THE NUCLEUS Issue 2 Spring 2024

THE NUCLEUS S C I E N C E M A G A Z I N E

Ibstock Place School B Y

Credits

Supervisor: Ms Sanderson Co-Editor: Alex Hornsey Co-Editor: Catherine Zotov Lead Designer: Gabriela Bolokan Marketing: Rida Akbar

Contents

M A R I A G E O P P E R T M A Y E R L I L I A N P A O

U N R A V E L L I N G T H E P O T E N T I A L O F Q U A N T U M C O M P U T E R S R U P E R T H O O P E R

W O L F R E I N T R O D U C T I O N E M M A O R T I Z

H O W S P A C E T R A V E L A F F E C T S T H E B O D Y L E X I H U M B E R

D R E A M S S O P H I E T Y L E R

W H A T I S B L O O D ? A L E X A N D E R H O R N S E Y

D I F F E R E N T V I E W S O N E Q U I L B R I U M I N E C O N O M I C S G A B R I E L A B O L O K A N

C L A R E H U G H E S P O D C A S T E P I S O D E 1 3 O L I V E R V I S R A M

M E E T C H A T G P T ’ S E V I L C O U S I N M A T T H E W C R O S T O N

S U S T A I N A B I L I Y I N F O R M U L A O N E C O N O R W A R E

F E A R M O N G E R I N G O F ‘ C H E M I C A L S ’ C A T H E R I N E Z O T O V

D E L U S I O N S O F G R A N D E U R L I L I A N P A O

C R O S S W O R D F I N L E Y N A U G H T O N

- 0 2 -

MARIA GEOPPERT MAYER

er education H

by Lillian Pao

Born in Germany in 1906, she grew up as an only child of a sixth-generation academic, and was expected to go to university. Her father had told her that she ‘shouldn’t grow up to be a woman’, by which he meant a housewife. There was only one school for girls in Germany at the time of her education, which had closed one year before she was due to graduate. Despite this, she still took a university entrance exam and passed along with only 4 other girls. At the University of Gottingen (in 1924), she was tutored by Max Born (who would go on to win a Nobel Prize in 1954), and was a fellow student of Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi, with whom she became a close associate. At this time, only 1 out of 10 students were girls. Initially intending to study maths, she later felt that physics was more interesting and she was awarded her PhD in 1930. Exactly 60 years after Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert Mayer became the second woman ever to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 prize.

Her Scientific Career Due to anti-nepotism laws at the time, Mayer was not paid for her work. For three decades, she worked as a ‘research associate’ or ‘volunteer associate professor’ at several universities including the Johns Hopkins University and was not given a salary or a full-time position at any of the institutions. Throughout her career, she engaged in many significant research initiatives, including a brief participation in the Manhattan project with Edward Teller (on the hydrogen bomb) and other top-secret bomb research (such as enriching uranium for atomic bombs). She was strongly anti-Hitler but was worried that her contributions to bomb research would be used against her German friends and family, thus she later expressed relief that the project had failed. After the war, she returned to part-time research positions and soon began to explore her Nobel Prize-winning idea of the nuclear shell model. She was 58 years old at the time she finally became a full professor in 1960 at the University of San Diego, which had been 10 years since her discovery of the nuclear shell model, and 30 years since the beginning of her scientific career.

-03

Maria Geoppert Mayer by Lillian Pao

The Nobel Prize Mayer won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963 for her idea that the atomic nucleus was made up of closed shells, where neutrons and protons tend to pair up together. Before her discovery, scientists generally considered the atomic nucleus as a homogenous blob (a drop of liquid), which was successful in explaining fission. Scientists also assumed that the nucleon interactions would be too strong to be accurately described by a shell model, which would display nucleons as independent structures. Perhaps because Mayer had less formal education in nuclear physics, she was less biased by existing theories. Mayer could see that in the atomic nucleus, neutrons and protons were distributed in shells and according to energy levels. These shells could explain the magic numbers (number of nucleons that are arranged in complete shells within the atomic nucleus, e.g. 2, 8, 20, 28, etc.). However, they don’t explain how repulsive forces this strong could hold together such ordered structures. At the suggestion of Enrico Fermi, Mayer explored the possibility of spin-orbit coupling in nuclei. She found that the nucleus was made up of closed shells in which neutrons and protons usually pair up. She famously compared the idea to a waltz, in which ‘some dancers spin in one direction and others in the opposite’.

What We Can Learn Maria Goeppert Mayer, who was described as ‘direct and unpretentious in manner’ by a report booklet from the University of California, was a passionate physicist who brought forward revelatory ideas to nuclear physics. To remember her, we should recognize her as a powerful role model for not only women in STEM, but also traditionally male dominated fields. Just like her, we can all transcend our limitations and pursue our interests.

When sending off her paper to the Physical Review for publication, she became aware that an experiment conducted by Hans Jensen and his colleagues had produced the same results. After the publication of both papers, Jensen met up with Mayer and co-authored the 1950 book Elementary Theory of Nuclear Shell Structure in which they further explored their scientific proof with sub-topics such as electrochemical and gasometric microanalysis. Jensen and Mayer then went on to share the 1963 Nobel Prize for their discovery of the nuclear shells.

