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#scicomm

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BioClocks UK

☀️ Summer is a great time to observe biological rhythms in action. Look at the insect life around you - do they come out at a particular time of day?

🐝 If so, you've found their 'temporal niche'!

🔗 Learn more through our factsheets here: www.bioclocks.uk/factsheets

#SciComm#Ecology
Wisskomm.de

Was hilft, wenn rechte Politik die Wissenschaft unter Druck setzt? Ein wichtiger Faktor: Vernetzung. Wie das gelingt, beschreibt Anna von Rath in ihrem Beitrag über das Postcolonial Studies Collective. wissenschaftskommunikation.de/ #Wisskomm #Scicomm

Wissenschaftskommunikation.deWie sich die Postcolonial Studies gegen Angriffe von rechts wehrenStatt sich zurückzuziehen, haben sich Forschende unterschiedlicher Disziplinen zusammengeschlossen. In Potsdam ist so das Postcolonial Studies Collective entstanden. Die Wissenschaftskommunikatorin Anna von Rath erzählt in ihrem Gastbeitrag, wie kollektive Resilienz in der Forschung entsteht. Die Postcolonial Studies sind ein Querschnittsthema, in dem es um die Erforschung des Kolonialismus und seiner Nachwirkungen geht. Seit den 1990er […]
The Inquisitive Biologist

This week's #NewBooks at the library: Three different books. I found bargain deals on glaciologist Jemma Wadham's Ice Rivers from Allen Lane and novelist James Hamilton-Paterson's Stuck Monkey from Apollo. I also tracked down a copy of a 6th edition #Skaven army book. (I gave away my #Warhammer miniatures to a friend but have always loved the setting - I squarely blame Jordan Sorcery's channel for rekindling it.)

#Books #Glaciology #Hydrology #ClimateChange #Consumerism #Scicomm #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Daniel MacPhee 🔬🧬🧫🇨🇦

“Austrian physicist, Lise Meitner’s story falls into this all-too familiar tradition of unacknowledged female scientists. Given the high praise of being “a physicist who never lost her humanity”…Meitner’s story is one to be remembered”
#Science #Physics #Fission #Scicomm #WomenInScience
mcgill.ca/oss/article/student-

