“Historic” budget

By James Dacey

Since Obama came to office, scientists in the US seem to be pretty happy with the way he is divvying up national funds.

Yesterday, it was the turn of the UK Government to announce its annual spending plans as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling delivered the budget in Westminster.

If the morning papers are to reflect public opinion, it is fair to say that the “historic” tax increases and plans to borrow a further £348 bn over the next 2 years have gone down like a lead balloon.

“Darling’s Great Squeeze”, The Guardian
“Alistair’s living in wonderland”, Daily Mail
“They’ve ruined Britain”, The Daily Express

However, as part of the budget statement, Darling also revealed that £2.5 billion would be invested in “industries of the future”, including digital communications and biotech; £1.5 billion specifically for low carbon technologies; and the creation of a £750 million venture capital fund to help technology start-up firms prosper.

Early reactions from the scientific community have been positive.

“This is a budget that does recognise the need to invest in science and technology,” said Sir Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society.

Robert Kirby-Harris, chief executive at the Institute of Physics was also up beat:

“The Chancellor has called upon UK science to play a key role in ensuring we have a world-leading economic future. Money is being directed by the Government towards the industries which will help us to deliver on this agenda. This is commendable and we are confident that the UK science base is up to the challenge.”

Given the perilous economic conditions, it remains to be seen whether this investment will be to much or too little…

By Margaret Harris

The “On-Ramps Into Academia” programme aims to make the transition from industry to academia easier for women in science.

I saw an intriguing press release yesterday about a new programme, called “On-Ramps Into Academia”, that aims to help women who have PhDs and at least three years’ experience in industry make a transition back to an academic career. The programme’s first workshop is in Seattle, Washington this October (there’s an online application here , and applying before 15 May is encouraged), and participants can expect practical advice, networking and support from senior women researchers who have already switched to successful academic careers.

The rationale behind the workshops — which are funded by the US National Science Foundation — seems to make sense. The release quoted one of the programme’s co-investigators saying that current strategies to recruit more female scientists to work in US universities are a “zero-sum game”, because most rely on wooing them from one university to another. The new programme, by contrast, is similar to schemes in fields like law and business that aim to bring experienced women back into the workplace after extended absences (e.g. maternity leave).

Still, I had to wonder exactly what “industry” jobs would be suitable preparation for academia, and whether physicists might be at a disadvantage compared to scientists in disciplines like engineering or chemistry, where industry-academia links tend to be more widespread.

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By João Medeiros

Just attended one of the best talks so far, here at the “Science beyond Fiction” conference in Prague — a really exciting, wacky and speculative talk by Artur Ekert, on quantum information science.

To Ekert, the questions that are used to “sell” quantum information science to “deciders” and funding bodies are usually of two kinds. A first argument, more scientifically motivated, sells the point that the true power of quantum computation is yet to be achieved, a computational capacity that will likely teach us much more about the fundamentals of nature. The second, more pragmatic approach, appeals to the exploration of the true fundamental limits in exploring quantum systems and what constraints they put on technology.

On the issue of framing the subject of quantum computation, Ekert says that it is really interesting how people from different cultural backgrounds react to the topic.

For instance when discussing the matter with computer scientists, Ekert uses a more philosophically inclined, logic based approach. According to him, computer scientists are naturally not really fond of atoms and messy quantum systems.

The question he asks his computer scientist collaborators is whether it is possible to construct a logic gate operating on a single bit, such that the same two consecutive operations produce a flip of the bit. Classically, of course, you cannot. But this is a possibility when using quantum systems.

Indeed, one of the fundamental differences between quantum and classical computational systems exists in the respective nature of the logical operations allowed by each system.

The bottomline realization is that information and computation are intimately linked to physics. Information is physical. This conclusion was to many computer scientists a shock and it marked the intellectual revolution that kickstarted quantum information science.

Physicists now realize that if you change the physics you change the nature of information. This has been a surprising revelation to many computer scientists, who since the work of Alan Turing have been playing with classical computer logic without a physical foundation, a logical framework which somehow worked.

INTERDISCIPLINARITY

Ekert also pointed out that quantum computation is one of the truly interdisciplinarity subjects.

