Science - OU Community Online

Using a novel combination of tissue engineering techniques, they have discovered how to grow artificial nerve tissue in the laboratory from natural proteins.

The team uses a three-dimensional collagen gel to control the natural behaviour of key nerve cells, called Schwann cells, causing them to recreate key features of normal nerve cells.

These pieces of engineered neural tissue (EngNT) contain no synthetic materials, so that the new tissue can integrate effectively with the damaged area of the body.

The use of EngNT could reduce the need for nerve grafts, a technique currently used which involves taking nerve material from a healthy part of the body and so causing damage to this area.

A report of their research, Engineered neural tissue for peripheral nerve repair, is published in Biomaterials journal online.

For fuller story see OU press release.

Dr Diane Johnson from the Department of Physical Sciences at OU and her team have found conclusive evidence that a five thousand years old Egyptian bead was made from a meteorite, settling a long scientific argument and shedding new light on the origins of the religion in the land of Pharaohs.

One of the oldest known Egyptian iron artefacts, a small tube-shaped bead, has been the subject of a long scientific debate. Found in 1911 in a cemetery at Gerzeh, around 70 kilometres south of Cairo, and dating from 3350 to 3600 BC, three thousand years before Egypt’s Iron Age, the bead was first assumed to be from a meteorite, following a study of its nickel content. But this hypothesis was challenged in the 1980s when academics proposed that much of the early worldwide examples of iron objects, thought to have originated in space, were actually early smelting attempts. The challenge turned out to be wrong in the case of the bead. The trinket did come from the sky.

The conclusive proof was found by Dr Diane Johnson and her collaborators from the University of Manchester, who used scanning electron microscopy and computed tomography to establish the metal composition of the bead. The researchers were not allowed to cut the artefact open, but they found areas where some surface material had fallen away.

The tiny openings, or 'windows', as described by Dr Johnson, allowed precise measurements to be taken and the nickel content to be established at a significantly high level of 30 percent, suggesting that the object originated from a meteorite. The conclusions were confirmed by additional observations of a distinctive crystalline structure, which is found only in iron meteorites.

The research was covered by the journal Nature which noted the significance of the findings to our understanding of the development of the religion in ancient Egypt.  Meteorite iron had profound implications for the early Egyptians, both in their perception of the iron in the context of its celestial origin and in early metallurgy attempts.
 

The results of the study can be found in the paper, ‘Analysis of a Prehistoric Egyptian Iron Bead with Implications for the use and perception of meteorite iron in ancient Egypt’ published in the Meteoritics and Planetary Science journal.

Posted 30 May 2013
 

Richard Feynman helped design the atomic bomb, solved the mystery of the Challenger Shuttle catastrophe and won a Nobel Prize. Now, 25 years after his death – in his own words and those of his friends and family – this programme depicts the story of one of the most captivating communicators in the history of science.

Directly before this programme (8pm on BBC2) there is also another chance to catch The Challenger, the absorbing factual drama that tells the story of Richard Feynman’s search for the truth in the wake of the NASA Challenger disaster.

Discover more:

• You can find out more about Feynman and how he was right at the heart of revolutionising physics with a specially written article on OpenLearn.
• Test your reactions to the kind of ethical, moral and political dilemmas that the Challenger disaster exposes with our online quiz. What would you do? Could you lead an ethical investigation?
• Carry out professionally and academically rigorous research with this MSc in Technology Management – ideal if you need to address technology management problems in your own organisation

Posted on 8 May 2013
 

The research is investigating whether the brains of people with OCD function differently to those without OCD.

Preliminary findings suggest some systematic and interesting differences between brain activity in people with OCD, and non-OCD controls, even in a relaxed state. However, to obtain a more detailed picture researchers need to find more participants with OCD.

They are looking for people between 18 and 60 years of age, who have been diagnosed with OCD and have no learning disabilities.

If you decide to participate, they will need four hours of your time. The timing of these sessions can be flexible and scheduled according to your convenience.

