From University of Exeter (UK) : “Deep ocean warming as climate changes”

From University of Exeter (UK)

The subtropical North Atlantic. Credit Marie-Jose Messias.

Much of the “excess heat” stored in the subtropical North Atlantic is in the deep ocean (below 700m), new research suggests.

Oceans have absorbed about 90% of warming caused by humans. The study found that in the subtropical North Atlantic (25°N), 62% of the warming from 1850-2018 is held in the deep ocean.

The researchers – from the University of Exeter and the University of Brest – estimate that the deep ocean will warm by a further 0.2°C in the next 50 years.

Ocean warming can have a range of consequences including sea-level rise, changing ecosystems, currents and chemistry, and deoxygenation.

“As our planet warms, it’s vital to understand how the excess heat taken up by the ocean is redistributed in the ocean interior all the way from the surface to the bottom, and it is important to take into account the deep ocean to assess the growth of Earth’s ‘energy imbalance’,” said Dr Marie-José Messias, from the University of Exeter.

“As well as finding that the deep ocean is holding much of this excess heat, our research shows how ocean currents redistribute heat to different regions.

“We found that this redistribution was a key driver of warming in the North Atlantic.”

The researchers studied the system of currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

AMOC works like a conveyer belt, carrying warm water from the tropics north – where colder, dense water sinks into the deep ocean and spreads slowly south.

The findings highlight the importance of warming transferring by AMOC from one region to another.

Dr Messias said excess heat from the Southern Hemisphere oceans is becoming important in the North Atlantic – now accounting for about a quarter of excess heat.

The study used temperature records and chemical “tracers” – compounds whose make-up can be used to discover past changes in the ocean.

The paper is published in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University (UK) under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities and is also a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association (EU), and and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter (UK) : “‘Tipping points’ in Earth’s system triggered rapid climate change 55 million years ago research shows”

From University of Exeter (UK)

31 August 2021

It has not been possible to identify the trigger point for Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) until now.

Scientists have uncovered a fascinating new insight into what caused one of the most rapid and dramatic instances of climate change in the history of the Earth.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Sev Kender from the University of Exeter, have made a pivotal breakthrough in the cause behind the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) – an extreme global warming event that lasted for around 150 thousand years which saw significant temperature rises.

Although previous studies have suggested volcanic activity contributed to the vast CO2 emissions that drove the rapid climate change, the trigger for event is less clear.

In the new study, the researchers have identified elevated levels of mercury just before and at the outset of the PETM – which could be caused by expansive volcanic activity – in samples taken from sedimentary cores in the North Sea.

Crucially, the research of the rock samples also showed that in the early stages of the PETM there was a significant drop in mercury levels – suggested at least one other carbon reservoir released significant greenhouse gases as the phenomenon took hold.

The research indicates the existence of tipping points in the Earth’s System – which could trigger the release of additional carbon reservoirs that drove the Earth’s climate to unprecedented high temperatures.

The pioneering research, which also includes experts from the British Geological Survey (UK), the University of Oxford (UK), Herriot-Watt University (SCT) and The University of California-Riverside (US), could give a fresh understanding of how modern day climate change will affect the Earth in the centuries to come.

The research is published in Nature Communications on August 31th 2021.

Dr Kender, a co-author on the study from the Camborne School of Mines, based at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall said: ”Greenhouse gasses such a CO2 methane were released to the atmosphere at the start of the PETM in just a few thousand years.

“We wanted to test the hypothesis that this unprecedented greenhouse gas release was triggered by large volcanic eruptions. As volcanoes also release large quantities of mercury, we measured the mercury and carbon in the sediment cores to detect any ancient volcanism.

“The surprise was that we didn’t find a simple relationship of increased volcanism during the greenhouse gas release. We found volcanism occurred only at the beginning phase and so another source of greenhouse gasses must have been released after the volcanism.”

The PETM phenomenon, which is one of the most rapid periods of warming in the Earth’s history, occurred as Greenland pulled away from Europe.

