Science spin 28

ISSUE 28 May 08 €3 including VAT £2 NI and UK

SCIENCE

SPIN

IRELAND’S SCIENCE NATURE AND DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

GEOPARKS Probing the oceans of the world Birds in view

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Rock around Ireland A guide to Irish geology

In this colourful book Peadar McArdle, Director of the Irish Geological Survey explains how all the rocks we see around us came to be there. Words and photographs help us to explore and understand Ireland’s varied landscape. From granite hills we cross a limestone plain to the western coast and some of the most ancient rocks in the world. From the black columnar basalt in the north Peadar brings us south to red sandstones, formed when Munster was the edge of a desert. There is a wealth of information here for everyone with an interest in rocks and the Irish landscape.

Rock around Ireland available NOW from independent bookshops and direct from Science Spin. 112 pages A5 landscape, full colour. Price €15 (£12 in NI)

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A case-bound edition of Rock around Ireland is also available, price €20. (£15 in NI) Rock around Ireland is a companion volume to Colour, what we see, and the science behind sight, in which Margaret Franklin and Tom Kennedy explain how we live in a colourful world.

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UPFRONT Top, Marble Arch Geopark.

Above, Gannet photographed by Adrian McGrath Publisher Duke Kennedy Sweetman Ltd 5 Serpentine Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. www.sciencespin.com Email: tom@sciencespin.com Editors Tom Kennedy tom@sciencespin.com Seán Duke sean@sciencespin.com Business Development Manager Alan Doherty alan@sciencespin.com Design and Production Albertine Kennedy Publishing Cloonlara, Swinford, Co Mayo Proofing and web diary Marie-Claire Cleary marieclaire@sciencespin.com Picture research Source Photographic Archive www.iol.ie/~source.foxford/ Printing Turner Group, Longford Contributors in this issue: Lenni Antonelli, David Kavanagh, Marie-Catherine Mousseau, Catherine Nolan Articles published in Science SPIN may reflect the views of the contributors and not the official views of the publication, its editorial staff, its ownership, or its sponsors.

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Tales of the unexpected

Seán Duke reports that we could be facing unpredictable swings in climate.

Marine aggregates

Seán Duke reports that we could extract sand and gravel from the sea.

Water, water everywhere

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Tackling asthma

Seán Duke reports that parasitic worms may help researchers come up with a treatment.

David Kavanagh writes that we should take dehydration advice with a pinch of salt.

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Tracking timber hauliers

Space scholarship

GPS real-time tracking could save on fuel.

€100,000 is on offer to Irish students.

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Probing the oceans

Geoparks

Marie-Catherine Mousseau reports that an array of sensors is opening a window into the sea.

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Tom Kennedy writes that rocks have become a big attraction.

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Birds in view

Winning shots from Northern Ireland.

Dogs and human disease

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Dr Catherine Nolan writes that dogs and people often suffer from the same diseases.

Creatures of accident

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Sensory systems

The next step to artificial intelligence. .

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Geological Survey of Ireland Suirbhéireacht Gheolaíochia Éireann

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 1

Lenni Antonelli reviews a book that looks at the role of complexity in evolution .

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UPFRONT Sensor web

UNIverSIty College Dublin, Dublin City University, and the tyndall National Institute are to collaborate with other agencies and industry under an SFI funded CLArIty partnership.

Under the direction of Prof Barry Smith and Prof Alan Smeaton, the aim is to integrate sensor data with information processing and artificial intelligence.

CLArIty is to involve over 90 skilled personnel, and over the next five years SFI is to contribute €11.8m to the €18.4m budget. Industrial partners are to contribute over €4.6m over this period, and one of the benefits will be access to 45 graduating PhD students.

According to director, Barry Smyth, many new applications will come out of advances in sensor technology, and the researchers involved in CLArIty will have the multi-disciplinary expertise to create novel products.

What’s on Organising a science event?

Send us the essential details and we’ll put them up for everyone to see on the Science Spin website. www.sciencespin.com Details to: marieclaire@sciencespin.com

Engineered wood

SAWING logs into planks is just one way to use wood, and it is not always the most efficient approach. For many years thin sections have been glued together to make flat boards, stiffer than solid wood because the grain in each section is at right angles to the one below. Wood engineering has advanced well beyond traditional ply, and in construction, glulam and timber I-joists have become popular as an alternative to concrete and steel beams. A new publication from Coford, Engineered Wood Products in Ireland, describes how this growing market represents a good opportunity for investors.

Copies of the report are available from Coford. email; info@coford.ie

City of science

In four years time Dublin is likely to become Europe’s City of Science.

An ambitious programme of, lectures, conferences, exhibitions and other events is being drawn up in a bid to win the title against stiff competition from other European capitals. Winning the bid, said the Government’s Science Adviser, Prof Patrick Cunningham, would have enormous long term benefits, and it would show that Ireland is taking its role in international science seriously.

City of Science is another name for the European Science open forum, ESof, a showcase for European research. Since the launch in Stockholm, 2004, ESof has gone to Munich in 2006, and on to Barcelona this year.

The next City of Science will be in Turin, and the 2012 venue has yet to be decided.

To be accepted as City of Science, national organisers have to show that they have the resources and the capacity to run a large international event, and Prof Cunningham is confident that Ireland’s submission will put Dublin in the lead. However, he is certainly not going to assume that the title is just there for the taking. A high powered group of 45 leading figures from science, industry, media and tourism has been brought together to thrash out the details for what is hoped will be an unbeatable plan of action.

This may well be the first time that so many interests have come to work together in Irish science, and as Prof Cunningham remarked, this in itself helps to show that there is widespread support for the bid.

Although centred on Dublin, the bid is all island, and although Irish, the City of Science is an international event, showcasing the best in European research.

Winning the bid for City of Science would be important for Ireland. It would enhance the standing of Ireland in international science, it would give science and research a higher profile among students and the public, but these would not be the ony benefits. As a major international event, thousands of delegates are expected to converge on Dublin, and the bid group is going to make sure that the event will turn into a festival of science where everyone is welcome.

Nasty bugs

the CommoN gut bacterium, Escherichia coli, in its ordinary form is harmless, but some strains, instead of helping digestion, cause a great deal of harm. one such strain, known as 0157:H7 produces powerful toxins that can cause severe, sometimes fatal illnesses. Dr torres Sweeney from University College Dublin, working with colleagues at the teagasc Ashtown Food research Centre, has been investigating genetic variants of E coli 0157:H7 that occur in sheep, cattle and pigs. One of the reasons why these variants are of concern is that bacteria are very good at swapping genes, so they could pass on their nasty traits to micro-organisms inhabiting other animals, including humans.

The 0157.H7 strain was first identified in 1982 during a severe outbreak of bloody diarrhoea in the US. the outbreak was traced back to contaminated hamburgers, and since then, outbreaks have usually been linked to undercooked ground beef.

Although the problems so far have been associated with beef, Dr Sweeney and Dr Jim Sheridan from Ashtown found that this particular strain also occurs in pigs and sheep. In a survey of Irish sheep processing plants, it was found that E coli 0157:H7 was present in 2.1 per cent of the samples. However, the way in which the bacteria acted indicates that these are, in fact, variants of the disease causing strain. the usual method of attack involved penetration of the gut lining epithelium cells a needle tube through which toxin is injected. the toxin causes fatal damage to the gut lining cells. It was found that not all strains carried the genetic instructions to produce needles, yet they were capable of causing disease, so the researchers concluded that different mechanisms for attack exist. Understanding how these strains attack could help contain the spread of virulent strains.

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SPIN

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UPFRONT

Planet Earth

We often take the world on which we live for granted, but this year everyone is being encouraged to take another look at planet earth. When the United nations declared that 2008 was to be International Year of Planet earth organisations around the world got to work drawing up a programme to capture interest in the earth sciences. In Ireland an extensive programme of lectures and events was organised by an all Ireland committee led by GSI, RIA and GSnI. Activities were arranged to suit everyone from professional geologists to young children and the general public. to start the year, International Year of Planet earth was featured on a stand at the Bt Young Scientist and technology exhibition, and later a series of lectures for the public began. School essays competitions were organised, and a dedicated website was launched. this site, www.planetearth.ie gives all the details of the all Ireland programme which continues for the rest of this year.

More than 50 events have already been held, including talks

by Prof Aubrey Manning about the close relationship between the earth and life, and the renowned palaeontologist, Dr Richard fortey who talked about the history of biodiversity.

Many other events will be taking place at different locations during the rest of the year. there are also ongoing exhibitions, such as “footprints in Coal” showing how Carboniferous plants once grew in the tropical swamps of Caslecomber. to see what’s coming up in your county, visit the Planet earth website:

www.planetearth.ie

Science of fashion

SCIenCe is never out of fashion, and science in fashion is the theme for an exhibition at Dublin’s new Science Gallery at tCD. the exhibition, running until 25th July 08 is in three sections, the conceptual laboratory, the aesthetics, and new fabric technology.

Concept involves the incorporation of science, for example in producing raised profiles which can be read like braille or making bio-reactive textiles. In aesthetics the exhibition looks at how scientific ideas have influenced design, and in new fabrics, visitors can take a look at spray-on dresses and the sort of advanced materials that we might be wearing in the future. for more about the exhibition visit

www.sciencegallery.ie

Science week

9th to 16th November 08

Shaping our world

tHIS year Science Week, with the theme “Shaping our World” promises to be bigger and better than ever. the national programme of events is being extended to include a big science and research exhibition at the RDS, and a number of special presentations around the country is being planned for adult and specialised audiences.

Council members of the recently formed Irish Science open forum, ISof, have been asking institutions to create additional events to highlight the best in Irish research, and these will be incorporated into the Science Week programme. the ISof eXPo in the Main Hall of the RDS will have a strong focus on science and research careers, and the show is expected to provide a much needed interface between researchers in the institutions and industry. Science Spin will also be publishing a special Science Research Handbook to be launched at ISof eXPo giving an upto-date picture on the rapidly developing Irish science scene.

Marine Institute

Foras na Mara

A special website for the ISof eXPo has gone live at:

www.isofexpo.ie

more details will be posted on the Science Spin site

www.sciencespin.ie

and the full Science Programme is going up on

www.scienceweek.ie

www.marine.ie Marine Institute Rinville Oranmore Co. Galway telephone 353 91 387 200 facsimile 353 91 387 201 email institute.mail@marine.ie

Foras na Mara

everyone with an interest in science is welcome to join the ISof list for occasional email alerts. Simply send an email stating that you are interested in the Irish Science open forum to tom@sciencespin.com

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 3

www.sciencespin.com Intelligent software can take the guessing out of interpreting images by clearly showing tumours.

Breast cancer

Tumours are harder than normal tissue, and this makes it possible to detect them with ultrasound. However, the resulting images in black and white are not easy to interpret, and often a biopsy has to be carried out to be certain that a diagnosis is correct.

According to siemens, better software

is now available to aid diagnosis, and tumours can be distinguished by colour. gillian Corcoran, ultrasound Product manager with siemens, said the intelligent software can pick out a tumour from the slightest shadow on an ultrasound image. If the tumour is benign it stands out in green, and if it is malignant, it comes up red. siemens reports that the new system is much better at detecting problems.

In a study conducted in the us at northeastern ohio university College of medicine, 122 our of 123 cases were correctly diagnosed. In contrast to this, about 75 per cent of the biopsies taken after conventional imaging turn out to be negative.

