News Snippets: ITC Snippets(1-2001) is a draft being prepared for publishing here.
Please advise me of any corrections or suggestions on design, spelling (European
English) or syntax: mailto:Sean.Cawley@itcarlow.ie
Waldron’s Monkey
Not seen since the 1970s, Waldron's Red Colubus Monkey is regarded as
extinct. So also are the Dodo bird, the Tasmanian Wolf, the Oahu tree snail,
the dusky seaside sparrow and 98% of the species known to have onetime lived
on earth.
In Earth's history, according to Allison Cerreño (Science, Dec. 2000), there have been five known mass extinctions
of life. The largest, about 240 million years ago, is said to have resulted
in 80%-96% of all species being extinguished. The most advertised, 65 million
years ago, killed all the remaining dinosaurs. The World Conservation Union
says that during the last 100 years 40 fish species have disappeared from
North America and 18 mammal species from Australia.
Past extinctions happened quickly, some hundreds of thousands of years
per event. It is feared that the current, 6th great extinction, is happening
at a far greater speed than any of the others and is caused by human activity
rather than the environmental or ecological upheavals earlier.
Although mightily destructive, we should not discount humankind's capacity
to change behaviour.
Fitsense FS-1
Recommended by your newsletter editor: Strap this device on your foot:
read pace, distance and calories burned, from the wrist display. A modern
pedometer, $200, see http://www.fitsense.com
Best Conductor (Science Dec 2000)
Carbon nanotubes, the only elemental substance which can act both as a
metal and as a semiconductor, has been shown to be the best conductor of heat
known. Plastics with embedded carbon nanotubes could in principle withstand
high temperatures without melting.
Experts in the US Sandia National Laboratories at Albuquerque, have successfully
hacked into all thirty three Government and industry super computer systems,
which they set as a task to test the security systems. They conclude that
no computer is safe from competent outsiders. One of the team designed a simulation
system that rebuffed the other members of the team.
Xianggong (1998)
This Chinese physical exercise belongs to the Qigong breathing-improvement regime. Shaojin Duan et. al. showed that
35, older (~58) diabetic patients, following one year of xianggong, reported
a significant improvement in depression index, body weight, satisfying sleep,
‘spirit’, appetite and vision. The article, p504, in Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences, volume 854, 1998, Towards Prolongation of the Healthy
Life Span (Practical Approaches to Intervention), is one of the research
frontiers works in a 524 page review. Cell biology, mutation, nitric oxide,
mitochondrial decay and antioxidants are among the many subject well worth
a read. The layman will benefit but a smattering of biochemistry will enhance
enjoyment.
Editor: A copy of these
Annals may be borrowed from the editor.
Prejudice (2001)
“We are blinded by our own prejudices as much as by the difficulty of
deciphering the true meaning of dolphin vocalisations”, says Jim Mastro, Carlsbad,
California. It is clear from current research that dolphins can decide what
to do, convey that information to another dolphin, including the timing of
a physical performance and then perform that exercise in unison. We have yet
to decipher their vocalisations.
Mastro once worked in a research laboratory where he had to herd sea lions
into their pens in the evening away from a dolphin which remained in the main
pool. One day the sea lions refused to go. Heretofore always disinterested,
the dolphin came up to Jim and began to vocalise agitatedly. Jim waved his
hand at the dolphin and said “White, why don’t you do me a favour and chase
those guys out of there?” Since this was the first time Mastro had any interaction
with the dolphin he was stunned to see her swim straight for the sea lions
who fled out of the tank, crazy-eyed. White returned to Mastro and began vocalising.
When Jim came out of shock, he threw her a fish. She refused the fish with
a jerk of her head as though she were insulted. “We locked eyes, and in that
instant I saw a keen mind at work”, Jim said.
The Dolphin has the largest brain per unit of body mass other than humans.
It is likely that it is our limited ability to decipher their language that
denies us the unbelievably valuable knowledge that we could gain by conversing
with and learning from them. Tiochaidh an lá.
Pity the
Nearly Blind (2001)
Imagine if you could only see 5% of the matter in your field of view but
you had to teach about your surroundings to someone similarly afflicted.
Astronomers can account for about 100 billion galaxies (some 1022
stars), yet a lot of evidence (e.g. the bending of light from distant sources
because of gravity) points to this ordinary
matter, making up only 5% of the universe. The 95% is thought to consist
of a bath of subatomic particles that provides the infrastructure and a mysterious
kind of energy which determines its shape and the fate of the universe. Fritz
Zwicky in 1930 discovered that galaxies were whizzing around too fast for
the gravity of identified matter within them.
This “dark matter” is illusive, thought be composed of an as yet unseen
Nutralinos and Axions. Neither has an electric charge, are very small and
therefore encounters with visible matter would be rare. For example an axion
is predicted to have only one million-nillionth the mass of an electron and
in a strong magnetic field would have a small propensity towards decay to
pure energy. Laboratories in Japan, Italy and the USA are none-the-less trying
to find them. Then there is “dark energy”; while dark matter will causes the
mutual attraction of matter, “dark energy”
is said to be the explanation of the fact that the universe is expanding
faster than the force of gravity suggests it can. All this according to Michael
S. Turner, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, The
Sciences, Nov 2000, page 32.
Some calculations: 95% of the universe
is made of stuff we have not identified, 4% is made up of clouds of extremely
hot hydrogen and helium gas-ordinary matter but generally invisible-. Nearly
half of 1% is made up of invisible neutrinos left over from the “big bang”,
leaving 0.5% for the material in all the stars and galaxies. All the elements
manufactured since the big bang i.e. carbon, oxygen, iron and all of the periodic
table, except hydrogen and helium constitute 2 in 10,000 parts (0.02%) of
the universe. Consider that except for a minuscule part of our local sun’s
system, the rest of the universe is so far away as to take eons for its light
to reach us. If so, what assurance do we have that much of that universe has
not long since been annihilated, is collapsing on top of us,
swallowed up by black holes or is otherwise in the throws of transformation.
It is humbling to consider our insignificance.
Editor: Of course the jury
is still out on this one and there is another factor that (nearly) every known
particle has been shown to have an antiparticle, with opposite charge or opposite
spin. When matter encounters anti matter they mutually annihilate one another.
