Scottish Scientists Slow down Light Particles - Photons

The speed of light is a limit, not a constant, that's what researchers in Glasgow, Scotland, say. A group of them just proved that light can be slowed down, permanently.

Scientists already knew light could be slowed temporarily. Photons change speeds as they pass through glass or water, but when they exit the other side and return to a vacuum (like outer space) they speed back up.

In a new experiment at the University of Glasgow, however, scientists were able to permanently manipulate light's speed by passing photons through a device that alters their structure. The device, created in collaboration with researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, is a filter of sorts that the scientists refer to as a mask.

"That mask looks a little bit like a bull's-eye target," researcher Miles Padgett told reporters. "And that mask patterns the light beam, and we show that it's the patterning of the light beam that slows it down.

"But once that pattern has been imposed, even now the light is no longer in the mask, it's just propagating in free space, the speed is still slow," Padgett added.

In other words, the beam of light is reorganized in a way that slows down each individual photon. When tested in a vacuum next to a regular light beam.

Photons that had been filtered through mask were milliseconds behind in a sprint to the end of the vacuum racetrack.

Researchers, whose latest work was published this week in the journal Science Express, say the findings prove the speed of light is not an absolute, more like a ceiling.

Miles Padgett

The work was carried out by a team from the University of Glasgow’s Optics Group, led by Professor Miles Padgett, working with theoretical physicists led by Stephen Barnett, in partnership with Professor Daniele Faccio from Heriot-Watt’s Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences.

Daniele Faccio

Professor Faccio said, “The speed of light is a universal constant and plays a central role in our understanding of the Universe and Einstein's theory of relativity."

"The exciting discovery here is that this speed is the true speed of light only for plane waves, that is waves that are perfectly flat."

"In everyday situations however, we interact with light that is not a plane wave but has some kind of structure on it."

"The presence of this structure (think of the light beam emitted from a laser pointer) forces the light to actually move slower."

"There are lots of technicalities involved in the actual experiments used to measure this slow-down, but the result is widely applicable. A very appropriate discovery for the 2015 international year of light".

Professor Padgett added, “It might seem surprising that light can be made to travel more slowly like this, but the effect has a solid theoretical foundation and we’re confident that our observations are correct.

“The results give us a new way to think about the properties of light and we’re keen to continue exploring the potential of this discovery in future applications."

"We expect that the effect will be applicable to any wave theory, so a similar slowing could well be created in sound waves, for example.”

More Information
Spatially structured photons that travel in free space slower than the speed of light - Science Magazine January 22 2015 - Science DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa3035

Scottish scientists: 'tremendously important' breakthrough in water to hydrogen production process

Chemists in Scotland, at the Cronin laboratory in Glasgow University, have made a major advancement in the process of producing hydrogen from water that may offer cleaner and cheaper gas, and a renewable source of energy.

"The process uses a liquid that allows the hydrogen to be locked up in a liquid-based inorganic fuel," professor Lee Cronin of Glasgow University wrote in the journal Science.

"By using a liquid sponge known as a redox mediator that can soak up electrons and acid we've been able to create a system where hydrogen can be produced in a separate chamber without any additional energy input after the electrolysis of water takes place."

Cronin says the redox mediator allows hydrogen to be produced at 30 times the rate of current processes without requiring more energy.

The new process uses energy from the sun and wind, which, due to lower power outputs, produces significantly less hydrogen.

"Around 95 percent of the world's hydrogen supply is currently obtained from fossil fuels, a finite resource which we know harms the environment and speeds climate change," Cronin's report says.

"The potential for reliable hydrogen production from renewable sources is huge. The sun, for example, provides more energy in a single hour of sunlight than the entire world's population uses in a year."

"If we can tap and store even a fraction of that in the coming years and decrease our reliance on fossil fuels it will be a tremendously important step to slowing climate change."

There is also an ongoing need for Hydrogen extraction from water, coming from the world's space agencies (NASA, ESA, etc) to allow them to occupy, inhabit and produce renewable energy on Mars and other suitable exoplanets outside our Solar System.