-04

Unravelling the Potential of Quantum Computers A Leap into the Future of Computing

BY RUPERT HOOPER

Introduction

How do Quantum Computers work?

In the past decade, quantum computers have emerged as a revolutionary force set to re-define the limits of classical computing. Unlike traditional computers which rely on bits to process information in binary code (in 0s and 1s), quantum computers use qubits (quantum bits), leveraging the principles of quantummechanics. The main difference between a qubit and a bit is that instead of just being able to represent a 0 or a 1, a qubit can represent any proportion of 0 and 1 of both states, with a certain probability of being a 0 and a certain probability of being a 1, which is called superposition. The intellectual renaissance of development of working Quantum Computers has the potential to open up a realm of possibilities and challenges the boundaries of what was once thought possible in the realm of computing.

One concept at the very heart of Quantum Computing is the idea of the Superposition. Superposition allows qubits to exist in multiple states simultaneously, so when qubits are grouped together this can create complex, multidimensional computational spaces with unfathomable computational power. Another concept crucial to the creation of Quantum Computers is entanglement. Entanglement allows qubits to become correlated with each other, no matter how far apart they are physically. This interconnectedness can be harnessed to perform complex computations at super-fast speeds (up to 158 million times faster than a classical computer). An additional physics principle used in quantum computing is interference. Interference is created when groups of entangled qubits generate waves of probability which build on each other causing the crests of the waves to become amplified and troughs to be cancelled out. This allows quantum computers to find solutions to a problem, as a user can prepare a quantum circuit which follows an algorithm that uses interference selectively on qubits under superposition, causing solutions to be amplified and other possible outcomes to be cancelled out by interference.

One potential use of quantum computers is in drug and chemical research. Due to quantum computers’ incredible computational power, they can model complex molecules and proteins much more accurately than any current computers. Another use of quantum computers is in cryptography. As quantum computers use entanglement, this allows them to solve a lot of problems simultaneously which means in future quantum computers could be used to easily jailbreak any encryption and passwords, so they are a potential cybersecurity threat. However, quantum computers’ use of entanglement also allows them to create essentially unbreakable encryption and cryptography. Quantum computers could also be used to aid financial services due to their modelling capabilities; they could be used to help financial organizations better understand the trends and movements of the global economy. Quantum computers will likely be used to enhance Artificial intelligence and machine learning as it is far quicker at processing and analysing large unstructured data sets that are currently being used to create machine learning models. What can Quantum Computers be used for?

-05

Unravelling the Potential of Quantum Computers A Leap into the Future of Computing

WHAT CHALLENGES ARE PREVENTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM COMPUTING?

Quantum computers are extremely vulnerable to external factors such as temperature and electromagnetic radiation which causes decoherence (decoherence is where qubits lose their quantum behaviours and return to behaving like normal bits that can only represent 0s and 1s). Another problem with the development of quantum computers is scalability. Currently researchers such as IBM are using superconducting circuits to help create larger quantum computers that are still reliable. However, IBM is still only able to make a quantum computer with around 1000 qubits, whereas for a quantum computer to have the computational power to be commercially viable it will need to have at least 1 million qubits.

Conclusion Quantum computers represent a paradigm shift in computing, promising unprecedented computational power that could revolutionise various industries. While the technology is still in its infancy, the rapid pace of advancements and growing interest from both industry and academia suggest a future where quantum computers become an integral part of our technological landscape. As researchers continue to tackle the challenges associated with quantum computing, but the potential applications and benefits are vast, offering a glimpse into a future where complex problems can be solved at speeds and efficiencies previously thought impossible. If you would like to learn more about quantum computers, I would recommend going to either the Microsoft or IBM websites as they are both companies that are developing quantum computers and have both published lots of informative articles on the topic.

by Rupert Hooper

-06

Wolf Reintroduction

BY EMMA ORTIZ

Reintroducing wolves to UK landscapes

The wolf was once an integral part of the UK yet has been eradicated over the course of history due to the Big Bad Wolf stereotype. However, today there is growing pressure to reintroduce this apex predator to the UK’s ecosystem and restore nature’s harmony. In this article, we will discuss the rationale, challenges and potential benefits that arise from this controversial topic. The wolf was thought to be endemic to the UK, with over 2 million wolves roaming the hilly terrain, preying on deer and other grazing animals. Despite our relationship with dogs, their ancestors were viewed as a danger to people and a threat to livestock, causing wolf hunting parties to become a popular activity. This meant that by 1760, there was a dull, sinister silence caused by the lack of the haunting howl of the wolf. Wolves, being the top of the food chain, were a keystone predator. They were responsible for managing the population of deer and elk, yet in their absence, these herbivores have increased significantly in number. Although everyone may love the pretty picture of Bambi and his friends roaming the countryside without having to worry about predators, not everyone is too keen on the idea of overgrazing. But why is overgrazing so bad? Won’t it just lead to a chubby population of deer and elk?

