Fish Using Tools - Caught on Camera

The use of tools had long been considered a uniquely human trait until Jane Goodall's reports of tool use in chimpanzees in the 1960s. Now many other primates, some birds, dolphins, elephants and other animals have been observed using tools. Although there have been some reports of fish doing the same, we now have conclusive evidence, with stunning video footage of an orange-dotted tuskfish using a rock to open a clam.

The video has been published in the journal Coral Reefs by Giacomo Bernardi, an ecologist at the University of California. While diving in four feet of water, the scientist watched the fish carry out the elaborate procedure twice before switching on his camera and recording the event.

Shot in Palau in July 2009, the video shows the fish digging a clam out of the sand, carrying it to a rock and throwing it repeatedly against the rock to crush it.

"What the movie shows is very interesting. The animal excavates sand to get the shell out, then swims for a long time to find an appropriate area where it can crack the shell," Bernardi said. "It requires a lot of forward thinking, because there are a number of steps involved. For a fish, it's a pretty big deal."

The actions recorded in the video are remarkably similar to previous reports of tool use by fish. Every case has involved a species of wrasse using a rock as an anvil to crush shellfish.

"Wrasses are very inquisitive animals," Bernardi said. "They are all carnivorous, and they are very sensitive to smell and vision."

Writing in the published article, Bernardi notes:  "the similarity of the behaviours [between wrasse species] suggest that either they emerged independently or they correspond to a deep-seated beahvioural trait"

Bernardi says there may well be other examples of tool use in fish that just hasn't been observed:

"We don't spend that much time underwater observing fishes," he said. "It may be that all wrasses do this. It happens really quickly, so it would be easy to miss."

Irish Young Scientist Wins Top EU Prize

Alexander with his project in Helsinki

Alexander Amini, the winner of Ireland's BT Young Scientist Award for 2011 has scooped the top European Young Scientist Award in Finland today.

Alexander's work looked at collecting and analyzing huge quantities of sensor data taken from tennis courts and discovered a technique for automatically distinguishing between 13 different types of tennis stroke with a 96% accuracy. His findings are relevant to a variety of motion assessment scenarios in sports, physical therapy and emergency responses.

Although technology already exists to measure some of the tennis strokes, Alexander's system can measure much more. Speaking after winning the Irish award, the young scientists said: "I am very proud and happy.I could never have imagined this would happen. I spent about four months working on this project," he said.
"My father taught me tennis and was very into technique and this inspired me."

In total, 3 first place awards were made, with young scientists from Lithuania and Switzerland also taking the top prize. Winners were announced at a ceremony in Helsinki and on the competition's Twitter stream. Alexander is a student of Castleknock College in Dublin and will be awarded a €7,000 prize fund. That's on top of his cheque for €5,000 which he receives for winning the Irish Young Scientist Competition.

Faster than the speed of light?

The OPERA detector

Some interesting results from CERN could turn science on its head IF they are correct. 

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) issued a press release yesterday saying that during their OPERA experiment, they had found an "anomaly in flight time of neutrinos from CERN to Gran Sasso".

OPERA was designed to observe a beam of neutrinos travelling from CERN's lab in Geneva to Italy's Gran Sasso laboratory, a distance of about 730 km. Neutrinos are elementary particles that come in three types of "flavours": electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. OPERA aimed to test the phenomenon that, as the particles mover through space, they can change from one flavour to another. The results published now are an unexpected outcome of this work and if they can be confirmed, are startling. The neutrinos got to their destination 60 billionths of a second faster than they should have. Light would have travelled the same distance in 2.4 thousandths of a second. The conclusion: these neutrinos are faster then the speed of light.

CERN scientists were clear, that given the magnitude of the discovery, a very high level of proof is required. Modern physics is largely built on the understanding that the speed of light is the limit past which nothing can pass. Nothing can be faster than the speed of light, according to Einstein's theory of special relativity.

Given the potential far-reaching consequences of such a result, independent measurements are needed before the effect can either be refuted or firmly established. This is why the OPERA collaboration has decided to open the result to broader scrutiny.

“This result comes as a complete surprise,” said OPERA spokesperson, Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern. “After many months of studies and cross checks we have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement. While OPERA researchers will continue their studies, we are also looking forward to independent measurements to fully assess the nature of this observation.”   

 “When an experiment finds an apparently unbelievable result and can find no artefact of the measurement to account for it, it’s normal procedure to invite broader scrutiny, and this is exactly what the OPERA collaboration is doing, it’s good scientific practice,” said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci. “If this measurement is confirmed, it might change our view of physics, but we need to be sure that there are no other, more mundane, explanations. That will require independent measurements.”

CERN have made the results of the experiment freely available online for other scientists to examine.

CERN will hold a briefing today (Friday 23rd September, 2011) at 3pm (GMT) which will be streamed live at http://webcast.cern.ch/

David Puttnam on Educating for the Digital Society

Film director, Labour Peer and noted educationalist David Puttnam spoke at University College Cork this week in a talk entitled Educating for the Digital Society: How Ireland can raise its game and how its universities can help?

