A new outdoor exhibition this summer will use startling images to showcase the world-leading research taking place in York. STEPHEN LEWIS reports on the York Science and Innovation Grand Tour.

YOU have probably never heard of gribbles. There is no reason why you should have done. They are tiny marine shrimps that live on Britain’s south coast and look a bit like sea-dwelling woodlice.

These humble little invertebrates, however – a picture of two of them can be seen above – might hold the key to unlocking one of the great challenges of our times: developing new biofuels to replace oil and gas.

The secret lies in their digestive system. Their bodies produce enzymes (chemicals that help in the digestive process) which enable them to break down cellulose, one of the key building blocks of plants.

Humans cannot digest cellulose, which is one of the reasons we cannot eat grass or tough, woody plants. Gribbles can, and scientists at the University of York’s new Biorenewables Development Centre hope that by extracting the powerful enzymes from gribbles, they will be able to study how they work – then copy the process so that grasses, straw and willow can all be broken down more efficiently into fuel.

In theory, they could improve the efficiency of converting such crops into fuel many times over – making biofuels much more economically practical.

The story of the gribbles is one of many tales of scientific ingenuity and innovation involving York scientists and inventors that will be told in a new outdoor exhibition of photographs and images being staged across the city centre this summer.

The exhibition will be modelled on 2008’s ‘York Grand Tour’, when the city centre was effectively turned into a giant outdoor art gallery, with reproductions of great works of art displayed on buildings, walls and windows.

This year’s Science and Innovation Grand Tour – which will run though June, July and August – aims to reproduce that: except that, instead of old masters, the images on display will be cutting-edge photographs and imagery from the worlds of science and technology.

There will be about 70 images altogether, says Professor Tony Robards, the former University of York biologist turned innovator who had the idea for this year’s science and innovation tour. And every one will tell a story.

Amazing stories they are, too. On these pages we reproduce a few of the images that will be shown in the tour – many more are being kept under wraps – but even these few give a sense of the extraordinary scientific research taking place in York.

The futuristic green image, for example, shows the surface of a humble fern-like plant known as Sweet Annie or Sweet Wormwood (Artemisia annua), magnified under a microscope many times.

The tall, spiked structures are tiny hairs on the leaf’s surface: the smaller, doughnut-shaped structures small ‘glands’ known as trichomes, each just one twentieth of a millimetre tall.

The photograph shows the stunning beauty nature is capable of, even on a scale too small to see with the naked eye.

It does much more than that, however. It offers a glimpse into a great scientific adventure. York scientists are using this very plant to develop a cheap, effective treatment for malaria that could potentially save millions of lives.

A chemical, artemisinin, produced by the trichomes you can see in this photograph, is a natural anti-malarial drug. Sweet Annie only produces very small quantities of the chemical – which is why researchers at the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP for short) at the University of York, backed by a $14 million grant from Microsoft boss Bill Gates, have been working to increase the amount of the chemical the plant produces.

Another image shows what looks like bolts of lightning frozen in time. Taken by James Ratcliffe, the assistant head of Bootham School, this is an example of a ‘fractal’, a self-repeating pattern found throughout nature in everything from trees and crystals to veins and river systems. In a fractal, large branches divide into smaller branches, which divide into smaller still, and so on (just look at the bare branches of a tree in winter to get the idea). Understanding fractals is vital to our understanding of the world around us. The man who pioneered work on fractals was Lewis Fry Richardson, who was educated at Bootham School in York, between 1894 and 1898.

He is not the only great scientist or innovator York has produced. We all know how beautiful and historic the city is, says Prof Robards. What many of us don’t realise is how important York’s contribution to science and technological advance has been down the centuries.

John Snow, the ‘father of epidemiology’, who was once voted the greatest doctor ever, was born in North Street, York, in 1813, and studied here until he was 14. His work on the spread and control of infectious disease can safely be said to have changed the world for the better.

The young astronomer John Goodricke, born in 1764, observed the stars from Treasurer’s House behind York Minster – and made discoveries that ultimately helped us measure the size of our galaxy, and the distance to neighbouring galaxies. Another astronomer – the York-born William Parsons, Earl of Rosse – built the world’s largest reflecting telescope and was the first person to identify galaxies outside our own milky way.