While the reasons behind how such vast quantities of CO2 were released to trigger this extensive period of warming lay hidden for many years, scientists have recently suggested that volcanic eruptions were the main driver.

However, while carbon records and modelling have suggested vast amounts of volcanic carbon was released, it has not been possible to identify the trigger point for PETM – until now.

In the new study, the researchers studied two new sedimentary cores from the North Sea which showed high levels of mercury present, relative to organic carbon levels.

These samples showed numerous peaks in mercury levels both before, and at the outset of the PETM period – suggesting it was triggered by volcanic activity.

However, the study also showed that there was at least one other carbon reservoir that was subsequently released as the PETM took hold, as mercury levels appear to decline in the second part of its onset.

Dr Kender added: “We were able to carry out this research as we have been working on exceptionally well preserved new core material with collaborators from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. The excellent preservation allowed detailed detection of both the carbon released to the atmosphere and the mercury. As the North Sea is close to the region of volcanism thought to have triggered the PETM, these cores were in an ideal position to detect the signals.

“The volcanism that caused the warming was probably vast deep intruded sills producing thousands of hydrothermal vents on a scale far beyond anything seen today. Possible secondary sources of greenhouse gases were melting permafrost and sea floor methane hydrates, as a result of the initial volcanic warming.”

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University (UK) under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities and is also a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association (EU), and and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Warwick (UK) and From University of Exeter (UK) : “Star’s death will play a mean pinball with rhythmic planets”

From University of Warwick (UK)

and

From University of Exeter (UK)

6.11.21
Peter Thorley
Media Relations Manager (Warwick Medical School and Department of Physics) | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick
peter.thorley@warwick.ac.uk
+44 (0) 7824 540863

Artist’s impression of the four planets of the HR 8799 system and its star (Credit: Mark Garlick/University of Warwick.

Astronomers from University of Warwick and University of Exeter modelling the future of unusual planetary system found a solar system of planets that will ‘pinball’ off one another.

Today, the system consists of four massive planets locked in a perfect rhythm.

Study shows that this perfect rhythm is likely to hold for 3 billion years – but the death of its sun will cause a chain reaction and set the interplanetary pinball game in motion.

Four planets locked in a perfect rhythm around a nearby star are destined to be pinballed around their solar system when their sun eventually dies, according to a study led by the University of Warwick that peers into its future.

Astronomers have modelled how the change in gravitational forces in the system as a result of the star becoming a white dwarf will cause its planets to fly loose from their orbits and bounce off each other’s gravity, like balls bouncing off a bumper in a game of pinball.

In the process, they will knock nearby debris into their dying sun, offering scientists new insight into how the white dwarfs with polluted atmospheres that we see today originally evolved. The conclusions by astronomers from the University of Warwick and the University of Exeter are published in the MNRAS.

The HR 8799 system is 135 light years away and comprises a 30-40 million year-old A type star and four unusually massive planets, all over five times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting very close to each other. The system also contains two debris discs, inside the orbit of the innermost planet and another outside the outermost. Recent research has shown that the four planets are locked in a perfect rhythm that sees each one completing double the orbit of its neighbour: so for every orbit the furthest completes, the next closest completes two, the next completes four, while the closest completes eight.

The team from Warwick and Exeter decided to learn the ultimate fate of the system by creating a model that allowed them to play ‘planetary pinball’ with the planets, investigating what may cause the perfect rhythm to destabilise.

They determined that the resonance that locks the four planets is likely to hold firm for the next 3 billion years, despite the effects of Galactic tides and close flybys of other stars. However, it always breaks once the star enters the phase in which it becomes a red giant, when it will expand to several hundred times its current size and eject nearly half its mass, ending up as a white dwarf.

The planets will then start to pinball and become a highly chaotic system where their movements become very uncertain. Even changing a planet’s position by a centimetre at the start of the process can dramatically change the outcome.