Prof Lee Cronin is one of 10 the UK’s most inspirational scientists and engineers named as RISE Leaders for 2014 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Their contribution to science covers a broad range of disciplines and highlights the diversity and impact of the engineering and physical sciences.

More Information
'Decoupled catalytic hydrogen evolution from a molecular metal oxide redox mediator in water splitting' - Authors: Benjamin Rausch, Mark D. Symes, Greig Chisholm, Leroy Cronin - Science 12 September 2014: Vol. 345 no. 6202 pp. 1326-1330 DOI: 10.1126/science.1257443

Star Trek-style 'tractor beam' created at Scottish university

Scientists at Dundee University have created a working "tractor beam".

Normally the stuff of science fiction in Star Trek or Star Wars, physicists at the university used an ultrasound array to exert force on an object and pull it towards the energy source.

They say it is the first time such a beam has been used to move anything bigger than microscopic targets.

The technology could be put to use in medicine, helping to develop ultrasound-based clinical techniques.

Dundee researchers worked alongside colleagues in Southampton and Illinois on the project, the results of which have been published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

In another sci-fi inspired project, the same team from the university's Institute for Medical Science and Technology (Imsat) created a Doctor Who-style "sonic screwdriver", also using ultrasound.

Ultrasound device
"This is the first time anyone has demonstrated a working acoustic tractor beam and the first time such a beam has been used to move anything bigger than microscopic targets," said Dr Christine Demore of Imsat.

"We were able to show that you could exert sufficient force on an object around one centimetre in size to hold or move it, by directing twin beams of energy from the ultrasound array towards the back of the object."

The team used an ultrasound device that is already clinically approved for use in MRI-guided surgery.

The team's work was carried out as part of a £3.6m programme initiated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, combining expertise at four UK universities in Bristol, Dundee, Glasgow and Southampton with industrial firms.

Professor Sandy Cochran, of the University of Dundee, said: "Our partnership with industry has been vital to developing devices and capabilities that are delivering unprecedented sophistication in the field of ultrasound."

Scottish Researchers build acoustic tractor beam

(a) Nonconservative pushing force exerted on an object by a plane wave as a result of strong backscattering. 

(b) Decreasing of the pushing force due to an enhanced forward scattering in a nonparaxial beam. 

(c) The authors used a target designed to maximize the forward scattering of acoustic radiation, leading to a pulling nonconservative force towards the source: an acoustic tractor beam. 

Credit: APS/Alan Stonebraker

A team of researchers with members from the U.K., Scotland and the U.S. has built a functioning acoustic tractor beam in a lab, one that is able to pull objects of centimeter size.

In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they built their device, why it works and to what applications it might be put.

Tractor beams, as we all know are a staple of science fiction, a beam is emitted from a spaceship that can be used to lock on to other objects, such as another space ship, and then used to move that other object in any direction, most interestingly, in the same direction from which the beam is being emitted, pulling it in.

Tractor beams seem counterintuitive as beams of light tend to push objects away, rather than attract them—but, as prior research has shown, optical tractor beams can be created at the nanoparticle level, e.g. optical tweezers.

In this new effort, the research team has extended the abilities of a tractor beam by using one based on acoustics, rather than optics.

Sending a beam (wave) at an object and having it pull the object closer rather than push it can work because of the scattering of the wave that occurs when it collides with the object and if the wave is sent at an angle to the object.

If the scattering and angle are controlled just right, a low pressure zone can be created in front of the object, in effect, pushing it back towards the origin of the beam.

In the lab, the researchers used ultrasonic sound waves in a tank of water.

They put an array of ultrasound emitters at the bottom of the tank and used a hollow isosceles triangular prism as the object to be pulled.

Using an array of emitters allowed for very precisely controlling the wave, which allowed for directing energy onto the outer surface of the object, causing backscattering that led to the frontal low pressure zone, which in turn led to pushing the object back towards the wave source.

