Katie Howe explains how data from the British Library’s electronic thesis service EThOS has been used in a report into the state of dementia research in the UK.

EThOS is the British Library’s electronic theses service. By working with universities across the UK EThOS is able to provide records for over 400,000 UK PhD theses going back as far as the 19^th century. For 165,000 of these PhD theses it is also possible to access a full text version of the document. A key feature of EThOS is that you don’t have to come to the BL to use it - in fact it is accessible from anywhere in the world.

In previous blog posts we have described how EThOS could be a valuable resource for scientific researchers (see here and here). However, as an extensive source of information on PhDs undertaken in the UK, EThOS data can also be used to look at trends in PhD research over time. A recent report by the Alzheimer’s Society illustrates this approach.

The Alzheimer’s Society appointed RAND Europe to produce a report on the state of dementia research in the UK. RAND wished to investigate the dementia workforce pipeline - how many researchers are working on dementia and how this is changing over time. As EThOS contains records for a high (and growing proportion) of recent PhD theses, RAND contacted the EThOS team to ask for their help with this investigation. EThOS Metadata Manager Heather Rosie and her colleagues undertook bespoke analysis for RAND and produced a list of theses awarded from 1970 onwards. The graph above shows the results. Dementia-related PhD research has been steadily increasing over the last 30 years. However, cancer-related PhDs have skyrocketed over the same time frame. Now five times more PhD researchers chose to work on cancer than dementia.

RAND were also interested in what proportion of PhD students studying dementia stay in the field. To investigate this they traced about 1500 dementia PhD researchers to find out about their career since finishing their PhD. The results show that of those who do complete a PhD in dementia, retention in the field is poor with 70% leaving the field within four years. Only 21% are still researching dementia. (The results are summarised on the infographic opposite. A full version of which can be seen here)

The researchers gave a number of reasons for leaving the field of dementia but amongst the most common was a concern over the increasing competition for senior faculty positions. This is not a problem unique to dementia research but spans all of academia. This is a familiar issue for us in team ScienceBL and a previous series of blog posts outlines some alternative career options for those undertaking biomedical PhDs (here and here).

As well as being a great source of detailed information for scientific researchers, PhD theses accessed through EThOS can be used to find out about individual researchers or to help students structure their own PhD thesis. This report shows another novel use of PhD data enabled by the size and national scope of the EThOS resource. The full report can be seen here.

Katie Howe

Alice Kirke investigates HG Wells’ views on science education ahead of our upcoming TalkScience event.

Although he is better known as ‘the Shakespeare of science fiction,’[1] H.G. Wells began his career as a school science teacher. Science education today needs to cater for the budding professional scientist in order to tackle global challenges such as population growth, climate change, and food security. But it also needs to nurture a greater public understanding of science. In light of these challenges, the anniversary of Wells’ birth, on 21^st September 1866, prompted me to revisit his educational ideas.

Born into a lower-middle class family, Wells immersed himself in books from the library at the Sussex mansion of Uppark, where his mother worked as a lady's maid. He continued to educate himself while he trained as a pupil-teacher,[2] and was eventually awarded a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in South Kensington in London, now Imperial College.

 

Whilst there, he was taught by the eminent advocate of Darwin’s theory of evolution, T.H. Huxley. Wells founded the Science Schools Journal, which provided a forum for the development of his views on science and society. Darwinian notions of progress and degeneration came to inform his understanding of history, the future of mankind, and the importance of education.

In 1937, during his presidential address to the Educational Science section of the British Association, he outlined his concerns over ‘the contents of the minds our schools are turning out.’[3] His address was judged by Nature to be of such historical significance that they published it on the centenary of his birth in 1966. So, what did he have say about education?

In his address, Wells insisted that he was speaking not as a scientist, educator or author but as a ‘citizen’. Ignorance, he argued, led to tyranny, and was a consequence of the failure of elementary education to ‘properly inform’ citizens. He posed the question:

‘What are we telling young people directly about the world in which they are to live?’

Wells advocated a child-centred approach to learning which stimulated curiosity, rather than the old-fashioned rote learning which he believed still characterised schooling in the 1930s. He suggested that instead ‘the weather and the mud pie’ should introduce children to biology and that ‘we ought to build up simple and clear ideas from natural experience.’ Further, he argued that ‘natural experience’ should be the foundation not only of scientific instruction but of education more generally. Geography should give children:

‘a real picture in their minds of the Amazon forest, the pampas, the various phases in the course of the Nile… and the sort of human life that is led in these regions.’

Wells believed that telling children about the physical environment of different areas, and the lives of the people who lived there, would teach them to respect and appreciate the world as ‘one community.’ He described himself as a democratic socialist, and saw education as fundamental to peace; in his Outline of History he claimed that ‘human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.’ He argued that History should be the ‘main subject of instruction’ in schools, and that to avoid the ‘crazy combative patriotism that plainly threatens to destroy civilisation’, it should be based on the recent discoveries of archaeologists, not the squabbles and affairs of past kings and queens.

The education system Wells envisaged would lay down a ‘foundation of knowledge’, enabling people to continue learning throughout their lives, and to engage with issues which were of public concern, including those related to science and technology. In the world conjured up by his A Modern Utopia engineers and scientists have figured out how to meet all human needs, and are part of the elite ruling group known as the ‘Samurai’. But in the real world, Wells believed that science education was not only for scientists.