Some Swiss workers have produced a whole antimatter atom. There are those
who conjecture that if both kinds of matter existed in the universe then the
universe would quickly disappear. There are two views, the one that after
the “big bang” the production of matter
and anti matter was unequal and after annihilation, we are left with one form
(matter to you). Then there is my theory that both forms exist out there but
for some reason they avoid one another most of the time. There is also the
tiny (literally) matter of the black holes. Recent work shows that they are
much more numerous than had been thought. There is a black hole, according
to current evidence, in the Milky Way just on our door step. And you thought
there was no solution to the waste management problem!
“What is the stars”, Joxer says. The wonder of these things, the discovery
of two new questions when one has just been answered, is reason enough to
spur us to improve science education.
Sexy Stuff (2000)
A recent article in nature has shown that life begins when
the sperm releases a cache of nitric oxide gas, produced by the nitric oxide
synthase enzyme. The oxide initiates a rapid cascade of chemical reactions,
catapulting the cell into cell division. Cloning and infertility research,
and more will follow an understanding of this nitric-oxide pathway.
Smallpox (2000)
One of the most famous successes of science has been the elimination of
the smallpox virus from the human population. Supplies of the virus are still
held in two (US and Russian) laboratories. It is suspected that supplies may
also be held elsewhere. The WHO will discuss again, in 2002, if supplies should
be destroyed. Clearly the destruction would rid the world of this vicious
scourge. The reason why President Clinton did not destroy US supplies as scheduled
in June 2000, is said to include (i) a need to study its DNA, to learn how
it succeeds in fooling our immune system and (ii) to develop treatment against
bioterrorist attacks by smallpox or similar poxes.
Diamond
Scam (20000
Materials Today v.3, no. 3, notes the turmoil caused by General Electric
(USA) announcement that they had developed an ‘undetectable’ method of converting
low-value brown diamonds into colourless gem quality stones. Enhancing and
removing colour in diamonds is possible using high-pressure, high-temperature
(HPHT) techniques. A range of experimental conditions gives rise to a diverse
range of outcomes. Current research on weak photoluminescence, Raman and IR
spectroscopy however, in the hands of an experienced and well remunerated!,
operator can identify absorption profiles that detect HPHT annealing treatments.
Polymer Stuff (2000)
SME concerns will be helped by the European network of researchers into
polymerisation, which is soliciting membership from interested institutions;
see www.aimplas.es.
Also, Russian Mikhail
N Bochkarev, mboch@imoc.sinn.ru would
like contact in relation his apparent breakthrough in lanthanide complexes
as catalysts for polymerisation. Lanthanide hydrides, complexed with tetrahydrofuran
have been studied, in which Eu, Sm and Yb are the lanthanide in question.
The average polymer mass varies from 150,000 to 1,000,000, depending on the
metal.
Silcon Nanowires (2000)
A few atoms thick, these wires are composed of silicon, aluminium and
hydrogen and posses unique properties. Because of their size, quantum mechanical
effects will alter the operation of future generations of electronic devices
over and above a simpler matter of the scaling involved. The schottky barrier
height, doping, semiconducting properties and handling the wave nature of
the electron are all concerns of current researchers.
Dr.
Zbig Sobiesierski
(Jan 2001)
Pioneered and being offered by Carlow physics
staff now for nie on a quarter of a century, the
Tyndall School’s Lecture got off to a fine start in the Institute on 31/1/01,
with a Light and its Perception theme. The Institute’s own students, staff
and some 60 school children had to be excluded from the standing-room-only,
lecture-demonstration, held in the new lecture hall. Zbig interactively demonstrated
that vision was a construction of a brain, trying its best to make sense of
what is presented to it. Vision, as we know it, developed in response to our
sun. In other words, the colours we see are those energy (electromagnetic)
waves which our sun emits in greatest profusion. On another planet we would
have developed otherwise (perhaps sensitive in the ultra-violet range only,
in particular, animals in deep caves have developed without the use of ‘eyes’
(perhaps sensing by infra red waves?) and, as we all know, Superman’s sensitivity
for x-rays provided him with a form of vision conditioned on the planet Krypton!
Sobiesierski, a physicist, who holds a Masters’
degree in communicating science, demonstrated a laser beam carrying pop music
across an open room, artfully demonstrated polarisation and the physics of
light generally, in an intuitive and exciting way. The high standard set by
the Tyndall lecturers attracted to the college has been maintained and for
this we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Vallely, who managed the Carlow end
of the lecture. Its 2001 tour continued at the RDS, UCC, UCG and QUB.
Perhaps in future we could fix the sound and
clanging louvres in the gymnasium and accommodate a larger audience, or even
hold two sessions of the lecture/demonstration. We dare not minimise that
value that these lectures by the best performers, is to our young scientifically
starved youngsters and the subsequent affect this can have on recruitment
to all disciplines. Of course, that is if we have already treated them hospitably
and excitingly in these halls.
Editor: As has happened on
other public occasions there was a technology glitch. It is desirable for
such events that a caretaker, security or/and a technology literate person
would be on immediate standby.
Feynman (1999)
If diogenes were marooned on a desert island, he would like to have a
copy of The Pleasure of Finding Things
Out, by Nobel Laureate, Richard P Feynman, Perseus Books 1999. Feynman
realised very early the difference between knowing what something is called
and knowing something. Feynman, the father of nanotechnology, was a world-stature
scientist, a talented enthralling lecturer, safecracker extraodinaire and
wiseacre.
The book is based on a series of interviews and articles in a narrative
short-story style. If you have something of the child, scientist, educator
or humanist in you or would like a glimpse into that world, the book is compulsive
reading.