Lead author Dr Dimitri Veras from the University of Warwick Department of Physics said: “The planets will gravitationally scatter off of one another. In one case, the innermost planet could be ejected from the system. Or, in another case, the third planet may be ejected. Or the second and fourth planets could switch positions. Any combination is possible just with little tweaks.

“They are so big and so close to each other the only thing that’s keeping them in this perfect rhythm right now is the locations of their orbits. All four are connected in this chain. As soon as the star loses mass their locations will deviate, then two of them will scatter off one another, causing a chain reaction amongst all four.”

Dr Veras was supported by an Ernest Rutherford Fellowship from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK), part of UK Research and Innovation.

Regardless of the precise movements of the planets, one thing that the team is certain of is that the planets will move around enough to dislodge material from the system’s debris discs into the atmosphere of the star. It is this type of debris that astronomers are analysing today to discover the histories of other white dwarf systems.

Dr Veras adds: “These planets move around the white dwarf at different locations and can easily kick whatever debris is still there into the white dwarf, polluting it.

“The HR 8799 planetary system represents a foretaste of the polluted white dwarf systems that we see today. It’s a demonstration of the value of computing the fates of planetary systems, rather than just looking at their formation.”

Co-author Professor Sasha Hinkley of the University of Exeter said: “The HR 8799 system has been so iconic for exoplanetary science since its discovery nearly 13 years ago, and so it is fascinating to see into the future, and watch it evolve from a harmonious collection of planets into a chaotic scene.”

See the full article here.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University (UK) under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities and is also a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities (UK), the European University Association (EU), and the and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

The establishment of the The University of Warwick (UK) was given approval by the government in 1961 and received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965.

The idea for a university in Coventry was mooted shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War but it was a bold and imaginative partnership of the City and the County which brought the University into being on a 400-acre site jointly granted by the two authorities. Since then, the University has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1978 and has extended its land holdings by the purchase of adjoining farm land.

The University initially admitted a small intake of graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. In October 2013, the student population was over 23,000 of which 9,775 are postgraduates. Around a third of the student body comes from overseas and over 120 countries are represented on the campus.

The University of Warwick is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The University was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education. The Warwick Business School was established in 1967, the Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004.

Warwick is primarily based on a 290 hectares (720 acres) campus on the outskirts of Coventry, with a satellite campus in Wellesbourne and a central London base at the Shard. It is organised into three faculties — Arts, Science Engineering and Medicine, and Social Sciences — within which there are 32 departments. As of 2019, Warwick has around 26,531 full-time students and 2,492 academic and research staff. It had a consolidated income of £679.9 million in 2019/20, of which £131.7 million was from research grants and contracts. Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex in the university’s main campus and is the largest venue of its kind in the UK, which is not in London.

Warwick has an average intake of 4,950 undergraduates out of 38,071 applicants (7.7 applicants per place).

Warwick is a member of AACSB, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (UK), the Association of MBAs, EQUIS, the European University Association (EU), the Midlands Innovation group, the Russell Group (UK), Sutton 13 and. It is the only European member of the Center for Urban Science and Progress, a collaboration with New York University (US). The university has extensive commercial activities, including the University of Warwick Science Park and Warwick Manufacturing Group.

Warwick’s alumni and staff include winners of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal, Richard W. Hamming Medal, Emmy Award, Grammy, and the Padma Vibhushan, and are fellows to the British Academy, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society. Alumni also include heads of state, government officials, leaders in intergovernmental organisations, and the current chief economist at the Bank of England. Researchers at Warwick have also made significant contributions such as the development of penicillin, music therapy, Washington Consensus, Second-wave feminism, computing standards, including ISO and ECMA, complexity theory, contract theory, and the International Political Economy as a field of study.

