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 .

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