Office for Science and SocietyLise Meitner: The Forgotten Mother of Nuclear FissionScience is the story of discoveries but sometimes credit isn’t given when it is due. How many women discoverers can you name? Discoveries such as DNA’s double helix structure and the greenhouse effect are tainted by their unjust past. Rosalind Franklin and Eunice Newton Foote, respectively, are two women whose work led to each of these discoveries, and both were snubbed by male researchers. While not necessarily always intentional, such as in the case of Foote, this lack of recognition speaks to a larger systemic issue among prestigious scientific institutions. The discovery of nuclear fission was no different. Austrian physicist, Lise Meitner’s story falls into this all-too familiar tradition of unacknowledged female scientists. Given the high praise of being “a physicist who never lost her humanity” by her nephew and lab partner, Otto Frisch, Meitner’s story is one to be remembered. A Nuclear Physicist is Born Lise Meitner, born on November 7th, 1878, was one of Hedwig Skovran and Philipp Meitner’s eight children. Meitner was drawn to mathematics and physics from a young age and in 1906, was the second woman to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. She moved to Berlin shortly after to attend the lectures of the renowned physicist, Max Planck. This was unusual, as Planck did not typically allow women into his lectures, but he made an exception for Meitner. Planck was the originator of quantum theory – an explanation of how matter behaves at the atomic level. In her first year in Berlin, in addition to going to Planck's’ lectures, Meitner also connected with and began a long-term research partnership with physicist, Otto Hahn. However, because Meitner was a woman, she was not allowed in his laboratory until 1909, and in the interim worked in a small room, alone, originally designed to be a carpenter’s shop. In 1912, Meitner and Hahn moved to the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, now the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. This partnership led to many groundbreaking discoveries – despite a brief hiatus during World War 1 when Hahn was enlisted into the army and Meitner worked as an X-ray technician for the Austrian army. Meitner was discharged in September of 1916, and until Hahn’s return in April of 1917, Meitner oversaw experiments herself. Once reunited, the pair wasted no time before they discovered the highly radioactive and toxic element Protactinium in late 1917. This discovery, alongside the many others, earned Hahn and Meitner well-deserved recognition. Meitner then took to studying beta radiation, which consists of fast-moving electrons, and in 1922, discovered what is now known as the Auger effect, the release of electrons from an atom. While Meitner was the first to discover this, two years after her findings, French physicist, Pierre-Victor Auger was given the credit for the discovery. In 1926, Meitner was named the first woman university physics professor in Germany. That was also the year she began her work on nuclear fission. Life Beyond Germany While Meitner’s future was bright, the world was growing darker. With the rise of antisemitism and Hitler’s appointment as chancellor of Germany in 1933, Europe was becoming increasingly dangerous for Jews. On account of her Austrian citizenship, Meitner stayed in Germany longer than most Jewish researchers. However, upon Germany’s annexation of Austria in the spring of 1938, Meitner fled to the Netherlands, with the help of Niels Bohr who had been awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in physics. In July of 1938, Meitner moved to Sweden, all the while continuing to collaborate with Hahn, and his new collaborator Fritz Straussman by mail, but this could not make up for the devastation felt by Meitner as she had to leave behind her life's work. Hahn conducted various experiments, enlisting the help of Meitner to interpret his findings. But they hit a roadblock. Drawing from previous research done by a group of Italian researchers, they looked at what would happen when they bombarded uranium atoms with neutrons. While they expected neutrons to be absorbed, producing a heavier element, they were left with barium, which is a much lighter one! Perplexed by these results, Meitner sought the help of her nephew, Otto Frisch, to explain the anomaly. In 1939, the pair formally concluded that they had witnessed nuclear fission – coining this term. Nuclear fission occurs when an unstable heavy atom, Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 is bombarded with a neutron. Because the original atom is unstable, when hit with the neutron, it splits into two smaller atoms. This releases a great deal of energy, as well as 2-3 more neutrons, that can cause further fission leading to a “chain reaction.” While Hahn and Straussman had experimental evidence for nuclear fission – they were unable to identify what they were witnessing. Meitner and Frisch, on the other hand, were the ones able to articulate how nuclear fission worked. When World War 2 began, so did the race to build an atomic bomb. Scientists realized that nuclear fission had a terrifying capacity to create massive destruction. However, when approached, Meitner refused to collaborate on the top-secret Manhattan Project. In 1944, when the Nobel Committee awarded their prize in Chemistry, Hahn alone was recognized. It is said that in his acceptance speech, he referred to Meitner as merely a lab colleague, not even naming her. Lise Meitner did not let this stop her. She remained in Sweden, becoming a citizen and continued to contribute to the field of nuclear physics, receiving numerous prestigious awards recognizing her work in the field. Throughout the rest of her career, she advocated for women’s inclusion in science and helped to uplift female voices in male-dominated spaces. A pioneer in her field, let us never forget the name: Lise Meitner, the mother of nuclear fission. @‌EvaKellner Eva Kellner is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Science, with a major in Environment. Her research interests include urban green spaces, urban agriculture, and outdoor community spaces - all as promoters of climate resilience among city-dwellers. Part of the OSS mandate is to foster science communication and critical thinking in our students and the public. We hope you enjoy these pieces from our Student Contributors and welcome any feedback you may have!
Daniel MacPhee 🔬🧬🧫🇨🇦

From Tea to Tonic Water.
#Tea #Science #Scicomm #Chemistry
mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-

