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Yesterday what started out as an exchange on Twitter blossomed into a full scale debate on the future for basic and curiosity-driven research.

The debate, Blue skies ahead?, was organised by THE and featured a panel including Science Minister Lord Drayson, Suzie Sheehy from Oxford University's Department of Physics, Colin Stuart, Alom Shaha, and Lewis Dartnell, with Brian Cox chairing the lively discussion.

One of the main topics was the new Research Excellence Framework (REF) with its emphasis on putting a greater emphasis on the 'impact' of proposed research projects.

Suzie said: 'Meeting Lord Drayson again was a good experience, and I commend his interaction with real scientists through forums such as Twitter and the blue skies debate.'

'It was certainly an intense experience for me to have to speak directly after Lord Drayson initially, particularly as most of the points I had prepared were very well addressed in his opening remarks. It certainly made me think on my feet!'

She cites the effect on scientific output when it is assessed with regards to impact as the most interesting point raised during the debate. This morning physicist Brian Cox commented on his Twitter stream about the difficulties of measuring 'impact' in any meaningful way.

Asked about the questions she wished had come up, but didn't, Suzie told me:

'The first point I wish had been raised was my concern that making the outlook of scientific research 'impact' focused brings up the issue of how much scientists earn. I was offered a job straight out of undergraduate that would have paid me more than I will earn in research science for possibly the next 10 years.'

'We don't do science for money, we do it because it is interesting and we think it is important. Shifting the focus to 'impact' may be the final straw for many good scientists who may either leave the field, or leave the country to 'greener pastures'.

'It would have also been good to discuss the issues of under-represented groups in science, particularly the issues of women in physics and the possibility of programs to support more flexible working arrangements such as part-time postdoctoral fellowships.'

In September we reported how research into the hydrogen-making enzyme (iron-iron hydrogenase) in green algae revealed the mechanism by which oxygen irreversibly halts its hydrogen production.

It was a set-back for those hoping to use such photosynthetic microorganisms to make 'green' hydrogen fuel from just sunlight and water.

But in a recent paper in PNAS the same team, led by Fraser Armstrong of Oxford University's Department of Chemistry, report complementary research into the hydrogen-producing enzyme found in blue-green algae (nickel-iron hydrogenase) that gives important clues to how it can survive oxygen's onslaught.

I asked Fraser about his team's work and what it might mean for those working towards 'solar hydrogen farms':

OxSciBlog: How do these enzymes react differently to oxygen compared to those in green algae?
Fraser Armstrong: The enzymes we have studied contain a different type of active site: they are called nickel-iron [NiFe]-hydrogenases as opposed to iron-iron [FeFe] hydrogenases that occur in green algae.

The [FeFe] hydrogenase have an iron-sulphur cluster linked directly to the active site: iron sulphur clusters are rapidly degraded by oxygen or reactive oxygen species (such as superoxide) and this cluster is thought to be the group at which oxygen causes irreversible damage.

The [NiFe]-hydrogenases do not have a directly linked iron sulphur cluster, so when oxygen attacks the active site there need not be any permanent damage.

OSB: Why do we think these enzymes have a higher oxygen tolerance?
FA: We are not exactly sure, at the molecular level; but our electrochemical studies show that two properties/aspects are particularly important:

The first of these is that when oxygen attacks the active site, there are sufficient electrons available to ensure that the oxygen molecule can be reduced all the way to water molecules; this requires initially three electrons giving a harmless state known as Ni-B in which the Ni has been oxidised to the Ni(III) state and coordinates a hydroxide ion. 

The second aspect is that Ni-B can be rapidly reduced back to Ni(II) releasing the hydroxide and re-activating the enzyme. Rapid reduction is favoured by a high reduction potential for this step. The [NiFe]-hydrogenases that we regard as oxygen tolerant have a high reduction potential, and re-activation is therefore spontaneous, allowing the hydrogenase to function even in the presence of oxygen, as in air.

OSB: What new avenues of research do your findings suggest?
FA: They show how it could be possible to ‘design’ hydrogenases in cyanobacteria that have improved oxygen tolerance, and so use these genetically altered organisms for photosynthetic hydrogen production (where oxygen is produced).