Blind mice

A Common form of blindness is possibly caused by a failure in passing on of genetic instructions. A team from TCd, and the sanger Institute in Cambridge, have found that the messenger rnA, responsible for passing on the dnA messages can be defective in mice, and the same could be true for humans. In a paper, published in Genome Biology, the researchers explain how they compared how mice with mutations, affecting mrnA, developed progressive degeneration of the retina, a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. According to dr Jane Farrar and Dr Arpad Palfi from the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at TCD, more than 40 genes have been linked to retinitis pigmentosa. The condition is serious and distressing as it leads to progressive loss of light sensitive cells, and at present, there is no cure.

Engineering winner

Longford based, Andrew grace, has been named Chartered Engineer of the Year for working out a high-pressure valve system for gas exploration.

Andrew, originally from Co Clare, works on r&d at Cameron systems in Longford. In presenting the award, John Power, director of Engineering Ireland, said that engineers like Andrew are making an enormous contribution to the Irish economy. “one has only to reflect on the critical importance of projects like oil and gas exploration, the m50 upgrade, building the LuAs, and developing off-shore windfarms to

realise the responsibilities that engineers have in delivering the solutions to many of Ireland’s current challenges,” he said.

Andrew was not the only engineer to receive recognition. The other winners were Alberto Bordallo-ruiz, from spain, who designed the m50 upgrade under extreme constrains; mikko gastager, from finland, for his work on The sean o’Casey Bridge in dublin; Paul Hendrick from Co. meath, who worked on the LuAs: nichola mcLaughlin, from Co. Antrim, who prepared the environmental impact statement for the World’s largest off-shore windfarm off the Wicklow coast; and John sheehan, from Co. Wicklow, who worked on oil off-loading lines for ultra deep water in West Africa.

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UPFRONT Slow light

LIgHT, as we once thought, does not always travel at a fixed speed and a group of researchers in the uK believe that this can be used to develop the next generation of superfast computers. Prof ortwin Hess, Kosmas Tsakmakidis at the university of surrey, working with Prof Aklan Boardman from salford university, have developed a technique that could be used to slow down, or even stop light.

The researchers are not the first to slow light, but they have succeeded in reducing the cost. Their approach is based on using materials, peculiar in that they have a negative refractive index. The refractive index is a measure of how much light is bent as it travels from one medium to another, such as air to water. With these novel materials, the light does not bend or reflect back in the usual way, but appears to travel a short distance along the surface, and in the case of what the researchers term, ‘metamaterials’ there is a slight backwards pause. According to Prof Hess’s calculations, it should be possible to stop light by creating a tapered layer of glass, surrounded by two layers of negatively refractive index metamaterials. With white light, different wavelengths, corresponding to different colours, would be stopped in separate stages within the tapering construction.

The negative refractive metamaterials are constructed by incorporation of metallic nanoparticles, smaller than the wavelength of light. Although at a very early stage of development, it is thought that metamaterials for the entire visible spectrum of light can be created.

Prof Hess commented that these developments mean that we are within reach of creating an ‘optical capacitor’, capable of storing photons. The implications for data processing are enormous, and in practical terms, it could mean a thousand fold increase in speed.

Phone power

Instead of plugging in to charge phone or MP3 player batteries, a fuel cell could be used instead of a conventional battery. In Galway, Celestics is expanding to go into production of fuel cell packs suitable for portable devices. the Galway facility was previously owned by Manufacturer’s services, a company providing automated manufacturing on contract. In 2004 the company was taken over by Canadian based Celestics.

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u a n l c t h s e f i c

At the Science Gallery in TCD for the launch of SciFest were — front Row L to R Sarah Clarke (ITCarlow), Dr Eileen Lane (AIT), Sheila Porter (SciFest National Coordinator), Mary Hanafin T.D., Minister for Education and Science, Dr Noirin Morris (AIT), Dr Etna Diver (LyIT) Back row L to R Dr Des Foley (GMIT), Dr Brian Bowe (DIT), Dr Brian Murray (IT Tallaght), Gerry Nolan (Intel Ireland Education Specialist), Marie Walsh (lIT), Margaret Mulrooney (IT Sligo) and Aisling Hayes (Tipperary Institute) A series of one-day feativals of science for second level students was launched in April. The scifest programme involving institutes of technology throughout the country, and backed by intel, began with a local competition for schools at Tallaght in 2006. sheila Porter, the driving force behind scifest, explained that the huge success of the BT Young scientist and Technology exhibition meant that there has been a big rise in the number of students who could not attend or enter. As a dedicated science teacher, sheila felt that the time had come to reach out and include a lot more

of those students. The problem, she said, is not quality, but quantity. The number of submissions far exceeds the space available at the rDs, and like other teachers, sheila was becoming concerned that turning away good projects would have a negative impact on students.

The first festival, held at the iT Tallaght, was a great success, and apart from getting the support of intel’s science in schools programme, other institutions were keen to became involved in a follow up programme.

The result was the launch of scifest, and Gerry Nolan, intel’s education specialist, said he is delighted with

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progress. This year nine institutes of Technology took part in scifest, and one of the benefits is that many of the students will go on to develop their projects for entry into the next BT Young scientist and Technology exhibition.

Tim Creedon, director of iT Tallaght, said that there was a great ‘buzz’ to the events, and they have proved very effective in bringing young students into closer contact with the colleges. Competing in scifest, he added, is also helping students to believe in their own ability to succeed.

Tom Kennedy

Marine Aggregates The extraction of sand and gravel from quarries is expensive, both in monetary terms and in terms of the impact on the environment.

But, there is an alternative, writes Seán Duke.

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and and gravel, or aggregates, are a crucial raw material for many infrastructure and building projects.

Mining aggregates on land, however, is very costly, can scar the landscape and result in high carbon emissions from trucks that transport the material from the quarry to where it’s needed.

A group of experts has proposed that costs, emissions and environmental impact can all be reduced by mining aggregates instead from the sea.

Background

Aggregates are essential for the development and maintenance of Ireland’s infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and rail lines. As such it is in our national strategic interest that aggregates are readily available and at a reasonable price.

Ireland’s national demand for aggregates is about 30 million tonnes per annum, a figure which is significantly higher than practically everywhere else in the world. The land sources that supply aggregates are getting more expensive to operate, and at the same time, tighter enforcement of planning stipulations means that new sources are harder to come by.

Against this background, the significant marine aggregate deposits in the sediment layers at the bottom of the southern Irish Sea come into play.

Many experts believe that this ‘national resource’ can be exploited in a costeffective and environmentally stable way. There are significant deposits of aggregates that lie close to the Irish east cost.

If these were mined from the sea bed, the experts state, it could help to reduce traffic congestion – given that

land sourced aggregates are supplied by boat directly into city centres by fleets of trucks – and thereby reducing noise, dust, and carbon dioxide fumes, and positively impacting the drive to reduce greenhouse gases. In addition, extracting aggregates from the sea is cheaper than extracting them from quarries on land.

Policy

Ireland has no national policy for the development of our marine aggregates. The exploitation of these will not be without environmental impacts, and these need to be looked at. The technology used is to pull a dredge across the seabed, thus, lifting up the sands and gravels to the surface, but this process also lifts up everything else that’s there on the seabed, for good or ill.

Another issue is that the initial cost of getting into the marine aggregates business is high, with boats capable of dredging up aggregates from the sea floor costing in the region of €30 million. Then there is also the shoreside facilities that must be in place.

For all of these reasons, industry that might be interested in extracting the marine aggregates are waiting until government provides more clarity on whether they intend to integrate this activity as part of the national development plan.

IMAGIN

The Irish Sea Marine Aggregates Initiative, or IMAGIN, was set up three years ago, to look at the issue surrounding the possibility of extracting aggregates from the Irish Sea. The project has a wide remit.

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Gerry Sutton, IMAGIN co-ordinator, a researcher based at the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre, or CMRC, at UCC, and explained its mission statement at the INFOMAR conference held at the Marine Institute, Galway, in February.

“To facilitate the evolution of the strategic framework within which the development and exploitation of marine aggregate resources from the Irish Sea may be sustainably managed with the minimum of impact on marine or coastal environments, ecosystems and other marine users.”

The goal is to make recommendations to government about how policy should be formulated so that aggregates are extracted from the sea, with the minimum of impact on the marine environment. There are many experts involved with input from the Marine Institute, the GSI, the CMRC as well as experts based in Wales.

IMAGIN is supported by Interreg, and it is focussed on five study areas, four in Irish waters in the Irish Sea and one on the Welsh, or UK, side of the Sea. The initiative brings together an Irish/Wales scientific consortium, made up of organisations with expertise in coastal processes, geology and marine resource management.

The idea is to provide a scientific underpinning for future policy for the development of Irish Sea aggregates.

Mapping

One of the key questions for IMAGIN, which finishes its work this year, was how much aggregates were out in the Irish Sea to be exploited. This meant geological surveys needed to be conducted using various technologies.

SPIN

In addition to this, biological surveys were also done to determine the potential impact of aggregate extraction on marine life.

The survey strategy was that data was generated in a grid formation, which covered 500 square km, but left some gaps in between that had to be interpreted. The team took ‘grab samples’ from the seabed for analysis, as well as using multi-beam technology (similar to the way a bat uses echolocation, where sound waves are sent and received to learn more about the environment – multi-beam does this to learn more about seafloor geology). In addition, video footage was collected in key places, where a change in the sub-floor sediments was noted. This footage was integrated with the multi-beam data and put together in a software system. This allowed the data to be looked at in a number of ways.

It was already known that sedimentary structures that resembled ancient sand dunes were located on the Irish Sea bed, and these areas were targeted for particularly close study.

The scientists wanted to determine how thick the sand and gravel layers were beneath the dune structures, which in turn would help to quantify the amount of aggregates present.

The researchers identified a set of locations that deserved further investigation, and that would be useful to ground truth (where information is collected at a particular point in great detail to check that theory matches the actual features that are seen). The Granuaile vessel was used to take about 36 cores through the seabed, which were chopped up into one metre lengths and processed back at the lab. “The results highlights,” said the Gerry Sutton, “included a finding of six metres of really nice sand - you would be happy to have that on your wall or in concrete blocks.”

A map was produced which showed in simple terms where the sand deposits, gravel deposits and mixed sand and gravel deposits were located. All the data that has been collected by Imagin was put together with all the data collected by the GSI in the same areas since the 1970s, and a data model was developed.

There was a nice correlation found between satellite imagery of sediment concentrations, and the IMAGIN model.

Some of the offshore areas with potential for extraction of aggregates.

Cost-benefits

A number of cost-benefit analysis were investigated as part of the Project. The scenarios that were looked at were replacing five, 10 and 20 per cent of current land-sourced aggregates with marine-sourced aggregates. “Very briefly the positive findings from this were, in general, that they supported the marine aggregate option” said Gerry Sutton.

“The principal basis for that was CO2, as you can imagine replacing trucks with ships is the key to that. There is also cost saving, and recent work we have undertaken with relation to the Port of Cork’s intention to use marine aggregates as a fill source has shown that there are significant cost savings available, particularly in a fill situation where you can take stuff directly from the seabed, and pump it into a big hole which is on the shore.”

