Science Spin 58 May 2013 | Page 4

Asteroid close-up

As EsA’ s spacecraft, Rosetta, came within 800 km of the asteroid steins, it captured this image showing how the surface has been battered and pockmarked by impacts. The asteroid is five km wide and the largest impact crater is about 2 km wide and almost 300 metres deep. The central crater is 650 km wide and 80 metres deep. About 40 craters have been noted in total.

Rosetta was launched in 2004 and following a long and complex trajectory making use of Mars and Earth’ s gravity, it will finally arrive around the comet known as 67 P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will then remain in orbit around the comet as it travels on towards the Sun.

Open learning

A GRoup of volunteers have launched an alternative education space in Dublin. The organisers aim to foster self-directed learning where everyone is free to learn or impart their knowledge. unlike the prevailing top-down approach to education, this approach is largely

Arctic camels

ThE last place we would expect to see a camel is in the Arctic, but three and a half million year old fossil bones show that they once inhabited that region. A team of scientists from the university of Manchester and the Canadian Museum of Nature found fragments of a tibia, the lower leg bone. The fragments were collected from a sandy deposit at an elevated site on Ellesmere Island and the scientists reported that the extremely cold conditions there had helped preserve proteins, adding enormously to the value of these fossils.

Digital imaging enabled the scientists to reassemble the 30 fragments, and it was possible to extract a small amount www. sciencespin. com

UPFRONT

In 2008 Rosetta went by Steins, and Ted stryk, professor of philosophy and part-time astronomer processed the data to produce this image showing up details in high contrast.

dependent on self-motivation and sharing, open Learning Ireland also aims to serve those who have been alienated by negative experience in school, or have found themselves cut off from participation in formal education. For more information: http:// openlearningireland. com

of collagen, one of the main protein components in bone.

By comparing the collagen to 37 present-day mammal species a close match was found with modern Dromedary camels. A close match was also found with another fossil camel from the Yukon area.

Although the match was close, the bone fragments show that the Arctic camel was bigger than modern species. The tibia was about 30 per cent larger than those in living camel species.

It is thought that the camel lived in a boreal-type forest environment during a warmer phase. Camels may have originated in the far north, and scientists wonder if some of the features we see now could have been shaped originally in a much colder environment.

China links

FoLLowInG an agreement between China and Ireland to co-operate on agrifood, nanotechnology, biomedical developments, ICT and other areas, the Irish Government has made up to € 1 million available to support suitable initiatives. China is providing matching finance, and the Irish funding is being channelled through Science Foundation Ireland. university College Dublin and nuI Maynooth are leading projects that will involve all seven Irish universities, the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, the Institutes of Technology in Dublin, Cork and waterford, and Teagasc. These organisations will be collaborating with about 30 research and higher education institutes in China.

Battery implants

InSERTInG medical devices can keep our bodies working, but one of the risks is that the batteries might leak, and of course they can run out of power.

Researchers at the Polish Academy of Sciences in warsaw have come up with a safer and longer-lasting solution in the form of an air-breathing bio-battery.

The concept is much the same as the common experiment in schools in which two electrodes inserted into a potato or lemon can generate a current.

Instead of using a potato, the researchers make use of naturally occurring substances in or around the body. According to the researchers the zinc-oxygen biobatteries produce more power than existing batteries, and because there are no strong acids or bases, there is no need for a heavy protective housing. To generate power, the only requirement is to insert the electrodes into the body.

As the researchers point out, the concept is not new, but improvements to the cathode mean that a zinc-oxygen battery can continue to produce 1.7 volts for several hours. over the past few years the research group has been developing a cathode incorporating enzymes within a carbon nanotube and silicate matrix. The cathode is in a cell containing an electrolyte which consists of a solution containing hydrogen ions. Pores in the silicate matrix allow oxygen in, and with the assistance of the enzyme, reduction takes place, and the carbon nanotubes transport electrons to the surface.

After about one and a half weeks the efficiency goes down because the enzyme wears out. The researchers are now looking at how the enzyme might be regenerated to prolong biobattery life.

Western wilderness oVER 11,000 hectares of north west Mayo have been declared a wilderness area. An agreement was made between Coillte and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to return much of this area which includes the existing Ballycroy National Park and Nephin mountain to a wilder state. under this agreement Coillte is to take 4.400 ha out of commercial forestry.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 58 Page 2