I find all my research interesting which is why I done it. Usually other people find the forensic-science-related research interesting.
When a smart thief sells something, he (or she) might try to remove the serial numbers. (A dumb thief just leaves evidence all over the place and some gets caught.) When the serial numbers are imprinted in the plastic casing, these thieves might use sandpaper to remove the serial numbers.
Forensic scientists can use oils like toluene to make the serial numbers reappear. About 6 years ago, some German forensic scientists were serving “gingerbread men” at a Christmas party and noticed that markings and scratches on the plastic try were being affected. They investigated and found that clove oil (from the spices in the gingerbread men) could be used to revisualise erased serial numbers.
A colleague got interested in this and got me involved too. He got researchers to try all kinds of different oils: tea tree oil, various pine oils, orange oil, etc. Some worked and some did not. I figured that some property of the oils was the reason. When that property had a measurement in a certain range of values, the oils worked. Outside that range the oils did not work. The specific working range depending on the plastic.
We are now writing a report that describes this discovery and then will submit the report to a journal. If a panel of scientists appointed by the journal agrees that the research was done correctly, and the results are right, then the journal will publish the report. Practicing forensic scientists can then read the report and use that discovery in their work. This is how scientists communicate their results to other scientists, through publication of reports in journals.
How would you solve a problem? You’d think about it. You’d design experiments, and you’d get results and think about them.
If you wanted to solve the problem for yourself, for having the satisfaction of solving that problem, then you’d work on your own. You wouldn’t tell anyone what you were doing in case they figured out the answer before you did.
But if you just wanted to solve the problem, as fast as you could, and if the problem was quite tough, what would you do? You’d ask people for help. Maybe the more people you ask, the faster you’d solve it.
In science we’re meant to share everything. All our results, and our thoughts. The bad results as well as the good. We’re meant to be problem solvers above everything else. In reality scientists these days are judged by their performance in things like writing papers or books, or getting money to do their research. We compete with each other in doing this. Also, because a lot of research is new stuff, we are meant to patent things so that we an make money off the research. Because of these things a lot of scientists will work in a very secretive way. They will only share results with a small group of students or other scientists, and never with the whole world until they’re ready. They will compete, sometimes very seriously, to beat other people to get to a certain point.
I think this slows science down. I think science would work faster if we shared everything.
This idea is behind “open source” software. This is stuff that’s created by allowing anyone in the world to take part. Wikipedia is like that. Firefox web browser and a bunch of other things – these were built by having no secrets, and the whole world could take part. A lot of open source things are really excellent products. They’re all free. The vast majority of supercomputers in the world run on open source software called Linux. Google servers run on Linux. None of these huge computing systems use Windows, the commercial product.
I wanted to try to do open source science. Could we do science in a way where everyone could take part? Where there were no secrets?
So we did this. In the last year and a bit. We asked the whole world for help in how to make this drug we’re interested in. A bunch of people around the world helped us out and we got to a solution faster than we would have if we’d just done the research on our own.
I am totally stoked by that.
So the most interesting thing I’ve studied is whether we can do science faster by working together. Turns out we can.
Maybe you think it’s really obvious we can do it faster. I think it’s obvious. So do a lot of other scientists, but sadly the way science works these days means it’s quite risky to share everything. What we’re doing now is starting up something really tough – can we find a drug with open source science? We’re trying to find a drug that will cure malaria. Because we’re putting everything online, we can’t patent anything. The idea of finding a drug without a patent is seen as being crazy by a lot of people. Well, that’s partly what makes it interesting! No point doing stuff you know is going to work, right?
The most interesting things to me are Immunology and Biochemistry.
Immunology looks at the body’s defences against infection. There are many types of cells which work together to recognise and kill pathogens (things that infect you, germs).These cells are found all around your body and have lots of different functions, so there is a lot to learn!
Here’s an example of how the immune system work. When you cut your finger, pathogens may get into your body (the skin usually keeps them out). There will be some immune cells in your skin, keeping guard, which will recognise these pathogens and engulf them (basically like eating them). These cells release special chemicals which cause inflammation (heat and redness) and attract more immune cells to the site. These other immune cells travel through the bloodstream and will squeeze out of your blood vessels into the skin to help clear up the infection. This is why your finger will become red, warm and swollen.
Biochemistry looks at chemical processes in living organisms. Things like the way our cells use energy, how they produce the proteins they need to function, and how things are moved around inside the cell. It’s very complex! Inside every single one of our tiny cells (there is probably trillions of cells in each person) are many even smaller compartments and machines doing all the work that we need to exist. There are so many things to study in here that we are nowhere near understanding it all.
In metallurgy, chemistry is used to extract metals from their mineral ores which to most people just looks like dirt. In fact, that’s how most metals look in nature except for some like gold and copper which can be found as metals known as nuggets.
One project that I worked on was looking at how to extract nickel in a better way from its ore. I had small reactors the size of 2L kettles in a fumehood humming away. It was pretty exciting when I was able to take samples from the reactors that had nickel in them. The nickel was dissolved in a solution as a metal salt and made the solution look green. Things got more exciting as I got some really dark green solutions. My method was working!
That would have to be one of the most interesting things that I’ve studied.
I find all my research interesting which is why I done it. Usually other people find the forensic-science-related research interesting.
