Research Horizons

Pioneering research from the University of Cambridge

Issue 22

Spotlight Sustainability & the environment

Feature The machine that rubs out noise

Feature ‘Big data’ and education www.cam.ac.uk/research Issue 22 October 2013 2 Contents 3 Research Horizons Contents

A News C Things D Welcome

4 – 5 Research news 18 – 19 Microscopic crystals 30 Mountain snows Sustainability can be a slippery concept to grasp. Reducing carbon emissions, conserving biodiversity, using the planet’s limited resources 31 On yer bike more efficiently – all of these issues, and more, are important pieces of the puzzle. But understanding how the pieces fit together, and how they B D Spotlight: Sustainability 32 – 33 Solar power can be achieved without detrimental impacts on society, the environment Features and the economy, is complex. Unfortunately there is no silver bullet: the & the environment solutions will need to be ‘multi-pronged’ and multidisciplinary, requiring 6 – 7 Rubbing out noise the connection of knowledge from many different sources. E Connectivity is the heart of an innovative new Forum within the 8 – 9 Earlier information ages in Russia 20 – 21 Venice’s Lagoon Inside out University made up of 20 of the University’s leading experts in areas ranging from energy, biodiversity and food security to anthropology, 10 – 11 ‘Big data’ and education 22 – 23 Retrofitting hospitals 34 – 35 Sarah Franklin architecture, history and economics, who this year have formed the Cambridge Forum for Sustainability and the Environment. A series of 12 – 13 Silent killer virus 24 – 25 Future factories articles in this issue gives a snapshot of the breadth of research into different aspects of sustainability and the environment across the 14 Camel farming in Africa 26 Saving bees University: from the development of new sources of energy and the design of sustainable houses and factories of the future, to the human 15 Intonation in speech 27 Sustaining Amazonia story of climate change as perceived by those living in the shadow of the Himalayas. 16 – 17 Parliament’s architecture 28– 29 Modelling consumption Societal and cultural change are a key part of sustaining the environment. Two other articles in this issue describe how researchers are also investigating how societies have perceived and adapted to change, but in response to two very different drivers: the economically driven shift from cow to camel farming in Kenya, and the impact of printing over a 400-year period in Russia from the mid-15th century. ON Elsewhere, we examine the importance of ‘big data’ and the linking of F OF T RA datasets containing vast amounts of information on education in the UK, IN

plus research on deafness, volcanic rocks, intonation, how viruses hide,

and designs for a very different Houses of Parliament. We hope that you

Research Horizons

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Professor Lynn Gladden Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research

Editor Dr Louise Walsh

Design The District

Printers Micropress

Contributors Alex Buxton, Jacqueline Garget, Tom Kirk, Sally Lewis, Fred Lewsey, Louise Walsh

T +44 (0)1223 765 443 E [email protected] W www.cam.ac.uk/research

Copyright ©2013 University of Cambridge and Contributors as identified. The content ofResearch Horizons, with the exception of images and illustrations, is made available for non-commercial re-use in another work under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike Licence (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/), subject to acknowledgement of the original author/s, the title of the individual work and the University of Cambridge. This Licence requires any new work with an adaptation of content to be distributed and re-licensed under the same licence terms. Research Horizons is produced by the University of Cambridge’s Office of External Affairs and Communications. A 4 News 5 Research Horizons News

Dear digital diary…

A newly developed life-logging tool captures and stores memorable moments in people’s lives. O’Neill Bill Credit: Credit: Sophy Rickett Sophy Credit: ‘Storica’, created by Dr Dirk Trossen, at Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, and Dana Pavel, at the University of Essex, tracks users’ behaviour through their smartphones and computers, then combines the information to form an intricate, digital depiction of their day-to-day lives. Funding for mental health The researchers behind the software say that their creation will enable people to capture moments they might otherwise forget, Research into the care of people with and at the same time monitor the influences mental health conditions has been boosted that are having the greatest impact on their by £10 million NIHR funding. lives. They are now planning to commercialise Storica with the help of the crowd-funding The NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in website Kickstarter. Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) ‘Life-logging’ is an increasingly popular East of England is being set up to conduct concept that capitalises on the fact that pioneering research on the needs of patients

Credit: Cambridge University Library Cambridge Credit: many smartphones have sensors which can and service users, focusing on dementia, record facets of people’s behaviour. But, until patient safety, health economics, and how now, most life-logging apps have monitored best to involve patients and the public in specific aspects of people’s lives, such as health care and research. Image their fitness, food intake, or mood. Storica will CLAHRC East of England is a Board of Longitude Proposal for finding longitude attempt to create a more complete picture, Image collaborative effort between mental health by determining the ship’s rate then play that back to users in fine detail via Bit by Bit Supersonic laser deposition service providers and researchers, and is archive digitised of sailing a mind-boggling array of visual depictions. hosted by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough “At a more profound level, however, the NHS Foundation Trust with the involvement of software can also record information about Digital fabrication and 3D printing: a that it is becoming overhyped,” said Dr Tim the Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia. The full story of attempts to solve the the naming of Australia; and even a letter from what prompts certain behaviours, or when we manufacturing revolution or an overhyped Minshall from the Department of Engineering’s Professor Peter Jones, Director of ‘longitude problem’ is now freely available Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty, who writes are at our most stressed out, or relaxed,” said technology? New research will examine its Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) and the CLAHRC East of England and Head of via Cambridge University Library’s that his ship was “pirated from my command”. Trossen. “Over time, it should enable users true value. project’s Principal Investigator. “The aim is Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry said: Digital Library. Comprising more than 65,000 images, it to improve their awareness of the factors to help the academic, industrial and policy “I am delighted that NIHR has awarded this is the largest project undertaken to date by which are shaping their lives, enabling them With their promise of on-demand, mass making communities target the most pressing funding. The aim of the CLAHRC is to ensure In July 1714, when the Board of Longitude was the University Library’s Digital Library project, to analyse their lifestyles and hopefully personalisation and sustainable production, questions and challenges.” the findings of academic studies can be suggested, an act of parliament established which was launched following a £1.5 million improve them for the better.” digital fabrication processes like 3D printing With funding from the ESRC and used to make a real difference to front-line a £20,000 prize, worth about £1.5 million gift from the Polonsky Foundation. Digitisation and supersonic laser deposition are moving EPSRC, Minshall will be working with a cross- patient care as soon as possible. The work today, for the discovery of longitude at of the archive was funded by JISC and is part from the domain of prototype manufacturing disciplinary team from the IfM, the Department around dementia and how we care for older sea – determining a ship’s position east of a wider research project by the Department to product manufacturing – anything from of Politics and International Studies, and the people is especially important because they and west from a fixed meridian line. Now, of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) spare parts for the washing machine to spare Centre for Science and Policy. are such major challenges facing health-care the fascinating story of how the ‘longitude and Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum. parts for the body. Over three years, the researchers and social-care providers.” problem’ was solved, as told through the “The longitude story is a spectacular But what is the reality and potential of will investigate how digital fabrication The new funding is part of a £124 Board’s detailed meeting minutes, held by example of expert disagreement and public digital fabrication for the UK economy? A new emerged, identify the trends, barriers million boost from the government to help Cambridge University Library and associated participation,” said Professor Simon Schaffer, research project, ‘Bit by Bit’, aims to examine and enablers, examine how companies ensure that patients benefit from innovative National Maritime Museum collections, is from HPS. “As well as attracting the greatest the technology’s real impact. are making money from the technology, new treatments and techniques that could freely available to view in high resolution. scientific minds of the day, the Board enticed “Digital fabrication has the potential to and identify key policy support actions to revolutionise future health care. It’s hoped Treasures include accounts of bitter people who belong to one of the most disrupt the organisation of manufacturing underpin building value. that the financial boost will also help rivalries, wild proposals and first encounters important traditions in British society: and the ways in which companies create stimulate the research economy and attract between Europeans and Pacific peoples; the extreme eccentric.” and capture value, but there is a danger www.dfab.info future research funding.

News in brief 29.08.13 24.07.13 16.07.13 03.07.13 13.06.13 Astronomers show that giant The cost of Arctic methane release New results show that the Natural ventilation technology New research suggests that public health More information at black holes reject gas clouds – from shrinking sea ice could be the dementia prevalence figures in developed by a Cambridge in developing countries may be better their ‘food’ – when the clouds “size of the global economy”, the UK have declined over the spin-out has the potential to halve improved by reducing illiteracy rather www.cam.ac.uk/research are too hot to swallow. experts warn. past 20 years. heating bills. than by raising average income. B 6 Features 7 Research Horizons

Film available NOISES online

uture hearing aids could be adjusted Crucially, the system is capable of telling Tinnitus sufferers could also benefit from by the wearer to remove background the difference between speech and audio the technology. Plagued by a constant F noise using new technology that textures. “What we can now do in an adaptive ringing in the ears, people with tinnitus OFF could also be used to clean up and search way is to remove background noise and sometimes use environmental sound YouTube videos. pass these cleaned up sounds to a listener generators as a distraction. Such generators to improve their perception in a difficult offer a limited selection of sounds – a A noisy restaurant, a busy road, a windy environment,” said Turner, who is working with babbling brook, waves lapping, leaves day – all situations that can be intensely hearing experts Professor Brian Moore at the rustling – but, with the new technology, frustrating for the hearing impaired when Department of Experimental Psychology and “patients could traverse the entire space of trying to pick out speech in a noisy Dr Robert Carlyon at the Medical Research audio textures and figure out where in this environment. Some 10 million people in the Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, enormous spectrum is the best sound for UK suffer from hearing difficulties and, as with funding from the Engineering and relieving their tinnitus,” added Turner. helpful as hearing aids are, those who wear Physical Sciences Research Council. The technology not only holds promise them often complain that background noise The idea is that future devices will have for helping the hearing impaired, but it also continues to be a problem. several different modes in which they can has the potential to improve mobile phone What if hearing device wearers could operate. These might include a mode for communication – anyone who has ever choose to filter out all the troublesome travelling in a car or on a train, a mode tried to hold a conversation with someone N sounds and focus on the voices they want for environments like a party or a noisy phoning from a crowded room will recognise O to hear? Engineer Dr Richard Turner believes restaurant, a mode for outdoor environments the possible benefits of such a facility. FF O T that this is fast becoming a possibility. He that are windy, and so on. The device might Moreover, with 100 hours of video now RA IN is developing a system that identifies the intelligently select an appropriate mode being uploaded to YouTube every minute,

corrupting noise and “rubs it out”. Google has recognised the potential for

“The poor performance of current systems that can recognise audio content and

is funding part of Turner’s research. “As an hearing devices in noise is a major reason

example, a YouTube video containing why six million people in the UK who would

benefit from a hearing aid do not use them,” a conversation that takes place by a busy

he said. Moreover, as the population ages, roadside on a windy day could be C

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hearing’. In the future, machine hearing will be

