BBC Science Focus - 02.2020

Q&A

GETTY IMAGES X6, ALAMY X2 ILLUSTRATIONS: DAN BRIGHT

CARLSBERGBEERAND

GEORGEBUSH SR?

WHAT CONNECTS

3. Theelementtotheleofbohriumin
   theperiodictableis seaborgium(Sg ).It
   wasdiscoveredbyandnamedaer
   AmericannuclearchemistGlenn
   Seaborg– thefirsttimeanelement
   had been named aer a living scientist.

4.SeaborgwontheNobelPrizein

Chemistryin 1951 forhispartinthe

discoveryof 10 elements,andservedas

a scienceadviserto 10 USpresidents–

fromFranklin Roosevelt to George

Bush Sr.

1. TheCarlsberg
   brewerysponsored
   theresearchof
   DanishphysicistNiels
   Bohr,whowonthe
   NobelPrizeinPhysics
   in1922.Tohonourhis
   achievements,in 1932
   Carlsberggavehima
   housewithfreebeer
   ontap,pipeddirectly
   fromthebrewery
   next door.
   2. Bohrhadanelementoftheperiodic
   tablenamedaerhim– bohrium(Bh).
   Bohrhimselfplayednopartinits
   discovery,though,andtheelement was
   named 35 years aer his death.

SCOTTROGERS,SHEFFIELD

WHY ARE CCTV IMAGES STILL SO RUBBISH?

ThenumberofCCTVcamerasintheUKhas

beenestimatedatuptosixmillion,mostof

whichareinstalledinprivatehomesand

businesses.AllCCTVcameras– whetherthe

older,analoguetypeorthemoremodern,

digitalones– havetomaketrade-os

betweenpicturequality,storageandcost.

Therearearound13,000camerasinLondon

Undergroundstationsalone,andthefootage

fromtheseis keptfortwoweeks.Upgrading

all of these to recordat4Kqualityinsteadof

1080pwouldrequireanextra 300 million

gigabytesofstorage,nottomentionthecost

ofthecamerasthemselves.CCTVcameras

alsogenerallyusewide-anglelensestocover

thebroadestpossiblearea.Digitallyzooming

inona singlepersoninthedistanceinevitably

resultsina blurrierimage.Nevertheless,

imagequalityis increasingallthetime,and

imageprocessingsowareandmachine

learningalgorithmscannowrecognise faces

evenfromlow-resolutionvideo.LV

JULIELEWIS,WARRINGTON

WHYDOE SSIT TINGINA

DRAUGHT GIVE ME A BAD NECK?

StudiesintheNetherlands(2002)and

Finland(2009)haveindeedshownthat

draughtscancauseneckpain.Thisis probably

causedbyscrunchingupyourneckand

shoulderstokeepwarm– evenif you’re

unawareyou’redoingthis– whichcanstrain

yourneckmuscles.Noteveryoneexperiences

neckpainfromdraughts,though,andwe’re

notsurewhy.It couldbedowntodierent

musclereactions,thetemperatureof your

surroundings,oreventhatsome

peoplearelesslikely to notice

draughts.HG

CCTV CAMERAS ON THE LONDON UNDERGROUND

Data correct as of May 2019, Source: bit.ly/CCTV_tube