RTD info MAYO 2005 - Surt

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20 RTD info No. 45 May 2005S C I E N C E W I T H I N A R M ’ S R E A C HDiscover… Discuss… ExplCorvaja’s eyeFaces, landscapes, moments captured in acrowd, trees, towns… are just some familiarsubjects for photographers. But for theFranco-Italian photographer StéphaneCorvaja, fascinated since childhood by spaceand the machines that explore it, the focusis very different. It all began when he happenedto see a film and photographs ofthe Apollo missions. “I was seven years oldand it had a big impact.” Corvaja wasenthralled by the immensity of the cosmosand the desire of men to explore and understandit. He decided to become a photographerand in 1989 joined the opticaldepartment of the space centre in Kourou,Guyana. This was a time of intense activityfor Ariane, with eight missions a year taking3 000 photos each time. Corvaja is veryaware of how one launch can seem verymuch like another and the subtleties it takesto highlight what is, in fact, a uniquemoment. A certain angle, a certain lightcan make all the difference. Negotiatingwith the security services to be at the rightplace at the right time is also part of the job:“You have to be constantly on the alert andbenefit from every instant to get the shotthat makes the difference. You must bepatient also. You have to get there earlyand leave late, or you miss a great deal.”Education cornerSouthern researchResearch, expertise, training: these three missions of the Institut de recherche pourle développement (IRD) make this French body a key partner for countries of the southernhemisphere, as well as an intermediary enabling teachers, researchers and the generalpublic to learn more about these regions. Among other things, the IRD makes teachingpacks available to teachers on a number of scientific topics of interest to much ofthe planet, such as volcanic activity, freshwater resources and emerging viral diseases.Other topics permit a comparison between differentparts of the world, such as an ‘inventoryof 19 cities’ which provides insight into the urban phenomena– architecture, mentality of the inhabitants,public policy, segregation, etc. – in such contrastingcities as Sao Paulo and Moscow, Paris and Delhi, andMontreal and Johannesburg. The IRD also producesvery clear and comprehensive science news sheets presentingthe latest research on phenomena affectingmainly developing regions. One example isLieshmaniasis, a parasitic disease that affects half a millionpeople every year and requires a hospital treatmentthat is difficult to provide in most of the regionswhere it is found. Recent research based onethnopharmacological studies – carried out in particularby scientists at the CNRS (FR) and researchers at the IRD in South America – is now offeringreal prospects of progress.The IRD also launched the Sida@pilote website on Aids which is designed for young peoplebetween 15 and 25. Giving them the opportunity to find answers to their questions, it providesa useful resource for finding out more about the state of research as well as exchanginginformation and practices. The site has rapidly broadened tofields outside of its initial theme to cover subjects such as povertyrelateddiseases, the environment, and ways of fighting this scourge.IRD also published Sciences au sud, a bi-monthly journal that reportson the institute’s principal research work in a language that is easilyunderstood by the non-specialist.Leishmaniasis promastigote©IRD/Christian BellecTo find out more(Bilingual French-English site, butwith most documents in French)0 www.ird.frThe dictionary of scientific cultureCorvaja, currently Head of photographywith the ESA, has just won the three firstprizes in the space category awarded bythe US magazine Aviation week & Space forthe best photographs of 2004. Perhaps themost impressive of all is the full vertical shotof the Rosetta launcher,symbolic of so muchpromise for the future.To find out more0 www.esa.intWith 7 000 articles, 5 000 notices, 2 000biographies, hundreds of illustrations, translationsof all terms from the original French intoEnglish, and an interactive approach that takesyou from one word to the next with numerouslinks for further exploration, the Dictionnaireinteractif des sciences et des techniquesis primarily designed for secondary schooland university students, while offering specialaccess for ‘professionals’ and the ‘generalpublic’ (scientific culture). Published by Analogie,it is accessible on CD-ROM (€68) and via the internet,on payment of an annualTo find out more0 www.sciences-en-ligne.comsubscription of €25. Purchase of the CD-ROMbrings automatic registration to personalisedon-line services.The dictionary “was born of the desire to applyto the field of science and technology the analogicalmethod implemented by Paul Robert inthe French language dictionary of the samename. The method involves the use of associationsof ideas or analogies to enrich and linkup the articles.” Starting from a concept, it ispossible to move to a wider context that lendsa genuine cultural dimensionto scientific knowledge.