Twentieth century

The idea for a university in Warwickshire was first mooted shortly after World War II, although it was not founded for a further two decades. A partnership of the city and county councils ultimately provided the impetus for the university to be established on a 400-acre (1.6 km^2) site jointly granted by the two authorities. There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire. The name “University of Warwick” was adopted, even though Warwick, the county town, lies some 8 miles (13 km) to its southwest and Coventry’s city centre is only 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northeast of the campus. The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and it received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. Since then, the university has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1979 and has extended its land holdings by the continuing purchase of adjoining farm land. The university also benefited from a substantial donation from the family of John ‘Jack’ Martin, a Coventry businessman who had made a fortune from investment in Smirnoff vodka, and which enabled the construction of the Warwick Arts Centre.

The university initially admitted a small intake of graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. Since its establishment Warwick has expanded its grounds to 721 acres (2.9 km^2), with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes, and woodlands. In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution.

Under Vice-Chancellor Lord Butterworth, Warwick was the first UK university to adopt a business approach to higher education, develop close links with the business community and exploit the commercial value of its research. These tendencies were discussed by British historian and then-Warwick lecturer, E. P. Thompson, in his 1970 edited book Warwick University Ltd.

The Leicester Warwick Medical School, a new medical school based jointly at Warwick and University of Leicester (UK), opened in September 2000.

On the recommendation of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton chose Warwick as the venue for his last major foreign policy address as US President in December 2000. Sandy Berger, Clinton’s National Security Advisor, explaining the decision in a press briefing on 7 December 2000, said that: “Warwick is one of Britain’s newest and finest research universities, singled out by Prime Minister Blair as a model both of academic excellence and independence from the government.”

Twenty-first century

The university was seen as a favoured institution of the Labour government during the New Labour years (1997 to 2010). It was academic partner for a number of flagship Government schemes including the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth and the NHS University (now defunct). Tony Blair described Warwick as “a beacon among British universities for its dynamism, quality and entrepreneurial zeal”. In a 2012 study by Virgin Media Business, Warwick was described as the most “digitally-savvy” UK university.

In February 2001, IBM donated a new S/390 computer and software worth £2 million to Warwick, to form part of a “Grid” enabling users to remotely share computing power. In April 2004 Warwick merged with the Wellesbourne and Kirton sites of Horticulture Research International. In July 2004 Warwick was the location for an important agreement between the Labour Party and the trade unions on Labour policy and trade union law, which has subsequently become known as the “Warwick Agreement”.

In June 2006 the new University Hospital Coventry opened, including a 102,000 sq ft (9,500 m^2) university clinical sciences building. Warwick Medical School was granted independent degree-awarding status in 2007, and the School’s partnership with the University of Leicester was dissolved in the same year. In February 2010, Lord Bhattacharyya, director and founder of the WMG unit at Warwick, made a £1 million donation to the university to support science grants and awards.

In February 2012 Warwick and Melbourne-based Monash University (AU) announced the formation of a strategic partnership, including the creation of 10 joint senior academic posts, new dual master’s and joint doctoral degrees, and co-ordination of research programmes. In March 2012 Warwick and Queen Mary, University of London announced the creation of a strategic partnership, including research collaboration, some joint teaching of English, history and computer science undergraduates, and the creation of eight joint post-doctoral research fellowships.

In April 2012 it was announced that Warwick would be the only European university participating in the Center for Urban Science and Progress, an applied science research institute to be based in New York consisting of an international consortium of universities and technology companies led by New York University and NYU Tandon School of Engineering (US). In August 2012, Warwick and five other Midlands-based universities — Aston University (UK), the University of Birmingham (UK), the University of Leicester (UK), Loughborough University (UK) and the University of Nottingham — formed the M5 Group, a regional bloc intended to maximise the member institutions’ research income and enable closer collaboration.

In September 2013 it was announced that a new National Automotive Innovation Centre would be built by WMG at Warwick’s main campus at a cost of £100 million, with £50 million to be contributed by Jaguar Land Rover and £30 million by Tata Motors.