An analogy would be squeezing a chocolate chip with your fingers, forcing it to move in whatever direction you choose.

Experimental configuration to demonstrate negative radiation forces with a planar ultrasonic array.

(a) Scaled cross-sectional geometry of the 550 kHz planar matrix array source and hollow, prism-shaped targets suspended above the array. Linear phase gradients applied to the array elements produce wave fronts steered at θ=50.6° towards the array center line.

Active subapertures, forming a hollow core with diameter Δxn, are stepped towards the center line by the array element pitch, with a corresponding lateral (±x) shift in the transmitted local wave fronts and an axial (−z) shift of the intersection with the axis.

(b), (c) Normalised maps of simulated instantaneous pressure field and

(d),(e) measured magnitude of the pressure field produced by the transmitting subapertures illustrated under the field maps. 

Credit: (c) PRL, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.174302

Because of the stipulations required to make it work, applications that could make use of such a tractor beam are clearly limited, though the researchers suggest it might prove useful in some medical situations.

More information: Acoustic Tractor Beam, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 174302 – Published 30 April 2014. dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.174302

Scottish Scientists examine the science of lightning in extrasolar planets

A thunderstorm above Unna, in Germany. 

Credit: S Mial /Wikipedia.

Scientists in Scotland are hoping to make a major 'leap' in working out whether a bolt of lightning could trigger life on planets outside the solar system.

The team, at the University of St Andrews, has been studying lightning in extrasolar planets to better understand how atmospheres on earth become electrically charged.

In turn, the researchers, from the University's LEAP (Life Electricity Atmosphere Planets) group at the School of Physics & Astronomy hope to learn more about the role lightning played in generating the 'building blocks' for life.

Christiane Helling

Lead researcher Dr Christiane Helling will reveal one of her group's findings today at a major meeting involving 11,000 scientists working in the Earth, planetary and space sciences.

The researcher will talk about her work in a special session on lightning at the EGU (European Geosciences Union) General Assembly in Vienna.

Dr Helling said, "Atmospheric electrical discharges, or lightning, have been observed on planets other than Earth such as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, but it is very likely that lightning also occurs outside the Solar System too.

"We studied both exoplanets and brown dwarfs, which host clouds made of minerals or gemstones, to see how much energy is deposited into the atmosphere if a lightning strike hits.

A lightning discharge is started by a small-scale 'streamer discharge' which can evolve into a large-scale lightning bolt.

By building a discharge model related to lab works from the University of Eindhoven TU, Dr Helling and her team were able to study the large-scale properties of lightning in extrasolar, cloud-forming atmospheres, and how much energy would be injected by such a lightning strike.

They found that lightning strikes are more energetic in brown dwarfs than in giant gas planets.

"Our work combines plasma physics experiments performed in laboratories on Earth with our research into cloud formation in extrasolar atmospheres," Dr Helling explained.

"Our work tests the physical processes on Earth in non-terrestrial environments such as hydrogen-dominated atmospheres and gemstone clouds outside the solar system, in contrast to the nitrogen-dominated atmosphere and water clouds on Earth."

The St Andrews research could help in extreme situations of lightning on Earth.

More information: Dr Helling will deliver the scientific talk on the topic 'Large-scale properties of lightning in extrasolar objects' on Friday 2 May 2014, 16.45 in room G1 at the EGU conference cite in Vienna. Online: adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...784...43B

Scottish scientists use Backpacks to monitor personal air pollution

Scientists in Edinburgh are using hi-tech backpacks to study personal exposure to air pollution.

Air pollution is routinely measured by a network of urban monitors at fixed locations across Scotland.

But these are unable to provide a detailed picture of an individual's exposure throughout the day.

Scientists at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology have provided volunteers with backpacks fitted with particle monitors and GPS satellite tracking technology.

Graph on laptop, showing David’s exposure to air pollution in Edinburgh

The volunteers wear the small backpacks throughout the day and sleep with them beside their beds at night.

The results are then analysed to assess exposure to tiny particles, mainly from combustion, known as particulate matter.

