalou, Jon Simmons, Kathryn Simpson, Niruja Sivamoorthy, Amy Smith, Akhil Sood, Desislava Staneva, Liza Stanley, Mark Stanworth, Jennifer Stark, Nikola Stojsavljevic, Darren Storey, Kathryn Storey, Nikesh Tailor, Zoe Temple, Steven Terry, Barsha Thapa, Tenzin Thapkey, Katherine Thornley, Jordan Todd, Laura Toner, Hope Turner, Adam Turner, Samuel Tyson, Jasmine Velauthampillai, Hussain Wajed, Hannah Walsh, Nick Walters, Hazel Waring, Sophie Warren, Amy Warwick, Nicholas Watkins, Oliver Wearing, Emma Webb, Emma Websdale, Lisa Wheeler, Alexander White, Marcus White, Asa White, Stephanie Wilbraham, Charlotte Wild, Jessica Wilkinson, Jayne Wilkinson, Heather Wilson, Matthew Wilson, Andrew Wilson, Dorota Witczak, Chris Wood, Casey Woodward, Gillian Woolard, Daniel Wratten, Rachel Wright, Christopher Youell, Roza Zuhdi.

Associate (AMSB)

Ugochukwu Agbasi, Waqar Ahmed, Rahman Ahmed, Annaliese Ashman, Suzanne Baillie, Emma Beach, Alan Bell, Nicola Benstead, Lisa Bergman Bailey, Guybon Berrnico, Martin Brammah, Daniel Brown, Victor Brugman, Simon Cameron, Frances Cartwright, Rory Cave, Robert Cheval, Rachel Chippendale, Alexandra Cole, Tanja Conway-Grim, Antony Corbett, Maria Cranfield, Angela Creevy, Guy Davies, Craig Deakin, Benjamin Durham, Gemma Fenwick, Victoria Franks, Nadezhda Gicheva, Claire Green, Victoria Herrington, Louisa Higby, Anne Hothersall, Leyla Hussein, Philip Johnston, Stephanie Karageorgis, Maddy Kaye, Dimitra Kestoras, Andrew Knapp, Victoria Lamb, Corey Leclair, Thomas Lister, Cristin Luttazi, Olivia Maes, James McLean, Kristian Miles, David Murfin, Kavita Narrain, Natasha Neill, Kieran O’Donnell, Richard O’Hara, Atif Abdulwahab Oyouni, Vera Pader, Karen Patel, Victoria Patterson, Malik Salim, Linda Sears, William Shreeve, Rebecca Sidwell, Manmander Singh, Matthew Sitch, Sion Snape, James Stillit, Viktoria Stolz, Katie Taylerson, Jean Toolsy, Anastasia Topi, James Walker, Jade Waller, Chloe Warren, Sophie WoodGoulbourn.

Member (MSB)

Almira Bartolome, Katrina Campbell, Robert Carrington, Lee Chippendale, Rebecca Cummings, Jose Farinas Franco, Maryanne Fong, Alex Gething, Macdara Glynn, Kirsty Harris, Michelle Hay, Duncan Hind, Martin Ilott, Asa Johanessen, Georgia Kapatai, Emma Kennedy, Peter Kingston, Isaac Kramer, YuenChi Lau, Simon Lydford, Rupert Marshall, Paul Maxwell, Marie McDermott, Henry McLaughlin, Natasha McMonagle, Paul Moores, Simone O’Brien, Glyn Parry, Duncan Patten, Muhammad Qureshi, Stuart Reid, Stephen Rowcliffe, Martin Rutherford, Chaminda Salgado, Matthew Scarff, Richard Stott, William Symonds, David Torrens, Brian Trueman, Diane Trueman, Aikaterini Tselepi, Ian Turner, Nuria Vazquez Salat, Alice Walker-Taylor, Jennifer Warner, Clare Watson, Lisa Webley, Wei-Feng Xue, Nico Zurcher.