Virtual Reality (2000)
A member of staff recently received a real serious e-mail to the effect:
“University Diplomas for Bachelors, Masters, MBA, PhD in the field of your
choice, no one is turned down, no tests, classes, books or interviews. Apply
to:” Certificates@CarlowIT.ie:” [we have disguised the e-mail address which
was given]
Tableau (1995)
Secret agent has unearthed a book entitled Tableau No 1 in Science Culture, Edited by Helen Brown and Jane O’Reilly,
published by Tableau Networks, Cork RTC 1995. The publication consists of
six papers on a variety of mainly-science subjects, from astronomy to ‘the
thinking radish’ and the harmonic oscillator. Beautifully illustrated by their
Crawford arts division, the book acknowledges as facilitators, the Director,
Registrar, Financial Controller, Assistant Principal and Head of the Social
Studies Department. The paper by John Murphy, Science Appeal is most illuminating. It alludes to the unwisdom of
leaving science to the scientists, drawing on philosophy and education theory
to make a number of his points. He asks if students should be allowed to avoid
a subject because they claim it is difficult. He suggests the development
of science and art interdisciplines. It is a pity however that perhaps only
scientists will read this article. Methinks the subject matter is more relevant
to others.
Optical Switch (Jan 2001)
Lene Hua of Harvard University Physics Department and her team have produced
light with a velocity of 28 metres per second. A laser pulsed through sodium
gas held at 0.9 micro Kelvin degrees, was reduced to 28ms-1, thereafter
resuming its normal velocity. By using a coupling laser, the pulse beam is
absorbed by the Na atoms and released coherently after the coupling laser is turned off. This technique
for ‘storing’ a coherent pulse, could herald a brave new future for optical
electronics light switching (photonics actually) and contribute massively
to quantum computing. Those into science may need to brush up on their velocity
versus group velocity stuff and their spectroscopic energy-levels transitions.
See Nature, vol.409, p 490. 2001-18 0157:H7 (Jan
2001)
E.coli 0157:H7 causes symptoms
in 75,000 people in the USA, annually. There is no effective treatment. It
is quite frequently fatal. A few outbreaks have been found in Ireland. There
is a genome map in Nature vol.409, page 530. Educated citizens should be harrowing
their politicians until this bug is defined as a notifiable disease. Since
this, usually food-borne microbe can spread and multiply so quickly, it is
important to investigate the source and stop it quickly. Notification would
then be a legal obligation and more likely to encourage action earlier rather
than after deaths or epidemics have occurred.
The Jurist (2000)
Diogenes has again been abroad and tripped over a copy of the annual legal
journal, The Irish Jurist, 2000. This is no lightweight publication and those
who know the legal profession will know that they spend very little time in
mutual admiration. It is all the more refreshing then, that Professor W.N.
Osborough of UCD, in reviewing our Dr Michael Farry’s book Education and the Constitution, Round Hall Sweet and Maxwell, 1996,
says that it “ achieves a high standard of critical comment” and goes on to
illustrate at length, the strength of the various chapters. Osborough, noting there have been developments
since the book’s publication, says “remains valid and of very considerable
utility”. The review advises that the book should present ‘no insuperable
intellectual challenge to patient teachers of any level’ and is… ‘undeniably
of crucial political significance’.
Nice to see one of our own so highly regarded on the national stage.
Entreprenurialship (1999)
A programme to help young entrepreneurs to set up there own businesses
was pioneered in DIT, which provides instruction material and advice on how
to set up your own business. This programme was extended to all the ITs a
few years ago. WIT expended £118,920 on this activity in 1999 according to
the Operational Programme for Industrial Development,
South-East Region, Annual report 1999.
Also the South East Regional
Authority’s Annual Report 1999, is a useful guide to employment, budget utilisation,
waste management, EU Community Support Framework, teleworking, cultural and
information strategies.
Editor: Our Bob Stacey serves
on that Authority. Former Carlow
Engineering staff member, Dave Kennedy, now in DIT is highly skilled in business
development activity and had contributed to Carlow’s student enterprise programme.
Hypertension
(Feb 2001)
A CNN health-watch report has it that babies who were breast-fed have
a lower propensity to high blood pressure later in life. This writer, while
predisposed to agree with practices that are millions of years old, would
be happier with sight of the full epidemiological evidence so as to rule out
life-style, ethnicity and other factors. Nonetheless, CNN tends to attempt
to be objective (the US presidential election results aside).
Doubtful (1964)
Nobel laureate Richard Feynman considers the determining feature of a
scientist and his consequential implication that of the mentally secure human
person, is her freedom to doubt. He also assumes that not knowing, is the
preferred and by implication happier state, than that of knowing. For, he
concludes, that there is no point in seeking
(happy scientist) to know, if you already do know. This interesting viewpoint
contrasts with the stereotypical scientist who cannot accept anything unless
they can prove it to be true.
The one view often refutes the existence of God because he cannot prove
the proposition to be true. Feynman on the other hand refutes that proposition
because it is a doubtful proposition!
Whether scientists, churchmen, trade union negotiators or otherwise professed,
it is amazing how we can all write the conclusion first and fill in the report
later. Or write the minute of a meeting before it is held.
Free Service to Staff (2000)
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk
will give you free access to “Teach yourself Internet skills tutorials”.
Some 36 tutorials are in the pipeline, each tailored to a different discipline,
for example “Internet for Lawyers”. Students, teachers and researchers will
find them of value.
Salary Increase (Feb. 2001)
Sixty one year old David Komansjky, CEO of Merrill Lynch, drew down a
salary of $32.5million over the last year, an 88% rise on the previous year.
Rumour has it that his comment that he would name his successor this year,
might be subject to review.
We are in it Together (Feb. 2001)
In response to the Government’s Task Force on the physical sciences, the
Association of Heads of School of Science have submitted a paper recommending:
1. A welcome for the establishment
of the task force and endorsement of the recommendations of the
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science’s Report on Science
and Technology and the ICSTI reports on science in primary and second
level schools.
2.
That the Institutes should play a major role in the Science Education
Technical Support Centres proposed by the joint committee.
3.
That one member of staff from each institute should be seconded for a
three-year period to the activities of these support centres.
4.
Collectively, the ITs should co-operate with the Education Centres, Unions,
Universities, Industry and other interested parties in pursuance of the joint
committee’s recommendations on primary and secondary education.
5.
At the speed of light (Feb. 2001)
Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Rowland
Institute for Science and Harvard University have
succeeded in slowing down the speed on light in a cell by up to one millisecond.