When a smart thief sells something, he (or she) might try to remove the serial numbers. (A dumb thief just leaves evidence all over the place and some gets caught.) When the serial numbers are imprinted in the plastic casing, these thieves might use sandpaper to remove the serial numbers.
Forensic scientists can use oils like toluene to make the serial numbers reappear. About 6 years ago, some German forensic scientists were serving “gingerbread men” at a Christmas party and noticed that markings and scratches on the plastic try were being affected. They investigated and found that clove oil (from the spices in the gingerbread men) could be used to revisualise erased serial numbers.
A colleague got interested in this and got me involved too. He got researchers to try all kinds of different oils: tea tree oil, various pine oils, orange oil, etc. Some worked and some did not. I figured that some property of the oils was the reason. When that property had a measurement in a certain range of values, the oils worked. Outside that range the oils did not work. The specific working range depending on the plastic.
We are now writing a report that describes this discovery and then will submit the report to a journal. If a panel of scientists appointed by the journal agrees that the research was done correctly, and the results are right, then the journal will publish the report. Practicing forensic scientists can then read the report and use that discovery in their work. This is how scientists communicate their results to other scientists, through publication of reports in journals.
0
How would you solve a problem? You’d think about it. You’d design experiments, and you’d get results and think about them.
If you wanted to solve the problem for yourself, for having the satisfaction of solving that problem, then you’d work on your own. You wouldn’t tell anyone what you were doing in case they figured out the answer before you did.
But if you just wanted to solve the problem, as fast as you could, and if the problem was quite tough, what would you do? You’d ask people for help. Maybe the more people you ask, the faster you’d solve it.
In science we’re meant to share everything. All our results, and our thoughts. The bad results as well as the good. We’re meant to be problem solvers above everything else. In reality scientists these days are judged by their performance in things like writing papers or books, or getting money to do their research. We compete with each other in doing this. Also, because a lot of research is new stuff, we are meant to patent things so that we an make money off the research. Because of these things a lot of scientists will work in a very secretive way. They will only share results with a small group of students or other scientists, and never with the whole world until they’re ready. They will compete, sometimes very seriously, to beat other people to get to a certain point.
I think this slows science down. I think science would work faster if we shared everything.
This idea is behind “open source” software. This is stuff that’s created by allowing anyone in the world to take part. Wikipedia is like that. Firefox web browser and a bunch of other things – these were built by having no secrets, and the whole world could take part. A lot of open source things are really excellent products. They’re all free. The vast majority of supercomputers in the world run on open source software called Linux. Google servers run on Linux. None of these huge computing systems use Windows, the commercial product.
I wanted to try to do open source science. Could we do science in a way where everyone could take part? Where there were no secrets?
So we did this. In the last year and a bit. We asked the whole world for help in how to make this drug we’re interested in. A bunch of people around the world helped us out and we got to a solution faster than we would have if we’d just done the research on our own.
I am totally stoked by that.
So the most interesting thing I’ve studied is whether we can do science faster by working together. Turns out we can.
Maybe you think it’s really obvious we can do it faster. I think it’s obvious. So do a lot of other scientists, but sadly the way science works these days means it’s quite risky to share everything. What we’re doing now is starting up something really tough – can we find a drug with open source science? We’re trying to find a drug that will cure malaria. Because we’re putting everything online, we can’t patent anything. The idea of finding a drug without a patent is seen as being crazy by a lot of people. Well, that’s partly what makes it interesting! No point doing stuff you know is going to work, right?
0
The most interesting things to me are Immunology and Biochemistry.
Immunology looks at the body’s defences against infection. There are many types of cells which work together to recognise and kill pathogens (things that infect you, germs).These cells are found all around your body and have lots of different functions, so there is a lot to learn!
Here’s an example of how the immune system work. When you cut your finger, pathogens may get into your body (the skin usually keeps them out). There will be some immune cells in your skin, keeping guard, which will recognise these pathogens and engulf them (basically like eating them). These cells release special chemicals which cause inflammation (heat and redness) and attract more immune cells to the site. These other immune cells travel through the bloodstream and will squeeze out of your blood vessels into the skin to help clear up the infection. This is why your finger will become red, warm and swollen.
Biochemistry looks at chemical processes in living organisms. Things like the way our cells use energy, how they produce the proteins they need to function, and how things are moved around inside the cell. It’s very complex! Inside every single one of our tiny cells (there is probably trillions of cells in each person) are many even smaller compartments and machines doing all the work that we need to exist. There are so many things to study in here that we are nowhere near understanding it all.
Here’s a good picture of a cell:
http://www.cryosites.com/images/cell_mybjnhv
0
In metallurgy, chemistry is used to extract metals from their mineral ores which to most people just looks like dirt. In fact, that’s how most metals look in nature except for some like gold and copper which can be found as metals known as nuggets.
One project that I worked on was looking at how to extract nickel in a better way from its ore. I had small reactors the size of 2L kettles in a fumehood humming away. It was pretty exciting when I was able to take samples from the reactors that had nickel in them. The nickel was dissolved in a solution as a metal salt and made the solution look green. Things got more exciting as I got some really dark green solutions. My method was working!
That would have to be one of the most interesting things that I’ve studied.
0