Chartered Member (CBiol MSB)

Samantha Alsbury, Simon Benton, Alka Bishop, Jonathan Chen, Gimara Duncan, Anthony Edwards, Tristan Folland, Steven Green, Peter Hau, Phillip Humphryes, Francesca Jones, Souvik Kusari, Sung Lee, Christianne Micallef, Hermine Mkrtchyan, Jason Morgan, Helen Mumford, James Neville, Sushil Rawal, Helen Rose, Adam Taylor, Leandro Torrella-Prieto.

Fellow (FSB)

Peter Andras, James Beynon, Mark Blaxter, Salil Bose, Iain Cameron, Mark Clements, Andrew Copp, Helen Curran, Keith Davidson, Alun Davies, Gideon Davies, Colin Dingwall, Donald Drakeman, MIchael Duchen, Rachael Dunlop, Kathryn Else, Vincent Emery, Ian Eperon, G Europe-Finner, David Fegusson, Teresa Fernandes, Brian Forde, Karl Friston, John Garthwaite, Frederic Geissmann, Leslie Gornall, Julie Gray, Helen Griffiths, Stefan Grimm, David Haig, Irene Hames, Tim Hardingham, Phillip Harris, Samar Hasnain, Eugene Healy, Peter Heathcote, Christine Holt, Robert Jones, Venkateswarlu Kanamarlapudi, Diane Kelly, Yuk Lo, Margaret MacLean, John March, Inke Nathke, Juliet Osborne, Judith Pratt, Stuart Reid, Michael Romanos, David Sattelle, Alexander Seifalian, Paul Skelton-Stroud, Panos Soultanas, Andrew Spiers, Peter Stanfield, Roger Sweeting, Yim Szeto, Michael Taggart, Gail Taylor, Evelyn Telfer, David Watts, Michael Whitehouse, Sandra Wilsher.

Chartered Fellow (CBiol FSB)

Peter Biggins, Richard Billington, Stephen Eley, Martin Grootveld, David Hawksworth, Patricia Mathers, John Mielke, Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, Charles Newbold, Jonathan Panter, Dean Payne, George Perry, Robert Sheridan, N, Irabanta Singh, Charles Wheater, David Williams, Eric Wood, Denis Wright.

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 55


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Branch news

❱ News and reports of events going on in your local area

Beds, Essex & Herts BIOLOGY BRAINS

27 January 2012

Members and friends of Beds, Essex & Herts Branch met at the Three Moorhens pub, Hitchin, to exercise their grey matter in a post-Christmas quiz with a biological twist. The event was well attended, and the winning team ‘Koch’s Postulates’, led by Funki Awokoya, scored an amazing 41 out of 50 points and won the prize for most original team name. ‘The Usual Suspects’ were the most colourful team with a couple of gangsters (Derek Izzard and Ralph Parsons), a flower power girl (Theresa Huxley) and Tommy Cooper (Michael Muir) all represented in fancy dress. Being Burns night, the evening concluded with a traditional sing-song and the piping of the haggis. Theresa Huxley MSB EVENT REPORT

The winners of the Beds, Essex & Herts biological pub quiz were ‘Koch’s Postulates’, led by Funki Awokoya (far right).

Studying the tomato genome opens the way to finding new and possibly valuable pharmacological uses of tomatoes

East Midlands TOMATO TALK & AGM

17 November 2011

The branch’s AGM, held at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, concluded with an enjoyable talk on the Tomato Genome Project from one of the UK’s key researchers in tomato genetics. Graham Seymour, Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the university, explained to members and guests how the tomato has probably become the world’s most widely and extensively used fruit crop. Understanding the details of its genome opens the way not only to finding new pharmacological uses of tomatoes, but provides the key to other widely-grown members of the family Solanaceae. Graham’s research group is particularly interested in the genetic system at the DNA level which controls fruit ripening and quality EVENT REPORT

factors such as firmness and depth of colour – which is in turn related to the medically important carotenoid chemical, lycopene. Many of the genes in these Solanaceous plants are the same as the suite of genes controlling ripening and firmness in other fruits, for example strawberries, on which Graham has worked with Ken Manning at Warwick. The Tomato Genome Project is international and Graham leads the UK team, which was initially sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Each group adopted one of the tomato’s twelve chromosomes for detailed analysis. Tomatoes and others in the Solanaceae share similar gene order and content. However sometimes reciprocal translocations may have resulted in the ends of two separate chromosomes having changed places.