Doctors say there is a strong link between exposure to particulate matter and the risk of heart attack.

Dave Newby

Professor Dave Newby, of the University of Edinburgh and the British Heart Foundation, said: "We all think that when we breathe in air pollution, it must provoke pneumonia, or asthma or lung problems. But actually, it kills far more people from heart disease.

"What we've found is that the biggest trigger is the particulate matter that we breathe in. In the urban environment, the biggest contributor to that is diesel engines."

Dr Stefan Reis

The research investigating personal exposure to air pollution is being led by Dr Stefan Reis.

He believes the development of mobile air pollution monitoring equipment will be cheaper and more effective than investing in a larger network of fixed monitoring stations to cover whole cities.

He told reporters: "It's always easy to call for more monitoring but what we are trying to achieve is getting smarter monitoring.

"We're not trying to cover the whole countryside or city with many, very accurate monitors, which are very expensive, but using the combination of personal sensors, monitors on buses or trams, together with existing networks to get a much better picture of the actual exposure of people in the city."

The Scottish government has rejected criticism from environmentalists, who say ministers are failing in their duty to reduce air pollution levels.

Paul Wheelhouse

Environment minister Paul Wheelhouse said: "Working in partnership with local authorities, we've developed a network of monitoring sites, there's over 90 of them in Scotland, and we're using those to develop our strategy at a local level.

"In some cases, where they fail to meet the Scottish standard, which is a tough standard, they identify an air quality management area and that then triggers between the Scottish government and the local authority, who have a duty to deliver good air quality locally, to tackle that."

Roadside air pollution monitoring station

But Green MSP Patrick Harvie argues air pollution levels will remain too high until there is a fundamental change in transport policy in Scotland.

He said: "This locked-in pattern that we have to high transport demand is expensive, it's inefficient, it's unhealthy and it contributes to local and global pollution.

"Unless we see change in transport policy, we are not going to see change to the pollution levels in our cities and we'll be here in another 10 years listening to another environment minister saying much the same thing."

Scottish Astronomer captures meteor trail against Aurora Borealis

A display of the Northern Lights over the Highlands and Islands of Scotland has been lit up by a fireball meteor.

Images of the aurora borealis were captured in clear skies on Monday night, including along the west coast and in the Western Isles.

The Northern Lights are generated when particle streams from the sun collide with atoms high up in the atmosphere.

Byron Griffiths, who lives on the Isle of Lewis, took one shot of the fireball as it fell through the sky.

Scottish Sci-Fi Author Iain M. Banks Gets Asteroid Named after Him

Iain M. Banks (1954-2013) was a Scottish writer best known for the Culture series of science fiction novels; he also wrote fiction as Iain Banks. 

An evangelical atheist and lover of whisky, he scorned social media and enjoyed writing music. He was an extra in Monty Python & The Holy Grail.

The Minor Planet Center only has the authority to designate new asteroid discoveries (e.g., ’1971 TD1′) and assign numbers to those whose orbits are of a high enough accuracy (e.g., ’5099′), but names for numbered asteroids must be submitted to, and approved by, the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) of the IAU (International Astronomical Union).

With the help of Dr Gareth Williams, the MPC’s representative on the CSBN, we submitted a request to name an asteroid after Iain Banks with the hope that it would be approved soon enough for Mr Banks to enjoy it.

Sadly, that has not been possible. Nevertheless, on June 23rd, 2013, asteroid (5099) was officially named Iainbanks by the IAU, and will be referred to as such for as long as Earth Culture may endure.

Asteroid Iainbanks resides in the Main Asteroid Belt of the Sol system; with a size of 6.1 km (3.8 miles), it takes 3.94 years to complete a revolution around the Sun. It is most likely of a stony composition.

Scottish scientists create single-pixel camera for 3D images

A projector displays patterned light on the face on a mannequin. These patterns are used to produce a 2D image. A 3D image is then formed using a technique called "shape from shade"

Scientists in Glasgow have discovered a low-cost way to create 3D images.

