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< Back to Issue 2 Hidden Worlds: a peek into the nanoscale using helium ion microscopy How do scientists know what happens at scales smaller than you can see using an optical microscope? One exciting method is the helium ion microscope which can be used to view cells, crystals and specially engineered materials with extreme detail, revealing the beauty that exists at scales too small to imagine! by Erin Grant 10 December 2021 Edited by Jessica Nguy and Hamish Payne Illustrated by Erin Grant The room is white, with three smooth walls and a fourth containing a small sample prep bench and high shelves. In the centre is a desk with three monitors. Next to it, occupying most of the space, is the microscope. Eight feet tall, a few feet wide, resting on an isolated floor surrounded by caution tape; “NO STEP” written in big block letters. Wires protrude from its tiered shape in orderly chaos. It is a clean, technological space; we are ready to explore science. A colleague and I are at the Materials Characterisation and Fabrication Platform of the University of Melbourne to finish off the last steps of a scientific paper I’ve been working on for many years. What I need, as the icing on the cake, is an image. What does my sample look like way down there, at the nanometre scale? Objects that are only nanometres in size are very hard to imagine when we’re used to thinking about metres, centimetres, or maybe even millimetres. We can see those length scales; they are part of our everyday. So, if you’re told that proteins have a diameter of a few nanometres, what does that mean? Well, to be precise, a nanometre is one-billionth of a metre. A human hair, the go-to yardstick for describing small things, has a width between 0.05-0.1 millimetres, which means that if you wanted to slice a hair into nanometre-wide strands you’d end up with nearly 100,000 pieces. Unfortunately, that’s still hard to visualise, but I’ve found that when working with and thinking about scales like this every day, you gain a sort of mental landscape that small things occupy, perhaps not entirely in context, but a space that contains an overall ‘vibe’ of smallness. I first noticed this when I worked in a laboratory that studies the tiny nematode worm C. elegans. These creatures are half a millimetre long, so although they are clearly visible to the naked eye, you need a microscope if you want to use them for science. After looking at these tiny creatures under magnification for many weeks, I came to recognise a feeling almost like being underwater. Upon putting my eyes to the lens, my focus would change from the macroscopic world around me, to one of minutiae. This change in perspective was quite immersive, I almost felt like I was inhabiting that small petri dish too. Working with samples even smaller than that now, I have carried some of that mental landscape with me. It now feels commonplace to imagine tiny systems, such as crystals or molecules which were once foreign. Much of this ability to visualise small things comes from the fact that in many cases, we can actually see them too. Physics has given us many tools with which we can peer into the smallest systems that exist. Helium ion microscopy, which I have come here to carry out, is one such technique. Dr Anders Barlow runs the helium ion microscope (HIM) at this facility. He warmly welcomes me and my colleague into the quiet room and jumps straight into an enthusiastic explanation of the machine – he can tell we’re not just here for some pictures, we want to know the inner workings of the microscope too. The HIM is a bit like the more mature surveyor of minuscule worlds: the electron microscope. While a regular optical microscope uses light to illuminate a sample, the electron microscope uses electrons. When they collide with the sample these electrons can bounce off or lose energy through several mechanisms. The lost energy can go into heat or light, but more usefully, the energy might be transferred to other electrons in the sample, called secondary electrons, ejecting them like a drill removing rocks from a quarry. The secondary electrons can be detected at each point across the sample as the beam is scanned over its surface. If more electrons are detected, then the pixel at that point is brighter compared to areas where there are fewer electrons. This tells you about the topography or composition of the sample at that point on its surface and provides a grayscale image. The HIM works in the same way, but it can generate sharper images because helium ions are heavier than electrons. This is important because the increased resolution of electron and helium ion microscopes is enabled by their quantum mechanical properties - namely the particle’s wavelength. You may have heard about the wave-like nature of light, which is a basic property of quantum mechanics. Particles also have a wavelength, called the de Broglie wavelength, which is inversely proportional to their mass - the heavier the particle, the shorter the wavelength. Having a shorter wavelength allows smaller details to be resolved because of a pesky phenomenon called diffraction. Diffraction occurs when a wave encounters a gap that is of the same or smaller width to its wavelength. When this happens, the wave that emerges on the other side will be spread out. You can think of the features that you want to image as being similar to gaps, so when light, or a particle, interacts with features that are very close together it will spread out, making those features blurry or even invisible. But if you can ensure that the wavelength is smaller than whatever feature you want to see, diffraction will not occur. Interestingly, physicists can actually take advantage of diffraction, and another phenomenon called interference, when they study periodic structures like crystals, but that’s a different article! So, because the de Broglie wavelength is very short for particles with mass, like electrons, an electron microscope can generate images of higher resolution than an optical microscope. Likewise, helium ions are even heavier than electrons because they are composed of one electron, two protons, and two neutrons. This makes them about 7,000 times heavier than a single electron (electrons are very light compared to protons and neutrons!) and consequently the images they can make are very sharp. With our samples ready, lab manager Anders loads my sample into the microscope and begins lowering the pressure in its internal chamber. Having a high vacuum – approximately a billion times lower than atmospheric pressure – is essential because it prevents air from interfering with the helium beam. Making the beam is perhaps the most miraculous part of this technological feat. At the very top of the microscope’s column, there’s a tiny filament shaped like a needle. Not like a needle, in fact, it is the sharpest needle we humans can make. To achieve this, the point is shaped by first extreme heat, and then some extreme voltages until the very tip is composed of only three atoms, reverently referred to as the trimer. Once the trimer has been formed, a high voltage is applied to the needle, resulting in an extreme electric field around the tip. Next, helium gas is introduced into the chamber and individual helium atoms are attracted towards the region of the high electric field. The field is so strong that it strips each helium atom of one electron, ionising it, and these now positively charged ions are repelled from each of the three atoms in the trimer as three corresponding beams. Using sophisticated focusing fields down the length of the column allows Anders to choose only one of the beams for imaging; we are creating a picture using a beam only one atom wide! Generating such a precise beam requires constant maintenance, but once Anders is satisfied with how it looks today, he begins scanning over a large area for what we’ve come to find: tiny proteins stuck to a diamond. In an experimental PhD, you often find yourself answering small incremental questions and today I want to know how well I’ve attached these proteins to my diamond and what the coverage looks like. Other measures have told me that I probably have a lot of them, but the best way to know is to have a look! That’s what Anders does for researchers at the university; he helps us find out whether we have done a good job putting things together or coming up with new techniques. This is something he loves about his job. “I love the exposure I get to many areas of science,” he says, “Imaging of all forms is ubiquitous in research, and the HIM is applicable to most fields, so we see samples from materials science, polymers, nanomaterials, and biomaterials, through to medical technologies and devices, to cell and tissue biology of human, plant and animal origin. I never get tired of seeing what new specimens may come through the lab door.” Unfortunately, the first images we see are very dark and washed out, like a photograph taken in low-light; not many secondary electrons are making it to the detector. To combat this, Anders uses a flood gun to stop charge build up on the surface of the diamond. When the helium ions create secondary electrons, they are ejected from the surface at low speeds. As electrons are negatively charged, the bombarded surface, which now lacks electrons, will become positive and the low energy secondary electrons will be attracted back to the surface instead of making it to the detector. In an electron microscope this is avoided by coating insulators, such as my diamond, with a conductive material like gold. If the surface is conductive, the positive charge that is left behind by the secondary electrons will be offset by electrons from the metallic coating that can flow towards the sudden appearance of positive charges. In this case, the ejected electrons can escape and be detected. However, a coating like this would reduce the resolution of the image; if you want to measure proteins that are twelve nanometres high, but you put a three-nanometre coating over them, you’ll lose a lot of the resolution! To get around this, the HIM uses the flood gun, which lightly sprays the surface with electrons of low energy as the helium beam passes over. This neutralises the surface and lets the secondary electrons escape in the same way as having a conductive layer. Once Anders turns on the flood gun, the contrast increases, allowing us to zoom in on a small region of the diamond, and there they are! Thousands of spherical proteins arranged neatly across the surface, only twelve nanometres in diameter. The sight is spectacular, only one try and we got what we came for. I am three years into a PhD and I’ve become very used to the feeling of disappointment that can accompany new experimental techniques. Things rarely work out the first time around, so to see those little spheres straight away was magical. Dotted across the diamond surface is another, extra, gem. To keep protein nice and happy, you must prepare it in a salty solution. So, when the protein was deposited, some regular table salt, NaCl, came too. We can see this salt in our images as crystals in two distinctive and very beautiful patterns which you can see in the images below. Protein on the surface of my diamond. Each small pale circle is one of these spherical proteins. The first image shows a large creeping pattern, reminiscent of snowflakes or tree roots, which spreads its soft fingers across several hundred nanometres. These crystals have taken on an amorphous pattern, where the crystal structure is broken up rather than being one continuous arrangement of the atoms. The second pattern however, shown in the right image, is what a continuous NaCl crystal looks like. When large enough crystals can form without becoming amorphous they look like precise cubes of various sizes all strewn about. One of my favourite aspects about looking at very small things, is how the patterns you see often mirror those at much larger scales. Look at a fingerprint and you’ll find mountains and valleys, or the roots of a tree and you’ll see a river system. Salt (NaCl) can take on a highly ordered structure shown by the cubic crystals (left) or an amorphous pattern similar in shape to tree roots (right). The astonishing images we get from this single session are all in a day’s work for Anders. He has imaged numerous kinds of cells on all manner of interesting substrates, patterned surfaces covered in needle-like protrusions, and many kinds of man-made materials. Today, there are vials on his prep-bench which, at first glance, look much like jars of hair. However, they are not hair, in fact they are strands of carbon fibre covered in various coatings, awaiting examination. ‘What are your favourite types of samples to look at?’ I want to know. “Cell biology is fascinating,” he says. “We’ve imaged red blood cells, pancreatic cells, stem cells, and various bacterial cells in this microscope. Most often researchers are interested in cell life and death, and the HIM assists by providing high resolution images of the structure and surface topography of the cell membrane.” Recently however, Anders has been helping researchers look at polymer materials for water filtration. “These are hierarchical porous structures, meaning they’re engineered to have pore sizes that vary through the membrane. It is stunning to see the materials at low magnification with large pores, and as we zoom in and in and in, to see new pore sizes become visible at each level, like a material engineered with a fractal quality.” One of the unique things about the HIM, Anders reminds me, is that it’s not just for imaging. Since helium ions are heavy, they carry a higher momentum than electrons. “We leverage the momentum of the ions to actually modify structures too. We can create new surface properties, new devices, new technologies, on a scale that is often too small for any other fabrication technique. This is some of the most exciting work.” If you know anyone who needs some nanoscale drilling done, then the HIM is your instrument! Today’s excursion across the university campus has been thrilling. I got what I came for and I’m excited to find other projects that could benefit from the insight and beautiful images the HIM can provide. Imaging instruments have always fascinated me and I’m looking forward to witnessing how far we will be able to delve into the nanoscale world in the years to come, thanks to the fast pace of engineering and physics research. Previous article back to DISORDER Next article

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< Back to Issue 2 How to use a time machine Whilst time travel is thought to be nothing more than science fiction, the very laws of physics point to its possibility. Physicists have long sought the answer to such a phenomenon using knowledge from rockets to generating wormholes. by Sabine Elias 10 December 2021 Edited by Niesha Baker Illustrated by Quynh Anh Nguyen So you have just entered the TARDIS machine and are trying to work out how to use it to travel to the past to re-write the present and save the future? Well, look no further because you have come to right place. In this article, I will be describing how to jumpstart your time traveling vehicle and by the end, you will be proficient in navigating your way through the universe and evading time. Do be warned however, that batteries are not included and the simulation may crash at times. Now, you are probably wishing that you could travel back in time to have not clicked this article and saved yourself these two minutes of life that you will never get back. But is time travel really a possibility? We often think about the world as a state of order. Social and political constructs generally keep society running in a systematic manner. But what if I told you the entire universe came to exist from disorder? Before we get to logistics, let me introduce you to a little something known as ‘entropy’. Entropy describes the state of disorder (1). Take a closed bottle containing gas. Once you open this bottle, the gas will diffuse out into the open space with no way to retrieve it in the exact same state back inside the bottle. In essence, this gas has become ‘disordered’ and thus its entropy has increased. For years, scientists have understood that the entropy of the universe is always increasing, which means that stars, planets and galaxies are in constant motion away from each other (1). If we wanted to travel back in time, we would essentially have to reverse every single chemical reaction that has occurred from the point in time we currently stand in, to the point in time that we wish to travel to (2). This is theoretically impossible as we would be violating the laws of physics and decreasing the entropy of the universe but we still do not know if it is physically impossible. Let Brain Cox explain: Another problem with time travel would be altering events of the past. Take the Grandfather Paradox: if someone travelled back in time to kill their ancestor, then the possibility of their existence in the future would be zero (3). Thus, they would have been unable to time travel to begin with to have killed their ancestor. This issue of causality is expanded upon through the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle (4). This states that if an event causes a paradox or changes the past, the possibility of this event occurring would be impossible. However, this principle is not widely accepted by time travel enthusiasts. Now, whilst your TARDIS machine may be nothing but a prop at this point in time, it could still help provide evidence on the possibility of time travel. Take this example: you set up two duplicates of the same clock that read the same time and placed one into a rocket that blasts off into space. The rocket orbits around the Earth and then returns and is compared to the clock that remained on Earth. You would find that less time has passed on the clock that was in the rocket. Why? Because moving clocks run slower than stationary clocks. That is, as you move faster through space, you move slower through time. This is known as Time Dilation (5). An example of time dilation is the comparison of time on the International Space Station (ISS) to the time on Earth. Astronauts who have spent 6 months in the ISS have aged 0.005 seconds less than people on Earth (6). This does not seem like much because the astronauts are not traveling close to the speed of light. To see the effects of time dilation multiply, one would need to be very close to the speed of light. If you were to travel in space at 90 per cent the speed of light, whilst everyone on earth would age by 22 years you would only have aged by 9! Speed is not the only thing that affects how fast we age, gravity also affects our experience of time. A stronger gravitational field means that time travels slower in that field. For instance, your feet age slower than your head considering the slightly smaller gravitational pull on your feet compared to your head. Now take a black hole; we know that black holes have immensely strong gravitational fields where one hour near a black hole would equal approximately 100,000,000 years for a person on earth (7). So what would happen if you travelled through a black hole? No one really knows what occurs inside a black hole but we know trying to enter will likely turn you into spaghetti (8). That being said, we can only observe things that go as far as the event horizon of the black hole, so once something has entered it, we do not know what has happened. Black holes have however, been especially useful in theoretically explaining the possibility of time travel. Placing someone in a strong gravitational field or having them experience motions close to the speed of light would have them experience time slower compared to someone on Earth. This brings us to wormholes. Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts the existence of wormholes which would theoretically permit time travel. To travel to a galaxy that is 2.5 million light years away with the fastest rocket on earth would be impossible as it would take longer than a human lifetime. This is where wormholes come to the rescue. A wormhole would provide us with a shortcut to our location of interest. Imagine folding a paper in half and poking a pen through it to represent your route of travel. You are essentially skipping the length of the paper and traveling from one end to the other. Source: The Independent. (2008). The Big Question: Is time travel possible, and is there any chance (9). You then situate one mouth of the wormhole in a spacecraft traveling close to the speed of light and the other mouth on Earth. If you then went through the mouth on Earth and travelled through to the space craft, you would be traveling back in time. This is because time would be passing much slower at the other end of the wormhole than where you entered from. However, physicists have not yet developed such advanced technology capable of this, but theoretically speaking, this is a possibility if such technology was developed in the future. Whilst you may have thought that time travel was merely based on science fiction, the laws of physics do not forbid its existence. However, here is some food for thought: “If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?” Stephen Hawking Perhaps with time, we may transform this theory into reality. So for the time being, just sit back and enjoy the presence of your TARDIS machine. Perhaps you might even get lost in time from the very thought of time travel. References: 1. Wehrl, Alfred. “General Properties of Entropy.” Reviews of Modern Physics 50, no. 2 (April 1, 1978): 221–60. https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.50.221. 2. BBC. “Brian Cox Explains Why Time Travels in One Direction - Wonders of the Universe - BBC Two.” YouTube, March 10, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQSoaiubuA0. 3. Smith, Nicholas J.J. “Time Travel (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, November 14, 2013. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel/#GraPar. 4. Carlini, A., V.P. Frolov, M.B. Mensky, I.D. Novikov, and H.H. Soleng. “Time machines: The principle of self-consistency as a consequence of the principle of minimal action.” International Journal of Modern Physics, no. 05 (October 1995): 557–80. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0218271895000399. 5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Time Dilation | Explanation, Examples, & Twin Paradox.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/science/time-dilation. 6. Dickerson, Kelly. “Here’s Why Astronauts Age Slower than the Rest of Us Here on Earth.” Business Insider Australia, August 20, 2015. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/do-astronauts-age-slower-than-people-on-earth-2015-8. 7. Gharat, Sarvesh Vikas. “Relativity and Time Dilation.” International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology 7, no. 11 (November 30, 2019): 650–51. https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2019.11103. 8. "Death by spaghettification: Scientists record last moments of star devoured by black hole." NewsRx Health & Science, November 1, 2020, 236. Gale Academic OneFile. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639405517/AONE?u=unimelb&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=6812ee05. 9. “The Big Question: Is Time Travel Possible, and Is There Any Chance.” The Independent, February 8, 2008. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/big-question-time-travel-possible-and-there-any-chance-it-will-ever-take-place-779761.html. Previous article back to DISORDER Next article

