HORIZONSRESEARCH

In this issue THE THINKING MACHINE? plus news and views from across the University

University of Cambridge research magazine www.rsd.cam.ac.uk Issue 5 | Spring 2008 EDITORIAL DR DENIS BURDAKOV OF THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK PLAYCOURTESY COMMITTEE Foreword

A Happy New Year to all of our readers and contributors! This issue coincides with a double celebration for Research Services Division, as we mark five years of Horizon Seminars and the twentieth in the series: ‘The Thinking Machine?’ on 18 March. Not only do these events provide a forum for showcasing interdisciplinary research at Cambridge, but also excellent Orchestrating brain Greek tragedy: setting networking opportunities for activity the stage today speakers and delegates alike. Our front cover shows Dr Máté Lengyel from the Department of Engineering ‘in search of lost Contents memories’. In the Spotlight section, Research News 3–7 he describes how the intriguing Recent stories from across the University process of memory storage and recall is being revealed by computational neuroscience. We Spotlight: The Thinking Machine? 8–17 also hear from computer scientists Modelling uncertainty in the game of Go 9 who are modelling how humans In search of lost memories 10 resolve ambiguities in language and use diagrams for reasoning. We Can machines read? 12 contemplate why it has been so Can machines reason? 13 hard to program a computer to play Orchestrating brain activity 14 the ancient Chinese game of Go. We consider how the brain The thinking hominid 16 orchestrates the ‘daily dance’ of sleep and wakefulness, and we Preview 18–19 look back a million years to ask Greek tragedy: setting the stage today when mankind first showed evidence of a thinking brain. Cambridge has many examples Features 20–29 of cross-School research initiatives A campaign of silent resistance 20 that bring together the best in their field to address challenging Great expectations in pregnancy research 22 questions of the day. We will be Putting metabolism on the eco-map 24 highlighting these initiatives in Finding fault 26 coming issues, beginning with Rebellion, repression, retribution 28 ‘Great expectations’ in our Feature section this time. Many thanks to all of this issue’s In Focus: Arts and Humanities Research Council 30–31 contributors for their fascinating insights into their research projects: from Anglo-Irish history to Inside Out: Dr Spike Bucklow 32 ecotoxicology, archaeology to law, medicine to Greek tragedy. Research Support 33–35 We look forward in 2008 to keeping you abreast of the ground- News from Research Services Division 33 breaking research happening across News from Cambridge Enterprise Ltd 34 the University. Please email your Forthcoming events 35 comments and suggestions for future coverage to me at [email protected] The Back Page Your way into Cambridge

Cover photograph of Dr Máté Lengyel 'in search of lost memories' by Dr Quentin Huys and Dr Máté Lengyel, with kind permission of Nature Neuroscience. Edited by Louise Walsh. Designed by Cambridge Design Studio (www.cambridgedesignstudio.org). Dr Louise Walsh Printed by Cambridge University Press (www.cambridge.org). Editor ©2008 University of Cambridge and Contributors as identified. All rights reserved.

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‘Rising stars’ Asking ‘are you awake?’ with brain imaging Even though we might be able to hear someone speaking, shine on our powers for understanding what is actually being said Would you like to switch off as we go to sleep. communicate your DANIEL J MITCHELL, MRC CBU expertise to the public and become an ambassador for your subject?

One year on from its launch, the Rising Stars public communication course is readying itself for training a new group of inspiring undergraduates, postgraduates, post-docs and early career academics for the benefit of the wider community. The course is the first of its kind in the UK and has been organised by the University’s Office of External Affairs and Communications with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The participants have been putting their new skills into practice at Magnetic resonance image of the mouth, ear and brain festivals, museums and schools, as well as in the media. ‘The Rising Stars scheme enabled me to join a Using brain imaging techniques, process sound, brain processes involved in community of young researchers with Cambridge scientists have shown that speech comprehension are compromised a passion for public communication,’ those regions in the brain that understand even at quite low levels of sedation,’ said said Dr Nikiforos Karamanis, who sentences and form memories show Professor Menon. ‘These results have writes for Research Horizons on reduced activity after sedation. These important implications for our page 12 of this issue. ‘It gave me the findings help us to understand how understanding of how and where opportunity to prepare and deliver speech is decoded in the brain, and have anaesthetic drugs work in the brain, and several outreach events and made me clinical implications for monitoring what neural processes are involved in feel more confident in my ability to anaesthesia and patients with brain injury. consciousness.’ present my expertise to the public.’ The recently published results are the Being able to assess comprehension Penny Wilson, Head of Community culmination of a study conducted under without spoken responses has huge Affairs, is delighted both with the the lead of Dr Matt Davis at the Medical resonance for two clinical settings. ‘A success of the course and with the Research Council Cognition and Brain small proportion of anaesthetised patients enthusiasm shown by the participants: Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) and Professor report memories of events that occurred ‘Underlying the scheme is the real David Menon at the University’s Division in the operating theatre,’ said Professor need to create dialogue between the of Anaesthesia in the Department of Menon. ‘With this methodology, we could University and the wider community Medicine. refine our judgement of how deep and to communicate research and its Dr Davis, a cognitive neuroscientist, anaesthesia needs to be to prevent contribution to society. It is the young has developed a method that detects comprehension and memory during academics who make the best when the brain has comprehended operations. The information also helps us ambassadors for the University for speech, not simply heard it: ‘We look at to understand functional imaging studies many audiences, and it is they who the brain’s response to sentences that we have undertaken in patients will become the role models for the containing ambiguous words. Of the most following brain injury – in individuals who next generation.’ commonly used 5000 words in spoken appear to be in a coma or the vegetative English, over 80% change their meaning state.’ in different contexts – such as the word For patients in the vegetative state, shell, which can refer to a bullet or part of who are awake and yet show no outward a sea creature.’ Understanding these signs of awareness, this tool is already words triggers additional processing in the providing important information. ‘Being brain as it retrieves the different meanings able to show brain activity that indicates and selects the one that fits the sentence comprehension in the patient brings hope context; this activity can be visualised to carers, and might guide treatment and using functional magnetic resonance rehabilitation,’ said Dr Davis. imaging (fMRI). In this recent study, 12 anaesthetists at For more information, please Addenbrooke’s Hospital volunteered to contact Dr Matt Davis For more information on the receive varying amounts of sedation to ([email protected]) or Rising Stars programme, please test at what level their brain could Professor David Menon contact Emma Wenborn understand speech. ‘Our research showed ([email protected]). This ([email protected]). that although brains that are sedated to research was published in PNAS the same level as in sleep are able to (2007) 104, 16032–16037.

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 3 RESEARCH NEWS

Unlocking the PROFESSOR NEIL TUROK secrets of the universe Cosmic defects and adolescent galaxies – two research projects in Cambridge are bringing us closer to understanding the cosmos. Cosmic texture Astronomers believe that the universe was Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), and Dr Mike building blocks of galaxies like our Milky created 13.7 billion years ago following a Hobson, of the Astrophysics Group at the Way has proved elusive. In a recent study, cosmic explosion, the residual energy of Cavendish Laboratory, concluded that the due to be published in March in the which can still be detected as cosmic properties of the cold spot are consistent Astrophysical Journal, an international microwave background (CMB) radiation, with its having been formed by a texture. team of astronomers led by Dr Martin which fills the universe. The matter hurled ‘If this is the case,’ said Professor Turok, ‘it Haehnelt at the Institute of Astronomy outwards from the fireball eventually will revolutionise our understanding of were able to capture starlight from 27 cooled enough to form galaxies across the how the fundamental symmetries adolescent galaxies about 2 billion years expanding universe. between the particles and forces were after the Big Bang. They pointed the Cambridge scientists working with the broken as the universe emerged from the world’s most powerful telescopes, located Institute of Physics of Cantabria in Spain Big Bang.’ Professor Turok was awarded in Chile, to the same patch of sky for the may have discovered a remnant in the the prestigious Technology, Entertainment, equivalent of 12 nights. ‘It is precisely CMB from the Big Bang called a ‘texture’. Design (TED) prize in November in because this was the first time the sky As the universe cooled and underwent recognition of his work in cosmology and had been searched with this level of transitions, physicists believe that vacuum his efforts as an education activist. The sensitivity that we succeeded where many misalignments or defects occurred. An prize is awarded annually to three astronomers had failed before,’ said Dr analogy would be the defects we individuals whose work is considered to Haehnelt. The detection of these building sometimes see in the transition of water to have extraordinary potential for positive blocks means that scientists can now ice. Textures are one of the most complex influence on mankind. study in detail how galaxies like the Milky of cosmic defects, and when they collapse About half a billion years after the Big Way have come together. they form ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots in the Bang, it is thought that matter started to CMB. aggregate, eventually forming small For more information, please The team have analysed a large cold adolescent proto-galaxies, which then contact Professor Neil Turok spot in the Southern Galactic Hemisphere merged to become bigger galaxies. ([email protected]), whose and published their findings recently in Although astronomers have been able to research was published in Science Science. Professor Neil Turok, of the study starlight of the progenitors of very (2007) 318, 1612–1614, or Dr Martin Department of Applied Mathematics and massive galaxies, starlight from the Haehnelt ([email protected]).

Sunny times ahead for solar power A new initiative funded by the Carbon Trust hopes to make solar power an affordable choice for homeowners within 10 years.

©CAMBRIDGE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY this problem. The team are using a plastic-based technology to create the solar cells. A prototype has already been built and the new funding will allow scaling up to large sheets of PV film that can be sited on windows or roofs to capture solar energy. By 2017, the aim is for these plastic solar cells to be delivering 1GW of power, equivalent to carbon dioxide savings of more than 1 million tonnes per year. ‘This is a timely opportunity to build on technology developed in the University,’ said Professor Friend. ‘We will capitalise on the local Cambridge strengths in taking science to manufacturing.’

Prototype solar panel The Carbon Trust is funding the initiative. Tom Delay, Chief Executive, explained the importance of the research: ’We Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels offer great promise as a source of believe this exciting new organic PV technology is our best clean and renewable electricity generation but the high cost of shot at dramatically reducing the cost of solar PV to the point manufacturing the silicon-based PV panels has been a that, in the next 10 years, it could become as cheap as the prohibitive drawback to their use. A new research and power currently delivered to our homes.’ development programme led by Professor Sir Richard Friend, Dr Neil Greenham and Professor Henning Sirringhaus at the For more information, please contact University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, in Dr Neil Greenham ([email protected]) or the Carbon collaboration with The Technology Partnership, hopes to solve Trust (www.carbontrust.co.uk; Tel: +44 (0)20 7544 3100).

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Gems of colour: pigments of the ‘Sex, scandal and ‘Colourmen’ sermon’ in Dragon’s Blood, Purple of Cassius and Scarlet Lake – all pigments concocted by the 19th-century ‘Colourmen’ of medieval Spain Winsor & Newton artists’ suppliers. Now, a painstaking A new study of the and methodical analysis of their hand-written recipe 14th-century narrative books has been developed into a searchable database. poem Libro de Buen

IMAGE COURTESY OF WINSOR & NEWTON IMAGE COURTESY Amor explores how its earthy tales of failed love are shaped by humour. The medieval poem Libro de Buen Amor (‘The Book of Good Love’) by Juan Ruiz tells the story of 14 failed love affairs, combined with animal fables, sacred and profane lyrics, and doctrinal matters. The ribald tales, colloquial language and vivid characters (particularly the narrator, an Archpriest ‘fallen’ from grace because of his amorous dalliances) have led Ruiz to be dubbed the Winsor & Newton catalogue with painted samples ‘Spanish Chaucer’. Its 1728 stanzas As pioneers of brighter, more-permanent Egyptian mummy before mixing with are the subject of a new analysis, which is due to be published in April and less-toxic pigments from 1832 to the asphalt. Many details of innovations in 2008, by Dr Louise Haywood from present day, Winsor & Newton has been a this period of rapid change have been the Department of Spanish and driving force in developing colour imperfectly understood until now. Portuguese. chemistry for art. As part of its rich The source material from the Winsor The canonical work by Juan Ruiz heritage, the Winsor & Newton archive & Newton archive – from recipes for is of great importance for its boasts 85 handwritten recipe books and pigments and oils to watercolours and workshop manuscripts dating from the contemporary references and literary varnishes – has been made available for 1830s to 1900 – a total of 17,000 pages. scope. It is richly evocative of research purposes. Additional notes on Now, thanks to work carried out under medieval cultural attitudes relating to recipes for gout and toothache, wages the leadership of Ian McClure and love, religion and emotion, and hence Dr Mark Clarke at the Hamilton Kerr and costs, travel and hotel suggestions are is a much-studied work among Institute, in collaboration with Dr Leslie also recorded. Words and passages in students and scholars of Iberian Carlyle of Tate, a digital archive and index published technical literature that were literature from this era. ‘It is one of of the Colourmen’s recipes and notes previously baffling are becoming clear. the most challenging and thought- have been created. Each page has been carefully provokingly diverse works in world Although the use of decorative photographed and the recipes entered literature,’ said Dr Haywood, ‘and its pigments dates back tens of thousands of into an innovatively structured database impact on Spanish culture continues years, some of the most exciting that will be available in Spring 2008. The to be felt today.’ developments happened in the 19th value of this work, funded by the Arts Humour has long been recognised century, when scientific discoveries added and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), as an important part of Ruiz’s artistry dramatically to the artist’s palette. lies not only in historical record, but also but Dr Haywood’s study of the Libro Startling new pigments were developed in technical and authenticity studies, as will be the first to approach the role by industrial chemists, yet traditional well as in evaluations of the deterioration of humour systematically in this iconic materials were still produced by methods of paintings. work. ‘I have re-positioned Juan Ruiz’s originating in antiquity. ‘Mummy’, for Dr Clarke explained: ‘Research into Libro in relation to broader trends in instance, required the grinding of an 14th-century culture, with a particular IMAGE COURTESY OF WINSOR & NEWTON IMAGE COURTESY artists’ materials and techniques is highly interdisciplinary and is mainly conducted focus on the relationship between by studying artists’ recipe books, scientific humour and scholasticism, the body, analyses and historically accurate and visual culture. In essence: sex, reconstructions. This archive affords a scandal and sermon.’ fascinating insight into the art and For more information, please science of the innovative Colourmen.’ contact Dr Louise Haywood ([email protected]), whose book For more information, please Sex, Scandal, and Sermon in the contact Dr Mark Clarke Fourteenth Century: Juan Ruiz’s ([email protected]) at the ‘Libro de Buen Amor’ will be Hamilton Kerr Institute, a department published on 1 April 2008 by of The Fitzwilliam Museum, or visit Box for tube paints, showing the Winsor & Palgrave Macmillan. Newton factory www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/wn

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 5 RESEARCH NEWS

Weathering storms: ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CHRIS KRIDLER transforming conflict in the church A research initiative in the Faculty of Divinity aims to train church leaders to convert the negatives of conflict into the positives of transformation.