Frontispiece, H. G Wells, A Modern Utopia (Chapman and Hall, 1905) Shelfmark: 012631.aa.9

Education meant more than the pursuit of reason and intellect, and was not oriented towards purely instrumental economic goals. It was about discovery, questioning and knowledge, and was part of the whole education of the citizen. He concluded his address by reflecting that his educational vision seemed ‘impossibly bold and Utopian’. But he maintained that a reinvigorated education system which would enable people to engage with political, social and scientific challenges was an achievable aim, and a vital one for anyone concerned about the future of civilisation.

Wells’ reflections on education raise important questions for science education today; how should it be taught, and to what end? To debate these issues with an expert panel, come along to our next TalkScience event on 27^th October.

---

[1] Brian Aldiss and Sam J. Lundwall (eds), The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction: an anthology (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986) p.133 Shelfmark: YC.1987.a.3902

[2] A senior pupil who acted as a teacher to younger children

[3] Supplement to Nature, September 3, 1966

 

In this blog post Helen Cowie, Eccles Centre for American Studies Visiting Fellow, writes about her research on the sealskin industry in late-nineteenth century Alaska. Helen will discuss her research as part of the Eccles Centre Summer Scholars Seminar Series

On 17 January 1891, the satirical magazine Punch published a cartoon showing a seal emerging from a hole in the ice. The cartoon depicts the animal propped up on its flippers and looking sagely at two squabbling men. The man on the left, in stripy trousers and cravat, represents the USA, embodied in the familiar character of Brother Jonathan. The rotund man on the right, with bulging stomach and a broad-brimmed souwester, is John Bull, a caricature of Great Britain. The seal addresses them both with soulful gaze, imploring them to ‘avast quarrelling! Give me a “close time” and leave the “sea” an open question’.[1]

Punch’s pithy cartoon was a humorous take on a serious international dispute over the future of the fur-seal fisheries of Alaska. Since the early nineteenth century, the fur seal had been hunted extensively in the Bering Sea for its valuable coat, which was used to manufacture ladies’ cloaks and jackets. By the 1890s, however, seal numbers were fast decreasing, triggering mutual recriminations between the USA and Canada. According to naturalist Henry Elliott, who visited the fur-seal islands of St Paul and St George in the summer of 1890, there were only 959,000 seals present during the breeding season; just a third of the number he had seen two decades earlier in 1874.[2]

 The fur-seal controversy centred on the different methods of hunting the animal. The USA hunted the seals on land on the Pribilof Islands, driving young male animals to a designated killing grounds and there bludgeoning them to death. The Canadians hunted the seals at sea, shooting them and spearing them with harpoons in the water. Pelagic sealing (hunting at sea) was regarded as more wasteful, since it killed females, pups and unborn young indiscriminately and mortally wounded many seals whose skins were not subsequently collected. One critic, D.O. Mills, estimated that ‘every skin placed upon the market by [pelagic sealers] represents the destruction of six or eight seals – an utterly unjustifiable inroad into the vitality of the herds’.[3]

‘Killing a “drive” of fur-seals on St Paul’, The Illustrated London News, 24 June 1893

 Keen to protect the seals from destruction, the USA limited the number that could be killed on the Islands and began deploying naval vessels in the Bering Sea to seize ships engaged in pelagic sealing. The Canadians, however, disputed the US’s rights to board their ships in what they considered to be international waters and appealed to Britain to defend the rights of their sealers. By 1891, when Punch published its cartoon, the two nations were teetering on the brink of war.

‘Seals at Home’, The Animal World, 1 September 1882

 The fur-seal crisis offers an interesting early example of wildlife conservation and its international dimensions. Because the seal was a migratory animal, cross-border cooperation was essential to ensure its survival. The USA could introduce a complete moratorium on the killing of seals on land – as indeed it did in 1911 – but if the Canadians continued to slaughter the animals at sea, their efforts would be futile. Measures taken to protect the fur-seal set a precedent for similar transnational agreements concerning the protection of migratory birds and the preservation of game in colonial Africa.

 Another key aspect of the fur-seal debate was the important role played by scientists in the framing of conservation policy. To understand how best to preserve the species, the US Government commissioned several scientific surveys of Pribilof Islands, all staffed by zoological experts. These individuals conducted careful fieldwork on the islands and offered a detailed understanding of seal behaviour and ecology. They used the latest technology to support their studies, backing up their findings with carefully documented evidence. To show that large numbers of seals wounded by pelagic sealers were not subsequently caught, for example, the 1896 commission cited the case of ‘a wet [i.e. nursing] cow’ found at the bay of Polovina on 23 July ‘with bloody shot holes in her shoulder’.[4] To prove that pups required milk until they left the breeding grounds in November, the scientists killed a selection of the animals and examined the contents of their stomachs, which were found, in the vast majority of cases to be either empty (in the case of orphans) or ‘full of milk’ well into October.[5]

‘The Countenance of Callorhinus’, Drawing by Henry W. Elliott, Pribilof Islands, 5 July 1872

Scientists’ observations informed government policies and lent weight to proposed conservation measures, much as they do today. They did not necessarily provide definitive answers, however, for it was often the case that different studies arrived at different conclusions. One US scientist, Henry Elliott, for instance, advocated a moratorium on the land drive, because he believed that repeated driving impaired the fertility of male seals. His compatriot, David Starr Jordan, however, refuted this, arguing that the seal’s reproductive organs were ‘withdrawn into the body cavity when he is in motion, thus being entirely protected from injury’.[6] The Canadian Record of Science, meanwhile, reprinted an article on sealing in the South Pacific in 1893 which appeared to show that the damage there was done on land, and not at sea. We can therefore see science being used to support different national and ideological viewpoints.