The feat, in two cases, depends on cooling a gas of alkali metals (rubidium
and sodium) to very low temperatures and bombarding it first with a coupling
laser and then a probe laser. The first laser is said to change the electron
populations in two energy levels (presumably putting electrons in a high energy
state). The second resonantly excites one of the affected energy levels (this
writer presumes the lower, depleted population level) and a third energy level.
The effect of the coupling laser, in addition to altering the populations
so that absorption of the second laser cannot go ahead, is to increase the
refractive index of the medium, at the frequency of the probe laser.
Thus the light pulse from the probe laser is slowed down. When the coupling
laser is turned off, the pulse
gets absorbed (or trapped inside the cell). When it is turned back on the pulse is regenerated, with all
the information it carried before it hit the cell. In theory the light can
be stopped and its speed reduced to zero.
In case you would run out to celebrate this achievement, note might be
taken that the ‘immutable’ speed of light refers to the group velocity of light travelling in a vacuum and may still be immutable. There are those unbelievers
however who doubt Einstein’s hypothesis that the speed of light is a universal
invariant constant C.
Readers may also be interested in work at the University of Toronto, reported
last year, which showed that a new chemical material has been produced that
can trap light inside a manufactured ‘empty ‘ cell and hold it there indefinitely.
Foetusless (Feb. 2001)
The Irish Times reports that stem cells, so vital in repairing brain damage,
have been isolated from placentas and umbilical cords. A welcome pressure
off the ‘commercial’ demand for aborted foetuses.
Alive alive oh (Nov. 2000)
The Irish Scientist, Millennium edition is out. It is with excitement
that I scanned the pages of this huge full-colour magazine report (each item
short), covering much of the excellent work being done in Ireland. Date rape
and the specific substances involved is covered, four articles concerning
work at Carlow, “the most innovative courses in the country” offered by Dun
Laoghaire Institute of Technology!, “the moon is receding from the earth at
the rate of 3.8cm per year”, “mhionscrúdú patrúin tuin éagsúla” are included.
The laymanese style is accessible to everyone. Do have a read. Much of the
contents will impact on business, health and industry in the not too distant
future.
Editor: It has not sunk
in to the general public and many of us even in the business that the rate
of change in society is continuing to accelerate. The amount of things
still to be found out is actually increasing as new science opens escalating
avenues of further study. It may be too late for you and I but be assured
you cannot prepare your children or those in your care sufficiently in the
sciences, to allow them to cope with their future. The explosion in biotechnology
and optronics alone will leave the high speed computer and telecom developments
in the snail mail lane.
Alzheimer’s (Dec. 2000)
Christopher Janus et of the University of Toronto Medical Faculty, have
shown that an amyloid b-peptide ‘vaccine’
administered to mice, significantly reduced plaques in the brain and improved
learning performances. Tests will now be carried out on humans.
Editor: On another health
theme, an acquaintance bought one of those £5000 homeopathy machines. When
an aunt was plugged in, it registered ‘foot and mouth disease’. Since the
aunt’s hooves are not cloven, so far as is known, it was bemusing. On the
other hand the machine operator did not know that hand
foot and mouth disease does attack humans and is fatal for some babies
and old folk. Some serious outbreaks have recently occurred in Singapore and
thereabouts!
Whoosh…
(Dec. 2000)
Astrophysicist Norm Murray, tier I chair holder at the University of Toronto,
notes that huge (like Jupiter) planets circle around distant stars every three
days. Since life exists on planet
earth, it is interesting to note that 60 new planets have been discovered
since 1995. Jupiter takes 12 years to go around the sun! His novel explanation
proposes that the planet ejects material ‘out the back’ sufficient to increase
its speed (remember action and opposite reaction when you went to school?).
Sounds like clutching at straws to this respondent; enigmatic just the same.
Western (Jan. 2001)
Nice to see the University of Western Ontario publishing Information and
its full income and expenditure accounts and future projections. Total expenditure
was C$295m, operating on a 47% Government grant the Foundation fund stood
at C$73m (largely donations) see http://www.uwo.ca/wetern/Budget2001/.
A lovely idea they have there, that a graduating class or another, for
$500, can plant a tree and a plaque to celebrate their graduation or to commemorate
a dead colleague etc.
2001-43 A turbulent existence (Dec 2000)
An instrument in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has two arms, each of four kilometres
long, at right angles, which meet at a vertex. A laser beam is split at the
vertex and sent down each arm, being then reflected back. A gravitational
wave is expected to shrink one arm and elongate the other. Interference in
the returning beams can show down to a billionth of a wavelength of light,
variations in the lengths of the arms. Another device in Hanford, Washington
will carry out experiments in parallel. The mirrors will wobble due to the
uncertainty in the photon impacts on them, among other effects. A side effect
of the experiment will give some insight into the frothy uncertainty in time
and space at very short distances and in particular what is likely to be happening
close to the nucleus and when small particles get close together. It should
not be assumed that space and time behave like our world appears to, down
at these minute distances.
Bursaries (Mar 2001)
The London Youth Science Fortnight interviews, were conducted on 22/3/01, by Joe Feeley, Ita Mitchell and
Frank Quinn, who interviewed three science and two engineering first year
students. Science student Orla Dunne was adjudged the best candidate under
the regulations. Thanks are due to the NCEA for funding the trip and Ita for
coordinating. We know that Orla will enjoy it and be enriched by her interaction
with students from some 70 nations and exposure to experts in several fields
of science and visits to famous science, industry and medical facilities.
Well done Orla, Ita, panel and all those who support the programme.
Intel awards: Four science and
one networking first year student’s names were forwarded to (23/3/1 by e-mail
attachment) for the Intel £2000 per annum (through to graduation) bursary
and summer work offer. Rae Jordan and Ray Benson organised the not inconsiderable
task of cajoling students into making application.