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R these so-called auditory textures sound standard in a vast range of applications from the way they do? No two rain sounds are based on the characteristics of the incoming hearing devices, which is a market worth £18 identical because the precise arrangement sound. Alternatively, the user could override billion per annum, to audio searching, and of falling water droplets is never repeated. this and select a processing mode based from music processing tasks to augmented Nonetheless, there must be a statistical upon what sorts of noise they wish to erase. reality systems. We believe this research similarity in the sounds compared with say “In a sense we are developing the project will kick-start this proliferation.” the crackle of a fire. technology to underpin intelligent hearing “For this reason, we think the brain devices,” he added. “One possibility would groups together different aspects of sounds be for users to control their device using an using prior experience of their characteristic interface on a mobile phone through wireless statistical structure. We can model this communication. This would allow users to mathematically using a form of statistical guide the processing as they wish.” reasoning called Bayesian inference and Turner anticipates a further two years then develop computer algorithms that of simulating the effect of modifications that mimic what the brain is doing.” clean up sound before they start to work The mathematical system that he and with device specialists. “If these preliminary colleagues have developed is capable of tests go well, then we’ll be looking to work being “trained” – a process that uses new with hearing device companies to try to The machine that methods from the field of machine learning adapt their processing to incorporate these – so that it can recognise sounds. “Rather machine learning techniques. If all goes surprisingly, it seems that a relatively small well, we would hope that this technology Dr Richard Turner rubs out noise set of statistics is sufficient to describe will be available in consumer devices within [email protected] a large number of sounds.” 10 years.” Department of Engineering B 8 Features 9 Research Horizons

information was encoded, recorded, stored, “Once-empty used by scholars in Russia from the late 15th disseminated and retrieved. century, Russian printing itself did not begin “Writing in itself is the most streets became cluttered until over half a century later, and then only extraordinary technology. It separates with signs, posters, print- intermittently and on a very small scale. the message from the messenger, and Until around 1700, almost all Russian makes the word an object. Before writing, sellers, or printed decrees printing was religious; and until the 19th information disappeared the moment it century, almost all printing presses were was uttered. Writing opened fundamentally from the Tsar” owned or licensed by the State. This not only new possibilities in the way people did had consequences for the economics business, governed, administered justice, of printing (by contrast with the rapid communicated, worshipped, studied, even proliferation of commercial printers in Western in the way they thought.” Europe), but also lent the technology itself In a similar vein, Franklin and Bowers an aura of official authority. intend to write a history of information At the other end of the period, Bowers has technologies in relation to social and cultural looked at circulation and publication. Although change. To trace that across four centuries by the 1800s one could be immortalised in of Russian history is a huge undertaking; print with relative ease, most Russian writers their sources come from places as diverse weren’t interested. For most, it was far more as monasteries, printing houses, libraries, important to write for the sake of writing, for archives and private collections. an audience of like-minded friends. Works Intriguingly, they are also interested in were disseminated in handwritten letters and more than just written documents. The project drafts, in albums, through recitation at literary covers every form of representation of words: salons. Modern editions of the poet Pushkin, coins and seals, engravings, monuments, for example, are necessarily littered with inscriptions, embroidery, banknotes, shop signs annotations so that readers can understand – even graffiti. “The coach ticket or shop sign is his often inscrutable in-jokes. “The poems just as relevant as the novel,” Franklin observed. were mostly meant for him and his friends,” By analysing the functions of such said Bowers. “Until the mid-19th century, technologies in affecting the relationships many Russian writers thought the idea between people and things, the pair hope of being published in print rather vulgar.” to reveal more about changes in societal Franklin ultimately perceives a link relationships at this time. Just because most between this history and the modern IT age. Russians were illiterate does not mean that Today, of course, we are also witnessing they were unaffected by written material, and rapid technological changes, which transform by the changing technologies of its production the ways in which we spend money, our and display. The contents could be read aloud interactions with others, or the extent to to them; and the texts and pictures became which we trust our governments. increasingly visible, part of their surroundings, As with the comparison between Russia

Credit: St Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences as once-empty streets became cluttered and Western Europe, modern cultures are no with signs, posters, print-sellers, or printed less divergent in the meanings they confer decrees from the Tsar. To an extent, everyone on such innovations. Young people in the lived in a graphic environment, in which West are likely to attribute a very different t may be a modern term, but information for example. At face value, this particular information was being depicted in new ways. importance to social media compared with technology is as old as civilisation ‘interactive template’ appears to be a means Franklin and Bowers want to understand more people who used those platforms to spread Text I itself, and its impact on past societies of crossing a border, although it is also both about this space – what Franklin refers to as their messages during the Arab Spring. was often just as profound. An ambitious a mark of national identity and a symbol of “the graphosphere” – and what it meant for “This is about dialogue between the study project is tracing how such innovations state control. In Russia, however, it also had the people living in it. of the present and the study of the past,” created a complex graphic environment in a more particular meaning. Although late to This is, however, more than a study Franklin observed. “One of the motivations and the Russia, during an earlier information age. adopt print in general, Russia was the first of change over four centuries; it is also for this project is that, for questions thrown European country to make it compulsory in a fundamental investigation into how societies up by technology in the present, there are Cultural historians are hardly strangers to niche regulating the movement of people within its adopt, perceive and respond to that change. equivalent processes to be found in the past.” message interests, but it’s difficult, at first glance, to own borders. The earliest mass distribution Russian history in this sense is a foil to more- Perhaps more than other generations, we understand why anyone would want to study of printed blanks in Russia, from the 1720s, familiar, Western European conceptions of are well placed to perceive and understand the history of printed blank forms. Nevertheless, was passports for peasants. technology-driven progress. Franklin argues the complicated history of the graphosphere, part of Professor Simon Franklin’s recent Franklin sees such documents as that it offers a case study in how technology and of the relationship between information research has focused on just that – or more examples of early modern information unlocks contrasting cultural responses technologies, and society itself. specifically, on printed blank forms in Russia, technologies, and his research into blank depending on where it is used, with the up to the mid-19th century. So comprehensive forms constitutes part of the groundwork for graphosphere becoming a “complex ecology” has his investigation been that Russia now has a much more expansive project, examining of new and old technological practices. “The its own early chronology of printed blank forms. such technologies in Russia from 1450 to idea that once technology arrives something ‘Why?’ seems an obvious question. 1850. This initiative, which he is undertaking specific follows is wrong,” he adds. “Something “The printed blank form is one of the great with Dr Katherine Bowers, aims to describe is enabled, certainly. But that’s only the innovations of civilisation,” Franklin asserted. and analyse the emergence of a bewildering beginning of the story.” “It’s interactive – a fixed template, with array of written materials as they appeared in Roughly speaking the 1450–1850 variable components. Spreading in Western Russia over 400 years. span begins with the dawn of printing “Writing in itself Europe from the late 15th century, in Russia In an age when IT tends to refer to by moveable type in Europe, and ends from a couple of hundred years later, they computers and telecommunications, with its mechanisation, and the spread is the most extraordinary Images became essential in administration and describing printed paper as information of the electrical telegraph. Between these technology. It separates Above: peasant passport, 1733 commerce. They are the direct precursors technology seems strange. In truth, both bookends, Franklin and Bowers can already Opposite: stamps from an entry of most kinds of online transaction today.” are part of a very long history. “Information cite numerous instances where information the message from the Professor Simon Franklin pass to the Moscow English Club, As an historical source, the importance technologies have been around for technologies affected Russian society in [email protected] St Petersburg, 1829 (top), and a of the form is not the thing in itself, but the thousands of years,” Franklin said. “You unpredictable ways, contrasting with Western messenger, and makes Dr Katherine Bowers decree of Peter the Great, fact that it existed, the ideas it represented, can define them in all sorts of ways, but Europe. For example, while printed German [email protected] 1715 (below) and how it was used. Consider passports, we are interested in devices through which and Latin texts – especially Bibles – were the word an object” Department of Slavonic Studies B 10 Features 11 Research Horizons

the kind of quantitative research methods at multiple cohorts when it comes to this kind that have become possible in the wake of of social science research, and the numbers “The the big data explosion. get very big, very quickly. Cambridge’s “It takes years Buried in the ‘noise’ of these enormous investment in the physical sciences means administrative datasets lie important that we have the kind of huge computing to accumulate the correlations awaiting detection, says Vignoles. capacity that you need – such as the Darwin When combined with qualitative methods, supercomputer run by the High Performance knowledge to analyse these data can provide education researchers Computing Service.” even one dataset, and with the kind of robust evidence needed to But hardware will only get us so far, numbers inform and evaluate education policy. says Vignoles. Social sciences in particular “The Department for Education first need to work hard at building the capacity in those skills are becoming opened up their administrative data to the people – the skills and a “lack of fear” of the research community about 10 years ago, numbers, as many of these disciplines have hugely important” with fantastic results. A number of studies have traditionally focused on qualitative methods, used these data to look at school effectiveness and the big data explosion will require or impact of resources,” said Vignoles. a “shift in emphasis”. “It’s partly through analysis of these data “It takes years to accumulate the that we found the massive socio-economic knowledge to analyse even one dataset, gap at the point of entry into the school and those skills are becoming hugely get very system actually worsens through primary. important, whether you’re a historian, A lot of universities now aim outreach economist, geneticist or sociologist. We activities at primary schools as a result. need more people with the skills for this “Combined with further education data, kind of work, and one of the big pushes you have a timeline from the beginning here at Cambridge is to build quantitative of primary education right through to capacity in terms of people.” graduation, with the potential to go further by Vignoles highlights the need for balance looking at figures like early career salaries,” between both qualitative and quantitative said Vignoles. “Just the admin data alone has research. “We have to be sensible in our transformed what we’re able to ask in terms recommendations of what should be of understanding pupil achievement.” measured, but also recognise why we’re It’s not just connections within certain measuring it in the first place. There’s an awful datasets. By cross-referencing different data lot of evidence that children do better when streams, researchers will be able to uncover they have assessment and feedback on what big very connections and inferences between they do, and at the system level you can’t rely income, health, education, age, ethnicity and on everyone doing their thing and hope you biomedical information. will get a system that’s efficient. One of the next projects for Vignoles, “Some degree of monitoring is part and for which – along with her Faculty of parcel of any system. These big data sets and Education colleague Professor Diane Reay – the number crunching involved offer efficient she is a co-investigator, will be the ambitious and effective ways to develop and improve ‘Life Study’. The project will start gathering the UK education system. Some of it’s about data during pregnancy on everything from accountability, but also understanding – you blood type to economic situation from a can’t tell what’s happening to a particular cohort of just under 100,000 mothers and group without looking at it. We wouldn’t have their children. It will amount to the largest known about the success story of many study of its kind ever done and, when non-white children in the system, for example, combined with existing datasets, will provide without the data analysis. researchers with an unparalleled overview of “I’m convinced that the projects we the lives of British citizens. do going forward will not be discipline “It’s a massive undertaking,” said Vignoles. based. We will increasingly have to “Clinics need to be built to provide space for approach research questions with people interactions and testing, which is under way, from different backgrounds – that means quickly and some field work will start next year. multidisciplinary, it means multi-method, and “UK cohort surveys are probably the best I think the work will be much better for it. in the world. We have data on children born in Cambridge, being so strong across a range 1946, 1958, 1970, the millennium – and now of disciplines, can – and should – lead the rits notoriously love bureaucracy, so from the Reformation to colouring in. going into 2015. There’s no other country where world in such approaches.” Getting it’s perhaps unsurprising that the UK Their attainment levels are regularly you can have lifetime data on children born a B is a world leader in administrative predicted and monitored with varying generation apart going back to the forties.” data. With the digital era heralding a data degrees of accuracy – some will get straight The NHS is the spider at the centre of schooled in revolution unlike anything in human history, As; some will get excluded. Most will fall this data web, with its “highly administered, education researchers such as Anna somewhere in between. centralised system” that produced the original Vignoles are in a unique position to take And all of this information will be longitudinal cohort datasets. “When the US the ‘noise’: advantage of this country’s data deluge. recorded, adding to the increasingly vast attempted a very large-scale study of this statistical reservoir of data as half a million kind it proved highly problematic because According to the January 2013 School kids complete the school system every it’s a very fragmented, private system,” said learning about Census, 8.2 million boys and girls trudged year. Technology has allowed us to build Vignoles, “whereas the UK has centralised, back to 24,328 schools across England information sets of unprecedented size and manageable systems that provide rigorous learning using after the Christmas holidays. Some are complexity, and this ocean of administrative administrative data which, when linked with immigrants, some royalty. Some are Catholic, info is the emerging coalface of education survey data, is just incredibly powerful.” some Sikh, some Jewish. Some go to private research in the era of ‘big data’. For Vignoles, Cambridge has got an big data schools. Some need free school meals. Professor Anna Vignoles, who joined important head start on other institutions Professor Anna Vignoles In the classroom, they are taught English, Cambridge’s Faculty of Education at the start when it comes to big data research in the social [email protected] maths and science – as well as everything of this year, is an economist specialising in sciences: hardware. “You need to look Faculty of Education B 12 Features 13 Research Horizons