As for the seals themselves, they were rarely consulted in the debate, but Punch at least gave one of them a voice. Next to the arresting image with which this blog post began, the magazine printed a short poem, supposedly written by the seal, in which the plucky animal begs both sides to stop squabbling and ‘Give me a thought in the matter’. In rousing nautical language, the seal complains of being ‘worried and walloped without intermission / Until even family duties quite fail’ - a reference to Elliott’s claim that the seal drive rendered males infertile. He protests loudly that his ‘poor wife and children have not half a chance’ – an allusion to the damage done by pelagic sealing - and he urges both sides to establish a ‘close time’ in which he and his family can recover. Since this is a British publication, it is no surprise that the seal refutes the US’s claim to sovereignty over the entire Bering Sea – ‘Men can’t thus monopolise oceans’. He does, however, advocate ‘compromise’ and friendship between nations, issuing a plea for international peace before he ‘dives under’ the water and departs the scene.[7] 

 Thankfully the seal’s call was heeded and the USA and Britain reached a compromise agreement in 1893. Seals were granted a closed season from 1 May to 1 October and a sixty-mile closed zone around the Pribilof Islands in which no pelagic sealing was permitted. Eighteen years later, in 1911, a further international agreement banned pelagic sealing completely, triggering the recovery of the fur-seal population. In 1920 conservationist William Hornaday described the preservation of the fur-seal as ‘the most practical and financially responsive wildlife conservation movement thus far consummated in the United States’.[8]

 

Helen Cowie is lecturer in history at the University of York. Her research focuses on the history of animals and the history of natural history. She is author of Conquering Nature in Spain and its Empire, 1750-1850 (Manchester University Press, 2011) and Exhibiting Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Empathy, Education, Entertainment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

---

[1] ‘Arbitration’, Punch, 17 January 1891.

[2] Henry W. Elliott, Report on the Condition of the Fur-Seal Fisheries of the Pribylov Islands in 1890 (Paris:Chamerat et Renouard, 1893), p.91.

[3] D.O. Mills, ‘Our Fur-Seal Fisheries’, The North American Review 151 (September 1890), p.303.

[4] David Starr Jordan, Observations on the Fur Seals of the Pribilof Islands, Preliminary Report (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896), p.44.

[5] Ibid., p.33.

[6] Ibid., p.38.

[7] ‘Arbitration’, Punch, 17 January 1891.

[8] The Times, 31 August 1920.

Applications are now open for RCUK Policy Internships at the British Library at 2016. We are offering up to three NERC/MRC funded PhD students the chance to join us in team ScienceBL and help deliver a TalkScience event. In this blog post former intern Stuart Smith reflects on his Policy Internship placement at the British Library.

Stuart (red hat and trousers) in the Falkland islands (Photo: Marju Karlsson)

After finishing my BBSRC policy placement at the British Library in July 2013 and wrapping up my PhD thesis, I went in search of a job. Wishing to find a job that balanced both ecological research and public engagement, I was finally offered a 2-year position leading a Darwin Initiative funded project that aims to build capacity to enhance habitat restoration in the Falklands Islands. Despite only being a small island in sub-Antarctica, with a total population of around 3,000 people, there has consistently been a need to communicate scientific and environmental issues effectively. Working for Falklands Conservation, I have established an island-wide re-vegetation trial using native seeds and I regularly talk about my work to people with a range of backgrounds: farmers, landowners, policymakers, researchers, members of the public and military personnel. And while I might not have the opportunity to get a BBC presenter to pop down to lead a panel debate, like I did my when organising a TalkScience event at the British Library, I find myself involved in outreach activity on a weekly basis, whether writing an article for the Penguin News, the local newspaper, or giving a lesson on seeds or habitat restoration in a school. 

 

Bill Turnbull chairing the TalkScience that Stuart developed and delivered as part of his Policy Internship at the British Library

Following on from work on the Falkland Islands, I am about to start a post-doctoral position at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway as part of AfricanBioServices, an EU funded project, and will be working in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in Tanzania/Kenya. My involvement in the project is to investigate the effect of different land-uses (both wild grazing versus domestic pastoral grazing) on grassland productivity and ecosystem functioning. Again, this role is likely to require excellent communication skills to a wide range of audiences from scientists involved in the international consortium to farmers and landowners on the ground. Even though I am still actively involved in ecological research, the essential skills of effective science communication and outreach are highly valued. The British Library has an incredibly supportive and friendly team and were happy to take on an ecologist, who particularly struggled to wear a tie. I would recommend that every postgraduate should take the opportunity to learn an increasingly important set of skills involved in outreach and public engagement and apply for a science policy placement.

