Category: Science & Engineering

CEEFAX, pocket calculators, and the best music ever…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Change, Information Technology, Learning, Life, Science & Engineering, Technology

The postman pushed a package through the letterbox. The delivery of anything by a regular postman is always a surprise these days, especially when no one is expecting it! As the Badger bent down to pick the package up, alarm bells went off in his head as the security training during his career kicked in. Could this be something dangerous? These fleeting thoughts were quickly allayed because there was a return to sender name and address handwritten across the sealed end. It was from an old friend that the Badger had caught up with recently over Zoom. The package was opened to reveal two CD-ROMs holding 40 of his friend’s favourite songs from the 1970s.

The Badger chuckled. His friend is an entertainer who’s passionate about the music of the 1970s, and during our Zoom session we had reminisced about the music and technology of that decade, and our good times together. They had sent the CDs to test if the Badger still has devices that play this ‘old technology’ that first arrived in the early 1980s. The Badger has, and the sounds of the 1970’s filled the home for the rest of the day! Tunes like ‘Mouldy old Dough’ by Lieutenant Pigeon, ‘Sundown’ by Gordon Lightfoot, ‘Joybringer’ by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ by the Rolling Stones’ echoed through the house as a reminder that they were part of the soundtrack to the 1970s decade of innovation and technological change.

The Badger remembers the BBC’s launch of CEEFAX 50 years ago in 1974! It was a world first allowing viewers to access text-based information on their TV sets – an internet before the internet! The same decade saw the arrival of battery-operated pocket electronic calculators, electronic ignition systems becoming standard on cars, microprocessors, the start of Apple and Microsoft, the 747 Jumbo Jet, Concorde commercial flights, MRI machines, the Sony Walkman, barcodes, floppy discs and email. There were countless scientific and technological advances, and also an oil crisis and the emergence of Punk!

Today’s life is dominated by digital technology that was science fiction in the 1970s. Developments since have been phenomenal and made the Badger’s career in IT always interesting, perpetually challenging, rewarding, and full of learning. So, if you are a student about to start, for example, a new year at University, then work hard, be inquisitive, learn as much as you can, extend your interests and boundaries, and remember that the technology you use today will be obsolete before long. Remember that today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s reality, and that good music will be played for decades and transcend the generations. After all, music from bands like Abba, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Queen, Blondie and many more is still popular today proving that the best music ever comes the 1970s!

Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Light underpin the digital world of tomorrow…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Batteries, Change, Education, Information Technology, Learning, Obsolescence, Science & Engineering, Smart & New Technology, Technology, Transformation

A trip to the supermarket provided a reminder that without physics, chemistry, and mathematics none of our modern tech, internet, and online services would exist. Hardly a revelation, but what triggered this heightened awareness? Well, just the simple act of taking a small bag of spent disposable batteries to a recycling bin in the supermarket’s checkout area. The bin was full to overflowing with used disposable batteries from toys, clocks, TV remotes, cordless computer keyboards, wireless mice, and a myriad of other sources that use replaceable batteries as a power source. The act of depositing his spent batteries reminded the Badger that each one is actually a little capsule of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and that our digital world depends on these subjects and batteries of one form or another.

On returning home, the Badger reflected on the science, materials, manufacturing, and recycling of these disposable batteries and whether they’ll ultimately be made redundant by newer power source innovations in the decades ahead. After all, the Titanium Citizen Eco-Drive watch on the Badger’s wrist uses solar and artificial light for power rather than replaceable batteries. It’s a technology that dates back to the mid-1970s, so it’s not new. Furthermore, the 1980s pocket calculator sitting on the Badger’s desk is also solar powered with no replaceable batteries. It’s a memento from a major 1980’s software development project and it works just as well today as it did back then! The Badger thus found himself wondering why power derived from light sources hasn’t rendered the disposable battery redundant in the last 40 years. Well, to make a functionally reliable, manufacturable, commercially viable product that has physics, chemistry, and mathematics at its core takes years of research to come to fruition. The good news is that it looks like lengthy research is bearing fruit and we may soon see a revolution that makes natural and artificial light the power source for a wide range of our devices, see here and here.