Already by classical, i.e. nonbiotechnological, research, it has become clear that many genes which have no phenotypically obvious, and hence ‘marker’ effects, are each closely linked to other DNA-defined genes (triplet sequences) of possibly more fundamental interest. This enables the DNA gene controllers of the easily visible Mendelian marker traits to be used for narrowing down the lengths of DNA to be surveyed for the other genes of interest. These gene clusters tend to be conserved not only within tomato variation but among other members of the Solanaceae. It is this which gives GM such great economic potential for transferring functions between different organisms which would not naturally interbreed. While GM in food crops is banned, no permissible work can realise such possibilities. Colin Leakey FSB Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 57


Branch contactS Beds, Essex & Herts Mrs Jacqueline McPherson jacq.mcpherson@ntlworld.com

BRANCH NEWS KENT, SURREY & SUSSEX/NORTHERN IRELAND/SCOTLAND

Kent, Surrey & Sussex WILD WALK

Devon & Cornwall Miss Christine Fry christinefry@tiscali.co.uk

23 June 2012 at 11:00

We have arranged a wild flower walk around Ranscombe Farm Reserve, led by Richard Moyse, the Ranscombe Project Manager. This reserve, situated on the North Downs, is managed by Plantlife and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a 560-acre site with 10km of footpaths running across ancient farmland, chalk grassland and coppice woods, with stunning views across the Medway Gap and Luddesdown valley. The woodlands are now being managed for conservation and have good populations of dormice, birds, large mammals, butterflies and insects. The site is renowned for its collection of rare wild plants, especially arable wildflowers and orchids. There is a small car park just off Sundridge Hill, Cuxtom, just off junction 2 of the M2. Grid Reference TQ57 1800. UP & COMING

East Anglia Ms Pam Stacey CBiol MSB eastanglia@societyofbiology.org East Midlands Mrs Rosemary Hall rhb@leicesterhigh.co.uk Kent, Surrey and Sussex Dr David Ware david.ware1@ntlworld.com LONDON Miss Mercy Nimako mnimako@hotmail.com North Wales Dr Rosemary Solbé rsolbe@btinternet.com North Western Mr Ian Fleetwood ian@ianfleetwood.co.uk Northern Dr Michael Rowell michael@rowell189.fsnet.co.uk

AGM & TB TALK

Northern Ireland Dr Brian Desmond Green b.green@qub.ac.uk SCOTLAND Professor Jeremy Bradshaw j.bradshaw@ed.ac.uk Thames Valley Dr Michael Keith-Lucas CBiol FSB d.m.keith-lucas@reading.ac.uk Wessex Ms Rachel Wilson rachel.wilson@jacobs.com West Midlands Ms Debbie Dixon deborah.dixon1@ mypostoffice.co.uk WESTERN Ms Joan Ashley phyl177@yahoo.com YORKSHIRE Mr Paul Bartlett bartlett.paul@tiscali.co.uk

58 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

28 June 2012 at 18:00

This year our AGM will be held in the Charles ll room at Charles Darwin House in London with a lecture by Professor Agil Lalvani, Chair of Infectious Diseases at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. He is a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow and National Institute of Health UP & COMING

The picturesque gardens at the Gilbert White Museum in Selborne are just the place for a spring picnic.

Research Senior Investigator. Since his recruitment from Oxford to Imperial in 2007, he founded and now directs the Tuberculosis Research Unit, a worldleading multi-disciplinary research group that investigates a broad spectrum of fundamental questions in tuberculosis, from immunology and microbiology to epidemiology, public health and policy. The unit also has research programmes investigating sarcoidosis and pandemic influenza. Refreshments 18:00-19:00pm, AGM 19:00pm, lecture 19:30pm.