Right-side Brain (18-22 April 2001)
Carlow Choral Society performed in the Irish Ambassador’s residence in
Rome and at the Basilicas of San Clemente and San Sabena. The choir also rendered
Deus Meus adiuva me, in an underground
mass service, adjacent to the original (San Callistus, 35 acres of burials
on four levels, to a depth of over 80 feet) catacombs interment site, of the
bones of martyred St Cecelia, patron saint of music. A visit to the Eternal
City is an unforgettable, mind-expanding seminal experience. Overuse of descriptive
superlatives leaves this writer short of ways to express the overload of visual
and auditory stimulation raining in from even any, small, randomly chosen
area of this modern city. Surely no city on earth can present such awe-inspiring,
incongruous to some, experiences.
A young Irish priest, from Belfast, is studying
theology in the ancient basilica of San Anselma, it being adjacent to the
oldest continuously used church in Rome, San Sabena, founded in 432AD,
it being the world headquarters of the Benedictine order, whose Secretary
General is an Irishman, McCarthy. The young priest receives the issues of
the Applied Mathematics Journal, because of his love affair with astrophysics.
Art, archives, architecture, science, literature and history abound; the ancient
infuses every square metre, modern progress lying accommodatingly comfortable
between. Cicero’s De Senectute, Augustus Ceasar’s De Belli Gallico and stories of tribunes’ triumphal entries along
the Appian Way are no longer divorced, distant or dead.
Mille grazie Roma, arrivederci. This writer will return.
Management Interference (2001)
Michelangelo Buonarroti was pretty fed up and had to be coaxed to finish
the work on the Sistine and Pauline Chapels. The Pope of the day had his own
ideas of what should be done, how it should be done and where particular pieces
should be sequenced. Little of this tension strikes the visitor to the Vatican
Museums. Any but the completely brain dead must be awe-inspired at the grandeur
and extent of the works of science, art, history and archaeology surrounding,
rather than displayed to, the visitor. You must exit through a window along
a catwalk some 5 stories above street level and renter through another window
to continue your logistically structured tour of this world famous museum.
Evenso, your feet will wear out long before you finish if you are determined
to enter each exhibition room.
One room, and you could easily miss it is air-conditioned and light controlled.
It houses Raphael Sanzio’s Transfiguration
of Christ. The radiance and detail of the master’s work amazes, could
it be back-lighted, one wonders? Said
never to have been publicly released, it was first seen at the foot of Raphael’s
bier. The transfiguration is flanked, and every other wall of the room covered,
by the famous tapestries, some extending to 30 feet in linear dimensions,
cartooned by Raphael and executed in Belgium from 1516 to 1524. The most celebrated
works of Rubens, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio and so on, in wall-to-wall
profusion, envelope the visitor as he returns to the main tour route. A day
might easily have been passed on that detour alone, and still there is perhaps
a mile or more to go.
Prepare to want to return to the Vatican Museums and another 18,000Lira.
Throughput traffic is carefully controlled by streaming the initial entry
and by the tangible psychological urge to move forward uni-directionally to
the Sistine Chapel. All in all an indigestion of right brain nourishment.
Another Protein (2001)
Michael Julius, a University of Toronto professor has discovered a protein
in breast milk that ‘jump-starts’ the newborn’s immune system. While other
babies will eventually develop full immune systems, breastfed babies will
be healthier and more robust, he says. The protein will be studied as a possible
additive to ‘formulas’.
E-males (2001)
Studies show that dating by e-mail is growing in Canada (over one million
have visited dating sites). Males outnumber females by 2 to 1 on the net and
tend to be well educated, employed and sociable. They also tend be less than
accurate 25% of the time, about such matters as age, appearance and marital
status. That being said, its an alternative for the busy female who may not
get out to clubs, bars or cafés frequently enough.
Fat (2001)
Canadian scientists have found impaired memory and learning, in rats who
were fed on a high fat diet. Glucose given to these high-fat rats significantly
improved their memories.
Nenagh (1901)
John Desmond Bernal, world famous crystallographer and founder of the
modern discipline of molecular biology was born in Nenagh and received his
early schooling locally, according to Charles Mollen. One of his students
won a nobel prize in chemistry, she, Dorothy Hodgkin, protested that it should
have been a joint award with Bernal. JD’s prolific activities, included such
writings as The Social Function of Science,
Science in History are said to have been responsible for his not winning
Nobel Prizes several times over, had he just stuck with a limited range of
pursuits. Colourful and intellectually remarkable Bernal died of stroke complications
in 1971.
Electronic Winners (May 2001)
Well done to staff who helped with the application process and the students
who won the Intel Scholarships: A £2000 per annum scholarship, till graduation,
plus summer work has been won by Thomas Foley (1st year electronics).
Runner up prizes were also awarded to - Orla Dunne (Science) and Stephen Syder
(Electronics)
Tooth Fairy (May 2001)
A recent newspaper report advises that a number of County Councils are
considering their policy of adding fluoride to drinking water. The article
is devoid, as are many newspaper items, of factual information. This is not
surprising due to the avoidance of the study of science at school. The paper
quotes dentists as afraid that the public may be alarmed by 'unsubstantiated'
adverse evidence. The paper does offer that Ireland’s
dental health is sixth in Europe (behind five who do not add fluoride to their
water) It is alarming that ill informed dental
technicians can pontificate to the great unwashed, ill-informed public,
about matters which they clearly do not themselves understand. Statistically
valid results establishing tooth of gum disease to dietary fluoride deficiency
appear to be grossly deficient. The issue is "what quantity of fluoride,
and in what form is the optimum intake of fluoride for the average human"
and then "how does this vary according to the ethnicity, physiology and
state of health of the individual". It is definite that excess fluoride,
often increased by food, tooth paste and fluids, can cause gum lesions and
other damage. The argument could be settled by adequate study. For example
what is the average intake of fluoride in those countries that have a lower
disease rate? What percentage of this comes from what source. How does this
intake compare with the intake in Ireland? Given the current state of knowledge
the wisest course of action would be to immediately half the level of fluoride
added to Irish drinking water.