Image Human cytomegalovirus

any of us are infected with a from child to child in saliva – one child case, it replicates all over the body virus we’ll never clear. While puts a toy in their mouth, then it’s passed and the patient ends up with multiple M we’re healthy, it’s nothing to worry to another child who does the same, and organ failure,” said Dr Mark Wills, a viral about, but when our immune system is the virus is passed on. It’s also a sexually immunologist working alongside Sinclair suppressed it could kill us. transmitted disease, so there’s another in the Department of Medicine. increase in infections when people “Tissue from donors carrying the To catch the herpes virus human become sexually mature.” virus often has to be used for transplants cytomegalovirus (HCMV) you must be Once acquired, the virus goes into because there are so few donors and exposed to someone who has it. This isn’t a latent state in the body. If it reactivates so many people carrying the virus,” said “The virus is difficult: it is carried by around 65% of the in healthy people, their immune responses Sinclair. “By transplanting bone marrow, population. Once in the body, HCMV persists prevent it from causing disease. But when or an organ from someone with the infection, deliberately trying to for life owing to its clever ability to avoid our the immune system is suppressed, active you’re giving the patient the virus and you’re immune system and to go into hiding inside HCMV becomes dangerous. It is a major immune-suppressing them. That’s the worst evade the immune system our cells in a latent state. Now, research is cause of illness and death in organ and bone of both worlds.” identifying changes in these cells that could marrow transplant patients, who are given And HCMV is a worry not just for by manipulating it” lead to a new route to eradicating the virus. drugs to deliberately suppress their immune transplant patients. “HCMV is now the leading “HCMV can be acquired very early system and prevent their body rejecting the cause of infectious congenital disease – that in childhood, and the number of people transplant. With an increasing demand for is, disease present at birth,” said Sinclair. infected gradually rises throughout life,” transplants in the UK, HCMV is set Women in early pregnancy who are newly said Professor John Sinclair, a molecular to become a growing problem. infected with HCMV or whose HCMV virologist in the Department of Medicine. “If it’s not treated well, or it develops reactivates are at real risk, and this can lead “The active virus can not only be passed resistance to antiviral drugs, HCMV can to disease in their unborn baby. HCMV it needs to get rid of,” he added. “If you put the dangerous strategy for the virus, because They have proved this concept in the from an infected mother to her child in lead to pneumonitis – inflammation of the also targets HIV-AIDS patients, where a chemotherapy drug vincristine on a healthy these proteins could be presented on the laboratory and their new MRC grant will breast milk but can easily be transferred lung tissue – and, in the most extreme progressive failure of the immune system cell, the cell will pump it out and survive. surface of the cells they’re hiding in, which enable them to trial its effectiveness in a allows this opportunistic infection to thrive. Working with Paul Lehner at the Cambridge would attract immune cells like T cells to model system as a stepping stone to human There is no vaccine to prevent HCMV Institute for Medical Research we found that, kill them. Our initial research showed clinical trials. “A decade ago we couldn’t infection, and the antiviral drugs available during latent infection, this transporter protein that there are T-cell responses – so why have even contemplated doing this type to treat it have significant toxicity and only is less effective, making the cell more prone aren’t the viral cells being eliminated? It’s of work,” said Sinclair, “but now we have limited effectiveness. In addition to the to killing by vincristine.” Their results were paradoxical.” In further investigations, they worked out what’s going on during latent problem of viral resistance, drugs can only published in Science in April 2013. uncovered another mechanism in which infection, we can try to target these changes. target HCMV in its active state, which means “In addition to treatment with drugs, the virus was promoting a certain subtype Being able to clear the latent infection is key the virus can never be fully eradicated. “You we’re looking into immunotherapies – of T cell that suppresses the immune to eradicating much of the disease caused can suppress the virus down to a very low treatments based on using the patient’s system. “So now we’re working to remove by HCMV that we see in the clinic.” level, but you can never get rid of the latent immune system,” said Wills. “Clearly, the the immunosuppressive component of reservoir with the currently available antiviral difficulty is that all healthy people have very that immune response by either removing drugs,” said Wills. good immune responses to the virus, yet or neutralising the function of the Sinclair and Wills, who have just received we all still carry it and can never get rid of immunosuppressive T-cell subtype, their fifth consecutive five-year grant from it. There must be a problem here – the virus to enable the other components of the the Medical Research Council (MRC), have is deliberately trying to evade the immune body’s immune response to target the focused on understanding how the virus system by manipulating it.” infected cells,” added Wills. maintains this latent infection in specialised Sinclair and Wills are trying to By targeting latent infection, this work Silent cells of the immune system and how the understand how the virus does this while holds great promise for developing better immune system is prevented from eliminating in its latent state. Their findings show that methods of treatment for HCMV and for the virus from the body. HCMV disrupts the proper activation of the design of a vaccine. “If you intervene “The belief has always been that, in its the immune system by manipulating small just before a transplant, and use this latent state, HCMV was just sitting there signalling molecules called cytokines and immunotherapeutic technique to target the doing nothing, waiting to reactivate,” said chemokines, which normally help to kick- latently infected cells, in combination with Sinclair. “But we’ve started to identify major start the process of removing a foreign the drugs, you can purge the infected cells,” Left to right changes in latently infected cells, and we invader. “Now we know this, we can start to said Sinclair. “This massively reduces the Professor John Sinclair think these are targetable with novel drugs think about intervening,” said Wills. potential that HCMV will reactivate in [email protected] and immunotherapies. “We’ve also found that latently the person receiving the transplant, Dr Mark Wills “One change is in a transporter protein infected cells are producing a number because effectively you’re not giving them [email protected] Killer normally used by the cell to pump out things of viral proteins,” added Wills. “That’s a the virus,” he added. Department of Medicine IssueB 22 October 2013 14 ContentsFeatures 15 Research HorizonsFeatures

Image From Areas highlighted in red on these pictures of the right and left hemisphere of the brain show the frontal and temporal brain networks involved in the processing of Cattle to linguistic (above) and paralinguistic Camels (below) information in intonation R L

move from cattle herding to camel to change. In fact they are highly flexible and words and giving a yes/no response to either keeping among Kenyan farmers is pragmatic. People spoke to me warmly about a linguistic question: ‘Does this sound like A more than an economic transition, the advantages of camels over cattle. And a statement?,’ or a paralinguistic question: it represents a fundamental shift in age-old when I asked them how they would pay for ‘Does this sound surprised?.’ Distinct customs. brides, they said they would sell a camel to buy areas of their brains activated according to cattle so that the ritual would be upheld. It’s an whether they were processing linguistic or It’s a long and bone-shaking drive from interesting example of people’s ability to adapt paralinguistic meaning. Nairobi to the Marsabit County of northern to changes and embrace opportunities.” The researchers did indeed find that Kenya. It’s an arid landscape, prone to While cattle herding took the Boran on different frontal and temporal brain networks drought, with dusty lowlands leading up to long treks to distant water points in times in both hemispheres contribute in different forested volcanic highlands. The thousands of drought, camels are happy to live near ways to the processing of intonational of people who make a living from the land or in town where they feed on the liquid- information. here – among them the Boran and Gabra rich euphorbia hedges that surround many “The network which is engaged in the compounds. “One man said he hadn’t taken linguistic interpretation of intonation is the – are pastoralists. For as long as anyone R L can remember, they have moved with their his camel to water for three years. Proximity to same as that which supports abstraction and livestock, following the rain to find grazing. town gives herders access to a ready market categorisation for other types of linguistic In 2012 Dr Elizabeth Watson, a human for milk and they are able to sign contracts information, such as recognising consonants geographer who specialises in eastern Africa, with shopkeepers and café owners,” said and vowels,” said Stamatakis. “We did spent a month carrying out fieldwork in Watson. “We also found that while the milking not, however, expect the degree of overlap Marsabit. It wasn’t her first trip to the region: of cattle was one of the duties carried out by n a groundbreaking new study, Cambridge Dr Brechtje Post of the Phonetics between these networks or that processing she trained as an anthropologist and an earlier women, both men and women were involved researchers have mapped out the Laboratory in the Department of Theoretical paralinguistic information involves a much study of the relationship between landscape in milking camels.” I neurobiological basis of a key aspect of and Applied Linguistics describes intonation more limited network.” and ritual had brought her into contact with Camels bring new challenges as well as human communication: intonation. as “the melody of language”. “It signals,” These findings confirm that neural the Boran and neighbouring groups. She advantages. There are few vets in rural Kenya she explained, “how the speech stream is processing of linguistic information in returned last year with a more specific set and camels suffer from a range of diseases, If you were to read out loud the words, “I’m structured and what category of statement intonation is distinct from emotional or of objectives: to understand why the Boran some of which can affect humans. Watson absolutely delighted that Kate blamed Paul you are making. The word now, for example, attitudinal information. This insight will aid the people, whose culture has been traditionally said: “While some people said that their camels and Tessa Arnold” in a flat voice, with no can signify a question or an answer understanding of speech and comprehension tied to cattle herding, are now turning to were flourishing, others said that their animals rises or falls and placing equal weight on depending on intonation.” deficits following, for example, stroke, camel keeping. had become sick and had died. There was each syllable, you would quickly demonstrate However, intonation also signals how and may have potential applications in She said: “Camels were by no means a lack of knowledge and medicines to treat the fundamental importance in human we feel. Different intonation patterns for speech therapy. As for the implications for unknown to the Boran but they were always them. Certain breeds of camel are more suited communication of intonation. Is Kate blaming now can also express emotions such as understanding intonation, the findings show considered inferior by people whose daily to harsh, rocky areas than others, something Paul, while Tessa blames Arnold? Or is Kate triumph or frustration. “We call this function that it is not merely a side effect of biological lives are linked to the cattle which provide not always understood by the development blaming the Arnolds: Paul and Tessa? It would ‘paralinguistic’,” said Post. “It is thought to imperatives related to animal communication them with milk, meat, ritual goods and trading organisations who, seeing the new preference also be difficult to tell whether the speaker result from our primate inheritance, reflecting (for example, a high squeaky sound being opportunities. Boran identity is so strongly for camels, have started to give them out as a really is delighted, or whether they are being biologically driven codes that are now associated with danger), but that at least connected to cattle that it is often said that ‘to form of restocking. sarcastic. You would have suppressed a natural exploited to express attitudes and emotions some of it is integral to the structure of be Boran is to have cattle’, and some observe Watson’s work will not only inform NGOs tendency to vary how high or low your voice is universally across the languages of the human language. a taboo that forbids them from saying the but also provide much-needed information (pitch), to stress particular syllables, to hesitate world. It is distinct from the linguistic use of word camel, which they describe as ‘the long- about the challenges faced when a society where you would expect commas (rhythm), and intonation, which is language specific.” necked thing’.” adapts to pressures such as the need for to convey emphasis by varying volume. All of Since the linguistic meaning and the Yet, whereas cattle are demanding in food security. these elements constitute intonation. emotions of the speaker are conveyed by terms of their needs for water and fodder, the same acoustic signals – mainly pitch camels have an extraordinary ability to survive – linguists have struggled to disentangle for a long time without water and to live on the relationship between them. “Linguists harsh scrub vegetation, and they produce have long theorised that linguistic and rich, nutritious milk over long periods. paralinguistic information are crucially “Faced with increased aridity and Tuning different, but evidence has been elusive,” said pressures of food security, the Boran people Post. “This suggests that they would have to began investing in camels as an alternative or be processed differently in the brain, but this addition to cattle around 16 years ago,” said had not been shown either – until now.” Watson, whose research was funded by a into the With funding from the Economic and Thesiger Oman International Fellowship and Social Research Council, Post and her co- Dr Emmanuel Stamatakis the Royal Geographical Society with IBG. “An investigator, neuroscientist Dr Emmanuel [email protected] investigation into how people negotiate such melody of Stamatakis, conducted a four-year study Division of Anaesthesia a profound change of lifestyle forms one of combining experimental tasks with the latest Dr Brechtje Post the chief strands of my fieldwork. There’s an Dr Elizabeth Watson MRI brain-scanning techniques. Native [email protected] assumption that pastoralists, who are seen [email protected] English-speaking participants within a specific Department of Theoretical as being highly traditional, will be resistant Department of Geography speech age cohort were scanned while hearing test and Applied Linguistics B 16 Features 17 Research Horizons

