What do you think of when someone mentions the word laser? Music performances? Barcode scanners? Surgery? Communication? Weapons? Well, all of them would be correct and on April 7th, as part of the Frontiers of Science season, Dr Kate Lancaster gave a talk to a Science Oxford Live audience to tell us a bit more about the cutting edge research that happens not far from Oxford and that depends on some of the highest power lasers found around the globe. Dr Lancaster is a physicist and science communicator, with her research focused on laser-driven fusion energy, based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

In a historical whistle-stop tour, Dr Lancaster recalled who was involved in the development of the laser. Although the device, the acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”, is governed by equations that were first derived by Einstein, he was too much of a theoretician to have been involved in the practical development which took place some decades later. First of all Townes and Schawlow discovered the MASER, a device in which coherent electromagnetic waves of the microwave frequency are produced using amplification by stimulated emission. By the late 1950s, many scientists were hoping to recreate the same effects with visible light (which is also a form of electromagnetic radiation, but of a shorter wavelength compared to microwaves) and Gould is widely credited with making the realisation that one could achieve this by using two mirrors to produce a narrow, coherent, intense beam of visible light of specific wavelength. Gould was also the first to coin the term LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) for the phenomenon but in a twist of fate, he then spent 30 years fighting to be granted the patent for the technology, which was eventually granted to the Bell labs, where his competitors were based. Subsequently, Theodore Maiman was the one who developed the first laser prototype (the ruby laser), and further developments went on from there. Eventually, 10 Nobel prizes related to the development of the laser were awarded in the period between 1964 and 2009 (see table in Short history of laser development, J. Hecht, Optical Engineering, 2009 vol 49, page F99).

So, what are the key aspects of a laser? Dr Lancaster explained that one of the features of lasers is that they produce light which is highly coherent and monochromatic, meaning it is of a specific wavelength. This was demonstrated with a spectrometer (a device which measures the wavelength of the light that it detects) which showed that visible light created a widespread peak in the visible range of 400-650nm. Laser light, on the other hand, created a single sharp peak at a specific wavelength (532nm for a green laser, 630nm for a red laser). Secondly, laser light has very low divergence – if you shone a laser from the Earth to the moon, by the time it got there, the beam would be only a mile wide, which is pretty impressive given the distance. Finally, lasers are highly focusable into a single spot (based on the equation that intensity = power/area, meaning that the smaller the area the laser shines on, the higher the intensity).

Simplistically put, lasers work because photons are released as electrons change between different energy levels within an atom. Spontaneous emission involves an electron moving from a high energy to a low energy level accompanied by the release of a photon and stimulated absorption is the opposite of this process (an electron moves from low to high level whilst gobbling up the energy of a photon). If a photon, which has the energy equivalent to the difference between high and low energy states, comes along to an atom with an electron in a high energy state, it will stimulate the electron to fall into the lower level state, thereby emitting a photon. The emitted photon has the same energy as the original photon, leading to the emission of two waves with the same frequency which constructively interfere and so create a more intense wave. This is called stimulated emission and it is the main principle behind what happens in a laser. In a laser setup, the excitable electrons might be in neodymium atoms used to dope a glass block. This block is enclosed by reflective surfaces, which enable the signal to be amplified, and partial reduction in reflectivity allows this to signal to escape the cavity.

Since the discovery of lasers, there have been a number of new developments in terms of applications, ranging from CDs (1960s), laser cutting and barcode scanners (1970s), clinical applications such as laser surgery and communications using fibre optics (1980s). The improvements in lasers have involved the step-wise solving of a number of problems. Firstly, using Q switching, it was possible to release the laser only when fully saturated (i.e. all electrons are in a high level state), reducing background lasing. Another development was that of chirped pulse amplification (CPA), which uses refraction of the incident beam to temporarily lengthen and disperse the laser light so that its intensity does not damage the optical equipment (meaning that higher intensity can be achieved). These days scientists such as Dr Lancaster at the SFTC Vulcan facility are in the business of using the highest powered lasers to study processes such as fusion, and from her talk we got an impression of the excitement and enthusiasm she has for this field. It seems that at the moment, one of the limitations of fusion energy is the inability to fire the laser often enough – to run a fusion power station, it would be necessary to fire the laser four times every second, whereas it is currently only possible to fire such a powerful device once every half an hour or so. In addition, there is always the containment to think of because the high powered laser has to be located in a vacuum to avoid the laser making plasma of the air that it is surrounded by.

