British achievements in science and technology

     Much of cancer research today is dominated by a revolutionary new concept of the control of the development of the human body, which explains cancer as very largely a complex genetic disease and opens up completely new prospects for its treatment. The new concept is that of apoptosis; programmed cell death. The theory of apoptosis was pioneered by Professor Andrew Wyllie of Edinburgh University in Scotland, and developed by Professor Martin Raff of University College London, both noted centres for the biological sciences. The idea underlying apoptosis is that most of the shaping of the human body and other bodies as they develop, is done by throwing away unwanted cells by effectively ordering them to commit suicide. All cells turn out to contain suicide kits which are activated if the cells fail to receive constant messages telling them to stay alive [20, p. 268].

     Perhaps the most important single breakthrough in this field has come from Professor David Lane of Dundee University in Scotland, another leading centre for research into human molecular genetics. He discovered a now-famous gene named p53 which has the job of ensuring that cells which begin to become cancerous are swiftly ordered to undergo apoptosis. Pharmaceutical companies are now working with David Lane and others to develop ways to restore p53's activity in cancer cells and thus to make them commit suicide. Researchers at the Marie Curie Research Institute at Sutton, Surrey have already found ways to introduce functional p53 into cells where it is missing or defective. The hope is that new drugs that induce apoptosis will be more effective and have fewer side effects than existing chemotherapy for cancer. 
 

     3.2 Genetics 
 

     New treatments for genetic diseases, gene therapies, are now emerging from this and other research. One of the most exciting is the work of Professor Kay Davies of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford on the progressive muscle-weakening genetic disease muscular dystrophy, which is caused by defects in a gene that normally produces a vital protein called dystrophin. Professor Davies has shown that another protein, utrophin, can substitute for dystrophin if the dystrophin gene is defective, as it is in muscular dystrophy. She and others are now developing a new form of gene therapy in which utrophin production is switched on to take the place of missing or defective dystrophin.

     Cystic fibrosis, CF, another common genetic disease is also under attack by British gene therapies. CF affects the channels through which water and chloride normally move in and out of cells, causing damage to the lungs, pancreas, gut and sweat glands.

     Scientists in two research teams in the UK; a combined team from Leeds, Manchester, Cambridge and Oxford and one from St Mary's Hospital and the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, are now testing gene therapy in which the correct version of the gene which is defective in CF is delivered into the lungs in tiny oily droplets called liposomes. Tests of the technique are entering an advanced stage at the time of writing.

     At another leading medical research centre, the Clinical Sciences Centre in the Hammersmith Hospital, London, Professor Karol Sikora is testing advanced gene therapies for breast cancer. In one of these, patients are treated with cell-killing drugs which are only switched on in cancer cells, not in normal cells. Results are promising though research is at an early stage [16, p. 351].

     But Perhaps the most important modern contribution to the world genetics was cloning Dolly the sheep. Dolly the sheep may have been the world's most famous clone, but she was not the first. Cloning creates a genetically identical copy of an animal or plant. Many animals - including frogs, mice, and cows - had been cloned before Dolly. Plants are often cloned – taking a cutting produces a clone of the original plant. Human identical twins are also clones.

     Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, rather than an embryo. This was a major scientific achievement, but also raised ethical concerns. Since 1996, when Dolly was born, other sheep have been cloned from adult cells, as have mice, rabbits, horses and donkeys, pigs, goats and cattle. In 2004 a mouse was cloned using a nucleus from an olfactory neuron, showing that the donor nucleus can come from a tissue of the body that does not normally divide [17, p. 269].

     Animal cloning from an adult cell is obviously much more complex and difficult than growing a plant from a cutting. So when scientists working at the Roslin Institute in Scotland produced Dolly, the only lamb born from 277 attempts, it was a major news story around the world.

     To produce Dolly, the scientists used the nucleus of an udder cell from a six-year-old Finn Dorset white sheep. The nucleus contains nearly all the cell's genes. They had to find a way to “reprogram” the udder cells - to keep them alive but stop them growing – which they achieved by altering the growth medium (the ‘soup’ in which the cells were kept alive). When the research team had managed to fuse the nucleus from the adult white sheep cell with the egg cell from the black-faced sheep, they needed to make sure that the resulting cell would develop into an embryo. They cultured it for six or seven days to see if it divided and developed normally, before implanting it into a surrogate mother, another Scottish Blackface ewe. Dolly had a white face.

     Dolly, lived a pampered existence at the Roslin Institute. She mated and produced normal offspring in the normal way, showing that such cloned animals can reproduce. Born on 5 July 1996, she was euthanased on 14 February 2003, aged six and a half. Sheep can live to age 11 or 12, but Dolly suffered from arthritis in a hind leg joint and from sheep pulmonary adenomatosis, a virus-induced lung tumour to which sheep raised indoors are prone. Dolly was as far as could be established perfectly well. She remained healthy until Monday the 10th February 2003 when an animal care worker reported that he had noted Dolly coughing. Full veterinary examinations and blood tests were conducted but failed to establish a diagnosis [19, p. 83]. Further investigations were necessary and with the kind cooperation of the Scottish College of Agriculture and CT (computer tomography) scan was carried out on Friday the 14th February 2003. The scan confirmed worst fears, tumours were growing in Dolly’s lung. Since a general anaesthetic had been necessary to perform the CT scan it was decided that it would be best if Dolly did not regain consciousness and an overdose of an anaesthetic agent was administered to end her life.