ith the Houses of Parliament Image It was a decade that has some resonance for Although too small to accommodate habit of doodling in the margins of his requiring costly renovation, new ‘Belvedere’ Proposal contemporary London. At the end of a today’s Parliamentary business, Kent’s plans the parliamentary personalities who Wresearch suggests we may have by William Kent, 1739 20-year building boom, London was sprawling building would nevertheless have been populated his imagination helped make something to learn from plans in the 1730s outwards and soaring upwards. Its skyline imposing. At 444 ft long and parallel to his architecture sympathetic to those who to rebuild the Palace of Westminster. Film available was punctuated by imposing new structures the River Thames in one plan, its towering would inhabit it. online juxtaposed with ramshackle old buildings columns and dome would have dominated The plans evolved in a way that – including the rambling, crumbling Palace the city. In a later plan, with a huge central suggests that Kent was responsive, too, to of Westminster. So in 1733, William Kent, tower, it would have projected far enough the changing skyline. “Hawksmoor’s towers influential landscape gardener, designer and into the Thames to require embankment. It of Westminster Abbey were being built, and architect, was commissioned to design a would, for the first time, have presented the Archer’s St John’s, Smith Square, had been more spacious and convenient “Edifice that home of government as a unified entity. recently completed,” said Salmon. “Kent’s may be made use of for the Reception of the At a time when the Commons was initial plan for a dome wouldn’t have held its Parliament.” beginning to sit along party lines, “Kent’s own. So we see Kent introduce increasingly Over the course of the next decade, Commons would have been amphitheatrical, spiky structures: an interesting melding Kent submitted a succession of plans although he retained the biaxial Lords,” said of a pictorial notion of the gothic steeple, ranging from a complete rebuild to a Salmon. “In one plan, a section of seats was rendered in classical form.” salvage operation. They came to nothing. angled, perhaps set aside for the Cabinet.” Four years in the company of William By 1742, the coffers had been drained by In what seems a strikingly literal assertion Kent has led Salmon to re-evaluate his war with Spain and British embroilment of authority, the Speaker’s throne protruded position on Palladian architecture – the style in the War of Austrian Succession. Kent’s into the middle of the Chamber. There would inspired by architect Andrea Palladio’s Putting political champion, Prime Minister Robert have been space for spectators; although, interpretation of classical Greek and Walpole – advocate of the Palladian style with a ban on Parliamentary reporting in the Roman architecture. “I wanted to do this of architecture appropriated by the Whigs press reinforced in 1738, the purpose here research to test my hypothesis that the to articulate the values of order, reason and is opaque. Palladian style, so successful for country clarity to which they aspired – was toppled. houses, was a dull subspecies of public our House architecture imposed on the country by But Kent’s legacy of 80 drawings, suggests art historian Dr Frank Salmon, the influential Lord Burlington and his might in some respects represent the best friends. Kent’s Horse Guards building, for Houses of Parliament the ‘Mother of all London was example, is really a version of a country in Order Parliaments’ never had. Salmon’s analysis of house. When you consider its design in these meticulously drafted documents has, sprawling outwards functional terms, however, of where the moreover, led him to revise his convictions horses, foot soldiers, the ordnance, the about good public architecture, and its and soaring upwards. barber, the coffee shop, the clerks would be perception in Georgian Britain. situated, it all works perfectly, horizontally “Unusually for a Royal commission, there Its skyline was punctuated and vertically, in terms of the distribution of are few supporting documents save for two spaces. It seems that the way in which we letters from the Office of Works,” explained by imposing new have come to regard city and country as Salmon. So the research required close structures juxtaposed with stylistically distinct as well as functionally interrogation of the drawings themselves, so did not apply in the 18th century.” which are dispersed over four sites in London. ramshackle old buildings “With historical research, it’s always “A lot of the work involved measurement: the good to have your hypothesis challenged architect, after all, will have been thinking in by the evidence, because you know you’re three dimensions, in the context of how the nearer to the truth.”

Credit: National Archives, Kew Archives, National Credit: building will fit onto the ground.” Salmon’s research has recently been So what can we glean from Salmon’s published by Yale University Press as reconstruction – and deconstruction – Unlike Westminster today, where the part of a major retrospective on William of Kent’s symmetrical arrangements of labyrinthine corridors of power would stretch Kent in the context of the tercentenary of Corinthian columns, pediments, Venetian to three miles if placed end-to-end, Kent’s the Hanoverian succession. Publication windows, white Portland Stone rusticated building would have been relatively easy to coincides with a substantial exhibition of ground floors and imposing first floors that negotiate. Its classical proportions and suites Kent’s work at the Bard Center New York, typify English Palladianism? of adjoining rooms would have made a virtue which will move to the Victoria and Albert To an extent that has challenged Salmon’s of light and space – for some: Salmon has Museum in Spring 2014. conception of attitudes to preservation in the discerned designs for communal toilets for Pallid Palladianism or classy classicism? 18th century, Kent’s Houses of Parliament male servants, in contrast with comparatively Members of the public will be able to assess would have been charged with symbolism more luxurious accommodation above stairs. for themselves the grand designs that would in a way we tend to associate with a late If Kent’s existing Horse Guards building – architecturally – have brought a sense of 19th-century concern with loss of heritage. is anything to go by, his Parliament would proportion to Parliament. “In most of his schemes, Kent retained the have been relatively sustainable compared ancient Court of Requests,” said Salmon, “a with today’s building, which presents a medieval foundation that gave people instant ‘looming crisis’ according to a recent access to justice without great cost. It had Parliamentary Report, ridden with asbestos, ceased to function during the Civil War, so he with antiquated heating and drainage, and was introducing to a new building a redundant sinking into the ground. institution which, in one set of plans, would As for Kent the architect, Salmon’s have been almost as big as the Hall of Mirrors research represents a substantial at Versailles. Lost to us now, it must have reappraisal of Kent’s position in our cultural symbolised something cherished about history. The exuberant, erratic parvenu of British liberty.” some depictions comes across as “a highly “In the first scheme, the book collection professional, competent architect rooted that today forms the nucleus of the British in reality”, according to Salmon, positioning Library was to be an integral part of the facilities with a view to the paths that the building. Again, the idea of the nation’s myriad personnel who make up the ecology Dr Frank Salmon intellectual capital being co-proximate with of parliament would need to trace through [email protected] its centre of power is redolent with symbolism.” the building. Perhaps Kent’s charming Department of History of Art C C 18 Things 19 Research Horizons

Thin sections of igneous rock photographed under a polarising microscope; each of the brightly coloured areas is a crystal

Things Magma Arta

Images Feature article The Sedgwick Museum of Earth and film available Sciences’ petrology collection online

tudy of a unique rock collection – and rock slices that are thin enough to let light its astonishingly beautiful microscopic through. “The rocks we are interested in are S crystal structures – could change our igneous – the frozen remains of molten rock understanding of how the Earth works. formed at depths of 100 km or more from the mantle and then spewed out of volcanoes,” If it was possible to drill to the centre of the explained project leader Dr John Maclennan, Earth, the largest part to traverse would be the who is working with Dr Arwen Deuss and Dr mantle. Although solid, this complex mix of Tim Holland. “They carry a message about minerals is capable of flowing, albeit over long the composition of the deep Earth that we can timescales, as a consequence of the massive decrypt using rock chemistry.” variations in pressure and temperature to By marrying together this geochemistry which it is subjected. with seismic data, the researchers hope to Studying these deep layers is crucial arrive at the most comprehensive assessment to understanding the inner workings of our of mantle structure to date. planet and the driving forces behind the “The collection presents a wonderful movement of tectonic plates. Molten parts of opportunity to improve our knowledge of the mantle feed volcanic eruptions and supply the mantle’s structure, and how this links the cocktail of chemical elements required for to the planet’s habitability,” added Maclennan. the maintenance of a habitable planet. “And study of it may also provide long-term Now, a new study funded by the Natural benefits to the UK economy in terms of better Environment Research Council in the understanding of energy or mineral resources.” University’s Department of Earth Sciences has turned to a unique rock collection within The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences its Sedgwick Museum to provide fresh holds fossils, rocks and minerals from understanding of the mantle’s composition. around the world that cover more than The collection dates back to at least the 550 million years of Earth’s history. early 1800s and now contains around 160,000 Credit: Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences rocks and about 250,000 slide-mounted www.sedgwickmuseum.org IssueD 22 October 2013 20 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environmentContents 21 Research Horizons