In July 2014, the government announced that Warwick would be the host for the £1 billion Advanced Propulsion Centre, a joint venture between the Automotive Council and industry. The ten-year programme intends to position the university and the UK as leaders in the field of research into the next generation of automotive technology.

In September 2015, Warwick celebrated its 50th anniversary (1965–2015) and was designated “University of the Year” by The Times and The Sunday Times.

Research

In 2013/14 Warwick had a total research income of £90.1 million, of which £33.9 million was from Research Councils; £25.9 million was from central government, local authorities and public corporations; £12.7 million was from the European Union; £7.9 million was from UK industry and commerce; £5.2 million was from UK charitable bodies; £4.0 million was from overseas sources; and £0.5 million was from other sources.

In the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), Warwick was again ranked 7th overall (as 2008) amongst multi-faculty institutions and was the top-ranked university in the Midlands. Some 87% of the University’s academic staff were rated as being in “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” departments with top research ratings of 4* or 3*.

Warwick is particularly strong in the areas of decision sciences research (economics, finance, management, mathematics and statistics). For instance, researchers of the Warwick Business School have won the highest prize of the prestigious European Case Clearing House (ECCH: the equivalent of the Oscars in terms of management research).

Warwick has established a number of stand-alone units to manage and extract commercial value from its research activities. The four most prominent examples of these units are University of Warwick Science Park; Warwick HRI; Warwick Ventures (the technology transfer arm of the University); and WMG.

From University of Exeter (UK): “New study investigates photonics for artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing”

From University of Exeter (UK)

January 29th 2021

Scientists have given a fascinating new insight into the next steps to develop fast, energy-efficient, future computing systems that use light instead of electrons to process and store information – incorporating hardware inspired directly by the functioning of the human brain.

A team of scientists, including Professor C. David Wright from the University of Exeter, has explored the future potential for computer systems by using photonics in place of conventional electronics.

Conceptual layout of a future photonic neuromorphic computer. Credit: Thomas Ferreira de Lima.

The article is published today (January 29th 2021) in the prestigious journal Nature Photonics.

The study focuses on potential solutions to one of the world’s most pressing computing problems – how to develop computing technologies to process this data in a fast and energy efficient way.

Contemporary computers are based on the von Neumann architecture in which the fast Central Processing Unit (CPU) is physically separated from the much slower program and data memory.

This means computing speed is limited and power is wasted by the need to continuously transfer data to and from the memory and processor over bandwidth-limited and energy-inefficient electrical interconnects – known as the von Neumann bottleneck.

As a result, it has been estimated that more than 50 % of the power of modern computing systems is wasted simply in this moving around of data.

Professor C David Wright, from the University of Exeter’s Department of Engineering, and one of the co-authors of the study explains “Clearly, a new approach is needed – one that can fuse together the core information processing tasks of computing and memory, one that can incorporate directly in hardware the ability to learn, adapt and evolve, and one that does away with energy-sapping and speed-limiting electrical interconnects.”

Photonic neuromorphic computing is one such approach. Here, signals are communicated and processed using light rather than electrons, giving access to much higher bandwidths (processor speeds) and vastly reducing energy losses.

Moreover, the researchers try to make the computing hardware itself isomorphic with biological processing system (brains), by developing devices to directly mimic the basic functions of brain neurons and synapses, then connecting these together in networks that can offer fast, parallelised, adaptive processing for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter (UK): “Pioneering new technique could revolutionize super-resolution imaging systems”

From University of Exeter (UK)

21 January 2021

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Scientists have developed a pioneering new technique that could revolutionise the accuracy, precision and clarity of super-resolution imaging systems.

A team of scientists, led by Dr Christian Soeller from the University of Exeter’s Living Systems Institute, which champions interdisciplinary research and is a hub for new high-resolution measurement techniques, has developed a new way to improve the very fine, molecular imaging of biological samples.

The new method builds upon the success of an existing super-resolution imaging technique called DNA-PAINT (Point Accumulation for Imaging in Nanoscale Topography) – where molecules in a cell are labelled with marker molecules that are attached to single DNA strands.