I am afraid not. Overgrazing can cause several negative effects:

The success of Yellowstone has proved that the reintroduction of the wolf is very much possible. There are now over 100 wolves roaming in this national park and have caused nothing but a diverse array of positive outcomes. This includes: - Healthier plant species, such as willow - More food for the whole ecosystems (including the small scavengers all the way

- With global warming rising at a sky rocketing rate, plants and trees are essential to reducing our embarrassingly high carbon footprint. However, if these plants are in the stomachs of our furry friends, then they can no longer fulfil their role as our carbon storage machines. - From a farmer’s point of view, overgrazing means vegetation will be unable to flourish and will decrease their crop yield. - From the point of view of Bambi’s friends, Thumper (the rabbit) and Faline (the skunk), and many other similar species, overgrazing can lead to habitat degradation, leaving them homeless. Many claim that “we are not ready”. They fear that wolves would not prey upon deer, instead they would go for the “sitting ducks”: the sheep. This leads to 2 main questions: - What viable compensation schemes would provide an incentive for farmers? Would you be willing to pay the farmer if a wolf eats its sheep? How could we be able to control the damage that the wolf would cause? What is to stop them from eating people’s dogs, as happened in Sweden? These problems would all be stopped by the wolf, so why have they not been re-introduced yet?

to the grizzly bears) - An increasing the

adaptability rate of deer and elk due to natural selection.

Let me leave you with this – do you think the UK is ready for wolves? If so, what should its restoration plan look like?

You may think that due to this, the reintroduction of wolves is impossible. You are wrong.

-07

HOW SPACE TRAVEL AFFECTS THE BODY by Lexi Humber

The short-term nausea that astronauts face upon returning to earth can last up to 10 days after landing, with symptoms including vertigo, cold sweating, vomiting and more. The reason this occurs is due to the astronaut needing to get reacclimatised with earth's gravity after being in a microgravity environment for an extended period. Furthermore, while in space, the lack of gravity affects the inner ear causing astronauts to feel a loss of balance, co-ordination and spatial tracking so it ’ s difficult for them to pilot and complete tasks, making their work even more impressive. NASA preformed an in-depth study on a pair of twins, Scott and Mark Kelly. One twin travelled to the international space station for a year whilst his brother remained on earth and this caused differences in their genes. Scott's genes were observed to have an increase in methylation, which is the process of ‘ turning genes on and off ’ . There are dangers associated with this, as it changes the genes which can lead to diseases. Methylation is one of the basics of epigenetics, that shows how a change in environment can alter our genes. Furthermore, space travel has also been proven to alter the telomeres within the genes. Telomeres are structures attached to the end of the genes that are responsible for protecting the strands from being destroyed. Research has found that they elongate in length and shrink once returning to earth, which may be attributed to chronic oxidative stress. This research is key in discovering ways that humans may, in the future, be able to travel safely into space for long periods of time, aiding the progress of science. Overall, space travel affects the body in many ways that are detrimental to astronauts ’ mental and physical health, and this makes their work that much more impressive.

Astronauts face extreme isolation, radiation, microgravity and more on a daily basis. Space travel can cause their bones to degrade, (calcium being shown in the urine). But surely once they come back to earth all their problems are over? Wrong. Upon returning to earth, astronauts must face some of the long lasting or even permanent effects on their body, some of them being blindness, muscle and bone loss, and increased risk of cancer and even changes to the genome. Astronaut Michael Barratt ’ s journey to the international space station in 2009 made him experience some eyesight loss. This sparked research in the correlation between vision loss and space travel. The reason that many astronauts in the past experienced eyesight loss is due to an increase in pressure on the skull and brain due to microgravity. Fluids shift within the brain causing the optic nerve to swell and this causes the eye to change structure. NASA have now identified these symptoms as a part of (SANS) Space associated neuro-ocular syndrome and the symptoms can be permanent for the individual. Gravity on earth usually distributes blood evenly around the body, however in space the lack of gravity can cause blood to ‘ accumulate in the brain ’ which can lead to diseases such as oedema, an accumulation of fluid in the body.

-08-

DREAMS by Sophie Tyler

Whatare Dreams ? Dreams are a series of

episodes that happen when you are sleeping that seem real. Dreams are the recall of mental activity that happens while we sleep and tend to consist of random sequences, thoughts, and experiences that have come from when you are awake. They don’t tend to stick in our mind for very long and unless actively thought about, they are genuinely forgotten in minutes. They tend to occur in the REM stage of your sleep, excluding night terrors. Dreams are some of the least understood activities of the brain, even though the majority of people dream. .

Psychologists and philosophers have researched them for a long time, and with recent innovation in technology, the current hypothesis is that dreams represent the recollection of events that have happened when people are awake to help form memories.

Other theories include that they are random brain activity; contrary to popular belief, your brain is still very active whilst you are asleep. In a typical sleep pattern, a person has four to five cycles of 90- minute sleep consisting of NREM and REM periods that occupy approximately 20% of the night

-09-

T Y P E S O F D R E A M S

A standard dream varies from person to person, however some typical features are: most dreams are predominately visual, most people dream in colour, but some are in black and white; the less stressed you are the nicer your dreams are; and that they’re normally non-logical.