     Dolly’s life and the development of gene therapy in Britain has led to new ways to produce medicines and is improving our understanding of development and genetics. 
 

     3.3 Botany and agriculture 
 

     A massive hunt for genes that code for agronomically important traits in crops and livestock is now in progress in the UK. The GAIT (Genomic Analysis Agriculturally Important Traits) programme involves at least fourteen British research institutions. It includes support for a collaborative program between the Roslin Institute and the Long Ashton Research station. The research is intended to develop an automated system for selecting the best new combinations of genes for pigs, and for studies at the Institute for Animal Health into genes that confer resistance to disease, including salmonella.

     Oxford University scientists have found a way to alter the starch content of potatoes which is expected to lead to healthier chips, as well as to potatoes of higher nutritional value. Dr Steven Hill of the Oxford Department of Plant Sciences has discovered a way to lower the levels of an enzyme which is responsible for the process of respiration in the potato. This then causes a change in a signal, which 'tells' the potato that it needs more starch than it would normally make [18, p. 11]. 

     3.4 Engineering and technology 

     The solution to many of the problems of the next century will be delivered through engineering and the physical sciences, says Professor Richard Brook, Chief Executive of Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The energy problems will return. The environment is going to be even more taxed. As well as being central to fields such as the recycling of wastes, engineers are becoming increasingly involved in surgery and medicine, and with the living world, through research into the valuable engineering properties of living materials.

     A research group at University College London's Centre for Biomedical Engineering is measuring the daily strains endured by human knee joints during normal activities, so as to apply their findings to develop longer lasting, more effective artificial knee joints. The team have developed measurement techniques which can test artificial joints in the patient as well as in the laboratory. Knee joints suffer severe stress during normal human activities. It has been estimated that we put an average loading of almost three times our body weight on our knee joints, about two million times every year [3, p. 629]. By using a completely original approach the team at UCL has been able to measure the true twisting, shear and compressive forces acting on the knee joint in a wide range of activities.

     The forces have been revealed by an instrumented artificial knee joint used as part of a femur replacement in surgical treatment of a case of bone cancer. The artificial joint contains transducers which can measure to forces involved, together with the electronics required to translate them into digital signals, transmitted to a computer for analysis. This research has already led to the development of a new type of knee joint, with a greater load bearing surface area which reduces wear.

     In 2002 the European Community will ban the disposal of tyres in landfill sites. In 2005 shredded tyre rubber will also be barred from burial in landfill. British engineers have developed a new product, called Sureflex, which is designed to act as an impact-absorbing surface for children's playgrounds, sports surfaces and light railway lines. If successful, the product could account for a large proportion of scrap rubber tyre within the next decade [12, p. 283].

     Metrology, the science of measurement, is vital to modern high technology manufacturing. Engineers at Loughborough University of Technology have developed a new type of laser measurement system, which can measure vibrations, accelerations and shocks much more effectively than other methods. The system is designed to be easy to use, with no special laser expertise required, and has enormous potential in the automotive and aerospace industries.

     British conventional computer designers are working to reduce the size of electronic components to that of single molecules, thereby producing smaller machines that work much faster. But those working in the strange new world of quantum computing aim to encode information in single atoms.

     The concept of quantum computing was pioneered in the UK and is now being developed in several British centres including the National Physical Laboratory, British Telecom's laboratories and Imperial College in London. Dr David Deutsch of Oxford University, who pioneered the idea of quantum computing in the 1980s, believes that it not only promises a super-fast way to perform computations for ordinary computing purposes, it will also eventually become necessary if we are really to understand the universe. The universe is made up of quantum particles and fields which ultimately may only be interpreted by quantum computing [16, p. 230]. 
 

     3.5 Air and space exploration 
 

     First innovation in air-travel industry was closely connected with military technologies, sea-traveling and the First World War. In 1914 British engineers launched HMS Ark Royal, the world's first aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier was a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.

     Britain was fascinated by the possibilities of air travel. In 1804 George Cayley flew the first successful model glider. In 1843 William Henson patented plans for a steam-driven airplane that had many of the basic parts of a modern airplane. In 1848 John Stringfellow built a plane based on Henson's design, and launched it, briefly. Then in 1903, in America, Orville and Wilbur Wright built and flew the first engine-powered, heavier-than-air plane. Sixteen years later, after enormous advances in plane design, Brits began flying commercial passenger flights. In 1919, the first regular commercial passenger flights in the world take off from London’s international air terminal at Croydon. By 1926, commercial and passenger planes were flying between London and India.

     In 1952 first commercial jetliner was launched. The de Havilland Comet flies into history as the world's first commercial jet airliner. The airplane experiences metal fatigue, is redesigned in 1955, and continues to serve passengers until 1980 [8, p. 122].