Vociferous debates, threatened splits, division and dispute are elements that can rankle, grow and ultimately undermine the future of any large organisation unless addressed in a constructive and holistic manner. Researchers in the Psychology and Religion Research Group (PRRG) in the Faculty of Divinity are combining psychological research and practice to look at conflict in the church and how this might be transformed. Out of this has developed a multidimensional training package to enable senior church leaders to handle conflict better. ‘There are various lines of conflict. Some echo debates between conservative and liberal interpretations of The course, which has just been research project, and the report and Scripture; these affect moral and social launched, will be road tested and resources will be fed back to the key issues, with varying degrees of impact assessed while being used to train senior church denominational conferences in upon churches in different parts of the representatives from the Anglican, 2008. In time, the hope is that the world. Other conflicts are more local, Baptist, Church of Scotland, Methodist, programme will be used to train and may voice disagreements between Roman Catholic and United Reform Christians at all levels to deal with those who wish to maintain traditional traditions. Over the course of three dispute – whether it be a question of forms of worship and those who wish to training days, the participants will cover church-wide importance, a parish develop contemporary, emerging various topics and exercises designed to concern, or an inter-personal expressions of church,’ said Dr Sara foster a positive attitude towards conflict disagreement – as well as by other faiths. Savage, who has developed the project as a holistic learning opportunity, while with Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan. The enhancing and adding to conflict For more information, please contact research was commissioned by the transformation skills. Dr Sara Savage ([email protected]) or Foundation for Church Leadership with Pre- and post-assessment of the Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan funding from the Henry Smith Charity. effects of the course will inform the ([email protected]). The great divide Despite efforts to narrow the gender gap in the workplace in the European Union (EU), there is still ‘a great divide’, as reported in a recent study. Researchers in the Department of Sociology led by have developed for also making them responsible for Dr Brendan Burchell have been analysing data gathered by domestic duties. The result is that women tend to have a the European Commission’s European Working Conditions longer working day.’ Adding together time in paid Survey. The Commission’s door-to-door surveys are employment with time spent commuting and performing conducted every five years in all EU member states, and ask domestic work, men in full-time employment work for an 30,000 employed and self-employed workers about their job, average of 55 hours per week; by the same method, the their well-being and aspects of their lives outside work. average working week for a woman is 68 hours if she is in Dr Burchell’s recently reported findings show that little full-time employment, or 57 hours for part-time employment. progress has been made in reducing the workplace gender Dr Burchell added: ‘The best way to break the cycle gap in the EU since the early 1990s: 75% of the EU would be to reduce gender inequality in employment and the workforce is being managed by men, with just 9% of household together – for instance, by encouraging men to take employed men in full-time work being managed by women. their parental leave entitlements or by better enforcement of In the UK, although women make up nearly 50% of the the working-time directive to reduce the disproportionately workforce, fewer than 16% of senior managers are women. longer working hours of men.’ ‘Because women are rarely the highest earners in the For more information, please contact Dr Brendan household,’ said Dr Burchell, ‘an economic rationale seems to Burchell ([email protected]).

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Translating research from bench to bedside Recent funding of over $5 million to Dr Sabine Bahn by the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) raises diagnostic and therapeutic hopes for a group of psychiatric diseases that affects 2% of the population. Dr Sabine Bahn’s dynamic and growing through the philanthropy of Americans research group within the newly Theodore and Vada Stanley. With established Centre for Neuropsychiatric previous SMRI funding of $3.5 million, Research (CCNR) in the Institute of Dr Bahn’s group completed an intensive Biotechnology has been progressing study of over 150 post-mortem brains, towards a greater understanding of the looking for differences between patients molecular processes that lead to and matched controls. They successfully Dr Sabine Bahn schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. identified ‘disease gene signatures’ Current estimates suggest that 1 in 50 and the first strong biomarkers for Award in Mental Health and people in the UK are affected, many of schizophrenia in easily testable fluids Neurosciences Innovation. whom are incapacitated by these like serum and cerebrospinal fluid. ‘With the new funding, we believe disorders. The further funding of $5 million allows that all the ingredients are in place to Dr Bahn, a psychiatrist and molecular Dr Bahn to build on these successes with successfully translate high-quality biologist, aims to develop a means to her team of neuroscientists, molecular research into high-value clinical advances,’ said Dr Bahn. ‘Using the diagnose and treat patients at an early biologists, mathematicians, statisticians latest biotechnological advances, we stage of the disease. ‘Current diagnostic and bioinformaticists. hope that this seamless interface will methods have remained unchanged for Dr Bahn’s group works closely with link fundamental research at the bench over a century and rely on a subjective, Psynova Neurotech Ltd, the spin-out directly with the patient bedside.’ interview-style analysis of the patient by company she founded in 2005 with the medical practitioner rather than a Professor Chris Lowe with SMRI support. For more information, please diagnostic test. Following diagnosis, Psynova is developing and exploiting the contact Dr Sabine Bahn some patients show no improvement novel biomarkers discovered by Dr Bahn, ([email protected]). For with current drug regimes,’ explained as well as initiating its own drug investment opportunities relating Dr Bahn. discovery programmes using proprietary to Psynova Neurotech Ltd, please The substantial support given to biomarkers. In June 2007, Psynova was contact Cambridge Enterprise Ltd Dr Bahn by the SMRI is made possible awarded the Medical Futures Innovation (Tel: +44 (0)1223 760339).

Earth’s climate: past, present and future Through considering past climate change, a major international symposium in Cambridge hopes to create new research opportunities for the future. The Leverhulme Climate Symposium Over 100 international experts and Professor Elderfield. ‘The aim now is to 2008, to be held on 10–12 March in young researchers invited from both the define the potential risks of climate change Cambridge, will explore how accurate modelling and palaeoclimate communities better, as well as to identify strategies we modelling of the Earth’s present and will meet to share their knowledge on might take to minimise them.’ future climate might be derived from topics such as the effect on climate The symposium will conclude with a knowledge of past climate change. ‘There change of solar activity, changes in the meeting and exhibition at the Royal is evidence that climate change at times in Earth’s atmosphere, ocean circulation, the Society in London on 13 March to which the past was very unstable. Within the hydrological cycle and ice sheet melting. the general public, policy makers, their space of a few decades, the North The meeting is coordinated by the advisers and the media are invited. Atlantic region warmed by 10°C at the Cambridge Environmental Initiative (CEI), same time that smaller changes of which supports environmental research at For further information, please go to temperature occurred over wide areas of the University of Cambridge. www.leverhulmeclimatesymposium.org the planet,’ said symposium convener It is hoped that by bringing these two Professor Harry Elderfield from the research communities together, new joint If you would like the opportunity to Department of Earth Sciences. ‘It is research areas will emerge in Cambridge hear more about past climate change important that the models for predicting and beyond. ‘Information on past climate and how it impacts on future climate future climate can simulate these and its variability has increased enormously predictions, the Leverhulme Climate extremely rapid over the past 10 years as a result of Symposium is sponsoring a talk events.’ systematic sampling of ocean sediments by at the Cambridge Science Festival international drilling programmes and on 14 March 2008 (see drilling of the major ice sheets,’ said www.cambridgescience.org).

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 7 THE THINKING MACHINE?

The Thinking Machine?

The Horizon Seminar LEARNING 'The Thinking Machine?' takes place The ability to learn continuously about Professor Zoubin Ghahramani our environment, through experience Dept of Engineering on 18 March 2008 at and education, is a major advantage Dr Máté Lengyel Emmanuel College, that sets humans apart from present- Dept of Engineering Cambridge, and day machines. In this session we will Professor Seth Grant explore how machines can be Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute will showcase the latest endowed with sophisticated learning Cambridge research in mechanisms and ask what insights cognition and statistical into biological learning are revealed by these new developments in machine machine learning. learning.

Our understanding of the process of DECISIONS cognition in human beings – how we perceive, think and process information We make decisions of many kinds, Professor Daniel Wolpert about our environment – is highly often subconsciously – from where Dept of Engineering developed. Research in areas such as to place our hands in order to catch Professor Christopher Bishop psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, a thrown object, to adapting our Microsoft Research Cambridge engineering, philosophy and computer behaviour to different situations, to Professor Nicola Clayton science has taught us a great deal about planning ahead. What are the Dept of Experimental Psychology the nature of learning, decision-making, elements involved in this process perception and thought. At this event we and can they be replicated will explore the cross-disciplinary research artificially? taking place in Cambridge and attempt to answer the questions: is intelligent human behaviour merely the result of PERCEPTION pre-programed activity and can cognitive processes be modelled by machines? What we make of the world is Professor Roberto Cipolla dictated by the information we have Dept of Engineering For more information about the about it, and human brains are Dr Mateja Jamnik Horizon Seminar series, please go to exceptionally good at modelling their Computer Laboratory www.rsd.cam.ac.uk/events/horizon or own universe. Here we examine the Professor Ted Briscoe email [email protected] ways in which machines are able to Computer Laboratory perceive their surroundings and we explore whether machines shape their own environment like us.

REFLECTION, CONSCIOUSNESS AND THINKING

Panel discussion

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Modelling uncertainty in the game of Go ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/

Cambridge researchers have analysed millions DOUG CANNELL of patterns of potential moves to model the uncertainty of play in the ancient game of Go. The ancient Chinese two-player strategy Predicting human play Way to Go game Go is presenting a ‘grand challenge’ Go is an excellent test-bed for new We are still a long way from producing to current artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in AI because it is well professional-level Go play. Formidable research. At first sight it appears defined by a set of simple rules yet challenges remain, leading some straightforward: the players take it in remains sufficiently complex to researchers to argue that a strong Go- turns to place black and white ‘stones’ on challenge the state of the art. Also, playing computer is still decades away. a grid with the aim of gaining control of a wealth of data exists about how However, the fact that humans learn the the most territory. However, the game humans play, in the form of records game with relative ease provides that emerges from these simple rules has of historical games. tantalising evidence that, one day, it will defeated all attempts by AI researchers to Professor David MacKay’s Inference be possible to create a strong Go program program a computer to play it. Indeed, Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, in and, in so doing, perhaps increase our there is currently no Go program that can collaboration with Dr Thore Graepel of understanding of human intelligence. play better than a beginner on the full- the Applied Games Group at Microsoft size board. Research, has focused on applying For more information, please probabilistic modelling techniques to Go. contact the author David Stern Tree of possible futures By modelling the play of human experts, ([email protected]) at the It might seem surprising that Go is so the aim is to predict human moves in the Cavendish Laboratory, or visit the difficult to model, given the notorious game records. One successful approach Inference Group website defeat of World Champion Garry has been to represent each potential Go (www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/is) Kasparov by the chess computer Deep move by the pattern of stones or the Applied Games Group website Blue in 1997. The trouble with Go is that surrounding the move location. Millions (http://research.microsoft.com/ the brute force technique that proved so of these patterns were automatically mlp/apg). This work was supported successful for chess simply cannot be harvested from 180,000 records of by a grant from Microsoft Research applied. Deep Blue worked by considering historical games. The decisions made through the PhD scholarship program billions of possible future move sequences by the players in all the game records (www.research.microsoft.com/ero/phd). (searching about 12 moves into the were then used to determine the future) and estimating the strength of the relative value of each of the patterns. resulting game positions. This fails when This is possible because each recorded applied to Go for two main reasons. First, game position contains a set of legal the tree of possible futures is too big to moves, one of which we know was explore usefully (on average, there are selected by the player, so we can infer 220 legal moves for each turn in Go that one move was more valuable than compared with about 35 in chess). all of the other moves in that position. Second, it is difficult to estimate the After being trained on all the game strength of a Go position: in chess we can positions, the resulting system was able sum the point values of the pieces on the to predict the moves of human players board but no such simple heuristic exists more accurately and much more rapidly for Go (all of a player’s stones are identical than other published results and was and take on their value from their capable of playing the game surprisingly relationship with surrounding stones). well. David Stern

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 9 THE THINKING MACHINE?

In search of lost memories ‘I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. […] And suddenly the memory returns.’ À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, Marcel Proust.