We should not be surprised that the coming years are likely to see a significant change in how our in-home devices, smart tech, and personal computing devices are powered. The use of replaceable batteries looks destined to decline. There’ll ultimately be no more charging cables, and no more trips to the supermarket to recycle spent batteries! Things, of course, are never that clear cut, but if light photons hitting panels on a home’s roof can generate electricity for household use, then it’s inevitably just a matter of time before light will power our gadgets and render disposable batteries redundant.

Fundamentally, power sources – and everything else in our modern digital world – are determined by physics, chemistry, mathematics and years of research. We should never shy away from being educated in these subjects because they – and light – are the seeds that will determine whatever we want the digital world of the future to be…

Contracted working hours, and achieving your potential…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Education, Human Resources, Information Technology, Leadership & Management, Science & Engineering, Wellbeing

The UK’s A-Level exam period is underway and runs until the end of June.  Students sitting these exams receive their results in the middle of August. It’s an intense time, especially for those who’ve applied for University and need to achieve certain grades to confirm a place on their preferred course. According to UCAS, the proportion of UK 18-year-olds applying for University this year stands at 41.3%. That’s up from 38.2% in 2019, but marginally down on 41.5% for 2023. Since last year, however, applications for engineering/technology courses, and mathematical sciences/computing courses, have increased by 10% and 7%, respectively. The Badger thinks that’s a good thing. These subjects are, after all, at the heart of our lives on this planet. Whether we like it or not, it’s science, engineering, maths, and computing  that make everything possible.

While chatting to a teacher recently, their passionate focus on their pupils and desire for good exam results was strongly evident. In particular, they mentioned that seeing their students attain or exceed expectations in their exams was a source of great personal reward for their teaching over the school year. The teacher had strong opinions, one being that people don’t really appreciate that the hours worked by teachers far outweigh those stipulated in their employment contract. ‘That’s actually no different to people working in commercial enterprises; at least you have a long break over the summer’, the Badger commented without thinking. If looks could kill, the Badger would be dead!

The teacher, who’s never worked in a commercial enterprise, was adamant that no one works as hard, or as far beyond the hours stipulated in their employment contract, as teachers. This rankled with the Badger, because it’s not true! An incoming call to the teacher’s smartphone, however, fortuitously stopped the conversation from taking a potentially disagreeable turn. Health professionals in the NHS often convey a view similar to the teacher’s too, but the reality is that many in technical, management, and leadership positions at project, business, and executive levels in commercial operations often work beyond the hours in their employment contract without tangible reward irrespective of greater work-life balance awareness. The performance of their companies would suffer if they didn’t. In fact, research shows it’s the setting and profile of how additional hours are worked that differs greatly between teachers, doctors and their commercial enterprise counterparts, not the actual number of additional hours worked which do not differ vastly.

Well, good luck to those sitting their exams and striving for a place at University. Whatever the outcome, remember one thing. To be successful and have the job satisfaction and the type of rewards you want in your chosen field, an intelligent, hard-working, flexible and can-do ethos will always be a necessary imperative. Working only the hours in an employment contract will rarely help you achieve your full potential…

Dr Who and the batteries…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Automation, Batteries, Electric cars, Information Technology, Life, Science & Engineering, Smart & New Technology, Technology

The first episode of Dr Who aired on television on the 23rd November 1963. The series became part of the Badger’s childhood routine, although it almost didn’t! It aired on Saturday evenings, and initially the Badger’s parents didn’t think it suitable for their children to watch on the family’s black and white television. They capitulated following tantrums by the Badger and his siblings, however, on the understanding that if  we had nightmares then the programme would be excluded from Saturday night viewing. We never had nightmares, but we often cowered behind the sofa when our parents were out of the room and an episode included the Daleks or Cybermen.