Office for Science and SocietyWhen Tea Changes Hues Out of the BlueThis article was first published in The Montreal Gazette. So there I was, ready with a tea bag in one hand, a slice of lemon in the other and a couple of grandkids collared into being the audience. I said we were going to do a chemical experiment. They were not too excited. After all, they had seen tea being made before. I think they assumed we were going to talk about, ho-hum, why tea becomes a lighter colour when lemon juice is added. Indeed, it does, because fermentation of tea leaves produces thearubigins, complex molecules in the polyphenol family with a nearly black colour. Addition of an acid like lemon juice makes a slight alteration in their molecular structure, resulting in a change in the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected. The tea turns a lighter colour. But the kids were in for a surprise. When I dunked the teabag in the hot water, the brew became a brilliant blue! Now there was an “oooh,” further amplified when a squeeze of lemon turned the tea into a crimson purple colour! And there was more amazement when the addition of baking soda, a base, first changed the colour back to blue, then to green! This obviously was no ordinary tea. It wasn’t. This was butterfly pea tea. Butterfly pea is a plant found mostly in Southeast Asia that produces flowers with beautiful blue petals in the shape of a butterfly. It also produces pods with seeds that land it in the legume family, thus the term “pea.” Its botanical name, Clitoria ternatea, is also intriguing. It seems that during the 17th century, some botanist with an active imagination saw the flower as resembling a particular part of the female anatomy. The blue colour of butterfly pea flowers is due to delphinidin, one of many anthocyanins responsible for the colour of flowers, berries, fruits, vegetables and even red wine. Anthocyanins have antioxidant properties, meaning they can neutralize potentially tissue-damaging free radicals that are byproducts of the reaction between oxygen and glucose that cells use to generate energy. It may explain why butterfly pea flowers have a history as a medicinal herb in Asia. Hot water extracts delphinidin from the petals, hence the blue tea. But there are actually four slightly different forms of delphinidin that can change back and forth depending on the acidity, the pH, of the solution. With increased acidity, a purple colour dominates, but a basic solution results in a greenish hue. I could have used purple cabbage to carry out the experiment because cyanidin, the anthocyanin it contains, also exhibits colour changes as the pH is varied. However, I had a reason for choosing butterfly pea. Recently the use of artificial dyes in food has been much criticized, especially by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who inexplicably has been installed as the Human Health and Resources Secretary in the U.S. despite having no scientific qualification for the position. He likes to vilify artificial dyes by referring to them as “petroleum-based,” creating an image of some sort of oily crud that nobody would want in their food. Artificial dyes are far removed from petroleum, having undergone numerous chemical reactions to arrive at their final form. In any case, the safety of a substance does not depend on its ancestry; it is determined by studies that have been carried out. Methylene blue, which apparently Kennedy takes for its reputed health benefits, for which there is no evidence, is made from petroleum. The starting material for the synthesis of vitamin A, which Kennedy erroneously believes can prevent measles, is beta-ionone. Guess where the compounds to produce this chemical come from. As I have said many times, while the evidence that artificial dyes produce adverse effects is paper thin, I am not opposed to their removal because they serve only a cosmetic purpose and attract consumers to foods that are generally of poor nutritional quality. But replacing the artificial dyes with natural ones does not make Froot Loops or Skittles healthier. Nevertheless, there is a movement toward the use of natural dyes. Extracts of beetroot or the cochineal insect yield red, safflower or turmeric can produce yellow, and spinach powder supplies green. However, a blue colour that is comparable to synthetic blue has been elusive. Enter butterfly pea blue! Although not as brilliant as synthetic Brilliant Blue FCF (for colouring food) it has found a use in sports drinks, alcoholic beverages, candies, ice cream and yogurt. Recently, the St. Louis-based Sensient Colors Group sought and received approval for using butterfly pea flower extract in cereals, crackers, corn and potato chips. I don’t know why one would want to colour potato chips blue, except perhaps to give the impression that they are made from blue or purple potatoes that really do exist and derive their colour from natural anthocyanins. Maybe the most imaginative use of butterfly pea flower extract is in the production of Empress 1908 Indigo Gin. Actually, the beverage contains no indigo but owes its blue colour to butterfly pea blossoms and its flavour to various botanicals in addition to the traditional juniper berries. The gin commemorates the opening of the famed Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C., in 1908, hence the name. The hotel is majestic with an old-world atmosphere and is known for its spectacular afternoon tea service that I experienced, although I don’t remember any gin. The appeal of Empress 1908 is that when mixed with tonic water, it changes colour to an alluring pink. Tonic water first appeared in India during the early 19th century, served to British soldiers with the aim of preventing malaria. It contained quinine, extracted from the bark of the Peruvian cinchona tree, that at the time was used to treat malaria and there was hope it could also prevent the disease. Because quinine is very bitter, sugar and carbon dioxide were added to make for a more palatable tonic. Today’s tonic water contains only a trace of quinine and has citric acid added for flavour. This acid and the carbonic acid that forms on carbonation make tonic water acidic. Presto! An intriguing colour change when it is added to Empress 1908 gin. A fun demonstration, but more appropriate for adults than grandkids. Anyway, the butterfly pea tea experiment turned out to be more than ho-hum, especially when we made ice cubes from the tea and added them to acidic lemonade. Soon the blue ice cubes were floating in a pretty pink solution. And there was a happy ending to this chemistry lesson. The product of the reaction could be consumed. @‌JoeSchwarcz
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
Did you know that plankton can get sunburn? UV radiation can affect microbes, #phytoplankton and #zooplankton by causing cellular molecular or genetic damage. While some species can avoid the surface zone, others can not, so therefore create protective compounds like carotenoids and mycosporine-like amino acids (MMA) to absorb #UV. This is particularly important in intense sunlight systems like the poles or alpine lakes.
#science #scicomm
mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/14/5588

MPI for Gravitational Physics

Just two weeks left! On 23 August the 10th Open Day at our gravitational-wave detector GEO600 will take place.

ℹ️ geo600.org/openday2025

Just drop by GEO600 south of Hanover, Germany, between 12:00 and 16:00 CEST, talk to our researchers, and get insights into a cutting-edge research facility.

This year, there will also be an information booth for our distributed computing project @einsteinathome.

#SciComm#Astronomy#GravitationalWaves
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