S C I E N C E W I T H I N A R M ’ S R E A C H RTD info No. 45 May 2005 21ore… Support… Consort..Edible and comBUStibleIn Valencia (ES), one in two municipal buses (200 vehicles) runs on usedcooking oil. This is one of the innovations brought by the Ecobus project,supported by the Life-Environment programme. Vegetable oil collectorsmake a round of 600 establishments, visiting 528 cafés, restaurants andcaterers, 42 hotels, 30 schools and hospitals. All these ‘donors’ display theEcobus logo and receive a container. After collection and processing, thesefood oils are used in a diesel/ecodiesel mix in concentrations of between5% and 30%. Regular and very strict checks are made on their emissions(CO, CO 2 , HG, NOx, etc.) and performances, especially consumption. Thispilot project is being studied from three angles: environmental effects, costand profitability.The operation’s success owes much to a lively awareness-boosting campaignaimed at the city’s inhabitants. The slogan is a play on wordswhich can be translated as ‘used oils To find out moremake comBUStible’ – the latter meaning 0 www.ecobus.netfuel. Information sessions were held inschools, posters placed in bus shelters,buses were painted in the Ecobus coloursand exhibitions explained the usefulnessof the operation. This promptedmany possible ‘donors’ to come forward,yielding much more potential fuel(comBUStible!) than expected.The project promoters’ aims do not stopat the Valencia city limits, however. Whatproves a success here could also workRecycle cooking oil…in an engine.elsewhere, mainly in the Mediterraneancountries where vegetable oil is part of the culinary tradition.A long-term exhibitionEinstein or the adventure of discoveryAs well as being World Year of Physics, 2005 isalso the 100th anniversary of the ‘wonder year’(annus mirabilis), during which Albert Einsteinpublished four major articles. The first, whichearned him the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921,is a revolutionary analysis of light that hebelieved functioned both as a wave and a particleflow. The second, on the Brownian movement,provided theoretical proof of the existenceof atoms and molecules. The third formalisedthe break with Newtonian physics by viewingspace and time as relative.The fourth, on limited relativity,revealed the universallyknown formula of E=mc 2 .Albert Einstein andOskar von Miller,Founder of theDeutsches Museum,Berlin, 1930.The exhibition at theDeutsches Museum tracesthe path of Einstein’s scientificadventure through theintuitions, discoveries andstudies that led to the developmentof the theory ofrelativity and quantum theory.The exhibition does notstop at Einstein, however,and also presents the newunderstanding of time, spaceand causality that was generatedby his thinking. Einstein is still very presenttoday, not only in the way we understand the universe,but also in fields such as laser technology and microelectronics,GPS and research into the atom. AlthoughEinstein was cremated, his brain was conserved andanalysed – but failed to reveal any special features!“I am a loner with a love of humanity,” said thisgenius who was very much a scientist of his age. TheMunich exhibition shows how he saw himself in a historicalcontext, was interested in politics and rejectedconvention and accepted ideas (“it is more difficult todestroy a prejudice than an atom”). Suffering fromdyslexia as a child and considered to be a bad influence,he left college to prepare on his own for theentrance exam to the already famous Zurich polytechnic.His first job was at the Berne patents office whoselimited demands on his energies left him free toexplore his ideas. A Jewish pacifist in 1930s Germany(when he was President of the Human Rights League),he left for the United States under Nazism, becominga US citizen in 1940. Ben Gourion had asked him tobe President of Israel but he viewed the challenge asimpossible: “without the honest co-operation of theArabs there can be neither peace nor prosperity”.He is also known for his love of the violin, low regardfor women, and flair for a well-turned phrase – manyof which can be found today on numerous internetsites. To cite just one: “Coincidence is God incognito”.To find out moreThe Adventure of Discovery.Albert Einstein and 20 th Century Physics.Deutsches Museum - Munich7 May to 31 December 20050 www.deutsches-museum.de0 www.deutsches-museum.de/austell/sonder/e_einstein.htmThe CIRS:a portal to scienceFour languages open the doors toresearch: English, Spanish, French andArabic. The information and links aregathered by the International Centre forScientific Research (CIRS) whichdescribes itself as “the only public utilityservice, entirely free and open to all,providing scientific information at theinternational level”. The information isorganised into very clear ‘chapters’ inthe form of brief texts reporting scientificnews, information on researchers(prizes, discoveries), references to newspapersand scientific works, and links toscientific organisations, science academies,universities, research centres andspecialised libraries. The CIRS operatesin ‘real time’ at global level, continuouslyupdating its database and drawingon a worldwide network of partnersfor input. Information on all researchsubjects is welcome, in all fields and inall languages, the sole condition forinclusion being “to have a purely scientificactivity”. The aim is to facilitateaccess to information sources of anature to assist experts, researchers,students or simply those who arecurious about science.Access in English, French, Spanish andArabic. Choose your language onwww.cirs.net.
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