The results also suggest that organisms operating at higher temperatures should be more successful because a determining factor for the hydrogenase’s oxygen tolerance is the rate of re-activation.

OSB: What do you hope might be the end result of research into similar oxygen-tolerant enzymes?
FA: Crystal structure studies of an oxygen tolerant hydrogenase are now crucial because they would provide a molecular understanding of the mechanism of oxygen tolerance, for example modification of the region around the active site that can steer oxygen reaction away from producing reactive oxygen species, and modifications of the electron transfer relay system (a series of iron-sulphur clusters) that enable it to ‘hold’ more electrons.

Professor Fraser Armstrong is based at Oxford University's Department of Chemistry

But then yesterday saw a series of special events for schools and the public, organised by Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education, to celebrate Marcus du Sautoy’s inaugural lecture as Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science.

The core message of Marcus’s evening lecture, which he sets out in this article in The Times, is that maths is the language of the universe, and that it binds scientific and artistic cultures together.

What I think anyone attending any of the day’s events took away with them was that maths and science are our culture, that they can’t be separated from everyday life: if you’ve ever played a game of chance, or listened to music, or been awestruck by the beautiful shapes in nature or architecture then you’ve experienced some of the same mathematical structures that fascinate mathematicians and scientists.

Mathemagicians & winning streaks
Yesterday morning saw 50 pupils aged 11-14 from schools in Oxford, Leamington Spa, Leicester, Brighton and Hackney arrive ready to have fun, and learn something.

Their first stop was the University’s Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum. Both do excellent work with families and schools and the Madagascan hissing cockroaches, some of the stars of this year’s Oxford Science Roadshow, once again stole the show.

After the museum tours it was time for lunch with the post-lunch entertainment provided by Marcus’s Marvellous Mathemagicians [M3].

The Mathemagicians are Oxford maths students on a mission: to communicate their passion for their subject to the next generation. Their show was inspired by Marcus’s Christmas Lecture on the winning streak and how to win – or stand less chance of losing – at various games.

Thomas Woolley kicked off proceedings, explaining how, in the unlikely event you do get lucky in the National Lottery, a truly random choice of numbers could snag you the jackpot.

Then Christina Goodwin took charge of a giant Monopoly board and, using a sparkly top hat for a counter and getting volunteers to roll giant dice, demonstrated how probability makes some properties better earners than others.

David Blane played the chocolate game, in which contestants had to learn how not to be stuck with a poisoned chocolate bar, and Jamie Humphries challenged all comers to beat him at the pie game – then explained his secret winning strategy.

Picking primes
In the afternoon it was off to hear Marcus give his interactive talk on ‘Why Beckham Chose 23’, an exploration of the power of prime numbers in nature, and on the way we think.

With the numbers 1-100 spread across the floor of Holywell Music Room, it was up to the pupils to move a toy monkey as a marker, playing prime number hopscotch to understand the patterns behind the number sequences.

They also learnt about cicadas, and how these insects have evolved a life cycle based around prime numbers in order to outwit predators. By appearing only every 17 years cicadas are guaranteed to avoid a predator most often – in fact they’re so successful that the predator they evolved to avoid may have died out.

Yesterday evening Marcus returned to prime numbers and cicadas in his inaugural lecture as part of a discussion of the relationship between music, art, maths, and science.

In his Quartet for the End of Time Messiaen used the prime numbers 17 and 19 to create harmonies that, like the cicada and its predator, would be out of step and so sound timeless. Marcus said: ‘I cannot believe that he was aware that the 12-note sequences he uses are the basis for generating one of the strangest mathematical objects… But it is a sensitivity to similar structures that drew him to these two themes.’

The sound of a cube
Some composers take a more consciously mathematical approach: we heard an excerpt from Xenakis’s Nomos Alpha in which the composer attempts to reproduce the sound of a cube on the cello.

Because symmetry controls the shapes we can create, architects and painters have long been fascinated by mathematical ideas.