Filthy habit (May 2001)
Cleaning yourself to death, by Pat Thomas,
New Leaf [2001, Gill and Mcmillan Ltd] (jmarms@irish-times.ie) reports
that several thousand chemicals, mostly obtained from petrochemicals are used
in 'fragrance' manufacture. Only some 20% have been tested for safety, most
of these have been found toxic to humans, (some of which are said to produce
cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders, allergic reactions,
and skin irritation). Potential chronic problems can include (we need to separate
this 'scare' sentence from its true statistically relevant meaning) asthma,
headaches, migraines, inability to concentrate, mood changes, nausea, short-term
memory lapse, restlessness, depression, lethargy and sinus pain, says the
author. her is some truth in here but there
clearly is need to (i) study the safety
of the remaining thousands of chemical s and (ii) we need to have legislation
which is as binding as food additives are when it comes to deliberate injection
of chemicals into the air we breath. Second hand fragrance will shortly be
as serious a threat as second hand smoke and in the US many buildings have
been declared 'fragrance free'
ICI Congress (25 May 2001)
The Institute of Chemistry of Ireland came to Carlow for its Annual Congress
adopting as its theme Chemistry and
the Environment.
|
Papers were delivered
by Padraic Larkin EPA on The role of
the Chemist in Protecting the Environment, Imelda Shanahan, TMS Environmental
Ltd. On Effectiveness Strategies for
Reducing National Emission of Greenhouse Gases and SO2, Sean Marshall,
AGB Scientific on Environmental Measurement
in the Regulated Laboratory, Ian McAuliffe, Glaxo Smith Kline on Environmental control in a pharmaceutical
manufacturing facility, Ken Macken, EPA Thermal
treatment of waste, Teri Hayes, KTCullen Water and Ground Water Quality, and Gerald Fleming, Met Éireann on Climate Change –what we know and what we
don’t know. A most entertaining ÉANNA Ní Lamhna, on a pet subject gave
The fauna of Ireland an evening dinner address, in the Kilkea Castle Golf
Club, The fauna of Ireland.
President, Professor
Pratt opened proceedings and later asked the Head of the School of Science
to convey the Institutes thanks and appreciation to the Board of Governors
and the Director.
Dr Larkin pointed to the unknown affects of mixtures on humans and the
environment. Of the millions of substances in use he said that only ten had
been fully tested for ill factors. He said that it costs some €5 million to
fully test one chemical. Green chemistry, he said is a concept that should
now be adopted by chemists, that is choosing chemicals and chemical pathways
likely to minimise the adverse environmental effects.
Sean Marshall embarked, for the purists,
on a tour de force in respect of laboratories’ need to guarantee that instruments
are maintained in a state of adequate-for-purpose.
Dr Imelda Shanahan presented the meeting with
the current state of readiness under the Kyoto protocol. While huge reductions
in CO2 levels could be achieved by limiting major energy producers
reliance on solid fuels, she expressed disappointment with the lack of personal
individual engagement in reducing greenhouse gases and waste generally. Her
view is that it looks increasingly difficult to guarantee that Ireland will
meet its obligations, especially in view of the lack of scientific awareness
and essential commitment to action among the public.
Dr Ken Macken pointed out that the reason
why incineration is objected to is because of the production of dioxins (chlorobiphenyls
and furans). These are collectively known to produce cancer in humans at very
low levels of exposure. He noted that the production of dioxins DOES require
the presence of chlorine atoms (frequently included as an element in plastics
and some pesticides). He went on to say that the EU minimum ingestion level
for dioxins was 7picogrammes per Kg of body weight. Current technology however
allows burning material down to a level of 0.01pg per cubic metre of down
stream air. This level is considerably less than the amount found normally
in one glass of milk.
Ian McAuliffe gave a most thorough expose
of the methodologies in use in SKB in Cork, to deal with all gas, liquid and
solid effluent (waste) from their plant. A clear economic advantage accrued
by using waste as a feedstock or for other productive purposes. Considerable
care is also shown in the softening of otherwise visible harshness on the
site.
Teri Hayes presented a most informative
analysis of the hydrogeological cycle for rain and its percolation underground.
In particular she showed how polluting materials in the soil could travel
at from some metres per year to some kilometres per day depending on the soil
or ground characteristics. Accordingly the residence time underground, the
ground temperature, the distance from the source and the nature of the pollutant
will all have a bearing on the quality of water extracted from the ground,
whether the polluting agent be biological or other material.
Gerald Fleming, well known for his presenting
the weather forecast, gave the current model of global warming showing a rise
of some 1.5 to 2 degrees centigrade per century. Few realise the dramatic
effect this will cause. The issue is that climate depends on extremely small
differences in several gigantic air mass movements which in turn depends on
the difference between the huge amounts of energy arriving here from the sun
and the huge amount reradiated back out into the atmosphere. Currently we
have injected colossal amounts of CO2 and other gases into our
air. The CO2 absorbs a particular wavelength of the reradiated
energy thus retaining it in the atmosphere.
From Ireland’s perspective most energy arrives at the equator which heats
the air which carries more water aloft. These clouds travel north over the
top of the Azores (high-pressure area) and it drops down in mid Atlantic to
move then into Ireland. The consequence is that we should experience warmer
winters AND colder summers. Gerald notes that the large rises in sea-level
predicted by the model will be caused by the physical expansion of the warmer
water, not so much, as has been incorrectly assumed, by the melting of the
polar icecaps.
Local organisers Una Ní Ghogain and her team, Brigid
O’Regan, Ray Benson, Ita Mitchell, John McGillicuddy, Brian O’Rourke and Nuala
Eades mounted a thoroughly professional Congress and are commended for the
smooth organisation of same. Dr Joe Eades Institute Registrar was a most helpful
as was the Institute of Technology Development Office staff. A number of other
staff lent physical and moral support. Such events are not only and economic
and tourist asset to the community but serve to admit a breath of thought
provoking fuel for the College intellect. Well done all.
Editor: The Kyoto Protocol sets down
a reduction of greenhouse gases, by 2012, of 7% for the US, 8% for Europe
and 6% for Japan, based on a 1990 base year. Ireland has exceeded its 2012
quota already. The US has announced that it does not intend to abide by the
protocol. This writer does not know which nations have currently ratified
the protocol. The NY Academy of Science writes that the US is concerned (i)
that the rate of warming may depend on the higher emissions from the sun (you
could read this as they don’t know if its emissions are LOWER either) and
(ii) that the proposed system where one nation buys an emission quota from
another is unenforceable. There are so many health and economic advantages
to be gained by a reduction in pollution that bureaucratic wrangling should
not be used to prevent a start being made.