Stuart Smith, BBSRC Science Policy Intern 2013

This summer our colleagues over in the Eccles Centre for American Studies are hosting their annual Summer Scholars Seminar series - several of which have a scientific flavour. In this post Marionne Cronin from the University of Aberdeen discusses how aviation changed the nature of polar exploration ahead of her talk on 7th August. Tickets are available here.

Richard Evelyn Byrd (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

For Americans, the spring of 1926 was an exciting time in long-distance aviation.  The newspapers were full of thrilling tales of pioneering flights, including three aerial expeditions aiming for the North Pole.  The excitement came to a head on 9 May 1926, when Richard E. Byrd, a young American naval aviator, returned to his expedition’s base at King’s Bay, Spitsbergen (Svalbard), after a flight of just over 15 hours, proclaiming that he and his co-pilot Floyd Bennett had become the first people to reach the North Pole by air.  Byrd’s announcement triggered a patriotic outpouring in the American press, with headlines trumpeting the United States’ polar conquest.  Byrd returned home a national hero, where he was met by cheering crowds and public accolades, including the Congressional Medal of Honor.

But what exactly were these crowds cheering? 

In part, they perceived Byrd’s feat as evidence of America’s technological progress and as a symbol of their nation’s modernity.  Celebrating the mechanical triumph, however, also risked undercutting the heroic nature of exploration, particularly when the flight was compared to previous expeditions, which had produced images of intrepid fur-clad explorers battling their way across the dangerous polar ice.  By lifting the explorer high above the ice and shielding him within the body of a machine that carried him towards the pole, the airplane seemed to make the process far too easy to be considered heroic.  Much as it jeopardized the explorer’s heroic status, the airplane also threatened to domesticate the Arctic, thereby destroying its imaginative potential as a space for heroic adventure.  In particular, the use of aircraft seemed to shatter the Arctic’s image as a theoretically untouched wilderness cut off from the modern industrialized world.

How was it, then, that Byrd continued to be seen as an exceptional man, even when ensconced in the machine’s protective shell soaring high above the polar ice?  The process of creating a polar hero in this context was not straightforward and the result was not a single stable image.  This heterogeneity, however, offers a window into how Americans in the interwar period sought to reconcile a celebration of mechanical progress with ideas about heroic masculinity.

Fokker F.VII plane with Byrd-Bennett in flight in 1926. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

On the one hand, many narratives rehearsed various longstanding romantic images of polar exploration in order to buttress Byrd’s heroic status.  But, perhaps more interestingly, several of these narratives also reimagined the practice of exploration itself.  These accounts extended the landscape of exploration vertically, imagining the skies as a new field to explore.  By underscoring the dangers present in the Arctic atmosphere – its extreme temperatures, unpredictable weather, and unknown aerial currents – newspaper stories created a new environment that could test both the polar explorer and his machine.  Much as the deep oceans and space would emerge as new frontiers later in the century, in these accounts the air became a new wilderness for a modern society to explore.  These stories also drew on popular interwar images of aviation, which imagined it as a technology of wonder and grace that enabled aviators to escape the quotidian mundaneness of everyday life and to enter a new, transcendent world.  Thus, much like the polar explorers of earlier eras, the pilot became a daring pioneer who stepped into the unknown and was transformed into a heroic figure.

To remain a polar hero, however, Byrd needed to be more than a mere passenger on this aerial adventure.  Instead, his ability to control the machine, to bend its power to his will, became a key component of what it meant to be an aerial explorer.  In particular, coverage emphasized the flight’s mental challenges, specifically the intense concentration demanded by the mathematical calculations required to navigate over the polar ice.  Thus, aerial exploration became as much a mental as a physical challenge.  By demonstrating the mental ability necessary to control the machine, Byrd acquired the power to penetrate previously inaccessible areas, to see further than terrestrial explorers, and therefore to pierce the Arctic’s secrets.  At the same time, risks from technology itself, in the form of mechanical failures, offered a new set of hazards for the technological explorer to overcome.  The technology itself thus became a site of exploration as the venture into new arenas tested both the explorer’s and the machine’s limits. The explorer’s willingness to brave these dangers and his ability to control the machine under difficult conditions became important signs of his heroic masculinity.

Coolidge awarding Medal of Honor to Byrd and Bennett 1927 (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Through the newspaper stories covering Byrd’s flight, we can see their authors exploring the question of how to successfully incorporate the machine into exploration narratives without abandoning the hero’s central place.  By reimagining the nature of exploration and reconceiving of the air as a new frontier, these authors sought to create an image of heroic exploration that could accommodate the presence of the machine.  In doing so they articulated a vision of the technological explorer that would influence later depictions of figures such as Charles Lindberg and the first astronauts, and would continue to influence perceptions of heroic masculinity across the 20^th century.

Dr Marionne Cronin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Northern Colonialism Programme at the University of Aberdeen, where her research investigates the place of technology in the culture of polar exploration. She is currently working on a book examining how interwar polar explorers’ use of new technologies – particularly airplanes – was incorporated into popular images of heroic exploration, masculinity, and modernity. She will be an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow in North American Studies in June-August 2015.

If you want to learn more about science in extreme environments you can watch the video of our recent TalkScience event here.

Julian Walker examines an unusual item included in the British Library's current Magna Carta exhibition and discusses what it might tell us about the infamous King John.