Image ow will regions around the world adapt of what’s needed to manage the waters and Cambridge Forum for The Doge’s Palace, Venice, to an increase in sea levels? A project ecosystems in the Lagoon sustainably. Sustainability and the Environment painted in the 18th Century by The Science of H looking at how Venice can manage its The team examined assessments of Giovanni Canaletto rising waters is a remarkable case study for the ecology and physics of the Lagoon – flood-prone environments elsewhere. from monitoring of habitat destruction and esearchers have joined forces to sediment loss through to the deepening of examine how we can respond to Saving Venice When Canaletto immortalised the waters the Lagoon and the movement of currents – R some of the most pressing global of the Venice Lagoon beneath the steps and they looked at the adequacy of current sustainability challenges, as Professor of the Doge’s Palace almost three centuries monitoring and modelling systems. Lord Martin Rees and Professor Paul ago, he depicted water levels that have long “Science was not enough,” said Kennel. Linden, respectively Chair and Director been surpassed. Today, the water sometimes “It was equally crucial to take into account the of the Forum, describe. laps at brickwork above the protective stone social, economic and political considerations foundations on many of the buildings bearing upon Venice’s decisions about the The world is changing. The rising world and the frequency of flooding of this World Lagoon.” population, declining resources and Heritage Site is increasing. “Venice has the talent and technology to changing climate are reshaping where we A significant fraction of the world’s manage this change adaptively,” added Linden. live and how we live. coastlines is thought to be under threat “We needed to get some understanding of On a global scale, we need to find over the next century from rising sea levels the capabilities and the gaps, and whether a way in which seven billion people, caused by climate-change-related melting of predictions are being made as to how the expected to rise by another billion by 2030, snow and ice, and thermal expansion of the system will behave in the future. One of our can live a high quality of life that is less oceans. How should regions plan, and how major recommendations is the need for demanding on our planet. And to adapt, be much time do they have? periodic assessments of the state of the efficient and sustainable, we need to know One way that Venice – a city with more Lagoon, and a means to ensure feedback where to place our energies to mitigate than five centuries of flood experience – is between environmental assessments, policy the coming challenges. This requires protecting itself is through the ongoing decisions and management actions.” knowledge from many different sources. construction of huge barriers with hinged To help, they have created a ‘vulnerability steel gates to seal off the three inlets that grid’ to aid the authorities in planning a connect the Lagoon with the Adriatic Sea sustainable future, taking into consideration at times of very high water. In addition, soft how rapidly the Lagoon is deepening, and engineering approaches such as replacing how hot, dry and stormy the climate becomes. “Sustainability is lost salt marshes have also been undertaken. “The barriers might have a 100-year lifetime but what will Venice be like in 2100? We can’t a cross-cutting know for sure but the vulnerability grid can help decision makers translate assessments challenge” into vulnerabilities, and understand on what environmental trajectory the Lagoon is moving.” “Environmental With the project now completed, sustainability can only Linden hopes that the Panel’s ideas and recommendations will feed into the next set Earlier this year, 20 of the be a ‘whole-Lagoon’ of decisions about how the flood barriers University’s leading experts in energy, and the water flow in the Lagoon are managed biodiversity, public health, anthropology, concept” once the gates are operational. architecture, economics and other areas “Venice and its Lagoon illustrate the came together to form the Cambridge complexity of the sustainability issue and the Forum for Sustainability and the trade-off between economic development Environment. A huge amount of research and safeguarding the environment: any being undertaken at the University has management plan first has to start with the a direct relevance to understanding the But, as for other regions of the world, question of what we are trying to sustain,” said sort of adaptive measures that might be the challenge is not one of simply trying to Linden. “Cities worldwide are strengthening taken to build resilience in a changing lessen the surge of sea water, as Professor their preparations against sea flooding. Each world, and the Forum provides a space Paul Linden explained: “Venice is a moving must develop its own adaptation strategy but to make connections across these areas. target. The city is sinking because of overuse in many ways Venice can be regarded as a The first topic for discussion is of groundwater and because rerouting of ‘laboratory’ for activities aimed at coping with ‘Cities’, and the increasing demographic rivers that once carried sediment has caused climate change and sea level rise. Venice could transition from rural to urban. Information the Lagoon to deepen. Dredging to allow the lead the way in connecting interdisciplinary sharing across the Forum will culminate passage of cruise liners stirs up sediment science with practical use.” in a set of briefings to identify where polluted by industry. The local ecosystems there might be consensus, where there are under threat and this will be exacerbated are knowledge gaps and where emerging if rising sea levels increase the salinity of the research priorities might fill them. In Lagoon. March 2014, the focus of the Forum will “There is a growing recognition that the shift to ‘Balancing biodiversity, energy, biology, physics and chemistry of the area water and food security’. are interconnected and that environmental By its nature, environmental sustainability can only be a ‘whole-Lagoon’ sustainability is a cross-cutting concept,” added Linden, whose own research multidisciplinary challenge that requires interests lie in the physics of water movement the input of minds from all fields to and how this is affected by climate change. provide the expertise that will help This holistic view has underpinned the work society make responsible decisions of the Venice Sustainability Advisory Panel, for the future. The Forum’s role is to a 10-strong international group of scientists provide the opportunity for stimulating led by Linden and co-investigator Professor Professor Paul Linden these cross-disciplinary conversations. Charles Kennel (UCSD Scripps Institution of [email protected] Oceanography). At the request of the Venetian Department of Applied Mathematics www.cfse.cam.ac.uk authorities, the Panel worked on the question and Theoretical Physics Credit: ©The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Museum, Fitzwilliam ©The Credit: D 22 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment 23 Research Horizons

Film available online When building for the future means what it says

n the Department of Engineering’s Centre for Sustainable I Development, researcher Maria- Christina Georgiadou is asking how the construction sector can ensure that domestic buildings are zero carbon over the long term.

With approximately 40% of its buildings built before 1944, the UK has one of the oldest and least efficient domestic stocks in Europe, accounting for around 25% of “These adaptive its carbon emissions. By 2016, however, all new homes must achieve a zero- ideas yield easy wins – carbon status according to government proposals. Buildings of the future should grounds both for be low energy, sustainable and able to respond to future changes – climatic, optimism and action.” technological, social or regulatory – in other words, be ‘future-proofed’. “However, there is conceptual confusion on what ‘future-proofing’ is. Little research has been carried out on identifying design approaches that adopt a long-term perspective in the context of the energy design of housing developments,” explained Georgiadou, Scrubbing Up: who has been analysing the issue with Dr Theo Hacking and Professor Peter Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. For each, Images Guthrie. representative categories of space were Hospital retrofitting strategies Preparing hospitals examined – non-clinical, patient rooms, that use sunshades, insulation diagnostic, treatment and open wards. and natural ventilation; images Addenbrooke’s Hospital has a medium- shown are models created by “there is conceptual for climate change rise ward tower of a type one can see in at the DeDeRHECC project least 50 other NHS sites. The study shows confusion on what that this tower is barely resilient to current hot conditions, and then only as a result of future-proofing is” uncontrolled air leakage. “In winter, it is an epic NHS gas-guzzler,” said Short. nnovative designs for retrofitting the of Architecture. “But such energy-intensive They provide greater resilience to increasing “Even with relatively modest adaptations, vast NHS estate to stem rising carbon strategies would have a disastrous effect on temperature, mitigate carbon emissions and much can be achieved, and a combination of and policy makers decide whether to Through following four ‘best- I emissions and adapt hospitals to the national carbon reduction programme. can be provided at a cost that is completely sunshades for the windows, naturally driven decommission buildings, invest in relatively practice’ housing developments in the perform through a changing climate are It’s a double whammy: the pressure to in line with NHS refurbishment costs.” cross-ventilation and stack-driven exhaust minor interventions or contemplate UK and Sweden, Georgiadou has found being created through a multi-university reduce energy consumption colliding with To begin, researchers at Loughborough systems to flush the heated air would alleviate more substantial interventions for longer that the focus for new buildings has collaborative effort. the pressure to protect patients and staff fitted sensors to carefully selected types of NHS temperatures without increasing the fuel bill,” term resilience. predominantly been on energy-efficiency from overheating. buildings to monitor the inside temperature he added. The stack technology required “All of our case studies show that we measures and mitigation of carbon “The scale of the problem is huge. We have “The last government’s plan was to over the course of two years, creating to determine airflow routes to single spaces need environmentally responsive design. emissions now, and not on strategies to until 2050 by the obligations under the replace the NHS Estate with a suite of new what they believe is the largest database was devised with the help of the Pathogen It is a mistake to rely on gluing renewable address the increasing frequency and Climate Change Act to get our emissions hospitals but the 2008 economic collapse put of environmental data on non-domestic Control Engineering Institute at Leeds, and technologies to ‘business as usual’ buildings. severity of temperature extremes that down by 80% from what they are now, an end to that. And that means turning back building stock collected in the UK since the is effective in reducing airborne cross- These adaptive ideas yield easy wins – may lead to overheating in the future. A and we don’t know how to do that.” to the existing estate. How can we make the 1980s. These data, together with UK Climate infection risk within the hospital – an essential grounds both for optimism and action.” ‘knowledge map’ she has created can be These words, spoken by Paul Morrell, best use of the stock we’ve got to make it fit Impacts Programme predictive databases, prerequisite of any adaptation scheme. used in any decision-support context for former UK Chief Construction Advisor, for purpose?” were used to calibrate computer simulation One of the most resilient hospitals the energy design of residential buildings. spell out the challenge the NHS faces in The answer, Short believes, is to be models to predict internal temperatures in to increasing temperature is one of the “It’s the ability to respond to attempting to reduce the 18 million tonnes found in the innovative low-energy design 2030, 2050 and 2080 for various adaptation oldest. Bradford Royal Infirmary was built upcoming changes that defines future- of CO2 it is responsible for producing every strategies that have been developed as options in the case study hospitals. around the Nightingale ward: long thin proofing,” said Georgiadou. “This must year – around 3% of the entire annual UK part of the recently completed Design and Although the NHS estate is vast, it wards arranged with beds facing each be at the heart of strengthening building emissions – by its 28 million m2 of buildings. Delivery of Robust Hospital Environments in comprises a small number of recurring building other to Florence Nightingale’s very specific codes and energy-related standards at It’s a challenge that has taken on a new a Changing Climate (DeDeRHECC) project types, as researcher Dr Alistair Fair in the dimensions. “The potential resilience is the start of the energy design process urgency. As summers are predicted to warm, that he has been leading. The collaborative Department of Architecture described: “You a result of the heavy-built brick fabric of if we are to increase the likelihood of hospitals are under pressure to reduce the team included researchers from the can see the same types of buildings occurring the building and high ceilings, which need dwellings remaining ‘fit for purpose’ risk of overheating, particularly in the sort Universities of Cambridge, Leeds and again and again and NHS Partner Trusts were to be coupled to intelligently controlled under a set of plausible energy futures. of heat waves the UK experienced in 2003, Loughborough and the Open University, and chosen to yield a good cross section.” ventilation. Our analysis shows the revival This would be a shift away from the 2006 and 2009, because of the associated was funded by the Engineering and Physical The project’s four participating NHS of Nightingale’s cross-ventilation scheme is short-term mindset that still dominates increased mortality rates. Sciences Research Council with support Trusts were Cambridge University Hospitals enough to maintain this resilience through design and construction practices.” “Faced with more frequent hot spells, from the Department of Health. NHS Foundation Trust (Addenbrooke’s to 2080,” said Short. NHS acute hospital trusts may turn “Our adaptation schemes are based Hospital), Bradford Teaching Hospitals Now the team is converting research Professor Alan Short Feature article increasingly to air conditioning,” said on passively driven natural ventilation and NHS Foundation Trust, West Hertfordshire findings such as these into ‘off the shelf’ [email protected] available online Professor Alan Short from the Department cooling, operating in well-insulated buildings. Hospitals NHS Trust and University construction designs that can help Trusts Department of Architecture IssueD 22 October 2013 24 Spotlight: Sustainabililty and the environmentContents 25 Research Horizons