Carbon dioxide is said to last 100 years in the atmosphere, methane about
a decade, nitrous oxide about 120 years while chlorofluorocarbons are given
a lifetime of 50,000 years. It takes no expert to see that even with massive
reductions in such gases immediately the damage will stay with us for over
100 years and continuing our profligacy will mean a hugely reduced living
surface, huge UV radiation damage potential and filthy suffocating air, for
those only a few generations hence.
Edtech (25 May 2001)
The second Educational Technology Users Conference was run by Sligo Institute
of Technology. Addressed by Minister Mary O’Rourke, she announced a study
to lay a fibre optic cable from Kerry to Donegal to serve the needs of the
west. The conference heard that the Director at Tallaght had applied for £1.5
million in funding to run a pilot programme of internet courses starting with
e-commerce, manufacturing technology and staff development. The conference
heard that in Ireland 4% of third level students were over 23 while the OECD
average was 40%. The Institutes would not survive said Brian Mulligan of Sligo
unless we could compete with institutions like Columbia University who offer
courses over the net.
Editor: Irish companies
Riverdeep and Smartforce are already leaders in selling course material over
the internet to the US. MIT has announced that it will put most of their courses
up, for free, on the web within 10 years!
Time Management (Timeless)
The Research Student's Guide to Success by Pat Cryer, Open University
Press 1996, is commended to
staff and students alike. Those who have not engaged in deep research
over an extended period of time, to tight deadlines and under the watchful
eye of critical and fastidious supervisors are frequently unlearned in the
techniques necessary to produce excellent
work. Facts can be sloppily or inadequately verified, arguments contradictory,
spelling and grammar at odds with linguistic practice, incommunicative or
even inane. Some make no attempt to remedy their malady or worse still don’t
even recognise it.
Conscientious and thorough study will hone other life skills as well as
those inherent in the subject matter. The researcher should learn what to
do when meetings are cancelled at short notice (p94), when to use the 'psychological' moment (p97) and to cope with
criticism and unprofessional behaviour (pp66-67). The book contains much more
and highly valuable, clearly expounded do’s and don’ts. Highly recommended.
Similar skills can be developed under a similarly critical environment but
there is nothing like the pressure imposed by an internationally respected
supervisor whose reputation might be tarnished by her assent to sloppy work.
Musicality (May 2000)
Barbara Conable in her “The Structures and Movement of Breathing, GIA
Publications 2000 speaks of a number of benefits of singing which carry over
as assets to daily occupations. To those who are not attuned it may be difficult
to appreciate that sitting, standing and body posture generally, which when
suitably practised informs such disparate activities as hiking, tennis, and
even sitting at a computer.
The ideal head, spine, diaphragm, pelvis and relative ankle positions,
for producing good tonal quality also appear to be the most conducive to good
metabolism and posture generally, she says.
Certainly the neck, leg and chest muscles will announce in no uncertain
terms their stress during several hours of practice or performance especially
if an unsuitable posture pertains. It is not so readily appreciated that laryngeal
and throat muscles can so constrict the voice as to downgrade tonal quality
dramatically even if imperceptible to the performer.
Also, music, but signing in particular, acts itself on the physiology
and psychology to effect states of relaxation. Music like art and most emotional
stimulating things is a right brain function but in so saying the effect on
the left brain functions is certain but very little understood. Certainly
the Greeks classified music as an integral part of mathematics.
Singing especially of the bel canto status, refines the skills of concentration,
reading, diction and linguistics as well as providing a modicum of physical
exercise. Certainly mental and physical stress can be relieved through the
act of singing.
Music may in some circles be regarded as a matter of aesthetics or unproductively
artistic. It is of course much more and even if t’were so, these values are
universal and impinge on the rest of existence. Those who profess an ignorance
of music are little removed from those who loudly proclaim an unfamiliarity
with science; confined to walk the earth………..
Don’t deny your children their genius within.
Editor: Carlow town boasts
a number of prize-winning musical groups, a school of music, noted musicians
and a senior choir which can command international repeat performances. The
Institute of Technology contains musicians of note who have attracted national
accolades. A former staff member leads a well-respected brass ensemble in
Waterford. There has always been an opening for artistic studies supportive
of the community in Carlow and the opportunity to do so has not entirely gone.
Bullying. The Health and
Safety Office www.has.ie/osh has a booklet
on Bullying at Work”.
Materials (2000/2001)
The annual TCD alumni and friends trinity
today publication, announces
the new Institute of Advanced Materials which has launched a new degree in
the physics and chemistry of advanced materials. Semiconductors, lasers, optical
fibres, magnetic materials and polymers form the core of the programme. The
University also announces the Visa affinity-card, which grants £10 per year
to a TCD trust fund without cost to the user. The Physics Department has launched
a schools web page to improve children’s perspective on physics. The anti-Bullying
unit of TCD says that it carries out independent investigations into alleged
cases of bullying. Professor Michael Laver responsible for academic management
at TCD, says that a broad curriculum aimed at producing talented individuals
who are intellectually able, self-confident and adaptable is preferred to
presenting students with facts that may soon become outdated.
Choral matters (June 2001)
The Éigse festival (15-24 June) hosted Carlow Youth Choir, Carlow Young
Artists Choir, St Leo’s Chamber Choir and Graiguecullen Men’s and Ladies Choirs,
Carlow Choral Society and other musical ensembles; The RTE Concert Orchestra,
the Army No.1 Band, Róisín Dubh, Juliet Turner, the Saw Doctors and much more
filled out the musical experience.
Carlow Choral Society, recently returned from performances in Rome (San
Clemente, Santa Sabena and the Irish Embassy-a Choral Society Newsletter covering
the event is available from the editor-, performed in the Cathedral of the
Assumption, Carlow on 17th June, with the Orchestra of St Cecilia,
conducted by Blánaid Murphy, accompanist Máire Mannion. The fare included
the mysteriously commissioned Mozart’s Requiem (K626), finished by Sussmeyer,
Laudate Dominum, Ave Verum Corpus, and choral favourites by Bach, Brahms and
others, performed to a full house. The event provided a stage for developing
talents; Collette Boushell (soprano), Marcella Robinson (mezzo), Eamon Mulhall
(tenor), all students at DIT Conservatory of Music and John Dempsey (bass)
a graduate of CIT School of Music, as soloists.