One of the last items to be put into the Magna Carta exhibition was the X-ray of King John’s teeth. Easy to miss, and perhaps something of an oddity, this item could also be read as a key item in the lead up to the agreement at Runnymede on 15^th June 1215.

Portrait of King John hunting. The British Library

The story of how the X-ray and the teeth come to be in the exhibition – and the first time I can think of that a body part of a British monarch has been part of a British Library exhibition – goes back to the opening of King John’s tomb in Worcester Cathedral in 1797. The tomb was opened on the request of Valentine Green, an antiquarian and engraver, who had come to doubt that King John’s body was in fact laid within his tomb. The news of the opening attracted large numbers of sightseers, Green’s account reporting that thousands had come to watch; among these was a stationer’s apprentice, William Wood, who is credited with having taken two of the four remaining teeth from King John’s jawbone. The teeth were passed on to Worcester City Museum about 100 years later, where they have remained.

Green’s account of the teeth states that they were ‘quite perfect’, but perhaps we should think of this as a comparative assessment. By the end of the eighteenth century many people’s teeth were affected by decay, the massive increase in the importation and use of sugar during the century not being matched by increasing oral hygiene. This was the period when fashionable people wore ‘plumpers’, pads of cork or cloth in their cheeks to build up the contours of a face following tooth loss. In the thirteenth century there would have been little opportunity for John to get access to cane-sourced sugar, which only very gradually became available across Europe during the period of the crusades. Honey, the only other sweetener available at that time, though it contains fructose and glucose, also carries antibacterial agents which may act to counter some of the effects of the sugars; but honey may also cause caries[i]. Caries was certainly there during the thirteenth century, but perhaps less than might be expected given the lack of dental care[ii].

X-ray of King John's teeth

In 1998 I was engaged on a fine art project at Worcester Museum and Art Gallery, looking at the nature of touch, and persuaded the curator to let me get King John’s teeth X-rayed at a local dental practice.  I later took the X-ray to my own dentist with some questions – one of the teeth was flattened and I wanted to know how this could have happened. If it was caused by grinding did this show evidence of John having to eat gritty bread? Were his teeth ‘quite perfect’? What my dentist pointed out was that dietary effects would be shown on all the teeth; the fact that only one was flattened could only happen as a result of tooth-grinding, whose various forms are known as bruxism. Bruxism is very widespread, seldom severe enough to cause damage to the teeth, but is often related to anxiety and stress. The attritional bruxism in this tooth might have a number of causes: a particular jaw pattern, with one tooth being ground against its opposite, or the eruption of an individual tooth, or a particular diet (my dentist had seen it in cases where the diet included bones). In this situation, and as shown by the X-ray, the enamel and dentin are worn down, potentially exposing the pulp, which tends to shrink back allowing a thin layer of dentin and enamel to slowly build up; but the tooth would have been permanently hypersensitive, producing toothache, headache, possibly earache, and potentially restriction of the ability to open the mouth.

What we have no evidence for at this stage is when or why John started to grind his teeth; was the grinding the result of emerging wisdom teeth and dental crowding early on, and thus present through his adult life? And did he grind his teeth awake or asleep (there is some evidence for hereditary sleeping bruxism)? What we do have evidence for is a family trait that involved a tendency towards outbursts of violent rage in John’s father, Henry II (not just in the Thomas Becket crisis). Anger was a constant in these two kings; R V Turner proposes that the Pipe Rolls of Henry and John show the near-institutionalisation of anger in which the king ‘remitted his anger and indignation against individuals in return for money’[iii]. Crucially with Henry we see dental activity in the context of anger: he is said to have fallen to the floor in rage and chewed the rushes on hearing the King of Scots praised by one of his own men.

What we also have is evidence for John’s taste for soft foods. Though John, in keeping with the customary behaviour of Angevin kings, was by no means controlled in his sexual activity, he clearly exerted control of the sexual activity of others. The Oblate Roll for Christmas 1204 recorded that Joan ‘the wife of Hugh de Neville gives the Lord King 200 chickens in order that she might lie one night with her lord’. This kind of ‘fine’ or ‘tax’ to allow, defer or avoid something was common at the time, and was much used by John. What is interesting here is that the ‘fine’ or ‘tax’ is paid not in money but in the soft and easily chewed meat of the chicken. There is evidence elsewhere of John’s taste for both chicken and indeed eggs – his Christmas feast at Winchester in 1206 involved 1,500 chickens, 5,000 eggs, 20 oxen, 100 pigs, and 100 sheep. Were eggs special to John because they were soft? If John had a permanently sensitive tooth (at least one), and toothache, certainly towards the end of his life, this would have made him irritable, angry, quick to find solace in easy to eat foods (perhaps even those notorious peaches washed down by cider, which allegedly hastened his end).

As regards treatment for toothache, as well as bloodletting, cupping and herbal poultices, some effective painkillers were available – ice, mandrake, henbane, alcohol, and oil of cloves, though this last was fantastically expensive. Gilbert Anglicus, whose Compendium of Medicine was written about 25 years after the death of John, mentions oil of cloves as a treatment for toothache, but conflict at home and on the continent would have hampered its import and transportation.