Matching DNA strands are then also labelled with a florescent chemical compound and introduced in solution – when they bind the marker molecules, it creates a ‘blinking effect’ that makes imaging possible.

However, DNA-PAINT has a number of drawbacks in its current form, which limit the applicability and performance of the technology when imaging biological cells and tissues.

In response, the research team have developed a new technique, called Repeat DNA-Paint, which is capable of supressing background noise and nonspecific signals, as well as decreasing the time taken for the sampling process.

Crucially, using Repeat DNA-PAINT is straightforward and does not carry any known drawbacks, it is routinely applicable, consolidating the role of DNA-PAINT as one of the most robust and versatile molecular resolution imaging methods.

The study is published in Nature Communications on 21st January 2021.

Dr Soeller, lead author of the study and who is a biophysicist at the Living Systems Institute said: “We can now see molecular detail with light microscopy in a way that a few years ago seemed out of reach. This allows us to directly see how molecules orchestrate the intricate biological functions that enable life in both health and disease”.

The research was enabled by colleagues from physics, biology, medicine, mathematics and chemistry working together across traditional discipline boundaries. Dr Lorenzo Di Michele, co-author from Imperial College London said: “This work is a clear example of how quantitative biophysical techniques and concepts can really improve our ability to study biological systems”.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter (UK): “Physicists solve geometrical puzzle in electromagnetism”

From University of Exeter (UK)

16 December 2020

A pair of cylindrical gold nanoparticles, where the plasmonic excitations are represented by the clouds surrounding the nanoparticles.

A team of scientists have solved the longstanding problem of how electrons move together as a group inside cylindrical nanoparticles.

The new research provides an unexpected theoretical breakthrough in the field of electromagnetism, with perspectives for metamaterials research.

The team of theoretical physicists, from the University of Exeter and the University of Strasbourg, created an elegant theory explaining how electrons move collectively in tiny metal nanoparticles shaped like cylinders.

The work has led to new understanding of how light and matter interact at the nanoscale, aland has implications for the realization of future nanoscale devices exploiting nanoparticle-based metamaterials with spectacular optical properties.

Metallic nanoparticles have a positively charged ionic core, with a cloud of negatively charged electrons swirling around it. When light is shone on such a metallic object, the electronic cloud is displaced.

This displacement causes the whole group of electrons to be set into oscillation about the positive core. The group of electrons sloshing back and forth behaves like a single particle (a so-called quasiparticle), known as a “plasmon”.

The plasmon is primarily characterized by the frequency at which it oscillates, which is known as the plasmon resonance frequency.

Exploring how the resonance frequency of the plasmon changes depending on the geometry of its hosting nanoparticle is a fundamental task in modern electromagnetism. It is commonly thought that only some particular nanoparticle geometries can be described with analytical theory – that is, without recourse to heavy, time-consuming numerical computations.

The list of geometries permitting an analytical description is widely believed to be very short, being composed of only spherical and ellipsoidal nanoparticles.

This fact is highly inconvenient due to the experimental ubiquity of cylindrical nanoparticles, which arise in a variety of aspect ratios from long, needle-like nanowires to thin, pancake-like nanodisks.

In the research, the researchers addressed how plasmons in cylindrical nanoparticles oscillate. By using a theoretical technique inspired by nuclear physics, the researchers built an elegant analytic theory describing the behaviour of plasmons in cylinders with an arbitrary aspect ratio.

The theory has enabled a complete description of cylindrical plasmonic nanoparticles, describing simply the plasmonic resonance in metallic nanoparticles from nanowires to circular nanodisks.

The two condensed matter theorists also considered the plasmonic response of a pair of coupled cylindrical nanoparticles and found quantum mechanical corrections to their classical theory, which is relevant due to the small, nanometric dimensions of the nanoparticles.