The Imagin project is due to finish up shortly, and after three years, Gerry Sutton said, it has produced many broad scale achievements and ‘deliverables’. There is a team of people in Ireland now that understand a lot about marine aggregates, where they are, and how they can be extracted. There are a number of online data tools which can act as a decision support system for future regulation of this area. People in industry, interested

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in extracting marine aggregates, now have somewhere to go, to get specific information. A cost-benefit analysis has shown that savings are to be made by moving offshore. The benefits in terms of reducing CO2 emissions have been demonstrated, and the full extent of Ireland’s marine aggregate resource defined: between 8 and 10 million cubic metres.

Future

The responsibility for developing offshore resources lies within the Department of the Environment, so engagement with this Dept. is crucial for future progress. The Project people wish to now work with them to shape the marine aggregate policy for Ireland. Meanwhile, the gaps in the data need to be filled, and more needs to be understood about the sedimentary environment in the Irish Sea. The groundwork has been done, the benefits proven, and now it is up to the Irish government to move things forward.

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n today’s health conscious society, people are becoming more concerned with how many calories they eat a day and their intake of fat.

Of late however it seems that people are very concerned with our hydration level.

H2O, as the most abundant molecule in our bodies makes up approximately seventy percent of our mass.

Sometimes however this figure can change quite drastically depending of whose doing the telling. On one occasion I have heard it go as low as forty and as high as ninety-five.

Water, is the base molecule of life. No organism on the planet that we know of can survive complete and total dehydration. There are some anhydrobiotic organisms which can go into an inactive state upon dessication but they are metabolically inactive for this time. Therefore it is important that we stay hydrated throughout the rigours of our daily activities, to provide our cells with the water they need to function normally.

It’s important to remember that dehydration of the human body is quite difficult. Again there are so many figures and estimates of how much water we should drink every day. I heard on the radio once, an estimate of eight litres a day. Were I to drink eight litres of water a day I would probably become very ill due to water poisoning. Yes, that’s right, you can get water poisoning. Holding the adage true, “Too much of a good thing can be bad for you”. Too much water can cause an electrolyte imbalance which can have mild to extreme medical consequences. As in most things biological, it’s all about the balance, the “just right” amount of water as opposed to too little or too much of it.

David Kavanagh writes that we should take dehydration advice with a pinch of salt

Doing the right thing — an early 20th century advertisement for table water.

During an average day, we lose approximately two and a half litres of water through sweat, urine, water vapour in the lungs and excrement.

This number varies widely between individuals and depends on the climate in which one resides, and how much one perspires. If heavy exertion is a part of your daily or even weekly routine then you’ll need to replace even more water because of the amount you lose during exercise. As a rule of thumb, replacing what you lost will see you through healthily.

Symptoms of dehydration include dizziness, fainting, dry skin (most

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commonly cracked lips), headaches, and occasionally a loss of appetite.

These symptoms can manifest when the original water volume of the body drops by between two and five percent.

Any fluid that contains water will aid in hydration and in keeping the water level at its optimum.

A commonly held misconception is that coffee will dehydrate you because it is a diuretic. While yes, it’s true that coffee is a diuretic, the water in which it is suspended is more than enough to counteract it. You gain more water from coffee than you lose. Similarly tea, will rehydrate you more so than it will take water from your system.

Another important point about intake of water is that it doesn’t happen all at once.

Drink when you’re thirsty and stop when you feel satiated. Drinking a two and a half litres in five minutes is never a good idea. Your body can only absorb a set amount of water in a given space of time.

Exceeding that limit is often without consequences as our kidneys filter most of excess water out of our blood.

However our kidneys have their limits too, and it is critical that we do not exceed this limit.

The title of this article “Water, water everywhere” has a meaning.

We are inundated with numbers and guides on the how’s where’s, when’s, and who’s of staying hydrated. Don’t ignore them but do take them with a pinch of salt. Drink when you’re thirsty, and your body will tend to take of itself for the most part in this respect.

David Kavanagh studied science at NUIM. SPIN

€100,000 Space Scholarship Programme Launched For Irish Students A

new scholarship programme for Irish students to study at the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg has been announced.

The Gogarty Scholarship will provide young Irish men and women with the opportunity to attend the International Space Universities ISU’s Masters (MSc) program and Space Science Program (SSP).

The scholarship has been named after Oliver St John Gogarty (1878-1957), one of the most prolific Irishmen of the twentieth century. The scholarship programme is sponsored by well known Dublin businessman and philanthropist Mr. Martin Keane and is also supported by Discover Science and Engineering, the Irish Government’s national science promotion programme.

Dr Caitriona Jackman is looking at Saturn’s aurora Caitriona studied Applied Physics at the University of Limerick. During the 3rd year of her degree she completed a 9-month work placement at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, part of University College London.

There she worked with data from the Electron Spectrometer on the CassiniHuygens mission to Saturn. After graduating from UL in 2003 with first class honours, she moved to Leicester to do a PhD in Planetary Science, working under Professor Stan Cowley as part of the Cassini magnetometer instrument science team. On

completion of her PhD in 2006, she moved to London where she currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial College London, under Professor Michele Dougherty, principal investigator on the Cassini magnetometer instrument. Caitriona’s current research looks at the planet Saturn’s magnetic environment, known as its magnetosphere, and among other things studies the processes which form Saturn’s aurora. She is involved with scientific outreach work, and future mission planning.

Dr Ronan Wall, EADS Astrium, with Dr Caitriona Jackman at the launch of the Gogarty Scholarships.

In the coming year the scholarship will consist of: l one €7,500 scholarship for the ISU’s Space Studies Programme and; l one €12,500 scholarship for the MSc in Space Studies (MSS) or the MSc in Space Management.

Those interested in applying for the scholarship should apply directly to the ISU - www.isunet.edu.

Applications will be assessed by the ISU and members of the Gogarty Scholarship selection committee. The closing date for applications for the Space Studies Programme passed on 30th April 2008. However those wishing to apply for the MSc in Space Studies (MSS) or the MSc in Space Management should apply by 30th June. For further information please visit www.gogartyscholars.com

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 9

SPIN

Probing the oceans Marie-Catherine Mousseau reports that an array of sensors will open a new window into the oceans of the world.

Here I came to the very edge where nothing at all needs saying, everything is absorbed through weather and the sea, and the Moon swam back, its rays all silvered, and time and again the darkness would be broken by the crash of a wave, and every day on the balcony of the sea, wings spread, fire is born, and everything is blue again like morning.

Pablo Neruda “For me what Neruda has captured here is the magic of the ocean”.

T

hese were among the introductory words of Dr. John Delaney, professor of oceanography at the University of Washington, in his lecture at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. Prof Delaney embarked on a journey to Ireland and around the world to change the way our society looks at the oceans. He has spent the last 12 years focusing on the next generation of ocean and earth science research and education, and came here to tell us where we are now. According to him, our understanding in this area is about to change dramatically. “The world will soon know without a shadow of doubt how absolutely fundamental the oceans are”, he announces.

“The ocean is the largest most complex biosphere on the planet,” he begins. “It is a huge and very mobile The fact is, the reservoir of both oceans are central heat and chemical to the quality of mass.” As a result, life on the planet. it is the ‘flywheel’ Top, the control centre on board Thomas G of our planetary This may not be Thompson during a 34 day cruise to study climates in its that surprising, the northwest Pacific. considering that stabilising influence.

Above, Phytoplankton, captured by water covers no Dr Delaney points Veronique Robigon, University of less than 70 percent out that half of all Liverpool. Bacterial plankton accounts for CO emitted by of the Earth, some 2 80 or more per cent of all photosynthetic of it being as deep burning fossil fuels activity in oceans. as seven miles. As is now in the ocean, Dr Delaney puts and the more carbon it, “oceans connect all continents and we produce, the less capable the ocean most nations and therefore in some is of handling it. He also points out how sense it is the common heritage of an oceanic phenomenon such as El Nino mankind.” In a few striking words he can have widespread, deeply powerful explains what the ocean means for us. effects, affecting annual cycles including rainfalls and animal and vegetation cycles, and as he puts it “having the potential to truly redirect the way both weather and microclimate patterns develop on the planet.”

Oceans are also a vast repository of living and non-living resources, as well as the ultimate repository of human waste. Everything we produce is either recycled on land or ends up in the oceans – which according to Dr Delaney can have major consequences, changing its pH and thus altering the balance of the organisms living in it.

Then last but not least, what we’ve become more aware in the Recovery of the Jason device in rough seas. last 2 or 3 years with events such as the 2004 Tsunami, hurricane

What the Ocean is for us

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 10

Katrina and the like, is that oceans also pose significant hazards to humanity.

All this points to one major statement: “the most single important thing nations can be doing involves understanding how the planet works in general, which means understanding the oceans in particular.” In fact, our very survival is called into question. “There will be 8.5 to 9 billion people feeding by the time my son is 66,” Dr Delaney points out. “We absolutely need to learn what the ocean limits are and the use of its resources,” he continues, “otherwise we’ll have a hard time feeding all the people on the planet.” His final words are very blunt: “if we don’t understand the oceans and patterns of growth, we’re heading towards a humanitarian disaster.”

Above, under the Ocean Observatories Initiative an array of sensors will generate a constant flow of information for relay to land stations.

The transition

While surely the alarm bell has to be rung, let’s be realistic. The fact remains at present that oceans are, as Dr Delaney puts it, “the last physical frontier on the planet,” still mysterious, dangerous and virtually unexplored. However, this may not be for long. And this is where we get to the core of Dr Delaney’s lecture, and the purpose of his mission. According to him, we are at the threshold of a transition. A transition that he does not hesitate to call the “next major historical event.”

It all started a few years ago. In September 2005, Dr Delaney co-lead the VISONS ‘05 research cruise, which successfully broadcast the first-ever live high-definition video imagery from the seafloor. The general public was able to view live broadcasts from the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate (a 200,000 sq km region in the northeast Pacific off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.) on the Research Channel and over the Web. The idea of live video of the ocean may seem simple, but to become real it had to benefit from the most advanced technologies – robotic, computerisation, satellites and most importantly, optical fibres. Dr Delaney explains the overall principle: “this involves thousands and thousands of distributed robotic sensors in the oceans that can move and configure themselves based on what we observe. The information they get is then transmitted at the speed of

Left, Dr John Delaney, photo Mitch Elend.

Below, one of the wonderful images of bioluminescent life by Edith Widder, Tufts University. Periphylla peripylla, a deep sea jellyfish.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 3

light through fiber optic cables from the seafloor to a ship and from the ship to a satellite over the equator.

From the satellite it goes back to the university of Washington and then through the internet all over the world.”

This impressive network allowed researchers to film the ocean live, get real time data from it and for the first time interact with it as if they were there. “Within a second, people in Amsterdam or Beijing were able to observe simultaneously what was happening on the seafloor,” Dr Delaney enthuses. “What we did is bringing new eyes to the sea,” he concluded.

There are countless possible applications.

Robotic arms coupled with an underwater submarine laboratory, will enable us to do all sorts of things on the seafloor without disturbing it – pretty much in the same way we can do remote study on land. In terms of resource management, for instance, Dr Delaney explains how this type of research will allow us a better understanding of the fishing system, the productivity, the marine animal distribution, the rock based resources, etc. Understanding the carbon cycle would also be very informative. Dr Delaney gives the example of how storms in the north Atlantic or north Pacific create bubbles

Using light to lure prey, an Anglerfish found off the northwest coast of Africa where they inhabit the depth from about 100 to 2,000 metres. Photo, Edith Widder, Tufts University. of CO2 which in turn diffuses in the water and is taken up by a population of very rare phytoplankton. And the result is larger fish (salmon)!