And what does the future hold in store? In biochemistry and structural biology, it may be possible to use small lasers as optical tweezers which would allow the pulling apart of protein and DNA single molecules to unfold them and study their function. Lasers will likely be part of quantum computers which could enable instant calculations to be performed that would render all current encryption algorithms useless, but at the same time create a potential for altogether new encryption methods. On a much larger scale, lasers may be useful in space-based telescope, because they could be effectively artificial star references. In conclusion, Dr Lancaster reckoned that currently the biggest challenge in the field is making a laser that is high powered enough and is able to fire with a high enough repetition rate – so plenty to look at for those currently in the field.

In summary, the talk was by an enthusiastic speaker on a fascinating subject. You can watch Dr Lancaster’s talk on the webcast via the Science Oxford Live website.

Some background:

Kate Lancaster’s website: http://sites.google.com/site/drkatelancaster/
Science & Technology Facilities Council: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/

Well…erm…

OK, I will have shocked you nicely and perhaps intrigued you almost as much with the blog title. Indeed, the title is not altogether different from Dr Petra Boynton’s title of her Science Oxford Live talk that she gave on 7th October, and I suspect it intrigued just as many people. (As an occasional volunteer at Science Oxford Live, I had said I would be available on that date, and was amused to receive an e-mail reply saying that “I’ve put you down for The Brain on 30th September, and Sex on 7th October”!)

Dr Petra Boynton describes herself as a “Sex educator, Agony Aunt, Academic” on her website, and goes on to say that she is involved in academic research (focussed on sex and relationships in themselves but also on how policy, modernisation and new technologies may affect sexual education and sexual health in various countries), but also in teaching doctors, nurses and other health professionals about sex education. And she certainly comes across as an engaging speaker – but then I guess you’d have to be, with that sort of field of research, wouldn’t you?

Dr Boynton was one of the speakers asked to come back ‘by popular demand’ to Science Oxford Live as part of its 5th birthday celebrations and she certainly proved why she had been so popular the first time round. Her very engaging style contrasted greatly with the most simplistic presentation I had ever seen, consisting only of a set of questions, one per slide. “Those that were asked by previous audiences at talks, in e-mails and past discussions”, she told us, suggesting that they would give a good framework for the talk to come.

“What is sex?” the as-yet shy audience were asked. There were some suggestions about the “special cuddle” and the thing that happens “when a man loves a woman”, but Dr Boynton was having none of that, putting up a list of all the things that sex might represent. For those of you intrigued, these may include anything from masturbation (alone or with a partner), to vaginal penetration, and through more obscure practices such as BDSM (the audience appeared pleased that one of us had the courage to ask what this acronym means!) to phone/text/e-mail sex (the interesting question being, do you have to be in physical contact with someone to be having sex?). In fact, rather interestingly, Dr Boynton pointed out that such lack of clarity can often confuse some sex surveys, because people don’t always agree on what sex actually means!

“Why do people have sex?”, she continued. It appeared that the audience was slightly more conservative with their answers (“because it feels good” or “to have children”) than some of the undergraduate students that had previously answered a survey carried out to find out the answer to this question (amongst others), with their more bizarre answers ranging from “wanting to feel closer to God”, “being bored” and simply “feeling like it”. On a more serious note, Dr Boynton explained that sometimes sexual education for teenagers concentrates far too much on the sexual health itself rather than trying to encourage young people to find things to do that they enjoy, and as a result not be subject to the boredom that often leads them to have sex simply because they’re bored (a fact I didn’t know before, but apparently the prevalence of teenage pregnancies goes up in the summer school holiday months).