Recalling events from our past is a task Attractor networks – further, do neurons only communicate we need to accomplish several times through the average rate of the transient every day – even if the form it takes is attractive theories electrical impulses they emit, called spikes, usually not nearly as dramatic A commonly held view in modern or is it the precise timing of these as Marcel Proust describes in his neuroscience is that most forms of impulses that are important? famous novel, in which a mere taste memories are stored in the nervous It is well established, for instance, that evokes memories long buried. For system because of the changing way that the graded activity level of neurons and centuries, artists and philosophers connections (or synapses) are made their spike timings play a central role in have been intrigued by the process between neurons – a phenomenon the functioning of the hippocampus, a of memory storage and recall. More known as ‘synaptic plasticity’. brain structure in the medial temporal recently, psychologists, neuroscientists Once a memory trace has been laid lobes that is crucial for an intact memory. and cognitive scientists have begun to down in a set of synapses it has to be Yet, traditionally, the theory of attractor unravel some of the principles of recalled by neurons interacting with each networks assumes that memories are ‘remembrance of things past’. And other through these synapses. The first binary and based on the rate of spiking, now, a branch of neuroscience that coherent picture about how this might and it has proved notoriously difficult to works on quantitative models of the happen was proposed by theorists who bridge this gap between theory and nervous system – computational developed a specific class of neural biological reality. neuroscience – is also contributing network models called ‘attractor to the quest. networks’. This theory has provided an Bits and brains Dr Máté Lengyel, at the elegant mathematical formulation of how Rather than following the more Computational and Biological Learning a network of neurons gradually traditional path that starts from known Lab in the Department of Engineering, reconstructs a complete memory trace biological properties of single neurons is borrowing ideas from machine starting from only partial information – and synapses, and proceeds by analysing learning to elucidate the principles of just as in Proust’s novel, the narrator the emergent network behaviour they memory recall. One particular challenge recalls an entire scene starting from only give rise to, Dr Lengyel is taking a in memory research is to unfold the the taste of cake soaked in tea. different approach to understanding how sequence of events happening at the Despite the success of attractor memory processing is achieved by level of nerve cells (neurons) that leads networks as a theoretical framework that neuronal networks. This approach, to the retrieval of a memory. Not only guides many scientists’ thinking about the pioneered by Professor David MacKay at is this a fundamental question in neural bases of memory storage and the Cavendish Laboratory, first studies neuroscience, but it has also provided recall, there are several questions that the the task posed by memory recall as a some of the finest examples of how original theory is unable to address. Is it special case of ‘statistical inference’, collaboration between theoretical and important just that a neuron is active or a mathematical theory forming the experimental approaches can be not, or is it the graded level of activation foundations of many of today’s most especially fruitful for understanding that bears information about the original powerful machine learning applications. the brain. memory trace? If we take it a stage The core idea is that storing

10 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 THE THINKING MACHINE? DR MÁTÉ LENGYEL

Recall of a memory represented by spike times (white ticks) in a simulated network of neurons: recall starts from a noisy representation (left), which is then gradually ‘cleaned up’ (right)

memories in the synapses that neural networks of the hippocampus, DR GERGÖ ORBÁN connect a set of neurons is formally and has already successfully confirmed equivalent to data compression – some of the precepts of the theory. something we are all familiar with, for The aim is to understand how the example, when storing music as an changing connections between the MP3 file on an audio player. Memory brain’s neurons maximise the recall then becomes an act of information that is stored, providing ‘decompressing’ the information the brain with the ability to remember. previously stored in these synapses. The aim also is to show how different The next step is to take the position rates of neural spiking might represent of an engineer who needs to construct a the level of certainty that a memory device that achieves the highest possible being recalled is correct. Both of these Dr Máté Lengyel performance given the constraints issues are important if one wants to provided by biology. This allows one to design a device that presents an For more information, please contact attempt to predict the properties of optimal solution to the task of the author Dr Máté Lengyel neurons and synapses that would be memory recall, and allows us to ask ([email protected]) at the optimal for retrieving memories. Using whether nature has designed our brains Computational and Biological Learning the mathematical analogy between in such a way. Lab in the Department of Engineering. memory storage in neural networks and data compression, it has become possible Minds and machines to address the question of how neurons could implement the optimal The same mathematical and engineering principles that can be used to understand decompression algorithm for recalling learning in the human brain can also be used to build artificial learning systems. memories if the memories are This interplay between human and machine learning is the main research focus of represented by the graded activities of the recently established Computational and Biological Learning Lab (CBL) at the neurons using precise spike timings. Department of Engineering. CBL was founded in 2006 with the arrival of Professor With recent funding from the Daniel Wolpert and Professor Zoubin Ghahramani in Cambridge, and has rapidly Wellcome Trust, Dr Lengyel, together grown to include Dr Carl Rasmussen, Dr Máté Lengyel and over 20 PhD students with Professor Peter Dayan at the and postdoctoral researchers. CBL is investigating the computational principles Gatsby Computational Neuroscience underlying human sensorimotor control, the design of computer algorithms that Unit, University College London, is learn, adaptive reinforcement learning controllers, statistical theories of learning, pursuing this direction of research. and how networks of neurons can perform computations. They work closely with Dr Ole Paulsen at the University of Oxford, whose For more information, please contact Professor Zoubin Ghahramani group conducts experiments to test ([email protected]) or visit http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk the predictions of the model in the

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 11 THE THINKING MACHINE?

©ISTOCKPHOTO/PAMELA MOORE be exploited to ameliorate tasks such as curation by attempting to overcome ambiguity in phrasing and draw out relationships between words.

FlySlip The NLIP group has teamed up with the FlyBase-Cambridge curation team in the Department of Genetics, one of the three members of the international FlyBase consortium that provides the largest database repository of genetic information on the fruit fly. The result, FlySlip, is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with the aim of developing text information extraction tools to assist FlyBase curators. There is a strong need to develop such tools not only because of the enormous publication rate in genetics but also because of the particular difficulties associated with automatic recognition of fruit fly gene names. New gene names are constantly being introduced in the literature and many are the same as Can machines read? common English words such as ‘not’, ‘an’, ‘was’ and ‘if’. Andreas Vlachos and Enabling computers to understand language might help Caroline Gasperin, PhD students in the NLIP group, have been investigating the users to overcome online information overload. use of statistical NLP techniques for recognising gene names and for Searching for information on the internet disambiguating expressions such as ‘this has become second nature. Yet, many gene’. searches return too many documents and The NLIP group has also been the first it takes time to examine each one and to investigate what is the most useful way find the information we need. Scientists of presenting the NLP analyses to curators. are particularly familiar with this problem when searching the scientific literature. Dr Ian Lewin and Dr Nikiforos Karamanis How can professional curators, trained to have been working on the design and identify information in a scientific article evaluation of a unique curation interface. and enter it into a database, mine the The interface uses automatically recognised text more efficiently? A multidisciplinary gene names and disambiguated team in Cambridge led by Professor Ted expressions as mechanisms to navigate the Briscoe in the Natural Language and text. FlyBase curator Dr Ruth Seal has Information Processing (NLIP) group at provided them with domain-specific the Computer Laboratory has been expertise. investigating whether computerised Dr Nikiforos methods for analysing the language of Beyond FlyBase curation scientific articles can facilitate database Karamanis The FlySlip team has demonstrated that curation. the NLP-powered interface enables curators to interact with articles quickly Resolving ambiguity in and efficiently. Worldwide, more than language 80 curated databases similar to FlyBase Language is ambiguous: in the phrase ‘I exist, and similar approaches are likely to saw Bill with the telescope’, who is be adopted by other curation groups. In holding the telescope – you or Bill? To the future, NLP technology may also be resolve these ambiguities, people use the used to support everyday tasks such as surrounding text and their knowledge of internet searches. So, next time you feel the world. But this is much harder for a overwhelmed by the online ‘data deluge’, computer to do and has been a long- remember that a solution might be on standing challenge in computer science. the way. Natural language processing (NLP) provides a way for the computer to treat For more information, please visit each word as a piece of a puzzle. Each the NLIP group website piece is combined with other pieces (www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/nl). using knowledge about the structure of The author, Dr Nikiforos Karamanis English in the context of the subject. ([email protected]), is a participant on Although not an exact science, NLP can the Rising Stars scheme (see page 3).

12 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 THE THINKING MACHINE?

Can machines reason? Humans often use diagrams for reasoning, but can computers do the same?

Some of the deepest and greatest insights exciting if a system could learn such an existing state-of-the-art automated in reasoning have been made using diagrammatic operations automatically? theorem prover. The way forward is to mathematics. It’s not surprising therefore So far, few automated systems have give heterogeneous reasoning frameworks that emulating such powerful reasoning attempted to benefit from their power by access to intelligent search facilities in the on machines – and particularly the way imitating them. One explanation might be hope that the system will not only find humans use diagrams to ‘see’ an that we don’t yet have a deep new and more intuitive solutions to explanation for mathematical theorems – understanding of informal techniques and known problems, but perhaps also find is one of the aims of artificial intelligence. how humans use them in problem new and interesting problems. solving. To advance the state of the art of Automated diagrammatic reasoning Diagrams for reasoning automated reasoning systems, some of could be the key to making computer Drawing pictures and using diagrams to these informal human reasoning reasoning systems more powerful, as well as to providing the necessary tools to represent a concept is perhaps one of the techniques might have to be integrated with the proven successful formal study and explore the nature of human oldest vehicles of human communication. techniques, such as different types of reasoning. We might then have a new In mathematics, the use of diagrams to logic. means to investigate the amazing ability prove theorems has a rich history: as just of the human brain to solve problems. one example, Pythagoras’ Theorem has yielded several diagrammatic proofs in the From intuition to For more information, please contact 2500 years following his contribution to automation the author Dr Mateja Jamnik mathematics, including that of Leonardo There are two approaches to the difficult ([email protected]) at the Da Vinci’s. These diagrammatic proofs are problem of automating reasoning. The Computer Laboratory. so clear, elegant and intuitive that with first is cognitive, which aims to devise and little help even a child can understand experiment with models of human them. cognition. The second is computational – The concept of the ‘mutilated’ attempting to build computational checkerboard is another useful systems that model part of human demonstration of how intuitive human reasoning. reasoning can be used to solve problems. Steps along the computational If we remove two diagonally opposite approach are being taken by Dr Mateja corners, can the board still be covered Jamnik in the Computer Laboratory with with dominoes (rectangles made out of funding for an Advanced Research two squares)? The elegant solution is to Fellowship from the Engineering and colour the checkerboard with alternative Physical Sciences Research Council black and white squares, like the (EPSRC). While at the University of chessboard, and do the same with the Edinburgh, Dr Jamnik built Diamond, a dominoes so that a domino is made of program that uses diagrammatic one white and one black square. The reasoning to prove mathematical solution then immediately becomes clear: concepts. However, there are theorems there are more white squares than black like the mutilated checkerboard that Dr Mateja Jamnik squares, and so the mutilated might require a combination of symbolic checkerboard cannot be covered with and diagrammatic reasoning steps to dominoes. This problem is very easy for prove them. In Cambridge, Dr Jamnik is people to understand, but no system has now investigating how a system could yet been implemented that can solve it in automatically reason about such such an intuitive way. ‘heterogeneous’ proofs. This requires As these reasoning techniques can be combining diagrammatic reasoning in incredibly powerful, wouldn’t it be Diamond with symbolic problem solving in

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 13 THE THINKING MACHINE? DR DENIS BURDAKOV

Orchestrating brain activity

Orexin neurons (red/pink) in their native network surrounded by other neural types (blue and green)

New research in It would be reasonable to think of the The daily dance of brain Cambridge is brain as the most complex machine states known, given the diversity and deciphering sophistication of the tasks it can perform. We are all familiar with two most strikingly different states of neural control It perceives and organises multisensory consciousness: sleep and wakefulness. information about the world, makes split- signals that Most of us take wakefulness for granted second decisions based on this and can assume that we won’t suddenly create the right information, and controls sophisticated fall asleep in the midst of talking and brain state for movements to put these decisions into laughing. Not so for people suffering action. It also generates seemingly infinite the right from narcolepsy, a sleep disorder causing situation. combinations of thoughts and feelings to irresistible attacks of sleep and paralysis solve abstract problems and create works that suddenly intrude into normal of art. What’s more, it can get better at all wakefulness. Here, laughter is definitely of this through learning and practice. NOT the best medicine – bizarrely, severe This vast range of powers is truly narcoleptic attacks can be triggered impressive, but poses a serious control precisely by positive emotional states such problem. How does the brain ensure that as laughter. For many years, the cause of all of these feelings and actions happen at narcolepsy was a mystery but it is now the right time and don’t clash with each known to be due to a lack of brain other? Recent studies suggest that this proteins called orexins that are made by may not be as random and whimsical as it a few thousand neurons located deep in often seems. Well-defined neural the brain’s hypothalamus. networks appear to keep a close watch Orexin neurons appear to be critical on overall brain activity and help for the smooth flow of brain states in all consciousness flow smoothly from one mammals. Loss of these cells in humans, state to the next. dogs, mice and rats causes narcoleptic