One abnormal type of dream is a nightmare. Simply put, nightmares are dreams that are scary or disturbing. Some causes of nightmares are watching or reading something scary, sleep deprivation, eating before bed, medication, being ill, or a sleep disorder. People that are under high levels of stress or have a mental health condition are more likely to experience nightmares. The most common themes of nightmares are death/dying, violence, or being chased.

Another abnormal dream type is night terrors. They are not nightmares, but instead are a type of sleep disorder. When you have a night terror, you tend to wakeup terrified whilst not really knowing what you dreamt about. Night terrors are most common in children, possibly because they know less about the world and thus are afraid of more things. When you wake up with a night terror, you will experience typical stress symptoms, for example a racing heart, as if you were actually in that situation. The differences between nightmares and night terrors are that night terrors happen in non-REM sleep while nightmare happen in REM sleep, night terrors are more common in children whereas nightmares are universal, and nightmares tend to be remembered whereas night terrors are forgotten.

Lucid dreams (being aware that you’re dreaming while still dreaming) are a less frequently occurring type of abnormal dream; however, studies have showed that 55% of people experience them once in their lifetime. You can often control your lucid dreams, which can be used to help recurring dreams and nightmares. Another type of dream is recurring dreams. These are dreams that repeat more than once. You can have natural recurring dreams or recurring nightmares; if you have recurring nightmares, it is usually due to an external mental health factor. Common themes of recurring dreams are being attacked or chased, falling, or being frozen with fear. In conclusion, dreams are still somewhat of an enigma to psychologists and can be explained by real events that have happened in your life.

-10-

WHAT IS BLOOD?

BY ALEXANDER HORNSEY

Many cultures around the world have an interesting relationship with blood - blood rituals, menstrual blood, even vampires. Let’s take a tour of different types of blood and why they evolved.First off, what is the purpose of blood? Well, human blood has four components, as your GCSE biology syllabus says: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets. Red blood cells distribute oxygen around the body, white blood cells fight off pathogens, platelets clot, and plasma have a myriad of functions, including homeostasis (a very complex process, which does not change much across the animal world, however, animals and birds, as warm-blooded animals, have specific proteins that allow them to keep their high body temperature relative to their environment),a relatively simple job because there is not much selective pressure acting on them.

So . . . Why is blood red? We have haemoglobin in our blood, a protein which contains iron (the ion of which is . . . red!), so that it will bind to oxygen. There are other available blood colours however! For example, octopuses, and other molluscs, have hemocyanin instead, which is a blue/blue-green colour and uses copper instead of iron. One of the reasons for this is because seawater has more dissolved copper than iron in it. The other main evolutionary benefit is that hemocyanin does not denature at lower temperatures; and so is better for cold environments than haemoglobin. Some marine worms and leeches have green blood – this contains chlorocruorin, which can carry more oxygen than haemoglobin, and has nitrogen in its formula. There is not known to be a specific evolutionary reason for this, beyond it being more efficient at its job. Some other marine worms have hemerythrin or vanabin, which cause a purple hue, and can function in very-low oxygen environments, like the deep sea. Now the most interesting groups. Some fish have transparent blood – they have no pigmented protein to carry oxygen with! They are small enough, and have a sophisticated enough respiratory system, where they can rely on plasma to transport oxygen for them. Finally, some insects and annelids have haemolymph, which relies on dissolved oxygen – this is more efficient than haemoglobin, but only works for very small creatures (think surface area to volume ratios!).

H

-11-

Here’s a fun fact: Non-mammal red blood cells have nuclei. Some scientists believe this is because early mammals and their ancestors (synapsids) needed to evolve for greater speed and mobility (our limbs being under us rather than to the side, supports this theory) and thus higher oxygen capacity was obviously necessary.

SO WHY DO WOMEN BLEED?

Why do women bleed? One of the most culturally fascinating types of blood is menstrual blood. Humans are one of only four mammal groups that actually have menstrual blood (apes and old-world monkeys, some bats, elephant shrews, and one rodent species). Most of the other mammals still have menstrual cycles; they just reabsorb the old womb-lining rather than bleed it out. To this day, no one understands why women bleed. However, there are some theories. A feature this seemingly random set of mammals all share is that, for a large part of their evolution, they were either arboreal or flew. Therefore, the main negative evolutionary effect of menstrual bleeding (being easily trackable by predators) did not exist, and as it is a relatively insignificant amount of blood in comparison to the total amount in the body, there was not that much else stopping it from happening. Thus, if a mutation for menstrual bleeding arose, there was no evolutionary disadvantage, and thus they spread. This also aligns with the fact that not all historically flying mammals bleed every month; thus, if menstrual bleeding arose in any other non-arboreal mammal, it would be selected against, but in arboreal mammals, it has a chance of surviving the test of time.

So, next time you get a cut, take a step back and think of everything that went into making your blood.

-12-

Different views on equilibrium in economics

BY GABRIELA BOLOKAN

Keynes had a different view of the equilibrium. He challenged classical notions of market self adjustment and introduced the concept of ‘ macroeconomics’. He argued that aggregate demand is the driving force behind economic fluctuations. He believed government interventions were necessary, unlike Smith who believed in the ‘invisible hand theory’. Keynes believed the equilibrium could stabilise during recessions through interventions such as fiscal policy, monetary and supply side. For example, during periods of economic downturn he advocated to enforce ‘countercyclical fiscal policy’ in order to stimulate demand and create employment. Overall, he believed that equilibrium can be achieved through the government getting involved and that the economy is not self-correcting so without this intervention, it may result in recessions and depressions.