The Society also performed in Carlow (8 Dec), Dublin (NCH-19/20 Dec) and
Halifax (England-21 Oct) and scheduled for the Bach festival in Dublin and
Prague in 2002.
Communicate or
Perish (1997)
“It is the province of knowledge to speak and the privilege of wisdom to listen”
said O W Holmes. J H Lehr writes of boring speakers “They are not sophisticated
and erudite, speaking above our intellectual capability; they are arrogant
thoughtless individuals who insult our very presence by their lack of concern
for our desire to benefit from a meeting which we chose to attend…and should
be punished by stoning”
If you wish to be a good communicator you should read Martha Davis, Scientific
Papers and Presentations, Academic Press 1997, a very sound and comprehensive
review of all the dos and don’ts. Whether it is giving a talk or presenting
slides, a paper, poster or dissertation, chairing a meeting or just listening,
whether you are a teacher, administrator or student or even if only preparing
a table, handbook or short presentation, you should, at the very minimum,
read Lehr’s Editorial on page 263. [Paper reviewing, abstracts, titling, colour,
relative typefaces and more are covered]
Many of us that fail to recognize our own limitations but its worse when
we do not make the effort to learn from experienced hands.
There is a useful book by Clifford Matthews A Guide to Presenting Technical
Information, Professional Engineering Publishing, 2000. Which might be
consulted for its range of different methods of presenting data graphically,
including a treatment of reporting statistics. [A useful pair, in our library]
Moling (Sept. 2001)
Sr Declan, Máire B. de Paor PBVM has published her long awaited Life of
Moling, Saint Moling Luachra, The Columba Press, Dublin 2001. Following
on her recent publication of the life of Saint Patrick, the launch of her
book, by Most Reverend Laurence Ryan in the Carlow County Council Offices
is a fitting tribute to Carlow and the life efforts and dedication of this
respected teacher. Máire has earlier been in demand as a speaker by virtue
of her work on Moling’s Leabhair Bui, including her enumeration of the use
of a long lost technique of writing towards the centre of a story (the punch
line) and receding then towards the end. A paper on this technique, demonstrated
through the Leabhair Bui, is available, as are others of her publications.
You will find some fascinating connections between Kerry, Limerick, Wicklow
and Carlow and dare I say illicit liaisons in the book, not to mention a long
lost writing technique. We applaud this most scholarly work and her continuing
‘retirement’ studies. Our own Rev John Cummins has provided a review in the
current edition of Furrow.
Stem Cell Research (Sept. 2001)
It appears that stem cells can be extracted and injected into diseased
or otherwise damaged organs of any sort. The stem cells develop new cells
of the particular type (even when they seem to be unrelated types) needed
for that damaged organ. Thus NYAS Academy Updates Sept 2001 gives details
of a damaged mouse heart (heart attack), regenerating the damaged cells after
injection with stem cells taken from the marrow of an healthy animal. Knowledge
to date, shows that stem cells may be recovered at least from embryos, placentas,
umbilical cords or bone marrow. The meaning of stem cells, pluripotent and
totipotent cells, will be found at: http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm
Conry Again (Nov. 2001)
Respected archaeological historian Professor
Michael Ryan gave a spirited launch to Michael Conry’s latest book, Dancing
the Culm, Chapelstown Press, 2001, in the Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny
on 21st Nov 2001. A huge attendance mopped up every copy, four
at a time on occasion, of the, Kilkenny People printed, hard back edition
at £30 apiece. An agricultural science colleague from Teagasc, Dr Michael
Conry has produced his fifth book, drawing as it does on observations made
while engaged in his former duties. Michael obtained his doctorate from TCD
while still in professional employment, a graduate of the University of Ghent
and UCD, hails from county Roscommon, is a respected soil scientist, accomplished
publisher of numerous scientific papers, a bridge player of note and is a
proliferate contributor to the heritage of the environs of Carlow.
As with his book on the Carlow stone wall, this
contribution to economic history would have been irretrievably lost to posterity,
had he not committed the technology to paper. Gleaning his material not only
from his direct observations but by personal interviews of scores of local
residents, Michael paid tribute to the many people who provided assistance,
tinged with regret for the many who have by now gone to their eternal reward.
Culm was burned in Ireland over a time span of some 400 years throughout areas
extending for some 30-40 miles radius around the coalfields of Ireland, including
of course Carlow town and county.
The book is lavishly infused
with personal anecdotes, colour and black and white plates of the technology,
people and places of immediate relevance, injecting a certain Irish resonance
to the work. In good times, but especially the less good, local people retrieved
economic value from otherwise rejected coal and in doing so kept the home
and industries’ fires burning, in the Castlecomer, Killeshin, Ballingarry,
Arigna and surrounding hinterlands. Michael pays particular tribute to the
women of Ireland for their enormous contribution to the technology of culm
bomb making.
Scientists, economic and other historians and
populations local to the coalfields of Ireland will enjoy a great read in
this well bound and presented, 333 page book. [I cannot let the opportunity
slip by without noting that the Round Tower of Killeshin, a place featured
in the book, is said to have been felled at 3pm, after 3 days work, on the
3rd day of the 3rd month and some say the 3rd year of the 17th
century] It can truly be said, mar a duirt Tomás Ó Criomhthain, in respect
of this window on our heritage, that it was written “chun go mbeinn beo is
mé marbh”. Academicians in a disparate range of disciplines, world wide, will
have much recourse to it, preserving the technical, sociological and historic
life of Irish culm, into the distant future.
Michael has done us all a great service with
passion, attention to detail and a love of place.
Ebola Virus (2001)
Ten fatalities have been reported recently in Africa. Host, environment, transmission and cure are very poorly understood if at all. A potential
time bomb, this protein packet is among thousands of viruses which need urgent
study. Details are available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola.htm
Anthrax, BSE and F&M disease are pointed
to information sources in www.scienceireland.ie