Dr Charles Downing from the University of Exeter’s Physics and Astronomy department explains: “Quite unexpectedly, our theoretical work provides deep, analytic insight into plasmonic excitations in cylindrical nanoparticles, which can help to guide our experimental colleagues fabricating metallic nanorods in their laboratories”.

Guillaume Weick from the University of Strasbourg adds: “There is a trend for increasing reliance on heavy duty computations in order to describe plasmonic systems. In our throwback work, we reveal humble pen-and-paper calculations can still explain intriguing phenomena at the forefront of metamaterials research”.

The theoretical breakthrough is of immediate utility to a swathe of scientists working with nano-objects in the cutting edge science of plasmonics. Longer term, it is hoped that plasmonic excitations can be exploited in the next generation of ultra-compact circuitry, solar energy conversion and data storage as our technology becomes increasingly miniaturized.

Plasmonic modes in cylindrical nanoparticles and dimers is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter (UK): “Research develops new theoretical approach to manipulate light”

From University of Exeter (UK)

8 December 2020

The quest to discover pioneering new ways in which to manipulate how light travels through electromagnetic materials has taken a new, unusual twist.

The discovery could pave the way for more efficient communications and wireless technology.

An innovative research project, carried out by experts from the University of Exeter, has developed a new theoretical approach to force light to travel through electromagnetic materials without any reflection.

The discovery could pave the way for more efficient communications and wireless technology.

The project focused on finding new kinds of electromagnetic materials where light can travel in only one direction, without any reflection, using Maxwell’s equations. These four pivotal equations, published in the 1860s by physicist James Clerk Maxwell, describe how electric and magnetic fields move through space and time. These equations underpin much of modern technology from optical and radio technologies, to wireless communication, radar and electric motors.

These new unusual materials had previously been understood using ideas that won to 2016 Nobel prize, ideas borrowed from an abstract area of mathematics known as topology, which studies the properties of shapes that stay the same when you squeeze and mold them.

The novelty of this work is that it has found these new electromagnetic materials using only a slight twist on the high-school concept of the refractive index.

This finding may simplify the design of materials where light can propagate in only one direction and might, for instance, be used to improve telecommunication where information propagates as pulses, information that is lost when there is reflection.

The study is published in leading journal Nature Physics.

Mitchell Woolley, co-author and who carried out the research while studying Natural Sciences at the University of Exeter said: “Our paper tests the limits of how light can behave by using Maxwell’s equations and electromagnetic theory to engineer exotic optical materials. I think the novelty here was neither using topology nor traditional methods of numerical simulation and optimization to find these materials.”

Dr Simon Horsley, lead author of the paper and also from the University of Exeter added: “There is a lot of interesting physics and mathematics still to be found in understanding how light moves through matter. It’s very satisfying that the simple concept of the refractive index can be used in such unusual materials.”

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter (UK) via phys.org: “Artificial night lighting has widespread impacts on nature”

From University of Exeter (UK)

via

phys.org

November 2, 2020

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain.

Artificial night-time lighting has a diverse range of effects across the natural world and should be limited where possible, researchers say.

A team led by the University of Exeter brought together more than 100 studies and found “widespread” impacts on animals and plants.

Changes to animals’ bodies and behavior—especially hormone levels and patterns of waking and sleeping—were consistently found.

The study shows that levels of melatonin (a hormone regulating sleep cycles) were reduced by exposure to artificial lighting at night in all animal species studied.

“Lots of studies have examined the impacts of artificial night-time lighting on particular species or communities of species,” said Professor Kevin Gaston, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

“Our research brings those studies together—and we find the effects are very diverse and very pervasive.

“Particularly strong responses are seen in hormone levels, the timing of daily activity in diurnal (daytime) species, and ‘life-history’ traits such as number of offspring.

“People may imagine this is all about powerful light, but in fact we are seeing a lot of responses at quite low levels of artificial light.”

Dr. Dirk Sanders added: “We see differences in nocturnal and diurnal species.

