Careers in Science

V o l u m e 4 4 N u m b e r 2 July 2002 Click on www.fest.org.za for a kaleidoscope of science communication, events and initiatives. ISSN 0003-8385 Science against crime How forensics makes a crime scene come alive ANIMATION – Hi-tech art for the 21st Century CAREERS IN SCIENCE Foundation for Education, Science and Technology Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Open the door to infinite possibilities Foundation for Education, Science and Technology Foundation for Education, Science and Technology Archimedes is a magazine of the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology, an agency of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Archimedes magazine is a quarterly publication of the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST). It is published on a non-profit basis, to promote interest and knowledge about science and technology to the youth of South Africa, as well as their families and educators. FEST is an agency of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST), committed to promoting public understanding and participation in science, engineering and technology. To receive Archimedes regularly you need to subscribe. Page 6 The main sponsors for this issue of Archimedes are GTZ, a German development agency with a mission to help provide free, quality education to children all over the world. Editor: Evonne Oxenham IN THE NEWS Page 8 Local and international news from the world of science. Check it out to find out about the latest science events, competitions and more. Page 14 For many people, science is an intimidating subject. However, the challenge that science provides is exactly what makes it so exciting. Editorial contributions: Editorial contributions should be directed to: The Editor, Archimedes, PO Box 780, Melville 2109, or email archimedes@qualitywords.co.za Material is published at the sole discretion of the Editor. 6 8 Page 23 In this issue, “A day in the life … ” speaks to Prof. Les Underhill, a statistician and the head of the Avian Demography Unit at Cape Town University. Page 35 Feel like a bit of a laugh? Take part in this fun questionnaire and learn some things that you may not have known. Page 42 Microbiology presents many exciting opportunities for someone who is interested in learning all about a world of creatures that we cannot see. Page 44 Want to do something different? Explosives technology is sure to catch your attention. Page 37 Are you the arty type, but also enjoy whiling away the hours in front of a computer? Then animation may be the career for you. Publishers: Words’ Worth Tel: (011) 381-7700 Fax: (011) 381-7710 Email: archimedes@qualitywords.co.za Reproduction: The Bureau Printing: Kagiso BM Advertising: Tel: (011) 381-7700 Fax: (011) 381-7710 Email: archimedes@qualitywords.co.za Subscription queries: Mariëtte van der Merwe Email: merwea@fest.org.za Tel: (012) 322-6404 Fax: (012) 320-7803 Archimedes magazine is available via subscription only. To subscribe see page 4 – you could be a winner! © The Foundation for Education, Science and Technology is an agency of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. All rights are reserved. No editorial published in Archimedes may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publishers. The opinions, views and articles contained in this magazine are given without any responsibility whatsoever on the part of FEST, its officials or informants. The material contained herein is based on the best available information at the time of publishing this magazine. FEST and the publishers hereby disclaim responsibility for any information contained in the magazine which may be incorrect. 14 27 41 48 31 16 contents 20 Page 27 Have you ever had someone tell you that you can’t do something because you aren’t clever enough or because you are a girl? Read all about Joan Feynman and get some tips on how to prove them wrong. Page 16 Mark Shuttleworth wowed the world – first by selling his internet security company for billions and then by rocketing off into space. What is the secret of his success? Page 31 We have all seen the TV serials about policeman who fight crime with the help of forensics teams, but what is forensics really all about? We visited the SAPS Forensics Laboratory in Pretoria to find out how things work at one of the best forensics labs in the world. Page 41 Reaching for the stars … Ramotholo Sefako recently became the first African student to obtain a doctorate in astrophysics in South Africa. Page 46 Are you interested in finding out more about careers in science? We have tracked down some web sites that will set you on the right track. Page 48 Do you want to find out more about the courses offered by the University or Technikon nearest you? Give them a call or visit their web sites. Page 20 Technology plays a part in every facet of our lives these days. Archimedes visited the Pretoria Technikon to find out how technology is used in the theatre and met with some of the up-and-coming sound and light technicians there. 37 Foundation for Education, Science and Technology Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology 2 3 Foreword Subscribe and WIN a fantastic study guide There is growing pressure on learners to excel in their final Senior Certificate examination. The future of many young people rests on their performance in these exams. For those who miss Add to this the challenging situation at What s the damage? out on winning the book, but ● Annual subscriptions for individuals: R60 schools throughout the country and it would still like to buy a copy, go to for four issues. becomes clear that senior learners need your nearest good book shop. For high-quality exam preparation guides for ● Talk 10 of your classmates into subscribmore information, call Pearson Education ing to the magazine with you and your use at home. Pearson Education SA pubCustomer Services on (021) 531-7750 subscription is reduced to only R48 per lishes the X-kit series, the definitive exam These guides subscriber. Just make photostats of the preparation kits designed to assist Grade cost R79.95 subscription form, fill them out, put them 11 and 12 learners to achieve the highest (VAT inclusive) all in an envelope along with payment possible results in their final examinations. each. (e.g. 11 x R48 = R528) and send it to us. Written by subject experts and experienced examiners, these books contain sample exam papers, marking memoranda, and clear revision notes. The books are Did you find this issue of Archimedes interesting? Future updated regularly to conform to current issues promise to be even more fascinating. Listed below educational requirements and standards. are just some of the subjects that we are researching for Pearson Education are giving away 15 inclusion in forthcoming issues: of these guides to new subscribers of COMING SOON: Archimedes. When you send in your NEXT ISSUE: ● Biotechnology – What’s it all about subscription please indicate which guide you would prefer (i.e. Physics, Chemistry, ● Alternative energy sources Alternative Maths SG or HG, Geometry and Trigo● Speed – full throttle into the future energy sources nometry) and which grade you are in. AIM HIGH Dea r Lear ners , ema tics and scie nce, than ks to Sudd enly it’s “coo l” to like math ligh ted nt jour ney into Spac e has high Mar k Shut tlew orth . His rece ema tics and scie nce. The ol math the valu e and impo rtan ce of scho 2 b cam paig n is help ing chan ge Shut tlew orth Foun datio n’s Hip2 in le who show a genu ine inter est the perc eptio ns that youn g peop nerd s. math ema tics and scie nce are file indi vidu als chal leng ing the It is insp iring to see high -pro ent has subj ects . Whi le the Gov ernm attit udes of learn ers to thes e abou t math s and chan ging learn ers’ perc eptio ns been work ing on rts of youn g prof essio nals like scie nce for som e time , the effo nce g learn ers to do math s and scie Mar k are esse ntial for moti vatin for matr ic. ever reali sed som e time ago that an The Dep artm ent of Edu catio n s and scie nce in ber of learn ers are choo sing math dimi nish ing num Sout h a deve lopi ng coun try such as Grad e 10. This is a situa tion com petit ive edge thes e subj ects the Afri ca can ill-a fford . We need takin g main reas on learn ers are not can offe r. It was foun d that the than they feel intim idate d, rath er math s and scie nce is that getic I refu se to acce pt that our ener chal leng ed by thes e subj ects . n, do not have the the very lifeb lood of our natio youn g peop le, scie nce. abili ty to succ eed in math s and math s and scie nce I say: do not To learn ers who inten d drop ping be your ’t let your lack of conf iden ce mak e this mist ake. Don with k abou t wha t you wan t to do reas on for not pers ever ing. Thin do wha t it take s to ’t limi t your self. Aim high and your life. Don reac h your goal . Kadar Asmal, Minister of Education. FUTURE ISSUES ... FILL IN YOUR DETAILS BELOW ... I think that Archimedes is a really cool magazine and I would like to become a subscriber. 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I have enclosed: a cheque (made out to FEST) a postal order for the amount of: R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Which guide would you prefer: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In which grade are you: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please send your subscription form and cheque/postal order to: The Editor, Archimedes, PO Box 1758, Pretoria 0001. NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH 4 5 Message from our sponsor: GTZ A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR GTZ I n 2001 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development defined seven international development goals of which two emphasise the importance of basic education. In line with these goals, governments the world over committed themselves to provide free, quality education to all children. Taking this commitment seriously, the German Government doubled its financial contributions in the field of basic education. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) was established in 1975 to support development and reform processes on behalf of various German departments, partner country governments and international organisations (such as the European Union, United Nations and World Bank). The GTZ is a development agency with worldwide operations. It is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and aims at improving people’s living conditions and prospects. The projects and programmes are undertaken on the basis of bilateral agreements between Germany and the partner government. Developing project strategies and measures is therefore a joint effort of both partners. Among others, activities are orientated towards improving the quality of science and mathematics at school level. What is Technical Cooperation? Technical Cooperation is all about boosting the performance capacity of both individuals and organisations. It helps enhance the political and institutional framework for sustainable development in partner countries. Technical Cooperation transfers and mobilises knowledge and skills and – together with its partners – creates and develops the environment in which these can be applied. The aim is to empower people to use their own initiative, so that they can improve their living conditions through their own efforts. International partnership International and local experts, and managerial personnel, form the mainstay of the GTZ’s presence in its partner countries. Altogether – investing in the future of the world’s children the GTZ has more than 12 000 employees worldwide. In South Africa, about 8 700 people are contracted to the GTZ. In addition, there are some 1 200 people employed at the Head Office in Germany near Frankfurt am Main. Activity areas The GTZ’s consultancy services cover a wide range of activity areas including: ● economic development; ● employment promotion; ● health; ● basic education; ● environmental protection; ● resource conservation; ● regional rural development, and ● good governance, democracy and human rights. In recent years, government advisory services have increased significantly. Customised solutions In cooperation with its partners and with many years of experience, the GTZ is tailoring solutions to specific problem situations and developing project strategies as well as dovetailing inputs delivered by various project actors (such as different governmental, non-governmental and private organisations), so as to achieve the best possible results. Emphasis is on interlocking regional, sectoral, commercial and logistic capabilities and integrating management know-how and intercultural expertise. Service package The GTZ services include: ● advising organisations in partner countries on project and programme planning, implementation and evaluation; ● recruiting and briefing experts for their tasks; ● organising and implementing project-orientated training and upgrading; ● specification, planning and procurement of materials and equipment for the projects; and ● granting, processing and dispersing non-repayable financial contributions from Technical Cooperation funds. The GTZ’s contribution in the field of basic education Since its inception, the GTZ has supported the endeavours of developing countries to improve basic education. The promotion of basic education in development cooperation still remains a key issue in terms of social and economic development. The GTZ is currently supporting education in the following fields: ● intercultural bilingual education; ● sectoral consultancy; ● teacher training; and ● subject-specific interventions, such as environmental education, science and health education. The GTZ in South Africa In South Africa, the GTZ has a team of 90 staff members who are working in four sectors: ● Education and Skills Development; ● Public Administration and Decentralisation; ● Community and Local Economic Development; and ● Economic Growth and Employment Promotion. The GTZ’s education projects cover both basic education as well as skills training, in their effort to support the implementation of the various education reforms. Through these efforts, it is hoped that the younger generation will eventually become competent, innovative, productive and responsible members of the new South African society. The aim is to empower people to use their own initiative, so that they can improve their living conditions through their own efforts. To find out more information about GTZ, contact: ● ● ● Dr Ulf Metzger – metzher.gtz-suedafrika@za.gtz.de Tel: (012) 342-0181 Mrs Linda Rose – Western Cape Education Department; lrose@pawc.wcape.gov.za Tel: (021) 467-2558 Mr JS Bob Tladi – Free State Department of Education; bobtladi@majuba.ofs.gov.za Tel: (051) 404-8434 6 7 IN THE NEWS Jupiter's new moons Astronomers at the University of Hawaii recently discovered 11 new moons orbiting Jupiter - the solar system's largest planet - therefore increasing their number from 28 to a whopping 39! This discovery means that Jupiter now holds the number one position for having the most moons (stealing the title away from Saturn which has 30 moons). The research team found the new moons in midDecember 2001 using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope after spending months monitoring these moons to confirm their orbits. The scientists are now analysing these moons’ sizes, surfaces and orbits in the hopes of learning more about early planetary formation processes. These moons are visible as faint dots of light only a few kilometres long circling Jupiter at a maximum distance of 20 million kilometres, all moving in orbits counter to the direction of Jupiter's spin. They travel around the gas giant in distinct clusters, therefore suggesting that they are the shattered remnants of prior moons. That fact, combined with their irregular, elongated orbits, strongly hints that they were “ captured” by Jupiter when the planet was young. Alternatively, the moons may have been trapped by the planet's increasing gravity during its final stages of growth. Two excited 18-year-olds, Bradley Mathews and Bertus Esterhuysen, recently returned from representing South Africa at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. These two young scientists are very proud of being selected to represent South Africa internationally. “ I felt honoured to represent the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists. By sponsoring the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, Eskom has opened a door for me and allowed me to experience another culture, and has given me the chance to exhibit my own innovation and compete internationally as a South African. Bertus and I would like to thank Eskom for being Proudly South African," says Bradley. The participants entered their projects in the engineering category, where they competed against 147 projects, mostly American. Bradley won two special awards for the refrigeration unit that he invented (which works off heat and doesn't need electricity). The first award was a US$500 cash prize, presented by Bently Nevada, the world's leading supplier of machinery protection and management solutions. This award is given to projects that demonstrate originality in specifying a research problem or defining an engineering project, as well as creativity in In the news ESKOM EXPO FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS WINNERS AT THE INTEL INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR executing the project and