< Back to Issue 2 Making sense of the senses: The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine What do spicy food, menthol lozenges and walking around blindfolded have in common? They all activate protein receptors discovered by Professors David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. by Dominika Pasztetnik 10 December 2021 Edited by Breana Galea & Juulke Castelijn Illustrated by Casey Boswell Stimuli are changes to our environment, such as heat, cold and touch, that we recognise through our senses. We are all constantly bombarded with thousands of these stimuli from our surroundings. Despite this disorder, we are somehow able to perceive and make sense of the world. The protein receptors discovered by Professors Julius and Patapoutian make this possible. Located at the surface of the nerve cell, these receptors convert an external stimulus to an electrical signal. This signal then travels along nerve cells to the brain, allowing us to sense the stimulus. Based in California, Julius and Patapoutian are scientists in the fields of neuroscience and molecular biology. The main interest of their work has been identifying and understanding the protein receptors involved in detecting stimuli. For Julius, his major focus has been to identify the receptors involved in the sensation of pain (1). For Patapoutian, it has been to identify the protein receptors involved in detecting mechanical stimuli, such as touch (2). For their past 25 years of research, Julius and Patapoutian were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in October 2021. The Nobel Prize was founded by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist also famous for inventing dynamite. Prior to his death in 1896, Nobel allocated most of his money to the first Nobel Prizes. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been annually bestowed on those who, in Nobel’s words, have “conferred the greatest benefit to mankind” in different fields (3). Notable past laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine include Sir Alexander Fleming, Sir Ernst Chain and the Australian Howard Florey. They were awarded in 1945 for their discovery of the antibiotic penicillin (4). Sir Hans Krebs received the Nobel Prize in 1953 for his discovery of the citric acid cycle (5). Also known as the Krebs cycle, it is a series of reactions used to produce energy in our cells. TRPV1: spice it up It’s a rather chilly morning. You eye the packet of Shin Ramyun that’s been sitting in your pantry for weeks. Without a second thought, you prepare the noodles, adding all the soup powder. After a few mouthfuls, your eyes start streaming and your face matches the scarlet red of the now-empty packaging. The culprit is capsaicin, a substance in the chilli flakes added to the soup powder. It binds to a protein receptor embedded at the surface of the nerve cells in your mouth. Julius discovered this receptor in 1997, and called it TRPV1, which stands for transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (6). TRPV1 is a channel with a gate at either end that is usually closed (Figure 1, blue) (7). Capsaicin opens these gates, allowing ions, such as calcium, to move through TRPV1 and into the nerve cell (Figure 1, red). The nerve cell then signals to the brain, causing you to feel the searing heat in your mouth. TRPV1 is also found in your skin and can be activated by temperatures above 40°C, such as when you accidentally touch the kettle full of boiling water for your noodles (8). Figure 1. TRPV1 at the surface of a nerve cell. In the absence of capsaicin or at cool temperatures, TRPV1 is closed (blue). In the presence of capsaicin or at higher temperatures, TRPV1 opens, allowing ions to flow into the nerve cell (red). TRPM8: too cool for school On your way to uni, you notice your throat’s a bit sore from going overboard with karaoke the night before, so you pop a lozenge into your mouth. The soothing, cool sensation is thanks to menthol. It is a compound that binds to TRPM8, which stands for transient receptor potential melastatin 8. It is another receptor found on the nerve cells in your tongue, as well as on your skin (9). TRPM8 was separately discovered in 2002 by both Julius and Patapoutian (10). Like TRPV1, TRPM8 is a protein channel that is usually closed. In response to menthol or cool temperatures from 26 down to 8°C, TRPM8 opens and allows ions to enter the nerve cell, which then signals the cold sensation to your brain (11). PIEZO: peer pressure During your lunch break at uni, you and your mates decide to play blindfolded tag. Because, as we all know, that's what uni students do in their free time. In the first round, you have the misfortune of being chosen as ‘it’. Blindfolded, you walk around with your hands in front of you, trying to find your mates. Despite not being able to see anything, you can still walk and wave your arms and roughly know where your arms and legs are in space. This is due to a sense called proprioception. You lunge forward and nearly grab someone, only to feel their jacket brush your fingers. Both proprioception and the detection of light touch, such as of the jacket brushing your fingers, are made possible by another class of protein receptors called PIEZO2. Discovered by Patapoutian in 2010, its name comes from piesi, the Greek word for pressure (12). Like TRPV1 and TRPM8, PIEZO2 is an ion channel at the nerve cell surface. However, the structure of PIEZO2 is nothing like that of TRPV1 and TRPM8. PIEZO2 has three protruding blades, which form a dent, called a nano-bowl, in the outer surface of the cell (13). When the outside of the cell is prodded, the blades straighten and the nano-bowl flattens. This allows the channel in the centre of the PIEZO2 to open, so ions can flow into the nerve cell (Figure 2). The nerve cell then sends an electrical impulse to the brain, letting you know you’re failing at blindfolded tag. Figure 2. PIEZO at the surface of a nerve cell. When force is applied to the surface of the nerve cell, the PIEZO channel opens, allowing ions to move into the cell. Apart from being essential for playing blindfolded tag, PIEZO2 is also important in various other aspects of the human body’s functioning we often take for granted. For example, PIEZO2 prevents you from breathing in too much air (14). It is also present on the cells lining your digestive tract. PIEZO2 detects pressure exerted onto these cells by food, causing the cells to release hormones that help with digestion (15). Furthermore, PIEZO2 helps monitor the fullness of your bladder, saving you from embarrassment (16). If there is a PIEZO2, what about PIEZO1? Although it has a similar structure to PIEZO2, PIEZO1’s role is quite different. PIEZO1 handles the background maintenance required to keep your body healthy. This includes bone formation (17) and preventing your red blood cells from bursting (18). People with a particular mutated form of PIEZO1 have a reduced risk of getting malaria (19). Patapoutian found that this mutation causes red blood cells to shrivel, preventing the malaria parasite from infecting them. Many people living in malaria-affected areas, such as Africa, have this mutation. Therefore, knowledge regarding these receptors is improving our understanding of related diseases. Drug development Researchers are currently using information about the receptors discovered by Julius and Patapoutian to develop new drugs to treat various conditions. Knowing the identities and structures of these receptors is helping researchers design compounds that bind to them, either blocking or activating them. In this way, Julius and Patapoutian’s work is helping provide a “benefit to mankind”. For example, during a migraine, the TRPV1 channel opens more frequently in the nerve cells of the meninges, the envelope surrounding the brain (20). These nerve cells contain more TRPV1 at their surfaces. This causes the nerve cells to send more electrical signals to the brain and so increases the sensation of pain. Using a drug to block the TRPV1 receptor could reduce the number of these electrical impulses and lessen the pain associated with migraines. It’s been a busy day activating all these receptors, which, as it turns out, are part of your daily life as a uni student. So next time you eat chilli flakes, have a menthol lozenge or play blindfolded tag, you will know which tiny sensors to hold responsible for your pleasant — or unpleasant — experiences. Further reading Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 - Advanced Information References: University of California San Francisco. “Biography of David Julius.” UCSF. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/09/421486/biography-david-julius. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. “Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021.” The Nobel Prize. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/press-release/. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. "Alfred Nobel’s will." The Nobel Prize. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/alfred-nobels-will/. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945.” The Nobel Prize. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1945/summary/ Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953.” The Nobel Prize. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1953/summary/ Ernfors, Patrik, Abdel El Manira, and Per Svenningsson. "Advanced information." The Nobel Prize. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/advanced-information/. Liao, M., E. Cao, D. Julius, and Y. Cheng. "Structure of the Trpv1 Ion Channel Determined by Electron Cryo-Microscopy." Nature 504, no. 7478 (Dec 5 2013): 107-12. doi: 10.1038/nature12822. Ernfors et al., “Advanced information.” McKemy, D. D. "Trpm8: The Cold and Menthol Receptor." In Trp Ion Channel Function in Sensory Transduction and Cellular Signaling Cascades, edited by W. B. Liedtke and S. Heller. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Boca Raton (FL), 2007. Ernfors et al., “Advanced information.” McKemy, Trp Ion Channel Function in Sensory Transduction and Cellular Signaling Cascades. Coste, B., J. Mathur, M. Schmidt, T. J. Earley, S. Ranade, M. J. Petrus, A. E. Dubin, and A. Patapoutian. "Piezo1 and Piezo2 Are Essential Components of Distinct Mechanically Activated Cation Channels." Science 330, no. 6000 (Oct 1 2010): 55-60. doi: 10.1126/science.1193270. Jiang, Y., X. Yang, J. Jiang, and B. Xiao. "Structural Designs and Mechanogating Mechanisms of the Mechanosensitive Piezo Channels." Trends in Biochemical Sciences 46, no. 6 (Jun 2021): 472-88. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2021.01.008. Nonomura, K., S. H. Woo, R. B. Chang, A. Gillich, Z. Qiu, A. G. Francisco, S. S. Ranade, S. D. Liberles, and A. Patapoutian. "Piezo2 Senses Airway Stretch and Mediates Lung Inflation-Induced Apnoea." Nature 541, no. 7636 (Jan 12 2017): 176-81. doi: 10.1038/nature20793. Alcaino, C., K. R. Knutson, A. J. Treichel, G. Yildiz, P. R. Strege, D. R. Linden, J. H. Li, et al. "A Population of Gut Epithelial Enterochromaffin Cells Is Mechanosensitive and Requires Piezo2 to Convert Force into Serotonin Release." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115, no. 32 (Aug 7 2018): E7632-E41. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1804938115. Marshall, K. L., D. Saade, N. Ghitani, A. M. Coombs, M. Szczot, J. Keller, T. Ogata, et al. "Piezo2 in Sensory Neurons and Urothelial Cells Coordinates Urination." Nature 588, no. 7837 (Dec 2020): 290-95. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2830-7. Li, X., L. Han, I. Nookaew, E. Mannen, M. J. Silva, M. Almeida, and J. Xiong. "Stimulation of Piezo1 by Mechanical Signals Promotes Bone Anabolism." Elife 8 (Oct 7 2019). doi: 10.7554/eLife.49631. Cahalan, S. M., V. Lukacs, S. S. Ranade, S. Chien, M. Bandell, and A. Patapoutian. "Piezo1 Links Mechanical Forces to Red Blood Cell Volume." Elife 4 (May 22 2015). doi: 10.7554/eLife.07370. Ma, S., S. Cahalan, G. LaMonte, N. D. Grubaugh, W. Zeng, S. E. Murthy, E. Paytas, et al. "Common Piezo1 Allele in African Populations Causes Rbc Dehydration and Attenuates Plasmodium Infection." Cell 173, no. 2 (Apr 5 2018): 443-55 e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.02.047. Dux, M., J. Rosta, and K. Messlinger. "Trp Channels in the Focus of Trigeminal Nociceptor Sensitization Contributing to Primary Headaches." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21, no. 1 (Jan 4 2020). doi: 10.3390/ijms21010342. Previous article back to DISORDER Next article

