Women in science, do it with art

STEM subjects tend to intimidate, seeming inaccessible to the untrained eye. Dr Vanessa Camilleri, Dr Marie Briguglio, and Prof. Cristiana Sebu speak to Becky Catrin Jones about how they are challenging preconceptions by combining science and art at Science in the City, Malta’s national science festival.

It’s 2018. We live in a world where saliva samples sent out from the comfort of our own homes return to us with a sprawling outline of our ancestry and where some of the biggest social media influencers are robots. Despite this progress, utter the word ‘scientist’ and the outdated image of men in white lab coats still abound.

When advances in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) direct almost every aspect of life, why is it that so many still switch off the minute we mention science?

Researchers haven’t always had the best PR. In films and TV, science is often portrayed as a foreign language, gibberish to most. Real life is not always that much better, with some researchers needing to carry a jargon-busting dictionary around to translate what they study. To improve its reputation, we need a more creative approach that can break these stereotypes and bring science to the masses in a way that doesn’t send people running for the hills.

Science in the City (SitC), Malta’s science and arts festival, is the perfect opportunity for researchers at the University of Malta (UM) to bring their research to citizens in a way that doesn’t need subtitles.

Prof. Cristiana Sebu

Professor Cristiana Sebu (Department of Mathematics, UM) joined UM only three years ago, but has already made a firm mark. With a background in Applied Mathematics, she moved to the university as an Associate Professor, setting up a new course stream for undergraduate students in Biomathematics. Sebu’s interests lie in the practical applications of mathematics, particularly in biology, and in exploring how mathematics underpins essentially everything in life. ‘The links between mathematics and biology are strong,’ Sebu asserts. ‘We need to be able to make predictions and apply mathematical modelling to understand complex and intertwined biological systems such as signalling pathways in the body or ecosystems in the environment.’

That said, Sebu is still very aware that her love for mathematics is not often shared by the wider world. The word ‘mathematics’, however applied it might be, still strikes fear into the hearts of many. In an effort to counter this reaction and replace it with a more positive one, Sebu is joining the myriad of researchers at SitC and adding music to the mix.

‘Maths provides the building blocks and the structure of music,’ says Sebu. ‘Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven, and so many more used a mathematical pattern known as the Fibonacci Series in their scores.’ The Fibonacci sequence is an infinite pattern of numbers where the next number is the sum of the two previous ones, going from 1, to 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, where (1+1) = 2, (1+2) = 3, and so on. This sequence is closely related to what’s known as the Golden Ratio, an infinite number which can be found in so many examples throughout nature, from the composition of bee colonies to the shape of seashells and the patterns in sunflower seeds.

Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven, and so many more used a mathematical pattern known as the Fibonacci Series in their scores.

To highlight this elegance, Sebu has teamed up with jazz composer Diccon Cooper. The performance, entitled ‘Jazzing the Golden Ratio’, will feature presentations of the Golden Ratio in art, the environment, and the human body, accompanied by Fibonacci-inspired jazz music specially commissioned for the festival. Sebu herself will also be there, sharing her thoughts about the significance of this pattern in the world around us. ‘People see arts and science at odds, but the two are very much embedded in each other,’ Sebu states. ‘Hopefully we’ll be able to demonstrate the beauty of mathematics at Science in the City this year.’

Dr Vanessa Camilleri

The significance of this connection between arts and science is a notion shared by Dr Vanessa Camilleri (Faculty of ICT, UM). After working on a project combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) with behavioural studies at Coventry University, Camilleri found a niche research environment using immersive technology and design to influence our decisions and behaviours. Returning to the UM, she worked on a Virtual Reality (VR) headset allowing teachers to experience what it might be like for a child with autism in a classroom.

‘Unless you experience something, it’s very difficult to reach a deep level of empathy,’ Camilleri said of the idea behind the project. ‘We wanted to give [teachers] the opportunity to build new memories through VR, and help them understand the needs of the child in greater detail.’