14 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 THE THINKING MACHINE? fragmentation of consciousness, with Awake and hungry Beyond appetite and abnormally frequent and rapid transitions How do orexins stimulate appetite? arousal between sleep and wakefulness. How do Dr Burdakov’s research has shown that orexin neurons promote stable In just a few recent years, orexin neurons orexins inhibit the activity of a key have emerged as a powerful, wakefulness? Even though they are few population of neurons that suppress in number, orexin neurons extend their multitasking control system of the appetite – the melanocortin neurons of brain, important for coordinating vital axon arms throughout the brain. Release the arcuate area of the hypothalamus. of orexins from these axons turns on adaptive behaviours such as wakefulness, The activity of every neuron in the appetite, reward and breathing. The brain regions involved in cognitive arousal brain is set by a push–pull balance and attention. Somehow our brain state aim now is to unravel how orexin cells between synaptic excitation and inhibition. control multiple interacting circuits by is prone to instability, and the orexin In the appetite-suppressing melanocortin system often steps in to prevent loss acting as polymodal sensors of their neurons, which like many brain cells are environment and how these circuits of wakefulness, by orchestrating a innervated by orexin-containing nerve burst of activity throughout the brain. ‘talk back’ to orexin neurons in fibres, orexins tip this balance in favour different behavioural states. Orexin neurons also seem to be of inhibition, thereby silencing the critical for normal orchestration of melanocortin cells. This mechanism may For more information, please contact wakefulness-dependent behaviours help ensure that alertness, attention and the author Dr Denis Burdakov such as reward seeking and food appetite are appropriately synchronised: ([email protected]) at the Department consumption. when energy levels fall, cognitive arousal of Pharmacology. and appetite will be stimulated together, Sweet dreams increasing the likelihood of successful The evidence linking orexin neurons to food seeking. Conversely, when food is brain state control is so strong that this eaten, then appetite, arousal and activity cell type is especially attractive to may be turned off together to create researchers like Dr Denis Burdakov at the optimal conditions for converting the Department of Pharmacology who want food into fat stores. A potential downside to understand the neural basis of is that the activity of orexin neurons behaviour. By studying the properties of during wakefulness may also drive single orexin neurons, it might be hunger, which would fit in with the possible to get a glimpse of the well-known association between molecular machinery underlying brain insomnia and obesity. state control. Dr Burdakov’s group has shown that Neurons on acid orexin neurons act as intrinsic generators Considering the widespread connections of of wakefulness-promoting electrical orexin neurons, it is hardly surprising that signals, and that the frequency of these more and more behavioural roles for these electrical impulses is fine-tuned by the cells are being discovered. One of the latest environment. Strikingly, orexin neurons is their role in breathing – orexin neurons appear to be specialised in detecting provide an excitatory stimulus to key changes in key physiological variables brainstem areas involved in ventilation. This such as sugar levels. This research has seems especially important when breathing Dr Denis Burdakov shown that glucose opens special pores needs to be increased, for example to get in the membranes of orexin neurons rid of excess carbon dioxide in the body. In known as potassium ion channels, thereby mice with a deficient orexin system, these blocking their electrical signals. vital breathing responses are reduced by as This mechanism is striking in its much as 50%. sensitivity – the activity of orexin neurons How do orexin neurons ‘know’ when can accurately track even the tiny to stimulate breathing? Dr Burdakov’s team changes in sugar levels that occur in the found that rising levels of acid, such as brain between breakfast and lunch. those that occur during sleep apnoea Orexin neurons become activated when (a pause in breathing), release an electrical energy levels fall, stimulating wakefulness ‘brake’ in orexin neurons. This allows the and activity to ensure an animal seeks out neurons to fire faster. Similar to the effects food when hungry. In turn, their block by of glucose, this brake consists of potassium glucose is perhaps the strongest candidate pores in the orexin cell membrane – when mechanism for after-meal sleepiness. open, they stop neurons from firing. Rising Glucose sensing by orexin neurons acidity shuts them down, making orexin represents an unusual physiological neurons fire very fast; falling acidity opens pathway through which sugar may affect the pores, silencing the firing. In the body, sleep and appetite, and could provide an rises and falls in acidity are controlled by attractive target for pharmacological breathing. Acid is constantly made by the intervention in body weight disorders. body’s metabolism, but is normally The importance of research in this new prevented from building up because we area was recently recognised by the breathe out ‘acidic’ carbon dioxide. During Biotechnology and Biological Sciences sleep apnoea, the breathing stops, leading Research Council (BBSRC), who awarded to a dangerous build up of acid in the Dr Burdakov a three-year research grant brain. Acceleration of orexin firing by acid to unravel molecular steps in the dissipates this threat by causing awakening regulation of orexin neurons by sugar. and increased breathing.

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 15 THE THINKING MACHINE?

The thinking hominid The discovery in southern India of a well-preserved quarry dating from a million years ago is helping researchers to answer: how intelligent were our ancestors? We are a species capable of remarkable Acheulean tools technological and cultural achievements One particular period, known as the thanks to our big brains and our extended Acheulean, has fascinated cooperative social networks. Of course, it palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists has not always been this way. Our first alike because it is the longest enduring upright, ape-like ancestors lived between time of technology and manufacture, and 7 and 6 million years ago, and perhaps a therefore of comparatively rich artefactual half dozen human-like species with record, in our evolutionary history. increasing cognitive abilities span the Beginning in Africa at about 1.6 million

DR MICHAEL PETRAGLIA evolutionary period to the present-day Homo sapiens. years ago, and lasting until about 250,000 Palaeoanthropologists like Dr Michael years ago, the Acheulean is characterised Petraglia in the Department of Biological by the manufacture of pear- and oval- Anthropology are interested in shaped stone handaxes and cleavers. documenting and explaining our Often found in association with animal evolutionary history, and particularly in carcasses, these tools were probably used examining the cognitive and behavioural as efficient cutting devices for detaching changes that have occurred along the and slicing meat for food. way. One fundamental question has During the prolonged period of this always been: how did advanced levels of dominant technology, Acheulean tool human cognition evolve in our early users migrated from Africa and colonised ancestors? In searching for clues, Eurasia. Examples of tools have been Acheulean tools dating from a million years Dr Petraglia is using the artefactual found from Arabia to Asia, and in Europe ago found at the Isampur Quarry, India record left behind by early hominids. from the Mediterranean to central Britain.

16 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 THE THINKING MACHINE?

DR MICHAEL PETRAGLIA Discovering debris some form of communication was The long-lasting and supposedly occurring. unchanging technological tradition of Interestingly, though, these hominids the Acheulean has been thought of as practised behaviours that are unfamiliar – demonstrating a period of biological and once tools were used, they were quickly cultural stasis. But did it also denote a abandoned. Stone tools found at sites mentally and behaviourally conservative away from the quarry showed limited Acheulean mind? Since the mid-1990s, evidence of resharpening. It seems that Dr Petraglia has been looking at new early humans made tools, carried them ways of evaluating the evolution of across the landscape for an intended cognition in Acheulean hominids by goal, and then discarded them. This closely analysing the evidence of their discard behaviour has few analogies manufacturing and landscape practices among modern foragers, who typically used to create these tools. retain and repair their toolkits over the An opportunity to do this presented long-term. itself when he and Professor K Paddayya of Deccan College (Pune, India) Thinking hominids discovered a well-preserved Acheulean Acheulean hominids lived in a range of site in the semi-arid Hunsgi Valley of ecological settings with an assortment of southern India. The Isampur Quarry was different resources available to them – uncovered when the local Irrigation limestone, flint, quartzite, and so on. Department cleared much of the metre- A comparison of Indian tool-making deep thick black silt; extensive procedures and landscape behaviours excavations since that time have exposed with other sites around the globe shows an extremely well-preserved Acheulean that groups adapted to novel quarry, the first to be discovered on the circumstances in different ways and yet Indian subcontinent. still employed the same technology. Such Crucially, the site was found to be evidence implies a learned behaviour littered not just with tools but with tool- revolving around a set of conventions or making debris: here was a rare chance to rules in tool-making. Some of the examine tool-making procedures and abilities that we see in the artefactual landscape behaviours of a million years record are also found in the tool-making ago. and tool-using capabilities of some primates and certain bird species. The quarriers’ tale However, there are also relative Our ancestors came to the quarry to differences in tool-using behaviours, prise up the limestone bedrock to make suggesting that early hominids had an their handaxes and cleavers. Research is extended ability for planning beyond the showing that the tools they made were immediate future, relying on abstraction not the end result of chance and and memory for satisfying future needs serendipity but were the outcome of over space and time. While this may be intention, thought, planning and the case, the hominids were not as memory. innovative as we might expect, producing similar tool forms over Excavating the Isampur Quarry, India The quarriers understood the mechanical properties of their materials hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps and they approached the natural rock lacking the planning depth to anticipate slabs with specific goals in mind: conditions in the far-off future. handaxes were crafted from tabular Comparative research should allow slabs; cleavers from flakes struck from us to interpret how the mind evolved in large boulder-sized slabs. As they hominids and how their behaviour worked, the remnants of their diverged from other intelligent animals. endeavours littered the occupation area, Further detailed archaeological and some 60 square metres in excavations, palaeoanthropological studies of the as chipped stone cores, flakes and Acheulean record will continue to shed chunks. They planned and anticipated light on cognition in these early events – making cleavers from large hominids, whose brains were three- flakes needed complex procedures to quarters the size of our own. achieve the desired result; hammerstones of different sizes and raw materials For more information, please had to be brought into the quarry contact the author Dr Michael from sources more than a kilometre Petraglia ([email protected]) away. All of this suggests the hominids at the Leverhulme Centre for were capable of deliberate calculation, Human Evolutionary Studies adjusting techniques to circumstances, (www.human-evol.cam.ac.uk). remembering activities and solving problems. Intriguingly, what it also suggests is that socially learned and transmitted behaviours were passed Dr Michael Petraglia from individual to individual: in short,

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 17 PREVIEW Greek tragedy: setting the stage today With the curtains just closed on the 40th Cambridge Greek Play since the 1880s, Greek classicist Simon Goldhill reflects on how this creative genre still speaks to a modern audience.

Every three years since 1882, University chance to see an art form that featured Resurging interest of Cambridge students have brought vividly in the cultural imagination. That first astounding show in 1882 ancient Greek tragedies to life again Archaeological accuracy really heralded one of the most surprising through their performances in the mattered to the Victorian audience – the developments in modern western Cambridge Greek Play, a showcase of play had to embody the best scholarship, theatre. Since the turn of the 20th theatrical and academic expertise that is the most recent research. In 1882, this century, ancient Greek plays have spoken entirely in the original language. was ensured by the involvement of the become part of the repertoire of all The first play – Sophocles’ Ajax – world-famous Greek scholar Sir Richard modern theatres and, since the 1970s, was, as the publicity of 1882 boasted, Claverhouse Jebb, Regius Professor of there has been the most remarkable the first full performance of a Greek Greek. This connection with research explosion of performances of Greek tragedy in ancient Greek in the modern continues today, with a thriving tragedy across the world – not just in world, and the show roused academic interest that both feeds into Europe and the USA, but also in Japan extraordinary interest. It was reviewed in and benefits from the performances. and Africa and Russia. In London, Paris all the national newspapers, and special What can the surviving plays tell us of and New York, almost no year goes by trains had to be put on from London to ancient Athenian society? How can we without a revival of one of these classics. bring the fashionistas up to Cambridge know how to pronounce a long-dead In 2001 alone, there were 17 to see the event of the season. England language? How can the ancient world productions of Aeschylus’ great trilogy was still in the grip of an intense inform our understanding of the modern the Oresteia in the USA, which is more ‘philhellenic’ love of all things Greek; world? What is at stake when Greek than there were in the whole world in classics took up 80% of the curriculum tragedy is staged in the theatre today, the first 65 years of the 19th century. In at the best schools and universities; the and how are its most difficult problems London, three separate productions of neo-classical paintings of Lawrence to be faced? It is this final question that Sophocles’ Electra were staged over a Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton has been of particular interest to me – few months. When theatre director Peter drew crowds of thousands; Greek love how audiences might see ancient Greek Sellars wanted to stage his anguish at was the ‘dirty secret’ of the fin-de-siècle theatre accurately realised on stage the Gulf War in the early 1990s, he decadents. For Victorian England, the again, 2500 years after it was born in turned to Aeschylus’ Persians – in Cambridge Greek Play represented a rare Athens. California, Edinburgh and Austria. There

18 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 PREVIEW

COURTESY OF THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK PLAYCOURTESY COMMITTEE Staging Greek tragedies task of staging a Greek tragedy: the It is far from clear how these great theatre space, the chorus, the actor's masterpieces of theatre should be role, the relationship between tragedy translated from the page into the and politics, the translation, and the theatre. When the genre first flourished representation of the gods and heroes. between 500 and 300 BC, the I look at what we can learn from the convention was for actors to wear ancient world about these issues, how specially crafted masks. All the actors the most successful modern productions were male, with a limit on how many have dealt with them, and how a could appear on stage at one time, and company can negotiate a way through the chorus had to be composed of some of the most difficult problems Athenian citizens. these texts provide. How can the old conventions of the My hope is that actors and directors chorus work without looking like a embarking on the journey of staging a Greek play might have some guidance. Hollywood musical? Can masks evoke I hope too that, for the reader wishing to anything but bad clowns for today’s know more about these truly remarkable theatre? Is Greek tragedy destined to be plays and their extraordinary re-emergence crushed by its own formality, and end up on modern stages, this might inspire as no more than men in black yelling them to consider what makes Greek portentous clichés at each other? tragedy so exciting and so relevant a The book How to Stage Greek genre today. Tragedy Today stems first from my research into ancient theatre and the For more information, please history of theatre performance: I have contact the author Professor Simon been engaged for many years with Goldhill ([email protected]) at the exploring the political and social impact Faculty of Classics. Please go to of theatre in ancient Athens, as well as www.the-medea.co.uk for more with how these old plays became so information on the recent play, important in the cultural life of Europe, Euripides' Medea. How to Stage especially around the turn of the Greek Tragedy Today is published by 20th century. But my concerns in this University of Chicago Press. book also come from a more direct set

of experiences. I have been deeply PERRY HASTINGS moved by some great performances in the theatre; I have also been annoyed, bored, outraged by others. I wanted to explore why so many productions failed, and why the truly great productions were great. I also had the hands-on experience of producing the Cambridge Greek Play Olga Tribulato (right) as Teiresias and Marta Zlatic over 12 years, with two outstanding as Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, 2004 directors – Dr Jane Montgomery, who was the Leventis Visiting Fellow in Greek is no sign of this growth slowing, on Drama, and Annie Castledine, from the Professor campus or in the professional theatre. Complicite Theatre Company and who Simon Goldhill Greek tragedy seems once again to has also directed at the National Theatre speak urgently and authoritatively to a and the Royal Shakespeare Company. modern audience. Seeing how professional theatre is made 'Simon Goldhill's new book is at the ‘down-and-dirty’ level is not A voice in modern times something most academics are privileged enthralling. A 'can't put down' Why does Greek tragedy speak to us to do, and anyone who writes about and a 'forever today? As with the 5th century BC, our theatre can learn a lot from such an re-read'. His age is an era of great confidence in the experience. But the immediate stimulus progress of science and knowledge: to write my book was when I was asked detailed Greek tragedy ruthlessly exposes the to provide some suggestions for Vanessa analyses of so pretensions in human claims to control Redgrave to read about tragedy – she many past and certainty. As with the 5th century was rehearsing a production of Hecuba BC, our age is obsessed with the tension at the time. I found to my chagrin (and productions between the brutal realities of war and to the detriment of my dignity as a are rare and the rhetoric of politicians: Greek tragedy Cambridge professor) that there was exciting. His anatomises this tension with painful nothing I could really recommend to an insight. Moreover, Greek tragedy is intelligent modern actor or director to unfolding of obsessed with conflict between the help them when daunted by the task of the Greek genders, between public and private performing Greek tragedy. So I sat down texts and the many duty, between self-control and a sense of and wrote what I hope will answer that different translations is both helplessness in the face of the world’s need. violence: all this too finds a powerful I examine the six most pressing instructive and exhilarating.' echo with modern audiences. questions any company faces with the Vanessa Redgrave CBE, actress