Marcus gave the example of how Renaissance painters recovered the Archimedean solids and Dali tried to create on his 2D canvas a representation of a 4-dimensional object – the tesseract. Anyone too who has enjoyed the feeling of space in one of Palladio’s villas or marvelled at a Corbusier building is witnessing mathematical ideas transformed into physical space.

As he pointed out, understanding maths and science is now more important than ever, as we need to use it to make predictions about how diseases will spread, how our climate will change, or what new particles may pop into existence inside the LHC.

Marcus commented: ‘It is one of my aspirations during the tenure of my professorship to encourage government, research councils and universities that the more scientific ambassadors we can support the better chance we have of integrating the foreign world of science with the rest of society.'

'Without an understanding of the language of science and mathematics, as Galileo once wrote, we will all be wandering around lost in a dark labyrinth.’

For more about the Simonyi Professorship go to the Simonyi homepage 

Find out more about the mathemagicians and how to book them here

Photos from the day courtesy of Gail Anderson

Hospital care for dementia sufferers has been in the headlines this week but a recent report for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has highlighted that carers of people with dementia need more support and advice.

Carers particularly need that advice and support in tackling the difficult ethical dilemmas that they face on a daily basis. These could be having to lie to a spouse to be able to get them to a day care centre, or worrying about a family member slipping in the bathroom - when going into the bathroom with them and intruding on their privacy can be very upsetting.

The report also highlighted that the services needed by people with dementia are often not available until a crisis occurs.  

Professor Tony Hope, a psychiatrist with many years of experience of working with people with dementia and a Professor of Medical Ethics at The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, chaired the working party that produced the report. OxSciBlog caught up with him to learn more.

OxSciBlog: What were the main findings of your report?Tony Hope: Ethical issues arise frequently for carers in their day-to-day care. These issues are often difficult and stressful, and carers receive little help with these ethical issues. We also found that there’s often a stigma associated with dementia that is still a major problem for those with dementia and their carers.

Many people with dementia receive little support after initial diagnosis is made. In addition, some professionals withhold information from family carers that such carers need in order to properly fulfil their caring role because of excessive concerns about patient confidentiality. What is more, the amount spent on dementia research in the UK appears small in comparison with its importance. For example, cancers are about three times as common as dementia but receive about ten times as much research funding.

OSB: What are the sort of ethical dilemmas that families and carers of people with dementia experience?
TH: Carers routinely face dilemmas, such as whether to tell the truth or not when the truth causes some upset or stops the person taking part in an activity that is enjoyed. There’s the difficulty of balancing the need to minimise risk with enabling the freedom of the person with dementia, for example where a person may be at some risk from wandering or from cooking for themselves.

Similarly, technology, such as tracking devices or home video monitoring, might reduce risk but also invades privacy. And importantly, the carer’s own needs and interests have to be balanced with those of the person with dementia.

OSB: What can be done to help support carers?
TH: More information and support from professionals is needed in dealing with ethical difficulties. Forums to enable carers to discuss the difficult decisions with each other would also help. And carers need to be seen as ‘partners in care’ by professionals – unless there is evidence to the contrary there should be a presumption of trust in carers by health and social care professionals and by care workers.

OSB: Can you give any examples of where this is working well?
TH: There are many examples where things are working well, but they are sporadic and only available in some places. There are about 20 Alzheimer cafes throughout the country where people with dementia, their carers, and local professionals can meet. Admiral nurses provide support to carers in their home, but are not widely available.

In some areas, a GP with a special interest looks after the residents with dementia in all the local care and nursing homes, while a few hospitals employ specialist nurses or doctors for those who come to A&E departments or require treatment not primarily related to the dementia. And there are a few meeting places where people with dementia can attend film showings or have access to a hairdresser without feeling awkward.

OSB: What would you like to see happen next?
TH: We would like to see more support for carers – for example through more trusting relationships with professionals, opportunities to meet and share experiences with other carers, and encouragement to consider their own needs too. People with dementia need improved access to leisure activities that others take for granted. Shops, restaurants and leisure centres have a legal duty to enable people with dementia to access their services.

