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Shining light on the environment

照亮环境

基本信息

批准号：
ST/J000574/2
负责人：
Mark Hodson
金额：
$ 7.35万
依托单位：
University of York
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FJ000574%2F2
关键词：
Shining light environment

项目摘要

How can earthworms survive in metal-contaminated soil? How has ocean chemistry changed over the lifetime of the planet? Can we boost the nutritional value of food? How can we reduce the risks of arsenic in drinking water? How do radioactive pollutants behave in the environment? Scientists are using the biggest and most expensive scientific machine in the UK to help answer these and many other vitally important environmentally relevant questions.The machine is called Diamond and is the UKs national synchrotron facility. It is funded by the Wellcome trust and the UK government through the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Synchrotrons consist of particle accelerators (like a mini version of the Hadron collider in Switzerland) which fire electrons around a circle close to the speed of light. Every now and then the electrons are "tweaked" on their path and intense light is given off which is used by scientists to look at samples of soils, rocks, water and biological material at incredibly high levels of detail. Using this intense light we can look at how molecules and atoms are arranged and using this information we can help answer some of the questions posed above.Professor Mark Hodson from the University of Reading first used synchrotrons during his PhD research in 1992 when he was working out how magma chambers solidify under volcanoes. Since then he has moved down temperature to work on problems relating to contaminated land and earthworm biology but still uses synchrotrons. There aren't many synchrotrons around in the world and because they are so expensive to build and run it is important to use them 24 hours a day. Also, despite the high level of technology involved in synchrotrons there are many "low-fi" fixes that become necessary such as holding samples in front of a beam of intense X-rays with sticky tape or blue tac. For this reason Mark, like most synchrotron users, has as many memories and experiences of trying to find a vending machine that still has chocolate in it at 3 a.m. in the morning after being up for 48 hours as he has about the scientific breakthroughs that have occurred!Over the course of this fellowship Mark will be involved in a variety of activities. You might come across him talking at a science festival or science discussion meeting near you. Alternatively you might come across him talking to your class at school or, if you are lucky, your school might visit him at Diamond to actually see the machine he is talking about. As well as explaining how synchrotrons work he will be discussing how scientists are using synchrotrons to answer a wealth of questions relevant to climate change and the health of people and the planet. Both in his talks and also on his blog you'll also be able to hear about what it is like to be a user of synchrotrons, from the starting point of any scientific enquiry - making an observation or asking a question - to carrying out experiments, applying for beamtime at a synchrotron and then staying up for 3 days 24 7 to run samples and get some crucial answers to boost your understanding of the system that you're investigating. On the web site you'll also find a host of resources linking in to the use of synchrotrons in environmental science.You may already have read about Mark's research in the newspapers (try googling "Metal munching earthworms!), have heard him on Radio 4 or seen him in documentaries about earthworm evolution and crop circles (and no, there's nothing in the soil that suggests crop circles are made by extra-terrestrials!) but over the course of the fellowship you should be able to hear more about his, and others, research, as he spends more time with the media, letting them know about the amazing environmental science being done at Diamond.

蚯蚓如何在金属污染的土壤中生存？在地球的一生中，海洋化学是如何变化的？我们能提高食物的营养价值吗？如何降低饮用水中砷的风险？放射性污染物在环境中的作用是什么？科学家们正在使用英国最大和最昂贵的科学机器来帮助回答这些和许多其他至关重要的环境相关问题。这台机器被称为钻石，是英国国家同步加速器设施。它由威康信托基金和英国政府通过科学技术设施理事会资助。同步加速器由粒子加速器（就像瑞士的强子对撞机的迷你版）组成，它以接近光速的速度绕着一个圆圈发射电子。电子在其路径上不时地被“调整”，并发出强烈的光，科学家们用它来观察土壤，岩石，水和生物材料的样品，其细节令人难以置信。利用这种强光，我们可以观察分子和原子是如何排列的，利用这些信息，我们可以帮助回答上面提出的一些问题。阅读大学的马克·霍德森（Mark Hodson）教授在1992年的博士研究中首次使用同步加速器，当时他正在研究火山下岩浆房如何凝固。从那时起，他已经降低了温度，研究与污染土地和生物学有关的问题，但仍然使用同步加速器。世界上没有多少同步加速器，因为它们的建造和运行非常昂贵，所以每天24小时使用它们很重要。此外，尽管同步加速器技术水平很高，但仍有许多“低保真”的修复措施成为必要，例如用胶带或蓝色tac将样品放在强X射线束前。正因如此，马克和大多数同步加速器用户一样，有着在凌晨3点起床48小时后试图找到一台仍有巧克力的自动售货机的记忆和经历，就像他对已经发生的科学突破一样！在这个奖学金的过程中，马克将参与各种活动。你可能会在你附近的科学节或科学讨论会上遇到他。或者，你可能会遇到他在学校和你的班级谈话，或者，如果你幸运的话，你的学校可能会去钻石拜访他，实际上看到他所说的机器。除了解释同步加速器的工作原理外，他还将讨论科学家如何使用同步加速器来回答与气候变化以及人类和地球健康相关的大量问题。在他的演讲和博客中，你也可以听到作为一个同步加速器的用户是什么样的，从任何科学探究的起点-进行观察或提出问题-到进行实验，申请同步加速器的束流时间，然后熬夜3天24 7运行样本，并获得一些关键的答案，以提高您对系统的理解你正在调查的案子在这个网站上，你还可以找到大量关于同步加速器在环境科学中的应用的资源链接。你可能已经在报纸上读到了马克的研究（试着在谷歌上搜索“啃金属的蚯蚓！"），我听过他在广播4台或看到他在纪录片中关于进化和麦田怪圈（不，没有任何土壤表明麦田怪圈是由外星人！）但在研究过程中，你应该能够听到更多关于他和其他人的研究，因为他花了更多的时间与媒体接触，让他们知道钻石正在做的惊人的环境科学。