utilising engineering principles/methods to solve the problem. His second award was another US$500 cash prize, from Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development. This award is presented to young scientists exhibiting projects in the categories of earth and space sciences, engineering, chemistry, physics and computer sciences, who demonstrate exceptional creativity, independence and initiative in problem selection, research design and project execution. Both Bertus (who designed a wheel alert mechanism which tells you when you need to change your tyres) and Bradley have achieved international recognition for their world-class projects. They won gold medals at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists national finals held in Pretoria in October last year. Eskom takes pride in energising South Africa's young minds, unleashing Africa's bright futures and the great rewards this will bring. The Intel ISEF, is one of the largest pre-college science fairs and more than 1 200 of the most capable young science pioneers from more than 40 countries shared ideas and competed in the fair. For more information on the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, please contact Malissa Malheiro on Tel: (011) 506-4400. Bradley Mathews shows off his award-winning refrigeration unit (Gold & International winner). This “ family portrait” , a composite of the Jovian system, includes the edge of Jupiter with its Great Red Spot, and Jupiter's four largest moons, known as the Galilean satellites. From top to bottom, the moons shown are: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Internet access in SA - we've still got a long way to go A recent study by World Wide Worx has revealed that three million South Africans have access to the Internet. This translates to one in 15 having access as opposed to one in two in the USA. At current growth rates only one in 10 will have access by 2006. The research project, which was led by Arthur Goldstuck, took six months to complete, attributed the slow growth of Internet access in SA to several factors, including: ● delays in the licensing of a second network operator; ● Telkom's uncompromising attitude towards Internet Service Providers (ISPs); and ● market ignorance about the value of the Internet (after the technology market crash of 2000 and 2001). ● ● ● Other key findings of the report, include: the educational environment in SA can expect a boom in access to the Internet, with many projects under way to get schools connected. It is believed that getting schools connected will not only have good short-term effects, but will also have a positive effect on the long-term growth of the Internet in SA; a very healthy demand by businesses for leased lines permanent high-speed connections to the Internet; and mobile access to the Internet has not taken off and only a small proportion of people with WAP software on their cell phones use it to connect to the Internet. Bradley and Bertus, the two Eskom Expo for Young Scientists winners, were proud representatives of South Africa at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Louisville, Kentucky. Big prizes for science pics! Can you capture the beauty and excitement of science and technology on film? Do you have striking images that convey how science and technology impacts on, and benefits, our daily lives? The Mail & Guardian and the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST) have joined forces to present South Africa's first photographic competition specifically aimed at illustrating and communicating the excitement and impact of science to a broad audience. The competition is open to professional photographers or amateurs with an enthusiasm for science, technology and medicine. Researchers, health professionals and educators are also encouraged to participate. Original images representing all aspects of science can be entered. There are cash prizes of R45 000 in total at stake. Selected entries and the winning photographs will be published in The Mail & Guardian and will be exhibited at an international conference dedicated to public communication of science, to be held in Cape Town in December 2002. The closing date for entries is Monday, 30 September 2002. For more information on the three categories and how to enter, consult the FEST web site at: www.fest.org.za 8 9 In the news The Stradivarius – its secret sound lies in its chemistry For those of you who don't know, the Stradivarius is a make of violin that has been hailed as the violin of all violins. These instruments were made in Cremona, Italy by Antonio Stradivari in the 17th and 18th centuries and it is generally believed that no violins have come close to the superior quality of the Stradivarius since. However, Scientific American recently interviewed a Hungarian by the name of Joseph Nagyvary has spent 25 years trying to unlock the secrets of the Stradivarius' sound by looking at its chemistry, and it seems that his persistence is now paying off. In order to find out what made the Stradivarius stand apart from all other violins, Nagyvary had to go back in time and find out what went into making these violins in Cremona. He made several discoveries, including: ● the use of an insecticide called Borax in the 17th century to prevent the wood used for making the violins from being destroyed by woodworm (this made the wood harder and tighter which contributes towards making the sound more brilliant); ● the use of various sugars made from fruit gum (colourful liquid that seeps through the bark of fruit trees and dries into a glassy matter that is stiff and brittle - to protect the violin from getting mouldy); and ● the use of a very fine crystal powder (made from quartz) to saturate the wood. This crystal powder protects against woodworm. Mixing the crystal powder and fruit gum together and using it on the violins, produced a brilliant, very hard and very brittle surface which made for a very clear sound without the high frequency hissing noises that some violins have. It has taken many years and thousands of violins to try and narrow down what set the Stradivarius apart from the rest, but Nagyvary is now very confident that his study into the NEW DIABETES DRUG MEANS NO MORE INJECTIONS The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on a new drug that halts the progression of Type I diabetes. Type I, or juvenile, diabetes occurs when the body's own immune system attacks the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas, preventing the formation of insulin - the protein that controls glucose levels - which helps the body to regulate sugar in the blood. Most Type 1 diabetics have to self-administer painful insulin injections to control their blood sugar levels. However, clinical trial results show that patients taking the new drug - called hOKT3g1(ala-ala) - continued to make their own insulin and did not need externally created protein. This new drug is able to destroy the immune cells responsible for preventing insulin production, thereby allowing diabetics to live injection-free for at least a year without any serious side-effects. Drug trials were carried out on 12 newly diagnosed diabetics between the ages of seven and 27. After a year, nine of these patients exhibited little, if any, reduction in insulin production and still did not require external insulin injections. Ten of the 12 diabetics who did not receive the drug, on the other hand, showed a significant decrease in their ability to make the glucose-regulating protein. Further testing is planned, but researchers are optimistic. “ The remarkable results reported in this study provide enormous hope for finding a cure for people with Type I diabetes," remarks Robert Goldstein of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in the USA. Eastern Cape take quiz in nailbiting finish A team made up of three learners (Douglas Hobson: Union High School, Graaff Reinet; Pierre Rossouw: Hoërskool Brandwag, Uitenhage, and Luyuvo Maloni: Moses Madiba High School, Kirkwood) won the National Final of Mintek's Minquiz schools' science competition at Mintek recently . The competition was fierce, ending with only one point separating first and second positions and three points separating second from third, after five tie-breaker questions! In the end, the Gauteng South team – consisting of Simon Spicer (St John's College), Johan van Staden (Hoërskool Florida) and William Tefo (St Barnabas College) – had to settle for second place, while the Kwazulu Natal team comprising of Tyrone Negus (Kloof High School), Wynand Louw (Kloof High School), and Janice Coeries (Domino Servite) – finished up third. The winners in the first team qualify for bursaries in minerals-related careers from sponsors Anglogold, Xstrata, and Sasol, and the runnersup scored with generous cash prizes for their schools. Co-sponsors of Minquiz 2002 are Anglo Platinum, Multotec, Afrox, and Algorax. Minquiz, which is Mintek's premier event for the promotion of careers in science, engineering and technology to high school learners (especially in the field of mineral technology), has been running for 15 years. Interestingly, in the 1990s, a televised version of the quiz (called the Gee Whiz Quiz), included South Africa’s first astronaut, Mark Shuttleworth, in his winning team from Bishops. 1: The winning team was from the Eastern Cape, and comprised of (from left) Pierre Rossouw (Hoërskool Brandwag, Uitenhage); Douglas Hobson (Union High School, Graaff Reinet); and Luyuvo Maloni, (Moses Madiba High School, Kirkwood). 2: In second place was the team from Gauteng South consisting of (from left) Johan van Staden (Hoërskool Florida), William Tefo (St Barnabas College), and Simon Spicer (St John's College). 3: The team from Kwazulu Natal, which was (from left) third, consisted of Tyrone Negus (Kloof High School), Janice Coeries (Domino Servite) and Wynand Louw (Kloof High School). 1 2 3 SARIMA – baan die pad vir inheemse navorsing en tegnologie Die daarstelling van die Suider-Afrikaanse Navorsings- en Innoveringsbestuursvereniging (bekend onder sy Engelse afkorting van SARIMA – Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association) begin vanjaar kan dalk vir jou as hoërskoolleerder onbelangrik lyk. Dié vereniging gaan egter ’n belangrike rol speel om te verseker dat toekomstige Suid-Afrikaanse wetenskaplikes die geleentheid sal hê om op die voortpunt van wêreld-innovering bedrywig te wees. In sy kommentaar op die daarstelling van SARIMA het die Minister van Kuns, Kultuur, Wetenskap en Tegnologie, dr Ben Ngubane, SARIMA aangemoedig om inligting aan hom deur te gee oor die noodsaak vir die beveiliging en uitbouing van navorsingsvermoë om Suid-Afrika op die voortpunt van vernuwing in die wêreld te hou. Dis goeie nuus vir dié van julle wat ná voltooiing van jul studies deel wil wees van die wetenskapgemeenskap omdat dit beteken dat daar mense is wat daarvoor sal sorg dat waardige navorsing en innovering die kans en befondsing kry wat nodig is. Die feit dat jy in Suid-Afrika woon en nie in byvoorbeeld Amerika nie, kan jou dus nie keer om voortpunttegnologie te ontwikkel en internasionaal daarvoor erkenning te kry nie. WILD LY ONDER TB ’n Skrikwekkende ontdekking is onlangs in Botswana gemaak dat Afrika se wild ’n menslike siekte begin opdoen, naamlik tuberkulose. Volgens Kathleen Alexander, Botswana se senior-wildbewaringsveearts, is daar twee bekende uitbrekings van TB onder wilde diere in die gebied: 1. Twee uitbrekings by gebande muishonde in Chobe. 2. Een uitbreking wat ’n hele groep meerkatte in die Kalahari uitgewis het. Volgens Kathleen moet dadelik werk gemaak word van dié bevinding omdat maniere gevind moet word om die kontak tussen mens en dier te verminder sonder om die voordele van ekotoerisme te laat skade ly. Ekotoerisme verskaf meeste van die geld wat nodig is vir wildbewaring in Afrika, en Chobe – Botswana se naasgrootste nasionale park – moet die welsyn van sy diere beskerm as hy wil voortbestaan as ’n voorste toeristebestemming. Alexander vermoed die vigs-pandemie wat reeds meer as ’n derde van Botswana se bevolking aantas, is ’n deel van die probleem. Mense wat sowel vigs as TB onderlede het, kan meer waarskynlik wilde diere besmet weens die hoër voorkoms van die bakterie in hul sputum of ontlasting. 10 11 TSA’s first Science, Engineering & Technology (SET) Open Day enjoyed by budding technologists Technikon SA (TSA) participated in the DACST SET National Week (6-11 May 2002) by holding a SET Open Day at the TSA, Florida Main campus. This event was organised by the Institute for the Development of Science, Engineering and Technology (IDSET). The participating schools were Forte, Altem and Kelekitso High Schools from Soweto, Realogile and Eastbank High Schools from Alexandra and Kgabutle High School from Rustenburg. The learners eagerly participated in various activities including: ● animal toy making and animal behaviour enrichment by Johannesburg Zoo; ● electrical engineering experiments and talk; ● technology-based science experiments in South Africa by Pert Industries; ● model aircraft building by Modderfontein Aircraft Club, ● Coke bottle car racing, using pressure principles; ● science edutainment video by Richard Enterprises; ● web design for beginners; ● software integrated, interactive SET career counselling. Career counselling gave an insight into SET careers and choices using this interactive software; ● mixing chemicals to form bouncing balls; and ● buoyancy principle exercises. The exhibitors showed some products produced using SET principles. The industry exhibitors included: Microsoft SA, Experilab, Pert Industrials, Richard Stewart Enterprises, SA Police Forensic Science Department, Ster-Kinekor, Science vs Science-Fiction, Reinol Chemicals, Modderfontein Model Aircraft Club and Pearson Education. The teachers were exposed to Curriculum 2008, Outcomes Based Education and teaching techniques presented by Prof Ballim (Head of Engineering: University of Witwatersrand) and Dr Hlongwane (CEO of National Science and Technology Forum) . The high school learners were invited to take part in SET Model and Bridge Building competitions. The main aim of the competition was to promote SET principles and encourage interest in SET careers. The application of SET principles was tested using various criteria. The prizes for this competition were donated by Pert Industries (electronic labs), Richard Stewart Enterprises (physics videos) and Kinnor Ltd (calculators). The winners were: Model building competition: First prize: Kelekitso, Second prize: Eastbank, Third prize: Kelekitso Bridge building competition: First prize: Eastbank, Second prize: Kelekitso Small bridge competition: First prize: Altem DACST intend to make this an annual event which will include a Science Fair for the participating schools in September, as part of the institute's broad Schools Outreach strategy. For more information on the IDSET Schools Outreach Programme, please contact The Project Coordinator: Sabera Khan: Tel: (011) 471-3086 or e-mail: khans@tsa.ac.za AD FOR VISTA UNI – POSIS SUPPLIED Mintek begin Adopt-a-school projek Die leerders van die Kwadeda Ngendlale-hoërskool in Zola-Noord, Soweto, begin die vrugte pluk van ’n projek waarin Mintek dié skool “ aangeneem” het as deel van sy betrokkenheid by ’n nasionale program om die probleme van swak onderwys, persepsies en uitslae in wetenskap, ingenieurswese en tegnologie (WIT) te help regstel. Om sy borgskap op ’n positiewe noot te begin, het Mintek die wetenskap-matriekleerders van Kwadeda na Mintek genooi waar hulle eers ontbyt bedien is en daarna op ’n toer deur Mintek se geriewe geneem is om hulle ’n beter begrip te gee van waaroor wetenskap en tegnologie eintlik gaan. Volgens Roger Paul, direkteur vir algemene tegnologie en waarnemende uitvoerende hoof van Mintek, is Kwadeda gekies vir dié borgskap te danke aan sy goeie akademiese prestasie, die feit dat hy werklik hulpbehoewend is en boonop nie ver van Mintek af is nie. Die borgskap sluit in: ● die skenking van oortollige en verouderde toerusting (Mintek het oortollige laboratoriumtoerusting wat gebruik kan word in wetenskapklasse); ● die skenking van IT-toerusting (tot dusver is 25 rekenaars geïdentifiseer as verouderd maar tog bruikbaar vir leerders); en ● verskerping van die WIT-bewustheid van leerders (Mintek is daartoe verbind om belowende leerders aan te moedig om deeltydse werkswinkels by te woon en hulle, afgesien van intensiewe WIT-opleiding, bloot te stel aan ander wetenskapverwante bedrywighede. Mintek stel ’n program saam waarvolgens sekere konsepte en tegnologië verduidelik en gedemonstreer sal word met besoeke van Mintek se tegnoloë en wetenskaplikes aan skole en ook besoeke van leerders by Mintek.) Microsoft en Nashua het ook deelgeneem en het, in ’n poging om die leerproses by Kwadeda ’n bietjie makliker te maak, onderskeidelik programmatuur en ’n nuwe fotokopiëermasjien geborg. Hopelik sal dié Adopt-a-school program van Mintek uitkring en ook ander maatskappye aanmoedig om verdienstelike skole aan te neem om te help om hul wetenskapgeriewe te verbeter, soos wat by Kwadeda gebeur het. 12 Is science for you? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist ... ... to be a part of the world of Many people are put off science at an early age because they think that they are not clever enough. But the truth is that you don't have to be a genius to be a scientist. What you do need is an interest in the world around you and enough curiosity to want to know how things work and why things happen. T he word “ science" means different things to different people. But, more often than not, when we think of science we think of men in white coats in a laboratory surrounded by glass test tubes and bunsen burners. The Times English Dictionary describes science as: “ a systematic study of the nature and behaviour of the material and physical universe, based on observation, experiment and measurement, and the formulation of laws to describe these facts in general terms". The “ material and physical universe" does not exist in a laboratory, it is everything around us, which means that we can all be scientists by studying the world around us and finding explanations for why things are the way they are. However, studying the world is quite a challenging task, as it presents us with some astounding phenomena, which often take a while for us to get our heads around. Never accept something as fact unless you have satisfactory proof, but never dismiss something just because it goes beyond your understanding and what you prefer to believe. Thankfully, there have been many scientists throughout history who have already dedicated their lives to studying and formulating laws for things like gravity (Isaac Newton 1642-1727), chemistry (Robert Boyle 1627-1691), and electric current (Luigi Galvani 1737-1798). This has resulted in us getting the benefit of these discoveries. For instance, we can now defy gravity and travel over the seas in aeroplanes; we can prolong our lives by taking medicines that cure our ills; and we can live our lives in comfort with access to an uninterrupted electricity supply. If it had not been for these people, whose curiousity drove them to uncover these basic laws of nature, our history would have been very different. Today, history is still being written by scientists of this kind - people who do not accept things at face value. Good examples include the work that is being done into: ● developing genetically modified foods which are resistant to bugs; ● cloning and stem cell research which could result in finding a cure for cancer; and ● laser surgery which negates the need for someone to be cut open in order to have an operation done. These are all advances that could never have been imagined 10 years ago and which could very soon change our way of life. No doubt you will have heard the heated debates that surround some of the above, but remember that throughout history scientists have met with resistance when they have challenged the status quo and suggested new ways of thinking. For instance, Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus exploded the myth that the Earth was the centre of the universe when he discovered that the Earth and other planets actually rotated around the sun. His ideas were so upsetting to the Catholic Church at the time, that he was only persuaded to put his theories down on paper in 1543, the same year that he died. It took the Catholic Church another 360 years before it finally acknowledged that Copernicus' theory was right! Had it not been for the Catholic church, the science of astronomy would have developed more quickly. In the same way, if the ancient alchemists had not shrouded their experiments in secrecy, the science of chemistry would have developed more quickly. These true stories go to show that you need to have an open mind if you want to be a scientist. Never accept something as fact unless you have satisfactory proof, but never dismiss something just because it goes beyond your understanding and what you prefer to believe. In this issue! In this issue of Archimedes we touch on but a few of the career choices that are available to you, the aspiring scientist or “ techno-geek". At the end of the day, it is up to you to do your homework and find out what it is that you are meant to do with the rest of your life. Because, as Prof. Les Underhill says in his article on page 24: “ A career of 40 years is a desperately long time to be doing something you hate!" When you are still at school it is inconceivable to be worrying about your future career. However, it is important to keep it in mind when you make decisions, such as, what subjects you are going to take and whether you are going to do them on higher or standard grade. Don't let a difficult teacher or a bad mark get in the way. If you have a love for science, but are struggling to relate to the teacher, approach her and voice your concerns, rather than dropping the subject and giving up on your dreams. If you are not coping with higher grade maths, but still find that you enjoy the subject, ask your teacher for advice on how to improve your marks before dropping to standard grade. No one achieved anything by giving up. YOU have to make the effort if you want the career of your dreams. But, be warned. Making excuses for why you couldn't do what you really wanted to do is much easier. You can always find someone else to blame or you can blame your circumstances for holding you back. At the end of the day, if you can read and write, you have access to all the information you need to make things happen for yourself. On page 46 you will find news about the SciTech Web Awards, which provides you with a starting point if you still haven't decided where your interest in science lies. Go surfing and spend some time exploring all the different areas of science from which you can choose. Whatever you do, don't sell yourself short. Whether you want to be an electrician or an astrophysicist, if you have faith in your ability to reach your goal, half the battle is already won. After that, all you have to do is follow the famous catchphrase that Nike uses and “ Just Do It". When you are still at school it is inconceivable to be worrying about your future career. However, it is important to keep it in mind when you make decisions, such as, what subjects you are going to take and whether you are going to do them on higher or standard grade. 14 15 Living your dreams Find out Mark Shuttleworth’s secret to success HAVE A DREAM ... ... and stand out from the crowd There are very few people who will not have heard of Mark Shuttleworth and his amazing space odyssey. His journey to the International Space Station represents a very significant moment in history that sent a clear message to all South Africans, young and old: that we CAN dare to dream. Info from www.africaninspace.com “ Thawte was my strategy to deal with the Internet age, trying to find a business opportunity that would work well from South Africa and grow very quickly,” says Mark. “ Looking back, I can see now that there was a lot of luck involved as so many things happened over which I had no control. But, I was also working with an extraordinary team of individuals who were willing to be adventurous, go against the flow and take on companies that were much better equipped than us. Most importantly, we all had spirit and soul and were determined to win ... which we did, in the end.” Why not stop there? Once Thawte was sold it is reasonable to say that Mark could have taken a very, very long holiday ... so why didn’t he? “ Because it wouldn’t have been rewarding. We all have the same amount of time and once we’ve spent it, it’s gone. So, that’s the most important decision and the guiding principle for me, is to find something that’s going to be rewarding, that’s going to inspire me and other people,” philosophises Mark. “ I am driven by a continuous desire to reinvent myself. I certainly could never have imagined doing some of the things that I’ve been able to do, but if I’m afraid of anything, it is of stopping that process of reinvention,” he says. But, it isn’t just about wanting to reinvent yourself. Wanting to do something and actually doing it, are two completely different things. Everybody wants to do exciting things like travel around the world or become a famous actor/actress, or go to the moon. The problem is that in order to get what we want, we have to be willing to work very, very hard and know when to take risks. It seems that Mark is quite good at knowing when to take risks. Why is this? Says Mark: “ I try to think through as many different options as possible before picking one that I think is going to be an adventure, but for which I think I understand the fundamental principles well enough to be able to navigate through all the risks. “ I also read a lot ... I read current news in a wide variety of fields and I spend a lot of time trying to imagine how the world is unfolding. Trying to see what current trends are emerging what’s going to last and what’s going to die early - and then trying to find opportunity in the things that are interesting and worthwhile to me.” And when we talk about “ worthwhile” , we are not talking about money. Yes, money is always a factor, but if you are not doing what you love and enjoy, your chances of success (and making money) are diminished. “ People who’ve managed to create wealth are always willing to link to the future and work incredibly hard towards creating wealth where others thought there was none to be created. Ultimately, we are here to enjoy our lives, to feel that we have reached our inner potential. Money is really a very poor measure of someone’s exploration of their inner potential.” The sky’s not the limit Speaking of exploration, what was it that led Mark to believe that he could become a cosmonaut and rocket off into space? The fact is that he didn’t know that he couldn’t do it and decided to take a chance: “ I love taking on new challenges and therefore have to accept that every now and then I will be diving into things MORE ON PAGE 19 A lthough Mark has been criticised for spending so much on his endeavours, he is philosophical about his reasons for pursuing his dream of going to space: “ At the end of the day, I’ve learned to go with my instincts and to expect some criticism. The toughest part isn’t the work, it’s standing firm when someone sniggers at the back of the crowd. If we all waited for everyone to agree, nobody would DO anything interesting, or bold, or adventurous, or courageous, or beautiful. Life by committee is no life at all. “ What gets me excited about this project is that, for every one person who sniggers at the back of the crowd, I think there are a hundred dynamic people who are saying to themselves, ‘If he can do it, why can’t I?’,” says Mark. And who can argue with that? It is just the kind of determination that we need in this country, the kind of determination that is going to “ separate the boys from the men” , so to speak. There are many negative things that South Africans can (and unfortunately do) spend our time thinking about. However, if we can take our focus off what we can’t do and start thinking about what we can do, who knows what will happen and what goals we will reach? As Mark says: “ Everybody has dreams which seem to be out of reach. But the world is a surprising place, and I believe that people who strive for their dreams, more often than not, turn them into reality. I worry that all the constant press about African problems misses the amazing truth: that opportunity is abundant in Africa for those who seek it and are willing to work for it. But if people don’t dream, then they won’t make any effort to move forward and take advantage of these opportunities.” Making dreams come true At school, Mark admits that he was always the geek or the bookworm. His interests were mostly intellectual and he never took sport particularly seriously (although his rigorous training for his trip into space forced him to change his ways). His fascination with technology started at a tender age, when he was introduced to computer games, and from there it just grew and grew. During his studies towards a Business Science (Finance) degree at the University of Cape Town, he was introduced to the Internet and was very excited by the challenges and opportunities that he believed would emerge as a result. “ I was incredibly excited about this rapid change towards a networked society and was determined to find a strategy to build a global business from South Africa with minimal resources, which is how Thawte Consulting came about,” says Mark. At first Thawte started out as an Internet consulting business, but the focus quickly shifted to Internet security for electronic commerce. Through a bit of foresight and a lot of hard work, Thawte became the first company to produce a full-security e-commerce web server that was commercially available outside the United States. By the time it was acquired by VeriSign in the USA, Thawte had become the fastest-growing Internet Certificate Authority, and was the leading Certificate Authority outside of the US. 16 17 Living your dreams Meer oor die eksperimente wat Mark saamgeneem het die ruimte in … Inligting bekom by www.africaninspace.com 1 Die heel eerste selle wat die liggaam skep, het nie ’n vooraf-afgebakende lotsbestemming nie. Anders as meer volwasse selle is hulle nie velselle, lewerselle of breinselle nie – hulle is eenvoudig stamselle, wat verander om ’n spesifieke soort sel te word in reaksie op hul omgewing. Begrip van dié selle is die sleutel tot die herstel van ernstige beserings waar selle in ’n spesifieke liggaamsdeel onherstelbaar beskadig is. Omvattende navorsing oor gameetontwikkeling in toestande van nul-swaartekrag (soos in die ruimte) kan waardevolle inligting verskaf oor embrioniese ontwikkeling op aarde, waar die vloeistofomgewing van die ontwikkelende fetus in die baarmoeder ’n mikro-gravitasiekrag skep. Die ontwikkeling van sulke embrio-, stam- en liggaamselle word egter vertraag wanneer hulle in die aarde se swaartekrag in ’n broeikas gekweek word. ’n Vergelyking van die groei van sulke selle in toestande van nul-swaartekrag ten tyde van die ruimtesending met selle wat op aarde gekweek is, kan antwoorde verskaf oor die invloed van swaartekrag op die ontwikkeling van gamete. for which I am completely unqualified. Success and failure are flip sides of the same coin and that coin is a willingness to be innovative and take risks.” For Mark, his space adventure was the biggest challenge he ever faced - but the bigger the challenge, the greater the rewards. In order to step out of the charred space-craft with that unbelievable grin and look of total exhilaration on his face, Mark had to commit to eight months of intense training for the project. He had to become proficient in the systems of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and also understand the International Space Station systems in order to ensure his safety while on the space station. Besides intense physical training he also did weightlessness training, centrifuge training, science programme training and training on spacecraft communications, guidance and control systems. No small feat, but what a reward! It’s more than just living your dream Luckily, Mark has realised that his dream is bigger than himself and has endeavoured to share his exciting and ground-breaking experience with as many people as possible, in an effort to inspire them to aim high. During his time on the International Space Station, Mark was interviewed by everyone from Nelson Mandela to children from his old school. He was totally open about how he was feeling and what it was like to be up there, looking down on the Earth. Even the worst cynics couldn’t help but be curious and a little amazed at what he was achieving. And now that he has come back down to Earth, both literally and figuratively, there are new challenges for him to tackle. But, hat’s the way he likes it. 2 Die ruimte belas die menslike liggaam heeltemal anders as waaraan ons op aarde gewoond is. Baie van die wetenskap wat in wentelbane bedryf is, was gerig op begrip van hoe ons funksioneer in toestande van mikro-swaartekrag. Terwyl Mark in die ruimte was, is hy gemonitor deur ’n span op aarde wat boek gehou het van sy hartklop en die manier waarop sy spiere reageer het. Daar is baie vrae en teenstrydige verslae oor biologiese reaksies – Mark het hopelik gehelp om van dié onsekerhede op te klaar. Tot dusver het navorsing oor die invloed van mikro-gravitasie op die totale daaglikse energieverbruik die dubbelgemerkte watermetode gebruik – ’n duur en lastige metode wat vereis het dat ruimtemanne getrou elke dag monsters van hul uriene en speeksel moes neem vir ontleding. Om die hartslag te monitor, is ’n veel goedkoper en makliker metode. As dié manier akkuraat blyk te wees in toestande van mikro-swaartekrag waar daar bekende en aangetekende kardiovaskulêre veranderinge is, kan die waarde van hartslagmonitering vir die vasstelling van daaglikse energieverbruik versterk word. 3 As ons al die verskillende bedreigings in Afrika in ag neem, kan daar min twyfel wees dat MIV/vigs en ander siektes ’n ernstige kwessie is. In die stryd teen siektes is ons eie liggame die strydperk waar ons immuunselle reageer met en (hopelik) die siektes aanval namate ons besmet word. Wetenskaplikes se probleem is dat die strydendes te klein is om regstreeks dop te hou – ons moet ons verlaat op stukkies getuienis waarvan ons afleidings kan maak. Een van die prosesse wat daarmee help, word OPK genoem – oplosbare- proteïnkristalisering, wat wetenskaplikes ’n manier bied om te kyk hoe die immuunstelsel sy wapens gebruik om so te probeer vasstel hoe ons hulle doeltreffender kan maak. 18 19 L e t ’s g e t t e c h n i c a l by Cathy Welman The science of sound ... and the theory of light feel you are after. This takes a creative, artisticallytrained eye, as well as an understanding of colour and lighting theory.” A big chunk of lighting theory deals with the keystone effect, which determines how light will look when projected onto a specific surface. This is