FLORA & FURNITURE

21 July 2012 at 10:30

Gilbert White was a pioneering naturalist who made detailed notes on the flora and fauna of his home village of Selborne in Hampshire. His house is now a museum and the picturesque garden has also been restored to White’s original design. There is a tea parlour in the grounds where we will meet at 10.30. From here, Dr June Chatfield will show us around the grounds. After lunch, members may tour the house, for a fee of £5.95 per person. Selborne is on the B3006 from Alton to the A3. Parking is available behind the Selborne Arms. To reach the museum from the car park, turn left on leaving and walk along the High Street. The house is almost opposite the plestor (a small village green). Gilbert White Museum, High Street, Selborne, Hampshire, GU34 3JH David Ware CBiol MSB UP & COMING


Northern Ireland Still life: pictured here are committee members (left to right) Dr Glenn Dickson, Professor Neville McClenaghan (chairman) and Dr Richard Briggs (treasurer).

1490. The distillery was however granted a royal licence to distil in April 1608 making it the oldest official distillery in the world. It is situated just two miles from the famous Giants Causeway in an area of outstanding beauty, a place rich in history and folklore. The group were given an extensive tour of the premises during which the fermentation and distillation processes were explained in detail. Apart from the addition of the letter “e” in the spelling of whisky, the main differences between Irish and

Scotch is that during the making of Irish, sprouted barley is dried in a closed kiln and then mixed with unmalted barley before being ground into a grist. This accounts for the smoothness of Irish and its non-peaty taste compared to Scotch. Irish is also distilled three times compared to twice for Scotch. The tour finished with a visit to the distillery’s famous 1608 bar and shop where the group sampled a range of whiskies and purchased whiskey flavoured fudge. Dr Richard Briggs CBiol FSB

WHISK(E)Y IN THE JAR

September 2011

An autumn outing to the famous Old Bushmills Distillery was organised by Branch Chairman Professor Neville McClenaghan. As early as the 13th century there is mention of “Uisce Beatha” (Water of Life in Gaelic) being made in the Bushmills area and historical references to distilling at Bushmills can be traced back to EVENT REPORT

Scotland BUSY BEES

9 June 2012 from 9:30

The Society of Biology, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust are hosting a Bumblebee Identification Training day at the University of Stirling. Bumblebees are fascinating creatures but just six of Scotland’s 16 species are common and widespread. Join us at the University of Stirling to learn more about bumblebees, their important role in pollination, why they need conservation and how you can help. During the workshop you will develop your bumblebee identification skills and put these to good use on a guided walk around the university grounds. Details of cost and how to register for this event will become available on the branch website at www.societyofbiology.org/branches/ scotland/events Jacqueline Nairn MSB UP & COMING

Just six of Scotland’s 16 species of bumblebee are common and widespread

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 59


BRANCH NEWS WESSEX/WESTERN/YORKSHIRE

Wessex

Western

DISCOVERING DISEASE

29 November 2011

Dr David Robinson from the Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory treated some 50 members of the branch to an evening lecture on human genetic diseases at Salisbury District Hospital. The lecture covered both chromosomal and DNA specific diseases ranging from the well-known (cystic fibrosis) to the more obscure (transient neonatal diabetes mellitus). An informative set of slides covered genetic pedigrees of disease transmission through generations and the specific aberrations that cause them. The impact of technological advances in the field was apparent, with examples of species sequence comparisons being used to help identify areas of importance in breast cancer genes and the future impact of next generation sequencing being discussed. The clinical importance of the lab’s work for diagnosis was clear. However, the impact on genetic counselling and the ethics behind genetic diseases showed another side to biological sciences away from the labs. The branch was also pleased to see a number of A-level students in attendance and encourages other students for future events, to take advantage of these unique opportunities outside of the curriculum. The lecture was an informative and thoughtprovoking way to spend a cold, blustery November evening. Jon David CBiol MSB EVENT REPORT

FOR AN OFFICIAL SOCIETY TIE visit our online shop

www.societyofbiology.org/ shop 60 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

