More Bletchley interest (Britain's Greatest Codebreaker on Channel 4)

Just managed to catch this "drama documentary" (Watch it here). It covered the story of Alan Turing by means of recreated converations with his analyst (picture copyright of National Portrait Gallery).

Turing was a phenomenal asset to Britain. Firstly, he was known for his work at Bletchley Park where his previous work that laid down the foundations for modern computers (as "universal machines") cracking the Enigma code used by the Nazis to communicate with their fleet of U-boats. In fact the machines were not fast enough (being electromechanical) to single-handedly perform the task in time to be of use. It took Turings mathematical genius to perform frequency analysis of previously cracked messages to reduce the domain of the problem that was then passed to the computers. This helped save the vital shipping convoys bringing supply cargoes to war-time Britain.

He was also famous for his work in the field of arificial intelligence including the "Turing test" (as seen used in the science fiction film "Blade Runner" to identify rogue androids).

He also turned his mathematical talents to the biological sciences with ground-breaking work on mathematical explanations of the process of morphogenesis.

Any one of these activities would distinguish him as an exemplary scientist. Unfortunately for him, he was a homosexual at a time when it was against the law. He was arrested and charged with gross indecency. To avoid prison he underwent chemical castration with female hormones to "cure" his homosexuality.
As well as the effect upon his body, this tratment affected his ability to concentrate. He was also subject to increased police surveillance (after Guy Burgess defected to Russia). He commited suicide at the age of 41.

In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave an official Public apology for the way in which Britain had treated Turing after the war.
I think that the drama approach made this story more publically accessible (although longer at about 80 mins) but sadly meant superficial coverage of Turing's scientific contributions.

Local Beaver Scouts do IFR Taste & Flavour activity

Did the Taste & Flavour activity with about 20 Beaver Scouts last night.
Also, I added an activity about the was scientists & mathematicians look for patterns (Moving on from patterns of taste for foods). This involved construction of a CD spectrometer to generate spectra. Time constraints meant that they could not build them themselves so in future activities I will suggest that we have a couple of ready-made ones to hand and they can make one for themselves at home (materials consist of a CD and a cereal box).

I  think that they enjoyed themselves and they went off with a little experimental log-book and a certificate.
The experiment with dying tongues with blue food colouring (to spot taste buds) was very popular. As was the one where the difference between taste and flovour was demonstrated using an aromatic sweet and tasting it with and without pinching the nose.
Hoping to repeat the activity with some cubs (The cubs leader was there and had his tongue painted as well).
As they are a bit older (8+) it will be less guided and will get them to think more about the science.
Will also think about ways of speeding up the setting up of the solutions as was sole scientist there. Not so bad, as there were several enthusiastic helpers & leaders (which made things LOTS easier).

Google Public Data Explorer tool

This is an interesting Google tool (currently in Beta). It generates flash (SWF) visualisations of datasets over a time frame. You can upload data, share it or explore shared public datasets. Export is by means of an HTML snippet that inserts an IFRAME into your web-page. I think that this deserves further attention/exploration...

Science Camp 2012

Teachers in the Norwich and surrounding area, please note this:

IFR (and the Norwich Bioscience Institutes) will be offering a ‘Science Camp’ (For Yr 10 students) that will take place for a week in July. in 2012.

This will enable us to host more students and provide a unique inspirational insight into life as a scientist at the NRP. There will be a mixture of group practical and academic activities in addition to placement in working laboratories for 2 days. Using our new state of the art training laboratory, students will conduct experiments led by the Genome Analysis Centre, debate GM issues and visit the high tech microscopy facilities at JIC. At a final summary session, students will present their laboratory experiences to the group as well as their hosts. Science teachers will also be invited to attend this session and join in the discussions.

Applications are now open, and can be made here:  http://opportunities.jic.ac.uk/year10/apply.asp

Dave Hart,

Plant Natural Products and Health Programme,

Institute of Food Research,

Norwich Research Park,

Colney,

Norfolk,

NR4 7UA.

Tel: +44 (0)1603 255000

Fax: +44 (0)1603 507723

IFR website:        
Teacher Scientist Network website:  

What is an expert?

My boss (Gary) has just (last week) delivered a public talk upon experts as part of an event called "Should I listen to experts?". The video has now been posted here. It covers the thorny topic of what is an expert and what are they useful for. He covers topics previously posted in this blog including wisdom of the crowds (Crowd sourcing) including the Google section of an episode of The Code, experts as a decision aid and Bayes theorem. It is a pretty good precis of what our group does in our research programme.

Individual-based model talk at UEA

 

Went over to UEA's D'Arcy hompson room for computation biology talk. It was given by Professor Marta Ginovart who has been a visting scientist at IFR in the past. The talk was about an Individual (Agent)-based model tool INDISIM used to simulate bacterial and yeast populations (the latter with clear industrial applications) and mineralisation in soils due to microbial communities. The talk covered the subject of IBMs very well. Questions afterwards mainly centred upon relative adantages of this method as opposed to continous models e.g. Systems of ordinary differential equations and about the parametrisation of energy requirements for maintainance vs. biomass of the simulated organisms.

Another binary day...and a day of Remembrance..

11/11/11 and blogged at 11:11! - the counter has now to be reset for year 2100 (?) - hmm probably not blogging then :-)

Last night I and other colleagues enjoyed a meal out with some visiting Scandinavian scientists (From an EU project). A very stimulating evening.

Today, of course is Remembrance day and we reflect upon lives lost in the World Wars and still being lost in 'modern' conflicts. Without such sacrifices, many of the freedoms that we take for granted would most likely be lost.
Hopefully, science can play it's part in improving international relationships for example in improvements in methods of communication (e.g. the web) and in the planning and funding of international research collaborations (like the EU Framework programmes).
If you need any further prompting about the importance of working towards a better and more peaceful world - I recommend a visit to France and Belgium to the various WW1 cemetaries (where soldiers from both sides were buried). I personally returned with very strong memories of the scale and tragedy of the losses.
I end with today's Google 'doodle'...

Google doodles tribute to Halley

Right after Marie Curie's Google Doodle we have one for the 335th birthday of Edmond Halley (The famous English astronomer and mathematician (1656-1742)). He is probably best known to most people for the comet named after him. He was the second Astronomer Royal at Greenwich and was part of the first effort to scientifically date Stonehenge and made significant contributions to actuarial science on calculation of life annuities.