Equilibrium can be defined as ‘ the condition or state in which economic forces (such as supply and demand) are balanced’. One economist who had his own view of the concept of equilibrium was Adam Smith. He referred to it as the centre of gravity of the economic system where the market forces of supply and demand tend to balance each other known as the theory of market equilibrium. He believed in this ‘invisible hand theory‘ which is through the pursuit of self-interest, an efficient economy inevitably results, where market prices are in equilibrium. Adam Smith believed in a free market, this ‘laissez-faire’ attitude by having minimal government intervention results in market equilibrium. He believed like many others that disrupting the economy would cause an intervention in reaching equilibrium by this ‘ invisible hand’. By thinking like this, he laid the groundwork for future economists

Overall, there are two views on equilibrium that I have discussed.

One being the view of not believing in government

intervention (Adam Smith’s view) and the belief that the economy will naturally stabilise due to this ‘invisible hand theory’ and individuals act in their own self interest, seeking to maximise their well-being. He agreed with the concept of ‘laissez-faire’ which is very different to Keynes’s view of the equilibrium. He wanted the government to get involved as without their intervention, it would result in a recession or depression therefore, he implemented policies such as fiscal. This policy insured that aggregate demand was meeting taxation, and it did work to some extent. Keynes and Smith are two different views on how the equilibrium is obtained and how it can remain stable. aggregate supply through government spending and

-13-

CLARE HUGHES

episode 13

Oliver Visram and Joe Shapiro interview Clare Hughes, a clinical scientist in biochemistry working at St George’s Hospital in London.

Clare : We have very good reliability. We do lots of quality control as part of our job. Most of our tests are run on big, automated machines. So, most of the time we don't actually touch the samples at all. Usually, the blood tubes are about 4 millilitres, 5 millilitres, and they go onto a conveyor belt. And the conveyor belt reads the barcode on the sample, sends it to the correct analyser, and runs the test. We have three sets of analysers. And the tests usually use around 50 to 100 microlitres of blood. So, really, tiny volumes. If you think there's 1000 microlitres in 1 millilitre, we're using 50 microlitres, so it's a really, tiny amount. To get a reliable result, we look at both accuracy and precision which are two different things and often get really confused. We do a lot of quality control. Depending on the test, we might run several, what we call internal quality control samples.

Oliver : Clare, thank you very much for coming on to this show with us today. Would you mind giving us a bit of a brief overview of what being a clinical scientist in biochemistry means? Clare : I work in the biochemistry laboratory in the hospital where we process a huge quantity of blood samples for hundreds of different tests. My role specifically is about interpreting those tests and adding lots of comments to them. We can give advice to GPs and hospital staff about how the tests work, what they can be used for, and how to interpret the results. We can often give lots of specific advice that you wouldn't get from just seeing the patient.

Clare : We run about 9,000 samples a day in our biochemistry lab. And the main part of my job is to look at the results of those. Usually, it's the abnormal results that we look at. And tests are often broken into different groups that look at the function of different parts of the body. Our most common tests look at your kidney function, your liver function, and your heart function. And we can tell lots of different things. We might be able to alert doctors to really acute situations. We might be able to say that this patient's got really bad liver function, you need to investigate what might be the cause. Joe : So, 9000 tests, I mean that is a, that's a huge number. And presumably all of these tests are really important. What kind of reliability do you get when you're running all of these?

Joe : A full on job! What's your day like?

-14-

So, there are samples with a known concentration. And we usually have three levels, so there might be a low level, a medium and a high and they'll get run at certain points throughout the day. And we look at how close our measured result is to what it should be. And we have a threshold and if it fails, we stop the testing. So, we do tend to get very good results. It's very rigorous. Joe : One of the things that really interests me about your work is how you read these blood test results. It’s not like there's just a spreadsheet in the DNA that says this is what’s happening with the lungs. How is it that you get this data? Clare : To get those results we have various methods, depending on what it is that you're measuring. So potassium and sodium. are one of our most common tasks. These are electrolytes that are particularly important for water balance in your body. You’ve probably noticed that if you eat a really salty bag of crisps, you feel thirsty. Maybe you know that if you're going to do a marathon, you need to, as well as taking on water, you also need to take on electrolytes. That’s all about keeping these electrolytes at a very tight controlled concentration. And we measure those using ion selective electrodes. You have an electrode that measures hydrogen and sodium ions by measuring the charge that passes across them. And then it's able to calculate the concentration of the sodium in that sample. So that's one of our methods. for a lot of other things, we use what got described as a chemistry test. And they often rely on a chemical reaction between whatever it is you're measuring something it reacts with, and it usually results in a colour change, or it sometimes results in an added particle that causes it to kind of clump together.