CHRISTMAS CHEER

15 December 2011

The branch’s Christmas event was held as a lunch at the University of Bristol Veterinary School in Langford, North Somerset. A canteen full of lively students welcomed us, and the staff had set aside a private table for the Society where everyone enjoyed an excellent three course meal. Jenna Stevens-Smith (Public Engagement & Events Executive at the Society) came down from London to the lunch and members were delighted to have a chance to discuss with her some of the initiatives the Society is involved in. After the meal we heard a talk by Professor Peter Holt who recently retired from the Veterinary School. He surprised the audience by explaining that his career choice was rather unexpected – he was the first in his family to go to university and had not really thought about being a vet. Supportive parents, a helpful careers teacher and the wisdom to seize an opportunity gave him his start. Early on as a young vet he was offered the chance to work in Africa which led to a series of interesting challenges involving both animals and people. During his time there he had to treat an elephant with an injured leg, a wounded jackal and later an aggressive Sarus Crane. With so many vets on the TV these EVENT REPORT

In Professor Peter Holt’s time spent working as a young vet in Africa, he treated a wounded jackal amongst other creatures.

days it might be taken for granted that wild animals can be dealt with as a matter of course. In fact, as Peter illustrated, many hard and often dangerous lessons have had to be learnt to make it look so easy. Back in the UK, Peter took a pioneering interest in reptiles at a time when the profession was more focussed on domestic, farming and equine species. Peter described how to operate on and then repair a tortoise, which involves opening and resealing the shell. The talk was rounded off with some stories about his years at Langford and we had a chance to look at some horse bladder stones, which were the size of a small egg – making everyone wince at the thought of a poor animal carrying them. Overall Peter’s talk was illuminating, inspirational and made an excellent and robust talk for a biology Christmas lunch. Mark Howard MSB

AGM

6 October 2011

Roger Symes gave a wellreceived talk on the wildlife of Australia. The following branch officers were re-elected: Mark Howard as chairperson, Joan Ashley as secretary, Roger Symes as treasurer. Committee members Dr. Gerald Coles and Christopher Bailey were also re-elected. EVENT REPORT


Yorkshire SOCIETY SYMPOSIUM

12 November 2011

Sixty-one delegates attended EVENT REPORT the Yorkshire branch’s annual symposium at the University of Bradford, and were treated to four excellent presentations on the topic of DNA – that remarkable molecule which underpins all of the life sciences. This was a joint event in conjunction with the Linnean Society of London, to assist in their intention to spread activities beyond the regular London venues. The programme was aimed at sixth-form biology students or older and, encouragingly, two large parties from Yorkshire schools attended. Dr Steven Picksley, University of Bradford, provided a comprehensive overview of the historical development of our understanding of DNA. “We once thought our future was in the stars: we now know it’s in our DNA,” he said. The structure of the molecule was explained, as were the techniques which help us to

understand heredity, evolution and how DNA operates in the cell. Dr Angela Cox, University of Sheffield Medical School, discussed the social implications of genetics in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. She focused on the susceptibility of individuals to either breast or prostate cancer. Although the risk of developing these common diseases increases with age, the role played by genetics is also significant, but seemingly more so with breast cancer. Epidemiological studies are expected to help explain how normal metabolic pathways are altered in tumours and how the immune response in the host is affected by these changes. After lunch Dr Felix Forest, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, explained why biologists needed to classify the wide variety of living organisms on earth. He entertainingly reviewed previous attempts to do so, which were largely based on morphological characteristics.

Dr Steven Picksley provided an overview of the historical development of DNA

Dr Ron Dixon and Gillian Fowler (University of Lincoln) gave a dual presentation on how DNA technology is used in the discipline of forensic archaeology. Gillian showed the importance of how being able to identify human remains, not just from archaeological sites but also from traumatic events, such as natural disasters, major accidents, terrorist attacks and genocide, have all called for painstaking and detailed examination of human tissue to allow correct identification of individuals to be made. The AGM of the Yorkshire Branch followed. After a brief review of the activities of the past year the new branch committee was appointed for the following year, which included three new volunteers for the committee. Professor Valerie Randall will be chair for the next two years. Other post holders remain unchanged. Nigel Mussett CBiol FSB & Paul Bartlett CBiol MSB

POND LIFE

6 August 2011

As we reported last issue, 26 members and friends recently toured the arboretum within the Castle Howard estate. The tree collection is catalogued as part of the Royal Botanic Gardens’ database in Kew. Our guide Caroline Hall expertly highlighted the numerous native tree species, as well as some exotic introductions, while our own local enthusiast, Professor Mark Seaward (pictured below), encouraged us to look more closely at the fungi and lichens.