esearchers are providing a vision Developing ideas of how eco-factories – models the way that energy, materials and for creatively rethinking how the could look in the future is one aspect of water can flow around factories. “Traditionally, R manufacturing industry can perform the research carried out by the Centre. these processes are considered as secondary The Shape of sustainably in a changing world. However, these are long-term visions, and to modelling production of the product the researchers recognise not only the and yet they are integral to approaching In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, complexities of change but also that the sustainability at a factory level.” industrialisation swept the globe and changed “window of opportunity for action is rapidly The THERM project, funded by the it forever: humanity mastered the art of closing.” One key focus of their research Technology Strategy Board, gathered a transforming the world’s raw materials into the agenda, therefore, is to understand how team of practitioners (Toyota and Airbus), Things to Come ‘stuff of the world’. Today, everything around industries can improve their efficiency and academics (Cranfield University and De us, from the cars we drive, to the goods we environmental performance now, without Montfort University) and software developers own and the clothes we wear is largely the changing current products and processes. (Integrated Environmental Solutions) to product of industrial manufacturing. create the software tool, now available to But industrialisation also had an industry. The tool integrates the modelling unintended effect on the global environment of manufacturing processes within their – contributing to the increasing burden of environment – the factory building – to identify carbon emissions, pollution and waste – system-wide opportunities to reduce resource and it’s widely accepted that a new ‘green’ 75-90% consumption, carbon emissions and waste industrial revolution is urgently needed. generated. “It’s clear that current processes cannot reduction needed “The greatest opportunity to reduce the be sustained indefinitely,” said Professor environmental impact of an industrial system Steve Evans. “As well as the environmental in carbon-based comes about when we consider the system effects, the world has a finite amount of energy use as a whole, because the optimisation of any natural resources, and current processes one part is ultimately constrained by other are probably only 10% efficient at converting aspects,” explained Evans, who is a member them into usable product.” of the Foresight lead expert group that is “This will fundamentally Evans leads the EPSRC Centre for “How can you find out how efficient a combining the latest scientific evidence Innovative Manufacturing, which connects factory can be? You just ask common sense with futures analysis to help policy makers change scale and location decisions for systems engineers and business analysts questions,” said Evans. “We go into the factories consider the Future of Manufacturing for the at Cambridge’s Centre for Industrial to collect examples of sustainable industrial Government Office for Science. factories to the point where they will be Sustainability with researchers at activity, identify new courses of action, and Cranfield University, Imperial College and then publish these as case study reports.” A so advantageous that people will want Loughborough University. The Centre is database of over 1,000 effective practices in them at the end of their street” funded with £5.7 million from the Engineering industrial sustainability has been compiled and and Physical Sciences Research Council. will be generally available later this year. Centre researchers work with multinational For Toyota, for example, the researchers 44% businesses such as Toyota, Unilever and M&S discovered that significantly better industrial to develop the knowledge and tools that will performance is possible through innovative less energy now used help manufacturers navigate their way through thinking and careful planning without relying by Toyota factories the complexities of designing sustainable on the development of a ‘step change’. industrial processes in the long term. Toyota operate nine manufacturing sites in Europe ranging from engine manufacture through to vehicle assembly. “Toyota took Evans and his team believe that this the route of developing action plans with ‘systems thinking’ approach is crucial. “The challenging targets to reduce environmental evidence we have seen from case studies impact – recycling waste water, sending zero shows that sub-system approaches can 10% waste to landfill and so on – and focused dramatically improve sustainability. But to help on individual aspects of manufacturing to future generations meet the needs of humanity current factory develop best practice. By adopting these within the carrying capacity of the planet it efficiency principles, they reduced the energy needed to will be important to develop the know-how to make cars across their European factories by enable changes across the whole industrial 44% in five years.” system. Such a system is likely to look very “Some factories are noticeably more different to today’s global industry. We believe “To live well, experts think that we must efficient than others,” Evans added. “We want that manufacturing will change its shape.” be able to manufacture what we need using to know why, and whether they are squeezing less than a quarter of the current bio-capacity. every last drop from best practice. If not, What this means is a reduction of 75–90% how much further can they go and what can in how much carbon-based energy and competitor factories learn from this?” resources our industrial systems currently use,” Other companies studied by the team have said Evans. “And to achieve this will mean a focused their steps on improving environmental complete reshaping of how we manufacture.” performance on packaging reduction (Philips), His vision extends all the way to a future in shifting operations from a product-based which factories could have a net positive effect system to one in which it provides a service on the environment: “Part of the work we are (Xerox), and building a new energy-efficient doing on configurations would suggest that by production facility (Adnams brewery). the 2050s the air and water leaving factories “Understanding how far you can push might be cleaner than what’s going in. A current systems is the most urgently needed greater number will either use local materials step. But technological development is also or grow the materials they use – perhaps as essential to achieve the significant changes in Professor Steve Evans nanostructures or using green chemistry. This efficiency that we need,” said Evans. To help [email protected] will fundamentally change scale and location this agenda, the Centre is also looking at the Institute for Manufacturing decisions for factories to the point where they technology needed to manage factories. One Department of Engineering will be so advantageous that people will want software tool they have built – THERM (for them at the end of their street.” THrough-life Energy and Resource Modelling) www.industrialsustainability.org D 26 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment 27 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment

Amazonia Time for at a Crossroads

he Amazon rainforest faces an civilisation, with a long history of farming 9 countries uncertain future – one that an and now home to smallholder farms and Plan Bee T international research network hopes larger agricultural enterprises. to help steer towards sustainability. What makes the project distinct from many other research initiatives is the The numbers associated with the Amazon collection of matched data from the same are truly staggering. It encompasses nine network of landholdings on changes in both countries; contains at least a tenth of the the ecological and the socio-economic known species in the world; provides a home characteristics of different land and forest and resources to 31 million people; stores use systems. The team’s survey design the equivalent amount of carbon to a decade has enabled information to be collected of human-induced emissions for the entire across the full wealth spectrum, from the 10% of the planet; and discharges a fifth of the world’s poorest to the richest farmers, while nsect pollinators provide a service now,” said Dicks. “Heineken, which makes Bangor, Lancaster, Leeds and Reading fresh water. allowing comparisons at multiple spatial world’s known worth an estimated £430 million to food, Bulmers cider, uses about 30% of the UK and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. However, rapid social and ecological scales – between different farms, I farming and retail sectors in the UK. How apple crop, and apple yields are between Aiming to enhance the use of science change, borne on the back of deforestation, catchments and regions. species can we protect them, and enhance the 40% and 90% lower without pollinators, in making UK food production systems harvesting of natural resources and a The result is one of the most sustainability of the UK food production depending on the variety. Around 90% of the more environmentally sustainable, the changing climate, has left the future of the comprehensive field assessments ever system? UK blackcurrant crop goes into Ribena, and Programme has developed a web‐based world’s largest remaining tropical forest undertaken in the tropics. Critical issues without pollination blackcurrant yields drop database of scientific evidence (www. uncertain – Amazonia, today, is “standing at a that are being addressed include the By carrying pollen from one plant to by 10–40%.” nercsustainablefood.com), so that all crossroads”, as Dr Toby Gardner describes. identification of potential threshold effects another, bees and other insects contribute “We looked at the knowledge available sectors with an interest in sustainable food He points to the existence of tough trade- of deforestation on the degradation of to plant reproduction in almost 90% of our from academia, the private sector and production can access knowledge. offs that underpin the region’s challenges: ecological systems, and the identification wild plants, and around 30% of our crops government,” said Dicks. Breaking down the “In many cases, the scientists in our “The demand for land and natural resources of strategies at both farm and municipality depend on them. But, as zoologist Dr Lynn issue into the status of pollinators, threats, project already knew about the issues is driven by the development needs of one scales that can effectively reconcile Dicks explained, their future is under threat: and what could be done about these, and had the solutions, but the people of the world’s largest emerging economies, conservation and development goals. “There has been a massive decline in some the first round of discussions generated who needed to know weren’t aware of as well as by the insatiable global food and “In addition, one of the longer term groups of insect pollinators. The number of 246 ‘big’ questions. From this, a set of 35 this knowledge,” said Dicks. The priority commodities market. Understanding what implications of any initiative like this is Home to 31 bumblebee species in the UK dropped by priorities were chosen for investigation. knowledge needs identified by this work will management practices can best achieve both the fact that a large group of students million people around 30% between the 1950s and 1980s, structure ongoing efforts to make science economic development and environmental and researchers, many of whom are and numbers of many large moth species in accessible to practitioners, and will help to conservation is central to addressing this Brazilian, have been exposed to new ideas the UK have halved since the late 1960s.” guide future science policy and funding. challenge and shepherding the creation and new ways of thinking about sustainability Most scientists agree that pollinator “Bringing scientists together with of a more sustainable Amazon.” problems, and this, perhaps above anything declines are caused by the interaction of the business community at the start of Gardner leads a new research else, will be the most valuable legacy of our various factors including habitat change, “Bringing scientists the process is a radically different way programme that is motivated by helping project,” added Gardner. the consequent loss of flowers and nest of working,” said Dicks’ collaborator Bill to solve this dilemma – the Sustainable Can the world’s largest tropical forest sites, agricultural chemicals, disease and together with the business Sutherland, Miriam Rothschild Professor Amazon Network – alongside colleagues at biome be transformed into a sustainable possibly climate change. of Conservation Biology in the Department Lancaster University, the Goeldi Museum in ecological system? “There is a short window “There’s also an increasing community at the start of of Zoology. “This approach could apply Belém (Brazil) and the Brazilian Agricultural of opportunity and there is potential for acknowledgement of the important role to almost any academic field. We want Research Corporation (Embrapa), with recovery,” said Gardner. “But we cannot pollinators play in food production,” added the process is a radically to fundamentally change the way that funding from the Brazilian and UK afford to be complacent.” Discharges Dicks. “Some fruit crops are completely conservation policy and practice works. governments and The Nature Conservancy, dependent on pollinators, and for others different way This project is about pollinators, but if the among others. Toby Gardner’s discussion of how 20% of the pollination results in better quality fruit.” of working” knowledge exchange process works, we The Network’s 100-strong group of science can make more-effective world’s fresh Dicks holds a Natural Environment can start looking at the bigger picture.” researchers and students from over 30 contributions to policy available online. Research Council (NERC) three-year institutions are working with conservation water Knowledge Exchange Fellowship. Her work organisations, farmers and government on pollinator conservation has brought officials. Their approach is to assemble together key players to identify knowledge an evidence base on the sustainability gaps and to devise collaborative projects challenges and ecological consequences to address them. Twenty large businesses, “The highest priority was to understand the associated with land uses and management including Waitrose and Heineken, joined basic underlying ecology of the insects – strategies, and to use this to test the forces with representatives from government how important the diversity of pollinators effectiveness and risks of alternative policy agencies, nature conservation agencies is to delivering a reliable pollination service,” choices facing local people and regional including Natural England and Buglife, she added. Other priorities were to governments. and scientists. understand the relative contributions of wild At the heart of the research is an Framed in terms of a business interest, and managed pollinators to crop yield, and appreciation of the complex array of pollinator conservation has moved rapidly the sub-lethal effects of chemicals on wild interactions and feedbacks that characterise Stores 10 up the political and business agendas. pollinators. The next stage of the project is the changing face of Amazonia. The project A consortium of UK research funders has to address some of the top 15 knowledge takes as its ‘laboratory’ two regions of the years’ recently invested £10 million under the Insect needs through new research. Dr Lynn Dicks eastern Amazon: Paragominas, a region Dr Toby Gardner equivalent Pollinators Initiative to identify and mitigate The work formed the pilot for a wider [email protected] infamous for lawlessness, violence, land [email protected] the main threats. “All the food companies NERC-funded Knowledge Exchange Professor Bill Sutherland grabbing, illegal sawmills and rampant forest Department of Zoology of carbon with a dependence on fruit production are Programme on Sustainable Food Production [email protected] clearance until the 1990s; and Santarém- thinking about these sustainability issues by the Universities of Cambridge, Department of Zoology Belterra, once a centre of pre-Colombian www.redeamazoniasustentavel.org emissions D 28 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment 29 Research Horizons