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 19 FEATURE ST PETER PORT, GUERNSEY (OTHERS) PHOTOGRAPHS BY DR GILLY CARR; ARTEFACTS OF CHRISTINE BAILEY (TOP LEFT) AND PETER PAUL COURTESY BALSHAW, VALLETTE MILITARY M USEUM,

A campaign of silent resistance A fascinating Often considered to be wartime kitsch, Occupied Islands study of frequently ending up in junk shops or The Channel Islands, the only part of in rubbish skips, the artefacts made by wartime Britain that was occupied during WWII, people of the Channel Islands during endured a period of history that left such artefacts is World War II (WWII) have only recently an impact on the collective psyche of its uncovering a been recognised as being worthy of peoples that it forms an integral part of academic enquiry. Like the ‘trench art’ story of Channel Island identity and heritage created in the trenches of WWI, these today. Island newspapers still feature symbolic artefacts were made from whatever articles about the occupation; many resistance and supplies were at hand – coins, tin Islanders still talk about it daily. creative cans, spent shells, even barbed wire – The Islands were considered in a time of military conflict and its indefensible by the British forces but necessity in legacy of deprivation and defiance. were deemed by Hitler to be of strategic the Channel Thanks to funding from the British value – their occupation would effectively Islands 60 Academy, the artefacts held in Island stick a thorn in Britain’s side and wound museums and private collections are morale. Seeing the smoke rising from years ago. being catalogued and photographed the coast of nearby France and hearing by Dr Gilly Carr from the Department the approaching shell-fire, around a third of Archaeology. They tell a story of of the population of the Islands the quiet yet determined resistance evacuated to the UK in the days before to occupation, as well as the patriotic the Germans arrived. By the end of June underpinning of a society under 1940, the Germans had landed in the threat. Islands following a bombardment of

20 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 FEATURE

COURTESY OF PETER SIRETT COURTESY St Helier and St Peter Port, the capitals of A symbolic war Jersey and Guernsey. The occupation was One particularly fascinating element of the gruelling. In September 1942 and February unfolding story has been the evidence of a 1943, a total of 2200 Islanders were ‘symbolic war’ waged silently between the deported to internment camps on the Germans and the locals over the use of continent and those who remained were Guernsey’s crest. The Crest – three lions trapped. passant guardant – was stamped or carved In the last year of the occupation, by the Germans on nearly every item they supply lines to the Islands were cut off made as a symbol of their control of the after the Allied invasion of France, and the Islands. However, the Islanders reclaimed Islanders and occupying army alike began this symbol of their identity, making rings to starve. In the last six months of the war, and badges out of Island coins that during the bitter winter of 1944, gas, displayed the crest. They quietly and electricity, wood-fuel and soap ran out. unobtrusively wore these on their body Had the Red Cross ship the S.S. Vega not and clothes, fighting back against the arrived in December 1944 bearing parcels appropriation of their islands and symbols. of food, the population might have starved to death. Rewriting history ‘V’ for victory This research has overturned some long- Examples of the wartime artefacts held in held beliefs about the occupying army. For museums and private collections in the Channel Although the occupied Islanders were example, it is widely believed that German Islands. Above: Monty Manning shaved his unable to mount a proper resistance, the soldiers, like the Islanders, had also run out beard into a 'V for victory'; drawn by fellow artefactual record provides compelling internee Eric Sirett. Top left: 'V for victory' mug of gas, electricity and wood-fuel months engraved by Byll Balcombe in the internment evidence for a campaign of ‘silent before the end of the war. However, many camp of Biberach. Top right: Barbed wire brooch resistance’ using the ‘V for victory’ sign, German-made artefacts were carved out of made in Biberach. Bottom left: 'V for victory' which has previously been undocumented badge made from a coin by Alf Williams. solid lumps of wood as late as 1945. One Bottom right: George V coin on the side of a in such detail. Following a BBC broadcast soldier had carved an electric lamp stand cigarette lighter. at the time, the people of occupied Europe with the date 7th May 1945 – two days were encouraged to use this as a symbol before liberation – which raises the of resistance, and a range of artefacts that question of whether the soldiers suffered were made in 1941 and 1942 depict Vs. as much as the locals in terms of a lack of The most intriguing of these are badges supplies. made from coins, where the maker filed around the King’s profile and scored the letter V underneath before attaching a Resonance of troubled times safety pin to the reverse. These were worn The physical artefacts speak volumes of a underneath jacket lapels and were flashed people living under occupation. Not to trusted friends in the street. knowing when the war would end, or The V-sign campaign was also used as how they would survive until that time, a form of resistance by the English-born some of the artefacts show how Islanders Islanders from Guernsey, Jersey and Sark used their creative talents to make life who were deported to civilian internee more bearable. An ‘Occupation Monopoly’ camps in Germany and Austria. Monty board was produced, to be played during Manning shaved his beard into a V-shape; the hours of curfew, with instructions such Byll Balcombe engraved a mug made from as ‘exceeded gas ration, go back 2’, a Red Cross tin with a V so that he could ‘receive Red Cross letter, go forward 3’ and drink a toast to victory; one woman wove ‘identity card lost, go back 4’. Findings a V into the plaited string sole of her shoe; such as this offer a snapshot of life under and Nellie May Faulder embroidered a the occupation and illustrate the proud, tablecloth with Vs around the edge, with a defiant and patriotic spirit for which dedication to George V in the centre – Channel Islanders have long been known. even though George VI was on the throne! For more information, please Dr Gilly Carr Internees were largely kept alive by contact the author Dr Gilly Carr Red Cross parcels, the contents of which ([email protected]) at the Department they recycled – including cardboard, string, of Archaeology. Although Dr Carr was tins, cellophane packing material and brought up in the UK, her family is wooden parcel crates – to make a range of from Guernsey and were variously artefacts to distract themselves from the evacuated, occupied and deported circumstances of their internment. Passing during WWII. She is currently writing the time was a key objective, as shown by a book and preparing two museum many of the items such as chess and exhibitions on the subject of cribbage boards and sewing baskets. Other artefacts of the occupation. items, including women’s fashion accessories such as shoes, handbags, hats and belts, and items made from Red Cross tins, such as plates, trays, a communion chalice and a football trophy, are among surviving artefacts from the camps.

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 21 FEATURE

Most pregnancies develop normally but when complications arise they can have devastating effects. Two recent initiatives in Cambridge hope to deliver a new understanding of events during this critical period of human life.

Human placental villi showing evidence of Great expectations in oxidative stress pregnancy research

Complications in pregnancy represent pregnancy. Determining what these Department of Health’s Cambridge a persistent and major problem in mechanisms might be is essential for Comprehensive Biomedical Research public health. The first three months devising new strategies of intervention, and Centre. after conception are known to be the applying in-depth scientific studies to Women enrolling in the study are most critical, with as many as 20% of human pregnancy is now seen as vital. scanned and give blood samples at pregnancies lost during this time. For Two multidisciplinary initiatives in 12, 20, 28 and 36 weeks of gestation, pregnancies that develop beyond 24 Cambridge have recently embarked on allowing detailed characterisation of the weeks, between 0.5 and 1% result in improving our understanding of pregnancy baby’s growth and development. Thanks death of the baby, either in the womb and its outcomes: a large antenatal to an industrial collaboration with or in the first four weeks of life. screening of women at the Rosie Maternity GE Healthcare, the long-term loan of two Premature birth can incur major Hospital in Cambridge and the recent state-of-the-art scanners will enable real- complications associated with delivery, endowment of a Centre for Trophoblast time three-dimensional scanning of the immediate care of the infant, Research within the School of Biological babies in utero. At birth, samples of childhood diseases, and educational Sciences. Both initiatives build on the placenta and cord blood will be obtained and social problems in later life. Not wealth of expertise in the biology of and stored. only is there an emotional cost to pregnancy that exists across Cambridge. The study is prospective; for those families, but an economic assessment women whose pregnancies sadly have in the USA reported that the Screening for adverse complications or adverse outcomes (such cumulative subsequent healthcare and as pre-eclampsia, spontaneous pre-term social costs associated with one year’s outcomes birth, stillbirth or low-birth-weight babies), worth of pre-term deliveries was A four-year research project that aims to the stored samples will be retrieved and $26 billion. Understanding and monitor 5000 pregnant women compared with controls. These samples intervening to prevent these events is commenced in 2007 under the leadership then become the focus of extensive clinical clearly crucial. of Professor Gordon Smith in the and biological analyses to try to establish Although some advances have University’s Department of Obstetrics and the cause. Studies will analyse the been made, the dismaying fact is that Gynaecology. A multidisciplinary team of development and function of the placenta the rates of stillbirth have generally translational researchers in both the and the effect of oxidative stress; the remained static over the past 20–30 School of Clinical Medicine and the School expression or silencing of genes in relation years. This partly reflects an incomplete of Biological Sciences are participating in to whether they came from the mother or understanding of the biological events the project, which is funded under the the father (known as genomic imprinting); that lead to these complications of Women’s Health theme of the UK the maternal–foetal immune interaction;

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PROFESSOR GRAHAM BURTON and the genes that are expressed in the immune system to allow them to placenta. The MRC Epidemiology Unit reach their target – the specialised will conduct follow-up studies of the blood vessels in the wall of the uterus. growth and development of the babies As a result of this invasion, the vessels who have been carefully monitored undergo major structural changes during the pregnancy. that ensure the placenta has a The hope is that this detailed plentiful and continuous supply of characterisation of foetal development, blood in later pregnancy. on such a large scale, will lead to There is now abundant evidence mechanistic studies on the causes of that the major complications of common clinical problems in pregnancy. pregnancy are associated with As well as providing refined risk deficient trophoblast invasion, assessment, novel treatments might be resulting in aberrant maternal blood identified that could improve the flow to the placenta. Research outcome of pregnancies in women performed in Cambridge has deemed to be at higher risk. demonstrated that, paradoxically, too much flow in early pregnancy Centre for Trophoblast results in miscarriage, whereas too little in later pregnancy is associated Research with low birth weight and pre- The recent endowment of the Centre eclampsia. These new insights have for Trophoblast Research, due to be radically changed our understanding launched on 9 July 2008, is a highly of human pregnancy and have helped innovative initiative aimed at promoting to explain why miscarriage and research into trophoblast biology both pre-eclampsia are virtually unique to within Cambridge and on the wider humans. Studying trophoblast biology national and international stages. The is therefore not only of basic trophoblast is the cell type that forms the scientific interest but is also key to interface between the foetus and its understanding the root causes of mother, supplying nutrients to support these pregnancy disorders. Professor the growth of the foetus. It is Gordon Smith (left) fundamental to successful pregnancy and Raising hopes for future and Professor must interact intimately with the Graham Burton maternal cells lining the uterus, leading pregnancies to the formation of the placenta. The aim of these multidisciplinary In humans, this interaction is initiatives across Cambridge is to arrive For more information, please contact particularly invasive and, during the first at a better understanding of the the authors Professor Gordon Smith few weeks of pregnancy, the foetus biology of normal and complicated at the Department of Obstetrics becomes completely embedded within human pregnancy. Only by doing so and Gynaecology ([email protected]) the wall of the uterus. This form of can scientists hope to develop new or Professor Graham Burton at placentation, seen only among the great diagnostic tests to identify women at the Department of Physiology, apes, poses unique immunological and increased risk of complications and, Development and Neuroscience haemodynamic challenges. The invading potentially, new interventions that ([email protected]). Please go to trophoblast cells, which are genetically might prevent the life-long effects of www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk for more related to, but distinct from, those of the these complications on mothers and information about the Centre for mother, must negotiate passage with her their children. Trophoblast Research. GE HEALTHCARE Participating researchers

Antenatal screening initiative (Principal Investigator: Prof Gordon Smith) Dr Steve Charnock-Jones and Dr Miguel Constância (Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology); Prof Graham Burton, Prof Abby Fowden, Dr Dino Giussani and Dr Anne Ferguson-Smith (Dept of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience); Dr Ashley Moffett (Dept of Pathology); Prof David Dunger (Dept of Paediatrics); Dr Ian White (MRC Biostatistics Unit); Dr Ken Ong (MRC Epidemiology Unit). The project is within the Women's Health theme of the Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre – a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, and created by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). These themes focus on translating advances in basic medical research from the laboratory to the hospital clinic.