Their system uses detectors which have a single pixel to sense light instead of the millions of pixels used in the imaging sensors of digital cameras.

The detectors can "see" frequencies beyond visible light, which researchers say could open up new uses for 3D imaging in medicine and geography.

They said the single-pixel detectors cost "a few pounds" compared to current systems, which cost "thousands".

It is hoped that the system's ability to senses wavelengths far beyond the capability of digital cameras and its low cost, could make it a valuable tool for a wide range of industries.

Researchers said possible uses could range from locating oil to helping doctors find tumours.

Miles Padgett

Crossword patterns
Prof Miles Padgett led the team at University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy, which developed the technique.

He said: "Single-pixel detectors in four different locations are used to detect light from a data projector, which illuminates objects with a rapidly-shifting sequence of black-and-white patterns similar to crossword puzzles.

"When more of the white squares of these patterns overlap with the object, the intensity of the light reflected back to the detectors is higher.

"A series of projected patterns and the reflected intensities are used in a computer algorithm to produce a 2D image."

"A 3D image was then created by combining images from the four detectors using a well-known technique called "shape from shade"."

This 3D computational imaging, or ghost imaging produces detailed images of objects in just a few seconds.

Conventional 3D imaging systems uses multiple digital camera sensors to produce a 3D image from 2D information. Careful calibration is required to ensure the multi-megapixel images align correctly.

Beyond the visible
Prof Padgett continued: "Our single-pixel system creates images with a similar degree of accuracy without the need for such detailed calibration."

Baoqing Sun

Lead author on the paper Baoqing Sun said: "It might seem a bit counter-intuitive to think that more information can be captured from a detector which uses just a single pixel rather than the multi-megapixel detectors found in conventional digital cameras.

"However, digital camera sensors have a very limited sensitivity beyond the spectrum of visible light, whereas a single-pixel detector can easily be made to capture information far beyond the visible, reaching wavelengths from X-ray to TeraHertz."

More Information:
The team's paper, 3D Computational Imaging with Single-Pixel Detectors, is published in the Science 17 May 2013: Vol. 340 no. 6134 pp. 844-847 DOI:10.1126/science.1234454.

Metaflex: Scottish Scientist develop 'Invisibility Cloak'

The material, called "Metaflex" may in future provide a way of manufacturing fabrics that manipulate light.

Metamaterials have already been developed that bend and channel light to render objects invisible at longer wavelengths.

Visible light poses a greater challenge because its short wavelength means the metamaterial atoms have to be very small.

So far such small light-bending atoms have only been produced on flat, hard surfaces unsuitable for use in clothing.

But scientists at the University of St Andrews in Scotland believe they have overcome this problem. They have produced flexible metamaterial "membranes" using a new technique that frees the meta-atoms from the hard surface they are constructed on.

Metaflex can operate at wavelengths of around 620 nanometres, within the visible light region. Stacking the membranes together could produce a flexible "smart fabric" that may provide the basis of an invisibility cloak, the scientists believe.

Other applications could include "superlenses" that are far more efficient than conventional lenses.

Describing their work in the New Journal of Physics, the researchers write: "Arguably, one of the most exciting applications of Metaflex is to fabricate three-dimensional flexible MMs (metamaterials) in the optical range, which can be achieved by stacking several Metaflex membranes on top of one another...

Dr Andrea Di Falco

"These results confirm that it is possible to realise MMs on flexible substrates and operating in the visible regime, which we believe are ideal building blocks for future generations of three-dimensional flexible MMs at optical wavelengths."

Lead scientist Dr Andrea Di Falco said: "Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behaviour of light."

Brian Binnie - First Scottish person in Space

Binnie was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, where his Scottish father was a professor of physics at Purdue University.

The family returned to Scotland when Binnie was five, and lived in Aberdeen (his father taught at Aberdeen University) and later in Stirling.

When Binnie was a teenager the family moved to Boston.