But resource management is only one aspect. Predicting and dealing

with hazards will also soon come within our reach. “When volcanoes erupt, when giant storms form, when land slides and earthquakes occur, we will be able to directly collect the information,” says Dr Delaney. “We have never been able to do that before,” he enthuses. In that respect, putting sensors on tectonic plates will be very useful. “Many of the energy processes, shown by rising mountains and the biggest earthquakes, are related to tectonic plate movements,” Dr Delaney says. He explains how most major earthquakes occur in subduction zones encircling the Pacific Ocean.

Subduction zones are places where two plates collide (a brittle ocean plate beneath a continental plate) and the edge of one plate pushes beneath the edge of the other in a process called subduction. This creates huge strains, which eventually are released making the locked zone give way and move. Dr Delaney is confident that by modeling data transfer, we may be able to give enough warning so that people take appropriate measures such as turning off the gas or the electricity.

Blue Sea Research

However, even more exciting will be the journey of discovery that we expect from this kind of exploration.

International Partnership The Canadians are taking a significant lead on their east and west coast with projects such as NEPTUNE (http://www. neptunecanada.ca/). But other countries are coming along relatively rapidly, including Ireland.

Indeed, Dr Delaney was not only in Ireland to give a series of lectures on ocean sciences. He was also there to advise the Marine Institute on its own cabled underwater observatory project SMARTBAY, which will be installed over the next three years in Galway Bay. This in turn will lead to CELTNET, a far more ambitious project by the Marine Institute and others, to install cabled underwater observatories in the deep ocean off the west coast of Ireland. “North America is not too far from where the Irish programme is taking place off the west coast of Europe; we hope to be able to work very closely, learning

from one another”, Dr Delaney says. “We are partners and we’re looking at ways to both learn from one another,” he adds.

And there is room for many others to contribute.

“Many institutions are putting sensors of all sorts in the oceans from many countries.” Dr Delaney indicates that for pragmatic purposes most will be at the periphery of the oceans (territorial waters of the nations involved) and provide basic data – but that’s just the beginning. Even now, “a number of larger institutions are putting sensors in the open oceans far from their own waters,” Dr Delaney notes. “More of that will happen. This is the first step of a long journey.”

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 12

Left, tubeworms with plumes to collect oxygen which is also needed by a resident bacteria.

Photo, David Rangle.

Right, a hydrothermal vent spewing out a chemical mix on which extremeophiles thrive.

Photo, University of Washington.

Projects like this will give us an unprecedented access to the deep sea world, with the potential to increase our understanding of the oceans in the same way that the Hubble Telescope is revolutionising our knowledge of outer space.

You might argue that the ocean, like space, is huge, and we will at most get access to and information from tiny bits here and there – no way of course we can cover the whole ocean on earth!

However, the truth is that what we will gain from it goes far beyond these small windows of observation. “This is much bigger than just a regional study,” Dr Delaney explains. “We study processes that are representative of other processes in the ocean. California currents are similar to other currents, and the same is true for plates; choose one plate, study it very thoroughly, and by doing so you will study all plates,” Among the dozen major tectonic plates that make up the planet’s surface, Juan de Fuca may be the smallest, but it offers a full range of Earth and ocean processes for us to observe.

Studying what’s happening near volcanoes or seafloor chimneys also opens up a new level of understanding of life on our planet and its limits. For instance, it will allow us to study a completely ignored set of creatures living in the most unlikely conditions – perpetual darkness and very high temperatures. Indeed, temperature in seafloor chimneys (where superheated water comes from below Earth’s crust through the ocean floor) may go up to 350 degrees centigrade, but living creatures such as tube worms are

still found living on the floor nearby.

Down there nutrients are available, which they can digest thanks to some microbes they harbour.

In fact, there is an entire microbial community living off the volcanic energy that we know nothing about.

“Volcanic eruptions lead to precious new forms of life,” Dr Delaney notes; “these creatures live off chemosynthetic processes, not photosynthesis, as a result of volcanic activity beneath the seafloor,” he continues. “Some of these microbes do live at temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees, therefore they have enzymes that operate at much higher temperature than any of the ones we know,” he indicates. “These could be used for industrial processes, for biotechnological development and making pharmaceuticals.”

Most of the Earth is under water, so there is a lot to discover.

Exploration of the oceans will bring us even closer to the very core of life on earth, right down to its fundamental basis – DNA. “We’re now getting much more efficient in determining genes,” Dr Delaney points out. “Within 5 more

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years we will be able to export that capability into the ocean and look at the genomes of many different microbes that exist in the wild as a result of different chemical drivers.” This means we’ll be able to study what genes are expressed in which organisms.

Finally, such research programmes may even shed some light on the very origin of life on our planet or even beyond. “The great controversial question is whether life itself may have originated in the oceans. And oceans in the solar system and beyond may also have been the locus of the initiation of life forms, which we could study in similar ways,” Dr Delaney notes.

A common effort

So this is where we’re heading.

We’re about to develop new ways of looking at the oceans, discovering, understanding, questioning, and most importantly sharing that knowledge with others. “Because we’re doing our work over the internet, the public in general will be able to watch over our shoulder electronically where we have our successes and where we make our mistakes.

First we want to change the awareness of both scientists and the public; then we want to engage all on this journey of discovery.”

It should be clear to you by now, Dr Delaney is a visionary, who believes in fundamental research and in the quest for knowledge for its own sake.

“Fundamental research as opposed to applied research is the seed corn

of a successful society. If we decide to discontinue fundamental research, then fundamental discoveries most of which we cannot predict will dry up in decades,” he warns. But Dr Delaney also works with people who are more tuned into practical applications, and he agrees that partnership of this kind is essential. “The programme of the sort we are embarking on needs both vision and practicality, so the power of partnership between the dreamers and the pragmatists in our field is essential to his success.”

And we’re talking about a partnership that goes beyond frontiers. A number of other countries — including Ireland — are actually setting up locations on the seafloor with the same capabilities as what’s happening off the west coast of North America. Talking about Ireland, Dr Delaney is very positive: “In the last 3-4 years Ireland has emerged as a

dominant leader in the effort to engage in marine sciences.”

“The complexity of what we’re dealing with is huge but the potential of working together and sharing this kind of data is also huge”, he adds.

Discovery, understanding, prediction and management Dr Delaney is convinced these new approaches will revolutionise the way human beings perceive the planet and approach the world around them. “As we begin to learn better and better how to observe and interact with the oceans, we will learn ways to manage them, and therefore manage the planet – probably during the lifetime of our children.”

He concludes as he started, with a poem illustrating his love of the sea and his passion for discovery.

“We shall not cease from exploration.

And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time … arrive through the unknown, unremembered gate, when the last of Earth left to discover is that which was the beginning. At the source of the longest river, the voice of a hidden waterfall, not known because not looked for, but heard, half heard, in the stillness beneath the waves of the sea.”

From T.S. Eliot, at the end of the “Four Quartets: Little Gidding

SPIN

Search for life in Jupiter’s moon Europa — It is likely that beneath Europa’s icy surface there is a liquid layer and beneath this layer volcanoes. Very capable robots that can cope with those conditions could inform the search for life beyond Earth by knocking down through the ice (which is between 5 and 10 km thick) while maintaining communication. “Some of our grand children will be involved in this and we’re laying the ground”, says Dr Delaney.

St Vincent’s Hospital, Fairview — a history

An illustrated history by Aidan Collins detailing how the hospital, started with money handed over to an informer, provided a safe haven for the mentally ill over the course of 150 years, while shaping the way nurses are trained. The hospital, small by modern standards, looms large in the development of Fairview, and among the well known figures associated with it are James Joyce, and the antiquarian Francis Grose. The original Grose home, Richmond House still stands in good order, and is just one of the architectural features described by Aidan Collins in this unusual book. Available in large format softback and de-luxe hardback. Softback €20. Hardback €35. (144pp) Order direct from Science Spin and post is included in the price.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 14

EPIDEMIOLOGY

DOGS

ProvIDING INSIGhTS INTo

huMAN DISEASE

To understand the reasons for the growing research interest in dog diseases, we need to understand the evolutionary history of the dog.

Dogs have a long history of forced inbreeding by humans, and this means that – genetically - many species have not changed much over time. Dogs, as companion animals to humans, share the same environment on a daily basis, and suffer many of the same diseases. Both these factors together mean that man’s best friend is an ideal in vivo laboratory that can be used to study human disease, writes Dr Catherine Nolan.

Evolution

The dog, Canis familiaris, was domesticated from the grey wolf Canis lupus. The exact timing of this domestication is unclear. The archaeological record for dogs dates from about 15,000 years ago, but genetic studies suggest that domestication may have occurred he dog has worked for and long before that – perhaps as much as alongside man, as hunter, herder, 40,000 to 135,000 years ago. guard dog, search and rescue animal, We know that dogs have been sniffer dog, guide dog and protector, selectively bred since they were ever since it was first domesticated. domesticated. Man has selected for all Furthermore, the dog is a source of Dr Catherine Nolan kinds of desirable features including unconditional affection, and is a loyal Photo Tom Kennedy physical appearance (such as size, friend and companion for man. The shape, coat colour, and tail length) can have long stretches of identical unique relationship of dogs with and for a range of other desirable DNA, and that makes it easier to do humans, and their ‘companion animal’ behavioural traits (like speed, comparative studies, where the disease status, means that the health of dogs aggression, docility, and sociability). causing genes can be identified. is more closely monitored, and dog As a result of this strong selection, the Following recent advances in our diseases are treated more intensively, modern dog population exhibits more understanding of the genetic make-up than those of any other domestic variation in morphology (physical of dogs, this important companion animal. structure) and behaviour than any animal is poised to make a major For human disease researchers, it is other mammalian species. contribution to human health and highly interesting that the top ten Think, for example, of the difference welfare. Diseases in dog breeds diseases in pure-bred dogs include in size between a Chihuahua and a are currently being systematically several that also affect humans. These Great Dane. investigated, in the hope that they include cancer, epilepsy, autoimmune Another consequence of this will provide clues to the genetic diseases, blindness, cataracts, and heart strong selective pressure has been predispositions that underpin man’s disease. Since dogs often share man’s the emergence of numerous dog susceptibility to complex diseases. environment, this also means that the ‘breeds’. The derivation environmental factors that of dog breeds over the influence the development of last few hundred years human disease may also be has been described as involved in the development ‘one of the greatest of dog diseases. genetic experiments ever Many of the most serious conducted by humans’1. human diseases, such as About 350 distinct cancer and diabetes, arise dog breeds exist today. from the expression of Many of these breeds multiple genes, as well as stem from a small number environmental factors. It of founder individuals is very hard to pin down that were selected by the genes that are disease their owners for specific causing as humans are very features and behaviours. diverse, and it is hard to The progeny of these genetically compare one founders continue to be group of humans to another, inter-bred. The various and pin down the most breeds are controlled by important genes. Many The ancestor of them all, the grey wolf. Photo: US Wildlife Service. the Kennel Clubs and breeds of dogs, however,

T

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 15

SPIN

they impose strict breed standards and breeding programmes. In order to register a dog with the American Kennel Club, for example, at least both parents must have been registered in the same breed. As a result, the breeds are relatively in-bred populations and there is limited genetic diversity within each breed.