< Back to Issue 7 Pointing the Way: A Triangular View of the World by Ingrid Sefton 22 October 2024 edited by Hendrick Lin illustrated by Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin You, my friend, are living in a world created by triangles. Since the dawn of time, this humble three-sided polygon has quietly shaped the evolution of human civilisation. As you gaze around, you can likely spot a triangle or two tucked within your surroundings. This may be of no surprise to you. Externally, the triangle governs the material construction of our world, underpinning the foundations of countless engineering and architectural designs. Yet these more obvious physical constructions are just one contribution of this pointy, three-sided shape to modern society. Indeed, it is where the role of the triangle remains invisible that it harnesses the most power. Triangles have played an integral role in sailing and modern navigation systems, having enabled us to explore all corners of the Earth. Beyond this, let us not forget the massive contributions this shape has made to the development of 3D modelling, used everywhere from graphic design and animation to CGI. All thanks to the simple, unassuming triangle. The physical, the navigational and the digital. Three key sides of the triangle’s influence in shaping the modern world. The Physical The triangle's importance in the physical world stems from its inner strength. Unbeknownst to many, it is the strongest two-dimensional shape that exists, with its power amplified in three-dimensional polyhedrons derived from triangles. How can this unique strength be explained? Consider applying force to one corner, or apex, of a triangle. This force is distributed down either side of the triangle and as these sides are compressed, the base is stretched outwards. Weight can therefore be evenly dispersed across the shape, preventing it from bending and breaking (Saint Louis Science Center, 2020). It is for good reason that the triangular shape underpins many fundamental principles of architecture and design. Perhaps the most iconic of the structures that utilise this shape are the Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Constructed in the early 25th Century BCE, they housed the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and are the last remaining Wonder that exists today. The tallest of the Pyramids, known as the Great Pyramid, originally soared as high as 147 metres above the ground, though today erosion has reduced it to 138 metres (Encylopedia Britannica, 2024a). This architectural feat was monumental for its time, and to this day, how exactly the Pyramids were constructed remains a hotly contested debate amongst archeologists and engineers. One proposition is that large ramps were used in conjunction with a complex system of ropes, sledges and levers to haul stone blocks up (Handwerk, 2023). Whatever the method of construction may have been, these ancient wonders have stood the test of time for over 4500 years - a remnant of one of humanity's first advanced civilisations that exemplifies the scale, strength and resilience of construction made possible by triangles. Triangles also play a crucial role in the construction of seemingly dissimilar shapes. This is highlighted in the case of geodesic structures - spheres constructed from a network of triangles approximating a rounded shape, like a soccer ball. First developed in the 20th Century by architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, these domes are lightweight and able to distribute stress across large, arching structures (Encylopedia Britannica, 2024b). Since Fuller’s earliest constructions, these domes have been widely utilised in the construction of stadiums, planetariums and even "glamping" accommodations. One notable example is the Eden Project - the world's largest biodome botanical garden in the United Kingdom, housing thousands of plant species over 5.5 acres of land (Eden Project, 2024). The interconnectedness of the triangles allows for maximum sunlight exposure across wide spaces, creating an ideal environment for plant photosynthesis and cultivation. Intriguingly, Fuller's use of triangles in this innovative manner led to a breakthrough in the far-away field of synthetic chemistry. Scientists Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley discovered the nanomaterial Buckminsterfullerene, or “the Buckyball”, after the scientists realised the structure's similarity to Fuller's geodesic spheres (The Stanford Libraries, 2024). This led to the discovery of a new class of materials known as fullerenes. The scientists were subsequently awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for elucidating this molecule’s structure (The Stanford Libraries, 2024). Balancing power with versatility, triangles form the crux of our built environments at both an atomic and architectural level. The Navigational Remember those sine and cosine formulas your maths teacher insisted had important real world applications? Turns out they weren’t kidding. Triangulation is the process of finding an unknown location of an object by forming a triangle between this object and two other reference points. Sine, cosine and tangent, the main trigonometric ratios, are used to relate the sides and angles formed within a right triangle and hence, determine the position of an unknown point. For centuries, humans have turned to triangles as a means to find their ways. Sailors, in particular, have long used landmarks and celestial objects like the stars to orient themselves at sea. By observing the angle between known locations (or stars) and using basic trigonometry, navigators could calculate distances and determine their precise location. Moving to a more global scale of navigation becomes a bit more complicated, as the Earth is a sphere and not a flat surface (although some may beg to differ…). A more advanced form of triangulation known as trilateration underpins the Global Positioning System (GPS) in order to determine three-dimensional coordinates of a receiver. Instead of angles, GPS utilises the time taken for radio signals sent from satellites to reach a receiving device on Earth. A connected system of navigation satellites circles the Earth, each sending out signals with the location and time it was sent by that satellite. By measuring the delay between the time of signal reception and the broadcast time, the distance from the receiver to each satellite can be computed (Federal Aviation Administration, 2024). Once distances to at least three satellites are known, the receiving device can determine its own three-dimensional position, employing similar techniques to triangulation. GPS data is not only used to guide your Google Map directions. Analysing the positions of satellite stations and their movements is a crucial tool for monitoring volcanic and seismic activity (Murray & Svarc, 2017). Recent breakthroughs have even suggested that there may be a future for utilising the GPS to detect earthquakes before they happen (Rao, 2023). From the seas to the skies, triangles allow us to push the boundaries of exploration while always guiding us home to safety. The Digital What does connect-the-dots have to do with triangles or 3D modelling? A connect-the-dots drawing begins with nothing but some labelled dots. Yet as each dot is joined by a straight line, a complex and curved picture emerges. The more dots you use, the smoother the picture looks. Consider now trying to design a three-dimensional surface. Just as you might use dots to approximate a curve, triangles serve as building blocks for constructing complex surfaces. By taking enough triangles and joining them at their edges, we too can approximate intricate and multidimensional structures. In 3D modelling, objects are represented as meshes - models consisting of vertices (points in 3D space) connected by edges to form polygons and thus, the surface of an object (Stanton, 2023). To define a flat surface oriented in a plane, a minimum of three distinct points are needed. Triangles are the simplest shape for constructing these planes as they are coplanar, meaning any three points in space will always form a flat surface (Licata & Licata, 2015). This makes them perfect for modelling complex 3D shapes out of interconnected triangles. Animation, gaming, graphic design and computer generated imagery (CGI) in movies are just some of the many varied applications that utilise these mesh modelling techniques to create intricate 3D models, with curved and highly detailed surfaces. Additionally, there exist efficient computer algorithms that are optimised to dissect objects into hundreds of thousands of flat triangles. A complex, digital representation of any object can therefore be easily portrayed as a simple collection of points and triangles. Combined with their simple geometric properties, triangles can then be processed quickly by modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), optimising their performance in real-time applications. Add in lighting, shading and smooth deformation, and you will find yourself with an intricate, three-dimensional model. Pointing the Way Forward For too long, the triangle has been overshadowed by its more popular cousin, the square. Yet, what is a square? Two triangles put together. The simplicity of this three-sided shape allows it to integrate within our society, with its contributions often invisible to the naked eye. From the physical, to the navigational and the digital, modern human society is built on the triangle. Maybe that trigonometry class wasn’t so pointless after all. References Eden Project (2024). Eden Project's Mission . https://www.edenproject.com/mission/origins Encylopedia Britannica (2024a). Great Pyramid of Giza . https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Pyramid-of-Giza Encylopedia Britannica (2024b). Geodesic Dome. https://www.britannica.com/technology/geodesic-dome Federal Aviation Administration (2024). Satellite Navigation - GPS - How It Works . United States Department of Transportation. https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/techops/navservices/gnss/gps/howitworks Handwerk, B. (2023). The Pyramids at Giza were built to endure an eternity—but how? National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/giza-pyramids Licata, J., & Licata, A. (2015). From triangles to computer graphics . ABC Science. https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/06/10/4251713.htm Murray, J. R., & Svarc, J. (2017). Global Positioning System Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis Conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program. Seismological Research Letters , 88 (3), 916-925. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160204 Rao, R. (2023). GPS satellites may be able to detect earthquakes before they happen . Space. https://www.space.com/earthquake-prediction-gps-satellite-data Saint Louis Science Center (2020). The Secret Strength of Triangles . https://www.slsc.org/the-secret-strength-of-triangles/ Stanton, A. (2023). Exploring the World of 3D Modeling: Solid vs. Mesh Modeling . Cadmore. https://cadmore.com/blog/solid-vs-mesh-modeling-differences The Stanford Libraries (2024). What is a geodesic dome? Stanford University. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bucky/feature/what-is-a-geodesic-dome Previous article Next article apex back to

Issue 7: Apex 22 October 2024 This issue surveys our world from above. So come along, and revel in the expansive view - have a read below! Editorial Peaks and Perspectives: A Word from the Editors-in-Chief by the Editors-in-Chief A word from our Editors-in-Chief. Corals A Coral’s Story: From thriving reef to desolation by Nicola Zuzek-Mayer Nicola sheds light on the devastating future faced by our coral reefs, with the effects of anthropogenic climate change far from having reached its peak. Humans vs Pathogens Staying at the Top of Our Game: the Evolutionary Arms Race by Aizere Malibek As nations vie for military supremacy, Aizere covers a microscopic competition between humans and the microbes evolving strategies against our defences. Seeing Space Interstellar Overdrive: Secrets of our Distant Universe by Sarah Ibrahimi Embark on an epic journey as Sarah explores the cosmic mysterious being revealed by NASA's James Webb Space Teloscope. Fossil Markets Fossil Markets: Under the Gavel, Under Scrutiny by Jesse Allen Diving into the wild world of fossil auctions, Jesse prompts us to ask: who is the real apex predator, the T-rex or hedge-fund billionaires? Cancer Treatments Tip of the Iceberg: An Overview of Cancer Treatment Breakthroughs by Arwen Nguyen-Ngo Icebreakers. Follow Arwen as she recounts the countless stories of the giants before us, who carved a path for our cancer research today. Triangles Pointing the Way: A Triangular View of the World by Ingrid Sefton Guiding us through land, seas and screens, Ingrid explores this humble 3-sided shape as a vital tool of modern society and its many fascinating uses. Anti-ageing Science Timeless Titans: Billionaires defying death by Holly McNaughton From billionaire-backed pills to young blood transfusion, Holly traverses the futuristic world of anti-ageing and asks: what happens when death is no longer inevitable? Brain-computer Implants Neuralink: Mind Over Matter? by Kara Miwa-Dale Would the ability to control a computer with your mind bolster possibilities or bring harm? Kara visualises a possible future under the Neuralink implant. Fish Morphology Designing the perfect fish by Andy Shin With a splash of creativity, Andy concocts the ultimate 'Frankenfish' by investigating the traits that allow fish to flourish in their aquatic environments. Commercial Aviation Soaring Heights: An Ode to the Airliner by Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin Settle in and take a round trip with Aisyah through the evolution of commercial aviation, from the secrets of aircraft cuisine to the mechanics of staying afloat.