explained on page 22. Another aspect of lighting a show or movie set is calculating the amount of electricity that will be needed. Lerato says that this can be a bit tricky. “ But, apparently, it gets easier with experience,” she laughs. As someone planning a career in lighting movie sets, she had better hope so! Lerato took maths and science in grade 12, and thinks that this has provided a good grounding for the technical side of her graduate studies, especially when it comes to doing calculations. Mpho Rabotapi, on the other hand, did not do maths and science at school – and was lucky to have received a lot of help from his class-mates, as there were many “ basics” with which he was not familiar. “ I needed a lot of help to start with,” he says. “ My love is music and I went to tech to study sound. I wanted to get into DJ-ing – there are so many opportunities opening up in this field.” Controlling the wave Mpho soon learned that sound and lighting work hand-in-hand when putting on a show, and selected these as his major subjects. “ Both fields are very computer-based. You need to know the software. This technology forms a large part of our curriculum,” he says. “ Understanding sound is not just about getting sound out of speakers,” says second-year student Joao Viegas, “ It’s about controlling a wave.” Kgosi Khiba explains: “ You can deceive people with lighting when it’s done well. However, the slightest lighting mistake will catch the audience’s attention. But you can fiddle around with sound and deceive the audience anyway – provided that you know how!” The future Although all hard-working and very focused, not one of these students knows exactly what path they will take when they graduate. Possibly, this is because the opportunities open to theatre technology graduates are so varied. With the demise of the state-subsidised theatres in the late 90s, every single production staged in the country requires an independent technical crew. Opportunities exist in television, theatre – corporate, commercial and community – professional sound and lighting companies, civic theatres, in advertising, and on movie sets, both local and international. Theatre technology students at Pretoria Technikon are required to be involved in at least 10 productions every year. In 2001, the 75 first-, second- and third-year students provided technical services for a total of 217 productions. These include an experimental theatre, an African production, opera, a musical, classical and modern Many people think that pursuing a career in science means they’ll end up being a scientist dressed in a white laboratory coat, doing experiments with foul-smelling concoctions. But, the world of science provides a myriad opportunities. For many young people, coming to grips with a few basic scientific principles has enabled them to enter the creative, stimulating world of film, radio, theatre and dance as part of the technical support crew. “ A rt is science made clear,” said Jean Cocteau, a French author and film-maker. Joao, Mpho, Kgosi, Lerato and Terry, all theatre technology students at the Pretoria Technikon, agree. They are all creative people who have learned that the technology aspect of their course is essential to make the pictures and sounds they see and hear in their heads come alive on stage. Terry Molise is a third-year student. “ This course is definitely more creative than technical,” he says. “ Although, we have learned that we can’t make the creativity happen if we don’t know how. So, we need the technical side as a base.” Lerato Motau studied fine art before she made the switch to theatre technology. She loves painting and design and, on entering her second year, decided to major in stage décor. Her second major subject is lighting. “ Through lighting, you bring the stage you have created to life. When you design a stage set, you need to interpret the script and the genre of the play. When planning a show’s lighting from scratch, you need to complement the set. To do this, you need to take many factors into account: the colours, effects and intensities, and how these combine to create the mood and Theatre technology students backstage: (from left) Joao Viegas, Terry Molise, Mpho Rabotapi, Kgosi Khiba and Lerato Motau. dance productions, and dramas, as well as David Copperfield’s South African shows, the SAMA Awards, the local production of the musical CATS, and many others. So, there’s no shortage of work out there! “ Not only is there a lot of work, the industry pays well if you’re hard-working,” says Hardus Koekemoer, one of the lecturers. “ But, this country is very under-developed in terms of theatres and technology. Hence, this course is very businessoriented. We create young entrepreneurs.” It’s all in the plan All third-year students are required to present a complete business plan, which will equip them to start up their own small businesses on graduation. Much of the third year is dedicated to an arts administration Lerato took maths and science in grade 12, and thinks that this has provided a good grounding for the technical side of her graduate studies, especially when it comes to doing calculations. 20 21 A day in the life… study module, which focuses on business skills, entertainment and copyrights laws, contracts, designing logos and letterheads, and even covers the do’s and don’ts of writing a letter to the bank for start-up funding. Prior to this, the students will have completed subjects including lighting, sound, costuming, textiles, props, make-up, stage technology, theatre history, communications, writing, computer literacy, and stage management. Third-year students are required to pass a practical examination covering their entire study field and then follow this up with three months of vocational training in the industry. The demand for these technical skills is so high that over 95% of Pretoria Tech’s students are employed immediately after graduation. Third-year students graduate with a Diploma in Theatre Technology. This can be followed up with a fourth year of study, which will earn the student a B.Tech degree in Performing Arts Technology. To qualify for the diploma, a senior certificate is a prerequisite. Maths, science and a language are preferred subjects to have passed at school but these are not essential. However, because the formal entry requirements are rather lenient, potential students are also interviewed. “ We look for students who are self-confident and good communicators,” says Hardus. “ They must be practically-oriented and at the same time very artistic, and must also be able to work in a group. All our students do active learning; they are required to prepare work themselves and then present it to their class. We cover an enormous amount of theory, and also require students to put in a lot of extra hours on their practical work.” Thick skin The students agree that the workload is heavy. “ You need to be able to take the pressure,” says Kgosi. “ You need to manage your time and get your priorities in order.” Mpho adds: “ You need to be hard-working and thick-skinned. 100% attendance is essential. It’s a strict environment – you are working with 3-phase power and very expensive equipment. Not to mention the actors’ egos!” Summing up, Hardus calculates that about 50% of the input needed for a successful “ product” is technical. On top of this, he reckons you need 100% creativity! Lighting and sound theory aside, perhaps the most scientific aspect of theatre technology is that it puts you in much the same position as a doctor: you only get one chance to do it right! Find your ... let your passion lead the way Meet Professor Les Underhill, head of the Avian Demography Unit (ADU) at the University of Cape Town. “ Avian what?” you might say. The Avian Demography Unit aims to help conserve bird species by providing important statistical information about, among other things, the breeding habits of birds, where they occur, and population sizes. According to Prof. Underhill, heading up this unit has allowed him the rare pleasure of being able to combine his hobby (his passion for birds) with his profession (as a statistician). But, rather let him tell the story of how he overcame life’s challenges and ended up doing what he loves ... Looking back, what was it that inspired you about science and maths as a child? I owe a huge debt to my Dad. He finished school during the Depression years of the 1930s. He was a very clever person who did not have the opportunities to achieve his own dreams. In spite of this, he was never bitter. In his own quiet way he made sure that his kid was exposed to a wide variety of experiences, including science. He took me to the planetarium, and to the bird club. I must have been in about Grade 7 when the first artificial satellite was launched the Russian “ Sputnik” . We went to the nearest field to watch it pass over Cape Town. That was an amazing experience - Sputnik was the first object people had put into orbit around the Earth. niché Q Would you say that you have a natural ability when it came to maths and science, or is it more about your fascination and interest in the subject (or both)? SIEN DIE LIG In beligtingsteorie word die term “ sluitsteen” gebruik vir die effek wat geskep word deur die verskillende afstande wat ligstrale aflê van hul bron tot by die vlak waarop hulle geprojekteer word. Dié effek is sigbaar in die verandering van die vorm, grootte en tekstuur (gefokuste of verspreide lig) en die skerpte van die gevolglike ligbeeld. Komende van ’n enkele bron skep dié elemente uiteindelik verwringing en onegalige ligskerpte op die projeksievlak. Dié verwringing wissel ook binne ’n enkele beeld. Namate die projeksiehoek skerper raak, vergroot die afstandverskil en gevolglik verskerp die sluitsteeneffek. Dié verwringings kan voorspel word met wiskundige berekenings waarin ondermeer gebruik gemaak word van die afstand, intensiteit en invalshoek. Sulke berekenings is krities vir ’n beligtingsontwerp. “ Gelukkig is daar verskeie rekenaar-beligtingsontwerpprogramme beskikbaar wat dié berekenings vir ons kan doen. Met dié programmatuur kan ons, in 3D, die sluitsteeneffek sien op ’n oppervlak of voorwerp. En vandaar is dit maklik om die effek wat ons soek, te visualiseer.” Q I struggled to learn my multiplication tables. It took years before “ seven times eight” was instantly “ fifty-six” . Although my results in maths and science at school were fairly good, it was hard work to get those marks. Meet Prof. Les Underhill, head of the Avian Demography Unit and statistician extraordinaire. Pictured above he is measuring bird eggs in the Siberian Tundra. Q When you did your BSc, what was it that made you decide to focus on mathematics and statistics? FIND OUT MORE Call Pretoria Technikon’s Department of Entertainment Technology on (012) 318-6154. When I started my BSc, I planned to major in chemistry and mathematics. But hydrogen sulphide, the gas that smells like rotten eggs, seemed to crop MORE ON PAGE 24 22 23 A day in the life… licence” . Most of the ringers in Cape Town joined together to form the grandly-named “ Western Cape Wader Study Group” . We collected lots and lots of data. As a statistician, I got the job of analysing it. It took a while, but ultimately I stumbled onto the fact that there was a niche for a statistician specialising in the analysis of bird data. Some of the data is unlike that generated in other fields of science. As a theoretical statistician, I was able to develop the new mathematical techniques needed to process some of this data. This was a lot of fun. When the University of Cape Town made me a professor, they decided they would call the position the “ Chair of Avian Demography” – “ avian” means “ to do with birds” , and “ demography” is “ the study of populations” . So Avian Demography is the study of bird populations. really difficult to work up enthusiasm for data about stars, or about divorce statistics, or about share prices. I have been very lucky to have been able to spend most of my career tackling the problems that have interested me the most. Q It would appear that your decision to pursue a career in science has opened many doors for you. Q up in the practicals every week, so I always went home with a headache on Wednesday afternoons! A friend from school days invited me to join him doing statistics. Hydrogen sulphide was so awful that I gleefully replaced chemistry with statistics. That was a life-changing event. I quickly realised that I had found what I wanted to do. I know that this is not a particularly intelligent or carefully planned way of choosing a career. But I also know that it happens this way to a lot of people. I guess that the moral of the story is to try as many different options as you can, and to keep an open mind about all of them. It is very important that we find the right thing to do with our lives. A career of 40 years is a desperately long time to be doing something you hate! It is obvious that you have a passion for birds, how did you end up working with birds and eventually becoming the director of the Avian Demography Unit? In simple terms, what is the purpose of the Avian Demography Unit? Q Peter Lor, who now heads up the State Library in Pretoria, has to take a lot of the blame. At the end of my first year at university, I had a vacation job in Pretoria. Peter invited me to join him bird ringing. That was the beginning of the end. Although I was already a birder, I was fascinated by the opportunity to study birds in the hand. When I got back to Cape Town, I joined a group of ringers, and was trained for several years by them before I was awarded my own “ bird ringing “ It took a while, but, eventually, I stumbled onto the fact that there was a niche for a statistician specialising in the analysis of bird data.” Our mission is to help conserve bird species. It is not easy to conserve what you don’t understand. So it is important to know the answers to the following questions: How long do they live? How old are they when they start to breed? How many times do they breed in their lifetimes? How many eggs do they lay? What percentages of these hatch and ultimately produce adult birds that breed? Are there things we can do to improve the percentage of breeders? What are the causes of death? Are these causes changing? Which causes are due to human impact? What steps do we need to put in place to reduce the number of birds dying in this way? How many birds are there of a species? Is this number going up or going down? What would happen to the population size if a particular place were made a reserve? In brief, the ADU tries to provide useful information to the people who have to take the conservation decisions. Most of the research that you carried out involves animals and mostly birds. Did you plan this or did it just happen that way? I have met lots of wonderful, dedicated people who have made a huge difference to my life, and have enriched it a great deal. You are probably thinking that these people are top scientists; that’s wrong, many of them have been my students. These people have “ opened doors” for me, but they have mostly been the doors to understanding. Science is about deep and important issues and about gaining insights into how the world (and the universe) functions. At the end of the day, these experiences help to give life quality and purpose. There are few other careers that offer the same kinds of rewards at such a profound level. What would you say to encourage learners who are finding school maths and science boring and don’t see a future for themselves in science? Prof. Les Undehill with former Honours student, Fikile Hlatshwayo, measuring penguin eggs at Robben Island. experiences, the better you can put your own research into the global context. My own travels have taught me that there is wonderful science, in many disciplines, that can only be done in South Africa. This is especially true in biology, in geology, in oceanography. We are in a scientifically complex position at the southern tip of Africa, and have all sorts of special opportunities to study things no one else can. Our peculiar political history also presents unique opportunities. For example, where else in the world can medical scientists work in essentially First-world facilities, and yet have the real problems of the Third-world within a few kilometres of their laboratories? At the one extreme, imagine a scientist in London working on a cure for Tuberculosis (TB). She has superb facilities, but has to get into an aeroplane to see a real case of TB. Our South African medical researcher has a vast number of TB sufferers almost on his doorstep. At the other extreme, imagine a scientist trying to work in a Third-world country, where the infrastructure is so weak that it is almost a full-time job to keep a laboratory going, let alone do any research. Beside medicine, there are lots of ways in which the juxtaposition of First-world facilities and Third-world problems in South Africa presents unique opportunities for scientific research. In the area in which I do Q Q The big problem with being young is that you haven’t lived for long enough to realise that the stuff you get taught at school is going to be really useful. It is a quite a difficult idea to grasp that school stuff has been carefully selected by people who genuinely want you to be the best you can be. OK, not everything is going to equally useful, and what is useful to you might never be used by the person sitting at the next desk. My daughter, a second-year university student, came to me yesterday complaining that she