As an undergraduate at university years later, watching Dr Who with friends on a communal television in the Students Union was a weekly ritual, one which always led to discussions about the episode’s ‘whimsical science’ in the bar afterwards. One friend, a chemistry student who became an electrochemical research scientist in the battery industry, always asserted that the gadgets in Dr Who, the Daleks, and the Cybermen had one thing in common – a fundamental reliance on batteries! Dr Who’s still on television today and the Badger’s still in contact with his friend. In fact, we chatted recently after the Dr Who 60th anniversary special episodes. His friend asserted the same point about batteries that they’d made all those years ago, and they added that any of Dr Who’s gadgets, cyborgs, or robots that were more than two years old needed charging multiple times a day! Since the Badger’s two-year old smartphone now needs more frequent charging than six months ago, we laughed and agreed that smartphones proved their point!

The physics, materials, chemistry and design of modern batteries is complex. According to his friend, in the coming years we’ll see improvements in how fast batteries can charge and how many charging cycles they can withstand, but not a huge change in how long they can last between charges. If that’s the case then battery life, charging frequency, charging speed and depreciation will be key criteria when buying goods requiring batteries for years to come. Depreciation is an often forgotten but particularly sobering point because after 3 years an iPhone, an Android phone, and a battery electric vehicle will have lost ~50%,  ~75%, and 50% of their initial value, respectively.

Dr Who, of course, doesn’t worry about such things, but for those of us in the real-world batteries and the depreciation of the goods they power are key aspects of modern life and the cost of living. Dr Who is full of creative license and not practical matters like batteries and depreciation, and so it should be! It’s science fiction and highly imaginative escapist entertainment. It should trigger to interesting discussions about ‘whimsical science’ and batteries over a beer in a Student Union bar for years to come…

Science and technology change lives for the better…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Life, Science & Engineering, Technology

In a phone call with the Badger last week, his cousin spoke proudly about their career in oceanographic science and engineering, and of how grateful they were for the science and technology advances of recent decades. His cousin specialised in producing and operating submersibles, and he expressed a little regret that his children had no interest in science and engineering because it was too difficult. We laughed, reminisced about science and technological advances during our lifetime, and jovially agreed that these advances underpinned everything that is good in the world. The conversation subsequently played on the Badger’s mind as he watched the coronation of King Charles III, the first coronation for 70 years, over the weekend.

Life was very different in 1953 when the last coronation took place. Rock and roll was in its infancy, music was listened to on radios or gramophones playing 78rpm discs, and only 10% of UK households had telephones. Central heating was a rarity and coal was the dominant fuel for heating homes. The rationing of petrol and sugar following World War II had just been lifted, the first commercial jet airliner service was barely a year old, and the USA announced it had a thermonuclear weapon. The only way of looking inside the human body was by X-rays, the first vaccine for polio became available, and Crick and Watson announced they had discovered the structure of DNA. In 1953 there was virtually no vandalism, swearing in public was an offence, men gave up their seats for women on buses and trains, and there was only 53 Kilobytes of high-speed random-access memory on the whole planet!

Roll forward 70 years to King Charles’ coronation and life is different due to the dramatic science and technology advances of the intervening decades. As the Badger watched the coronation events, his cousin’s words about being grateful for these advances echoed in his head, ostensibly for two reasons. The first was that advanced science and technology quietly underpinned everything associated with the coronation. The second was that his cousin sadly passed away the day before the event.

The Badger’s cousin was diagnosed with prostate cancer 14 years ago and given only months to live, but he took the opportunity to engage with a scientific research programme using experimental treatments which gave him many more years with his family, the satisfaction of knowing he was helping others, and validation of his belief that science and technology was a force for good. He felt that a good STEM education not only meant that the world was your oyster, but also that it enabled the ability to create things that change lives for the better. He wanted our younger generation to share his belief and overcome any fear that science and technology is too difficult. He was inspirational and will be sadly missed.

From slide rule to calculator app to…ChatGPT?