“How do you research sex?”, you might have wondered. Well, so did many other people before you and Petra duly explained that, to many people’s disappointment, much of this work is carried out through surveys and by analysing study subjects’ “sex diaries”. And although experiments in the lab, where the subjects are wired up to measure all sorts of bodily signals (eg. brain activity) whilst having sex, are carried out, these are much rarer because of the unnaturalness of the whole set-up (apparently it takes a couple quite a lot of practice to be able to have sex in a laboratory whilst managing to be wired up to several different machines…).

In that vein, Dr Boynton’s talk continued, covering questions ranging from whether female ejaculate exists and what it is, what the correct erection etiquette during dancing is (what should you do – as either the bloke or the girl – if a man and a woman dance together, with the guy getting excited and this being noticed?), how often one should have sex (apparently, there isn’t a “should” about this, and the answer is very individual), all the way to whether she used to scare men away when dating when she told them what her job was. And although shy at the beginning, as a result of Dr Boynton’s flamboyant and open attitude and approach, the audience got more and more drawn in to discussing a topic that is often seen as a taboo even though it shouldn’t be (nevertheless, I am still debating how best to cover the talk in this blog without offending anyone!). By the end of the talk, people were happy to ask questions (even though there had been a box provided before the talk for anonymous questions, if they existed), and the talk provided a partly light-hearted but partly serious discussion on a topic that almost everyone knows something about.

You can read more about Dr Petra Boynton on http://www.drpetra.co.uk/ and you can watch her talk via the webcasting section of the Science Oxford Live website http://www.scienceoxfordlive.com/watch-us-archive/science-oxford-live-s-greatest-hits-sex-webcast

The below video discusses how this is done.

Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.

Science Oxford is delighted to welcome Prof Gideon Henderson from Oxford University. He will explain how we can use what we know about the Earth’s climate over the last million years to help us predict temperatures, rainfall, and sea-level in the future.

This is a great lecture, check it out:

Further Information

Dr Susan Cheyne and Klara Wanelik are involved with the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Research Project.

The Orangutan Tropical Peatland Research Project works to protect one of the most important areas of tropical rainforest in Borneo – the Sabangau Forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We monitor the distribution, population status, behaviour and ecology of the forest’s flagship ape species – the orangutan and agile gibbon – carry out biodiversity and forestry research, provide scientific feedback to conservation managers, and work with our local partners to implement successful conservation programmes. Our research and volunteer program has been running since 2001 and is a focus for local conservation efforts, providing much-needed employment and financial benefits for the local community and replacing illegal logging as the main activity and source of income in the northern Sabangau Forest.
www.orangutantrop.com

PETMAN
“PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the US Army. Unlike previous suit testers, which had to be supported mechanically and had a limited repertoire of motion, PETMAN will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents. PETMAN will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions.”

Find out more about PETMAN here.

RiSE: The Amazing Climbing Robot.
“RiSE is a robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE uses feet with micro-claws to climb on textured surfaces. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and its tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents.”

Find out more about RiSE here.

BigDog: The Most Advanced Rough-Terrain Robot on Earth
“BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics robots. It is a rough-terrain robot that walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by an engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog has four legs that are articulated like an animal’s, with compliant elements to absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule; about 3 feet long, 2.5 feet tall and weighs 240 lbs.”

Find out more about BigDog here.

Visit the Boston Dynamics website here.

Oxfordshire Science Festival
This event is part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival 2010. For more information visit the website.

Oxfordshire Science Festival
This event is part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival 2010. For more information visit the website.

Oxfordshire Science Festival
This event is part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival 2010. For more information visit the website.

How much do we now know about the human genome? What can genes tell us about how we, and other species, evolved? How much of our DNA actually does something, and how much is just non-functional ‘junk’? Join Professor Chris Ponting as he discusses how evolution has shaped our genes, and what we know about our own genetic makeup.