During this time, your brain activity will be recorded using a safe, non-invasive and painless technique known as Quantitative Electroencephalography, or QEEG. You will also be interviewed and asked to fill in a questionnaire.

The study generally takes place at the OU in Milton Keynes or in Camden in London. Travel costs will be reimbursed. In some cases researchers will be able to come to your town or a town near you to perform the scans and interviews.

By participating in this study, you will be contributing to scientific advancements in OCD research. Additionally, you will gain interesting insights about how your brain may have been affected by OCD.

You can get more information from the QEEG and Brain Research Lab project page. If you wish to take part, or have any enquiries, please contact Loes Koorenhof by calling  01908 659 472, or email loes.koorenhof@open.ac.uk

Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS in a Day is an epic eight-part observational documentary starting Tuesday 26 March at 9pm on BBC2.

It tells the stories of a single 24-hour period in the NHS from a multitude of perspectives, following a diverse range of staff, and patients. 

The OU team working on the series say it is of particular interest to Health and Social Care students, as it takes a broad view of health care delivery that moves beyond the ‘typical’ doctor-led focus in acute care to explore the relationships between service users and providers.

OU academic advising on the series are Dr Carol Komaromy and Dr Jonathan Leach. 

Explore further
Check out the OpenLearn series page online interactive feature  telling the story of the changing nature of health care from before the birth of the NHS to the present day.

There is a booklet associated with the series, Working to Save Lives, which gives a personal view of day-to-day life as an NHS healthcare professional. For a free copy, call 0845 271 0015 or go to the OpenLearn page.

More information

• Health and social care courses and qualifications at the OU

Posted 25 March 2013 

Catch up with Joe's progress in his interview in the Mirror.

Photo courtesy of The Mirror

When Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight on the morning of 28 January 1986, it represented one of the most shocking events in the history of American spaceflight. A Presidential Commission was immediately convened to explore what had gone wrong, but with the vast complexity of the space shuttle and so many vested interests involved in the investigation, discovering the truth was an almost impossible challenge.

The drama, which stars William Hurt in the lead role, focuses on the Feynman’s involvement with the commission as it explores what went wrong – and it is the failure of management processes and communication that Feynman uncovers that is of particular interest to the MCT faculty. In support of this co-production, Ivan Horrocks has developed an interactive quiz that allows you to test your reactions to a number of difficult scenarios in the world of technology management.

What would you do? Could you lead an ethical investigation? Test your reactions to the kind of ethical, moral and political dilemmas that the Challenger disaster exposes with our online quiz.

More information on the programme (Please note: this URL may not be live until the day of transmission, and may only contain minimum content and resources if viewed prior to broadcast.)

Researchers at The Open University have developed a new way of understanding what happens when atoms cool, which could lead to new materials for superconducting power grids and magnetic resonance imaging.

Superconductors are materials with no electrical resistance, which means they can transmit electrical current with no energy loss. But they require very low temperatures to work.

In their paper, Bilayers of Rydberg atoms as a quantum simulator for unconventional superconductors, published in Physical Review Letters, Dr Jim Hague and Dr Calum McCormick in The Open University’s Department of Physical Sciences describe a new method to understand the cooling of atoms, by simulating the behaviour of a superconductor using a "quantum simulator", a kind of bespoke quantum computer for examining specific problems.

The researchers found that such a simulator can be built to examine atoms cooled to just a millionth of a degree above absolute zero. The atoms are controlled using laser beams which enhance the electrical forces between the atoms, which are usually weak and unimportant.

These forces mimic the physics of the superconductor, and the proposed simulator includes far more physical detail than ever before.

“By studying the atoms in the quantum simulator, we expect that it will be possible to make major progress in unravelling the underlying theory of these fascinating materials, said Dr Hague.

"A superconductor operating close to room temperature would offer potentially revolutionary technology.”

Read the research on Open University Online