For SitC this year, Camilleri is taking a different approach. The VR headsets are having the night off, and attendees will need nothing but their smartphones to see science brought to life in artistic form. Using Alternative Reality (AR) methods, she’s collaborating with artists Matthew Attard and Matthew Galea to bring a fourth Triton to the fountain for one night only through a project funded by Valletta 2018. By downloading the smartphone app, attendees will see the new fountain brought to life through their phones. In the build-up to the festival, the artists are using eye-motion tracking and heat mapping sensors on volunteers to see which bits of the current statue draw their attention. This is then translated into the final depiction, making the fourth Triton as eye-catching as the current three.

Prof. Cristiana Sebu

Lecturer Dr Marie Briguglio (Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy, UM) is also hoping to use art to bring her subject to life, albeit in a more sober manner. As a behavioural economist, Briguglio’s focus is on a population’s impact on environment and how we can police this. In particular, at SitC, she wishes to convey the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’—the notion that free or common assets such as public space or air are likely to be exploited by the masses due to sense of entitlement combined with lack of responsibility.

To do this, Briguglio recruited the expertise of Steve Bonello, a cartoonist with a political bent. ‘Working out how best to design environmental regulation underpins much of the research I am involved in. But it’s also very evident in many of the cartoons Steve draws,’ says Briguglio. ‘I soon realized that there was enough material to write a book.’ And so they did, combining the work of faculty with cartoons to produce the comic The Art of Polluting.

Home truths about how we personally damage the world we live in might not make for easy reading, but Briguglio hopes the fusion between arts and science will make this message easier to swallow. ‘It is intended to bring to light research on environmental pressures, status, and responses in a manner that is accessible and also fun.’ The book itself will be displayed as part of a larger instalment titled No Man’s Land, which will include a live action play, more detailed research, and even a free tree-planting stall.

Putting research on the main stage is no new concept to any of these three, and this year’s SitC is certainly not their first venture into science communication. The projects they’ve put forward have all stemmed from previous public engagement ideas. Camilleri worked with the same artists on an AR feature about Greek Mythology, and she regularly translates her research for mass media. A science communication event, Go For Research, which was spearheaded by the Faculty of Science and Directorate of Curriculum Management and aimed at the Junior Science Olympiads was where Sebu’s idea for highlighting the beauty of mathematics was born.

The passion for their subjects is infectious in all three researchers. Each one listed the prospect of inspiring their audience as their top goal for the festival. Shaking up science communication by presenting it in a way we wouldn’t expect, through musical maths, theatrical economics, and artistic AI, provides an opportunity for researchers and citizens alike to see science through a new lens. One where progress seems brighter and kinder.

  Author: Becky Catrin Jones

Saving shark babies

Sharks are a vital part of marine ecology, keeping everything beneath them in the food chain in check. But they’re being caught and consumed at an alarming rate, and people aren’t even realising it. Randel Kreitsberg writes about Sharklab Malta founder Greg Nowell’s work in raising awareness and preserving these fantastic creatures.

I’ll pick you up at 2.45,’ Greg says casually. ‘AM?’ ‘Yes,’ he smiles.

There is a one hour gap, between three and four in the morning, before the Pixkerija (fish market) in Marsa opens to the public. This is the time when fishermen arrive with their catch, but their clients, chefs and managers of Maltese restaurants, have yet to appear.

It is also when Greg Nowell, founder of the Sharklab Malta elasmobranch conservation group, and a small crowd of volunteers inspect the shelves and boxes of fresh catch. They’re looking for two local catshark species—nursehounds and lesser spotted catsharks—so they can cut them open and save the viable eggs still inside the females in the hopes of releasing them back into the wild.

  AN ENGLISHMAN’S LIVING ROOM

Greg Nowell is a diver whose ‘regular’ job involves electronics quality auditing and building renovation works. In 2011, while at a local fish market, Greg noticed something unusual. One of the catsharks on sale had an egg protruding from it. ‘I took it out, and it looked intact. I could see there was something inside,’ he says. He decided to put the egg in an aquarium to see what would happen, and while the shark pup inside developed successfully over the course of a few weeks, it eventually died before the two month mark. Looking back, Nowell can confidently say now that it had everything to do with temperature.