     In 1960 Sidney Camm, Ralph Hooper, and Stanley Hooker invented a vertical take-off aircraft that could soar straight up into the sky. Rather than using rotors or a direct jet thrust, they built an innovative vectored thrust turbofan engine. Their invention allowed aircraft to take off from sites without runways. Harriers are used effectively in the Falklands War, and could be used for rescues in dangerous emergencies.

     The famous Concorde plane was a project of an Anglo-French government. It was a a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner. British engineers build Concorde's distinctive drooped wing, fuselage and cockpit. Its safety record is unblemished until 2002. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde. Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of dangerous tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially-developed burst-resistant tyres [13, p. 769].On 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following the 25 July 2000 crash, the slump in air travel following the 11 September attacks and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747.

     What concerns space exploration, Britain has The British Space Program. It is a plan by the UK government and other interested bodies to promote British participation in the international market for satellite launches, satellite construction and other space endeavours. Significantly, however, it has never been government policy to create a British astronaut corps or to place a Briton on the Moon. Instead the focus has been on unmanned satellite launches. Unfortunately British government does not fund the International Space Station. 
 

     3.6 Military technologies 
 

     Many people consider military inventions anathaema, and hardly the best work produced by anybody. However, without them civilized people would die at the hands of barbarians.

     In 1914, Britain launch HMS Ark Royal, the world's first aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier was a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.

     In the late 1930s the British Government becomes interested in developing a method for locating moving objects like airplanes. Robert Watson-Watt suggests using radio waves for echolocation, and radar (RAdio Detection and Ranging) is born. To find an object with echolocation, a signal must be transmitted. Since the velocity of radio waves (equivalent to the speed of light) is a constant, the distance and location of an object is obtained by measuring the time it takes for a radio signal to travel out and bounce back and the direction from which it is reflected. This information is collected and displayed on a cathode-ray screen.

     The threat of attack by air accelerates research. Radio location stations are built to throw an invisible net of radio waves over Britain. What the system needs is a multicavity magnetron (the first practical microwave transmitter). Harry Boot and John Randall invent it. The system is up and running just before waves of Nazi German bombers assault Britain. The Nazi Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the Royal Air Force, but the radar shield helped to foil the Nazis by locating their planes. This helped tip the balance for the outnumbered British pilots [7, p. 429].

     After the war for years many different people had tried to design a vehicle that would travel over land or water by hovering on the cushion of air created by its engines. They had not met with success. Christopher Cockerell had spent World War II working on radar systems. After the war, he dedicated himself to inventing a hovercraft, even selling his personal possessions in order to finance his research. He patented his principle in 1952.

     To see a craft travelling on the air above the waves is unusual, and Christopher Cockerell amazes crowds when he demonstrates his hovercraft in person. Is was a craft capable of travelling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." The hovercraft is demonstrated publicly when it crosses the Channel, travelling with aplomb from France to Britain. Almost as surprising, Cockerell donates his rights to the patent to Great Britain [5, p. 612].

     Today hovercraft are used in sport and racing, war conflicts, search and rescue, ice fishing, hunting, surveying, flood control, environmental projects, agriculture, ice breaking, and water transportation. The principle of the air cushion that Cockerell pioneers will be adapted for high-speed trains.

     In 2008 British defense researchers have invented a means to cloak tanks and make them invisible tank. The technology relies on heavy use of camera and projectors. Basically, a camera films the background, which is then projected upon a special surface applied to something in the foreground in this case, a tank [16, p. 172].

     Other achievements of Britain in military technologies include several modifications of grenade launchers, Kalashnikov, CIS 50MG, MG-131 and development of microcomputer-controlled electronics for Swedish Saab 37 Viggen.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     CONCLUSION 
 

     To come to the conclusion I must admit that along with rich history, literature and culture, Britain can be proud for it’s young people and culture they invented. In different periods British youth were at the very heart of the birth of new movements, events, music and subcultures.

     Before the nineteenth century the world got the most influential theorist Isaac Newton and big number of experimenters such as Robert Hooke, Henry Cavendish, William Gilbert and Joseph Priestley. Their discoveries influenced on modern physics, mechanics and natural science. In the nineteenth century Britain changed direction from theoretical thoughts and various experimentations to new technologies and methods of manufacturing in favour of Industrial Revolution. This time has changed manufacturing methods, means of transport and industry to its present look. Since 20^th century Britain has changed scientific direction again and today most of resources drawn into medical, genetic and technological projects.

     On the basis of given information in my opinion Britain is ready to prove its leadership in science and technology nowadays as well as it did it throughout the history. With solid theoretical base, strong government financing and international communications Britain can amaze us with many different discoveries and innovations.

     Of course I couldn’t mention some scientific spheres such as Social Science, Botany, Mathematics and Astronomy in terms of course work. But I tried to choose most interesting information and facts about science in Britain and to present them in simple, clear of lots scientific terms way. I do hope that I’ve coped with my task well and you enjoyed my work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     BIBLIOGRAPHY