Photos by Paul Bartlett CBiol MSB

PHOTO SPECIAL

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 61


BRANCH EVENTS CALENDAR

East Anglia

Saturday 12 May

AGM and Olympic lectures

Our 2012 AGM will include a series of lectures on the theme of ‘The Olympics’. Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge.

Sunday 5 August

Tour of the RSPCA Centre at Mallydams

A visit, talk and guided walk around Lakenheath RSPB reserve.

A tour of the RSPCA Centre at Mallydams, near Hastings, where injured and sick animals are rehabilitated. They have requested that attendees are limited to around 15, and that we exclude dogs, though children are welcome. Peter James Lane, Fairlight, East Sussex, TN35 4AH 0300 123 8350.

Saturday 7 July

Wednesday 22 August 11:00

A guided walk and talk about the dune and salt marsh ecosystems at Brancaster beach.

A tour of the flora and fauna of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, led by Dr Barry Yates, the Reserve Manager. The main entrance is at TN31 7TU and entrance is free.

Saturday 16 June

Visit to Lakenheath RSPB reserve

Guided beach walk

Saturday 6 October

Fungal Foray

Join us for a Fungal Foray led by Tony Leech. Lynford Arboretum, Mundford, Thetford. Further details TBC.

East Midlands

Saturday 9 June 10:00-13:00

Lunch ‘on the edge’

A jubilee landmark event on threatened species ending in lunch on the cliff edge. Hilltop Farm, Welbourne, Lincolnshire LN5 0QH. Cost £15. To attend contact marianneoverton@biosearch.org.uk Sunday 28 October

Fungal foray with expert Jane Ostler

This very popular event is held jointly with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Jane Ostler gives fascinating account of mushrooms and toadstools we find in Twyford Woods, Colsterworth. Contact Marianne Overton marianneoverton@biosearch.org.uk for further details.

Kent, Surrey and Sussex Wednesday 2 May 19:00

Louis Pasteur lecture

Tim Mason will talk at Kingston University on ‘Pasteur and the Rabies Virus’ in room JG0001. Wednesday 9 May 10:30

East Malling Research Centre staff talk

A programme of lectures by staff from the research centre on aspects of their work. Meet for coffee at 10.00. There will be a guided walk around the centre following the lectures and lunch. East Malling Research Centre, New Road, East Malling, Kent, ME19 6BJ. 62 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

North Wales

Saturday 1 September

Visit to South Stack, Anglesey Thursday 8 November

2012 AGM

Details TBC For more information contact Rosemary Solbe rsolbe@ btinternet.com

Thames Valley

Wednesday April 18 19:00

Obesity lecture

With Julie Lovegrove, Deputy Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research’s Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences, Reading. Light refreshments 19:00pm, lecture 19:30pm. At the Harborne Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading (use car park 13).

Your guide to upcoming events at your local branch. For more information on any event, email the contacts provided in the regional list on page 58, unless otherwise stated here.

Adams of the Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE); and Dr Kevin O’Dell, University of Glasgow. For further details see website www.societyofbiology.org/ branches/scotland/events

Wessex

Saturday 26 May

Discover oceanography

A fun filled day at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, with the opportunity to get involved with aspects of oceanography. Opportunities to participate in taking water and plankton samples, instrumentation and sampling plants and animals living on the seabed. A talk will be held in a lecture theatre on a popular topic of oceanography. Details to be confirmed.

Yorkshire

Wednesday 23 May

Royal Society of Chemistry joint presentation

A presentation by Dr Anna Snowden, ‘Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax: forensic biology in the international fruit trade’, will be held in conjunction with the Royal Society of Chemistry, at York University.

Scotland

Sunday 1 July

Guided tour of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Museum

Visit to Yorkshire Museum of Farming (York) with optional visit to nearby urban nature reserve at St Nicholas Fields.