It’s this inbreeding, and the resulting low levels of genetic diversity, that is the key to the use of dog breeds to track predispositions to disease. Within a breed, the DNA of individual dogs tends to be identical over very long stretches. By examining DNA from appropriate numbers of disease-affected and unaffected dogs, it should be possible to hone in on the DNA sequence differences that track with - or are ‘associated with’ - the disease. These types of studies are called ‘whole-genome association’ studies.

Humans

Heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer in humans are all complex diseases. Usually several genes are involved in the development of these disease and environmental factors also play an important part.

Because each gene contributes only a small part to the disease process, the causes of these complex diseases have proved extremely difficult to unravel.

We still do not understand how they arise, or why some people are susceptible to the disease while others do not develop the disorders.

In an effort to identify the genes that predispose to human complex diseases, whole genome association studies can be performed with DNA from human individuals. In contrast to pure-bred dogs however, human populations are extremely out-bred.

Therefore, when DNA from human individuals is compared, there are far fewer- and much shorter stretches of sequence identity between any two individuals, even when the individuals are closely related. Because of all this ‘noise’, it is very difficult to decide which genetic differences track with health or disease in humans, and which are irrelevant in terms of disease association.

In practice, therefore, wholegenome association studies for human disease require a great deal of sequencing - with many individuals analysed and more DNA sites examined.

Great and small, all dogs belong to the same species.

Photo: St Diego Great Dane Meeting Group.

Genome

It has been proposed that whole genome association studies with purebred dogs could be a more efficient and economical way of identifying genes that predispose to complex diseases. Having identified genes that pre-dispose to complex disease in dogs, the equivalent genes could be examined in humans.

While the dog’s potential to provide information about human disease has been apparent to geneticists for a long time, it is only in recent years that the molecular tools became available that would allow this potential to be realized.

Firstly the DNA sequence of a ‘reference’ dog was needed. A major effort to obtain this sequence got underway several years ago, and in 2005, the complete, high-quality, DNA sequence of a female boxer (Tasha) was published by researchers at the Boston-based Broad Institute2.

In addition to sequencing Tasha’s DNA to completion, the Broad researchers also sequenced portions of DNA from a number of individuals of several different breeds of dogs.

The output from these sequencing efforts confirmed that there were long stretches of identical DNA within each breed. They also pointed out the genetic differences between breeds that the researchers had predicted.

Armed with this sequence data, researchers now have the ability to do high-throughput comparisons of DNA from large numbers of dogs.

LUPA project

Researchers in UCD have recently become part of a Europe-wide consortium that is using DNA and

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 16

clinical information from over 8,000 dogs to hunt the genes that underlie human predispositions to a number of complex diseases. The effort has been named the LUPA project, after the she-wolf who nursed the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The new study will use whole genome association studies to examine 18 canine diseases, including four cancers, four inflammatory disorders and three heart diseases.

The Irish group will focus on a novel neuro-inflammatory disorder, recently identified at UCD, and unique to the greyhound breed. Greyhounds with this disorder exhibit clinical symptoms that are characteristic of a brain inflammation, including head tilting, circling, recumbancy and in some cases blindness.

When Professor Sean Callanan, School of Agriculture, Veterinary Science & Food Science, UCD, first saw these symptoms in greyhounds, he thought the dogs had an infection of some kind but, although he and his colleagues have carried out extensive tests to try to identify a virus or bacterium that could have caused the disorder, he could not detect any responsible infection.

The cause of the neuroinflammation in the greyhounds is still unknown. However, since the disease is a breed-restricted disorder, Professor Callanan suspects that the combination of susceptibility genes in the greyhound and environmental factors (that may include a virus or bacterium) stimulates an abnormal immune response in the affected animals and that this results in the observed inflammation. The aim of the Irish group in the LUPA consortium is

to track down the gene, or genes that confer this susceptibility.

Impact

Some might ask, this greyhound research is all very well, but what’s in it for us humans?

How will studies of a neuroinflammatory disease in greyhounds help to improve human health?

In humans, inflammation of the CNS (central nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord) is observed in most chronic neurodegenerative disorders. These include common diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as less common ones such as motor neuron disease. In addition to these diseases, viral-induced infectious diseases of the central nervous system are also associated with neuroinflammation, and new infectious diseases are emerging periodically - for example West Nile virus-induced encephalopathy has emerged in the USA.

The exact nature of the inflammation, and the contribution that it makes to these human diseases, is not yet fully understood, but diseases caused by such inflammation are clearly a growing threat to human health with the potential to affect large numbers of individuals. In order to develop new or improved treatments for all these disorders, we need to understand how the immune system (which provokes the inflammation) interacts with the CNS, both in healthy individuals and in diseased states. The whole-genome association studies in the dog should help to identify the genes involved.

LUPA in Ireland

Over the next 12 to18 months, Prof Callanan and his colleagues, including Ph.D student, Robert Shiel, will collect DNA from greyhounds that exhibit signs and symptoms of this new disease. They will also collect DNA samples from unaffected greyhounds for comparison purposes. Robert will extract DNA from each sample and it will be sequenced at the central

sequencing facility established by the LUPA consortium.

Comparisons of DNA sequence of greyhounds affected with the disease with sequence of unaffected animals should identify variants of one or more genes that track with the disease.

These genes will then be examined further, to see how exactly they contribute to the greyhound neuroinflammation.

Professor Callanan is encouraging any veterinary surgeon in Ireland, north or south, who encounters an affected greyhound to contact him or Robert Shiel at UCD. Dr Catherine ‘Kay’ Nolan, is a senior lecturer in the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.

References 1 Ostrander and Wayne (2005) The canine genome. Genome Research 15: 1706-1716.

2 Lindblad-Toh et al (2005) Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog. Nature 438: 803-819

“The derivation of dog breeds over the last few hundred years has been described as ‘one of the greatest genetic experiments ever conducted by humans” Photo: detail from Dogs on Flicker.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 17

SenSory SyStemS the next step to

artificial intelligence

ohn McDonald is a lecturer, researcher, and cofounder of the Computer Vision and Imaging Laboratory (CVIL) at the Department of Computer Science, NUI Maynooth.

Since a young age he has been fascinated by all things electronic but in particular he has always had a keen interest in computers and computer programming. It was this interest that in 1992 led John to study Computer Science and Mathematical Physics as part of the Bachelor’s of Science Degree at NUI Maynooth.

John’s research area is computer vision, a field concerned with the development of visual perception systems using electronic imaging sensors (i.e. digital cameras) and computer systems. The importance of the field stems from the fact that all intelligent life-forms have an ability to sense the world around them. It is this ability that provides us with the information necessary to interpret and interact with our environment. Hence if we wish to develop artificially intelligent systems, a major problem that must be solved is the development of artificial sensory systems. Of all our senses, vision is by far the most important in that it provides us with the most information. For example, neuroscientists now estimate that over 30 per cent of our brain is concerned with the processing of visual information.

J

NUI MAYNOOTH Ollscoil na hÉireann Má Nuad

Computer vision is a multidisciplinary field drawing on many areas including optics, electronics and interfacing, image processing, pattern recognition, knowledge representation, and robotics to name a few. The reason for this wide range of fields is that the design and implementation of a computer vision system requires an understanding of concepts ranging from sensing (i.e. physics and electronics) through to image interpretation (i.e. artificial intelligence).

John’s initial entry into the area was as a research assistant, under the direction of Prof David Vernon, on a European Union funded collaborative project involving three other leading European universities and an Italian company specialising in smartcard technology. The objective of the project was to develop a prototype automatic teller machine (ATM) that incorporated a person authentication system. The ATM used face recognition technology in conjunction with an array of cameras to compare the identity of the user to information stored on a smart card.

John’s work in this project involved

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 18

developing new methods for face detection and localisation (the first step in any face recognition system).

The function of his software was to identify whether or not a person was standing in front of the system and more importantly to crop the image to ensure that only images of faces were passed to the face recognition module. This project resulted in a prototype automatic teller machine which was invited to be presented at IST ‘98, the European Commission showcase exhibition for emerging technologies.

Subsequent to this project John diversified into other areas of computer vision including intelligent vehicle systems, where he worked with Automotive Distance Control GmbH, a German company specialising in providing driver assistance systems. As part of this collaboration he developed a computer vision technique for automatically locating lane markings in images taken from a camera mounted on a vehicle. Knowledge of the position of the lane markings, and more importantly the position of the vehicle relative to those markings, allows the development of a variety of driver assistance applications which can be used to increase road safety. For example a common cause of road accidents is driver drowsiness resulting in the vehicle departing from its current lane.

Lane departure systems continuously SPIN

monitor a vehicle’s road position on the road and alert the driver if they cross a lane boundary. Such systems are particularly important when used in conjunction with cruise control systems.

More recently John has returned to working on facial image analysis where his research in now focused on the development of techniques for the processing and analysis of facial expression. Facial expressions play a major role in human communication.

For example, they serve as a window to one’s own emotional state, they make behaviour more understandable to others and they supplement verbal communication. John’s work in this area has been to develop computer representations and algorithms that can both recognise and synthetically generate images of faces under different expressions. This is achieved through the use of state-of-the-art machine learning and image processing techniques.

The resulting technology provides the foundations for advancements in a number of areas including biometrics, human-computer interfaces, computer entertainment and gaming, and video-

conferencing. For example, in face recognition the ability to recognise a person’s expression in an image and then remove that expression will increase the reliability of such systems by reducing the variation in a person’s appearance. In computer gaming, the ability to animate an arbitrary individual’s face from a single digital photo of that person means that their identity can be used for a character in the latest game.

This work has been ongoing since 2004, during which time it has been funded by awards from both Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland totalling more than €250k.

An exciting development has been the interest of a number of national and international companies in the work. Through these awards, and by working closely with the NUI Maynooth Commercialisation Office, John and his research team are currently focused on a commercial strategy for bringing this technology to market.

In 1997, whilst working on the ATM project, John took up a contract lecturing post teaching courses in computer vision, networking, and

operating systems. He has been a fulltime lecturer at the Department of Computer Science since 2001.

Although Facial Image Analysis has been John’s principal research area, over the period of his career he has made contributions in many other areas including digital holography, shape representation, intelligent vehicle systems, and automated assessment of road infrastructure. He holds two patents and has a strong publication track record both in high quality international peer reviewed journals and national and international conferences.

In 2007 he was Chair of the International Machine Vision and Image Processing Conference. Over the past number of years he has successfully attracted significant research funding both in the areas of computer vision and digital holography. This year he was part of a team of researchers under the leadership of Professor Stewart Fotheringham who successfully attracted funding of over €7million for the development of a new Strategic Research Cluster in Advanced Geotechnologies.

Because our brain is equipped to interpret information from our senses we can process an enormous amount of visual information, often without being conscious of the fact.

By developing artificial vision systems computers can also be programed to interpret the world around them. In this set of images, the faces on the left have a neutral expression. Those in the middle express surprise, joy, and anger. The faces to the right have been synthesised from the original neutral images by computer.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 19

DU NOYER

GEOLOGICAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION 2008

Photograph of the Mourne granite by David Kirk, one of the winners in the 2007 Du Noyer competition.