Then there was Sir George Cayley, sometimes known as the ‘father of aviation’, who is considered by many to be the first person to properly understand the forces of lift. In 1853, he designed the glider in which his coachman, John Appleby, became the first man to fly in a heavier-than-air craft. Cayley wasn’t from York, but he was born near Scarborough and did most of his work at Brompton on the North York Moors.

The Grand Tour will tell the story of all these people and many more, but the real emphasis will be on research and development taking place now. It’s not only scientists at the University of York, either. Locally based technology companies are also helping to change the world, companies such as BSC Filters, whose microwave technology plays a key role in protecting military personnel, as well as bringing major sporting events and news to your TV screen.

The images will be displayed at different locations in the city centre throughout the summer as part of the York 800 celebrations to mark the 800th anniversary of the city gaining its charter.

Prof Robards hopes they will give people some sense of the wonder of nature and of science. But above all, he says, the 2012 Grand Tour will showcase York as not just an ancient, historic city: but as a modern city at the cutting edge of science and technology “I hope that the citizens of York will look at these images, and think ‘I’m really proud to live in this wonderful city’,” he said.

York Science & Innovation Grand Tour May to September 2012

The idea of the Science and Innovation Grand Tour is to get people thinking.

Each of the 70-odd images will be displayed on large panels – and each will carry a ‘Did You Know?’ tag, followed by a brief description of what the image shows, and what the York connection is.

The idea, however, is that this will be only a starting point. “We want to encourage people to delve further,” said Nick Townend, the managing director of York-based Ideas Group, who has been working with Prof Robards on putting the tour together.

Each panel will have a QR code. Anyone with a smartphone will be able to use this to find out more about the image, and the story of scientific endeavour or technological innovation it tells. Those without a smartphone will be able to find out more from the Grand Tour website, yorkgrandtour.com

The stories will be worth delving into deeper. Did you know, for example, that scientists in York are using 3-D images of virus proteins – you can see one in our main image today, which shows Prof Robards standing in the Innovation Centre at York Science Park with his head obscured by a virus protein image – to better understand how viruses work?

The work of researchers at the Structural Biology Laboratory at the University of York has real implications not only for the fight against viral diseases but also for the development of new medicines.

“Viruses are very good at injecting their DNA into host cells to turn those cells into tiny factories for making more virus,” said the university’s Dr Fred Antson. “This knowledge is critical for finding treatments for viral diseases: but it can also help us adapt organisms to our needs. If we can understand how viruses do this, we can get viruses to inject DNA of our own choosing into cells; turning the cells into tiny factories for making chemicals and medicines that we want.”

Using viruses to help us make medicines: that’s quite some trick.

Do you have an extraordinary image like these?

Most of the images that will go on display during the York Science and Innovation Grand Tour have been provided by researchers, institutes and companies in York that are leading the world in their fields.

York Press: Leaf of Sweet Annine magnified many times

Leaf of Sweet Annie (artemisia annua), magnified many times (Centre for Novel Agricultural Products)

Organisers of the tour are very keen that ordinary people should be involved, too.

That is why they are offering readers of The Press the chance to have their own images included in the tour.

You may – like Yorkshire student Emily Cummins, who a few years ago invented a solar-powered fridge in her grandad’s potting shed – have invented something simple yet extraordinary.

You might work for a local company which is developing something new and different. Or you might know about a great scientist or innovator from York’s past who deserves to take his or her place in the Tour.

York Press: A fractal

A fractal. Photo by James Ratcliffe, assistant head, Bootham School

If so, we would like to hear from you.

The only criteria to enter our competition are that you must have a stunning image (or an idea for one: help is available to make sure the image is good enough); that there is a link with York; and that the image has some scientific, technological, or innovation interest.

Send your images electronically to The Press at photographers@thepress.co.uk

A panel made up of chief feature writer Stephen Lewis and picture editor Martin Oates will choose a shortlist, which will be passed on to organisers of the Science and Innovation Grand Tour.

Submissions that meet all the criteria and are of sufficient quality will be chosen to be included in the Tour. The deadline for entries is Friday, February 24.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Science fact...

YORK is an ancient and beautiful city. But it is also a modern city at the cutting-edge of science and technology.

An outdoor exhibition this summer will use breathtaking images to showcase the groundbreaking research taking place here – everything from the search for new biofuels to cures for cancer and malaria.

We reproduce a few of the images on our centre pages today. Hopefully, they will inspire you. And they should make you even more proud of this amazing city in which we live.

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