Centre for Trophoblast Research (Director: Prof Graham Burton) Participating researchers will be announced in 2008. The Centre will facilitate research by providing flexible and responsive funding for seminars, workshops and visiting scholars, as well as laboratory space in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. The Centre also aims to encourage the next Three-dimensional scan of a baby in utero generation through graduate studentships and postdoctoral fellowships.

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 23 FEATURE

To what extent do living organisms However, the majority of these Putting absorb pollutants in our environment? pollutants are present at extremely low Are particular ‘chemical cocktails’ more concentrations and so it is difficult to risky than others? Do current ascertain whether or not they have an metabolism ecotoxicological risk assessment overall effect on ecosystem health, techniques adequately protect the especially if outward effects are minimal. on the environment? These are the sorts of An added complication is the fact that questions that interest Drs Oliver Jones the interaction between the environment and Julian Griffin in the Department of and organism health is extremely eco-map Biochemistry, who are working as part of complex, with chemical, biological, a Europe-wide integrated research physical and geographical stressors each One of the latest project to develop better tools to contributing to toxicological effects over ‘omic’ technologies evaluate the chemical risks we face in time. everyday life. It’s important therefore to develop to emerge – methods for assessing the cumulative metabolomics – is Ecotoxicology risks for a range of species that are being being used to create It is generally acknowledged that many exposed to mixtures of pollutants at non- lethal levels. In this way, steps can be a snapshot of how organisms in the environment are exposed to a large variety of pollutants taken both to improve safety in the environmental during their lifetime; a fact borne out by environment and to safeguard ecological chemicals affect advances in analytical technology. For health. living organisms. example, many people will have heard of the effects on fish populations caused by Metabolomics endocrine-disrupting compounds in One technique that shows a great deal sewage, whereby some male fish living of promise in the area of ecotoxicology is downstream of sewage treatment plants metabolomics. This rapidly emerging were found to have developed female discipline measures the thousands of characteristics, leading to a reduction in naturally occurring small molecules their ability to reproduce. In recent years, (metabolites) such as sugars, organic a plethora of other anthropogenic acids, amino acids and lipids that are the contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, products of cellular metabolism. An personal care products, pesticides and organism’s ‘metabolome’ is its full flame retardants, and the potential for complement of metabolites, in the same these man-made products to work their way that its genome is its complete way into the food chain, have also genetic content. begun to be of concern to environmental Why study metabolic changes? Well, chemists. these changes often happen much earlier

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MISS KAROLINA LADA AND DR OLIVER JONES in an organism than either tissue Assessing the risks accumulation of pollutants or induced Why is there a need for improved risk histopathological changes. The technique assessment in ecotoxicology? In current can be used to give a biochemical toxicity tests, an organism is typically snapshot of a cell, tissue or indeed exposed to a single chemical in a strictly whole organism at a moment in time. controlled laboratory setting, over a When an organism is stressed or relatively short period of time (typically diseased, its metabolic pathways are days or weeks). Yet, in the environment, perturbed. Advanced computer-assisted organisms will clearly be exposed to pattern recognition techniques can many different pollutants possibly then be used to assess the differences throughout their entire life. An accurate in metabolic profiles between sample risk assessment must take into account groups. Metabolomics therefore offers a cumulative effects rather than just direct particularly sensitive method to monitor effects and single factors. Organisms are changes in a biological system and is also often likely to be stressed by other proving to be an outstanding tool for factors not present in a laboratory studying ecotoxicology. setting. For instance, work within the NoMiracle project has demonstrated that NoMiracle organisms can be affected by pollutants The environmental research in Dr Griffin’s at much lower levels than those group in the Department of Biochemistry predicted from traditional toxicity tests if is part of a European Union (EU) research they are also stressed by other factors project involving 38 laboratories spread such as co-exposure to pollutants, across 16 countries and is known as temperature extremes or food restriction. NoMiracle (for ‘Novel Methods for The work in the Cambridge section of the NoMiracle project is moving into Integrated Risk Assessment of its third and final year. The research is Cumulative Stressors in Europe’). showing that the accurate assessment of The project seeks to improve ecological chemical mixtures is more complex than and environmental risk assessment in current testing regimes allow for and the the EU, and to help scientists gauge aim now is to use these results to the impact of chemicals on the develop a new framework for assessing environment and human health. The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, a metabolic the effects of complex mixtures of The Cambridge team are developing pathway involved in energy generation, is often pollutants. The ultimate goal of the perturbed following exposure to pollution analytical techniques based on high- NoMiracle partners is to change throughput analysis of metabolites ecotoxicology policy in the whole of the from organisms at different positions in EU, so that long-term, multi-stressor the food chain, such as earthworms, exposure testing is considered as nematodes, slime moulds, marine standard. This will offer great mussels and water fleas. Being able to improvements in understanding and study such a broad set of experimental mitigating the effects of cumulative species has been possible because of pollution exposure on the health of long-term collaborations with the our ecosystem. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (part of the UK Natural Environment CHRIS GREEN Research Council), King’s College London, the University of Piemonte Orientale in Italy and the University of Antwerp in Belgium, all developed as part of the NoMiracle project. Using state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry, long-term studies are being run to establish a basal metabolic profile for each of these species, as well as how these profiles change in response to Dr Oliver Jones (left) toxic insult. By looking at the different and Dr Julian Griffin patterns of metabolic profiles between organisms, a comprehensive description is being built up of how For more information, please each of them responds to stress and contact the authors Dr Oliver Jones toxicity. One important finding has ([email protected]) been that biochemical effects are or Dr Julian Griffin often observed at lower chemical ([email protected]) at the concentrations than were previously Department of Biochemistry. thought to cause any effect when Further details of the NoMiracle assessed using traditional toxicology project can be found online testing techniques. (http://nomiracle.jrc.it/).

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 25 FEATURE KEITH HEPPELL

a Finding F ult

A multicentre project led by the Faculty of Law has reached its conclusion, having studied over a century’s worth of European legal changes relating to liability.

Examining how western legal systems between the social and economic factors Constructing the case have developed, and understanding the that fuel changes in the law, how do To understand the forces behind legal factors that have shaped the dynamics of legal systems in different European change, we have to look beyond the legal change, has been at the heart of a countries respond? To make these areas experience of one country and investigate three-year study that reached its of enquiry more manageable, they were many. To this end, six case studies were conclusion in December 2007. The tackled through the lens of a particular investigated by academics from European Legal Development project, branch of law that illustrates legal jurisdictions across Europe: England, funded by the Arts and Humanities change over a specific period of Scotland, The Netherlands, Austria, Research Council (AHRC), was led by European history: the liability for harm Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and Spain. Professors John Bell and David Ibbetson caused to others by fault in the years The six case studies, each convened by at the Faculty of Law. It brought together 1850–2000. a different project member, focused on some 70 academics, including eminent In England, the core principles for the problems that the law has faced in scholars and early career researchers, deciding when one individual has to the 150-year period under study: liability from 10 different jurisdictions across compensate another for the harm they in relation to technological change; Europe. have caused date back to the 14th liability between neighbours; liability for Although concerned with legal century; in continental Europe, they date traffic accidents on rail and road; liability development and involving the research back to the 3rd century BC. This research for products; liability for medical input of many lawyers, the project also has sought to chart how these old negligence; and legal doctrine, or the benefited from the insights of historians, principles have needed to change and to writings of legal academics trying to set philosophers and scholars in other seek explanations for what happened. out the principles of this developing law. disciplines. It stands as a model for how The law relating to fault began to national scholars can be supported and alter around 1850. Enormous developed in an international context in Factors for change technological and economic changes In a second stage, the project examined the humanities and social sciences. took place as industrialisation and Regular meetings and website the factors that actually shaped legal urbanisation occurred in different interactions have built a network of development in the fields studied. Certain countries, influencing many aspects of researchers that will continue long after legal institutions, such as law reform society, including the law. With the rapid the project itself. bodies, have been important in fostering rise in the use of steam boilers to power change in the law. But these bodies have factories, boats and trains, accidents depended on key individuals who have Illustrations of legal became more frequent. Machinery was promoted change, typically by persistence development both more complex and less predictable over many years. Governments often Of course, the topic ‘How do western than before, causing injuries to promote legislation in response to recent legal systems develop?’ is very broad. employees and passengers. Although in prominent crises or disasters, and at such Does the law change principally in step 1850 there were many similarities in moments proposals that are already with the state of the economy and of approaches to liability for fault across the formulated are often seized upon. society at large, or does it respond to its legal systems of western Europe, To what extent does the law reflect own internal dynamics of change? Even significant divergence began to occur in developments in social and political ideas? where there are strong similarities the years that followed. Sometimes there is a clear connection. For

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example, the French social theorist Émile example, the easy availability of insurance Members of the European Legal Durkheim influenced key French legal is frequently invoked in arguments for Development project met in December 2007 to discuss findings of the three-year study writers of the late 19th century to argue legislation or in court. But it does not that the law should provide compensation dictate a solution. Although Germany and out of social solidarity with those who France introduced insurance-based were injured, rather than focusing simply compensation for road accidents, England on whether a responsible individual was at did not, even though the economic fault. But, in other areas, it is the opinions conditions and the availability of insurance of specialist technical experts that shape were similar. And so, similar economies do the law. For example, the law governing not necessarily adopt similar legal asbestos was strongly influenced by solutions. relatively small numbers of people in This study has illustrated that private inspectorates, rather than by a broad law can operate with a kind of relative movement of opinion or ideas. autonomy from contemporary social and Changes in the economy clearly have political ideas or economic interests. an impact on law – new problems arise History and legal ideas can be powerful that the law has to solve. But it is less clear determinants of how far private law whether the pattern of solutions directly contributes to the solution of responds to economic interests. For contemporary problems. KEITH HEPPELL Coming to a conclusion

Three main trends in the law relating to liability have become apparent from this study: • Victims of accidents have gradually found it easier to obtain compensation, either because the burden of proof has shifted towards the person causing the injury or because liability no longer depended on proof of fault. • Simpler and less expensive compensation systems have gradually been created outside private law (the law of relations between individuals). For example, although the victims of boiler and railway accidents tended to be employees, they rarely gained compensation through private law but instead through state- created insurance-based workmen’s compensation systems. In Germany, Sweden and France, such schemes have also replaced private law for most road accidents, Professor John Bell and Sweden and France have now adopted similar schemes for medical injuries. • Although private law has played a minimal role in incentivising accident prevention, other forms of regulation could have an impact. For instance, state For more information, please contact regulation on the siting of boilers, or of buildings or crops alongside railway lines, the author Professor John Bell as well as regulation related to determining who can practise as a doctor, has ([email protected]) at the Faculty of played a very important role in reducing the incidence of harm. Law or visit http://eld.law.cam.ac.uk and http://www.findingfault.co.uk

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 27 FEATURE

John Morrill explores one of the most extraordinary and least understood aspects of Anglo-Irish history – the rebellion of 1641. Re bellion, rep

The true course of events of the Irish unstudied. This is chiefly because there is REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF THE BOARD TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN rebellion of 1641 has never been fully too much of a record of what happened known. Initiated by disaffected Irish and it has taken until now, with Catholics rebelling against Protestant improvements in technology and the settlers, the rebellion quickly escalated in political climate, to conspire finally to violence, resulting in widespread killing. make it possible for the secrets of the But was the rebellion intended to be a ‘1641 depositions’ to be unlocked. A bloodless coup that spiralled out of team of scholars in Cambridge, Dublin control, or were the thousands of and Aberdeen are poised to do just this. Protestants deliberately driven out and Professor John Morrill from Cambridge’s massacred? What’s clear is that the years Faculty of History is chairing the three- that followed were a time of savage year project, working alongside Professor revenge for the events of 1641 – Oliver Jane Ohlmeyer and Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú Cromwell arrived with 30,000 English (Trinity College Dublin), and Professor troops to conquer Ireland in the name of Tom Bartlett (University of Aberdeen). the English Republic and to exact ‘a just judgement of God upon those barbarous Roots of an uprising wretches, who have imbrued their hands The 1641 rebellion had roots stretching in so much innocent blood’ – and the back to the mid-16th century, when the groundwork was laid for Ireland’s Irish provinces were heavily colonised by Catholic–Protestant divide. English settlers. Throughout the reign of A curious aspect of the rebellion is Queen Elizabeth I, the English that although it is the least understood government, fearful that continental of all the great massacres of European Catholic kings would use Ireland as a history, it is amongst the best recorded. springboard for invading England to Historical narratives in the form of exploit the dynastic weaknesses (Elizabeth eyewitness accounts of those who lived was, in Catholic eyes, a heretic bastard through the rebellion are still in existence tyrant, unmarried and the last of her line), in the library of Trinity College Dublin, sought to impose strong Protestant where they have remained largely control of Ireland. This led to a dreadful REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF THE BOARD TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN cycle: Catholic rebellion, repression of the uprising, replacement of Irish landowners by English as part of a ‘Plantation’ policy, then more rebellion, more repression and further Plantation. In and after 1610, the largest of the Plantation policies, in which not only the Irish landowners but also the tenant farmers and urban elites were displaced, affected large parts of Ulster in the far north of Ireland. Previous Catholic owners and occupiers were driven into exile, where thousands either became mercenary soldiers (‘Wild Geese’) in the armies of the Habsburg kings or fell into destitution. For 30 years, the strong authoritarian government, softened by a blind-eye to private Catholic worship, kept the dispossessed of Ulster and elsewhere in check. But in 1641, England was paralysed by the disputes that were to lead, a year later, to civil war. King Charles I’s puritan opponents had plans to introduce much more effective religious persecution of the Catholic Irish Propaganda image of the type circulated in Deposition taken from a witness to the 1641 Irish contemporary Europe depicting atrocities and to make Ireland increasingly part of rebellion; Trinity College Dublin, MS 833 f.8 allegedly committed in the rebellion an enlarged English state. This provoked,