The British Library exhibition "Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy" is open until 1st September

 

How much importance should we put on John’s tooth? Should we build his physical pain into our view of the circumstances that led to Magna Carta? Historiography of the physiology of movers and shakers has always been suspect. There is a perceived danger of reductivism in including Henry VIII’s leg ulcer in the factors leading to his increasingly autocratic reign, or evaluating among the factors leading to the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon’s haemorrhoids, which prevented him from supervising the denouement of the battle on horseback. During schools’ workshops in the Magna Carta exhibition I ask students whether they feel King John’s dental distress should be considered as part of historical research and a factor in the story of the document. Mostly they think yes; teachers are less convinced, perhaps wary of the influence of Horrible Histories. I also ask students for suggestions for an exhibition souvenir for British Library shop; my favourite so far has been an eraser in the shape of one of King John’s teeth.

Julian Walker is an artist and writer; he leads workshops for schools and colleges for the British Library Learning Department. He is the author of How To Cure The Plague And Other Curious Remedies and The Finishing Touch - Cosmetics Through The Ages, both published by the British Library. www.julianwalker.net

References 

[i] Compare

Effects of honey, glucose, and fructose on the enamel demineralization depth, Ahmadi-Motamayel, Fatemeh et al., Journal of Dental Sciences , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , 147 – 150

with

Diet, nutrition and the prevention of dental diseases Paula Moynihan¹, and Poul Erik Petersen² 1 WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition and Oral Health, School of Dental Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: 2 WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Oral Health Programmes and Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

[ii] Dental caries, tooth wear and diet in an adult medieval (12th–14th century) population from Mediterranean France, Esclassan, R. et al., Archives of Oral Biology, Volume 54 , Issue 3 , pp287 – 297, indicates a 17.5% incidence of caries.

[iii] Turner, R. V., in Loengard, J. S., Magna Carta and the England of King John, 2010, Woodbridge, p17

 

Are you:

- An MRC or NERC-funded PhD student? 

- Interested in science policy?

Come and work with team Science BL on a three month science policy internship!

The main task that you would work on during your time with us would the development and delivery of an event in our TalkScience series. TalkScience is a successful series of public debates on topical issues in science policy. Previous topics covered include everything from sustainable fishing to genetic testing; from biomedical patents to the research impact agenda. The events place scientific policy issues in their wider context as part of our culture and address social, ethical, economic as well as scientific/academic perspectives.

You would work with colleagues in the science team to research and identify a suitable topic and appropriate speakers; work with the speakers to set the discussion topics; market the event to a wide audience; design print and web-based marketing material as well as organising local logistics. Afterwards you would help disseminate the event by producing videos/podcasts. You would also collect event feedback and report on the event's successes and areas for improvement.

This is a great chance to be involved in the delivery of a high profile event from start to finish and would enable you to develop organisational skills as well as stakeholder management and team-working skills.

As well as working on TalkScience you would also have the opportunity to explore the British Library’s collections in relation to science policy. For example past policy interns have carried out primary research asking how science policy organisations use information and exploring how the British Library might be able to improve their information provision. Peter Spooner, our most recent science policy intern, worked with the British Library’s web archiving team to investigate how climate change researchers might be able to make use of archived websites to inform their research.

There are always lots of other things happening in the science team which you could also get involved in. For example we have existing collaborations with a range of science/cultural organisations. Previous interns have also enjoyed exploring the British Library's collections or areas of personal interest in blog pieces and contributing to our social media activity.

We have hosted Science Policy Interns for the last three years. You can read more about their projects here:

Stuart Smith (BBSRC intern, 2012)

 

 

Adam Levy (NERC intern, 2014)

 

 

 

 

Rachel Huddart (BBSRC intern, 2014)

 

 

 

 

We are pleased to offer up to three placements for MRC or NERC students in 2016. For further information and to apply please see the Research Councils UK website.

Katie Howe continues a series outlining the careers advice given at 2015's Francis Crick Institute post-doctoral researchers' retreat. The first post in this series, which covers careers in pharmaceuticals, science communication and education, can be seen here.

Drinks reception at the Francis Crick postdocs' retreat. (Photo: Riccardo Guidi)

Science policy: Beth Thompson (Wellcome Trust)

After a PhD at Cambridge University, and amid increasing concerns about the stability of the academic career path, Beth made the move into the world of science policy, starting with a temporary role at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Beth is currently a policy advisor at the Wellcome Trust where she works on a range of projects aimed at promoting a sustainable environment for biomedical science.  Beth’s responsibilities include: responding to consultations; briefing the Director ahead of meetings with key policy figures (e.g. cabinet ministers) and developing and coordinating the Wellcome Trust’s position with other organisations in the sector. On a day-to-day basis this involves desk research, meetings, phone calls, writing - and a lot of networking!

Although Beth pointed out that she never uses subject-specific information from her PhD or even undergraduate in her current job, the skills that she developed during her graduate studies are invaluable for her current role in policy. Written communication, project management and analytical skills are particularly important attributes for a career in science policy.

(There are several internship opportunities for PhD students wishing to get a taste of science policy. BBSRC/NERC/AHRC’s policy internship scheme, which the British Library’s Science Team participates in, is just one example).