In a broad ranging and entertaining talk and discussion, Lord Puttnam struck an optimistic note but did not shy away from stating the problems plainly. Puttnam made a decision some fourteen years ago to leave the world of cinema where he had worked for 30 "happy and, I hope, very productive" years in engage with a very different world of public policy. In that time, he says, he has had "no regrets".

If he had "one disappointment", the BAFTA-winning director and West Cork resident said "it's the growing absence of what is probably best described as wisdom" in the society around him.

"Developing that kind of wisdom in the current social, political and media environment is far from easy. 24/7 news cycles, economic and employment figures that are scrutinised every quarter, or in Ireland's case, every fortnight. A world so interconnected that a slip of the tongue in one hemisphere can literally reek havoc in another".




Speaking at the invitation of Ionad Bairre, the Teaching and Learning Centre at UCC, Puttnam said his work in education has been very rewarding because "it has offered me the opportunity to engage with people who, every single day of their working lives are attempting to mould the building blocks, the quality of which will determine our ability to secure our own future - the next generation of teachers."

Using a military metaphor, he described teachers as the only infantry in a war between "our largely failed present and the possibility of an altogether more imaginative, and I hope more innovative future."

"One of the problems with our current system, especially in the UK," according to Puttnam, "is that the 'Chalk and Talk' model has been carried through to a point where it is now very, very close to its sell-by-date".

Resistance or reluctance to fully embrace digital innovation in the classroom, he said,  means that an "increasing disparity has opened up between life in the lecture hall or classroom and the daily experience of technology beyond the college gates".

"Surely few of us would dream of going to a doctor who was less than conversant with the very latest developments in whatever ailment we believed ourselves to be suffering and yet we found it incredibly difficult to persuade policymakers that if we are to win back the trust of you who are already students,then we need to engage far more effectively with your world, the students world. We need to view technology, and the way in which they relate to it, through their eyes."

In a message to the next generation of educators, Puttnam stressed the importance of the authenticity of teachers:

"It is vital for teachers to remember that, no matter how gifted or charismatic they may be, they will never successfully influence or teach anyone who doesn't believe them to be utterly authentic. Authentic in the sense that they hold on to and exemplify the values that they teach. Of all the things I've learned in dealing with the teaching profession in the last 15 years,  that is probably the most singly important."

Importantly, he said, if we always do, what we've always done, we can expect the same results:

"Merely digitising old practices is, in effect, simple seeking to get the same or similar results only faster. If all you do with technology is use it to support existing methodologies and practice, then why and on what possible basis would you expect to get new or better results?"

"Digitising what is and developing a digital pedagogy" are two totally different ways of looking at the problem, according to Puttnam.

Finally, Lord Puttnam outlined 6 crucial lessons for educators and society in general:

1. Getting education right should be the number one priority.
2. No education system can be better than the teachers it employs
3. Ongoing teacher training is essential. "It is absurd", Puttnam noted "that you can graduate in a subject aged 24 and still be relevant at 44 or 64 [without ongoing training]"
4. Educating women is essential. Educated women are the fulcrum around which you can build educated families.
5. Government must spend a minimum of 7% GDP on education. All other spending should be designed to make this happen.
6. Teachers and pupils work best in surroundings they are comfortable and respect. The physical infrastructure of some primary and secondary schools should be a cause of national shame.

Weather Forecast is Science Communication in Action

Congrats to Jean Byrne of Met Eireann on winning the European Meteorological Society's 2011 TV Weather Forecast Award.

The win is a credit to the weather service in this country and a fine example of science communication in action. For many people, the weather forecast is their one regular exposure to science.

The award recognises individual contributions to best practise in the communication of meteorology and the fact is, the nightly weather forecast is one of the best science programmes on TV!

The presenter said she was honoured to receive the award:

"It's great, coming as it does from a group of my professional colleagues and which recognises the importance of the work that meteorologists do and how we continue to try to give our best service."

According to Met Eireann, they were invited to nominate an entrant for the competition and a sample of her work was submitted for consideration. This is the first time that an Irish person has been awarded the trophy.

A qualified meteorologist, Jean Byrne is one of a small group of incredibly well known scientists in the country who appear on our screens after the Six-One and Nine O'Clock News. There cannot be a household in the land that has not watched here or one of her colleagues explain why it hasn't stopped raining or why the winter has been so cold.

While other broadcasters are switching to unqualified presenters, RTE are to be credited with keeping these scientists on our screens.

In my view, the contrast between RTE broadcasts and other Irish and British weather forecasts is vast. The meteorologists on RTE make a constant effort to explain WHY the weather is as it is and not just whether it will be dry tomorrow or not. For that, they deserve this prestigious accolade.

Robert Boyle Science Festival

2011 represents the 350th anniversary of the publication of Robert Boyle’s famous scientific paper entitled, “The Sceptical Chymist”. This document set the scene for the establishment of the academic topic we now call the Chemical Sciences. 