Issue 1: Science is Everywhere Foreword from Dr Jen Marti n From the Editors-in-Chief Hear from the founder and leader of the UniMelb Science Communication Teaching Program! A few words from our four Editors-in-Chief on the inaugural issue of OmniSci Magazine! 2 minute read 2 minute read Columns The body, et cetera Conversations in science Chatter Wiggling Ears By Rachel Ko Let’s take a trip down evolution lane to uncover the story behind everyone’s favourite useless party trick: ear wiggling. 3 minute read Behind the Scenes of COVID-19 with Dr Julian Druce By Zachary Holloway In conversatio n with Dr Julian Druc e. 6 minute read Silent Conversations: How Trees Talk to One Another By Lily McCann What do trees talk about? 5 minute read Science Ethics Cinema to Reality Humans of UniMelb Should We Protect Our Genetic Information? By Grace Law How much is our genetic and biometric data worth? And why are others so keen to get their hands on it? Can We Build the Iron Man Suit? By Manthila Ranatunga Ever wondered what it takes to build the Iron Man suit? Research - Is it For Me? By Renee Papaluca Hear from current research students about their experiences studying science at UniMelb. 4 minute read 4 minute read 4 minute read The Greenhouse Unpacking the Latest IPCC Report — What Climate Science is Telling Us By Sonia Truong Unpacking the latest UN IPCC report on the science behind climate change. 5 minute read Features Our Microbial Frenemies By Wei Han Chong Diseases and pandemics have always been the source of great disasters throughout history, so why don't we do away with them? 7 minute read Where The Wild Things Were B y Ashleigh Hallinan Biodiversity loss is perhaps just as catastrophic as climate change, so let's consider the role of ecosystem restoration in battling this ecological emergency. 6 minute read Understanding the Mysterious Science of Sleep By Evelyn Kiantoro Sleep, our favourite way to wind down and relax. But why do we sleep? Moreover, what are dreams? 6 minute read The Rise of The Planet of AI By A shley Mamuko When does tech become fully integrated into our lives? 7 minute read The Intellectual’s False Dilemma: Art vs Science By Natalie Cierpisz The age-old debate once again resurfaces. Art and science. Two worlds collide 6 minute read Climate Change, Vaccines & Lockdowns: How and Why Science Has Become a Polarising Political Debate By Mia Horsfall How should scientific research and political legislation interact, and what role should they play in public discourse? 6 minute read Sick of Lockdown? Let Science Explain Why. By T anya Kovacevic The mechanisms behind lockdown fatigue - and how to treat it. 6 minute read Let's Torque Competition Winner Bionics: Seeing into the Future By J oshua Nicholls Let's explore the ground-breaking technology that could help Australians suffering from visual impairment. Let's Torque is the premier science communication organisation taking STEM to Victorian schools and undergrad students. They host a science communication competition annually. 5 minute read Let's Torque website

< Back to Issue 2 Man-Made Science: On the Origins of the Gender Gap Scientific practice remains doused in centuries of unreasoned and illogical discrimination against women. But what is the best way to unravel the complexities of such an intricate web of injustice, intellectual theft and suffering? by Mia Horsfall 10 December 2021 Edited by Natalie Cierpisz & Ruby Dempsey Illustrated by Janna Dingle Alice Ball was born in Seattle on July 24, 1892. She would grow up in Washington, achieving top marks in school before studying Chemistry at the University of Washington. She would have her article "Benzoylations in Ether Solution" published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Ball then pursued a Masters of Chemistry at the University of Hawaii, where she would study chaulmoogra oil and its treatment of leprosy. Ball revolutionised the application of the oil, discovering its water solubility in its ester ethyl form, enabling it to be dissolved within the bloodstream. At the time, this revolutionary treatment was the best available for leprosy, having resoundingly positive impacts on more than 8000 people. Ball would die at the age of 24, and Arthur L. Dean, the future President of the University of Hawaii, would publish her findings, the treatment coming to be known as the “Dean Method”. It was not until 2000 that Alice Ball was formally recognised as having pioneered the method. Ball is not a rarity in the history of recognition of women in science. Women have been rendered oblique in the fabric of scientific contribution, pushed into corners by their male counterparts. You are not a scientist, they say. You are a worker, a contributor to a broader scientific framework that lies beyond the tips of your fingers. Your worth does not extend past your utility, your body and brain useful insofar as we dictate. Make no mistake, your work is not yours to own. These women, these scientists, these thinkers are perpetually framed in this lens, their stories framed in the contexts they were stolen from. Throughout history, women have been slotted in around men, in the world, in language, crammed in, letting femininity compress and fold over herself. The notion of feminist and masculinist lenses of science is not inherently divisive despite the dichotomised nature of their terminology. Rather, examining the feminist lenses of science contributes to a richer understanding of the epistemic value of science itself. The dangers of not examining said lenses are not only very real, they are tragic. Historically, women have occupied lesser paid, more arduous, and more dangerous positions within STEM industries, the most famous instance being the large number of women who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch-faces with self-luminous paint. However, there is no unified definition of a “feminist lens of science”. Various feminist philosophers and critics have taken hugely diversified approaches to exploring the hierarchal structure of scientific industries. A more limited feminist approach looks purely at the consequential issues of exclusion, examining issues of employment and discrimination and attempting to rectify these after they have occurred. This is a relatively contained approach to gender disparities within STEM, in contrast to more encompassing ideologies of socialist or existentialist feminism that examines the reason women are excluded in the primary instance, and how their exclusion permeates scientific practice. Existentialist feminism upholds that sex-based discrimination occurs not as a result of biological differences, but due to the social valuation of those biological differences. It is, as Sue Rosser points out, “man’s conception of woman as Other” that leads to ostracisation. In a similar vein, socialist feminism defines knowledge as a product of human investigation rather than an innate property of scientific practice. As a consequence, knowledge is inevitably influenced by social values and indeed, cannot exist without bias. As Rosser points out, this has a very tangible impact at industry level, where “the social shaping of technology has often been conceptualised in terms of men, excluding women at all levels”. So long as the notion of conventional masculinity saturates scientific practice, the proportion of women who not only pursue science but who are recognised for their work will remain diminished. It is no coincidence that of professionals working across STEM industries, only 28 per cent are women. Sexism is not merely a product of academic culture, it is ingrained within the practice of science itself. The study of evolutionary biology is a prime example, where Darwin posited in 1859 “the average standard of mental power in man must be above that of women”. A decade later, Antoinette Brown Blackwell proved this to be an illogical conclusion, much of the research conducted was conducted with this in mind. As a result, foundational assumptions about the makeup of “human nature” were built upon these misguided foundations. It was not until much later that this groundwork was actively revised in mainstream science. Primatologists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas demonstrated that there was very little, if anything, biologically different in the “moral and intellectual” capacities of men and women by investigating the evolutionary significance of female primates. Despite this, science, particularly in the life sciences, remains endowed with sexism that has arisen as a consequence of systemic inequality. One ramification of the surplus of male bioscientists that has been historically upheld is the stigmatisation and mystification of female anatomy and the differences of treatment for various diseases. That is, the predominance of male scientists results in lack of female subjects in medical experiments, leading to “under-diagnosis, inappropriate treatment and higher death rates for cardiovascular and other disease in women”, as Rosser points out. Such a lack of research not only directly results in higher suffering in women, but it is also indicative of a broader culture of apathy and negligence in the treatment of women. Much of these issues arise as a consequence of what is known as the “gender data gap”, a term coined by feminist journalist Caroline Criado Perez. Essentially, our default human is male and our data disproportionately accounts for them. This impacts every area of life, from women being 50 per cent more likely to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack (heart-fail experiment subjects are primarily male) to being 17 per cent more likely to die in a car crash (crash-test dummies are designed with masculine anatomy). These implications are severe, particularly in the realms of psychology, where diagnoses and psychological science has been used as a weapon to marginalise and obscure the autonomy of women. The etymology of the word “hysteria” has its roots from the Latin word for “uterus”, the construction of the word sexist from its conception. Since then, women who have advocated for change have consistently been deemed mentally unfit to serve within social spheres. This notion has bled into psychological practice and shapes much of the diagnostic procedure we see today, however subliminally. Further, the conduct of psychological studies is perhaps inescapably plagued by bias and assumption. This exists within every area of science but is particularly poignant in psychology, where successful post-publication replication is at its lowest. Whilst the reasons for why replication is so low within this field is contested, it undoubtedly means that psychological studies are subject to greater subjectivity in regards to their theoretical frameworks. This, in turn, enables researchers’ own biases and assumptions to saturate the work they conduct. Psychological studies examining sexism often treat it as a distinct social phenomenon that occurs in particular settings rather than a pervasive behaviour ingrained within institutions and scientific practice. One study examines the British Psychological Society’s guidelines surrounding ethical scientific practice, but particularly in regard to the prevention of sexism. The primary issue found here is that the guidelines preventing sexism are concerned more with the wellbeing of the subjects than the epistemic frameworks of the studies themselves. This results in a relatively poor understanding of the way androcentrism has permeated science’s theoretical framework, not merely its applications. When we look at the impact of sexism in psychological and medical sciences in tandem, it becomes evident the way sexist institutions have bled not only into the repercussions of scientific research, but in the very frameworks we use to conduct research. The systemic issues ingrained within the practice of science become tangibly visible in the gender disparities that exist within the sciences. In the US, women earn half of total science and engineering bachelor’s degrees, but only 39 per cent of postdoctoral fellowships and 18 per cent of professorships. Female academics from around the world are pioneering solutions to the persistent gender-discrimination problems facing the scientific community. Liisa Husu suggests that the key to tackling gendered scientific practice is by examining the “non-events”, the things that seemingly do not occur. These include a lack of referencing for female colleagues in publication, lack of recognition or attribution for work (both contemporary and historic). The lack of attendance of female professors and academics at conferences is another contributing factor, as such events not only enable cross-collaboration and open practice to occur without impediment, but facilitate connections to be formed within the academic world. The establishment of ethics committees that oversee scientific publications are also hugely influential. For example, in the US, the National Institutes of Health Funding implemented a regulation that women must be encompassed in “human studies”. These regulations need to be enforced and upheld with rigour and commitment. They cannot be perceived as extraneous or superfluous to the research conducted. This can be aided by requiring pre-publication replication or at the very least, evaluation by researchers independent of the original study. Our standard human is not a white, 70 kg man in his 30s. Our people are bold and bright and diverse and our science has no choice but to reflect that. The face of the scientific community has for too long been dominated by a voice that has been ignorant and apathetic to the suffering it has inflicted. To accept and enable these inbuilt systemic biases to persist is a gross injustice to the communities that have suffered as a result of silence. You are a scientist, we say. You are a beating, breathing, vibrant contributor to our collective pursuit of knowledge. Your voice is vital and worthy of being heard. And heard it will be. References: Arnhart, L., 1992. Feminism, Primatology, and Ethical Naturalism. Politics and the Life Sciences, 11(2), pp.157-170. Australian Government. 