29 March 2011 18:00-20:00

The Society of Biology Scotland Branch has arranged a guided tour of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Museum. The tour will last two hours and will take you through the museums, exploring the collections and history. Please note that spaces are limited on this tour and the cost will be £5. Thursday 31 May 2011

Society of Biology Annual Scottish Teachers’ Meeting

Guest speakers will include Dr Alison Smith of the John Innes Institute, Norwich; Professor Colin

Yorkshire Museum of Farming

North Western Branch Wednesday 28 March

Animal behaviour and the environment lecture

By world renowned Zoologist and broadcaster Aubrey Manning FSB, Emeritus Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. Free entrance. Brick Workshop Theatre, The University Centre, Blackpool and the Fylde College, Blackpool, FY1 4DW. Contact Ian Fleetwood at ian@ianfleetwood.co.uk


Crossword

WIN A £ 25 BOOK TOKEN

Our biological brainteaser – a synaptical stress test!

Across 1 Long to have a wild rave (6) 4 Sound requires air to be in motion (8) 10 Leader of military upset American soldier with food allowance (9) 11 Not young, set back by small operation (1-4) 12 Ninety at the outside’s measure of speed (5) 13 Men savaged by a tiger (9) 14 Doctor about to finish working (7) 16 Expire with temperature (4) 19 Conservative legislation (4) 21 Super at dancing (7) 24 Strange bit of behaviour? That’s nothing with academic fellow (9) 25 Inside of hand hit bone (5) 26 Some fishy phase (5) 27 Never agree with removal of a mutation (9) 28 Trace wandering member of colony (8) 29 Pollinator let loose (6)

Down 1 Swilling ale – demon drink! (8) 2 Following spot of recruitment for example it contains men (8) 3 Was in a hospital, about to go under (5) 5 Ground eroding – not receiving attention though (7) 6 Gold head disappearing. Watches to discover the silver hairs? (3-6) 7 One’s OK about rain? Not in windcheater (6) 8 Raise standard for each fast talking performer (6) 9 Guardian’s excited, not sad, to get weapon (3,3)

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As usual, all across answers are related to the world of biology and clued without a definition. Down clues are normal.

9 10

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How to enter 16 17

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25 5

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Hints and tips

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To be in with a chance of winning a £25 book token please send us your completed puzzles by xx Xxxxx 2012. Include your name, address and membership number with your entry – an email address would be handy too. Post your entries to: Crossword, The Biologist, Society of Biology, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London, WC1N 2JU.

Winners 28

Thanks for your completed puzzles and well done to the winners, Dr K.W.G Shillam MSB and Richard Walton MSB. Book tokens on the way.

29

15 Loath to cut antler off (9) 17 Men caught by tides turning, destined to sink to the bottom (8) 18 Heavy weapon or ball fastened around end of chain (8) 20 It’s nothing to be surrounded by variety of winged duck (7) 21 Think about water feature inside of here (6) 22 Time he got involved in pub crawl that’s what one can do (6) 23 University, top one, a kind of ideal place (6) 25 Some fear guests do to be disagreeable? (5)

Last issue’s Solution Vol 58 No 4 ➜

Answers to the (A) clues can all be abbreviated with F; and to the (B) clues with M.

Registration is now open for the inaugural Research Conference of the Society of Biology’s Special Interest Group, the UK Plant Sciences Federation. Showcasing the wealth of plant science being undertaken across the UK, from basic cell biology research to work in the field, the event provides an arena for plant scientists to come together and share knowledge and expertise.

PlantSci 2012 The UK Plant Sciences Federation Inaugural Research Conference 18-19th April 2012 John Innes Conference Centre, Norwich

We are pleased to announce that Sir John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, will be giving the opening address, and speakers include Sandy Knapp (Natural History Museum), Julian Hibberd (University of Cambridge), and Giles Oldroyd (John Innes Centre), to name but a few. To register and for more information visit www.plantsci2012.org.uk or contact Jackie Caine at jackiecaine@societyofbiology.org

Vol 59 No 1 / the biologist / 63


Final Word Dr MARK DOWNS FSB, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY

it pays to publish

O Can we really risk losing the value of professional publications in terms of quality control, format, style and presentation?