Not only it has brought together mathematicians, computer scientists and physicists, but it has also brought people together within physics, scientists that beforehand would not talk to each other simply because they were using completely different jargon and codes. A common denominator was found in the language of quantum logic gates.

Ekert, who is based in Singapore, compared this situation with the way that sometimes Koreans and Chinese use to communicate: not by speaking, but via written characters.

QUANTUM SIDE OF LIFE

Ekert also mentioned that recent advances in the study of the quantum aspects of life, such as the study of the role of quantum coherence in photosynthesis, opens the door to discover quantum computation already happening in natural systems. This is a most fascinating topic that will be featured in an upcoming feature by Paul Davies for PW.

BIG QUESTIONS

The final aspect discussed by Ekert was the philosophical aspect of quantum computation, an side of science which has not been avoided by physicists. According to Ekert, quantum Information has elevated the questions about the nature of reality, randomness, complexity to the level of bona-fide scientific conundrums that should be addressed, rather than ignored.

Ekert himself is partial to question about the nature of randomness, the question of whether it is really possible to have events that have no underlying cause? What is so interesting about this question is that it essential goes against one’s understanding of science, which is intrinsically motivated by the notion of causality of phenomena in nature.

CARDANO, THE ORIGINAL WACKY QUANTUM SCIENTIST

In the next issue of PW, Ekert authors a feature about Girolamo Cardano, the “gambling scholar”. Cardano was a Renaissance mathematician which by himself discovered the basic notions of probability and complex numbers, two of the fundamental pillars of quantum theory.

In the future, Ekert will write again for PW about quantum information science.

Fighting climate change with X-rays

By James Dacey

In the final day of my synchrotron sojourn I headed deep into the heart of the facility to meet some of the scientists hard at work.

In this dimly-lit environment, intense X-ray beamlines shoot off at tangents from the 844m electron beam as it screeches around the main storage ring – the giant polo you see from the air above Grenoble.

Researchers flock here from across the ESRF 12 member states (and beyond) to use these X-rays for probing all sorts of matter – to (hopefully) reveal new information about its fundamental properties.

Within this unusual office space, bicycle is the preferred way of getting around – as at many of the big-name particle colliders.

Highlight of the day for me was whizzing round on my red bike to beamline 15 – the most intense in the facility – to hear about the project taking place there. It had some very interesting environmental implications…

The researchers, from Germany and France, are using the X-rays to probe water-based crystal structures known as “hydrates”, which are capable of storing both hydrogen and carbon dioxide within their structures.

“If we can understand the chemistry and physics of how these hydrates form, this would be a great help for developing carbon sequestration technologies and feasible hydrogen-fuelled cars,” Felix Lehmkühler, one of the researchers, told me over lunch.

Since their latest publication , the researchers have been looking the effect of adding new compounds to their hydrates – the aim is to develop a structure that could store these important gases at everyday temperatures and pressures.

The good news for researchers like Lehmkühler is that the ESRF will be pouring 177 million Euros into upgrading all beamlines and research facilities over the next 6 years.

Meanwhile yesterday, over in California, the US Department of Energy were unveiling “the world’s brightest X-ray source” at the SLAC Accelerator laboratory.

“The science that will come from the LCLS will be as astounding and as unexpected as was the science that came from the lasers of a few decades ago,” said DOE Office of Science acting director, Patricia Dehmer.

With over 50 synchrotrons spread across five continents, and a road map in place to develop the first African facility, synchrotron research seems to be in a very healthy state right now!

One too many Brits

By Hamish Johnston

One of the things that makes the British great is their love of eccentricity.

Which is why I was not particularly surprised when I came across a reference in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph to “the British physicist Richard Feynman”. The passage was in a review of Jim Baggot’s book Atomic: The First War of Physics.

Feynman was as American as they come — he was born in New York City and spent most of his career at Caltech near Los Angeles.

However, he was famously eccentric so I can understand why a Brit reading about his antics would assume Feynman is British.

I don’t think I am the only person to have spotted the error — but for some reason it has yet to be corrected in the online version

By the way, Physics World will be publishing its own review of the book shortly.

By João Medeiros

I’m in Prague attending the European Future Technologies Conference — “Science Beyond Fiction”. It has so far been prolific in ideas and science-fictionish future promises, despite a bumpy start.

Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, and Mirek Topolanek, the Czech PM, were the high profile names planned to open the proceedings. They were, however, conspicuous by their absence.