28 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 FEATURE ression, retribution

from late October 1641, a series of possible to fund a project of this size – pre-emptive strikes by members of the the most ambitious British-Irish Catholic nobility and, in the ensuing collaboration in the humanities ever chaos, a series of what (unless this undertaken. Separate but linked funding research project tells otherwise) appear streams in the UK and Ireland have to be spontaneous revenge attacks on raised more than 1 million euros from Protestant settlers that quickly got out the Arts and Humanities Research of control. Council (AHRC) in the UK, the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and An imperfect account Social Sciences (IRCHSS) and Trinity College Dublin. Although we have no idea how many Once the depositions are captured people were killed during the events of and online, they will constitute a 1641, the most prudent estimates are database that can be arranged and re- that 4000 died through acts of violence arranged in any way a scholar would and that 6000 more died of the like: by date, by map reference, even by consequences of being driven out naked act of violence. Many of the depositions into the winter cold, while many more give detailed inventories of goods taken fled from their homes and made their way and destroyed, affording unique insights eventually back to England. So much is into the material culture of a colonial clear. But the precise chronology and society. Members of the general public geography of the rebellion have remained might even use depositions to trace hazy at best. family trees. There are endless The English government had to do possibilities for further study, both something to protect the English looking backwards to the pattern of Protestant settlers, but their own country exploitation that provoked the explosion was in chaos. They could not raise taxes of Catholic violence, and forwards to the to fund the army. So they borrowed way in which these massacres resulted in money from 2000 venture capitalists (the the confiscation of 40% of the land of ‘Adventurers’) against the promise that Ireland and its transfer from Catholics they would receive two million acres of born in Ireland to Protestants born in Irish land once Ireland was conquered. England. These are events that To establish which land was to be transformed Irish history and therefore confiscated, all (mainly Protestant) British and world history. This witnesses to the rebellion were collaborative project represents a new questioned by government-appointed kind of history: one where the medium commissioners and their accounts and the message can change how we recorded as ‘depositions’ that could be understand ourselves in time. used in court. Today, 3400 depositions are in existence, providing the fullest and most dramatic evidence we have for any event of this kind before the 20th century. They add to up 19,000 pages of testimony in crabbed 17th-century hands. Trinity College Library acquired the documents in 1741 and for centuries there they have remained, far too extensive for any one scholar to explore them all and in too poor a condition for widespread access. Even with a team of researchers, it will take a total of more than eight person years to transcribe the accounts. Professor John Morrill

A new kind of history For more information, please contact The spirit of co-operation between the the author Professor John Morrill UK and Irish governments following the ([email protected]) at the Faculty Good Friday agreement has made it of History.

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 29 IN FOCUS

The Arts and Humanities BY PERMISSION OF THE SYNDICS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Research Council (AHRC) supports research within a wide subject domain, from traditional subjects such as history, modern languages and English literature, through to the creative and performing arts.

Established in April 2005 from the Arts established itself as a leading authority Research Council (EPSRC) on a Science and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), on research-based knowledge transfer and Heritage programme. the AHRC has an annual budget of (KT), with several new initiatives Alongside research grant activities, around £90 million to fund research and (including the KT Fellowship) launched strategic programmes and KT, the AHRC postgraduate study, as well as museums specifically for the AHRC research is keen to highlight another priority: the and galleries associated with higher community. Because the AHRC’s support of postgraduate and early career education establishments. In 2006–2007, definition of KT is broad and flexible in researchers to protect the long-term the value of awarded grants to the implementation, its impact has extended sustainability and health of the UK’s arts University of Cambridge was £4 million. to key societal and economic challenges. and humanities research. A recent survey The AHRC recognises not only the Several new strategic initiatives have showed that 74% of AHRC award importance of sustaining the arts and been planned for 2007–2008. In 2007, holders go on to pursue academic and humanities research base, but also of the AHRC launched a joint £5m ensuring that the knowledge and programme on Religion and Society with research careers, with the majority of understanding it generates is widely the Economic and Social Research others pursuing careers in creative and disseminated. The two Cambridge Council (ESRC) and a £5.5 million cultural sectors, non-profit organisations projects highlighted here – the Shahnama programme entitled Beyond Text: and public services. Project and Accessing Virtual Egypt – Performances, Sounds, Images, Objects. address this strategic priority in different In 2008, work will begin with the For more information on the AHRC, ways. Indeed, the Council has Engineering and Physical Sciences please go to www.ahrc.ac.uk

Egyptology in prisons The project Accessing Virtual Winning an AHRC Knowledge Transfer thing we thought you could get to being Egypt is breaking new ground (KT) Fellowship in 2007, one of the first 12 in the gallery yourself.’ to be awarded, has allowed Dr Ashton to Dr Ashton views the exchange of in knowledge transfer between do just this: ‘I needed to find out at first knowledge as very much two-way: ‘They museums and prisons, with hand what the important issues are for are a very inspiring audience. Their empowering results. educating people serving different lengths questions often make me go back and of sentences and I needed to work with re-think, and I’m looking at my own A pioneering programme is enabling prison education departments to see how subject quite differently as a consequence.’ prisoners to unlock the secrets of the past new resources could complement building By evaluating the impact of her work as part of an initiative to improve their basic reading and writing skills.’ during the Fellowship, Dr Ashton hopes to prospects for the future. For the past five The KT Fellowship scheme is arrive at a clearer idea of the best way years, Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, Curator of the designed to support academics who museums can contribute to society Egyptian Collection at The Fitzwilliam would like to embark on a programme through prison education. Museum, has taken her knowledge of of knowledge transfer that will ‘make a ancient Egypt into prisons, working closely significant difference beyond the world with prisoners and prison education of academia.’ As Dr Ashton explained, departments. The study of ancient Egypt is it was important that any new resources being used as a means of inspiring should have as wide a benefit as possible: learning through literacy, numeracy and ’I wanted to do something that was art at several prisons including HMP sustainable and could reach potentially Edmunds Hill. These new skills have also all of the prison population, as well as supported many prisoners of North African the wider public.’ descent in exploring their own cultural Among other resources, one outcome heritage. of the KT Fellowship will be the Virtual ‘Many of the prisoners were serving Gallery, which was funded by the Heritage long sentences and asked whether there Lottery Fund (HLF) and is due to be was a way I could bring the museum to launched later in 2008. The look and feel them more directly,’ said Dr Ashton. ‘The of this facility – a virtual walk through the Dr Sally-Ann Ashton idea they came up with was a Virtual real museum, allowing the user to stop at Gallery – something they could access on any of the cabinets and examine the computers in the prison and then carry on artefacts – has been driven entirely by the using when they are released.’ prisoners. ‘They wanted a resource that For more information, please As the idea grew, Dr Ashton realised looked both like a computer game and contact Dr Sally-Ann Ashton she needed to spend more time in prison. the outside world. The result is the nearest ([email protected]).

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Full-scale battle between the armies of Iran and Turan, from a version of the Shahnama created circa 1580 held at the University Library, Cambridge; Add. 269, f.178v

together in an online environment by the Shahnama Project at the University of Cambridge. Dr Charles Melville, from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, was awarded a five-year grant from the AHRB in 1999 to photograph, catalogue and produce an electronic corpus of the thousands of paintings in the versions of the Shahnama still existing worldwide. A second stage commenced in 2006, with the award of a three-year grant from the AHRC’s Resource Enhancement Scheme to Dr Melville and John Norman of the Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) to develop the Shahnama Project website. Thanks to the technological expertise and digital know-how provided by CARET, international researchers are able to use this uniquely interactive online resource to gather together a global record of extant Shahnama manuscripts. Visitors are already building their own workspaces for teaching and research, and will be able to use the site to engage in research dialogue with other users. With the addition of a sophisticated behind-the- scenes approvals process, the website will ultimately even allow visitors to correct the database directly. ‘Although it has been vitally important to collate and preserve these images digitally, the result is much more than a catalogue,’ said John Norman, Director of CARET. ‘It is a new type of research tool.’ One of the many fascinating aspects of the research is tracing the ‘transmission history’ of the texts and their illustrations. The oldest surviving copy of the poem Bringing together the Book of Kings dates from 200 years after Firdausi’s death. ‘Thereafter, seeing sections of the Almost 1000 years ago, the Persian poet The Shahnama manuscripts side by side and comparing Firdausi created an epic poem of such Project is building them over time, one can explore the unparalleled sweep and power that, after context in which they were made and his death in 1020, it continued to live on a powerful online resource that will why they were commissioned,’ said as a seminal expression of Iranian art, Dr Melville. literature and history. The Shahnama (Book stimulate research By the end of the project, it is hoped of Kings) is the longest poem ever written and interest in that the corpus will include 10,000 by a single author and narrates the history Persian cultural images, representing about 70% of the of Iran from the first King until the Arab history. surviving manuscripts. ‘My main aim was invasions in the early 7th century AD. to stimulate and promote research in The story goes that the sum of money Persian history and culture. With this Firdausi was paid by the Sultan for his funding, we have had a fantastic work of 35 years was so pitiful that he opportunity to encapsulate a key element gave it to an attendant at the baths and of this and to make it accessible for all to left the country. Little did he know that, use,’ said Dr Melville. for the next 800 years, his epic tale would be fêted by successive Persian rulers and aristocracy, whose scribes would fashion For more information, please contact precious copies and illustrate them using Dr Charles Melville the finest materials – lapis lazuli, gold, ([email protected]) or John Norman ultramarine. Many of these manuscripts ([email protected]) or visit the survived, became scattered throughout Shahnama Project website the world and have now been brought Dr Charles Melville (www.oriental.cam.ac.uk/shah).

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 31 INSIDE OUT Dr Spike Bucklow CHRIS TITMUS From organic chemist, through maker of rubber monsters, to conservator of fine art, Spike Bucklow describes his career path as ‘something of a drunkard’s walk’. But you could say that it has always been leading to the same end: the application of science for the benefit of art.

Coming across an article in New Scientist 15 years ago that described the contribution science can make to art proved to be the catalyst for a career change that Spike Bucklow had unknowingly been waiting for. Until then, his career had taken him from the organic chemist’s bench, where he synthesised cockroach sex pheromones, to the film industry, where he designed and built prosthetic puppets, to artificial intelligence and technology transfer at Cambridge Consultants. The New Scientist article led him to the Hamilton Kerr Institute – a place where science and art come together through the conservation of easel paintings and the analysis of artists’ materials and methods. In the 15 years since joining the Institute, a department of The Fitzwilliam Museum and linked Dr Bucklow’s research uses state-of-the-art technology to study medieval to the University’s Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, his works of art research has allowed him to combine his background as an organic chemist with his passion for how paintings have been What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? created and how they can be preserved. Now a renowned When I joined the Institute I was a trained chemist who knew expert on craquelure – the cracks that naturally form in oil no art history. I went along to an art history lecture as part of paintings over time – he has also developed a solid grounding re-training and the lecturer said to me: ‘Just because it’s in the conservation of medieval art through working on the written in a book doesn’t mean it’s true. Always go back to the two oldest altarpieces in the UK: the Thornham Parva Retable source.’ Maybe I was a late developer with this, but it opened and the Westminster Retable. His methods require an intriguing my eyes about how to think critically. mix of state-of-the-art scanning electron microscopy, 3D imaging and analytical chemistry, together with an If you could wake up tomorrow with a new skill, what understanding of fine paintings, the creation of pigments would it be? and Aristotelian physics. A bareback horseman and world-class dressage champion.

What would others be surprised to learn about you? What motivates you to go to work each day? Working for Spitting Image and the film industry in the 1980s, The opportunity to get really close to first-class works of art – my role was to take a combination of prosthetics and the evidence of people who knew what they were doing – and animatronics and create rubber monsters that flexed and to discover things about them that other people might not moved – Jabba the Hut in Return of the Jedi, and Margaret have noticed. I’m interested in the physical aspects of the Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in Spitting Image were all my painting today but also in the how and the why of its history, models. People might also be surprised to know that my name which is why I’m interested in alchemy and Aristotelian physics. really is Spike. I look at the painting from the point of view of 21st-century science but I also think about the person who painted it Who or what inspires you? hundreds of years ago. People who know what they’re doing and the evidence they leave. When I was a kid I went to Wookey Hole in Somerset What will the future look like in 2050? and I saw someone making paper – he just scooped up this My job as a conservation scientist is to ensure that the slurry and suddenly he’d made a sheet of paper. It was such an paintings we work on will look good in 2050. In fact, our elegant, relaxed gesture and resulted in this perfect product. timescales are 50–100 years from now. We have theoretical It’s the same with art: when I look at fine paintings, I see models about how things will behave – how pigments age, someone who knew what they were doing. how varnish yellows, and how the dynamic nature of the Have you ever had a Eureka moment? painting’s physical structure responds to light, humidity and the About two decades before the film Pirates of the Caribbean environment. But, although these are the timescales I aim for appeared, I had an idea of how to connect computer- professionally, I know that all of the physical predictions that I generated imagery with live action imagery and I envisaged it make pre-suppose certain social and political structures, and all in terms of a computer-generated parrot sitting on an my feeling is that these structures are a bit on the shaky side. actor’s shoulder. I was half-way through the patenting process when I discovered the conservation of paintings and I made the What’s your favourite research tool? decision to become a conservator. So you could say that The University Library: it’s amazing what it contains. I’ve been discovering the Hamilton Kerr Institute was my second Eureka looking for information on 17th-century alchemy in north moment. Norfolk and they’ve got it!