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Change, Digital Transformation, Obsolescence, Science & Engineering, Software, Technology

On a shelf in the Badger’s home office is a pristine British Thornton slide rule in its original case. It hasn’t been used in years. In fact, it’s hardly been used since the Badger bought it during his first week as a university student because it was a recommended tool for his subject. Various friends have poked fun at it over the years, jauntily calling it – and the Badger – a relic rendered obsolete by first electronic calculators, and latterly apps on smartphones. Nevertheless, a friend recently gifted the Badger a vintage slide rule instruction pamphlet to ‘complement this Museum piece’! The gift was accepted graciously. It heightened awareness not only that anyone born since the 1970s will never have used a slide rule, but also that the student Badger had actually hastened this tool’s demise by buying a pocket electronic calculator as soon as they became widely available and affordable.

The slide rule’s 300-year reign as a personal calculating tool ended abruptly in the mid-1970s. By the time the Badger had completed his degree, every student on his course had bought a Sinclair Cambridge, Sinclair Scientific, or Texas Instruments electronic calculator. When youngsters josh about the slide rule on his shelf, the Badger reminds them that Buzz Aldrin used one during the Apollo 11 moon mission, and scientists and engineers used them when designing, building, and manufacturing the first computers. They are often amazed, but always respond by highlighting the virtues of the calculator app on their smartphone.

Reading the vintage slide rule pamphlet reminded the Badger that his purchase of an electronic calculator as an undergraduate was an early part of the microelectronics revolution that’s changed every aspect of life since. Reflecting today, it seems amazing that personal calculating devices have morphed from a tactile, non-electronic slide rule into a calculator app on a smartphone reliant on microelectronics to function. Of course, what’s happened to personal calculation devices is merely a specific example of the massive impact that rapid technological advance has on our lives.

Today the Badger’s slide rule is a decorative bygone. His most recent electronic pocket calculator is also infrequently used and languishes in the desk draw because the calculator app on his smartphone has become his default pocket calculator. But even use of this app is waning! Why? Because just speaking to Google or Alexa does straightforward maths. The days of needing a calculator app thus seem numbered, especially if AI like ChatGPT ultimately has the impact that Microsoft anticipates. So, here’s a thought to end with. While the Badger’s slide rule will always be an antique talking point sitting on someone’s shelf, an obsolete calculator app will just disappear into the ether and have no decorative value whatsoever. Hmm, perhaps the Badger needs to stop reading the instruction pamphlet and drink less coffee…

Information Technology Year was 1982…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Life, Science & Engineering, Technology

This year is the 40th anniversary of ‘Information Technology Year’.  Yes, 1982 was designated ‘Information Technology Year’, a joint government/industry campaign to raise national awareness on the use, application, opportunities, and benefits of information technology. In 1982, less than 20% of the UK population knew of IT, most UK businesses had not embraced it in anyway, and telephones all had curly wires. How things have changed!

The year 1982 saw the arrival of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and Spielberg’s film ‘E.T.’, Sony selling the first CD audio players, the advent of the Commodore C64 8-bit computer, a 15-year-old schoolboy creating the first computer virus, and the founding of computer games company Electronic Arts.   Not only did the Sinclair ZX Spectrum arrive with 16KB or 48Kb RAM, but Margaret Thatcher demonstrated and gave one as a present to Japan’s Prime Minister during a visit to Japan! The UK Post Office also issued a set of postage stamps to celebrate ‘Information Technology Year’. 

Millennials and subsequent generations often not only find it difficult to relate to the computing environment of ‘Information Technology Year’, but also to appreciate that ithelped them on the road to being engaged with computers during their education. It makes the Badger chuckle observing millennials and children visiting the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley. They are amazed that even a modest smartphone in their pocket vastly surpasses the computers of 1982 when processors were the size of wardrobes, disk storage cabinets were the size of a chest of draws, and card punch machines for programming still existed! This 1982 film from Australia  neatly illustrates the world of information technology at the time.

