I’m Free! A Tin-uous The Scottish Brain Myths Wonders of Link Ten the Ythan Happy tenth Dramatic digital Debunking the brain A country escape on anniversary documentation your doorstep Produced by the Science Journalism Society at the University of Aberdeen Contents 02. Editorial It’s our anniversary 03. News Science in the Granite City 05. Events Happenings in the Granite City 06. Looking Back to the future Great Scott! 07. The Scottish Ten Dramatic digital documentation 08. Brain Myths Debunking the brain 09 & 10 Under the microscope A close-up photospread 11. The Tenth Element The Scottish roots of neon 12. A Tin-uous Link Happy tenth anniversary! 13. Giving nature a home Ten tips to help nature out 14. Wonders of the Ythan A country escape right on your doorstep! 15. Finding Napier’s Bones Looking at logarithms 16. book review The Science Delusion 17. Fun Stuff Puzzle and comic 01 Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Center Photograph: Twan Leedners Happy Birthday Au! It’s our party! ening presents, blowing out Editors-in-Chief candles, eating cake and throwing streamers, we’ve Anna Cederlund OP Bridget Murray been busy here at Au Science Magazine celebrating our tenth anniversary issue. Creative Editor Yes, that’s right, Au Science Magazine was founded ten issues ago. Since the Tom Mackenzie start we’ve covered topics ranging from News Editor sports and exercise to music and space. We sincerely hope that you have enjoyed Anna Pitchford each and every one of our issues and Web editor that you continue to enjoy them for much longer. Dean Brooks This issue deals with all things ten. Editorial Team Ten is all around us although it is not always obvious. Pop to page 11 to read Michael Graham more about the tenth element, neon. Did Cara Green you know that neon can sometimes be Christina Nikolova used as a refrigerant? Or why not try to Ali Thomson figure out the link tin has to ten before Creative Team opening up to page 06. We also have a fantastic photo spread from Aberdeen’s Vanessa De Mello own Kevin Mackenzie on page 9 & Terry Morton 10. There are also a few top ten lists News Team available throughout our pages, so why not see page 13 for a way to escape to Anna Ashton the wild. Shannon Smith Take a look at the photo to the left. Enigmatist Can you work out its link to 10? When you’ve got it, or when you’ve given up, Nick Payne pop over to our website, ausm.org.uk to Thanks uncover the truth. We hope you enjoy reading about Communications team, PERU ten as much as we have enjoyed Dr Heather Doran writing about it! If you’d like to join our Amy Hayward birthday celebrations, send us an email Shaunagh Kirby at [email protected]. There is always Iain Learmonth our twitter account, @ausciencemag Kevin Mackenzie or you can like our Facebook page. Dr Ken Skeldon, MBE We’re always looking for keen editors, designers, illustrators or writers. No Front cover image by Alisterio De Mello 01 experience is needed, we’ll help you on Comic by Vanessa De Mello your way! You should also quickly flip to our backpages, our own Vanessa De Copyright © 2014 Science Journalism Mello celebrates this issue with a full Society page comic. Want to know the full story Opinions expressed are not necessarily behind the comic? Well, you guessed it, those of the Society, the go to our blog! University of Aberdeen or our Sponsors. Anna Cederlund and Bridget Murray, Editors – in – Chief Au Summer 2014 Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Center 02 News Have news to share? Collected by Anna Ashford and Shannon Smith email: [email protected] University of Aberdeen Attracts Healthcare Funding Ongoing management of an aging confidence, knowledge and skills, and knowledge regarding thevalue and population with long term conditions will empower them to make informed support of self-management. This is putting an ever increasing strain on decisions about their own healthcare will provide valuable information for health service finances. Innovation in collaboration with healthcare NHS Commissioners and providers. is needed to support decision makers professionals. The long term aim is to improve within the NHS to identify, adapt and Dr Christopher Burton is people’s lives through supported self refine support for their patients. leading the work in Aberdeen and management. The Health Foundation (an he is looking specifically at how The research findings will be independent health charity) has people with chronic pain value self available early in 2016 and Dr awarded funding to the Universities management support that is tailored Burton said “we will examine how of Aberdeen, Sheffield and York to their personal needs. individuals with