Image What impact will new technology Example of a have on tackling emissions? Sankey diagram

odels such as those being developed by the Foreseer M Project provide unparalleled insight into current and future demand for resources, and their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. What if we could also take into account the fast pace at which new technologies are “It reveals the scale by the agricultural sector through growing evolving? This is the aim of a new project less water-intensive crops could have in the Cambridge Centre for Climate and impact of human a dramatic effect.” Change Mitigation Research (4CMR). Key to the Foreseer Project is the ability choices and directs attention to look at the whole picture, to create models Dr Jean-Francois Mercure, who leads that go beyond focusing on a single resource the research, asserts that building towards actions that might to integrate water, energy and land use. this factor into models will help It’s a strategy intended to understand what understanding of the degree to which make a real difference” Professor John Beddington, former Chief improvements in energy-consuming Scientific Advisor to the UK government, technologies can help the government termed a “perfect storm” of insufficient reduce emissions, which in turn might energy, water and food. help their development: “Technology “This cohesive view differentiates us comes to life through timely investments that transforms the plethora of data into from other modelling research groups,” said and policy incentives, and so it’s an intuitive representation. Horizontal researcher Grant Kopec. “By integrating these important to include technology diffusion lines trace the flow of water from its various resources, we think we can identify trade-offs and its pace in energy modelling. sources (rainfall, surface water, ground water, between sectors that you might not normally recycled water), through the services that think of as being connected, for instance use it (agriculture, industry, domestic and the between power production and agriculture.” environment), to where it ends up, with the The team, which also includes relative width of each line representing the Bojana Bajželj and Ying Qin, works in “Most models... amount of resource at each stage. the Department of Engineering but is The model is among a suite of similar supported by a multidisciplinary group of disregard the process tools being created by the BP-funded nine co-investigators from seven different by which new Foreseer Project. The first is focused on departments. “The collaboration of experts energy, land and water use in California, from so many disciplines has been critical technology regimes and is now being used by members of to the iterative process we go through to industry, academia and NGOs. Recently, the create our models,” explained Allwood. come into existence” researchers began work to implement and “We all have an interest in the demand visualise energy scenarios being considered on global resources but this may be from Testing by California energy planners to investigate a geographical, atmospheric, biological, the land and water resource implications of engineering, mathematical or management future energy use. perspective – all are needed if we want “However, this is challenging and most “There is a certain attraction in being to design mitigation plans that add up.” models today attempt to calculate cost- able to see all demands on a resource being Now the team is extending its focus optimal technology roadmaps based traced through to its end point,” explained to other regions of the world including on current technology, which is not team member Dr Jonathan Cullen. “It reveals China and the UK with, respectively, funding necessarily likely to happen, and which the scale and impact of human choices and from BP and as part of a multi-university disregard the process by which new the Water directs attention towards actions that might consortium (WholeSEM) funded by the technology regimes come into existence.” make a real difference. Because the tool is Engineering and Physical Sciences Technological change occurs dynamic, it’s possible to ‘toggle’ multiple Research Council. constantly, either following advances in water management policies to see what Eventually, the aim is to connect regions, industrial systems or through evolutions the outcome on energy, land and water countries and continents to arrive at a set of behaviours, such as the move new online tool enables users to Dr Julian Allwood, who leads the Foreseer resources might be.” of linked global assessments of water, land towards electric cars. With funding from assess not only how much water Project that created the tool, explained: In California, the water resource issues and energy resources. Already, they have the Engineering and Physical Sciences A we use and for what, but also how “We’re aiming to create visually compelling already faced by the state are likely to accomplished this for global man-made Research Council, Mercure has begun we can mitigate against future scarcity. messages about resource use now, and worsen with the predicted climate-related greenhouse gas emissions: connecting work on a computational modelling in the future, to help users understand the reduction in snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. services such as food and transport via the system that takes into account the Water, like many other natural resources, consequences of their choices. We want to At the same time the demand for water for business that delivers them through to the fuel profile of technology transitions in the is in both high demand and limited supply. help identify opportunities where efficiencies agriculture, urban uses and the environment each uses and the emissions that are created. past to project how new transitions In any one region, this precious substance is or demand reduction would be effective, and could also increase, which may lead to intense “By visualising the data as Sankey could arise in the future. needed to sustain the domestic requirements equally we need to demonstrate which actions competition between these different sectors. diagrams, we find out that the scale of The research is being carried out of the population, irrigate crops, maintain would have only a little impact.” It’s a gloomy picture but, as researcher intervention really matters,” said Allwood. at 4CMR in the Department of Land ecosystems and assist in manufacturing For resource managers, policy makers Dr Liz Curmi described, the aim of the tool “One of the big things we’ve learned is how Economy in collaboration with the Tyndall and energy production. and industry, understanding how to sustainably is to look for positives. “We built the tool to increasing efficiency is not enough – we also Centre at the University of East Anglia, Focusing on the state of California, manage the competing demands on a limited be user centred because we wanted people have to reduce demand because this can the UK Department for Energy and a multidisciplinary group of Cambridge resource is a considerable challenge. An to think about the positive actions they can have far more widespread positive impacts Climate Change, the UK Energy Research researchers has developed a model to calculate estimated 1.2 billion people currently experience take to reduce stress on the resource. So, than previously considered.” Centre and Cambridge Econometrics. monthly and annual water demand. Moreover, water scarcity and, as the population rises, a policy maker might ask whether increasing because the model calculates future scenarios, demand will increasingly outstrip supply. desalination would make a difference, and Feature article it provides a means of assessing what can At the heart of the online tool is the the answer, on a state-wide level, is no. But [email protected] available online be done to mitigate against water scarcity. Sankey diagram: a visualisation technique reducing the amount of irrigated water used www.foreseer.group.cam.ac.uk D 30 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment 31 Spotlight: Sustainability Research& the environment Horizons

Image Hildegard Diemberger On with shepherds in the Himalaya Yer Bike!

ith governments around the “We’re seeing different effects in different achieving the Mayor’s cycling targets and world under increasing pressure populations,” said Woodcock. “In health has also separately modelled the impacts W to reduce their greenhouse terms, switching from driving to cycling of the Barclay’s Cycle Hire Scheme. gas emissions, transport systems are consistently shows a net benefit, and the With funding from the Economic and under scrutiny. Dr James Woodcock has greatest benefit comes from getting older Social Research Council and the Medical introduced another factor into the equation: people more active. However, a complicated Research Council, Woodcock is leading population health. web of other problems arises. In some two additional projects to address the contexts, such as inner London, cyclists problem of how to achieve the necessary Motorised transport is the fastest-rising seem to face notably higher injury risk than behaviour change. By focusing on the “The honour cause of energy-related greenhouse gas users of other travel modes,” he said. “They development of cycling cultures through emissions and there’s a strong imperative to also breathe harder so are inhaling more air social learning and social influence, and of the snow- address this by moving towards a low-carbon pollution, which is bad for health. by understanding the unintended outcomes mountains is the snow…” Credit: Dr Hildegard Diemberger Hildegard Dr Credit: “Health benefits

or those who live in the shadow of the she contributed to a research network led by resettlement strategies in the region, promoted link transport and world’s highest mountain range, the Dr David Sneath and Dr Barbara Bodenhorn in the name of a host of different reasons environment problems, F snow-capped peaks have long been an (both in the Department of Archaeology and including environmental protection. indicator of the ‘health’ of their community. Anthropology) that examined the significance “These crossovers highlight the link and we need to be sure of Now researchers are raising awareness of of natural proxies – ranging from the snow between livelihood, landscape and weather,” the value of local knowledge as a proxy for and ice of the Arctic to the songbirds of the said Diemberger. “We have discovered the the best route to achieving gauging environmental change. Tibetan plateau and the ‘bog oaks’ of the East usefulness – and the limits – of climate models Anglian Fenlands – in communicating cultural and what can be gained from the records and the biggest benefits” The everyday lives of the Porong people knowledge of environmental change. observations of people who have been living in of southwestern Tibet are shaped by their “Climate change is a human issue and this environment for centuries. mountain landscape. The condition of the to understand it requires far more than “Deteriorating local features such as the snow-capped peaks is just as central to their climate science. We hope that these cross- loss of permanent snow fields are often at age-old narratives and rituals as they are to disciplinary exchanges will produce further the centre of a blame game between local their contemporary agricultural practices. conversations and new approaches to rural communities and state administrations The Tibetans consider that the ‘ancient action,” said Sneath. on whether local practices or industrial transport system. Moreover, as Woodcock, But on the other hand, they are not in a car that policies might bring about, these projects spirits’ of these places control the weather, One such approach has been the development are responsible for what people from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research, putting other road users at injury risk or are attempting a different approach from wildlife, fertility, resources and all that teaming up of Diemberger with meteorologist are experiencing. Our belief is that by looking explained: “It’s possible to benefit public health producing pollution for everyone else. We those used in traditional transport modelling. determines the wellbeing of the community; Professor Hans Graf, from the Department at natural phenomena in their social and at the same time.” need this model to tell us which is the more “Our research brings out a potential good according to their songs, ‘The honour of the of Geography. Graf has been modelling cultural context, scientific investigations But which approaches to achieving a low- important effect.” news story,” he added. “Health benefits link snow-mountains is the snow… may there not the Tibetan microclimate through glaciers, can discover and harness a host of unusual carbon transport system would provide the There are also rebound effects to transport and environment problems, and we be any change, may prosperity prevail.’ meteorological phenomena and vegetation. ‘proxies’ – mountains and lakes, ice and biggest health benefits? consider. “If I sell my car and buy a bike, need to be sure of the best route to achieving Over the course of two decades of living Diemberger explained: “In a world in snow, clouds and dew, birds and grasses – to “We can think about the problem in two I’ll have money left over, and where do I the biggest benefits.” and working in the region, social anthropologist which the conceptual models that inform address the hugely complex issue of sustaining ways,” he said. “We can evaluate the impacts then spend that money?” he asked. “I may Dr Hildegard Diemberger has frequently decision makers are increasingly determined the environment in a changing climate.” of an intervention such as new cycling end up causing greenhouse gas emissions encountered the connection between the by scientific investigation, politics and infrastructure, or we can develop scenarios somewhere else, and it’s complicated to Tibetans and their Himalayan landscape. economics, we asked is there a space for the around what a healthy, low-carbon future account for these second-order factors.” “I noticed that as much as people were ancient local spirits and the Buddhist ideas transport system would look like, and then we ITHIM has now been taken up in transforming the landscape in which they enshrined in Himalayan landscape to provide think about how to achieve major changes in California to evaluate transport plans in were making a living, the landscape – and insight into issues of environmental change?” how people travel. We often see quite small the San Francisco Bay area. It showed the increasingly unpredictable weather, The pair discovered a remarkable degree effects from the interventions happening now, that a shift from driving to walking and drying up of springs and receding snowline of common ground. Graf’s scientific model whereas potentially large things are possible.” cycling on short trips reduced the burden of – was changing the lives of the people who showed that the clouds are significantly “Cycling could have a big role to play,” he cardiovascular disease and diabetes by 14% were experiencing it. Anticipating nature affected by dew, which in turn is determined said. “But to achieve this you’d have to start and reduced emissions by around 14%. has been essential to being able to adapt to by the landscape’s vegetation cover and is thinking about changes in land use to reduce By contrast, low-carbon driving reduced its seasonal transformations, as well as to thus vulnerable to local land-use change, trip distances, and cultural and infrastructural emissions by 33.5% but cardiorespiratory detect longer-term abnormalities.” especially overgrazing. changes to make cycling an everyday mass disease burden by less than 1%. Increasingly, researchers like Diemberger Meanwhile, Diemberger has found activity for short- and medium-length trips.” The results are feeding into new policy are raising awareness of the value of such that the impact of grazing animals on the Dr Hildegard Diemberger Woodcock has led the development of in which a combination of active transport Dr James Woodcock local knowledge of the natural environment pastureland is determined by the movement [email protected] an Integrated Transport and Health Impact and low-carbon driving could meet [email protected] as a proxy for gauging environmental change, of herds and herders according to ancient Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit Modelling (ITHIM) tool, which models the health legislative emissions mandates. Meanwhile, Centre for Diet and Activity Research and as a step towards understanding the role rules – a migration that Sneath identified over Department of Archaeology and impacts of travel behaviours on both population working with the Greater London Authority, of humans in causing that change. Recently, a decade ago as decreasing as a result of Anthropology health and greenhouse gas emissions. Woodcock is also evaluating the impact of www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk D 32 Spotlight: Sustainability & the environment 33 Research Horizons