‘Originally, we didn’t know all the parameters we needed to develop the eggs. Temperature was the big eureka moment. Most of the eggs collected during the year’s early months started to develop nicely, but after some time most of them simply stopped – until we installed the cooling system! Now if we have an egg that starts to develop, it has a 95% chance of making back into the sea,’ Nowell says proudly.

It took two years to successfully release the first market-sourced shark pup. Nowell released the baby himself. ‘I don’t know if it was saltwater in my mask or tears—it was beautiful!’ More than 280 shark babies have been released into our seas since then.

  MOVING ON

Today, a lot has changed. The Sharklab team and volunteers proactively check all the egglaying shark species in fish markets before they’re sold. The shark pup aquariums have also moved out of Nowell’s living room and into tanks in the Malta National Aquarium, where citizens can learn and foster an appreciation for them.

While the initial plan for our interview was to go to the fish market and save the eggs still alive in the female sharks, a storm put an end to those plans. The fishermen couldn’t go out to sea, so we made our way to the Malta National Aquarium instead.

The aquarium looks different from others I have visited over the years. Yes, there are some tropical species and colourful Japanese Koi Carps, but the majority of species there are local. This includes 20 to 30 cm nursehound pups and their empty egg-cases. It immediately strikes me that the focus of the aquarium is conservation and education, rather than the display of pretty fish.

Sharklab science officer Lydia Koehler praises the national aquarium for their support. She emphasises that with the help of the national aquarium, other countries are following suit and scavenging viable eggs from caught female sharks. Currently, there is a Sharklab in Bosnia Herzegovina, founded with Sharklab Malta, as well as activities in Spain and Greece, which are making strides. ‘In Spain they have a lot of Blackmouth Catsharks,’ Koehler says. ‘They had their first release couple of weeks ago.’

  WHAT CAN WE DO?

‘A major part of what Sharklab Malta does is raise awareness and educate people,’ Koehler says. ‘And we have seen a change amongst younger people, appreciating the animals for what they are.’ But there are challenges too. ‘There is a generational gap,’ she notes. ‘Some older people don’t go into the water because there could be sharks in it. They are still very afraid of them.’

At the same time, shark is still a popular menu item with locals and tourists, which is why populations are heavily exploited in Malta. Koehler says that the volume of catches is astounding. ‘The first few times you go to the fish market, you don’t actually realise how many sharks they bring back. That was one thing that really shocked me. Especially for the small spotted catsharks. They come in boxes of 40 to 60 individual sharks. Once we saw them bring in 40 boxes in one day.’

Koehler says that most people don’t even know they are consuming shark. ‘Traditional Maltese fish soup, aljotta, often has several different species of shark in it,’ she says. ‘The issue is people don’t call them sharks—they call it fish soup. If you ask people whether or not they eat shark, their reply is: no, we don’t. But if you ask: do you eat mazzola? The reply is yes. They don’t know sharks are used in it,’ Koehler says, joking then that we should give up mazzola for good.

But there is more to Sharklab than the sharks themselves, Nowell notes. Towards the end of our trip to the aquarium, he highlights the need for better ecosystem management. ‘The animals, as fascinating as they are, live in an environment,’ he says. That itself deserves attention.

‘Plastic is a major issue for all marine life, and if you start affecting any part of it, you’re affecting sharks,’ Nowell says. ‘We also need to be knowledgeable about the species we’re consuming. Overexploitation of fish species because we like to eat them has a direct impact on sharks, because they can get caught accidentally as bycatch.’ Being apex predators, sharks have a critical role in maintaining the species below them in the food chain. They remove the weak and sick individuals, all while keeping competitors balanced to ensure species diversity. Sharks are essential for ocean health, and they have to be protected.

There is much to be done. And there are lots of opportunities to get started, as Nowell and his volunteers have clearly shown by empowering themselves and taking action. But as with every environmental issue, larger numbers make the loudest noise. And so it always boils down to a very simple question: Do we care enough to add our voices to the call?

  Author: Randel Kreitsberg