ver 60 of our 92 member organisations are other learned societies, which we represent on issues such as funding, science and education policy, and careers and skills. These are all important, but increasingly, a key topic of discussion has been publishing. Learned societies have long histories of publishing high quality scientific journals, books and reports. These publications not only serve their communities, but earn income to support the societies’ charitable work. The surplus from publishing is often used to fund membership activity, engage the public, provide career and educational support, and to offer the high-level scientific oversight which these societies do so well. Journal publications – using a peer review system to ensure quality and credibility – are a key part of the way the UK disseminates scientific research and knowledge, usually via university and other library systems. But a challenge to this longestablished route is the argument that the public often has to pay twice to access this knowledge: once through the public funding of research, and then again through the need to pay for the journals which disseminate the outcomes.

64 / the biologist / Vol 59 No 1

Government and other funders of research think it is time to change this model, to ensure anyone can access scientific publications funded through public money with no charge. This sounds eminently sensible, but does the ideology match the reality of publishing? As ever, the answer is not straightforward. If these publications are available for free, then how will they be edited, formatted, presented and stored in an accessible way? In practice, the peer review system and the important process of generating the final copy – the ‘version of record’ – cannot be delivered for nothing; it must be funded by a sustainable mechanism. Someone will have to pick up the cost even if it is not a traditional subscriber. There are two open access systems that could allow the public to see articles for free. Firstly there is Gold Open Access, where the author pays a fee to cover publication; the money to support this might well have been included by funders in a grant. Then there is Green Open Access, where an author deposits the final draft of an article or data in a searchable on-line archive, as a result of an agreement or after an embargo period. To construct a viable financial model for the latter system is tricky: how is the infrastructure paid for and maintained, and can we really risk losing the value of professional publications in terms of quality control, format, style and presentation? Gold Open Access also has its problems, particularly where publication happens after a grant has ended, where small or financially stretched funders simply won’t pay the fee, and where the research is essentially un-funded (this is not uncommon). Both Green and Gold

systems are already operating in a limited way and many publishers, including learned societies, offer the option of Open Access Publications or a hybrid of Open Access and traditional publishing. It is clear that Open Access of some colour is here to stay, and there is an urgent need to produce a viable and sustainable financing mechanism to ensure a rosy future. But learned societies are concerned. Although many make their publications available for free after a set period anyway, if Green Open Access took off in a substantial way subscriptions would fall and the drop in income could threaten the substantial charitable work they do. And even switching to the Gold system, which seems more likely, will lead to a period of change that will need to be carefully managed. What the Society and our Member Organisations would like is recognition from governments that the changes in publishing are complex: learned societies have a critical role to play as charities in education, public policy and professional development, as well as being key publishers. It’s important to see that these things are all linked. Publishing revenue funds charitable work, which is critical to the future success of science in the UK and hence the economy. Policy makers need to take account of that as publishing models evolve. And before we start redesigning publishing, is it really an issue for the public as Open Access supporters claim? Who are the thronging masses who want to read specialist science publications? If there is such demand it has passed me by. And inter-library loans for people with a real interest are still there. Open Access is a different model. But the jury is out on whether it is a better model.


2012

Scientific

LABORATORY SHOW AND CONFERENCE

. . . The event to focus on Conference Programme

Science in Action at the Olympics hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry

We are very pleased to announce the conference programme for the 2012 Laboratory Show which includes the following topics: •

Olympics: Behind the Scenes (King’s College London)

Changing the Game: Using Water Repellent Nano-Technology for Sport Shoes (P2i)

Smart Materials (Akzo Nobel)

Delivering Anti-Doping Science to the London 2012 Olympic Games (GSK)

Measurements in Sports (LGC)

Wed 16th May 2012 East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham

R Register Today for yyour chance to

win i an iPad 2

Register Today For FREE Registration and info visit:

www.scientificlaboratoryshow.com

Keep up to date and follow us on

Twitter @SciLabShow

Presented by:

scientificlabs.co.uk

sigma-aldrich.com

rsc.org


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