chronic pain value to look at patient preference in The three universities will work the ways in which self-management regards to self-management support. separately, however the combined support could be made personal to Self management will give people results will build up a base of them as individuals”. Zoology Museum Gets a New Look The University’s Zoology Museum by Dr Jonathan Pettitt, Reader in 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday. Entry in the School of Biological Sciences Genetics, will explore concepts of is free. For further details contact on Tillydrone Avenue has been evolution and what genetic analysis [email protected]. undergoing a transformation for can tell us about the evolutionary the past 18 months. A £53,000 grant history of species. The display from Museum Galleries Scotland’s includes a fossil ichthyosaur from “Recognition Capital” project has the Geology Collections and a allowed the University Museum replica skull of a feathered dinosaur Service to upgrade the museum and (Deinonychus). include new displays. In addition, star items from the New lighting has improved collection - including a giant albatross conservation conditions for the – will be displayed in open storage collection, while the galleries have allowing visitors to see more of the been repainted and rearranged to museum’s fascinating collections. form a more welcoming space for New displays in the Zoology visitors. Museum open 9th June 2014. The An introductory display co-curated Zoology Museum is open to the public Tawny Owl Under Threat Researchers at the Universities of that ‘Tawny owls do take sabbaticals every three to four years. It consists of Aberdeen and Aix-Marseilles have from breeding if there is not enough a boom year where numbers increase warned that the tawny owl faces an prey, but our studies have shown that dramatically, and a crash year where uncertain future due to a substantial nowadays they are taking too many numbers fall but then recover as part decline in their main food source, the forced sabbaticals and not breeding of the ‘boom and bust’ cycle. Last year field vole. enough.’ it was reported that there were fewer The data analysed is from a study Vole population numbers usually ‘boom’ periods in vole populations of tawny owls and field voles in follow a pattern that repeats itself across Europe, something which the Kielder Water and Forest Park, is thought to be due to the warmer Northumberland and has been winters we have been experiencing. collected for over 27 years, mostly by If the balance of boom and bust amateur enthusiasts. The breeding years is not regained it could lead behaviour of tawny owls and the to the vole population becoming success of their offspring is heavily extinct, which would have devastating dependent on the availability of effects on tawny owls that feed on voles, but the study showed that the them. Other species that rely on this tawny owls are withholding from food source could also be affected, breeding due to insufficient numbers. including buzzards, foxes and Professor of Ecology at the University kestrels. of Aberdeen, Xavier Lambin, said 03 Shrinking Fish in the North Sea A study published in April’s issue change is thought to be caused, at of Global Change Biology, led by least in part, by an increase in water Dr Alan Baudron at the University temperature of 1 or 2 degrees Celsius, of Aberdeen, has found that the due to climate change. maximum length of a number of fish It has previously been reported species in the North Sea, including that young fish will grow to a herring, haddock and whiting, has smaller adult size when in a warmer decreased by up to 29% over the last environment, although other factors 40 years. such as fishery-induced evolution, The study involved the analysis of intense fishing pressure and low food age and length data from commercial supply may also play a role. However fish caught between 1970 and 2008. there were also species which saw The reduction in size was common little or no change in size; female across a variety of fish species, sole sizes decreased by just 1%, and including those living at different cod sizes appear to be unaffected, the depths, eating different diets and reasons for which are unclear. with different rates of mortality. The Student Energy Understanding the Ocean’s Summit Carbon Cycle Aberdeen will take its place along- A study led by ocean scientists from side the international metropolises of the University of Aberdeen has Cape Town,New York, Shanghai and successfully balanced the supply Mexico City on June 19-20, 2014, as of food to midwater organisms in host of one of five Regional Student the North Atlantic.