Entries are invited for the 10th Du Noyer Geological Photography Competition George Victor Du Noyer, who served as a geologist with the Geological Survey of Ireland from 1847 to 1869, was a skilled field artist whose numerous sketches and pictures, with their combination of artistic skill and technical accuracy, were the “field photographs” of their day. This competition seeks to encourage the same blend of artistic and scientific skills through the medium of photography.

Total prize money of €800 will be awarded in two categories, Irish and Foreign.

There will be 3 prizes in the Irish category – 1st Prize €300, 2nd Prize €200 and 3rd Prize €100. The Foreign Category Winner will receive a prize of €200.

All photographs entered must be clearly labelled with the following information: • Name • Address • Telephone number • Email of entrant/photographer • Short description of geological content • Place and Date when taken Please write on a label and stick it onto the back of the photographs, or include a note with each entry. DO NOT WRITE ON THE PHOTOGRAPH.

Entrants may submit a maximum of 4 photographs, illustrating any aspect of field geology or scenic landscapes.

Images must be prints of not less than 6 x 4 inches. These prints may be accompanied by a digital image, if available.

Both successful and unsuccessful entrants will be notified by e-mail.

The competition will be judged by a panel including representatives of the IGA, the GSI and external nominees and their decision will be final. Entries will be exhibited and prizes awarded at a GSI Cunningham Awards ceremony in early December.

We are not in a position to return entry material. GSI reserves the right to reproduce entries in its publications and promotional activity with due acknowledgement.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 20

Entries should be posted in an envelope marked “Du Noyer Competition” to: Cartography Unit, Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Haddington Rd, Dublin 4.

Evaluation Criteria • Creativity (25 marks) • Technical Skill of the Photographer (25 marks) • Geological Content of Photograph (50 marks)

The closing date for entries is: Friday, 10th October 2008

SPIN

METEOROLOGY

Tales of the unexpected

Climate change: The advance of the Sahara, huge hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, more floods around Ireland. A bit worrying, perhaps, but maybe not too much. We’ll survive, we’ll cope, we’ll muddle through. But, what if someone told you, that the climate could suddenly shift and become unpredictable and very, very dangerous? Change in a way that could drive you out of your home, and perhaps force you, and millions of others to flee Europe for a safer part of the world. Is this science fiction? No, this is the kind of scenario that climate scientists are studying, writes Seán Duke.

It’s

a bit like saving for your kids to go to college.

Being good to the environment is something that we all agree is good, but, perhaps we don’t feel any sense of urgency, or personal responsibility for that matter. What I do as an individual, does it really matter? Climate change is happening, yes, we can agree, but it’s happening slowly, and it’s probably not going to

affect me directly and probably not my children either.

If this thought process sounds familiar then maybe it’s time to think again, because researchers at UCD believe there is a possibility of sudden climate shifts happening. If such a shift did happen, it could make many of the world’s major cities, towns and small villages uninhabitable, due to extreme heat, or cold, or due to the threat from

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 21

new dangerous weather phenomenon, or simply because they are buried under water.

Forecasting

The prediction of weather patterns far into the future is the goal of Peter Lynch, the Met Éireann Professor of Meteorology at UCD. Peter was formerly a deputy director at Met Éireann before taking up the SPIN

newly created position of Chair of Meteorology at UCD – following an agreement between UCD and Met Éireann – in September ’04.

Prof Lynch is involved in using mathematical models to try and make predictions about future weather. He works in the long term, trying to predict what climate will be like years, and decades into the future, but, he said, that, despite this, he accepts that it is impossible today for forecasters to precisely predict weather beyond two weeks. Given this fact, how can he be confident of making very long term predictions?

“The idea is that you don’t aim to predict the details of the day-by-day weather, we aim to predict the climate, the average situation – not just the average, but also the extremes, the variability,” said Prof Lynch.

The idea, he said, is to focus on certain parameters that are known to ‘force’ change in the global climate, such as the ongoing increase in the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Then, various levels of, for example, CO2 change are put into a climate model, to see what the consequences will be. The answer in this case it that increased CO2 will lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as flooding and storminess. It is important for decision makers to know that if CO2 levels go up by a certain amount, then it will increase flooding and storms, he said, as the planners can then make plans well in advance to cope with extreme weather.

The indications from the climate models, said Prof Lynch, are that extreme weather events, such as the flooding that is regularly seen now in certain ‘hot spots’ around Ireland, will become more frequent into the future.

The models also indicate that summer rainfall will decrease by up to 15 per cent and that winter rainfall will increase by a corresponding figure. That means flooding will be more frequent in winter, and that water shortages will become a growing issue with drier summers.

Change

More intense and frequent flooding is very damaging in many ways for a lot of people, but this is nothing compared to what could happen, if, as

“Ireland could find itself, frozen over, turned into a desert, or battered by huge storms, or even drowned by rising sea levels”

the models predict, we could ‘force’ the global climate into rapid, major climate shifts at some point in the future. If this happens, then all bets are off, and predictions become very difficult indeed. In this scenario, anything could happen: Ireland could find itself, frozen over, turned into a desert, or battered by huge storms, or even drowned by rising sea levels.

Trying to predict what might happen, should the climate rapidly shift is the area of research that Peter Lynch is most fascinated and intrigued by. He explained that people tend to think of climate change in linear terms, so that if CO2 is increased a little bit, then temperature increases by a corresponding little bit. The problem is that climate systems are not linear, but in fact are highly non-linear and highly chaotic.

Evidence

Scientists can use ice cores taken through the Greenland Ice Sheet to re-construct the ancient temperature at various times in the Earth’s history.

It is possible to track back about half a million years, and these studies have revealed very sudden changes.

It has been shown that there have been changes in temperature of up to

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 22

five degrees Celsius in the space of a decade. This shows that rapid climate change has happened before.

If a change in temperature of that magnitude, and within that timeframe were to happen today, it would be catastrophic for humanity, said Prof Lynch. It would lead to major movements of people from hugh densely populated areas that have simply become uninhabitable. There are no grounds to think this will happen anytime soon, he said, but he also said he can’t rule it out.

There are indications that rapid change could be happening right now, from studies of the global ice.

The area of ice has been decreasing, and in the past few years there have been huge break ups of ice around the world. For instance, in the southern hemisphere, in Antarctica, a major portion of the huge Larsen Ice Shelf has recently split off into the sea.

In one melting season alone – in early 2002 - 3,250 km2 of ice, 220 metre thick disintegrated and fell off the Larsen Ice Shelf into the sea. This is an area equivalent to the US state of Rhode Island. This was melting on a level that hadn’t been seen before, and is a sign that the climate might indeed be changing rapidly.

“Sceptics will say that this has always been happening, and they are right in the sense that there is a natural shedding of ice from the edge of the ice shelf, but this was quite big and something unprecedented,” said Peter. “It freshens the water locally and increases sea levels, it depends where the ice comes from – the Arctic ice is already floating on the water so there is not much change in volume, because the water that is produced just displaces the ice, but if it is coming from Greenland or Antarctic down through the glaciers then, of course, it is adding volume to the water – the sea level will rise.”

Unexpected

The really scary, but interesting – from an academic point of view – part about climate change is the whole area of ‘unanticipated emergent phenomena’.

These are weather events, or features that emerge, unexpectedly, having

never been seen before. Trying to predict the unpredictable is difficult. It requires the research to think beyond what we now understand in terms of weather, and try and think, what could happen?

Who could predict a rainbow, if we did not know that rainbows exist? A rainbow can be explained in terms of the reflection and refraction of light in water droplets, but it would be very difficult to produce a rainbow effect in a computer model if scientists didn’t already know that they exist.

The point is that unexpected weather phenomenon could appear in the future – things that we have never seen before – and these could be totally unexpected and beyond the power of current computer models to predict. Prof Lynch wants to develop a much better understanding of what might emerge, and a better means of predicting where, when and how these phenomena might arise.

Another example would be to think of hurricanes. This is weather feature, which we are all aware of, but they will not happen unless the sea surface temperature is above 26º Celsius. If the waters everywhere were below 26º then hurricanes would not exist on Earth. Nobody would know what a hurricane was. The point again is that if climate changes, new weather patterns could emerge that are totally unknown today. These patterns could be beneficial, but are more likely to be devastating, said Prof Lynch.

Hurricane Charley This image shows the path taken by Hurricane Charley, which hit Ireland’s shores on the 25th August 1986. Charley had its origin in a tropical depression.

It became a hurricane as it moved up east of Florida, and then transformed into an extratropical storm and crossed the Atlantic. The process by which a tropical storm becomes an extra-tropical storm is still poorly understood.

Ensemble

One way to improve the measure of confidence when predicting future weather, is to use the method of ‘ensemble prediction’, said Prof Lynch. The way this works is that the researcher runs a large number of weather simulations, looking at a large number of possible future climate scenarios. The larger the number of scenarios that are run, the greater the level of confidence the researcher will have in his future predications.

The goal, said Prof Lynch, is to more precisely determine what is the probability, or the likelihood, of certain things happening with regard to the weather into the future. It could be the case, for instance, that in an ensemble, most of the predictions cluster in a certain region. That means that whatever this cluster represents, has a good chance of happening.

The ensemble provides a measure of

confidence. There may also be “one or two wildcats” within an ensemble.

These represent the possibility of unanticipated events – and this is the area where Prof Lynch is focussing his research.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 23

Action

The problem of climate change is a major global problem, said Prof Lynch.

He believes that it requires the same sense of urgency, and effort that was put by the USA into getting a man on the Moon in 1969, or developing the

atomic bomb during World War II. In this case, though, the research effort should be on an international scale.

He said that climate change is not treated as an immediate, urgent threat in the same way, for instance, that an asteroid heading for a collision with Earth would be treated.

The changing climate must, however, be regarded as an urgent major threat to us all, and as an enemy that all of mankind must get together and beat, said Prof Lynch.

He believes that climate change is underway – though up to recently he would have been sceptical of this –

having been convinced by the ongoing increase in mean temperatures, breaking records year after year, by the increase in extreme weather events, by the melting of Arctic Ice, and the movements of animals, such as birds.

The problem requires an international agreement, he said, and the UN is the best framework for this, and “sticks and carrots” must be built into this agreement.

One problem is that if climate change mainly affects people in the poorer countries, and is perceived as a problem of deprivation affecting others, then it won’t engender the

same push for action in the developed nations that generate most of the pollutants.

“I wouldn’t wish it to happen, but if a major hurricane hit New York it might ultimately be beneficial for humanity,” said Peter. “Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, let’s hope that we get there by a less devastating route.”

COLOUR

What we see and the science behind sight l l l l l l l l

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Tackling the asthma epidemic – with a worm The incidence of asthma and allergies continues to increase alarmingly in Ireland and other developed nations.

In Ireland, a shocking 500,000 people (one in eight) are affected by asthma, which has now reached epidemic proportions. Current treatments are not able to cope, but a radical new approach, one that harnesses the properties of a parasitic worm, common in Africa, promises the hope of a new preventative drug, writes Seán Duke. reland has a serious and growing problem with asthma, and it is ranked as the 4th highest in the world for the prevalence of the condition among children. Scientists are working hard to generate new compounds that can be used to fight asthma, but that work is not generating effective new treatments quickly enough, and the incidence continues to rise.

I

Worm

Dr Padraic Fallon, a researcher based in TCD, however, believes that a solution to the asthma and allergy problem could be found by changing the point of attack, by using the properties of a parasitic worm, Schistosoma mansoni, common in Africa, which is known to modify immunity in the body to stimulate protection from undesirable inflammation.