ought to have paid more attention in her first year statistics course, because she now needed the things she ought to have learnt in that course for second year biology. Your work has taken you to a number of other countries. Would you say that the research being done overseas is more exciting than the work being done here? If you want to be a scientist, take a keen interest in everything around you. Observe carefully. Ask questions that start: “ Why”. Try to find the answers. Statistics is a service discipline; the job of the statistician is to help researchers in all fields of human endeavour to extract the message out of the data they collect. When I was a young academic, I tried to help astronomers, psychologists, market researchers, financial analysts, etc, with their data analysis. But the discipline where I got the most enjoyment was the one in which I already had an interest as a hobby: ornithology. I found it Q As a scientist, it is incredibly important to travel, to see other countries, with other ways of doing, and looking at, things. The wider your range of 24 25 Beating the odds most of my research, ornithology, the study of birds, there is a huge difference between Europe and Africa. If you divide the number of European bird species by the number of ornithologists there, you get a number much smaller than one. Each European ornithologist gets about a tenth of a bird to study. If you do this arithmetic in Africa, the number is much larger than one. There are about 50 species per ornithologist. That is the most extraordinary luxury. You can more or less choose a bird species at random in Africa, and have it as your own private research playground. There are just too many scientists in Europe and America. I’d rather work in Africa! As South Africans, one of our national diseases is an inferiority complex that makes us believe that we cannot compete with the best in the world. That is utter rubbish. I’ll tell you a well-kept secret. There is so much raw material here that a scientist in Africa has a far better chance of making stunning scientific discoveries than our peers in Europe or America. Do you think that the future of science and technology in South Africa is bright or do you think there is room for improvement? The opportunities are enormous. We need as a nation to invest more money in science and technology, and give our young people a sense that there is a career here. You won’t get rich, but you can make a real contribution. If you were asked to get secondary school learners excited about science and technology, how would you go about it? Does it involve more than just doing their maths and science homework? If you want to be a scientist, take a keen interest in everything around you. Observe carefully. Ask questions that start: “ Why”. Try to find the answers. My mother, the scientist What’s it like to grow up with a mother who is a distinguished physicist and the sister of one of the most famous scientists of the 20th Century? Popular Science News Editor Charles Hirshberg remembers. Q Q When my kids were at school, and we saw a person doing a particularly boring job, I often used to ask them: “ How do you think that person came to be doing the job he/she is doing?” The answer, of course, was: “ They probably hadn’t tried hard at school, and had thereby closed themselves off from all sorts of opportunities” . One of the most important moments in our lives (and some people never make it this far), is when we start to take the longterm view - we give up an evening of fun now to do homework properly realising that this will deliver rewards in years to come. Persevere with maths and science, keep your long-term opportunities open. I HALF PAGE AD FOR TECH SA NEED MISSING TIFF FOR BACKGROUND n 1966, Mrs Weddle’s first grade class at Las Lomitas Elementary School got its first homework assignment: we were to find out what our fathers did for a living, then come back and tell the class. The next day, as my well-scrubbed classmates boasted about their fathers, I was nervous. For one thing, I was afraid of Mrs Weddle: I realise now that she was probably harmless, but to a shy, elf-size, nervous little guy she looked like a monstrous, talking baked potato. On top of that, I had a surprise in store, and I wasn’t sure how it would be received. “ My daddy is a scientist,” I said, and Mrs Weddle turned to write this information on the blackboard. Then I dropped the bomb: “ And my mommy is a scientist!” Twenty-five pairs of first-grade eyes drew a bead on me, wondering what the hell I was talking about. It was then that I began to understand how unusual my mother was. Today, after more than four decades of geophysical research, my mother, Joan Feynman, is getting ready to retire as a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is probably best known for developing a statistical model to calculate the number of high-energy particles likely to hit a spacecraft over its lifetime, and for her method of predicting sun spot cycles. Both are used by scientists worldwide. Beyond this, however, my mother’s career illustrates the enormous change in how America regards what was, only a few decades ago, extremely rare: a scientist who’s a woman and also a mother. To become a scientist is hard enough. But to become one while running a gauntlet of lies, insults, mockeries, and disapproval – this was what my mother had to do. If such treatment is unthinkable (or, at least, unusual) today, it is largely because my mother and other female scientists of her generation proved equal to every obstacle thrown in their way. Little League, she had persuaded me to help. When the bread was in the oven, she gave me a plastic pill bottle and a cork. She told me to sprinkle a little baking soda into the bottle, then a little vinegar, and cork the bottle as fast as could. There followed a violent and completely unexpected pop as the cork flew off and walloped me in the forehead. Exploding food: I was ecstatic! “That’s called a chemical reaction,” she said, rubbing my shirt clean. “The vinegar is an acid and the soda is a base, and that’s what happens when you mix the two.” After that, I never understood what other kids meant when they said that science was boring. One of my mother’s earliest memories is of standing in her crib at the age of about 2, yanking on her 11-year-old brother’s hair. This brother, her only sibling, was none other than Richard Feynman, destined to become one of the greatest theoretical physicists of his generation: enfant terrible of the Manhattan Project, pioneer of quantum electrodynamics, father of nanotechnology, winner of the Nobel Prize, and so on. At the time, he was training his sister to solve simple math problems and rewarding each correct answer by letting her tug on his hair while he made faces. When he wasn’t doing that, he was often seen wandering around Far Rockaway, New York, with a screwdriver in his pocket, repairing radios – at age 11, mind you. My mother worshipped her brother, and there was never any doubt about what she would become. By the time she was 5, Richard had hired her for 2 cents a week to assist him in the electronics lab he’d built in his room. “ My job was to throw certain switches on command,” she recalls. “ I had to climb up on a box to reach them. Also, sometimes I’d stick my finger in a spark gap for the edification of his friends.” At night, when she called out for a glass of water, Riddy, as he was called, would demonstrate centrifugal force by whirling it around in the air so that the glass was upside down during part of the arc. “ Until, one night,” my mother recalls, “ the glass slipped out of his hand and flew across the room.” MORE ON PAGE 28 My introduction to chemistry came in 1970, on a day when my mom was baking challah bread for the Jewish New Year. I was about 10, and though I felt cooking was unmanly for a guy who played shortstop for Village Host Pizza in the Menlo Park, California, DON’T FENCE ME IN For Joan Feynman or any woman of her era, success in science required not only a curious mind, but a fighting spirit. In 1949, when this picture of Feynman in fencing garb was taken, she was working on radiation safety procedures at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. 27 Beating the odds Richard explained the miraculous fact that the family dog, the waffle iron, and Joan herself were all made out of atoms. He would run her hand over the corner of a picture frame, describe a right triangle and make her repeat that the sum of the square of the sides was equal to the square of the hypotenuse. “ I had no idea what it meant,” she says, “ but he recited it like a poem, so I loved to recite it too.” One night, he roused her from her bed and led her outside, down the street, and onto a nearby golf course. He pointed out washes of magnificent light that were streaking across the sky. It was the aurora borealis. My mother had discovered her destiny. That is when the trouble started. Her mother, Lucille Feynman, was a sophisticated and compassionate woman who had marched for women’s suffrage in her youth. Nonetheless, when 8-yearold Joanie announced that she intended to be a scientist, Grandma explained that it was impossible. “ Women can’t do science,” she said, “ because their brains can’t understand enough of it.” My mother climbed into a living room chair and sobbed into the cushion. “ I know she thought she was telling me the inescapable truth. But it was devastating for a little girl to be told that all of her dreams were impossible. And I’ve doubted my abilities ever since.” For her thesis, she was told to study cobwebs because she would encounter them when she was cleaning. The fact that the greatest chemist of the age, Marie Curie, was a woman gave no comfort. “ To me, Madame Curie was a mythological character,” my mother says, “ not a real person whom you could strive to emulate.” It wasn’t until her 14th birthday – March 31, 1942 – that her notion of becoming a scientist was revived. Richard presented her with a book called Astronomy. “ It was a college textbook. I’d start reading it, get stuck, and then start over again. This went on for months, but I kept at it. When I reached page 407, I came across a graph that changed my life.” My mother shuts her eyes and recites from memory: “ ‘Relative strengths of the Mg+ absorption line at 4,481 angstroms . . . from Stellar Atmospheres by Cecilia Payne.’ Cecilia Payne! It was scientific proof that a woman was capable of writing a book that, in turn, was quoted in a text. The secret was out, you see.” My mother taught me about resonances when I was about 12. We were on a camping trip and needed wood for a fire. My brother and sister and I looked everywhere, without luck. Mom spotted a dead branch up in a tree. She walked up to the trunk and gave it a shake. “Look closely,” she told us, pointing up at the branches. “Each branch waves at a different frequency.” We could see that she was right. So what? “Watch the dead branch,” she went on. “If we shake the tree trunk in just the right rhythm, we can match its frequency and it’ll drop off.” Soon we were roasting marshmallows. The catalogue of abuse to which my mother was subjected, beginning in 1944 when she entered Oberlin College, is too long and relentless to fully record. At Oberlin, her lab partner was ill-prepared for the advanced-level physics course in which they were enrolled, so my mother did all the experiments herself. The partner took copious notes and received an A. My mother got a D. “ He understands what he’s doing,” the lab instructor explained, “ and you don’t.” In graduate school, a professor of solid state physics advised her to do her Ph.D. dissertation on cobwebs, because she would encounter them while cleaning. She did not take the advice; her thesis was titled “ Absorption of infrared radiation in crystals of diamond-type lattice structure” . After graduation, she found that the “ Situations Wanted” section of The New York Times was divided between men and women, and she could not place an ad among the men, the only place anyone needing a research scientist would bother to look. At that time, even the dean of women at Columbia University argued that “ sensible motherhood” was “ the most useful and satisfying of the jobs that women can do” . My mother tried to be a sensible mother and it damn near killed her. For three years, she cooked, cleaned, and looked after my brother and me, two stubborn and voluble babies. One day in 1964 she found herself preparing to hurl the dish drain through the kitchen window and decided to get professional help. “ I was incredibly lucky,” she remembers, “ to find a shrink who was enlightened enough to urge me to try to get a job. I didn’t think anyone would hire me, but I did what he told me to do.” She applied to Lamont-Doherty Observatory and, to her astonishment, received three offers. She chose to work part-time, studying the relationship between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. Soon she would be among the first to announce that the magnetosphere – the part of space in which Earth’s magnetic field dominates and the solar wind doesn’t enter – was open-ended, with a tail on one side, rather than having a closed-teardrop shape, as had been widely believed. She was off and running. MORE ON PAGE 30 Richard’s boyhood home lab of 1932, where Joan worked as an assistant for two cents a week. 28 29 The world of forensics My mother introduced me to physics when I was about 14. I was crazy about bluegrass music, and learned that Ralph Stanley was coming to town with his Clinch Mountain Boys. Although Mom did not share my taste for hillbilly music, she agreed to take me. The highlight turned out to be fiddler Curly Ray Cline’s version of “Orange Blossom Special”, a barn burner in which the fiddle imitates the sound of an approaching and departing train. My mother stood and danced a buck-and-wing and when, to my great relief, she sat down, she said, “Great tune, huh? It’s based on the Doppler effect.” This is not the sort of thing one expects to hear in reference to Curly Ray Cline’s repertoire. Later, over onion rings at the Rockybilt Cafe, she explained: “When the train is coming, its sound is shifting to higher frequencies. And when the train is leaving, its sound is shifting to lower frequencies. That’s called the Doppler shift. You can see the same thing when you look at a star: if the light source is moving towards you, it shifts towards blue; if it’s moving away, it shifts towards red. Most stars shift towards red because the universe is expanding.” I cannot pretend that, as a boy, I liked everything about having a scientist for a mother. When I saw the likes of Mrs Brady on TV, I sometimes wished I had what I thought of as a mom with an apron. And then, abruptly, I got one. It was 1971 and my mother was working for NASA at Ames Research Center in California. She had just made an important discovery concerning the solar wind, which has two states, steady and transient. The latter consists of puffs of material, also known as coronal mass ejections, which, though long known about, were notoriously hard to find. My mother showed they could be recognised by the large amount of helium in the solar wind. Her career was flourishing. But the economy was in recession and NASA’s budget was slashed. My mother was a housewife again. For months, as she looked for work, the severe depression that had haunted her years before began to return. Mom had been taught to turn to the synagogue in times of trouble, and it seemed to make especially good sense in this case, because our synagogue had more scientists in it than most Ivy League universities. Our rabbi, a celebrated civil rights activist, was arranging networking parties for unemployed eggheads. But when my mother asked for an invitation to one of these affairs, he accused her of being selfish. “ After all – there are men out of work just now.” “ But Rabbi,” she said, “ it’s my life.” I remember her coming home that night, stuffing food into the refrigerator, then pulling out the vacuum cleaner. She switched it on, pushed it back and forth across the floor a few times, then switched it off and burst into tears. In a moment, I was crying too and my mother was comforting me. We sat there a long time. “ I know you want me here,” she told me. “ But I can either be a part-time mama, or a full-time madwoman.” A few months later, Mom was hired as a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and we moved to Boulder, Colorado. From then on, she decided to “ follow research funding around the country, like Laplanders follow the reindeer herds” . She followed it to Washington, D.C., to work for the National Science Foundation, then to the Boston College Department of Physics, and finally, in 1985, to JPL, where she’s been ever since. Along the way, she unlocked some of the mysteries of the aurora. Using data from Explorer 33, she showed that auroras occur when the magnetic field of the solar wind interacts with the magnetic field of the Earth. In 1974, she became an officer of her professional association, the American Geophysical Union, and spearheaded a committee to ensure that women in her field would be treated fairly. She was named one of JPL’s elite senior scientists in 1999 and the following year was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. Soon she’ll retire, except that retirement as my mother the scientist envisions it means embarking on a new project: comparing recent changes in Earth’s climate with historic ones. “ It’s a pretty important subject when you consider that even a small change in the solar output could conceivably turn Long Island into a skating rink – just like it was some 10 000 years ago.” The first thing I did when I came home from Mrs Weddle’s class that day in 1966 was to ask my mother what my father did. She told me that he was a scientist, and that she was a scientist too. I asked what a scientist was, and she handed me a spoon. “Drop it on the table,” she said. I let it fall to the floor. “Why did it fall?” she asked. “Why didn’t it float up to the ceiling?” It had never occurred to me that there was a “why” involved. “Because of gravity,” she said. “A spoon will always fall, a hot-air balloon will always rise.” I dropped the spoon again and again until she made me stop. I had no idea what gravity was, but the idea of “Why?” kept rattling around in my head. That’s when I made the decision: the next day, in school, I wouldn’t just tell them what my father did. I’d tell them about my mother too. Science against crime! ON THE BEACH Joan Feynman with the brother she looked up to, Richard, in Far Rockaway N.Y. WINDS OF CHANGE Seen here at a scientific conference in Finland, Feynman has always been a traveller. Now about to retire, she will not stop moving - and plans to research historic patterns of climate change. By Charles Hirshberg (Reprinted with kind permission from the May 2002 edition of Popular Science) Planning on taking up a career in crime when you leave school? You may want to rethink that decision and rather go into criminal forensics. Read on ... 