Nanoparticles go green

Nanoparticles: their like regular particles, only nano sized, right? Not quite.  It turns out when you take a chemical and break it down into itsy bitsy sized pieces it isn't just a smaller version of itself.  It has the potential to behave like a completely different chemical. And that's what makes nanoparticles so cool.  A substance that acts one way under normal conditions may act in a completely differently as a nanoparticle.

So why should you get excited by the fact that particles can act differently when they are really really small? Because it is changing the world you live in, and it is doing so at a very rapid pace.  With nanoparticles scientists have essentially found an entire new toolkit to work with.  From computers to cosmetics to pharmaceuticals, the list of recent innovations that include nanoparticles is diverse and lengthy.

And while the technological innovations are exciting, there is a call for concern as well. We are all being exposed through products like make-up, milk, and sunscreen, to hundreds if not thousands of nanomaterials on a daily basis.  Toxicity testing of nanomaterials is still in the infant stages and the extent to which exposure to these particles may cause damange to our bodies is unclear.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with UCLA Environmental Engineering Professor Eric Hoek. Professor Hoek's work is centered around issues of environmental sustainability, however, you might not necessary know that from his paper's that include key words such as 'ultrafiltration' and 'nanocomposite membranes.'

 Professor Hoek is a expert on nanparticles, having worked in the field before the buzz word 'nanoparticles' even existed. Back then it was just colloidal physics. So, I sat down and asked him: What exactly is a nanoparticle? Should we be worried about nanoparticle toxicity? What is the future for nanoparticle technology? Click on the link below to listen to his insightful and surprisingly simplistic answers.

New vs. Old World Winemaking: Climate Will Be the Ultimate Decider

Harvest at Yering Station, Australia, 2008. Photo Credit +Kevin Luther 

French coming to Australia to learn winemaking?!?

“I came here to Australia, to learn how to make wine like Coca-cola,” my French colleague explains. It is the wine harvest season of 2008 in the Yarra Valley of Southern Australia and I am sitting at the dinner table with my fellow cellar-hands, trying not to choke on my wine in shock. We are from places as far and wide as Argentina, France, and the United States. We are enjoying a rich, homemade French dinner, which oozes sensual, buttery aromas that pair perfectly with the fruity yet peppery red wines we’ve smuggled from the cellar. You’d think we are in heaven, but we are bone tired and quickly learning that 16-hour long days do not breed the kind of cultural sensitivity and curiosity that one need’s in such close living quarters.

The French man either fails to notice our shock or fails to care, continuing his exhortation that in France making wine is a true art that his family has passed on from generation to generation.  In this particular day’s version of his rant, he does not delve into family politics or curse the inheritance tax he will face some day. Today, he bemons the factory-line efficiency of “New World” winemaking.

“Wine like Coca-Cola,” he repeats. “They have nothing to teach me in how to make wine. My heritage taught me to make wine. I come to Australia to learn how to manage a winery like an assembly line at Coca-Cola.” His look of distaste fades a bit as he lifts his forkful of rich French food to his mouth, savoring the flavors for a moment then washing it down with the wine.

His distaste for the Australian winemaking industry’s innovative factory-line mass-production approach to winemaking and their ability to produce a consistent wine for a lower cost may seem a bit betty.  These days, many traditional winemaking regions are a bit touchy- their heritage is threatened if they cannot find a way to make an aging business model profitable. When the French man inherits his family’s winery he will not only face a stiff inheritance tax, but also tight regulations on his grape growing and winemaking practices. The lack of flexibility in the French winemaking system, once a way to ensure only the highest quality wines are produced, is now hindering the ability of winemakers to adapt to the challenges of climate change. This has led to what many agree is a decrease in French wine quality. Meanwhile, “New World” wines from Australia, Chile, New Zealand, and the USA are seen as increasing in quality as time progresses. In Australia, he argues, all that matters is efficiency and the bottom-line; the art is lost.

Unpredictable climate demands quick adaptation from wine industry

Wild, unpredictable storms coupled with surges in heat and prolonged droughts are beginning to take hold as our world’s climate patterns change.  Wine grapes are a crop particularly susceptible to alterations in weather patterns and many have dubbed wine grapes as the agricultural ‘canary in a coal mine’. This vulnerability is in part due to wine grapes being a perennial crop which requires large capital investment only to take years to yield substantial and profitable fruit-usually about 7 years before a vineyard sells their first bottle of wine. This 7-year product cycle means that the decision on what grape to plant takes on an element of fortune-telling. The added variable of climate change has only made this prediction more difficult.

To ensure profitability, care must be taken to plant a wine varietal that will not fall out of fashion with consumers yet is also suitable to a region’s expected climate in 7 years time- and importantly, when the vineyard is reaching its performing prime in about 25 years. Wineries must consistently produce a superior product to stand a chance at success in a market that is becoming increasingly competitive and overcrowded. While upstart vineyards in the New World are able to adapt to environmental changes by planting grape varietals suited to the new climate, the Old World is locked into its tradition, barring innovation or adaptation.  

The French man might do well to focus his attention not on the New World’s production efficiency at Coca-Cola and wineries, but rather on their adaptability. It is the latter which many New World Winemakers cite as the source of their ability to adapt.

To further complicate the matter, the planet’s changing climate has resulted in heat waves and droughts that not only lead to smaller crop yields but also result in jammy, alcoholic wines that are unappealing to some consumers.