“For rodents, which are mostly nocturnal, the duration of activity tended to be reduced by night-time lighting.

“In contrast, for birds—with all of those included strictly diurnal—artificial light led to an extension of the duration of their activity, with singing and foraging starting earlier.”

Previous studies have shown night-time lighting has wide-ranging impacts—from reducing pollination by insects to trees budding earlier in spring.

Like climate change, night-time lighting appears to benefit certain species in certain locations, but Professor Gaston said the clear message of the study was to reduce lighting where possible.

“Both climate change and night-time lighting are human-driven and enormously disruptive to the natural world,” he said.

“Historically, we have not really worried about the impact of night-time lighting.

“Only now are we discovering its wide-ranging effects.

“Our study shows that we should, as a matter of principle, only use night-time lighting where we need it and no further, and at intensities that we need and no more.

“In effect, we need to view light like any other pollutant.

“Obviously it would be ridiculous to say ‘switch the world’s lights off’ – but we could reduce our use of light immensely with absolutely no impact on ourselves.”

Professor Gaston is the scientific advisor on a forthcoming landmark natural history series about the night-time, called “Earth at Night in Colour”. The series is released on Apple TV+ on December 4th.

The paper, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, is entitled: A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter (UK) is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

From University of Exeter UK via phys.org: “Geologists solve puzzle that could predict valuable rare earth element deposits”

From University of Exeter UK

via

phys.org

October 9, 2020

Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits. Credit: Michael Anenburg, ANU AU.

Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.

A team of geologists, led by Professor Frances Wall from the Camborne School of Mines, have discovered a new hypothesis to predict where rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium could be found.

The elements are among the most sought after, because they are an essential part of digital and clean energy manufacturing, including magnets in large wind turbines and electric cars motors.

For the new research, scientists conducted a series of experiments that showed sodium and potassium—rather than chlorine or fluorine as previously thought—were the key ingredients for making these rare earth elements soluble.

This is crucial as it determines whether they crystalise—making them fit for extraction—or stayed dissolved in fluids.

The experiments could therefore allow geologists to make better predictions about where the best concentrations of neodymium and dysprosium are likely to be found.

The results are published in the journal,Science Advances on Friday, October 9th 2020.

University of Exeter researchers, through the ‘SoS RARE’ project, have previously studied many natural examples of the roots of very unusual extinct carbonatite volcanoes, where the world’s best rare earth deposits occur, in order to try and identify potential deposits of the rare earth minerals.

However, in order to gain a greater insight into their results, they invited Michael Anenburg to join the team to carry out experiments at the Australian National University (ANU) AU.

He simulated the crystallisation of molten carbonate magma to find out which elements would be concentrated in the hot waters left over from the crystallisation process.

It showed that sodium and potassium make the rare earths soluble in solution. Without sodium and potassium, rare earth minerals precipitate in the carbonatite itself. With sodium, intermediate minerals like burbankite form and are then replaced. With potassium, dysprosium is more soluble than neodymium and carried out to the surrounding rocks.

Professor Frances Wall, leader of the SoS RARE project said: “This is an elegant solution that helps us understand better where ‘heavy’ rare earths like dysprosium and ‘light’ rare earths like neodymium’ may be concentrated in and around carbonatite intrusions. We were always looking for evidence of chloride-bearing solutions but failing to find it. These results give us new ideas.”

Michael Anenburg , a Postdoctoral Fellow at ANU said: “My tiny experimental capsules revealed minerals that nature typically hides from us. It was a surprise how well they explain what we see in natural rocks and ore deposits.”

“Rare earth element mobility in and around carbonatites controlled by sodium, potassium, and silica” is published in Science Advances [above] on Friday, October 9th 2020.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Exeter UK is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. It was founded and received its royal charter in 1955, although its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections. The annual income of the institution for 2017–18 was £415.5 million of which £76.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £414.2 million.

Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities[9] and is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).