30 31 The world of forensics he crime in South Africa is certainly not something to boast about, but the people who have committed their lives to help catch the criminals - by physically proving their guilt - are definitely people of which we can be very proud. The one (and probably the only) advantage of having a high crime rate in our country is that, as a result, we have one of the best forensics laboratories in the world. The Forensic Science Laboratory of the South African Police Services is not only one of the most highly equipped laboratories of its kind in the world, it is also run by a team of seasoned professionals who have seen it all and have the evidence to prove it. Modern science is playing an increasingly important role in forensics. The most important scientific advance that has taken place for forensics, is the introduction of DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid) testing, which has made it virtually impossible for a criminal to have been at a crime scene and not have left evidence of being there. All it takes is body tissue (such as a tiny piece of dry skin or a strand of hair), or body fluids (such as saliva or semen). With this evidence, forensics can extract a DNA profile of the criminal and match it to any suspects that they may have. However, forensics is not just about DNA testing, there are many other aspects to it which help a crime scene come alive. T What is forensics all about? Francois Bekker, Communication Manager for the SAPS Forensics Laboratory, explains: “ The purpose of forensics is to help the police officer or investigator to piece together crimes by helping them to verify their evidence. “ A crime scene is mute without physical evidence. However, with physical evidence in hand, the forensics team can make the crime scene talk and enable the investigator to piece together the events leading up to the criminal act.” It is important to emphasise that forensics focuses on physical science only and does not analyse evidence based on any social science elements – that is up to the investigating officer. Says Francois: “ If you want to lock up criminals these days, you cannot use social science to prove guilt, you have to have physical proof. In other words, you have to have physical proof that the criminal was there and that he/she was there to commit that particular crime – circumstantial evidence is not enough.” Despite what, TV programmes like Profiler, would have you believe, the investigator and the forensics lab do not have much contact with each other. There are two reasons for this: 1. Not every crime happens next door to the forensics lab, so the investigator usually has to send evidence away for testing. 2. It is important for the forensics team to have an objective view. In other words, it is better that they don’t know the story behind the evidence so that they can take an entirely clinical approach when they test it. Therefore, when a crime is committed, it is up to the investigator called to the scene to know what to look for and what to send in for testing. Of course, there are exceptions. For instance, if the President was attacked, a special investigation team would be sent in to make sure that no stone was left unturned in an effort catch the perpetrator. Tour the Forensics Lab There are different departments at the Forensics Lab. The three main departments are: Ballistics, Biology and Chemistry Ballistics The dictionary defines ballistics as “the study of the flight dynamics of projectiles [e.g. bullets], either through the interaction of the forces of propulsion, the aerodynamics of the projectile, atmospheric resistance and gravity (exterior ballistics), or through these forces along with the means of propulsion, and the design of the propelling weapon and projectile (interior ballistics)”. In plain English, ballistic forensics is called on to investigate firearm-related crimes. Depending on the circumstances of the crime, the ballistics team will look at three things: 1. Exterior ballistics - mapping the flight path of the bullet based on what kind of gun and bullets were used and where the incident took place. 2. Interior ballistics - proving that the gun found on the crime scene was actually used for the crime by matching the “ toolmarks” on the spent cartridges from the scene, with the control cartridge (which is fired from the gun at the lab). 3. Wound ballistics - looking at the damage that the bullet did to the body in order to work out how far the shooter was from the victim when the gun was fired. Although it is not always necessary, a ballistics technician does sometimes need to visit the crime scene to collect the information they need. According to Francois, this is not a job for the faint-hearted, as the ballistics team is often exposed to some very gory situations where they have to carefully examine every aspect of the crime scene in order to work out exactly how the crime took place. Back at the lab, the ballistics team has world-class equipment, which enables them to do their work accurately and quickly. They work with microscopes, computers and have a water tank in the basement where they can fire the weapons when necessary. At the moment there is no specific course that can be studied if you want to become a ballistics technician. Training is done in-house with police officers who show the potential to be able to do the job. “ We are, however, currently negotiating with a few tertiary institutions to introduce a forensic policing course at technikon level, but that is something that is still in the pipeline,” says Francois. Chemie Die wetenskaplikes wat in die chemie-afdeling van die forensiese laboratorium werk, is meestal B Sc-gegradueerdes met chemie as hoofvak. Die chemie-afdeling is verdeel in drie hoofrigtings: 1. Dwelmontledings – In dié afdeling word gefokus op die identifisering van ontwettige dwelms. Die polisie kan bv. in ’n klopjag ’n groot dwelmfonds maak van wat gemeen word Mandrax is, maar dit berus by die dwelmontledingsafdeling om te bevestig dat dit wel Mandrax is. Hulle word ook ingeroep ter bevestiging wanneer die polisie op onwettige dwelmlaboratoriums afkom. 2. Toksikologie – Toksikoloë is kundiges wat kan vasstel of iemand dalk vergiftig is, en indien wel, watter gifstof gebruik is. 3. Brandondersoeke – Die brandondersoekspan word ingeroep wanneer geboue aan die brand geraak het. Hulle werk is om vas te stel waar die brand ontstaan het en of brandstigting dalk ter sprake kan wees. Dit word gewoonlik vasgestel deur te soek na spore van die een of ander soort brandstof. Ander soorte werk wat die chemie-afdeling doen sluit in: ● die toets van ivoor vir egtheid; ● ontleding van spoorreste (bv. as ’n moordenaar van ’n toneel ontvlug en sy hemp teen ’n heining sou skeur, kan die forensiese laboratorium die stukkie materiaal ontleed en dit pas by die klere van verdagtes, al sou dit selfs net ’n enkele fraaiingtjie wees); ● die toets van edelmetale om te bevestig dat hulle eg en suiwer is; ● die ontleding van voertuie wat in botsings betrokke was om die blaam vir die botsing te probeer bepaal of vas te stel of ’n tegniese fout dalk die rede was; en ● die bestudering van wat “ vraagdokumente” genoem word: die identifisering van vervalste geld, ontleding van handskrifte en ink, en leuenverklikkertoetse. 32 33 Te s t y o u r k n o w l e d g e Biology The scientists working in the Biology division of the forensics lab are usually BSc graduates who have majored in biology. As was mentioned earlier in this article, DNA testing forms a major part of the work that is done by the team in the biology department. They are sent a hair, or saliva or some kind of bodily tissue or fluid and have to use this evidence to extract a DNA profile of the criminal. In the past, the DNA profile was no use unless the investigating officer had a suspect in custody with which to compare the profile. However, this is soon going to change, as Francois explains: “ In October this year we are going to be launching the ‘DNA Criminal Intelligence Database’ or DCID. In a nutshell, this is going to be an electronic database which contains all the DNA profiles of previously convicted criminals. Therefore, all future DNA profiles will be checked against this database in order to see if it matches any of the profiles of previously convicted criminals. “ If we had had access to the DCID when the Pretoria rapist was on the rampage, we would have caught him after the first rape, as he had been convicted for rape before,” says Francois. Who knows how many more criminals are out there doing the same thing over and over again, just because there is no way of proving their involvement. DNA testing and the DCID are hopefully going to put an end to this. While this database system has already been introduced in the UK and the USA, the DCID to be launched is South Africa is going to be a world first. The reason for this is because our crime rate is so high and the forensics lab is so busy, that it makes sense for the DCID to be run with robotics. In other words, instead of a person having to sit behind a terminal and enter the data (as is done overseas), the SA DCID is going to do all that itself. All the scientists will have to do is prepare the sample and the robotic system will do the rest. Are you Einstein in the making? Take part in this fun questionnaire and see how you do. 1. You are busy doing an assignment on your Dad’s computer when, all of a sudden, the cursor freezes in the middle of the screen. What do you do? A. Quietly go and switch the computer off at the wall, clear up any traces of your being there and hope that you haven’t broken it. B. Press Control-Alt-Delete and reboot the machine and make sure that you save your work regularly in case it happens again. C. Press Control-Alt-Delete and reboot holding down the Shift key in order to disable the Extensions. You run NAV to check that you haven’t picked up a virus after which you defragment the hard drive, etc, etc. D. Give the tower a good whack ... that always works!?! To find out more about operating a computer visit www.teachingideas.co.uk/ict/contents.htm 2. You will have learnt in biology that the biological name for humans, is homo sapien. “Homo” means human in Latin. What does “Sapien” mean? A. The wise B. The great C. The brainy D. The complex To find out more the Linnaeus System (used for classifying plants and animals) and its inventor visit: www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ history/linnaeus.html 3. Your little brother is struggling to do a 50-piece puzzle, but is too proud to ask for help. What do you do? A. Grab the puzzle away from him and finish it in 10 seconds flat while telling him what a loser he is. B. Leave him to figure it out for himself as it will teach him to be independent and to persevere. C. Go and sit with him and throw him some helpful hints so that he can finish the puzzle without thinking that he had to have any real help. D. Sit down and explain to him that the puzzle is too cognitively advanced for him and that he should actually only be attempting 36-piece puzzles for his age. Find some computer puzzles and games at: www.microsoft.com/games/pc/gameslist_date.asp Or: www.syvum.com/teasers Or: //dir.yahoo.com/recreation/games/puzzles/ brain_teasers/ 4. What was the Philosopher’s Stone? A. The name of a Harry Potter book. B. A stone that Siegmund Freud kept on his desk which helped inspire him. C. A mercury powder which alchemists believed would turn lead into gold. D. A tablet that was found in one of the Egyptian pyramids with the philosophies of the time inscribed upon it. Find out more about alchemy at: www.levity.com/ alchemy/index.html There are currently great opportunities for people who are considering a career in forensics. If you would like to find out more about the qualifications you need or if you have any other queries about careers in criminal forensics, please call Francois Bekker: (012) 845-5793. HALF PAGE AD FOR WITS TECH POSITIVES SUPPLIED 5. What shape is the Earth? A. wide oval B. tall oval C. circle D. hexagonal Find out more about the Earth and its dimensions at: http://terra.nasa.gov/ 6. Your science teacher organises for your class to visit the planetarium. What’s your first thought? A. I wonder how I can make sure that I end up sitting next to my “ perv” on the bus? B. Oh cool! I love astrology. Maybe they will read my stars and tell me what the future holds. C. Perfect timing. I was just reading about the latest photos from the Hubble Telescope and I have some questions. I had better write them down and make sure I am prepared. 34 35 21st Century Art D. I will not go! Too much money is wasted on exploring space. The money would be better spent on alleviating poverty. I will not support such wasteful and fruitless endeavours. Find out more about the Johannesburg Planetarium and the Hubble Telescope at: www.wits.ac.za/planetarium and: www.stsci.edu/hst/ 7. What living creatures are used in some hospitals to clean dead tissue out of wounds? A. Fly larvae B. Maggots C. Leeches D. The five-eyed sea slug Find out more about living creatures used in medicine at: www.smtl.co.uk/wmprc/biosurgery/index.html 8. You are flicking TV channels on a Saturday evening and come across a couple of heavyweight boxers beating the daylights out of each other. What is your first thought? A. I wonder how many brain cells a boxer loses, on average, during a 12 round boxing match? B. I wonder if boxers have any brain cells to willingly take part in such a mindless sport? C. I wonder with what force the one boxer will have to hit the other, in order to knock his feet out from under him? D. Oh cool - here are two guys beating the daylights out of each other. I wonder how much I have missed? Find out more about boxing as a sport at: www.boxing.com/ Find out more about the dangers of boxing at: www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/ HI-TECH ART FOR THE 21ST CENTURY GET IN THE 9. Why is an X-ray called an “X”-ray? A. When doctors used to send patients to have X-rays done, they used to draw an “ X” on the spot that they wanted X-rayed. B. When William Roentgen discovered X-rays he didn’t know what they were and so used X, the symbol for something unknown in Algebra. C. Mr Roentgen loved to read pirate stories and his discovery of X-rays reminded him of the skull and cross bones, hence his use of the X to represent the cross bones. D. X-rays used to be the last thing that a doctor would do to try and find out what was wrong with someone, and X is the last letter of the alphabet. Find out more about X-rays and William Roentgen at: www.cc.emory.edu/x-rays/century.htm 10. How many moons does Jupiter have? A. 11 B. 19 C. 28 D. 39 FOR FIVE BONUS POINTS: What is the name of the satellite that was sent to Jupiter, to help us find out more about the planet and its moons? To find out more about Jupiter and its moons visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ Or: http://www.sciam.com/2000/0200issue/ 0200johnson.html S Now work out your score 1. A=0; B=3; C=5; D=0 2. A=5; B=0; C=0; D=1 3. A=0; B=1; C=5; D=0 4. A=1; B=0; C=5; D=0 5. A=5; B=0; C=0; D=0 6. A=0; B=0; C=5; D=1 7. A=0; B=0; C=5; D=0 8. A=5; B=1; C=5; D=0 9. A=0; B=5; C=0; D=0 10. A=0; B=0; C=3; D=5 Answer for 5 bonus points: Galileo (Note for question 10: Until recently it was believed that Jupiter had 28 moons but new research recently revealed 11 more moons that were missed by previous studies.) Results 0 - 15: You have a little bit of work to do if you want to get up to speed. But all is not lost. If you really want to become a scientist or techno-boff, there is still time for you to put renewed efforts into developing your science skills ... it’ll just take a bit of commitment and hard work on your part. 16 - 39: Not too shabby. The interest and curiosity is there, and it seems that all you now need to do is explore your potential in order to work out where your strengths in science lie. So, keep reading as much as you can about science and technology and who knows where your talents will take you. 40 - 49: Fantastic ... you obviously have a passion for science and technology. Keep up the good work! 50 - 55: If you keep going at this rate, you are going to go far - so, don’t stop now! cience is not just about the natural sciences, it is about technology as well. What would life be like without cars, kitchen appliances, TVs and computers. Without these things, there would be none of the creature comforts like homemade milkshakes, cartoons and computer games! Indeed, technology has made life a lot more exciting and has certainly played a pivotal role in terms of what we do to entertain ourselves. In the “ olden days” people used to play cards or collect stamps to keep themselves entertained, but now we either head for the TV remote or get cosy in front of the computer, with mouse in hand. These technological advances have also diversified our job market, opening up new and exciting opportunities. An excellent example of this is the job of the animator. While this is by no means a new field – the Walt Disney Company has been doing animation for many years – technology has drastically changed the face of animation. Animation started out as a series of drawings, which were photographed one frame at a time in order to make up a sequence. Now these sequences are all put together on computer. Therefore, the skills necessary to be an animator have changed from being almost purely artistic, to being a mix of artistic and computer skills. Martin Heigan, head of 3-D Animation at The Video Lab Group, explains: “ There is no doubt that creativity and artisitic ability are still the most important skills you need to be an animator. However, you will not be able to express your creativity if you don’t know how to use the modern paintbrush, namely, the computer.” Over the past 10 years, computer hardware and software have revolutionised the media, making it possible to create spectacular visual effects which have captured everyone’s imagination. Throughout this revolution, animators have been there creating fantastic visual effects that have transfixed children and adults alike. Whether it be the new Spiderman movie or the latest and greatest in computer games, animators are there creating fantastic visual effects that leave us amazed. Do you want to be an animator? Does animation sound like something that you want to do? Have you got artistic talent and a keen interest in computers? Then, this is a career for you to consider. Martin Heigan was 14 years old when he first came across a brochure on graphic design and realised that this was the field in which he wanted to specialise. At Technikon his focus changed and he set his sights firmly on 3-D animation: “ The cinemas were full of spectacular, computer-generated films and I was determined to eventually get involved in projects of this kind,” recalls Martin. Martin didn’t take maths or science (although he did take biology and geography) at school, but was fascinated with computers from an early age. “ It is ironic to think that because I didn’t take maths and science, I wasn’t allowed to take computer science as a subject. But today I work with the most complex Unix based super computers and software in the world,” says Martin. “ Hopefully this is no longer the case at schools, as using computers and other technology is fast becoming the norm in many Dyna Mite Man – Personal Project © Martin Heigan 36 37 21st Century Art The Venus Fly Trap – Personal Project © Martin Heigan keep that work coming in, then we will soon be seeing the animation industry in South Africa growing substantially,” Martin continues. Martin has already got an impressive array of award-winning, international projects – both in advertising and film - under his belt. A few examples include: Television: Body Story 2 (A BBC/Discovery Channel production on the human body - UK) ● Tarzan - the epic adventures (USA) ● jobs that are not science or maths based.” However, that is not to say that a bit of knowledge in science won’t be useful in the field of animation. As Martin explains: “ 3-D animation has a very technical side to it. I am able to program very complex visual effects and use concepts of physics to generate natural phenomena like fire, snow, tornadoes, rain, etc. Having a thorough knowledge of these subjects helps me to understand some of the technical aspects of the high-end 3-D software on the market today. So, although science is not a prerequisite to becoming an animator, it can help you to be better at it in the longer term.” Animators also have to be willing to embrace new technology and not be afraid of change. It seems that the words “ technology” and “ advancing” are inextricably linked, as whenever we hear about technology, it is spoken about as something that is always advancing, always moving forward, never staying the same. “ That is why I wanted to become a 3-D animator, as it meant that I would always be working with cutting edge technology and software,” Martin enthuses. A day in the life ... “ Animators are typically approached by advertising agencies and film companies to make their creative ideas come to life. I am usually briefed on what visual effects or animation is required for the job and then I get down to work. Most of the work is done on computer, although I still tend to draw Omo - TV Commercial © Uni Lever (Omo) characters and conceptual designs on paper first. “ A typical television commercial will take from 2-6 weeks to complete, while film effects and animation can keep teams of animators busy for months. However, if you love your work, like I do, you never get bored and that is how you get the best results,” says Martin. You may be wondering, “ But how exciting can being an animator in teeny-weeny, Third- world South Africa be?” Well, actually a whole lot more exciting than you think! “ South Africa is known for producing really good animators. In fact, a lot of South Africans are in top positions in animation companies around the world. This is because South African animators have to be very well-rounded in all the animation disciplines and techniques. Our animation market is much smaller than the UK and the States, which basically means that our animators don’t have the luxury of being able to specialise within the field, but rather have to be able to do everything. “ Added to this, our project budgets are generally smaller, which means that we have to achieve the best results with the least amount of resources. It just goes to show that sometimes, ‘bigger’ is not always ‘better’,” says Martin. “ Although the animation industry in South Africa is still growing, we use exactly the same hardware and software as the rest of the world. This means that we are well-equipped to take on the high profile international projects, which we are starting to see in South Africa. If we can Film: ● Merlin - the return (UK) ● The little unicorn (UK) ● Pirates of the plane (USA) ● Dazzle (still in the making - UK) Advertising: ● Akira Television (Singapore, Far-East, Europe) ● Dutch Telecom “ Baby” (Holland) ● Laganza “ Frog” (Japan) Martin’s success did not happen overnight. He started as a trainee at the Video Lab Group in 1993 where he was taught the principles of video, film and sound by experienced VT operators and video/film engineers. “ This gave me a good understanding of the medium that I would be working with and how it works,” he recalls. “ After my year as a trainee, I joined the full-time staff at ‘The House Next Door’, the animation and visual effects division of the Video Lab. My initial experience was built up in television commercials - at first I was more involved with 3-D visual effects and design. I then gradually started to do the more involved 3-D character animation.” Four years - and a lot of hard work - later Martin was appointed Senior Animator at Video Lab. Since then, Martin’s passion for his job has resulted in him becoming a sought-after animator who is not unaccustomed to having his work win awards. In addition to that he is often called upon to lecture at Technikons and other computer graphics schools and has been interviewed on Radio 702, Top Billing and even CNN. MORE ON PAGE 40 The Last Leprechaun – Film © Peakviewing Transatlantic Pirates of The Plain – Film © New Ernest Productions 38 39 An astro-nomical achievement The Little Unicorn – Film © Peakviewing Transatlantic, Merlin, The Return – Film © Peakviewing Transatlantic, Battle Walker – Personal Project © Martin Heigan, Smarties – Television Commercial © Nestle Cosmic boffin blazes a trail Cornia Pretorius meets SA's first African astrophysicist RAMOTHOLO “ Rocky” Sefako became the first African student to obtain a doctorate in astrophysics in South Africa. didn't do much to encourage him to look up in search of new galaxies. But today he believes space is “ more fantastic than science fiction". What changed the course of his life was a talk on the expansion of the universe at the University of Lesotho, where he completed his first degree and, after that, an advertisement for honours and master's degree students at the Potchefstroom University's Unit for Space Physics. Said Sefako: “ Maths is for everyone. It develops you mentally, but it is very difficult to motivate children to do it. They need role models." According to Sefako, Shuttleworth's space expedition contributed towards boosting maths and science, and the young astrophysicist would like to go on a road show with him. Sunday Times T If anything, Martin is definitely proof that a Third-world country can produce first class professionals. What have you got to do? So, what does one have to do to become an animator? Besides having artistic ability, you will need to do some kind of tertiary studies to become a successful animator. Says Martin: “ When I finished school one could not yet study animation in South Africa. However, now there are a number of animation courses, as well as the more traditional technikon courses like Graphic Design and Fine Art. “ My advice to any aspiring animators is, please study first! You need to develop your creative talents before you can be successful at earning a living with art. A lot of people think that if they learn a 3-D software package, they will immediately be able to animate. Forget it! That’s like saying that you have a Formula 1 Ferrari and your driver’s license and that qualifies you to enter the Grand Prix ... not likely!” It is important to remember that animation is a skill that you have to learn. The animation industry is quite small which means that animators are competing for jobs. The better your creative talents, the better your chances are of getting the job that you want. Rekenaar Speletjies Rekenaarspeletjies en Sony Playstation is die “ in ding". Daar is inderdaad só ’n groot aanvraag na rekenaarspeletjies dat dit beskou word as die snelgroeiendste bedryf ter wêreld. “ Die goeie nuus is dat dit groeiende moontlikhede bied vir animeerders en hulle sterk in aanvraag plaas. Speletjie-animasie, in teenstelling met rolprent- of TV-animasie, behels grootliks dieselfde bedrywighede. Dis net die tegnieke en sekere tegniese aspekte wat effens verskil. “ As jy hou van speletjies, rekenaars en animasie kan die speletjiesmark vir jou ’n baie belowende beroep word," sê Martin. If you are interested in finding out more about becoming an animator please email martinh@videolab.co.za or visit the following website: http://martin.ice.org Animasie van © Akira Television – Television Commercial he quiet 31-year-old completed his thesis at the Potchefstroom University's Unit of Space Physics where he used the laws of physics to explore cosmic phenomena around massive black holes and rapidly rotating collapsed or dead stars that take about one second to rotate about their axes. Sefako, from Witsieshoek in the rural Free State, was the first member of his family to go to university. Dr Khotso Mokhele, president of the National Research Foundation, described Sefako as a “ trailblazer". “ If we define astronomy as a Western scientific discipline, it was introduced in South Africa in 1820. It took us until 2002 to produce our first black PhD. That, for me, is a story." Two other PhD candidates, Thebe Medupe of the University of Cape Town and Lerothodi Leeuw of the University of Central Lancastershire, are following hot on the heels of Sefako. Both work at the SA Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town and have submitted their doctoral studies for scrutiny. Mokhele said their achievements would boost initiatives like the R80-million Southern African Large Telescope that is being built in Sutherland in the Northern Cape. In addition, it fits in with plans to market SA as an astronomy and space science destination. Said Mokhele: “ We can't do that unless we have more South Africans coming through the system. This new generation is important to send a representative message." Sefako 's achievement came during the week that the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme was launched. Thirteen institutions will pool their resources and with a “ dream team of scientists" train and mentor more space scientists. As a lover of maths rather than science, Sefako never dreamt of becoming a stargazer. His high school years in Butha-Buthe in Lesotho also STARSTRUCK: Ramotholo Sefako, with an optical telescope at Potchefstroom University, is a role model for youngsters interested in space science Picture: SIMON MATHEBULA 40 41 Microbiology Delve int a w rld of unseen pr portions D o you want to see things that you have never seen before, bizarre creatures that can survive in boiling water or in the coldest parts of the Antarctic, creatures that can make and destroy, promote health and cause disease? Microbiology is a career that will introduce you to a whole world of miniscule alien-like creatures called microbes that, for all practical purposes, rule the world. It has even been said that although the Earth would get along just fine if there were no humans, without microbes all life would cease to exist. A scary prospect, but when you consider the role that microbes play in day-to-day life, it is not hard to understand why they are so important. Microbes are everywhere. Right now, there are probably more microbes on your hands than there are people on the Earth! (Thank goodness we can’t see them with the human eye or we would probably feel queasy at the sight of them crawling all over us). However, while it is frightening to think that these little critters live on us, inside us and in the food we eat, we could not survive without them. On the website www.microbeworld.org microbes are described as: ● makers (e.g. photosynthetic algae and bacteria produce up to half the oxygen in the atmosphere), and destroyers (e.g. bacteria and fungi are agents of decay – they break down dead or used matter and prevent the world from filling up with trash and sludge); promoters of health (e.g. the microbes living on and in our bodies protect us against invaders by leaving no room for pathogens to take hold), and agents of disease (e.g. AIDS is caused by a microbe called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, and scientists have yet to find a cure for AIDS due to the ability to change and evade each new treatment that comes along); and ● tools for the future (e.g. viruses are now being developed into genetic cures through gene therapy which disables a virus’ diseasecausing genes and loads it with new genes which fix the genetic defect), and a source of new challenges (e.g. as people move into previously uninhabited areas, due to expanding populations, we are coming across previously unknown microbes which are believed to be at the root of outbreaks of new diseases such as the Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome). The different types of microbes Microbes come in several different forms, including: ● BACTERIA – single-celled organisms whose genetic material is not enclosed in a nucleus. They come in all shapes and sizes and can be found on just about everything on Earth; ● ARCHAEA – single-celled organisms that are found in some of the most extreme environments on Earth. It is believed that archaea may be prehistoric in nature and scientists are studying them in the hope of uncovering more info about how life arose and developed on Earth; ● VIRUSES – the smallest of the microbes, viruses are basically bits of genetic material which switch between life and non-life depending on their environment. Outside a host cell viruses are completely inert, but once inside a host, ● ● ● they become quite active, usually to the detriment of the host; FUNGI – are organisms that cannot make their own food and instead get their nutrients from organic matter such as decaying leaves or dead animals. Most fungi is microscopic, but the fungi we can see include mushrooms and mould; and PROTISTS – are creatures that exhibit characteristics of plants or animals and include algae and protozoa. Algae are creatures that contain chlorophyll and can therefore photosynthesise (in fact, algae provides more than 30 percent of the Earth’s atmospheric oxygen). Protozoa have animal-traits. One-third of protozoa are parasites which can cause ill-health such as malaria or gastrointestinal problems. A day in the life of an epidemiologist Ali S Khan, MD is a field epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), America’s public health agency. His job involves travelling all over the world to places where there have been outbreaks of mysterious diseases that haven’t been seen before. “ I deal with all those scary diseases that you may have heard of like Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever, Congo-Crimea Haemorrhagic Fever and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome,” explains Ali. Ali has to go to places and find out what microbe is causing an illness which, in turn, helps him to find a way of getting rid of the virus from those who are infected. He likes to think of himself as a disease detective. “ Sometimes my job is very scary as many of the diseases that I deal with tend to be deadly and there is no treatment available if I get infected. As a result, my team and I have to take very careful precautions to make sure that we don’t end up catching the disease that we have been called in to investigate. “ This means that, on occasion, we have to wear protective clothing like latex gloves, plastic gowns and masks. When there is a chance that the disease is airborne, we have to set up a special lab in the field that is totally sealed in order to house the patients. If we go into this lab, we wear a respirator device that filters the air that we breathe in order to protect us from infected air,” says Ali. Ali really enjoys his job as he gets to go to remote places that he would never otherwise have had the opportunity to see. He also enjoys meeting all the people and learning about cultures that other people never so much as hear about. The strange thing is that Ali did not intend to become a disease detective and actually initially studied to be a doctor. However, fate stepped in and he ended up at CDC. You do not have to be a doctor to become an epidemiologist, there are many different skills that are needed in the field of epidemiology, it just depends where your interest lies. Microbiology – a voyage of discovery From the above one can see that the microbiologist can learn a lot from studying the behaviour of these minute characters. In fact, as time goes by and we learn more about them, they are increasingly being used to find cures for disease, to create drought-resistant, bug-resistant crops, to clean up pollution and so on. If you are interested in a career as a microbiologist you will need to have taken higher grade science, maths, biology and computer science (if possible) until matric. Tertiary education involves going to a university and doing a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in microbiology, after which you will specialise further within a field. There are so many different microbes out there, that it would be impossible for one microbiologist to study all of them. Specialisations include: ● bacteriology (studying bacteria); ● virology (studying viruses); ● mycology (studying fungi); ● epidemiology (studying new diseases); and ● immunology (studying how the body defends itself against microbial invaders). Microbiologists are needed in many industries, including: food, agriculture, health, pollution, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. If you are interested in a career as a microbiologist you will need to have taken higher grade science, maths, biology and computer science (if possible) until matric. 42 43 A booming good career choice Have a ! T LAS B David Coutts who has a National Higher Diploma in explosives technology and heads up the Academy of Explosives Technology (AET) explains: “ You will find that most explosives technologists have an enquiring mind and have experimented with gunpowder and rockets from an early age. As a youngster I was inspired by the scientific nature of explosives and had a general curiousity about things that go bang.” David has been working with explosives for 20 years and says that it is not just about blowing things up. It also involves manufacturing and researching explosives for use in specific applications, such as: ● military – for all the different types of ammunition; ● mining – for the blasting of rock and coal in both underground and surface operations; ● construction – blasting for roads, foundations and the demolition of buildings; and ● pyrotechnics – the field of fireworks and special effects for the film industry. The discovery of explosives Although Alfred Nobel is often credited with having invented the first explosive nitroglycerine - it was actually first invented by a man called Ascanio Sobrero, a professor of chemistry, in 1847. However, he was so appalled by its destructive nature that he never did anything to develop it. It took Nobel another 20 years to discover that if you combined nitroglycerine with kieselguhr, it would make a more stable explosive (dynamite). Unfortunately, nitroglycerine is very unstable and Nobel learnt this lesson the hard way, when an explosion at his factory near Stockholm, Sweden, killed his brother and four other people. After that, he was determined to make it safer, which is how dynamite came about. Nowadays, nitroglycerine is not used that much anymore (because it is too dangerous to manufacture) and has been replaced by: ● Water-based ammonium nitrate explosives that are mainly used in the mining and civil engineering industries. These explosives are much safer and cheaper to manufacture and use. They also pose less health risks for the people who have to work with them. ● Organic molecular explosives that are suited to military applications. These explosives consist of a single molecule which contains all the explosive properties (whereas waterbased explosives are mixtures of various components which make up the explosive). Organic explosives are also much more powerful than water-based explosives and are therefore perfectly suited to military applications where the explosive needs to be able to shatter the steel in a bomb, for instance. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to press a button which sets off the explosives that implode a building? Hopefully, for many of us, the closest we will ever get to big explosions is watching them on TV. However, for the more adventurous, a career in explosives technology will be a dream come true. A career in explosives Explosives technology is a qualification which can stand on its own, but it can also complement skills in specific industries, such as: mining, civil engineering, the film industry and the military. Says David: “ Although a tertiary qualification is not a prerequisite at the AET, the majority of our students are already employed in the mining and civil engineering industries and use this qualification to enhance their existing knowledge and skills. “ However, the AET qualification is a good stepping stone for school-leavers who are determined to get into this field and it will stand them in good stead when approaching mining companies, civil engineers and explosives manufacturers for career opportunities.” Although explosives technology is a very specialised field, there is a constant need for well-qualified explosives technologists due to the continual development (in terms of roads and buildings) that is taking place in Africa. According to David, potential explosives technologists are always at an advantage if they have a good matric having at least taken mathematics and science on standard grade. Other aspects of Explosives Technology (ET) Obviously, ET is considered to be a fairly dangerous vocation and one of the main focuses of your training will be to make sure that you don’t blow yourself (or anyone else!) up in the process. As a result, safety is the most important aspect of ET. Everything has to be worked out exactly, such as, how much explosive to use and how far away you need to be when the explosive is detonated. “ There is no margin for error as you only get one chance to get it right,” says David ... which probably explains why ET is statistically considered to be very safe. Another aspect of ET that is becoming increasingly important, is concern for the environment. Those involved in the manufacture of explosives have to consider the effect their products will have on air and water pollution, while those in the mining and civil engineering field have to take into account the noise, dust and ground vibration that they may cause. While David insists that there is a routine side to the job of an explosives technologist, it surely cannot take away from the fact that, at the end of the day, you get to blow things to smithereens. If you would like to find out more about a career in explosives technology visit the Academy for Explosives Technology’s website at: www.aet.co.za 44 45 Careers online Looking for more information? Look online. Here are some web-based resource sites which you will find informative ... Do you want to find out more about the different careers available in the fields of science and technology? Look online. The Internet definitely provides the best starting-point for budding scientists who know that they want to follow a career in science but need to narrow down where their true interest lies. T he best thing to do, is to get comfortable in front of your computer (or the computer at the library or the nearest Internet café) type the word "science" into your favourite search engine and see where it takes you. However, this could take a while, so if you already have a vague idea of what you enjoy most about science, then start there. But, beware not to narrow your search too much as you may miss out on fields that you never knew existed, but that you will find absolutely fascinating and possibly perfect for you. The SciTech Web Awards 2002 While searching the Web is going to provide you with enough reading material to keep you busy for the rest of the year, it is important that you don't waste your time up-loading sites that aren't very useful. The international online magazine, ScientificAmerican.com recently published its second annual SciTech Web Awards. The editors of the magazine have basically sifted through the virtual piles of web sites to find, what they believe, are the top 50 science and technology sites on the Web at the moment. What you will find very handy about the SciTech Web Awards, is that the chosen sites are split up into 10 different categories, which basically cover all your options when it comes to choosing a career path in the science and technology arena. They are: 1. Archaeology and paleontology 2. Astronomy and astrophysics 3. Biology 4. Chemistry 5. Computer science 6. Earth and environment 7. Engineering and technology 8. Mathematics 9. Medicine 10. Physics The sites range from the serious and information-packed to the more playful side of science and technology. No doubt they will help you to narrow down your search for the career that is going to suit you best. You can access these awards by going to ScientificAmerican.com and clicking on the SciTech Web Awards 2002 button on the home page. Happy searching! Paleomap Project: A journey into our planet's history. Ever wondered what Earth looked like 1 000 million years ago? This site has all the maps, 3-D images and animations you need to get a good idea of what it was like. www.scotese.com Seeing, hearing and smelling the world: How does your brain decipher the messages sent to it by your senses? The following site does a good job explaining the complex system of communication between your brain and senses. www.hhmi.org/senses The official string theory web site: String theory is the theory that tries to explain what makes up the universe at its deepest level. Not something that will come up in conversation every day, but it certainly piques the curiousity. www.superstringtheory.com Here are some of the award winners ... Eric Weisstein’s world of mathematics: If you love numbers then you can easily get lost in this site. Whether it be geometry, trigonometry, algebra or calculus, you'll find all the info you need right here. mathworld.wolfram.com Computer history museum: The world of computing is advancing at such a rapid rate that it is almost impossible to keep track. This site has a searchable time line which covers innovations, milestones and important people involved in the development of computers from 1945 till now. www.computerhistory.org DNA from the beginning: DNA is fast becoming the focus of much of the latest research being done into forensics and cloning, among other things. Visit this site to learn more about the most important molecule of life. www.dnaftb.org/ How stuff works: Want to impress your friends with your know-how? Do your homework on this site and learn about how things like jet engines, digital cameras and so on, work. www.howstuffworks.com Dino Russ’s Lair: dinosaur and vertebrate paleontology information: A site that is jam-packed with useful and fun links to a myriad different sites that cater for all ages (even sites that cater for those of you looking to find out more about careers in paleontology). www.isgs.uiuc.edu/dinos/dinos_home.html The nine planets: a comprehensive tour of our solar system: Anything that you want to know about our solar system can be found on this site. All the facts and plenty of images to back them up. www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html What’s that stuff? Ever wondered what ink is made of, or lipstick or cement or self-tanning lotion? This is the site that will settle your curiousity about what goes into anything and everything. pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff.html 46 47 CAREER SEARCH … University contact details Listed below are the phone numbers and web addresses for universities throughout the country. Rhodes University: (046) 603-8655 www.ru.ac.za Stellenbosch University: (021) 808-2493 www.sun.ac.za University of Natal (PMB): (033) 260-5233 www.nu.ac.za University of Natal (Dbn): (031) 260-2668 www.nu.ac.za University of Port Elizabeth: (041) 504-2511 www.pe.ac.za University of Cape Town: (021) 650-4399 www.uct.ac.za University of the Free State: (051) 401-2708 www.uovs.ac.za Potchefstroom University: (018) 299-2893 www.puk.ac.za Rand Afrikaans University: (011) 489-2637 www.rau.ac.za Pretoria University: (012) 420-2980/ www.up.ac.za 2692/ 4281/ 2735 Wits University: (011) 717-1038 www.wits.ac.za University of Durban-Westville: 0800 004 991 www.udw.ac.za University of Fort Hare: (040) 602-2011 www.ufh.ac.za University of Transkei: (047) 502-2111 www.utr.ac.za University of Zululand: (035) 879-1380 www.uzulu.ac.za University of the Western Cape: (021) 959-2911 www.uwc.ac.za UNISA: (012) 429-3111 www.unisa.ac.za Vista University: (011) 938-1701 www.vista.ac.za Technikon contact details Listed below are the phone numbers and web addresses for technikons throughout the country. Border Technikon: Tel: (043) 708-5200 Cape Technikon : Tel: (021) 460-3911 Eastern Cape Technikon: Tel: (0474) 401-2000 Mangosuthu Technikon: Tel: (031) 907-7111 ML Sultan Technikon: Tel: (031) 308-5111 PE Technikon: Tel: (041) 504-3911 Peninsula Technikon: Tel: (021) 959-6911 Technikon Free State: Tel: (051) 507-3911 Technikon Natal: Tel: (031) 204-2111 Technikon Northern Gauteng: Tel: (012) 799-9000 Technikon North West: Tel: (012) 703-2241/4 Technikon Pretoria: Tel: (012) 318-5911 Technikon South Africa: Tel: (011) 471-2000 Technikon Witwatersrand: Tel: (011) 406-2911 Vaal Triangle Technikon: Tel: (016) 950-9000 www.bortech.ac.za www.ctech.ac.za www.tktech.ac.za www.mantec.ac.za www.mlsultan.ac.za www.petech.ac.za www.pentech.ac.za www.tofs.ac.za www.ntech.ac.za www.tng.ac.za www.tnw.ac.za www.techpta.ac.za www.tsa.ac.za www.twr.ac.za www.tritek.ac.za NEED MORE INFO ABOUT TECHNIKONS? Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP): (012) 326-1066 48 CAREER SEARCH … University contact details Listed below are the phone numbers and web addresses for universities throughout the country. Rhodes University: (046) 603-8655 www.ru.ac.za Stellenbosch University: (021) 808-2493 www.sun.ac.za University of Natal (PMB): (033) 260-5233 www.nu.ac.za University of Natal (Dbn): (031) 260-2668 www.nu.ac.za University of Port Elizabeth: (041) 504-2511 www.pe.ac.za University of Cape Town: (021) 650-4399 www.uct.ac.za University of the Free State: (051) 401-2708 www.uovs.ac.za Potchefstroom University: (018) 299-2893 www.puk.ac.za Rand Afrikaans University: (011) 489-2637 www.rau.ac.za Pretoria University: (012) 420-2980/ www.up.ac.za 2692/ 4281/ 2735 Wits University: (011) 717-1038 www.wits.ac.za University of Durban-Westville: 0800 004 991 www.udw.ac.za University of Fort Hare: (040) 602-2011 www.ufh.ac.za University of Transkei: (047) 502-2111 www.utr.ac.za University of Zululand: (035) 879-1380 www.uzulu.ac.za University of the Western Cape: (021) 959-2911 www.uwc.ac.za UNISA: (012) 429-3111 www.unisa.ac.za Vista University: (011) 938-1701 www.vista.ac.za Technikon contact details Listed below are the phone numbers and web addresses for technikons throughout the country. Border Technikon: Tel: (043) 708-5200 Cape Technikon : Tel: (021) 460-3911 Eastern Cape Technikon: Tel: (0474) 401-2000 Mangosuthu Technikon: Tel: (031) 907-7111 ML Sultan Technikon: Tel: (031) 308-5111 PE Technikon: Tel: (041) 504-3911 Peninsula Technikon: Tel: (021) 959-6911 Technikon Free State: Tel: (051) 507-3911 Technikon Natal: Tel: (031) 204-2111 Technikon Northern Gauteng: Tel: (012) 799-9000 Technikon North West: Tel: (012) 703-2241/4 Technikon Pretoria: Tel: (012) 318-5911 Technikon South Africa: Tel: (011) 471-2000 Technikon Witwatersrand: Tel: (011) 406-2911 Vaal Triangle Technikon: Tel: (016) 950-9000 www.bortech.ac.za www.ctech.ac.za www.tktech.ac.za www.mantec.ac.za www.mlsultan.ac.za www.petech.ac.za www.pentech.ac.za www.tofs.ac.za www.ntech.ac.za www.tng.ac.za www.tnw.ac.za www.techpta.ac.za www.tsa.ac.za www.twr.ac.za www.tritek.ac.za NEED MORE INFO ABOUT TECHNIKONS? Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP): (012) 326-1066 48