Further Information
Professor Chris Ponting was trained in particle physics before being entranced by the analysis of DNA, genes and genomes. He was a major participant in the international project that sequenced the human genome, and then performed similar roles in projects that sequenced the genomes of the lab mouse, rat, dog, opossum, chicken, and platypus genomes. Once in a while, he has unearthed a nugget of information that tells us something new about human disease. This, in itself, will not immediately help those suffering from health problems. Instead, once this information is published, it provides someone else with a missing piece in their own research puzzle which – when complete – leads to improved diagnoses, drugs or therapy. His most recent research focuses on several human diseases, including learning disability, asthma, obesity, Alzheimer’s and muscular dystrophy.

Why do we find some people more attractive than others? What makes men look masculine and women look feminine? What can these facial distinctions tell us about our evolution? By drawing on examples from humans, apes and other primates, Dr Eleanor Weston discusses the differences between male and female faces, and the evolution of attractiveness.

Further Information
Dr Eleanor Weston is a mammalian palaeontologist based in the newly opened Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum, London.
www.eleanorweston.net/sexual_dimorphism.html
www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/darwin-centre-visitors/marmontcentre/index.html

Autopsies remain the best way of finding out why someone died, but it’s not always the way it’s shown on TV. In this interactive event, you’ll have a chance to watch a virtual autopsy and talk to the people who perform the procedure. Come and find out how autopsies help doctors understand more about disease and provide information that benefits future generations.

Supported by The Royal College of Pathologists

Further Information

This event is being run by the Royal College of Pathologists. Pathologist John du Parcq, Mario Di Maggio and Ruth Semple from the Royal College of Pathologists will be running this event.

Feedback from this event in the past:
“This was an excellent event – very interesting and enjoyable.”
“I loved how interactive it was.”
“Thank you for an amazing Saturday.”

Related websites:
www.rcpath.org
www.nationalpathologyweek.org

Professor Russell Foster explains how our internal body clock controls all aspects of our physiology and behaviour – from our sleep patterns, to our blood pressure, and even our physical strength. But what happens if we ignore our natural rhythms, and what are the effects of our increasingly 24/7 society? Come along to find out all you need to know about your biological clock.

Apologies about sound quality

Further Information

Professor Russell Foster is Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the Nuffield Laboratory of Opthamology, University of Oxford. His is co-author of the two popular science books, ‘Rhythms of Life. The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing’, and ‘Seasons of Life. The Biological Rhythms that Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive’.
www.neuroscience.ox.ac.uk/directory/russell-foster

You have to watch the video below. It’s called the Known Universe and is a great animation showing just how small the Earth is. It shows how far the first Human radio signals will have travelled, the parts of the universe we have mapped and the extend of the visible universe.

If you wanted to try this at home all you need is:

• A cup cornstarch
• A bowl
• About half a cup of water
• A spoon
• A small tray
• (Optional) Food colouring

Directions:
Simply empty your cup of starch into the bowl. Stir while you add the water slowly, keep adding until the consistency becomes like thick pancake batter. If you wanted to add food colouring, add a couple of drops at this point.
Now is this time to have a play:

• Stick your hands into the mixture.
• What does it feel like?
• What happens when you slap the surface or try to roll some into a ball and then leave it alone?

So whats going on?

I’m sure you would have heard about states of matter, we usually talk about the three types: solids, liquids and gases.

A mixture of cornstarch and water make what is known as a suspension. When you squeeze a Cornstarch Suspension it really feels like a solid because its molecules line up. But it looks like a liquid and acts like a liquid when no one is pressing on it because the molecules relax. This is another state of matter, called a suspension (It can act like a liquid, or, when pressed like a solid.).

The science behind the Star of Bethlehem

The Star of Bethlehem plays an important part in the story of Christmas. But what could this star have been? Why was it so bright? And how could it have led the Wise Men to baby Jesus? Dr Ian Griffin, astronomer and CEO of Science Oxford, looks into the science behind the Christmas Star.
Suitable for 7+

David Godber, from the Design Council talking about their work to put design into UK businesses.

Innovation Forum
The Oxfordshire Economic Partnership’s vision is to guide strategic change to develop Oxfordshire’s capacity for innovation, business and personal development, research and education, and the effective management of local environmental assets. These Innovation seminars are aimed at a mixed audience of business leaders and members of the public across Oxfordshire and will provide a valuable opportunity for companies and individuals to network and share best practice.