2011 is also the year that has been designated the International Year of Chemistry (or more simply, IYC) and so it is appropriate that Robert Boyle’s enormous... contribution to the subject will be celebrated in a Science Festival to be hosted at his birthplace in Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford. 

The Festival will take place between Thursday 17th November and Sunday 20th November 2011 to coincide with Science Week. Events will be mounted by Eoin Gill (WIT) and Dr Declan Kennedy (UCC) suitable for both children and adults including lectures, demonstrations and “hands-on” experiences. Talks by Professor Duncan Thorburn Burns (QUB) and Dr Allan Chapman (of Channel 4 TV fame) will emphasise material on Boyle himself and also his scientific partnership with the equally famous Robert Hooke. 

Due to the universal importance of Boyle’s law of gases, two further lectures will be devoted to Earth’s atmosphere. The first is to be presented by the Chief Scientific Officer to DEFRA in the UK, Professor Bob Watson, and will provide a political perspective relevant to human activities on air pollution, climate change and agriculture. The second, by Professor Richard Wayne from Oxford University, will attempt to put the evolution of our atmosphere in proper perspective with our neighbouring planets in the Solar System and answer the question: Why Life on Earth? 

The celebration ends with a spectacular Firework Display at the Castle to point at the essential “Air” that covers our planet and allows all forms of life to exist. The Robert Boyle Science Festival is organised by the Lismore Heritage Centre along with representatives from Lismore Castle, University College Cork, Waterford Institute of Technology and local chemical industry. It is sponsored currently by the RIA and UCC. 

You can keep up to date on the festival using their Facebook page.

See our earlier post on Robert Boyle and his science here.

'Drink deeply of the nectared cup of science': Woodroffe and the Cork Anatomists

Co-inciding with the annual meeting of the UCC Medical Faculty and Alumni Association, the Jennings Gallery at University College Cork Medical School will host an exhibition entitled "An Anatomical School in Cork - John Woodroffe and the Cork Anatomists".

It will be a celebration of the Bicentenary of the first Anatomy School in Cork, founded by John Woodroffe, Surgeon of the South Charitable Infirmary, in 1811, together with an exploration of the contribution of Cork anatomists to the development of anatomical illustration in the 19th century. The exhibition will run from September 15th to October 3rd 2011.

Woodroffe founded the school in Margaret Street Cork and the exhibition will examine his life as a teacher of anatomy, a passionate devotee of epic art and a successful and committed surgeon.

Woodrooffe's former school at 18 Parnell Place, Cork. Seen here on the right of the image. After years in a derelict state, the top floors of the facade were rebuilt and the remainder became part of an (as yet) unopened hotel development. (Image: Septemer 2008, archiseek.com)

By 1828, the school was transferred to Warren's (now Parnell) Place, Cork to a building which (the facade at least) is still standing. At Warren's Place Woodroffe taught Anatomy and Physiology. Henry Baldwin Evanson, Charles Yelverton Haines and Edward Richard Townsend taught Materia Medica, Medicine and Surgery respectively. In keeping with the central nature of plants to medicine, Thomas Taylor was employed to teach Botany.

Michael Hanna, Chair of the Gallery Committee notes that "Woodroffe's contemporaries called it the first 'permanent' school of anatomy in Cork. It gave rise to others and to an unbroken link with the founding faculty of medicine in Queens College Cork".

In the Quarterly Journal of Foreign and British Medicine and Surgery (and of the Sciences connected with them) from 1822, the journal notes the growth of Woodroffe's school in Cork:
"We understand that of late regular courses of lectures have been delivered at Cork by Dr. Woodroffe, on Anatomy, Surgery, Midwifery and the Theory and Practice of Medicine.
Dr. Woodroffe, who sems a clever, enterprising man, and, as we are informed, an excellent lecturer, also gives popular courses on Physiology, and the Anatomy of Painting. We wonder why Dr. W. has the whole monopoly of lecturing."

Always keen to bring science to a more public audience, as an introduction to the study of science, the following qoute of Woodroffe's takes some beating:

"... and why may not I presume to hope, that there are among you some, who, by pursuing a similar plan, in a science which presents to your view such ample materials for investigation, may yet fathom the deep recesses of the mind, detect the subtile agent which directs the phenomena of thought and intellect, or make such discoveries in the obscure and unexplored regions of Physiology, as may transmit your names with honour to posterity, and consecrate this humble spring where you first inbibed the pure elements of science. With such incitements your labours must not, cannot, relax; while youth and energy are yours, ere care shall make its fatal inroads in your hearts, or worldly pursuits prevent your better feelings, let me implore you to devote yourselves religiously to the important task of study; drink deeply of the nectared cup of science; her lucid beams will guide you through your perilous course, and gild with eternal sunshine your future prospects; in after years you will enjoy the proud superiority of a good education, and rest assured that your intellectual acquirements, like the Eagle's plumage, will not only adorn, but support you in your flight." (Cork  Merchantile Chronicle 15 Nov, 1815)