And then you can measure the change in transmission of light passing through it. So, for example, say you've got a really high concentration of something. It causes a massive coagulation of these particles and therefore your light transmission goes down. So you get an inverse relationship between your concentration and your light transmission.And then our other common type of test is immunoassay. so this is, often we use this to measure different types of proteins. And this relies on antibody interaction. So you can make antibodies that are very specific. to a tiny portion of that protein that you're looking at. So we can measure testosterone in your blood by using an antibody against a tiny portion of the testosterone molecule.

-15-

And then you add various other antibodies and reagents that bind to that original antibody. And again, it will cause a colour change or luminescent change Then you can translate to a direct concentration in the blood, and that's the sex results that we look at. They just come through on our computer system essentially, it's like a bit of a list. So we'll get patient information, so we'll, we know a lot about them, so we'll know their name, their sex. We often know where the request has come from, because the way we handle those results are quite different. Patients on an intensive care ward are being looked after much more closely, and they're also much more likely to be really sick, as opposed to a patient that's walked down to their GP practice. You'd be a bit worried if they've got the same type of results. Sometimes we get clinical details, so we might be able to tell why they've had that blood test in the first place. So, sometimes you get them and they're a bit unhelpful and it just says unwell, and you kind of think, well, the patient's gone for a blood test, so they can't be in tip top shape. But other times you might get much more useful details that tell you they might be having fertility investigations or perhaps they've got a rash or tummy ache.

And we can give a better answer for what that pattern of results might be if we know a bit more about the patient. Joe : Almost like zooming out a bit to you and your life and maybe other people who might want to follow a similar profession as you. So I'm in year nine, I'm kind of looking at GCSEs currently, if there were like a top three GCSEs that you either need or have been really useful to you in what you've been researching, what do you think that’d be? Clare : Science, so at GCSE level, doing as much science as you can, double science, triple science and again, at A level, I did biology and chemistry I was never much of a physicist but science in general opens quite a lot of doors. Even if you don't become a scientist as such it's a really interesting and you can do lots of slightly connected jobs. You can, you could work in marketing for a science company, for example, if you've got a bit of science background. So for me, I would have always, I love science at school and maths as well. As a scientist, being unafraid of numbers is very helpful. I don't have to do masses of complicated maths. But you do need statistics. We do quite a lot of statistics, maths and science, and English, I suppose English is still really important. We have to be able to communicate properly with our clinical teams, with our colleagues.

I'mmuch better at the science.

And then once I'd done my GCSEs, I did chemistry, biology and maths at A level. Mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something in science, but had no idea what. I Never really wanted to be a doctor. so that was kind of out, but I really like health care and working in health care. And I actually was in my second year at uni, I think, before I knew what clinical biochemistry was. So it's really great that you're so interested in hearing about all these different science careers, because I just didn't know about them when I was your age.

Oliver : It's been wonderful. Thank you very much.

Do listen to more of our Slightly Scientific podcasts.

-16-

MEET CHATGPT’S EVIL COUSIN

Matthew Croston

Similarly, rather than spending hours writing and debugging malware, a program can be created in about 3 seconds and refined and completed within minutes. Its creator tested it with the following prompt:

We all hate when we ask a slightly risky question to ChatGPT and it gives you a condescending lecture on ethics instead of a fun response. It turns out, however, that some people hate it a lot more than others, and an individual from the deep dark depths of HackForums took it upon themselves to create a GPT clone that’s like ChatGPT except it knows no ethical boundaries. This model is called WormGPT. Firstly, it’s important to distinguish between them. ChatGPT is a program created and run by OpenAI, a legitimate and respected organisation. WormGPT has no connection to or endorsement by OpenAI and is run by entirely different people. Literally, the only thing these two LLMs (Large Language Model, a type of large AI program) have in common is the “GPT” in the name. The program describes itself as “the biggest enemy” of ChatGPT and is marketed at aiding cybercrime, rather than helpful activities. It can create malware, phishing emails or fake news, conduct social engineering attacks or impersonate individuals. Experts such as Daniel Kelley from the cybersecurity company Slash Next warn that this could have big implications. It doesn’t cause a direct risk to personal data, but it does facilitate any attacks that people want to perform. For example, one feature of scam emails that a lot of people catch is the bad spelling and grammar, but an email written by WormGPT (which does not have this error) can be constantly refined by the software to make it more convincing.

Due to recent media attention, mostly highlighting the dangers of the bot, he’s decided to implement some basic constraints so that people see it less as “malicious” but merely “uncensored”. He also argues that it’s no different than a “jailbroken” ChatGPT, a state where OpenAI’s bot would also give unrestricted answers if injected with a strain of publicly-available prompts known as “DAN”, short for “Do Anything Now”. There were multiple variants, but these prompts would effectively gaslight ChatGPT into information. These days, almost all DAN prompts have been patched and those that remain are unreliable and far weaker, so perhaps WormGPT was created to make up for this patch. On the one hand, people say that technological innovation (both good and bad, including WormGPT) is an inevitable consequence of human curiosity and pursuing knowledge. On the other hand, some people argue that it’s unacceptable that this service exists in the first place and it must be illegal or eradicated for society’s wellbeing. thinking it now has no ethical boundaries, and thus give any

“Write me a python malware that grabs computer’s username, external ip address,

and google chrome cookies, zip everything and send to a discord webhook”