Topolanek, understandably, is perhaps more concerned with his political future than with the future of science right now, after losing a no-confidence motion in Parliament last month. The Czechs also presently hold the EU presidency, so the overbooking of Topolanek’s diary is understandable. One can only hope that he can multitask.

Reding, on the other hand, used cutting-edge European technology to address the delegates via a prosaic video-stream. Given that she is the Commissioner for Information Society and Media, the symbolism is laudable.

Speaking on a blue background of distorted stars and clouds dangerously resembling a psychedelic motif, Reding proposed to boost Europe´s high-risk research into future technologies by doubling the current level of funding by 2015.

“Europe must be inventive and bold – especially in times of crisis. Research seeds innovation which is key for Europe’s long-term global competitiveness. Scientific and revolutionary breakthroughs constitute enormous opportunities and we must bring the best brains together to make the most of them,” said Reding. “Combining efforts of the 27 EU countries and stepping up cooperation with global partners is essential for Europe to take the lead in future information technologies that can yield radically new solutions for European citizens in domains such as health, climate change, the ageing population, sustainable development or security.”

In other words, Europe needs catch up with the US, China and Japan.

Unlimited computing power, computers mimicking the brain, mind controlled wheelchairs and friendly robotic companions are all part of this European sized mega super project. This initiative comes in the context of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme to promote long-term and high risk research in quantum computing and communications, nanoelectronics, neuro- and bio- information science, advanced robotics and complex systems.

Some of the research that resulted from FET sponsorship is in show here at an Exhibition.

On the “friendly robotic companions” category, I saw NAO, an extremely self-conscious robot that talked non-stop whilst pushing boxes around (or in the words of the researchers involved, “learning physics”). It did not really convince me, but kudos for looking so helpless and cute.

I was also the only volunteer to test drive a simulator type head-set – immersive journalism at its best — and had to control a joystick to run over black squares on a virtual road. I’m still trying to figure out why.

The issues of high-risk research and funding of basic science, of course, were already timely featured in PW’s May issue, on the excellent article by Mark Buchanan, “In search of black swans”
Glad to see that PW is driving the European science agenda.

Highlight of the day: Anton Zeilinger’s talk on Quantum Information (more on that later)

Us and them: ‘e’ is the smallest exoplanet yet and ‘d’ is in the habitable zone

By Hamish Johnston

Imagine my excitement last week when I received an email press release proclaiming:

“At 11:00 BST/12:00 CEST [21 April], a press conference will highlight a major and truly unique discovery in the field of exoplanets, made possible with ESO telescopes.”

“That’s got to be the first sighting of an exomoon”, I thought — a satellite of planet orbiting a star other that the Sun.

I now know I was jumping the gun on exomoons (more on this later) — it turns out that astronomers have found the smallest exoplanet yet, which is a mere 1.9 times more massive than Earth.

Now, I’m not trying to demean this discovery, but hundreds of exoplanets have already been discovered and this one just happens to be the smallest yet. And I’m guessing that in a few month’s time, a smaller exoplanet will be found.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this exoplanet is that astronomers know it orbits the star Gliese 581 in the company of at least three other exoplanets.

Three of these planets (including the smallest) are too close to the star to harbour life, but the team has also revealed today that the fourth is inside the “habitable zone”, where life could exist. Indeed, at the press conference the team speculated that the planet could be home to “a large and deep ocean” and described it as the first serious “water world candidate” to be found.

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The good old days

By Hamish Johnston

The Sun normally follows an 11-year cycle — waxing and waning in terms of its power output and the number of solar flares and sunspots at its surface.

But our star seems to be stuck in a slump — it should have hit a minimum in 2007-8 and should now be climbing rapidly to its next maximum in about 2013.

Despite a few false starts towards increased activity, the Sun is “bumping along the bottom”, according to solar physicist Mike Lockwood of Southampton University who was on BBC Radio 4 this morning.

You can listen to the interview here.

Lockwood pointed out that the power output of the sun is at a “record low”, but added that we shouldn’t expect a new ice age because solar power fluctuations are measured in hundredths of a percent.

Although solar output is expected to have some effect on Earth’s climate, Lockwood said that exactly how and why is currently a topic of debate.

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