It doesn’t seem to me like the subject of a press release as there are no other stories about it in other papers or the Birmingham website. I’ve asked Tom how it came about and will report back.

 

In the meantime, I still don’t see any harm.

 

If you want to know more about laser cooling, Wikipedia has a nice article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling

9DP – I agree it’s unclear without units, but presumably means it measures in N/kg and writing ‘can measure micro Newtons per kilogram’ won’t mean much to a general audience. Using DP gives a general indication of sensitivity, it’s not supposed to be a technical specification.

Oil and magma – I don’t see the harm in Dr Bong speculating on potential uses, and the oil industry is surely a lucrative endpoint if he wants to commercialise

 

The only glaring anomalies were the ‘magnetic’ mentions that have already been corrected.

 

Given the number of spurious health stories that one can find on high-traffic websites like MailOnline, I suppose I’m not sure why this quirky and fairly innocuous article has been singled out as an example of bad practice.

 

H

 

 

 

Aaron,

 

That’s good, as it was exactly what set alarm bells ringing for me in the first place.

 

I’d add a few more thoughts though:

 

1.       “Laser cooling” ??? the accompanying diagram showed supercooled atoms dropping in a vacuum – with lasers used to measure their acceleration !!!  OK, someone might have done something really cool (pun intended), but using lasers to cool things down? To supercooled (i.e. presumably within sight of zero K)? Really?  WOW!  If this is right, then I really want to know more about it!

2.       Accurate to 9 decimal places – how many significant figures is that if the effect is really, really tiny in the first place? 2? 1? Or less?

3.       Pockets of oil and magma flows – this feels like adding something to transform the mundane (roadworks) into something exciting (volcanoes).  The effect (for me) however is to diminish the credibility of the piece as a whole as it leaves me thinking that someone has over-egged it.

 

If anyone has a copy of any original press release I’d be interested to see it as I’d like to understand the chain of events that led to an article like this being printed.

 

From a science communication perspective though, surely the lesson is to make absolutely sure of your facts.  I am certainly not an expert in this field, but if I (and presumably many others) can see glaring anomalies then the article is likely to do more damage than good to the reputation of its author and possibly the scientists / institutions involved and science generally.  Science deserves better.  Publishing corrections is welcome, but a very poor substitute for getting it right first time.

 

David Nutting

 

 

It's worth noting a correction in this article.

The article conflates magnetic and gravitational fields. I contacted Tom about this and he immediately acknowledged the error (citing a 4 week old child as a possible reason!). The online edition was changed and a correction is printed in today's print edition.

For 'magnetic' or 'electromagnetic', read 'gravitational' throughout.

Aaron Boardley
Press & Communications Officer

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-----Original Message-----
From: Dayantis, Harry [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 November 2015 09:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] I'd be interested to know what people think of this article

I think it's a fun story, and the article makes it clear that the technique is a good while away from actual implementation. It's quirky and a bit tongue-in-cheek, I don't see any harm.

Best,
Harry

Harry Dayantis
Media Relations Manager
Medical Sciences, Brain Sciences, Population Health Sciences UCL Media Relations, Communications & Marketing Office, 4th Floor Bidborough House, 38-50 Bidborough Street London WC1H 9BT
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Nutting
Sent: 16 November 2015 20:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] I'd be interested to know what people think of this article

I've quoted below the text of a short article - published in today's national press - which might therefore be read by a fairly large number of the general public. I'd be interested to know what those in the SciComm community think of it.

David Nutting

**************************************************************

How the Earth's magnetic field could put an end to roadworks

Tom Whipple
Science Editor

There are two reliable ways to map the position of pipes and electricity cables before major construction work starts.

The first — favoured by councils throughout Britain — is to take a pneumatic drill to the road or pavement and have a look below.

The second is to suspend a supercooled atom above the ground, drop it in a vacuum, monitor its progress with a laser and measure the minuscule fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field caused by underground pipes.

British scientists are hoping to convince councils of the advantages of the atomic technique over the dig-it-up-and-have-a-look method by developing a portable "gravimeter", so sensitive that it can measure changes in gravity to nine decimal places.

"Less than 50 per cent of urban infrastructure is noted down on maps," Kai Bongs, from Birmingham University, said. "That's why people dig when they put down new constructions — they don't want to drill into a gas line."

He said the savings by using a gravimeter and not having to dig could amount to billions of pounds a year.

The key is to measure gravity accurately enough. For a force that determines the motion of the heavens, gravity is extremely weak. Although everything with mass exerts gravity, objects generally have to be the size of a planet before you notice it. But by harnessing sophisticated quantum mechanical techniques, Professor Bongs, working with the National Physical Laboratory in southwest London, believes that they are close to developing their gravimeter into something portable that can spot tiny changes in density to "see" below the ground — all by observing the behaviour of individual atoms.

Normally atoms whizz around at hundreds of miles an hour, Professor Bongs said, but by using laser cooling physicists are able to control them. "We can get hold of them in space, isolate them in a vacuum and use them," he said. Gravity can then be measured by seeing its effect on a single atom, and if the ground is slightly less dense, items such as a pipe will show up.

The problem with a device that sensitive is that it is difficult to ensure that what you are measuring is gravity. When the scientists tested the device, near Stonehenge, they found mysterious regular oscillations. Eventually they realised it was waves hitting the beach 30 miles away.

The solution is to have two different "clouds" of atoms a distance apart, using the paired readings to cancel out non-gravitational effects. Then, by moving the device over the ground you can map what is underneath it in ways that are not possible with radar or electromagnetic devices.

"With radar it depends very much on ground conditions. If it is wet you can't penetrate very far. For things that are not conducting, like plastic pipes, you also don't get a large electromagnetic signal," he said. Even in good conditions, neither technique can look very deep.

This means, he hopes, that by making a cheap portable device there could be applications even more important than stopping your road getting dug up — from finding pockets of oil left in wells to monitoring magma flows to predict the scale of volcanic eruptions.

The Times
16th November 2015
Page 27

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