Editorial: Christina Karlsson Rosenthal, Nature Cell Biology

Christina’s presentation first outlined the editorial process at Nature Cell Biology. Not only did this give post-docs a glimpse of an editor’s day to day work but also shed some light on the editorial process for those who submit papers to Nature journals! Journal editors like Christina might spend time: organising peer reviewers, writing paper summaries, attending editorial meetings and emailing reviewers and paper authors.

Name badges ready for collection (Photo: Riccardo Guidi)

Christina held an Assistant Professorship at the Karolinska Institute before moving to Nature in 2008. Her experience in academia meant she was able to enter the editorial team at a more senior level than perhaps someone making the career move immediately after completing their PhD. Unlike Beth’s career in science policy, Christina’s role as an editor means she still intimately linked to her subject area. However it is now important that she has a broad overview of current topics in cell biology rather than focussing on a much narrower area as is required in academia.

Although most academic publishers are based in English-speaking countries, Christina was keen to emphasise that it is not necessary for your first language to be English if you are interested in working as an editor.

Academia: Victoria Sanz-Moreno (King’s College London), Jan Lipfert (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), James Keeler (University of Cambridge)

Viktoria, Jan and James all gave inspiring talks on their very different experiences of the academic career path.

Jan, whose academic career has taken him from Germany to Sweden to the US and back to Germany again, shared some thoughts on the “publish or perish” culture that persists in the world of academia. He acknowledged that publications are still the main way by which your scientific ability is measured but did note that this model was slowly changing. Jan also emphasised the importance of collaborative working. His PhD supervisor advised him that “everyone in the lab should be able to present everyone else’s work at a conference”.

Jan was open and honest about his experiences of applying for tenure track positions and helpfully outlined some key differences between the US and European systems. Although he likened applying for faculty positions to buying a lottery ticket he sagely noted that you definitely won’t get a position if you don’t apply so advised developing a thick skin!

Jan Lipfert, James Keeler and Viktoria Sanz-Moreno. (Photos: Riccardo Guidi)

Viktoria was keen to stress the importance of having a good mentor and if possible finding a mentor in the institution where you wish to establish yourself. Like Jan Viktoria also noted the difficulties in applying for tenured research positions so advised starting planning for this process early. Viktoria also covered her experience of becoming a mother while transitioning from post-doc to PI and represented a very positive role model for women in science. 

We then heard from James Keeler who is Director of Teaching at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry. James’ talk title “An Unexpected Journey” was borrowed from the first instalment of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit trilogy. Bilbo Baggins says,

“It's a dangerous business going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to”.

This quote neatly illustrates the unexpected twists and turns that his own career took. James started out on the conventional research track but discovered an aptitude and enjoyment for teaching. James’ role involves raising the profile of teaching in the department as well as wider university involvement in undergraduate recruitment and selection and academic administration. The key message of James’ talk was to be flexible and agile in developing your career and to be open to different options beyond pure research.

Communication is key

As you will note from the above, communication skills are vital for many of the careers described. Whether you need to explain the concept of a hydrogen bond to a member of the public, or write a compelling grant application, describing complicated scientific concepts in a clear and understandable way is an important skill. This is something the British Library and our collaborators are keen to promote.

We recently launched the Access To Understanding website, which contains guidance on how to write about biomedical research in plain English. The guidance outlines some of the key reasons why you might need to (or want to) write a plain-English summary of a scientific research article, and gives some tips on how you might do so. We also run an annual science writing competition, which challenges early career researchers to write a plain-English summary of a recent scientific research article. Whether or not you enter the competition we hope you will find the website helpful in developing your communication skills.

We look forward to continuing our work with our neighbours and fellow Knowledge Quarter members the Francis Crick Institute as they look ahead to the official opening in 2016.

Katie Howe

Katie Howe outlines some of the careers advice given at the 2015 Francis Crick Institute post-docs' retreat. The second blog post in this series covers science policy, editorial and academic careers and will be posted tomorrow.

Last month we hosted the 4th Francis Crick institute post-doctoral researchers' retreat, which this year had the theme of 'Inspiring Careers'. With competition for tenured faculty positions greater than ever, post-docs are considering a wide range of careers inside and outside of academia. Many of the British Library’s science team are former biomedical research scientists who have hung up our lab coats to pursue other opportunities, so this is a theme with which we could strongly identify.

There were 11 speakers on the day, each with a different story to tell about how they got to where they are today. This series of two blog posts outlines some of the careers covered during the retreat and brings together a few of the top tips shared by the speakers.

Pharmaceuticals: Klaus Hirzel (Roche) and Neil Torbett (hVIVO)

Klaus outlined his role at Roche showing how a drug progresses from basic research into the clinic. He noted that in terms of day to day work the tasks he carries out are often quite similar to those that might be experienced in an academic research lab.

Neil Torbett (Photo: Riccardo Guidi)

Neil Torbett followed Klaus’ introduction by describing his experience in pharmaceutical start-up companies. Following a PhD and post-doc investigating protein phosphorylation, Neil became involved in Piramed, a research collaboration with Genentech that focussed on the discovery and development of PI3-kinase based inhibitors for cancer. This experience paved the way for a career in various biotech companies involved in molecular diagnostics. These start-ups are great examples of the huge potential of interdisciplinary working. For example the biomarker discovery company Activiomics where Neil served as Chief Operating Officer, brought together academics leading in the fields of mass spectrometry and cell signalling into a spin-out company overseen by QMUL’s technology transfer arm. Neil suggested getting in contact with your university’s technology transfer office if you have a project that could be of commercial interest. They can help by providing professional support and vital funding. Neil also noted that the expertise possessed by academics is very much in demand by start-up companies, so if your own research doesn’t have a commercial angle, your skills could be valuable to an existing start up.