2021. Second national data report on girls and women in STEM. [online] Colwell, R., 2020. Women Scientists Have the Evidence About Sexism. [online] The Atlantic Condor, S., 1991. Sexism in Psychological Research: A Brief Note. Feminism & Psychology, 1(3), pp.430-434. England, C., 2016. One in five men have erectile dysfunction. 90% of women experience PMS. Guess which one researchers study more?. Espach, A., 2017. What It Really Means When You Call a Woman “Hysterical”. [online] Vogue. Ferro, S., 2013. Science Is Institutionally Sexist. Here Are 4 Ways To Help Fix It. [online] Popular Science. Plato.stanford.edu. 2020. Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). [online] Rosser, S., 2005. Through the Lenses of Feminist Theory: Focus on Women and Information Technology. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 26(1), pp.1-23. Samuel, S., 2019. Women suffer needless pain because almost everything is designed for men. [online] Vox. Slawson, N., 2019. 'Women have been woefully neglected': does medical science have a gender problem?. [online] the Guardian. Previous article back to DISORDER Next article

< Back to Issue 8 Cracking the Code: A Word from the Editors-in-Chief by Ingrid Sefton & Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin 3 June 2025 Edited by Illustrated by May Du “Cogito, ergo sum.” I think, therefore I am . - René Descartes Is this, perhaps, the only fundamental truth? When we know with certainty that we are thinking, we recognise the ultimate proof of our existence. An absolute, some might say, in a world inherently characterised by doubt. Intuition has, and always will be, a powerful and compelling force driving our scientific exploration. That gut feeling of why or how or what is behind any given phenomena has been a catalyst for the innovation seen throughout millenia of scientific inquiry. Despite this, mere intuition is far from a reliable guide to making meaning of the world around us. Take the highly revered and long held notion of the “Spark of Life” – the supposition that a divine ‘spark’ was required for life and consciousness to be imbued in a human. While fascinating, fundamental scientific discoveries have since disproved such a mystical perception of life in exchange for far more logical, if perhaps less magical, biological explanations. Jumping to the present, and the collective effort of human minds have conceptualised and uncovered mechanistic explanations for so much of both human biology and the broader workings of our physical world. Where much life itself was once seen as an irreducible mystery, now come mapped abstractions of atoms to matter, cell division to DNA. The list forever goes on. But to return to our initial proposition – can we know anything with no whisper of a doubt, other than that we, in this moment, exist? What exists in the world around us? Much remains a mystery. How does this mystery propel us forward? What conclusions can we draw from the clues? How can we make sense of the corkboard, evidence bound by push pins and string? It’s no surprise that the enigmas of science draw the brightest, most inquisitive minds, eager to puzzle nature’s secrets and crack the codes of our existence. Thus , Enigma unravels how we yearn to explore, learn and piece together the scientific foundations of our world – even as we accept that we may never fully understand it. From the minute synaptic connections within our bodies, to the all encompassing wonder of the stars above, we are gripped by the need to know more. After all, human curiosity is only insatiable. So have on your tweed deerstalker, take a closer look through the magnifying glass, and follow the clues, if you dare. Charting the facets of our existence is life’s great challenge, and the game is indeed afoot! Previous article Next article Enigma back to

< Back to Issue 5 Three-Parent Babies? The Future of Mitochondrial Donation in Australia Kara Miwa-Dale 24 October 2023 Edited by Yasmin Potts Illustrated by Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin Mitochondria are the ‘powerhouse of the cell’. Sound familiar? This fact was likely drilled into you during high school biology classes (or by looking at memes). Beyond this, you may not have given mitochondria a second thought - but you should! This organelle has been at the centre of some heated parliamentary debates relating to mitochondrial donation. This new IVF technology, which aims to prevent women from passing on mitochondrial disease, will reshape Australia’s approach to genetic and reproductive technologies. Mitochondrial donation was legalised in Australia last year when ‘Maeve’s Law’ was passed in the Senate. This law reform has generated a minefield of social and ethical questions that are yet to be fully answered. What is mitochondrial disease? Mitochondria are the small but mighty structures found in all our cells (except red blood cells) that produce more than 90% of the energy used by our bodies (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). This organelle is vital for the functioning of important organs such as the heart, brain and liver (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). Mitochondria also have their own DNA, with a relatively small genome size of 37 genes (Garcia et al., 2017), compared to the 20,000 genes in our nuclear DNA (Nurk et al., 2022). Mitochondrial disease refers to a group of disorders in which ‘faulty’ mitochondria results in a range of symptoms such as poor motor control, developmental delay, seizures and cardiac disease (Mito Foundation, 2023). Half of the cases of mitochondrial disease are caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA. These mutations are transmitted through maternal inheritance, which means that all the mitochondria in your cells are passed on from your biological mother (Mito Foundation, 2023). It is believed that about 1 in 200 people have a mutation in their mitochondrial DNA, with 1 in 5000 people having some form of mitochondrial disease (Mito Foundation, 2023). There is currently no cure for this group of conditions. How does mitochondrial donation work? Mitochondrial donation, also known as Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT), is an IVF technology which aims to prevent women from passing on mitochondrial disease to their children. For individuals with mitochondrial disease, this technology is currently the only way to have biological children without the risk of passing on their disease. MRT is used to create an embryo containing the nuclear DNA from two parents, in addition to mitochondrial DNA from an egg donor. This process involves taking the nuclear DNA from an embryo (created using the mother’s egg and father’s sperm) and inserting it into a donor egg which contains healthy mitochondria (NHMRC, 2023). The child will still inherit all of their unique characteristics, such as hair colour, through the nuclear DNA of their prospective parents. Therefore, it would be impossible to tell that an individual had been conceived through MRT simply by looking at them. Challenges in defining parenthood. Children conceived through MRT have been popularly referred to in the media as ‘three-parent babies’ since the technique creates an embryo containing DNA from three different individuals. However, this label is inaccurate and misleading. It suggests that all three parents make an equal contribution to the identity of the child, when in fact mitochondrial donors contribute only 0.1% of the child’s total genetic material. So, technically the term ‘2.002-parent babies’ would be more accurate! Under Australian law, mitochondrial donors will not have legal status as parents since their genetic contribution is not thought to influence the unique characteristics of the child. However, there are some concerns about the potential psychological impacts on children conceived through MRT, as the definition of parenthood is becoming increasingly blurry. It is possible that children conceived through mitochondrial donation will regard their mitochondrial donor as significant to their identity, considering how different their life may have looked without them. As researchers learn more about the function of mitochondria, we may indeed find that mitochondrial DNA has a greater influence on a person’s characteristics than we once thought. More recent studies have linked mitochondrial DNA to athletic performance (Maruszak et al., 2014), psychiatric disorders (Sequeira et al., 2012), and ageing (Wallace, 2010). Should mitochondrial donors remain anonymous? If mitochondrial donors contribute such a tiny amount of DNA to a child, and do not influence any of their personal characteristics, should they be obligated to disclose their identity to the recipient? Australia no longer allows egg or sperm donors to remain anonymous in order to protect the rights of individuals to know their biological origins. Yet, in the case of mitochondrial donation, there is a much smaller proportion of DNA involved. Some experts have compared mitochondrial donation to organ donation, in the sense that the donation also provides someone with the organ (or organelle) that enables them to live a healthy life, without altering their unique characteristics. It has therefore been argued that mitochondrial donation should be treated in a similar way to organ donation, allowing donors to remain anonymous. Considering that donated eggs are often in low supply, permitting anonymous donors may provide a way of improving the availability of donor eggs. It is likely that Australia will follow the lead of the UK by permitting anonymous donation. Are we ‘playing God’ by altering the genome? By making heritable changes to an individual’s genome, we are heading into new and potentially dangerous territory. Opponents of mitochondrial donation have voiced fears about the ‘slippery slope’ between trying to eradicate mitochondrial disease and taking this technology too far into the realm of ‘designer babies’. Considering that mitochondrial donation does not involve making any changes to nuclear DNA, and can only be used for medical reasons, these statements seem a bit sensationalist. However, there are some genuine reasons to be concerned about the safety of this technology and its implications for the future of humankind. While MRT is generally considered to be safe based on clinical research, there are still some uncertainties about its efficacy in clinical practice. For example, clinical research has found that there is a chance of ‘carry-over’ of unhealthy mitochondria during the MRT process (Klopstock, Klopstock & Prokisch, 2016). If this carry-over occurs, there is a potential for the numbers of unhealthy mitochondria to gradually increase as the embryo develops, essentially undoing all the hard work of creating an embryo free from mitochondrial disease. However, the percentage of carry-over is usually less than 2% and is likely to become lower as the technology advances (Klopstock, Klopstock & Prokisch, 2016). Unfortunately, we won’t know about any negative long-term impacts of MRT until we are able to observe the development of children conceived through this technology. However, adults over the age of 18 cannot be forced to participate in a study, which makes it more challenging to track long-term outcomes. An important consideration is the privacy and autonomy of these individuals - that they are not over-medicalised or viewed as some sort of ‘spectacle’ to the public. The future of mitochondrial donation in Australia. ‘Maeve’s Law’ was named in honour of Maeve Hood, a cheerful 7-year-old who was diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial disease at 18 months old. The law was passed with the aim of preventing the transmission of mitochondrial disease in Australia, which affects around fifty families each year. This revolutionary law permits the creation of a human embryo containing genetic material from three people and allows heritable changes to be made to the genome (although under strict guidelines). Such practices were previously illegal in Australia due to understandable concern that these technologies could be destructive in the wrong hands. Maeve’s Law introduces an exception to these prohibitions solely for the purpose of preventing serious mitochondrial disease. While MRT is no longer illegal in Australia, Maeve’s Law does not authorise the immediate use of MRT in clinical practice. The law outlines a two-stage approach in which the technology will be implemented, provided that clinical trials are successful. This initiative will be conducted by Monash University through the mitoHOPE (Healthy Outcomes Pilot and Evaluation) program, for which they received $15 million in funding (Monash University, 2023). Stage 1, which is expected to last around ten years, will involve clinical research aimed at improving MRT techniques and validating its safety. After an initial review, mitochondrial donation may become available in a clinical practice setting in Stage 2. Mitochondrial donation is an exciting technology which provides hope to the many Australians touched by the devastating effects of mitochondrial disease. However, it is important that more research is conducted into its safety and efficacy, as well as the long-term implications of its use. As is often the case with groundbreaking technologies such as this, the laws and policies lag behind the science. The passing of Maeve’s Law is only the start of what will be a long journey to the successful implementation of mitochondrial donation in Australia. The next ten years will be crucial in setting a precedent for how our society approaches the use of other novel genetic technologies in healthcare. The question is no longer ‘should we use mitochondrial donation?’ but ‘how can we implement this technology in a safe and ethical way?’ References Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Mitochondrial Diseases . https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15612-mitochondrial-diseases Garcia, I., Jones, E., Ramos, M., Innis-Whitehouse, W., & Gilkerson, R. (2017). The little big genome: The organization of mitochondrial DNA . Frontiers in Bioscience (Landmark Edition), 22, 710. Klopstock, T., Klopstock, B., & Prokisch, H. (2016). Mitochondrial replacement approaches: Challenges for clinical implementation . Genome Medicine, 8(1), 1-3. Maruszak, A., Adamczyk, J. G., Siewierski, M., Sozański, H., Gajewski, A., & Żekanowski, C. (2014). Mitochondrial DNA variation is associated with elite athletic status in the Polish population. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(2), 311-318. Mito Foundation. (2023). Maybe Mito Patient Factsheet. https://www.mito.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Maybe-Mito-Patient-Factsheet1.pdf Mito Foundation. (2023). Mitochondrial Disease: The Need For Mitochondrial Donation . https://www.mito.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Brief-mitochondrial-donation-2.pdf Monash University. (2023). Introducing Mitochondrial Donation into Australia. The mitoHOPE Program. https://www.monash.edu/medicine/mitohope National Health and Medical Research Council. (2023). Mitochondrial Donation. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/mitochondrial-donation Nurk, S., Koren, S., Rhie, A., Rautiainen, M., Bzikadze, A. V., Mikheenko, A., & Phillippy, A. M. (2022). The complete sequence of a human genome . Science, 376(6588), 44-53. Sequeira, A., Martin, M. V., Rollins, B., Moon, E. A., Bunney, W. E., Macciardi, F., & Vawter, M. P. (2012). Mitochondrial mutations and polymorphisms in psychiatric disorders. Frontiers in Genetics, 3, 103. Wallace, D. C. (2010). Mitochondrial DNA mutations in disease and aging. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 51(5), 440-450. Wicked back to

< Back to Issue 4 Interviewing Dr Karen Freilich by Rachel Ko 1 July 2023 Edited by Caitlin Kane Illustrated by Pia Barraza Science in the real world is never straight-forward. The realm of medicine and health is particularly intricate, riddled with myths and marvels. This makes the healthcare journey a difficult one to navigate, both for the patient, and for the provider. It is undeniably a field where an ever-evolving myriad of factors makes the bedside experience vastly different to the textbooks. In my first year studying medicine, I am constantly realising that a strong understanding of the fundamentals is often a saving grace, while learning to dispel the mirage of medicine as a simple science. Enter Humerus Hacks , a podcast recommended to me in the first week of medical school by peers who had walked the treacherous road before. A guiding light in the murky waters of medical education, Karen and Sarah’s playful banter lays out high-yield medical content with catchy mnemonics and gracious advice. In this interview, we had the special opportunity to talk to Dr Karen Freilich, one of the hosts of Humerus Hacks , about her journey in medicine so far as a young GP, and the story of how she created a podcast that masters the art of science communication in a perfect marriage of education and entertainment. Tell us about your journey with science, and your career so far. I’ve just completed my GP Fellowship training after about 12 years of study. It’s a relief to be done —medicine is a long slog! I’ve had a brilliant time and been fortunate to take part in exciting studies. I took some time off clinical medicine to complete a Masters of Reproductive and Sexual Health Research in London (LSHTM) as well as completing a Diploma of Obstetrics (DRANZCOG). I currently teach at the University of Melbourne’s Medical School as a tutor in Sexual Health, and write and train high school sexual health educators through Elephant Ed. I work as a GP most days of the week, in a clinic with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and I’m a proud medical abortion and contraception provider. I’m also fortunate to work at Monash in the Sexual Medicine and Therapy Clinic, and work together with the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM). It’s a tricky balance wearing a number of hats, but I love the diversity. Unsurprisingly everything I do is focused in sexual and reproductive health through clinical work, education, advising and science communication. My career is certainly tailor-made to my interests and passion, and took quite some time to get to this point! I love being able to educate on both a one-on-one and broader level on sexual and reproductive health care, particularly through a reproductive justice lens. What was the inspiration behind Humerus Hacks ? In the early years of medical school, my mate Sarah and I used to spend hours and hours trying to memorise different antibiotics and the differences between them. It felt incomprehensible to have to learn not only a new science, but an entirely new language behind it. It felt like a Duolingo course! So in order to scrape through exams, we made silly little stories to try and remember the differences between gentamicin, amoxicillin etc.. Fast forward a few years and Sarah and I ended up running a weekly study group for the year below us, filled with our mnemonics and silly stories. We developed a bit of a cult following (if I say so myself!). It seemed there was a real appetite for otherwise tedious and dry medical education made fun and entertaining. In final year, we both ended up on placements requiring huge drives. We turned to podcasts for ‘edutainment’ — and found there simply were none. So we did what everyone in 2016 was doing, bought a microphone and recorded our own. We were a bit mortified at the start and convinced we wouldn’t get internships if our future employers heard us swearing and being inappropriate online, so we hid our faces and were anonymous with our names. Fortunately it turned out we had nothing to be nervous about, and Humerus Hacks was a hit. Sarah is a musical genius and recorded the intro song with her band. It’s now been over 50 episodes and over 150,000 downloads. We’re often in the iTunes Medical Podcasts Top 10! The inspiration has and always will be pure study laziness — trying to make studying more interesting, fun and accessible and ultimately, more memorable. What is the process of developing and recording an episode? Me, Sarah, or another co-host or friend (Callum, Bridget, Robbie and Dan to name a few!) sitting on a couch with a microphone and chinwagging about a topic. If we’re lucky, maybe some prep. I’d love to suggest it’s more fancy than that! I have brilliant colleagues who play an integral role. Alex edits our episodes and does a brilliant job. And Bella creates fantastic art for the episodes. Sometimes I play around on Canva too for some social media. Shout out as well to our friends who helped with some graphic design and audio. It’s definitely a team effort, and so many people to thank for their ongoing contributions and support. What is your relationship with your audience like? Our audience sends us messages and emails all the time — even if we haven’t made an episode in months! It’s a joy to receive any messages and warms our hearts every time. We get the most delightful and lovely messages. We also get a lot of requests which I wish we could keep up with more, the irony of doing our own exams over the past few years! We try to respond to all messages and keep up with requests. Knowing that our silly little mnemonics has helped anyone with exams is a huge joy. How has science communication evolved since you began? Mnemonics have been a huge part of medicine for a very long time. In fact, I have my uncle’s Medical Mnemonic book from 1958! Some of them have aged terribly, unsurprisingly, but many we still use to this day. So, we are far from inventing the wheel. In saying that, the boom of social media and podcasts over the past few years has lent itself to subspecialised Instagram pages, YouTube channels and more podcasts than I could have ever imagined. Making medical education (and science communication) fun has become much more mainstream and accepted as a genuine study tool. Who knew, making dry education entertaining actually works…! What has been the biggest challenge in your science communication journey? Hands down, time. I run Humerus Hacks with a group of excellent friends and colleagues, but we all happen to be medical students or doctors. Unsurprisingly, it means we are all always bogged down with shift work, exams, and burn out. Humerus Hacks is a labour of love. So we make an effort if and when we can, without any time pressure. I wish we had more time! What role would you say science communication plays in your daily practice? I’m a GP with a special interest in sexual medicine as well as a sexual health tutor for medical students. I also write and train individuals to run high school sexual health education. I’ve also been fortunate to be a guest host on ABC Breakfast Radio under ‘Doctor Breakfast’ providing science communication for a number of medical topics. So, it plays a huge role in my daily practice! I particularly enjoy the interplay of small scale science communication through one-on-one patient interactions compared with larger scale communication through radio, teaching and podcasts. They balance each other really well, and I enjoy the individualised, tailored approach whilst simultaneously thinking of the broader public health messaging. What role would you say science communication plays in society generally? There is so much misinformation floating around. As a huge fan of social media and TikTok myself, I can see how these avenues can be both a wonderful source of information but simultaneously promote unnuanced, oversimplified and often blatantly incorrect health messaging. Social media (including podcasts) provides a really accessible, often free avenue for science information that is otherwise inaccessible. However, we have a responsibility to ensure the information is correct, up to date, and safe. Social media loves a quick snap messaging, but science is almost always more nuanced and complex. A 30 second TikTok often unsurprisingly misses the mark! So, accurate and accessible science communication is the key — the hard thing is making it fun and interesting. What are your immediate goals in science communication this year, and what do you hope to achieve in science communication in the long-term? Great question! I am thoroughly enjoying my career balance at the moment. It’s a great mix of GP clinic, sexual medicine and therapy clinical work, sexual health teaching, and radio/podcasting. I’d love to make more Humerus Hacks episodes now that I’ve finished my own training and have (hopefully) both more knowledge and time! I’ve put together a SPHERE Sexual and Reproductive Health podcast focusing on upskilling clinicians to provide medical abortion and contraception in primary care. I am also loving radio work and would love to keep going with this. I may or may not delve into the TikTok world… watch this space! Long term, hopefully ongoing science communication in the field of sexual and reproductive healthcare. What advice would you give to students exploring the world of science communication? Social media is a game changer that had only just begun when I was a student. TikTok, Instagram etc all provide a free and accessibly way to both gain knowledge and skills, and to educate others. Science students in all disciplines have such incredibly knowledge and insight, and if you’re interested, there’s a willing and enthusiastic audience out there. The phrase ‘see one, do one, teach one’ forever rings true. Teaching and providing science communication helps your own education, and has always been my favourite learning tool. Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, being a student is long, tedious, and exhausting. Enjoy the process and look after yourself and your colleagues as a priority! ------------------- It is undeniable that Humerus Hacks is a project succeeding on its steadfast mission to uncover the mirage of medicine. Through a blend of education and entertainment, it reveals the intricate realities of science in health, as a complex and ever-changing landscape that demands a strong foundation of knowledge and willingness to adapt. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Dr Karen Frielich, for not only agreeing to talk to us, but also for all of her work to demystify the healthcare journey, both for the professional, and for the patient. You can check out 'Humerus Hacks' on Spotify , on Apple Music , or online! Previous article Next article back to MIRAGE

