University Newsletter: Research

University Newsletter

Ancient Egyptian Beer

The first modern version of ancient Egyptian beer was recently launched after help from a Cambridge researcher. Six years ago, remnants of a massive kitchen complex were discovered at a dig in Tell el Amarna, directed by Barry Kemp, reader at Cambridge. Dr Delwen Samuel, an archaeobotanist was called in to analyse beer-making equipment, as well as beer vessels from ordinary houses in the city. Dr Samuel looked at starch remnants in the vessels using a scanning electron microscope. It was a lengthy matter of reconstructing the recipe, gathering the same ingredients and using the techniques known to have existed over 3250 years ago.

A special crop of emmer was grown, a now rare grain but the only wheat used by the ancient Egyptians. Then it was a matter of finding suitable flavourings, since hops were not used by the Egyptians. Dr Samuel and the brewery hit upon coriander, a herb common to the Nile region, and a flavour that balanced the malted emmer remarkably well. When she was satisfied with the recipe, Scottish and Newcastle took the bold decision to make a limited amount of beer for public consumption. 'Tut's Ale' was launched with an initial run of 1000 bottles, at £50 a bottle. Proceeds will aid further archaeology in Egypt.

Supercomputer Coup

Cambridge is to get state-of-the-art computer power and will be the first place outside Japan with Hitachi's massively parallel high performance computer. It will be one of the most powerful computers in the United Kingdom. The new supercomputer, Hitachi's Massively Parallel Processor SR2201, which is due to be installed in September 1996. It will have a theoretical peak performance of 29 Gflops and an aggregate main memory in excess of 24 GBytes.

Tackling real world problems often involves the creation of extremely complex models for trying out and testing ideas and theories - for example, modelling combustion or investigating earthquakes requires the handling of huge amounts of data and extensive computation to understand the interplay between the many different aspects of these physical systems. Access to a computer which can process large quantities of data is crucial if Cambridge researchers from a wide variety of departments are to remain at the leading edge of scientific and technological development.

Co-ordinating Cambridge's efforts to get state of the art computer technology is Dr Ian Drummond of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Professor Volker Heine, who heads the Theory of Condensed Matter Group at the world-famous Cavendish Laboratory, says: "With this supercomputer, my colleagues and I can continue our work at the cutting-edge of computer modelling of real materials. This offers new insights at the frontiers of Virtual Reality - seeing matter from inside the quantum world and opening up a whole new approach to materials science."

Technology Foresight

Cambridge won five out of twenty four prestigious Foresight Awards, chosen from over 500 bids and intended to stimulate partnerships between science and business to act on market and technology priorities. In the Chemicals Category, Dr Peter Leadlay of the Department of Biochemistry who will lead a consortium, awarded £1 million, for a project researching into the manufacture of drugs from natural products. For example, they will be investigating using the polyketides found in soil bacteria for anti-cancer, cholesterol lowering and anti-fungal drugs.

Professor Colin Humphreys, of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and his team has been awarded £1.44 million to use computer modelling to design completely new materials that will withstand ultra-high temperatures for use in faster planes. The project team hope that the technology can be transferred to the energy industry to increase efficiency of power plants by 50%, reducing costs and pollution.

In the Health, Life Sciences and Food category, a new centre for research into strokes will be established in a joint project between the University's Clinical School, SmithKline Beecham and Beecham Pharmaceuticals. The consortium wins £3.99 million towards a £16 million project for an initiative into understanding the cause and consequences of stroke.

Virtual reality experts at the Computer Laboratory will be collaborating with the National Film and Television School and the University of the West of England, on highly sophisticated multi-media techniques to produce three-D imaging for the film and television industry. Professor Stewart Lee of Cambridge explains that this takes digital technology into a completely new dimension. The project will be led by the NFTS and wins £2 million from the Foresight Awards.

Professor Alan Windle, of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and his team win £1.03 million towards a £2.36 million project for designing advanced polymers using computer technology. Sophisticated polymers are expensive to make, but computer simulations allow an understanding of how successful the plastics will be before making them up.

ROPA

Cambridge has done well in the second round of the Realising Our Potential Awards (ROPA) amid more fierce competition this year. Over 900 proposals were received by the research councils and twenty two awards in all were made to Cambridge, seven of these going to physicists. With all the awards combined, Cambridge won the biggest share of the financial pot, gaining £1.55 million.

The awards are intended for basic research in areas of industrial interest with further empahsis on 'blue skies' work this year. Researchers also needed to show industrial income of £25,000.

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