“The worm could hold the key to treating conditions such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease and in effect I see it as the drug cabinet of the future,” said Dr Fallon.

The Schistosome group of worms are very common in Africa, where it is estimated that they infect up to 250 million people. Researchers have noted, interestingly, that those infected are better at fighting off allergies than children that aren’t infected. In one study in Gabon, schoolchildren that were infected with the worms had lower allergic responses to house dust mites than children with no worm infection. The question was why?

In an evolutionary sense, it appeared that the worm was protecting its host from allergies or infections, which was in the worm’s own interest, as it didn’t want to live in a sick host. At the same time, the worm evolved so that the human immune system would tolerate its presence. The research team, led by Dr Fallon wants to discover how the worm has evolved so that its presence is tolerated in the human, as well as

to pinpoint and isolate the specific molecule that the worm produces, which confers protection to its host.

approach to drug discovery,” said Dr Fallon. “Funding from SFI in 2007 to support this research included an SFI Principal Investigator award (€1.68 million), an equipment Cleanliness grant ( €750,000) and a SFI Stokes The obsession that modern, developed Professorship in the School of Medicine, societies like Ireland have with TCD. Clearly with SFI, good things cleanliness has weakened our immune come in three,” said Dr Fallon. systems, and this means we are not as With SFI support Dr Fallon has good at fighting off allergies. That’s the established a team of five scientists, view of Dr Fallon who commented: based in the Institute of Molecular “In the last 30 to 40 years, we have Medicine in the TCD Centre for Health seen an explosion in allergies here.

Science at St James’s Hospital Dublin.

As I sit in my office I’ve got carpets, “My group have already double glazing, and shown that the helminth constant heating. We’re Schistosoma mansoni can also cleaner and use render mice refractory more antibiotics as well (resistant) to disease in as having different diets. experimental models There are so many of of anaphylaxis, asthma these recent changes and and inflammatory somehow these have bowel disease,” said Dr led to an epidemic in Fallon. allergies.”

“SFI are enabling me to adopt a two-pronged Treatments strategy to exploit hostThere is a growing pathogen co-evolution need for new treatment to develop new strategies for allergic therapies for allergies. diseases, and many First, we are dissecting Dr Padraic Fallon notes that other conditions, said Dr the novel mechanisms infected children have lower Fallon, as current drug worms have evolved discovery approaches are allergic responses. to modulate innate and not delivering. This, he adaptive immunity, and said, is reflected in data second, we are identifying the worm from 2007, which showed that only 19 molecules with therapeutic potential.” new molecular entities for biological systems were approved by the US FDA, Future the lowest for 25 years. This has led In the USA, trials have been done the international pharma and biotech where people have ingested live sector to look for alternative and parasitic worms by drinking a glass unconventional pipelines to discover of water containing worm eggs. The new drug entities, and Dr Fallon’s work worms then develop in the person’s fits in well with this trend. colon and this, it was shown, was “In supporting my allergies research, beneficial in helping to prevent certain SFI are ahead of current trends by forms of inflammatory bowel disease. taking the lead in endorsing a novel However, this approach is risky, as the worm can produce adverse health effects, even death, on those infected.

Dr Fallon’s approach, therefore, is focused on developing a tablet that a person can safely take without any side effects.

“We should be starting human trials in 3 to 5 years, and then we will have developed drugs fro clinical trials,” said Dr Fallon. “Of course, it will take a little longer before the tablets are on the pharmacy shelf, but we’re getting closer every day.”

A pair of Schistosoma mansoni worms.

Scanning electron micrograph, USUHS.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 25

SPIN

The economic benefits of real-time

GPS fleet tracking for timber hauliers

General concept of GPRS/GSM communication.

Dr Ger Devlin and Dr Kevin McDonnell, Biosystems Engineering, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4 research project – GPSTRACK – is providing the forest transport sector with new technologies to monitor vehicle movements across the Irish road network and beyond.

The project has arisen as a result of a recommendation from the Forest Industry Transport Group to encourage closer co-operation between consignors and hauliers, to plan routes in an efficient and cost effective manner within the legal framework.

The project involved the installation of two GPS asset tracking providers onto two timber haulage trucks – Scania 124 (400 hp – rigid + trailer + crane) and Iveco Stralis (530 hp – 6 axle artic configuration).

A

Both trucks have the GPS blackbox plus GPS satellite receiver installed from two suppliers and the truck’s position is tracked across the road network using satellite location technology. This allows truck movements to be visually monitored in real time and these are displayed on a detailed road map of Ireland.

The accuracy of the GPS can define the location of the truck to within ± 2>5 metres. Accuracy is best on public

GIS road map with GPS tracklogs of trucks.

Scania 124 and Iveco Stralis trucks. roads, and although difficulties with the GPS signal can arise in forests due to tree cover, the technology has now advanced to the stage where trucks can be located within forests.

Using the coordinates of forest entry and exit points it is possible to: l develop a full GIS routing map; l integrate this information with a GPS tracking provider; l insert co-ordinates into in-car satellite navigation systems to optimise directions for the truck driver; and l reduce general driving time by 15% (GPS Ireland 2008).

The GPSTRACK study showed that increases in distance travelled per unit of fuel are possible from the current 9-10 kmpg to 14-15 kmpg. Taking the average annual kilometres per truck to be approximately 100,000 km, we can calculate a saving of €11,000 per truck per annum on fuel alone. Considering that the initial capital of one of the systems is approximately €2,500, then it is fair to say that, economically, these new information age asset tracking and diagnostic systems are a good investment.

GPSTRACK is funded by COFORD. The project is carried out by Dr Ger Devlin and Dr Kevin McDonnell.

l For more information on the Bluetree and Fleetmatics systems and on fuel saving calculations please contact Dr Devlin email: ger.devlin@ucd.ie tel: 01-7167418.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 26

SPIN

T

hrough the window of a car or bus, cliffs and mountains can look impressive, but if you really want to experience a landscape, get your feet firmly planted on the ground.

GEOPARKS

Top, the 19th century mining complex at Tankardstown, Co Wexford.

Above, rock in Tankardstown mines stained with iron and copper. Photo: Mike Sweeney.

Below: visitors exploring the limestone above the Marble Arch Cave in Fermanagh.

Tom Kennedy reports that geology provides a base from which to explore the flora, fauna, history and archaeology of a region. Ireland now has two European Geoparks, and more could be on the way.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 27

Only by getting close is it possible to reach out and connect to the landscape, and for an increasing number of tourists stepping out has become an attractive option. Instead of going out in search of just history or art, visitors are also being drawn to discover geological and other natural wonders.

Internationally, places such as Ayres Rock in Australia, and the Grand Canyon in the US, draw an enormous number of visitors, and in Ireland, two of the most popular destinations are the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim, and the Cliffs of Moher in Clare. More than a million people a year come to look over the impressive cliffs, and Dr Patrick McKeever from the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland maintains, Ireland has a lot more to offer than those major attractions. There are spectacular caves at Marble Arch in Fermanagh, there is the Copper Coast with its mining heritage, the karst landscape in Clare, the ancient Devonian shores in Kerry, and the Mourne granites. Ireland’s geological diversity is an asset in more ways than one, and as Dr McKeever explains, five or six areas have the potential to be developed as internationally recognised Geoparks.

In February, at a meeting jointly organised by the two Geological Surveys, a Geoparks Committee was launched to provide scientific advice and support to any group aspiring to become a geopark. As Dr McKeever pointed out, the term is not being used lightly, and the standards required to merit the designation, Geopark, are quite stringent.

The Geopark concept, he explained, originated in UNESCO where it was realised that throughout the world there are a number of geological locations that merit special status, similar in some respects to the standing of the 850 World Heritage sites. Although the concept only took off in the early 1990s, the number of countries signing up to achieve official geopark status for national sites has grown rapidly. To qualify, it is not enough to show that the sites are special in terms of geology; there SPIN

Local authorities in the Mourne, Cooley and Slieve Gullion area believe the time has come to open up the area.

Photos: Ron Murphy. has to be proof that they are being managed in a sustainable manner.

The iniative is global, and in Europe there are now 32 members, each of which had to pass inspection before being granted full Geopark status.

The Marble Arch in Fermanagh has qualified, as has the Copper Coast, and in other areas, local groups are actively working towards achieving the same status.

In many ways, Marble Arch is an example of how the focus on geology can bring enormous benefits to a locality. The limestone caves currently attract about 60,000 visitors a year, yet this was not always so. Richard Watson from Marble Arch said that when a decision to open the caves was made in 1995, “everyone thought we were mad.” This was at the height of the ‘troubles’, industry had abandoned the area, farming was in decline, and the local economy was in a poor state. However, as Richard Watson explained, the caves represented an asset, and instead of just thinking of them as a tourist destination, they were seen as an educational resource.

That approach paid off, and the emphasis remains on learning through exploration. While the Marble Arch caves are special, said Richard, he recalled being in other even more spectacular caves abroad, where, as he remarked, “we were pushed in one end, and shoved out the next,” so it was a completely unrewarding experience. The Marble Arch approach, he said, is completely the opposite, and when the European Geoparks initiative began, he was pleasantly surprised to find that “the rules could have been written with us in mind.”

Marble Arch provides a very good model for other local groups to follow, also in how to extend the reach of the core attraction. The area has a good geological and biological mix, the Cultra mountain being described as a Carboniferous layer cake with blanket bog on the middle slopes.

In collaboration with forestry and wildlife services the Geopark area has since been expanded to cover 18,000 ha. “We have broadened the horizons,” said Richard Watson, and

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 28

apart from “serious mountain routes for walkers,” there is archaeology, and elevated views into the geology of neighbouring areas, such as the Cavan Burren, a karst landscape far removed from the better known area in Clare.

The Clare Burren is a good example of a potential Geopark, a well preserved landscape on which a mix of Alpine and Mediterrean flora flourishes, edged by sheer cliffs, and dotted with 80 megalithic remains.

As Carol Gleeson from Clare County

Council explained, a serious bid, backed by Shannon Development, Failte Ireland and other interests, is being made to win Geopark status for the Burren. “It’s a botanist’s dream and a geologist’s paradise,” she said.

However, that does not mean that Geopark status follows automatically.

“Our initial bid”, she explained, “was considered too aspirational”, and this illustrates how difficult it is to pass the assessment. This time, some of the financial support for the bid is being put into employment of a geologist, and this is something the geological surveys are keen to encourage. Issues, such as the sale of fossils in visitor centres, will also have to be resolved.

One of the rules that Geoparks must abide by is to agree on banning unregulated trade in geological materials. The Burren area has a number of visitor sites, and while most agree with this approach, Carol said it would only take one to step out of line for the overall bid to fail.

That’s not the only problem. The landscape is extremely delicate, as is the relationship between it and the resident population. There has been little use of chemical fertilizers, farmers do not use heavy machinery, yet farming is helping to preserve the plants. Grazing cattle save the plants from being overcome by grass.

The balance between people and the landscape extends to the sense of place, and as Carol explained, some places have great significance to locals, and they don’t want these to be overwhelmed by tourists. There are 5,000 inhabitants, said Carol, so its not an empty landscape. With a million people coming to the Cliffs of Moher every year, and thousands of cars converging on small villages, one of the major challenges facing the geopark bid group is how to promote the area without diminishing the value of its atractions.