Where The Wild Things Were By Ashleigh Hallinan We may consider ourselves to be the most advanced species on the planet, but this has come at the cost of the natural world. Delve into this article to gain insight into how ecosystem restoration plays a role in nature-based solutions for biodiversity loss and climate change mitigation globally. Edited by Niesha Baker & Caitlin Kane Issue 1: September 24, 2021 Illustration by Jess Nguyen The scale of threats posed to humanity and the natural world is confronting and difficult to grasp. The natural world is being pushed towards its brink, but it’s not too late to act. Ecosystem restoration plays an important role in nature-based solutions for biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and climate change. Global discourse and action also need to continue moving towards greater acknowledgement of Traditional Owners and local communities in biodiversity conservation efforts and climate change resilience. Ecosystem degradation is an accelerating calamity of our own making. A recent study from Frontier Forest and Global Change shows that humans have altered 97 per cent of the Earth's land, meaning a mere 3 per cent of land remains untouched, or ‘ecologically intact’ (1). ‘Ecosystem degradation’ refers to the loss of natural productivity from environments as a result of human activity. Many of the world’s ecosystems have been pushed beyond the point of unassisted self-recovery due to a mix of stressors, most of which are human-induced. Ecosystems are made up of interacting organisms and the physical environment in which they are found, so disturbing the balance of an ecosystem can be disastrous for all the living things relying on it, including humans. If trends of ecosystem degradation continue, 95 per cent of the Earth’s land could become degraded by 2050 (2). In this scenario, we would face irreversible damage. But how does this affect you and me? Beyond the role ecosystem degradation plays in accelerating climate change and the loss of countless species from our planet, its impact on ecosystem services is also of great significance. Ecosystem services are the benefits humans derive from the natural environment. These range from the oxygen we breathe to aesthetic appreciation of the natural environments around us. These services are necessary for life to exist on Earth, and without them, our quality of life would decline drastically. Luckily for us, humans are capable of learning from their mistakes, and efforts are being made to address these global concerns. Ecosystem restoration is the process of reversing ecosystem degradation to regain environmental health and sustainability. This often involves re-introducing plant and animal populations that may have been lost, as well as restoring their habitats. Abandoned farmland is one example of where this can be achieved. Farmlands are one of the most vital ecosystems in sustaining humankind. Not only do they provide us with food, but they are also home to a variety of organisms within and above the soil. Many of these organisms play a critical role in soil health, which is essential for agriculture. Agriculture has transformed human societies and fuelled a global population that has grown from one billion to almost eight billion people since around 1804 (3). This has had significant consequences on natural systems worldwide, particularly as farmland has continuously expanded into surrounding landscapes. Agroecosystems now cover around 40 per cent of Earth's terrestrial surface (4). However, despite a growing demand for food due to the world’s rapidly increasing population, the amount of farmland being abandoned outweighs the amount of land being converted to farmland (5). There are an estimated 950 million to 1.1 billion acres of deserted farmland globally (6). This unproductive farmland could be converted to meet conservation goals and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For example, farmland could be regenerated with carbon-capturing forests. These would contribute to sequestering large amounts of anthropogenic CO2, water retention, soil fertility, and providing habitats for a variety of organisms. Abandoned farmland could also be re-established with native vegetation to provide habitats for animals. This was the case at the Monjebup Nature Reserves, located in south-west Western Australia (WA) on Noongar Country, established by Bush Heritage Australia between 2007 and 2014 (7). Despite being a biodiversity hotspot, animals and plants in the Monjebup Nature Reserves have faced many threats. These were mainly in the form of introduced species and land clearing for agriculture. Decades of land clearing resulted in a transition from deep-rooted woody vegetation systems to shallow-rooted annual cropping systems across the south-western Australian landscape. This caused a decrease in natural habitats and accumulation of salt in soil and water, which contributed significantly to biodiversity loss. In 2007, Bush Heritage Australia secured the Monjebup Nature Reserves in a bid to establish important conservation areas. Since then, they have restored nearly 1,000 acres of cleared land in the north of the Reserve (8). An important contributor to the success of this project was Indigenous knowledge, which reflects a long history of close connection with the land. These unique human-land relationships provide opportunities for learning in environmental research, particularly regarding land management and sustainability. The Monjebup Nature Reserves now protect a significant patch of native bushland on the land of the Noongar-Minang and Koreng people. This has been critical in restoring the heavily cleared landscape between WA's Stirling Ranges and Fitzgerald River National Parks, reconnecting remnant bush in the south with that of the Corackerup Nature Reserve further north. It has also provided habitat for vulnerable animal species such as the Malleefowl, Western Whipbird, Carnaby's Cockatoo, and Tammar Wallaby. Local knowledge plays a critical role in re-introducing plants and animals by identifying species suitable to particular environments. In the Monjebup Nature Reserves, re-introduction of native plants involved research on local plant communities and soil conditions in immediately surrounding areas. This research also involved communication with Traditional Owners who had used the area for gathering raw materials, food processing, hunting, stone tool manufacturing, and seasonal movement over millennia (9). Seeds of suitable flora were then collected in and around the site for the restoration works. It is crucial that consultation with Traditional Owners, like that seen in the Monjebup Nature Reserves project, becomes a more common practice. An estimated 37 per cent of all remaining natural lands are under Indigenous management (10). These lands protect 80 per cent of global biodiversity and the majority of intact forests, highlighting the value of Indigenous knowledge (11). We have left ourselves a challenging yet attainable goal. Raising public awareness on the importance of ecosystems and improving our knowledge on the interconnectedness of the natural world will be key to decreasing our impacts on Earth's incredible ecosystems. In March 2019, the United Nations General Assembly announced 2021 to 2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (12). El Salvador’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Lina Pohl, proposed the creation of the Decade in a speech to the General Assembly. More than 70 countries from all latitudes quickly jumped on board, committing to safeguarding and restoring ecosystems globally (13). 2030 also happens to be the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, which are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to address the global challenges we face, and provide a ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’ (14). 2030 is also the year scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change (15). As part of the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the United Nations has called for countries to make the pledge to restore at least 2.5 billion acres of degraded land - an area larger than China (16). This will require international cooperation, led by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Humans have an essential role in halting and reversing the damage that has been caused so far. Ecosystem restoration is not a quick or easy process. It requires deep, systematic changes to the economic, political, and social systems we currently have in place. But the natural world is finite, and it is important we continue taking steps towards a more sustainable future. References: 1. Plumptre, Andrew J., Daniele Baisero, R. Travis Belote, Ella Vázquez-Domínguez, Soren Faurby, Włodzimierz Jȩdrzejewski, Henry Kiara, Hjalmar Kühl, Ana Benítez-López, Carlos Luna-Aranguré, Maria Voigt, Serge Wich, William Wint, Juan Gallego-Zamorano, Charlotte Boyd . “Where Might We Find Ecologically Intact Communities?” Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 4 (15 April 2021): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.626635. 2, 4. Scholes, Robert, L Montanarella, Anastasia Brainich, Nichole Barger. “The Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration: Summary for Policymakers”. Bonn, Germany: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2018. https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2018_ldr_full_report_book_v4_pages.pdf 3. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,“FAOSTAT”, Accessed 8 September 2021, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home . 5, 6. Yang, Yi, Sarah E. Hobbie, Rebecca R. Hernandez, Joseph Fargione, Steven M. Grodsky, David Tilman, Yong-Guan Zhu, Yu Luo, Timothy M. Smith, Jacob M. Jungers, Ming Yang, Wei-Qiang Chen. “Restoring Abandoned Farmland to Mitigate Climate Change on a Full Earth”. One Earth 3, no. 2 (August 2020): 176–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.07.019. 7, 8, 9. Bush Heritage Australia,“Monjebup Nature Reserves (WA),” Accessed 8 September 2021, https://www.bushheritage.org.au/places-we-protect/western-australia/monjebup . 10. Garnett, Stephen T., Neil D. Burgess, Julia E. Fa, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Zsolt Molnár, Cathy J. Robinson, James E. M. Watson, Kerstin K.Zander, Beau Austin, Eduardo S. Brondizio, Neil French Collier, Tom Duncan, Erle Ellis, Hayley Geyle, Micha V. Jackson, Harry Jonas, Pernilla Malmer, Ben McGowan, Amphone Sivongxay, Ian Leiper. “A Spatial Overview of the Global Importance of Indigenous Lands for Conservation‘. Nature Sustainability 1, no. 7 (July 2018): 369–74. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6 . 11. Ogar, Edwin, Gretta Pecl, and Tero Mustonen. ‘Science Must Embrace Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge to Solve Our Biodiversity Crisis’. One Earth 3, no. 2 (August 2020): 162–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.07.006. 12, 13, 14, 15. United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “About the UN Decade,” Accessed 8 September 2021, http://www.decadeonrestoration.org/about-un-decade . 16. United Nations Environment Management Group, “The UN Sustainable Development Goals – UN Environment Management Group”, Accessed 8 September 2021, https://unemg.org/our-work/supporting-the-sdgs/the-un-sustainable-development-goals/ .