“At the old, cooler temperatures people were used to a grape ripening where the flavors and sugar develop slowly. A lot of vineyards still have the same vines in the same spot, but now it’s too hot. The heat makes the sugar spike ahead of the flavors, and you get raisins before you get the flavors you need to make great wine,” says +Kevin Luther, associate winemaker and manage of Wise Villa Winery, in Northern California.

How Australia might come out on top

Recent work published in the scientific journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment demonstrates that regions like Australia, which have flexible and liberal approaches to wine making and its regulation, are already adapting much better to our world’s changing climate than regions like France, which have rigid cultural and legal restrictions on wine making (Lereboullet, 2013). While Australia’s wine makers may not be any younger than those in France, they benefit from a youthful, New World approach to wine making.

Mount Mary Vineyard is the perfect example of the forward thinking Australian winery. The variability that climate change has brought to Mount Mary’s local weather patterns has become undeniable and they are already considering and starting to implement climate change adaptation plans. Mount Mary has already planted a new vineyard on a Southern facing plot of land, hoping it will provide a cooler ‘microclimate.’ Currently, they are considering other means of climate change adaptation, ranging from irrigation to planting new, more hearty varieties to completely relocating altogether. Owner, Dr. David Middleton, is concerned that all of these options may compromise the “reputation of consistency” that they have worked so hard to build. The situation is dire and he expresses concern that, “our varieties may no longer ripen in a way that suits our chosen product style. This is critical to our reputation which has been built on consistency over many years.” Exasperated, he proclaims, “costs are high, risks are high but the alternate outcome of not delivering on 40 years of reputation is not something we want to think about too much.”

French winemakers are in a similar position to their Australian counterparts: climate change is affecting their ability to produce consistent high quality wines. Winemakers in France, however, face even greater hurdles when it comes to climate change adaptation. The glory and reputation of French wines was built upon stringent and numerous restrictions, and the majority of these laws remain today. Regionally restricting the varieties that could be grown was a policy that ensured only grapes of the highest quality, that were suited to a region’s particular climate, were grown. This preventing sub-par ‘table wines’ from leaking out onto the market ruining a region’s hard-earned reputation. Potential climate mitigation strategies like irrigation, dealcholization, blending, planting alternate varietals, are either restricted, illegal or seen as economically unfavorable. It appears that the laws that once allowed France to become the world’s most prominent wine region may lead to its demise, as climate change plays a growing role in the success of individual wineries.

Only time will tell which wine regions will suffer the most from climate change.  Some will be able to adapt, but undoubtedly, some will not. So make sure you savor your favorite wine for a moment longer today, as it too may be eventually sacrificed upon the variability of climate change.

Sources

Lereboullet AL, Beltrano, G., Bardsley, D.K. (2013) Socio-ecological adaptation to climate change: A comparative case study from the Mediterranean wine industry in France and Australia. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 164:273-285.

Excuse me, you do what exactly?

Advice from a PhD on how to talk about your PhD

Isolation in the academic ivory tower
will do you no favors. Royce Hall, UCLA. 

The atmosphere is light and airy. Birds are twittering to each other, glasses gather condensation in the warm spring air.  I sip my crisp and fruity sauvignon blanc as I bounce between groups of people. I am participating in a ballroom dance of business cards, a rhythmic samba of networking. And then, as I knew it would, THE question comes.

"So what is is that you do?"

Sigh.

How on earth can you follow "I am getting my PhD in Molecular Toxicology" with a normal conversation?

Let me suggest several methods I have employed.

1. Dumb it down. 
Say 'I work in a lab' or if you are feeling really flashy maybe 'I study how pesticides are linked to Parkinson's disease.' People generally either appreciate the simplification or are insulted by it.  This takes a good read.  If you are not a good read of people, this approach may leave you standing alone in the corner staring into your beverage. Depending on the crowd, this might not be such a bad thing.

2. Nonchalance.  
That's right I am a PhD student. No. big. deal. Aren't you?

3. Divert. 
'Oh, I have been talking about myself all night. What I would really love to hear is more about your work' or some sort of flattering mumbo jumbo like that.  Works perfect to butter up those over inflated egos.  If there is one thing you can do to endear yourself to people, it's to allow them to talk about themselves.  It can be very painful indeed, but it allows for some excellent time to plan tomorrows workday or fantasize about life after PhD (read: backpack

ing stint in South America)


Networking outside your field matters
Inevitably, at some point you will have the chance to network outside of your elitist specialized conference cohort.  You must realize that in the wrong crowd, an improper explanation of what it is exactly that you do will make you sound like an egotistic academic brat.  And it's not because people studying to get their PhDs are smarter than everyone else. In fact, after the painstaking and bankrupting process of pursuing a PhD many may argue to the contrary.  It's that we speak a different language then everyone else.  A language full of acronyms and subtle inferences. It may sound like English, but don't fool yourself, it is not.

So do yourself a favor. Realize that the most valuable networking experiences are often not those with your colleagues but with those who do nothing related to you at all.  Why on earth would this help you to get a job? Because these people know people.  People have family and friends and friends of friends and they might do what you do.  They might hire you in fact. But not if you don't know how to sell your science. Or at a minimum speak about your job in English, not scientific jargon.

More on marketing your science to the public. In the meantime, keep it simple stupid.