To which it responded with a fully functional commented program to do just that. This might sound doom-and-gloom, but it’s not the end of the world. Firstly, someone using the bot still has to know what they’re doing, and it’s not even guaranteed that the programs will function properly. Also, the bot isn’t giving cybercriminals any new knowledge, it’s just speeding things up. If they were going to attack, they would do it anyway, and advances in cybersecurity are making breaches less and less common. Who is behind it? According to security expert Brian Krebs, WormGPT was made by a Portuguese developer who goes by the pseudonym “Last”. Last has a known history on HackForums and has released other software than WormGPT such as a data stealing Trojan and keylogger called “Arctic Stealer” and a modified version of the information stealer DCRat. They advertised WormGPT as allowing users to do “all sorts of illegal things” and at the time of writing, WormGPT has about 200 customers.

-17-

B Y C ONO R WA R E

SUSTAINABILITY IN FORMULA ONE T F he complex logistics of the sport is an area which allows for significant alteration and improvement to cut down on F1’s global footprint. F1’s engineering teams are at the forefront of new, important designs such as ‘flexible’ shipping containers to unlock more economic fuel transportation using trains and sea freight as opposed to air transport. Testing in other sectors is also undergoing, with recent experimental changes to qualifying sessions permitting fewer tyres to be supplied to each team per race, totalling several thousand fewer tyres needing to be transported worldwide per season.

ormula One is known worldwide as one of the fastest, most dangerous and most watched sports in the world, attracting over 400 million viewers a year. Over 20 events are held annually, spanning across four continents, with hundreds of thousands attending every race. Furthermore, these figures are only growing as it is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. However, this all comes at a significant cost to the environment. An independent report in 2019 found that the high-octane sport generated 256 thousand tonnes of CO2 emissions in that season alone. In response to this, an ambitious plan has been created to become net zero by 2030. Two race tracks have already achieved this goal, using solar panels to generate the electricity required to entirely offset the grand prix at the Circuit de Paul Ricard in France and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada. Furthermore, two other circuits have made significant steps towards being powered by 100% sustainable energy. In addition, initiatives are being taken to further promote the use of environmentally friendly methods of travelling to these events as well.

A

nother key area of development comes from regulatory changes surrounding the fuel used. With 110kg of fuel used by each driver per race, not including other sessions such as practice and qualifying, it is vital to ensure this fuel is as sustainable as possible. The current hybrid engine system is currently the most efficient engine in the world, when compared to any other non-electric road car in production. It uses a breakthrough E-10 fuel, comprising of 90% fuel and 10% renewable ethanol. However, from 2026 more changes will be made to even further perfect the engine. The engines will run on 100% sustainable fuels, often referred to as e-fuels. Carbon capture is used during the production process of the fuel, with it producing 96% less emissions than standard fossil fuels.

Whilst cutting F1’s annual emissions of 256 thousand may seem significant, it pales in comparison to the 37 billion total global CO2 emissions per year. However, the true benefit of these changes does not come through the sport alone. For decades Formula One has massively influenced the transport sector, with key inventions such as active suspension, Kinetic energy recovery systems and hybrid engines all originating from the sport. The new e-fuel is being designed in such a way that it could be implemented immediately into 2 billion cars currently in use all across the world, showing it is possible for these advancements to be scaled up to revolutionise environmental stability on a much larger scale. F1 owner, Stefano Domenicali, has stated that he wishes for the sport to take a “leadership and pioneering role for the good of society” in regards to creating a sustainable and environmentally friendly future.

-18-

In recent years, the number of people concerned with what we consume has skyrocketed. We are in an era where we listen to influencers on the internet saying whatever they can to sell whatever “health” supplements or “health” foods they invest in. How do they do this? Fearmongering. They persuade people that certain foods are toxic to eat as they have chemicals in them. First, it is imperative to state that all food is made of chemicals. When food has labels of “chemical-free”, it refers only to synthetic chemicals. It is crucial to note that not all synthetic chemicals are toxic, but we must also be aware of the ones that are. We must balance using chemicals to make food cheaper and confidently feeding our families safely. In hopes of revealing a new light on some myths that have spread, I am here to show you that not all chemicals are poison. Fear Mongering of Chemicals Fearmongering of Chemicals by Catherine Zotov

Baby Formula

Baby formula milk is one of the many products in stores that are falsely flagged as overly artificial. Often, baby formula has a list of ingredients on the back of the box or tub, listing many different chemical compounds. For all parents, this can be a daunting experience as they are responsible for what their child eats. Not knowing what you are feeding your child can be terrifying, but there are two reasons why products such as cow’s milk are unsuitable for babies. Firstly, cow’s milk doesn’t contain all the nutrients required to feed a baby, such as iron. Secondly, cow’s milk contains large proteins that are difficult for young babies to digest because their kidneys can’t process them, which can cause illnesses such as fevers. According to the NHS, parents should either breastfeed their babies or feed them an instant formula for the first six months of their babies’ lives. This is why people who choose to profit off the fear that most parents have of feeding poison to their children is such a problem, as they will conclude that everything around them is baby poison.