Sometimes politicians deserve a little credit. Kenneth (now Lord) Baker MP was a small shareholder in the small but growing software company Logica in the 1970s. This helped him realise the huge potential impact of IT and the need to raise awareness of this nationally. He pressed for government agreement to goals like the introduction of computing in schools, fibre optic technology, and the paperless office. He persuaded the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher) to visit Logica in 1981 and became the first Minister for Information Technology. His appointment led to the 1982 ‘Information Technology Year’ and started the ball rolling to get computers into schools, homes, and many businesses. It effectively seeded millennials’ access to computers throughout their education and made many of them realise that computers were interesting, useful, and fun.

Forty years after ‘Information Technology Year’, everyone’s daily life depends on  computers, communication networks, and information technology. It must be time, therefore, for some kind of new ‘Technology Year’ with the profile and long-term impact of the one in 1982. If there is one, then who’s the modern Kenneth Baker figure, and why doesn’t it appear in the Royal Mail’s list of new postage stamps for 2022?

Young people regard scientists as trusted voices in society…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Education, Life, Public Institutions, Science & Engineering

According to new research conducted for British Science Week which runs to 20th March, most young people feel that scientists need to do more to engage them with science. The research, involving surveys of 2000 14-to18 year olds and 2000 adults about their perspectives of science, scientists, and trust in different societal groups, provides some interesting but not unexpected insights. The comment ‘From this research, it’s clear that young people regard scientists as trusted voices in society, more so than politicians, journalists, or influencers’ made by Katherine Mathieson, the Chief Executive of the British Science Association (BSA), resonated strongly with the Badger.  

Young people’s regard for scientists as trusted voices in society has been reinforced by the work, raised media profile, and clear, honest, and articulate  communications of Professor’s Chris Whitty, Jonathan van Tam, Sarah Gilbert, and many other scientists from public and commercial organisations, during the COVID pandemic. Young people have also heard one of their own generation, Greta Thunberg, frequently tell politicians and journalists ’Don’t listen to me, listen to the scientists’. They regularly see the stark contrast between ‘facts’ from scientists and ‘spin’ from politicians and the media. It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that youngsters trust scientists more than politicians when, for example, only 16% (103 out of 650) of elected UK Members of Parliament (MP) have any science, engineering, or mathematics background or interest, and the other 84% have an education dominated by politics, law, economics, history, and philosophy.   

Regarding scientists as a trusted voice in society is a good thing. If politicians, journalists, and social media influencers want to improve their reputations and be trusted on a par with scientists then they probably need more scientists and engineers in their ranks. After all, everything we use in society wouldn’t be there without the work, knowledge, and ingenuity of scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

Last year saw an unprecedented growth in young people wanting to take science subjects at university. This upswing looks likely to continue. Indeed, the Badger’s nephew is considering going to university in 2023 to study a science subject because, as he puts it, his ambition is to ultimately ‘be a leading expert in something important that impacts society’. Currently, however, his thoughts are wavering a little because science subjects are ‘hard’ and many of his friends are preferring ‘easier’ subjects. The Badger, however, is confident that his nephew will decide on a ‘hard’ subject. Why? Because this highly principled lad wants to be a scientist and be seen by others to be part of a community that is seen by his peers as a bastion of trust in future society. British Science Week will hopefully inspire other young people along similar lines, because the never-ending chaos of our world needs trustworthy voices more than ever before.    

Hinkley Point C and the Marble Arch Mound…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Nuclear Power, Processes and Practices, Project Management, Science & Engineering

The recent BBC television series ‘Building Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Power Station’ about the building of Hinkley Point C on the UK’s North Somerset coast was enthralling. Television cameras not only followed people building the station, but also gave an insight to the engineering, processes, professionalism, and diligent attention to detail that they follow at every step of the build. The Badger found the sections covering the ‘Go/No Go’ decisions for a) pouring nearly 1000 lorry-loads of the correct specification of concrete for the nuclear island foundations, and b) installing the first ring of the reactor containment building, impressive and reassuring!