We recommended that the Equality and Human Rights Commission should provide practical guidance on how to enable people with dementia to access services. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, a wide range of services can be accessed. This is not true in the case of dementia. This is in part because some of the services required for people with dementia are classified as social care, rather than health care. Dementia is a medical disorder and the availability of services should not be determined by the classification of the type of care needed.

How does the machine that enables bacteria to swim actually work?

Matt Baker of Oxford's Department of Physics and colleagues are investigating this machine: known as the bacterial flagellar motor.

Matt recently became a NOISEmaker and is helping to explain the wonders of  thrashing bacteria, as well as spoken word poetry, MCing and fencing, to school students (read his NOISE blog for more). I asked him about Nature's motors and his first taste of science communication:

OxSciBlog: How does the bacterial flagellar motor compare to manmade motors?
Matt: Baker: The Bacterial Flagellar Motor (BFM) is only 40 nanometres (nm) across, approximately one-thousand times smaller than the smallest speck of dust, and can rotate at up to 40,000 revolutions per minute (rpm). By comparison, Formula One engines are metres in size and are can operate at 20,000 rpm, and some jet engines rotate at 150,000 rpm.

The BFM can not only rotate very fast, it can also change direction of rotation in thousandths of a second, and it is this ability to switch the direction of rotation which enables bacteria to navigate their environment, moving in alternating ‘runs’ and ‘tumbles’ toward areas of high nutrient.

We aren’t able to make a motor anything like the BFM at the moment, in terms of size and structure, speed and function, and yet this motor assembles itself in the cell membrane and is responsible for one of the oldest sources of motility on the planet.

OSB: What are you hoping your investigations will reveal about it?
MB: Our group work on resolving the discrete steps that constitute this rotation. Rather than spinning smoothly, the rotation of the BFM is made up of tiny 14 degree steps, which, when the motor is moving fast, appear continuous.

Personally I have built a temperature controller to explore the motor’s rotation at high and low temperatures, to investigate how the speed and energy source change with temperature, and in the future to explore how the frequency, size, and distribution of steps may change.

OSB: How do we think the environment affects the motor's behaviour?
MB: The motor is powered by an ion gradient, that is, protons or sodium ions, depending on the type of bacteria, flowing from outside the cell, at high concentration, to inside the cell, at low concentration.

So the environment and the concentration of salt or the pH of the solution, affect the amount of energy available to the motor. In different environments it has different amounts of energy available and will rotate at different speeds, driving different loads.

OSB: How might what you find inform the creation of new technologies/devices?
MB: Motor proteins convert chemical energy into mechanical force, and this is the basis of movement, which is essential to life. They are found in myriad places such as muscles (myosins), inside cells (kinesins/dyneins) and in the rotary motor of bacteria.

Currently we aren’t able to build dynamic motors that are only 40nm in diameter, or composed of 45 different types of self assembling proteins, that can convert chemical energy into a mechanical rotation. Part of learning to develop these motors is understanding how these biological motors function, how they have evolved, and then adapting these learned lessons.

One approach is to use components of these motors to make new motors, such as the chimeric motor used by our group that is powered by sodium ions, or to use cobbled together parts of other rotary motors to build synthetic swimmers. Investigations like this allow us to begin to dream about the day where we might be able to build a protein motor for a specific task.

OSB: What's been the highlight of being a NOISEmaker so far?
MB: Being a NOISEmaker has introduced me to a great group of people that are doing interesting science, that is relevant to the community, and are excellent at communicating and explaining their research. It’s also taught me a lot about how to present your research to the public and to the media. It’s been a great window into the world of public relations, with which I had no familiarity, and also it has helped me meet some interesting people that I hope to work with in the future.

The highlight, so far, has been an introductory day where we brainstormed some ideas for novel ways of bringing science into the public, and then being able to try some of these ideas out at a festival called Underage where we presented different aspects of science to 15 year-olds.

Ecoli showing bacterial flagellar motor in action, image: National Science Foundation. Video taken by Mostyn Brown, Department of Physics.