Binnie, an alumnus of Brown and Princeton Universities, served for 21 years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator flying the A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, F/A-18 Hornet, and AV-8B Harrier II.

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1988.

Binnie also co-piloted the Atmospheric Test Vehicle of the Rotary Rocket.

In 2006, he received an Honorary degree from University of Aberdeen.


On December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Binnie piloted the first powered test flight of SpaceShipOne, flight 11P, which reached a top speed of Mach 1.2 and a height of 20.7 kilometers.

On October 4, 2004, he piloted SpaceShipOne's second Ansari X Prize flight, flight 17P, winning the X Prize and becoming the 435th person, and the first citizen of Scotland, to go into space.

His flight, which peaked at 367,442 feet (69.6 mi; 112.0 km), set a winged aircraft altitude record, breaking the old record set by the North American X-15 in 1963.

It also earned him the second set of Astronaut Wings to be given by the FAA for a flight aboard a privately-operated commercial spacecraft.

Scottish Screen Archive - Neil Armstrong in LANGHOLM' Scotland

Neil Armstrong swears the oath of allegiance and is granted the freedom of the burgh of Langholm.

Video shows sections of original news footage from Scottish Border Television.

Shots of pipe band in the streets of Langholm. Neil Armstrong and his wife, accompanied by the Provost and civic officials, stand to attention for the American national anthem.

Shots of the party as they are driven through the burgh streets in an open landau carriage.

They arrive at parish church. Shots inside the church as Armstrong swears oath of allegiance and is granted the freedom of the burgh. He signs the Burgess Roll.

Shots of Neil Armstrong as he addresses the congregation. Shots of the party outside the church.

Armstrong signs autographs and walks through the crowds.

Red Arrows Display over Scottish Museum of Flight

The Red Arrows display over the Scottish National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland.

Scottish Whisky distiller of Ardbeg, sends malt into space

A Scottish island distillery, who's whisky has reached 'cult' status with Scottish whisky experts, is carrying out experiments in space to find out how its product matures without gravity.

The Ardbeg Distillery on Islay blasted compounds of unmatured malt - known as new make spirit - to the International Space Station (ISS) in an unmanned cargo spacecraft on October 30 last year.

Ardbeg Whisky Flavour Notes

It also sent up particles of charred oak and, once the spacecraft docked at the ISS, the two sets of molecules were mixed.

Scientists want to understand how the two sets of compounds interact at close-to-zero gravity.

The molecules are tiny parts of the two substances known as terpenes - a set of chemicals which are often aromatic and flavour-active.

It is believed the experiment is the first time anyone has ever studied terpenes and other molecules in near-zero gravity.

The team are also measuring the molecules' interaction at normal gravity on Earth so they can compare the way the particles mature.

The molecules will stay on the ISS for at least two years so scientists can understand how they change in a near-zero gravity environment.

The experiment, unveiled at the Edinburgh International Science Festival today, is led by US-based space research company NanoRacks LLC.

The results could be used for different industries, including future generations of Ardbeg whisky.

Michael Johnson, chief technical officer of NanoRacks LLC, said: "By doing this microgravity experiment on the interaction of terpenes and other molecules with the wood samples provided by Ardbeg, we will learn much about flavours, even extending to applications like food and perfume.

"At the same time it should help Ardbeg find new chemical building blocks in their own flavour spectrum."

Dr Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky creation at Ardbeg, who unveiled the experiment, said: "This experiment will throw new light on the effect of gravity on the maturation process. We are all tremendously excited by this experiment - who knows where it will lead?"

Below is a short video of Bill Lumsden describing his introduction to Ardbeg whilst hosting a tasting event.

Scotland's Glasgow firm Clyde Space awarded small share of UK technology funding

Glasgow-based Clyde Space has been awarded funding for two joint space technology development projects.

The firm has secured nearly £70,000 under the UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme (NSTP).

The funding will help Clyde further work on miniaturised electric propulsion systems for very small spacecraft.

The other project involves developing attitude planning and control algorithms for low cost spacecraft.