Normally we see little of such readiness and decision-making processes on major programmes and during his career the Badger was involved in numerous post-mortems of programmes that suffered from poor Go/No-Go readiness and decision-making disciplines, especially with regard to opening up to ‘live’ operations with end users. A failed major programme activity or a failed introduction to use with end users can often be traced back to poor Go/No-Go professionalism with decisions based on poor status information, poor risk assessment, and commercial or political priorities. It is, therefore, reassuring to see that things are being done right with regard to every aspect of readiness with Hinkley Point C.

The recent opening of the Marble Arch Mound in London, however, is a different endeavour. It’s recent opening before it was ready not only led to some ribald laughter in the Badger household, but also lots of derision on social media and in the press – see here, here, and here, for example.   Westminster City Council’s ’s CEO must have felt highly embarrassed at having to apologise via a statement on the Mound’s website that it hadn’t been ready for opening to paying customers. The Badger knew little of the ‘The Mound’, a phrase that seems apt for a horror story, before the tsunami of recent coverage, and so he explored further in a more objective frame of mind.   

The motive for building the ‘The Mound’ was to get people back into the shops, theatres, and restaurants of London over the Summer, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a temporary structure costing ~£2m of council taxpayers money that’s only in place until January 2022. It apparently fails to deliver what was promised.  On absorbing its history, the Badger felt that while the motive was laudable, the concept of ‘The Mound’, the way it was marketed, and its delivery were likely flawed from the outset. The Badger’s conclusion? ‘The Mound’ is a reminder that not every idea is a good one, not every delivery meets expectations, and not every decision is the right one.  It’s also a reminder of human fallibility which is, of course, something which cannot be countenanced at Hinkley Point C where everything must be perfect.   

Change…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Change, Climate & Environment, Digital Transformation, Education, Life, Risk, Science & Engineering, Technology

What a year it’s been! There can’t be many people across the globe who haven’t been touched in some way by personal, social, or economic impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic.  It would be very easy, as a New Year approaches, to not only indulge in hand-wringing sadness, regret, and despondency about the events of 2020, but also to speculate – with or without optimism – about the future. But there’s enough of that in the traditional media, on the internet, and on social media platforms, so the Badger set himself a challenge over the Christmas holiday to sum up both the last year and the future using just one word!

That word didn’t take long to emerge. It was streaks ahead of the alternatives. The word was ‘change’.   

This year has seen ‘change’ in nearly everything – how we shop, the structure and the nature of industry sectors, the profile of scientists, technologists and health and care professionals, the way we work, travel, and interact with other people, the shape of the economy and our cities, and our awareness of how the world really works. We now all know that rather than bombs and guns, things you cannot see which don’t respect geographic boundaries can wreak real havoc to our lives and threaten our species. We have also all seen just how dependent we are on global supply chains, digital technology, the well-being of the planet, and – indeed – on each other.

Change doesn’t stop, so the word ‘change’ is more than apt to describe the future. The First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic of 100 years ago were triggers for major personal, societal, and economic change, and so its highly likely we’ll see the same once the Covid-19 pandemic abates but this time much, much faster.  Why? Because the pandemic has made us face the reality that the old ways really were truly unsustainable.

The Badger thinks we have all been reminded of one thing this year, that you can never be certain in life of what’s around the next corner.  Predicting the future is fraught with risk and disappointment, especially with the world continuing to be in a very difficult place. But with ‘change’ inevitable in 2021, the Badger thinks there’s only one New Year resolution for sensible people to make and that’s to  ‘embrace rather than resist the changes ahead’.   Whether we like it or not, change is a perpetual aspect of our lives. History shows that resisting it leads to disadvantage, avoidable anxiety, and ultimately personal, societal, and economic collateral damage that serves no one well. And on that point of philosophical reflection, the Badger wishes you well and that you have a better 2021 than 2020.