Further south, two million visitors ‘do’ the Ring of Kerry, but as locals comment, “all they leave behind is exhaust,” To encourage more of these visitors to get out and interact with the local communities, a Kerry Geopark initiative was launched in 2003. The area is bordered by Kenmare Bay, and extends inland to the mountains north of Tahilla, Sneem, Castlecove, Caherdaniel, and Valentia, where some of the first four legged animals crawled ashore during the Devonian period. This is very much a bottoms

Marble Arch and the Copper Coast are already part of the European network of Geoparks. up approach involving lots of archaeological, history, nature, and craft groups, but geology is described as ‘the glue that holds it all together.”

A similar approach has worked well in Waterford, where a community based voluntary organisation came together in 1997 to promote the Copper Coast. This is a 25 km long stretch of coastline with a mining heritage going back to the early 19th century and continuing through the famine years. Dr Mike Sweeney said that support from GSI had helped, as had networking with similar groups abroad. Networking, he said, is a very powerful tool, and by joining three other groups, as the north west European geopark group they were all able to tap into EC funding, under the Interreg programme. Other funding came from the Mining Heritage Trust, University College Cork, Waterford County Council, and GSI, so the group was able to set themselves up as a charity company.

The first thing we did, explained Mike, was to undertake an in-depth study of what they actually had in the area. That study, he added, resulted in

the saving of valuable resources, some of which had been pushed aside, ready for dumping.

As in Marble Arch, the Copper Coast group decided that heritage and education had to head the agenda, and courses in geology are now being run for different levels, from school children who need hands-on experience, to adults who study for a diploma. Generating local income is important, and the aim, said Mike, is ultimately to be self sustaining, and to embrace a range of activities and interests around the geology core.

Another area, where granite could lay the foundation for geo based tourism is along the border, a region embracing Cooley, Slieve Gullion and the Mournes. With the calming down of political tensions, councils and local groups think the time is ripe to open up the area, and the geological heritage is seen as a major attraction.

Just how many Geoparks could Ireland have?

In Germany there are five, each representing a special aspect of that country’s geology. In France, three have Geopark status, Greece has

The Copper Coast stretches along 25 km of dunes, cliffs and coves.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 29

two, and Spain one, but a great deal depends on how much each country has to offer.

Garth Earls, director of GSNI, said Ireland, with its diverse geology, could have more possibilities than most other countries, but even so, there is a limit to how many the island as a whole can support. To be accepted officially as Geoparks, the geological features have to be exceptional.

Our job, explained Garth, is not to tell local groups what they should do, or to dictate where they can operate. The joint geological survey Geoparks committee, he said, is simply there to give advice, and to support the employment of geologists by local groups. Any group thinking of incorporating geology into local developments, he said, is welcome to ask for advice. Membership of the committee is open to groups, local authorities and others operating, or planning to bid for Geopark status.

The Marble Arch Geopark extends below and above ground, and the aim is to give visitors an enriching experience.

The European Geoparks website is www.europeangeoparks.ogg

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 30

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BIRDS IN VIEW A selection of winning photographs from the NI Ornithologists’ Club competition

Top, Pied Wagtail investigating car mirror at Eden Village,

by Geoff Campbell.

Above left, Puffin on Treshnish Islands, Scotland,

by Michael Jackson.

Above right, Black Headed gulls on Antrim coast

by Ian Dickey.

Left, Turnstone at Portstewart by Geoff Campbell.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 32

SPIN

Northern Gannet on Great Saltee, by Adrian McGrath

Above, Robin, Dungannon,

by Ian Johnston.

Left, Chaffinch, Rathlin Island,

by Tom McDonnell

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 33

Top left, Shag, Carnlough, by Geoff Campbell.

Top right, Herring Gull, Moray Firth, Scotland,

by Tom McDonnell.

Left, Peregrine Falcon, North Antrim coast, by Geoff Campbell.

Below, Corncrake, Tory Island, by Nigel Moore.

For the full list of winners and a brief description of the camera equipment used, visit the NIOC website

www.nioc.co.uk

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 26 Page 3

SCIENCE WEEK Shaping our world

ISOF EXPO 13th to 15th November 2008 RDS Main Hall

A major exhibition on applied research, bringing industry, the colleges, and the agencies together at one venue.

ISOF EXPO will enable participants to interact at stands, in break out areas, and face to face workshops.

Manufacturing companies engaged in R&D will be invited to meet potential employees and researchers, and one of the highlights of the exhibition will be a working laboratory.

In support of the exhibition the ISOF Council is planning science and research events throughout the country as part of the Science Week programme, and Science Spin, is publishing a research handbook Organiser

SDL Exhibitions Ltd 18 Main Street, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Tel: 01 490 0600 Enquiries to Deirdre Quinn. Direct line 01 405 5547 E-mail: deirdre@sdlexpo.com

www.isofexpo.ie

The ISOF Council invites scientists, researchers, and staff in organisations to include proposed activities, such as workshops or lectures, in a countrywide programme of events suitable for a scientic or general audience during the week of this exhibition.

To register your interest in ISOF, the Irish Science Open Forum, simply email tom@sciencespin.com to receive an occasional alert on activities.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 35

SPIN

REVIEW

Creatures of accident How do complex creatures evolve from simple ones? Lenny Antonelli reviews a book seeking to answer this question and dispel the idea that complexity can only be explained by the existence of a creator.

H

ow has evolution taken the complexity of the biological world from the first simple cells to intelligent apes that are capable of reading magazines? It’s a question that Wallace Arthur, Professor of Zoology at NUI Galway, believes has been neglected by scientific literature.

Think of the textbook examples of evolution in action: the rise of the black peppered moth in 19th century industrial England because it was better camouflaged on sootcovered trees than the white variety, or the evolution of finch species with different beak sizes on the Galapagos Islands from a common ancestor in response to the availability of different food types. Both are clear examples of natural selection, but neither explains how complex creatures evolve from simple ones. After all, a black moth is no more complicated than a white one, nor is a long-beaked bird more complex than a short-beaked relative.

Creatures of Accident, Professor Arthur’s eighth book, aims to show how the awesome complexity of the biological world has arisen from humble beginnings, and with it dismiss any notion that the intricacy of life can only be explained by invoking the hidden hand of a creator. In that task, it succeeds admirably.

The author defines complexity as “the number of different types of component parts” an organism has – these parts can be anything from organs to limbs to cells. How does complexity arise? Not by intelligent design. When an organism has more than it needs of a particular part, some can be naturally selected for a new function. The jaws of vertebrates evolved from the front gill arches of ancient fish, which could happily survive less one pair of gills. Flowers – crucial for reproduction in plants that possess them – are simply modified leaves. In both cases, a redundant part

evolves into something very useful, a process known as duplication and divergence, and adds complexity. Genes are subject to the same principle.

The author devotes considerable time to some of the major complexity jumps in evolutionary history – the earliest cells, the intercellular ‘Velcro’ that allowed the first multicellular creatures to evolve, the Cambrian explosion of animal life 500 million years ago, the evolution of heads, and of the human brain.

Along the way, he takes us on a whirlwind tour that includes the cell, genetics, developmental biology, the scientific method and the history of evolutionary theory.

Rather than spending too much time focusing on small evolutionary jumps – the frequency of black moths for example – the author implores us to look at the big picture. While thinking of how complexity has evolved might invoke the image of a vertical ladder from microbes to humans, it’s a ladder that has many branches, with the greatest number of organisms – the very successful, but relatively simple bacteria – spread out on a lawn at the bottom. “Evolution is part lawn, part bush, part tree, part ladder. It defies simple models,” the author writes.

The author’s natural style of argument is based on careful consideration and qualification, and refreshingly, he avoids sweeping statements about science or theology.

His writing style is engagingly clear, and he frequently evokes simple metaphors to explain complex ideas.

Creatures of Accident is a pleasure to read, and is difficult to put down when tackling the most interesting subject matter.

If Creatures of Accident has a flaw, it is perhaps that theological discussion is left to the last chapter, meaning it

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 28 Page 36

can read like more of an afterthought.

But this is a small criticism. Creatures of Accident is primarily a science book, and an excellent one at that.

Arthur’s conclusion is that “there is no more reason for a rational scientist to be a committed atheist than a committed theist”. He argues that no evidence exists for or against the existence of a deity, so advocates for agnosticism. Taking such a view means Creatures of Accident won’t spark the kind of controversy that other books teetering on the border between science and theology have in recent years, but it does make this one of the most sensible additions to that collection. This is a highly engaging and lucidly written account of a topic – the evolution of complexity - that thus far appears to have been neglected. It will interest experts and amateurs alike.

Creatures of Accident: The Rise of the Animal Kingdom Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux Author: Professor Wallace Arthur.

SPIN

Du Noyer

photographic competitioN

Granite along the shore photographed by David Kirk, one of the entries from last year.

Entries are invited for the 10th Du Noyer Geological Photography Competition

George Victor Du Noyer, who served as a geologist with the Geological Survey of Ireland from 1847 to 1869, was a skilled field artist whose numerous sketches and pictures, with their combination of artistic skill and technical accuracy, were the “field photographs” of their day. This competition seeks to encourage the same blend of artistic and scientific skills through the medium of photography.

Total prize money of €800 will be awarded in two categories, Irish and Foreign.

There will be 3 prizes in the Irish category – 1st Prize €300, 2nd Prize €200 and 3rd Prize €100. The Foreign Category Winner will receive a prize of €200.

All photographs entered must be clearly labelled with the following information: • Name • Address • Telephone number • Email of entrant/photographer • Short description of geological content • Place and Date when taken Please write on a label and stick it onto the back of the photographs, or include

a note with each entry. DO NOT WRITE ON THE PHOTOGRAPH. Entrants may submit a maximum of 4 photographs, illustrating any aspect of field geology or scenic landscapes.

Images must be prints of not less than 6 x 4 inches. These prints may be accompanied by a digital image, if available.

Both successful and unsuccessful entrants will be notified by e-mail.

The competition will be judged by a panel including representatives of the IGA, the GSI and external nominees and their decision will be final. Entries will be exhibited and prizes awarded at a GSI Cunningham Awards ceremony in early December.

We are not in a position to return

entry material. GSI reserves the right to reproduce entries in its publications and promotional activity with due acknowledgement.

Entries should be posted in an envelope marked “Du Noyer Competition” to: Cartography Unit, Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Haddington Rd, Dublin 4.

Evaluation Criteria • Creativity (25 marks) • Technical Skill of the Photographer (25 marks) • Geological Content of Photograph (50 marks)

The closing date for entries is: Friday, 12th October 2008 SPIN

Science Week Ireland will run this year from 9 – 16 November, with over 400 events taking place nationwide.

The theme for Science Week Ireland

To find out what events are taking place in your

2008 is ‘Science – Shaping Our World.’

area and how to get involved please visit the

Celebrating the International Year of Planet

Science Week website www.scienceweek.ie

Earth, Science Week Ireland 2008 will examine emerging technologies, the latest movements in science & engineering and also predict how science may influence the way we shape the future of our planet.

Making a Difference To celebrate the International Year of Planet Earth, the Science Week Guide will not be published this year, thus reducing Science Week Ireland’s carbon footprint and helping to shape our future.

So make sure to log on regularly to www.scienceweek.ie which will be updated on a regular basis with news, competitions and new events taking place in your region.