-19-

MSG

MSG is put in food as a flavour enhancer, like salt, and has been used since the 20th Century. In the 1960s, Dr Robert Ho Man Kwok reported to the England Journal of Medicine that he had fallen ill because of MSG seasoning. Following this, an investigation into MSG was conducted by Dr Ho Man, finding that high doses can result in symptoms like headaches, nausea, heart palpitations and muscle pains, sowing the seeds of fear of the seasoning. Years later, the FDA (U.S Food and Drug Administration) found that unless you are intolerant or allergic to it, these symptoms will not occur. According to the FDA, it is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS), which is the safety rating of salt and pepper. In addition, the FDA claims that consuming 3 grams of MSG without food can cause the symptoms found in Dr Ho Man’s investigation. The FDA states that you’ll eat approximately 0.5 grams of MSG in one serving of food, so it is inconceivable that you’ll consume 3 grams of MSG without food in one day. Studies such as Dr Ho Man’s investigation are a key reason why “chemicals”, such as MSG, are seen as poison. In fact, investigations such as these are what sow the seeds of fear of many products, i.e. vaccines. It is vital to get a well-rounded view on topics such as these and not trust the first random person on Facebook who squeals “poison!”, to avoid fearing things we don’t need to be afraid of. Ultimately, it is up to each of us to choose what we consume and what we feed our family members. Sometimes companies use synthetic chemicals as cheaper alternatives to their products. Sometimes they’re identical to what is created naturally. Sometimes they can have adverse affects. Not all synthetic chemicals cause harm. What matters is if you’re okay with ingesting these chemicals and whether you are okay with feeding them to others.

By Catherine Zotov

GRANDIOSEDELUSIONS by Lillian Pao

Alice in Wonderland is commonly acknowledged as an allegory for the journey to self-understanding and self-actualization, and Alice’s imagination of Wonderland is also commonly interpreted as psychosis which is caused by schizophrenia (a mental disorder characterised by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, speech and behaviour). However, the novel was published long before the symptoms of schizophrenia (originally called dementia praecox) was considered a discrete mental illness in 1887. Although Alice’s ‘mad’ hallucination is a work of fiction, it is interesting to understand how such wild imagination can be reality for some people.

Zooming into a lesser-compared but nonetheless important character, the witty Caterpillar (also known as Absolem in the 2010 adaptation), who treats Alice condescendingly but helps her with discovering her identity in Wonderland, and his psychoanalytic interpretations. Many psychologists argue that by strongly believing that he is an oracle of Wonderland, having incredible intelligence and feeling superior over other Wonderlanders, as well as constantly smoking a hookah, the Caterpillar may be a symbol of addiction as well as delusion (a symptom of schizophrenia) -- specifically delusions of grandeur.

G R A N D I O S E D E L U S I O N S

Whataredelusionsof grandeur? Delusions are defined as unreasonable and incorrect beliefs. Delusions of grandeur causes a belief that one is better than others, feeling as though one is above the law, making unreasonable demands on others, as well as having a sense of entitlement. Around 50% of people with schizophrenia may experience grandiose delusions, and during Carroll’s time of writing, it was also believed that there was a correlation between one’s intelligence and their chances of experiencing delusions, in which those of higher intelligence were more likely to become ‘mad’. A delusion of grandeur may seem like very high self-esteem and an inflated sense of self-importance, but it is a much stronger disconnection from reality. Healthy people can hold unreasonably high opinions of themselves, but unlike them, those with delusions of grandeur hold unshakable conviction that their delusions are true. Currently, no test can confirm a delusional disorder. However, detailed mental history, substance usage, mania episodes and obviously bizarre behaviour would be taken into account to make a diagnosis.

symptons

Although grandiose delusions can result in harm and distress to the person’s physical, social, emotional well-being (such as believing one is immortal and walking across a highway), grandiose delusions can also be highly meaningful as they provide a sense of purpose, belonging, or self-identity, so that the person can make sense of unusual or difficult events. Grandiose delusions can manifest in many beliefs such as that one is immortal, famous or a religious leader. In addition, there may be other symptoms such as difficulty in getting along with others, persistent belief (despite contrary evidence) and anger at people who refuse to accept their delusional beliefs. Delusions of grandeur often accompany other delusions (such as fear of persecution or unusual religious beliefs), which can be related to conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and dementia. The cultural context that the person is brought up in also plays a significant role in shaping these delusions as culture affects one’s knowledge and what they believe. Something that is considered a delusion in one culture may not be in another. Since delusions of grandeur are typically related to a mental health condition, most people may also experience other symptoms.

A 2006 study shows that other mental health factors can alter the content of a person’s schizophrenic delusions. Those with high self-esteem and less depression were more likely to have grandiose delusions, whereas those with low self-esteem and more depression were more likely to have delusions of persecution. Schizoaffective disorder (described by DSM-5 as a condition with shared symptoms between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia) can also cause delusions and hallucinations. 2 out of 3 of those with bipolar disorder may also experience delusions of grandeur manifested at times of mania when they experience a highly inflated sense of self. Other causes include narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), dementia, drugs (using cannabis increases risk by 40%), brain injury (related to the lesions of the frontal lobe, or imbalance of neurotransmitters) and delusional disorder (similar to schizophrenic delusions).