Science communication: Dane Comerford (University of Cambridge)

Dane has had a varied career in academia and engagement as well as a brief sojourn to the civil service working in a team dealing with CRB checks and disclosures. But it was Dane’s passion for the hydrogen bond and desire to share its simple beauty and power more widely that led him to try his hand at public engagement.

Dane Comerford (Photo: Riccardo Guidi)

By sharing some examples from his portfolio of public engagement activities, Dane illustrated the wide range of opportunities within science communication - from creating films describing scientific concepts to getting involved in international science festivals. A key message of Dane’s talk was to be brave and don’t be afraid to try new things and to “keep your eyes and ears open” for new opportunities. Dane did recognise that without a supportive supervisor getting involved in public engagement can be a challenge but pointed out that Research Council UK-funded researchers are now required to participate in public engagement activities. Communication of and engagement with research is increasingly recognised as a valuable and necessary part of the research process so hopefully any opposition from supervisors is becoming less common.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in public engagement within academia. Dane pointed post-docs to the local university public engagement units. The Crick’s communication and engagement team are developing plans for their own programme of public engagement training and have lots of upcoming volunteering opportunities. Over this summer the Crick is attending several local festivals that require volunteers to help deliver science engagement activities, so please keep an eye on CrickNet or email [email protected] to find out more and how to get involved.

(I also recommend the psci-com mailing list for anyone interested in science communication or engagement with any audience - KH).

Education: Bryn James (Researchers in Schools) and Ed Arthur  (TeachFirst)

Ed first outlined the innovative TeachFirst programme. TeachFirst was set up in 2002 and aims to address educational disadvantage by recruiting high calibre graduates to teach in challenging schools. Participants are given an intensive ‘crash course’ in teaching during a six-week long Summer Institute before entering the classroom in September. Professional development and specialist teacher training then continues throughout the two year programme.

Bryn James and Ed Arthur introducing Researchers in Schools and TeachFirst respectively (Photos: Riccardo Guidi)

Some of the key skills required of TeachFirst teachers are resilience, organisation and empathy. The schools that TeachFirst works with often have high levels of economic deprivation which can present many challenges to new teachers as well as exciting opportunities to make a difference. Ed went on to describe the impact of TeachFirst alumni. A third of those who complete the programme stay in teaching after the two years but many go on to leadership positions in other sectors and 36 social enterprises have been formed by TeachFirst alumni.

Bryn then introduced us to Researchers in Schools - a relatively new programme that specifically recruits people with PhDs into the teaching profession. This teacher training route is highly bespoke and designed to utilise participants’ academic experience. Uniquely, participants are given the chance to take one day out of school per week for their own independent research giving them a chance to keep their foot in the door of the lab. The aim of the scheme is to increase subject expertise within non-selective state schools, particularly in science subjects. Another benefit is that by acting as champions of higher education Researchers in Schools teachers can also promote and widen access to the best universities.

Both Ed and Bryn noted how rewarding teaching is as career with Bryn even sharing some of the very touching messages he had received from students thanking him personally for his help and support.

Tune in tomorrow for the second part of this post - featuring careers in science policy, science publishing and academia.

Katie Howe

On 23^rd June the British Library hosted its 29^th TalkScience event entitled ‘Fishing and marine protection: What’s the catch?’ For anyone who missed the event you can now watch the whole thing on YouTube. We have also summarised the highlights below. 

 

TalkScience is an informal discussion series focussing on topical issues in science. In the past we have covered issues such as climate change, GM foods and Open Data. During the event ‘Fishing and marine protection: What’s the catch?’ we sought to explore:

• What are the impacts of fishing on the marine environment?
• How do policies such as marine protected areas and fishing quotas affect sea-life and fishermen?
• Must conservation and consumption always be at odds?
• How will global environmental change affect our answers to these questions?

Guiding the discussion was marine biologist, author and broadcaster Dr. Helen Scales. Our panel of experts approached the topic from a range of backgrounds. Professor Callum Roberts is a marine conservation biologist at the University of York with expertise in marine reserves. Barrie Deas is chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, and was representing UK fishermen. Dr. Alasdair Harris is executive director of the social enterprise Blue Ventures, which aims to create sustainable tropical fisheries through local management.

Professor Roberts began by talking about the impacts of fishing on the ocean system and what we can learn from historical data. Mr. Deas then discussed some of the successes in waters around the UK and what marine protection strategies the fishing industry would favour. Dr. Harris finished by expanding the discussion to developing countries and the problems faced there.

Audience questions ranged from ‘Why is progress in marine policy so slow?’ to ‘As a consumer, what is the most important thing to think about when buying fish?’

We would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who turned up to help make the evening a success. If you would like more information about future TalkScience events, keep an eye on our TalkScience webpage, our Twitter feed @ScienceBL or the hashtag #BLTalkScience. 

 

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