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NEWS FROM RESEARCH SERVICES DIVISION Expanding Horizons Choosing themes Themes are chosen not just to reflect the University’s strategic As we celebrate five years of showcasing initiatives but also its emergent research strengths (‘Personalised Medicine’ in 2005), funding calls by the research councils Cambridge research through the Horizon (‘Ageing’ in 2007), key issues for the government (‘Foodomics’ Seminar series, we take a look back at its and ‘Energy in Cities’ in 2007), or topics of global significance development and its value to the University (‘China’ in 2008). But the choice of theme is a comparatively small step today. towards the end result, explains Gordana Najdanovic, Head of ‘The Thinking Machine?’ on 18 March will be the twentieth the Partnership Group: ‘Any preconceptions of the programme Seminar in the series of Horizon Seminars that stretches back change as we start talking to people about their research, and almost five years to the day. The events, organised by Research the Seminar can take quite a different direction from the original Services Division (RSD) with support from Cambridge Enterprise idea as a result – it’s the academic input that then shapes the Ltd, have continued to provide participants with unique insight event.’ Speakers from industry or the public sector add another into the cutting-edge of interdisciplinary research at Cambridge. perspective on the chosen theme, and often help to highlight Each year, Horizon Seminars address four themes, attracting the potential for research collaboration and applications. participants from academia, industry, research sponsors, government and the media. ‘The meeting was an excellent opportunity to hear how much is going on in Cambridge, from understanding how we use energy to the development of new technologies that can reduce emissions, and – importantly – recognising the commercial and behavioural drivers behind the uptake of new ideas.’ Delegate, ‘Energy in Cities’, October 2007

Diversity is key Bringing together researchers from diverse areas but with a common interest has proved to be one of the most stimulating aspects of the Horizon series. And it’s not just about science and technology; the arts, humanities and social sciences have played ‘... a very stimulating and utterly absorbing day... a vital part in the Horizon mix too. In 2007 alone, biotechnologists I had no idea that so many people are active with rubbed shoulders with computer scientists at ‘A Sensory World’; great ideas across such a range of fields.’ archaeologists with specialists in obesity and diet at ‘Foodomics’; Delegate, ‘Green Frontiers’, June 2006 architects with chemical engineers at ‘Energy in Cities’; and historical demographers with cognitive scientists at ‘Ageing’. Helping us to know ourselves Through such serendipitous encounters, contacts are made that sow the seeds of cross-disciplinary research and applications. For Many of the Seminar themes are chosen to reflect research areas the external audience, here is a valuable chance to discover both of strategic importance within the University to an external the depth and the breadth of the University’s research portfolio audience, particularly from industry. ‘Nanoscale Science and New within a chosen theme. Materials’, the inaugural Horizon Seminar, coincided with the launch in 2003 of Cambridge’s interdisciplinary Nanoscience Centre; ‘Towards a Sustainable Earth’ was timed with the launch I found the day very useful and highly interesting. in 2004 of the Cambridge Environmental Initiative (CEI); and Above all, I had an opportunity to meet a lot of ‘Neuroscience and Society’ in 2006 introduced the developing great people... and get to know the fascinating and Cambridge Neuroscience initiative. The majority of delegates challenging culture of Cambridge. attending Seminars in the first few years were from industry, and Speaker, ‘A Sensory World’, March 2007 regular coverage was given to R&D, knowledge transfer, technology and innovation. However, an unexpected but welcome realisation has developed over the years: ‘We were finding more and more that academics would say how Coming up on the Horizon interesting it was to find out what their colleagues were doing. Series 6 commences on 5–6 June with ‘China’ and continues Something that we hadn’t anticipated was that Horizon events with ‘Bioengineering’, ‘Materials’ and ‘Reproductive Health’ were also helping the University to know itself,’ explains Tamsin (details of which will be announced in subsequent issues). We Pert, a member of RSD’s Partnership Group, the team who put welcome comments, suggestions and ideas about the Seminars, together the programme for Horizon events. and we look forward to many more opportunities for Although the importance of promoting the University’s showcasing the excellence and diversity of research across the research to an external audience is just as relevant today, and University. indeed nearly 300 external companies have attended Horizon Seminars so far, the number of academics attending has also risen dramatically. This has made Horizon the perfect opportunity For more information about the Horizon Seminar series, to network with peers and to facilitate knowledge exchange please go to www.rsd.cam.ac.uk/events/horizon inside and outside the University. or email [email protected]

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 33 RESEARCH SUPPORT

NEWS FROM CAMBRIDGE ENTERPRISE LTD Proactive IP analysis: helping PROFESSOR CHRIS ABELL commercialisation not to (micro)drop out of sight An innovative new project spearheaded by Cambridge Enterprise Ltd and researchers in the Department of Chemistry is taking a proactive approach to intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation.

Too often researchers discover that prospects for patenting and reaction chambers in which discrete chemical or biological commercial exploitation of their inventions are compromised transformations can be conducted. ‘The power of this discovery before they have even begun, either because they have platform is that it offers the prospect of a completely new prematurely disclosed the information or because ‘prior art’ exists approach to experimental science by allowing quantitative that invalidates their application. What if researchers could analytical experiments to be carried out in a high-throughput instead build into their research process a review of the patent way,’ explained Professor Abell. landscape at an early stage, rather than wait until issues are Microdroplet research is developing rapidly and has strong forced by the desire to publish? The IP position and commercial international competition from the USA, Europe and Asia. potential could then be used to inform strategic decisions about ‘Understanding the patent landscape in any emerging field can the direction of their research. inform the strategy for patenting and partnering for Cambridge Enterprise is working to do just this with commercialisation,’ explained Teri Willey, Chief Executive of Professors Chris Abell and Wilhelm Huck in the Department of Cambridge Enterprise. ‘In this case, the intention is to optimise Chemistry. With funding from the Engineering and Physical the value of the research results as the programme evolves. It Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Cambridge Microdroplets represents a strategy by which dissemination of the results can be maximised in parallel with development of a longer term Project will be used as a test-bed for proactive IP analysis. A full commercialisation strategy. In traditional approaches, these analysis of the relevant patent space will be conducted, together things have sometimes been mutually exclusive.’ with an exploration of the best criteria for identifying and This model builds on processes generally adopted in protecting IP during the course of the project; business models academic research and is one that may well become an exemplar for commercialisation that are synergistic with the research will as more IP-sensitive translational research is undertaken by the then be built. University. The Microdroplets Project is ideal to model this approach to IP because of its numerous and diverse IP and commercial For more information, please contact Cambridge opportunities. Microdroplets – small water droplets generated in Enterprise Ltd (email: [email protected]; microfluidic systems – have the potential to act as individual Tel: +44 (0)1223 760339; www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk).

Should my invention be patented? What isn’t patentable? Scientific or mathematical discoveries, theories or methods; literary, dramatic or Deciding whether to file a patent artistic works; ways of performing mental acts, playing application depends on the invention and games or doing business; presentation of information and some computer programs; animal or plant varieties; the opportunity. and methods of medically treating human or animal Only some research results are patentable or worth patenting. bodies. However, assessing the patentability and commercial opportunity for your invention is worth considering because a What about software? Software may be patentable if it granted patent, like any other form of property or business can be shown to involve some form of technical effect. Even asset, can be licensed (leased) or assigned (sold) and doing so if it can’t be patented, software is protected by copyright may improve the impact your research has on the world. after its creation.

What is patentable? For a patent application to succeed, your Can I patent and publish? Yes, you can do both if your idea must be: novel – it must not have been made public in patent application is filed prior to publication. any way (‘prior art’) before the patent application is filed; inventive – the invention must involve an inventive step and be We can help! In addition to the above, patenting decisions non-obvious to someone with a good knowledge of the area; also need to take account of the University’s current and industrially applicable. intellectual property policy (downloadable from www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk). If you are an employee of the How can I tell? Reviewing scientific publications, patent University, Cambridge Enterprise Ltd is happy to assess the applications and granted patents can help to determine patentability and commercial opportunities for your whether your invention fulfils the first two requirements for invention. patentability. Published patent applications and granted patents may be searched using websites such as the UK Intellectual For more information, please contact Cambridge Property Office (www.ipo.gov.uk); please visit Enterprise Ltd (email: [email protected]; www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk for a list of other websites. Tel: +44 (0)1223 760339; www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk).

34 | Issue 5 | Spring 2008 RESEARCH SUPPORT

FORTHCOMING EVENTS: SAVE THE DATES!

10–20 March 2008 Cambridge Science Festival ‘The World of Science’ The 15th Cambridge Science Festival will feature science from all points of the globe and beyond in 2008. There will be a series of events celebrating Chinese science and technology past, present and future, from kite-building and gunpowder demonstrations, to discussions of sustainable construction. To coincide with International Polar Year, there will also be a series of events celebrating polar science, including the opportunity for families to go ‘Into the Freezer’ at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Speakers appearing at the Festival include Professor Sir David King, Dr Nick Baylis and Professor Barbara Sahakian. Over 100 free events are on offer. The full programme is available at www.cambridgescience.org or please email Fred Lewsey ([email protected]) to request a printed programme.

18 March 2008 Horizon Seminar ‘The Thinking Machine?’ Our understanding of the process of cognition in human beings – how we perceive, think and process information about our environment – is highly developed. This Horizon Seminar will explore cross-disciplinary research on machine learning and cognition, which is relevant to disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy and computer science. In the overlap between these disciplines, what will we learn about the extent to which man is a machine or whether a sentient machine can ever be developed? This Horizon Seminar will be held at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

5–6 June 2008 Horizon Seminar ‘China’ As the global spotlight falls firmly on China in 2008, we showcase the diversity and richness of China-related research and expertise at the University of Cambridge. This Horizon conference will highlight themes of culture, religion, education, literature and language, alongside business, technology, economy and the environment. In bringing together academic and business leaders to share their knowledge and experience, this event will be a unique opportunity to discover China from a variety of perspectives, and to meet individuals and organisations who are keen to deepen their understanding of this complex and fascinating country. The conference will take place at Buckingham House, New Hall, Cambridge. Supported by Cambridge Network (www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk).

NIGEL LUCKHURST 22 October–2 November 2008 Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Festival ‘Cambridge Festival of Ideas’ The new Cambridge Festival of Ideas celebrates arts, humanities and social sciences at the University and many partner organisations. Over 80 free events will be on offer to visitors of all ages. Activities include everything from Stone Age cooking to a day of Viking culture for families. Talks by high-profile speakers include Baroness Onora O’Neill on press freedom and Dr Paul Binski on medieval art. The full programme will be available from Summer 2008 or please email Joanna McPhee ([email protected]) to be kept informed about the Festival and to join the mailing list.

Horizon Seminars are organised by Research Services Division. For more information, please go to www.rsd.cam.ac.uk/events/horizon or email [email protected]

Issue 5 | Spring 2008 | 35 THE BACK PAGE

We are looking for article ideas for Issue 6 of Research Your way into Cambridge Horizons and welcome suggestions from all areas of research across the University. Please send ideas to the Research Services Division (RSD) helps academics to identify, secure and Editor at [email protected] manage research funding from external organisations. We identify funding opportunities through our relationships with regional, national All materials in Research Horizons, including but not limited and international sponsors and then support academics through every step of the to text, data, designs, logos, illustrations, still images, are protected by copyright, design rights, database rights, awards process, from applying for a research grant and checking applications are trademarks and other intellectual property and proprietary correct, through negotiating contracts to protect the interests of academics and the rights. University, to supporting departments in managing funding throughout the life of a The materials in Research Horizons are either owned research project. by the University of Cambridge or have been licensed by the owners to the University of Cambridge for inclusion in the publication. RSD also encourages collaboration between the University and industry, and fosters Contributors to this publication have asserted their long-term research partnerships between sponsors and academics for mutual benefit. moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as authors of their respective works. Research Services Division Except for the purposes of private study and non- commercial research or ‘fair dealing for the purposes of 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1SB, UK criticism or review’ as permitted under the Copyright, www.rsd.cam.ac.uk Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted in General enquiries any form or by any means without the prior permission in Tel: +44 (0)1223 333543 writing of the University of Cambridge and the authors of Fax: +44 (0)1223 332988 contributions as identified. Requests for further reproduction or reposting or Email: [email protected] reproduction for commercial purposes should be addressed to the Editor, Research Horizons, Research Services Division, Edna Murphy, Director University of Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 Tel: +44 (0)1223 766964 1SB, UK; email [email protected] Research Horizons has made all reasonable efforts to Email: [email protected] ensure that the reproduction of all content in this publication is done with the full consent of copyright Jo Ryan, Events and Marketing owners. Research Horizons would be grateful to hear from Tel: +44 (0)1223 765404 intellectual property rights owners who are not properly identified in the publication so that Research Horizons may Email: [email protected] make the necessary corrections. Louise Walsh, Communications and Research Horizons ©2008 University of Cambridge and Contributors as Tel: +44 (0)1223 765443 identified. All rights reserved. Email: [email protected]