The Triple Science Support Programme Quick Guides are designed to provide current and topical information at a level that can be used to offer information to students and also support the subject knowledge of teachers. Seventeen Quick Guides have been written by scientists currently involved in research linked to selected topics such as the LHC or stem cells. Potential contributors were identified by working with Research Councils UK (RCUK) to link the topics of the awarding bodies with the current work of the various research councils, and research scientists were approached to write Guides linking aspects of their current work to the Guide topic. The biographies of many of the Quick Guide authors are available here and should provide a valuable resource for engaging and inspiring students.
Nanotechnology written by Professor Jeremy Baumberg
What is it?
Nanotechnology is the artful science of combining nanometre-sized components to do something useful. In this field, size is everything: a nanometre is a billionth of a metre, so a human hair is about 80,000 nanometres across.
Nanotechnology quick guide
More about the author
Professor Jeremy Baumberg
Jeremy Baumberg directs a NanoPhotonics Centre based at the University of Cambridge and is an established innovator opening new areas for exploitation. He is interested in making nano-machines and new nano-materials which interact with light in completely new ways, and was awarded the 2004 Royal Society Mullard Prize, the 2004 Mott Lectureship and the Charles Vernon Boys medal in 2000. He frequently talks on NanoScience to the media and the public, and is a strategic advisor on NanoTechnology to the UK Research Councils.
Fuel Cells written by Professor Nigel Brandon and Dr Gregory Offer
What are they?
With energy costs rising and the environment changing, alternatives to fossil fuels are being sought. Fuel cells are part of the electrochemical energy conversion and storage device family – the same family that contains batteries and super capacitors. Fuel cells convert chemical energy to electrical energy much more efficiently than burning the same chemical fuels.
Fuel Cells quick guide
More about the authors
Professor Nigel Brandon
Professor Nigel Brandon FREng holds the Shell Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy at Imperial College London, and is Director of the Imperial College Energy Futures Lab which is developing solutions to met our future energy needs (www.imperial.ac.uk/energyfutureslab). He has focussed on developing fuel cell technology for the past 16 years. He is a founder of Ceres Power, an AIM listed fuel cell product development company, and was awarded the 2007 Silver Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering for his contribution to UK fuel cell engineering.
Dr Gregory Offer
Dr Gregory Offer is a research associate at Imperial College London where he is working on the latest Fuel Cell technology in the faculty of engineering. Greg is 30 and has a Masters Degree and a PhD in Chemistry. Greg is also involved with Imperial Racing Green, helping university students design, build and race fuel cell electric vehicles. These vehicles and the students race in international zero emission race series and can hold their own with the fastest cars on our roads and the technology may well form the basis of the cars you will drive in the future.
Organ Transplants written by Professor Anthony Warrens
What are they?
Organ transplantation is one of the success stories of the 20th century. It really started in the early 1960s, when the results were very poor. Now we expect at least 60% of kidney, liver and heart transplantations to still be working after five years. Indeed, the average life expectancy of a kidney transplant is between 10 and 15 years. If you reject your kidney transplant you can always have a second, third or even fourth transplant. Compared with remaining on dialysis, your quality of life and life expectancy with a transplant is much better. In essence, heart, liver and lung transplants are the last option when all other medical intervention fails and are seen as an essential life-saving step.
Organ Transplantation quick guide
More about the author
Professor Anthony Warrens
Anthony Warrens is Professor of Renal and Transplantation Medicine at Imperial College London and is a Consultant Physician at the Hammersmith Hospital with a particular interest in patients who have received a kidney transplant. He is heavily involved in teaching medical students and also enjoys talking to school students about his subject.
Large Hadron Collider written by Jad Marrouche
What is it?
Throughout history, tunnels have been widely used for road and rail transport, as well as the occasional prison escape, but there is one tunnel in particular which deserves a special mention. Straddling the Franco-Swiss border 100m underground, and measuring a staggering 27km the whole way around, this circular tunnel houses the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Large Hadron Collider quick guide
More about the author
Jad Marrouche
Jad graduated top of his class from the physics department at Imperial College London, and has recently moved to CERN in Geneva to continue his PhD in Experimental High Energy Physics at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator. If you would like to get in touch, please email him at jad.marrouche@cern.ch.
IVF written by Dr Michael Sargent
What is it?
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) literally means ‘in glass’. It is the curiously named treatment for infertility in which human eggs are fertilised with sperm outside of the body. For the same absurd reason, the babies born as a result of IVF are often called ‘test tube babies’.
IVF quick guide
More about the author
Dr Michael Sargent
Michael Sargent was a Developmental biologist at the National Institute for Medical Research but still organises outreach to schools and other groups for NIMR. He is the author of "Biomedicine and the Human Condition" (CUP) and continues to write about the impact of science on society.
Micro-organisms in Industry written by Dr Lara West
How are micro-organisms used in industry?
Micro-organisms are essential to many processes, for example, the nitrogen cycle (where nitrogen is recycled in the ecosystem) or in the decomposition of animal and plant waste. Micro-organisms are increasingly important to industry, where they are used in a huge variety of processes ranging from food production to water treatment.
Micro-organisms in industry quick guide
More about the author
Dr Lara West
Following A Levels I spent my Gap Year working for Merck, Sharp and Dohme pharmaceutical company in Harlow, Essex. I then moved to London to study for a Masters in Chemistry from Imperial College London. Following this I decided to study for a PhD in Microbiology, which I have recently completed. Currently I am just embarking of four years of training to become an Investment Consultant in London, and am finding that all skills I acquired during my study of science are a huge advantage to my new working life and the challenges it offers!
GPS written by Professor Terry Moore
What is GPS?
We are all becoming increasingly familiar with the Global Positioning System (GPS) through in-car satnav systems. GPS also features in many Hollywood films, TV programmes, books (including The Da Vinci Code) and even songs! Its portrayal in the popular media has led to many myths about the capabilities of GPS and other satellite navigation systems, such as the European Galileo system currently under development. But how does GPS actually work?
What are its capabilities and its limitations?
GPS quick guide
More about the author
Professor Terry Moore
Professor Terry Moore is the Director of the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) at the University of Nottingham and as such has overall responsibility for all the activities of this world leading postgraduate research and teaching institute. He was promoted to the UK’s first Chair of Satellite Navigation in 2001 and has extensive research experience in a range of subjects including satellite navigation and positioning, geodesy and orbit determination.
Satellite navigation (‘SatNav’) is a rapidly growing global industry that has significant economic potential and will yield substantial commercial returns beyond 2010. The current SatNav systems, including the US GPS system and the Russian GLONASS system will soon be joined by a European system called Galileo. The collective term for these systems is Global Navigation Satellite Systems or GNSS.
Professor Moore’s research interests and expertise are concerned with the development and applications of satellite navigation and positioning systems, such as GPS and Galileo. He has extensive research background in the navigation, engineering and environmental applications of these systems. These cover a variety of different domains such as air and marine navigation, road user charging, unoccupied aircraft, atmospheric monitoring, and indoor navigation. He is also actively involved in the developments of the underlying technology and algorithms. He has particular interest in the integration of satellite positioning sensors with other positioning to provide seamless and precise positioning for users of the systems. He is involved in the developments of the new European Galileo satellite system, both in terms of research and development programmes, but also through advice and consultancy services with industry and government agencies.