Clyde has been working on tiny electric propulsion systems for very small spacecraft called "CubeSats" and nanosatellites with Southampton University's Mars Space Ltd.

Funding of £24,000 has been awarded for their joint work on a micro pulsed plasma thruster for CubeSats.

Clyde said the project would take the technology forward to a flight-ready prototype.

The UK Space Agency awarded a further £44,000 for a joint project with the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory at the University of Strathclyde.

That project involves optimising algorithms for control of CubeSat attitude, furthering work already completed at Clyde.

Craig Clark, from Clyde Space, said: "We are up against organisations from all over the world, high technology companies that are doing similar things to us, so this funding will really help towards us maintaining a competitive edge."

Scotland Space Scientific Research and Innovation is reaching for the stars

At last Scotland is being seen as playing a leading role in the space sector after decades of being the engineers, scientists and innovators that break down technological barriers in other countries' space programs.

The space sector contributes £5.6 billion to the UK economy, as well as supporting 68,000 high-value jobs. Not only that, it has soared above the recent economic headwinds, growing an average of 9 per cent each year since 1999.

Scotland-based companies are playing a key role in that success story. Clyde Space is leading the design and manufacture of the UKube-1 satellite – the UK’s first satellite commissioned by the UK Space Agency.

Other examples include Star-Dundee, which sells its data-handling test products to almost every international space agency, while Selex Galileo, in Edinburgh, is tapping into the market for European satellites.

Commercial success also goes hand in hand with globally recognised academic excellence, with the recent launch of the Space Glasgow research cluster by the UK Science Minister David Willetts.

Scotland is also involved with key instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will replace Hubble Space telescope (HST), currently jointly managed by NASA and ESA.

But don’t think that space research is something that can only be applied out in the great beyond. In fact, on 6 March, Glasgow will host the second Scottish Space Symposium, exploring the theme of “Bringing space down to earth”. Download a copy of the Program here

Scottish Enterprise is supporting the event in partnership with University of Strathclyde to showcase the benefits of using space-based information and technologies.

For example, use of space-based data will allow Network Rail to improve safety by monitoring landslides remotely via satellite rather than sending engineers to remote locations.

Edinburgh-based Ecometrica is also using satellite data to monitor CO2 levels, putting them at the vanguard of carbon trading and tariffs which the EU is investigating placing on businesses as a means of tackling climate change.

So the Scottish Space Symposium will explore how businesses can benefit from terrestrial applications in such key fields as communications and transport. Science fact, as opposed to science fiction.

Scottish Zoological Team (SZSS) Photograph Rare giant armadillo

A rare giant armadillo has been caught on camera by researchers in the wetlands of central Brazil.

Little is known about the mysterious mammals, which can reach 1.5m in length and weigh up to 50kg.

In the past, the species' nocturnal, solitary lifestyles have posed a considerable challenge for scientists wishing to study them.

Conservationists now hope to learn more about the vulnerable animals using automatic camera traps.

At up to twice the size of more familiar species, giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus) are known to live in undisturbed forest near to water sources in South America.

But the species have a patchy distribution and spend their days in underground burrows making confirmed sightings rare.

Researchers from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) spent 10 weeks intensively searching for the elusive mammals in a region of the Pantanal, one of the world's largest wetlands spanning Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Using cameras provided by Chester Zoo, the team were able to capture rare photographs of the animals.

"The cameras will offer critical pieces of information for the assessment of the status of giant armadillo populations in Brazil," said Dr Arnaud Desbiez, a conservation biologist from RZSS who runs the Giant Armadillo Project.

ARMADILLO FACTS

• Little is known about giant armadillos but scientists have identified that their long claws are suitable for digging up termite mounds for food
• Unlike their smaller relatives, these large animals are unable to fully roll into a protective ball and so burrow to escape predators
• Their armour-like shell is made of 11 to 13 hinged bands of bony plates covered in scales

Cube Satellites: View Space Station as Launch Pad

CubeSats are small and compact sensor-laden satellites that can help monitor phenomena of interest, such as Earth's upper atmosphere.

CREDIT: University of Kentucky

The International Space Station would be an ideal launch platform for dispatching tiny spacecraft to perform a variety of Earth-oriented scientific research tasks, some experts speculate.

The idea of using the $100 billion ISS as a platform to pop out sensor-laden probes has captured the attention of small-satellite makers, who are contemplating deploying palm-sized satellites called CubeSats from the orbiting laboratory to study phenomena of interest.

Clyde Space - Cubesat

Scottish scientists are also at the Technology Strategy Board Collaboration Nation event, concluding the Space Feasibility study activities, Clyde Space presented three of our innovative technology concepts for use on CubeSats. 

The concepts were a high resolution imager for a 3U CubeSat for global digital mapping, a Bush Fire early warning system using a constellation of 3U CubeSats with infrared imaging capability and a Dragsail for automatically deorbiting CubeSats at the end of mission life. 

A summary of the studies can be found in this PDF (extract from the Technology Strategy Board report): Clyde Space TSB Study Summaries.

Cerebellum provides clues to the nature of human intelligence

Research suggests that intelligence in humans is controlled by the part of the brain known as the 'cortex', and most theories of age-related cognitive decline focus on cortical dysfunction. However, a new study of Scottish older adults, reported in the April 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex, suggests that grey matter volume in the 'cerebellum' at the back of the brain predicts cognitive ability, and keeping those cerebellar networks active may be the key to keeping cognitive decline at bay.

The study looked at 228 older adults living independently in the Aberdeen area, who had been part of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947. This survey had tested Scottish children born in 1936 and at school on 4th June 1947 using the Moray House intelligence test.

The cognitive abilities of the participants were tested again, now at age 63-65 years, and their brains were also scanned, using a neuro-imaging technique called voxel-based morphometry (VBM), to determine the volumes of grey and white matter in frontal areas and the cerebellum.

The most interesting finding from this study is that grey matter volume in the cerebellum predicts general intelligence. However, results differ for men and women, with men showing a stronger relationship between brain volume in the cerebellum and general intelligence.

It has long been recognised that the cerebellum is involved in sensory-motor functions, including balance and timing of movements, but it is now believed that the cerebellum also plays an important role in higher-level cognitive abilities.

"General intelligence is correlated with many basic aspects of information processing efficiency which I believe depend upon the functioning of the cerebellum, including the speed and consistency of our perceptions and decisions, and the speed with which we learn new skills," notes Dr. Michael Hogan, first author of the study.

"This is exciting research, as it suggests that there may be a backdoor route into maintaining higher cortical functions in old age, that is, through the sustained activation of cerebellar networks via novel sensory-motor and cognitive activities, all of which I believe the cerebellum seeks to regulate and automate, working in concert with the cortex."

Scottish Scientists advance Hospital Hygiene (HINS)

Superbugs are a huge problem in hospitals, but scientists have been working on a number of ways to combat the spread of the potentially deadly pathogens.

There’s anti-pathogenic drugs to treat superbugs and a coating that can kill MRSA upon contact.

Now, scientists at the University of Strathclyde have shown that special light is enough to make the bacteria basically commit cell suicide.

Clinical trials proved the HINS-light Environmental Decontamination System is effective in getting rid of bacterial pathogens in the hospital setting - at least the light system works better than traditional wipe down methods.

“The technology kills pathogens but is harmless to patients and staff, which means for the first time, hospitals can continuously disinfect wards and isolation rooms,” Strathcylde professor John Anderson said in a statement.

“The system works by using a narrow spectrum of visible-light wavelengths to excite molecules contained within bacteria. This in turn produces highly reactive chemical species that are lethal to bacteria such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and Clostridium difficile, known as C.diff,” he added.

The light prevents the pathogens from being transmitted through the environment - which ultimately lessens the spread of the infection among patients.

As you’ll notice in the picture, the light gives off a purple color. To make the lights appear more normal, the scientists designed the system with LED technology to off-set the violet colour.