Maxwell Centre to bring together frontier research and the needs of industry

“Light harvesting is one area where “Syngas has been made successfully new centre at the Cavendish evolution has produced systems that take at an industrial level for decades by the Laboratory dedicated to advantage of quantum mechanics,” said Hine. petrochemical industry for the production A solving global challenges such “We want to make devices that harvest the of pharmaceuticals, plastics and fertilisers,” as natural resource demand will be maximum amount of the available sunlight. explained Reisner, whose research is funded created with £63 million funding from Existing materials, like the solar cells on roofs, by the Engineering and Physical Sciences government and business. only absorb about 20% of energy from the Research Council, the Christian Doppler sun to turn into electricity. The trick is to make Research Association and the OMV Group. Building on the innovative activity of sure the material is tailored to absorb all the “But it requires fossil fuels to make syngas, the Winton Programme for the Physics energy it possibly can. This way, solar panels thereby depleting our natural reserves and of Sustainability, the newly funded

will become an increasingly attractive source producing the greenhouse gas CO2 as a by- Maxwell Centre will cover many aspects of sustainable energy in the future.” product. The process we are developing is of fundamental physics research that “We need to know about the molecular sustainable because it takes carbon from the are relevant to areas such as renewable arrangements to identify the properties that atmosphere only to return it when the syngas energy. lead to this high efficiency,” added Chin. “I use is used for the release of energy.” Scientists from industry will work Nick’s simulations as input into a model I can Reisner’s team has created a synthetic alongside Cambridge research groups, set in motion to see how energy will flow.” By small molecule that mimics the activity of engendering a two-way flow of ideas working together, the pair are developing an biological catalysts called hydrogenases, and exposing the best early career understanding of this photosynthetic system, which are found in microbial organisms and researchers to scientific problem-solving from where each individual atom is positioned produce H2 from water. Whereas efficient H2 that relates directly to industrial need. to how the whole system functions. generation requires the catalyst platinum, The idea is to generate broader design which is expensive and in relatively short principles for new nanomaterials that can supply, the artificial catalyst uses the be used to build better types of photovoltaic abundant metals iron, nickel and cobalt. devices. “Once we understand the system, A first milestone was reached last year we can then move into synthetic chemistry, when the scientists demonstrated that it is solid-state physics and materials science, possible to generate H2 in a test tube on the “A major and see if we can mimic it,” said Chin. “This bench, in air, by mixing the synthetic catalyst may be in a simpler way, but hopefully a with a dye that absorbs light and water. effort to scalable one that is useful for industry.” Now a further milestone has been Chin and Hine’s work is representative of reached. “In nature, hydrogenases take go beyond “There is everything the ambitious aims of the Winton Programme. up electrons from their environment,” he still to discover, and most “The Physics of Sustainability defines a grand said. “We wanted to find a way of providing the boundaries challenge,” said Professor Sir Richard Friend, these electrons to our synthetic catalyst in of it will turn out to be, Director of the Programme. “Sustainability is a sunlight-driven reaction and we turned about finding better solutions in areas where again to biological systems for clues. Without of traditional for unexpected reasons, we use huge amounts of material, like lighting, the electrons, the hydrogenase or synthetic batteries and water-purification systems. These alternative can’t work.” physical science remarkably useful” are areas where current solutions are inefficient Photosystem II (PSII) is a plant protein and we should be able to do much better. that captures photons of light and uses them concepts” “There is everything still to discover, to energise electrons and oxidise water and most of it will turn out to be, for to produce O2. The researchers have now unexpected reasons, remarkably useful.” integrated this protein in a synthetic system to extract electrons to produce H2. By Air, water and sun: ‘green gasoline’ combining the synthetic version of PSII and a From quantum mechanics to solar panels Meanwhile, in the Christian Doppler synthetic hydrogenase, the former captures Physicists Dr Alex Chin and Dr Nicholas Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry, light energy and feeds electrons to the latter. Professor Sir Richard Friend, who Inspired Hine at the Cavendish Laboratory’s Winton Dr Erwin Reisner and colleagues are creating But can the technology make the will be the first Director of the Centre, Programme for the Physics of Sustainability artificial photosynthetic systems that will turn transition from test tube to the gigatonnes explained the significance of the are focusing on the ancient green sulphur air and water into transport fuel. His hope required for industrial scale-up? “We have to development: “The Maxwell Centre will bacteria and their astonishing efficiency at is that homeowners will one day have their be realistic and a series of breakthroughs is be the vehicle for translating ‘blue skies’ by Nature converting light energy into chemical energy own power plants that use sunshine not only still required to make our scenario a reality. research into products of importance to provide new understanding of renewable to power their homes but also to synthesise Even if we have these tomorrow, it will take for the industrial sector. This will not be esearchers are unravelling nature’s solar energy. petrol for their cars. at least 20 years before we see this type conventional research or ‘business as secrets to develop new energy- Green sulphur bacteria are found “Given that almost 80% of the world’s of technology providing the majority of the usual’, but a major effort to go beyond R generating technologies for a more in places with very little light, and have energy is used in the form of fuels, one of the world’s transport fuel,” cautioned Reisner. the boundaries of traditional physical sustainable future. developed clever solutions for capturing and main challenges is to create a carbon-neutral, “That said, we are confident that renewable science concepts. We will combine converting light energy. sustainable alternative that is cost-effective syngas, a ‘green gasoline’ technology, will work on the specific challenges facing Through billions of years of evolution, life on “The light-harvesting states of enough to replace the usage of petrol and be able to drive our current industry in a collaborators with research into areas Earth has found intricate solutions to many photosynthesis happen extremely fast – diesel,” said Reisner. sustainable way.” at the edges of current conception – the of the challenges scientists are currently within a nanosecond, if not picoseconds,” The technology he is developing uses solar ‘unknown unknowns’.” grappling with. Now, taking a leaf out of said Chin. “We’re interested in that energy to separate the elements that make up Dr Nalin Patel Funding for the new building, which nature’s book, two research projects are efficiency and how it’s managed. Biology water and carbon dioxide (CO2). The reaction Winton Programme Manager is due to open in 2015, was raised examining the early stages of photosynthesis has evolved phenomenally subtle systems creates synthetic gas, or syngas – comprising [email protected] through philanthropic gifts, industrial – the process by which plants and some to funnel light energy around and channel the energy-rich hydrogen (H2, which can itself www.winton.phy.cam.ac.uk contracts and the Higher Education Image bacteria capture the sun’s light energy and it to the right places. It has also become be used as a fuel) and carbon monoxide (CO). Funding Council for England. The light-harvesting convert it into chemical energy – to aid incredibly good at building tiny devices that This mixture of gases can be converted into Dr Erwin Reisner complex in green development of more-efficient solar panels work with high efficiency, and at replicating liquid hydrocarbons such as petroleum through [email protected] www.winton.phy.cam.ac.uk sulphur bacteria and transport fuel. them millions of times.” an established industrial process. Department of Chemistry E 34 Inside out: Sarah Franklin 35 Research Horizons

Q What might others be surprised to learn about you?

A I have three chainsaws and I used to compete as a lumberjack. When www.cambridge.org I was a teenager I could split a match and light it with an axe. I grew up in New Credit: Jacqueline Garget Jacqueline Credit: England, where people can talk forever about wood: what type they have, how they collect it, how they stack it. Cutting wood is my favourite hobby; it’s great exercise and I find it the most therapeutic thing in the world.

Q What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

A Never be afraid of being underestimated. Funnily enough this is motivational in lots of situations, like when you’re starting a new job. Being overestimated can crush you and be quite damaging, but being underestimated can boost your confidence because it means you’re always over-performing.

Q If you could wake up tomorrow with a new skill, what would it be?

A I’d love to be able to programme my Towards a own computer. There are so many little things that computers do automatically that are really annoying, and not being able to change them is so frustrating. sustainable How would you describe your Q Inside out childhood self? future A Curious, easily entertained, independent. Meeting Professor Sarah Franklin Q What is your favourite research tool? the highest level of academic research A Conversation. It’s the best tool for collectivising human thought, which is always the best way to think better. from world-renowned authors Cambridge is a great place for conversations; nvestigating a reproductive technology it succeeds? This is an intervention that basic science. It offers a unique case study there are so many opportunities to talk at its birthplace, Sarah Franklin talks has changed the meaning of fertility, the in how we understand both technological to people who are really excited about I about her enduring fascination with the meaning of reproduction and the meaning of and biological change as social and something you’ve never heard of before. medical intervention that has re-written technology.” historical processes. the rules of nature, and about her love of Q Who or what inspires you? chainsaws and cycling. Now, with funding from the Wellcome Trust, Q Where do you have your best ideas? the British Academy and the Economic A People who are able to create an The technique of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and Social Research Council, Franklin has A On my bicycle. I bought a 1939 empowering working environment was devised in Cambridge by the late assembled a research team to study the Raleigh Roadster for £15 in Brighton for others. Professor Robert Edwards, who in 2010 won history and sociology of IVF in the UK. As when I first came to England as a graduate a Nobel Prize for what has been described a world-leading expert on the social aspects student, and I ride it everywhere. Q How do you relax? as “a milestone of modern medicine.” Since of reproductive and genetic technologies, its successful introduction in 1978, IVF has she works closely with clinicians, patients, Q Ever had a Eureka moment? A Making fires and riding my bike. moved from being a highly controversial scientists and policy makers to widen their clinical application to a routine procedure sociological engagement with emerging A That’s the greatest thing about being Q How would you like to be that has enabled over five million babies to issues in bioscience. an academic – you get to have them remembered? be born to couples with fertility problems. all the time. In the 1980s, I realised that Q What’s the point of your research? reproductive technology would significantly A As someone who was never dull. Professor Sarah Franklin, who was elected change not only reproduction itself, but also to the University Professorship in Sociology A I’m interested in what it means for how we think about what it means to be in 2011, has followed the technology’s rapid human reproduction to have become biological. More recently, I’ve realised that development with fascination since the a technological process, and how biology the human embryo is now a technology itself, early 1980s: “The remarkable success of is being changed by technology. I study and that IVF has changed our understanding IVF is a unique model for future biomedical assisted conception by IVF, a hugely of kinship and parenthood, as well as innovation. How did a new technology successful translational technology. IVF biological relatedness. It had normalised Professor Sarah Franklin become completely normal? Why is IVF so has evolved rapidly and is now a major global synthetic biology before this term was even [email protected] popular, given that it still fails more than industry, as well as a key technology for in widespread use. Department of Sociology Contact T +44 (0)1223 765 443 Research Horizons E [email protected] Office of External Affairs and Communications W www.cam.ac.uk/research The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street f www.facebook.com/cambridge.university Cambridge, CB2 1RP www.twitter.com/cambridge_uni www.youtube.com/cambridgeuniversity

Cover Hildegard Diemberger with shepherds in the Himalaya. Researchers like Diemberger are raising awareness of the value of local knowledge as a proxy for gauging environmental change. Find out more on p. 30.

Credit: Dr Hildegard Diemberger Hildegard Dr Credit: