It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 26, 2024
'What if there were a butch Barbie?' New paper on Barbie's gender politics
26 July 2024
The exclusion of butch representation in the Barbie movie limits its queer inclusivity, says new paper released in the year of the doll's 65th anniversary.
Dr Clara Bradbury-Rance, Senior Lecturer in Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary Humanities, imagines how the film could be different if it featured a butch version of Barbie in a new paper published in Feminist Media Studies.
The film has many undeniable pleasures, including its celebration of femininity, its shameless camp aesthetic, and the could-be-lesbian chemistry between its leads. But there are clearly still barriers to queer and trans representability. I wanted to imagine what if there were a Butch Barbie to play with some of those barriers.
Dr Clara Bradbury-Rance, Senior Lecturer in Gender and Sexuality Studies
While Barbie (2023) celebrates women and campness, Dr Bradbury-Rance explores the movie’s successful celebration of femininity alongside the limits of its gender politics, drawing on comparisons from queer cinema. She suggests that despite the film’s camp aesthetic and LGBTQ+ cast, the lack of butch characters prevents the movie from successfully usurping traditional politics of gender and sexuality.
The publication of ‘Butch Barbie’ coincides with the 65th anniversary of Barbie, which was introduced in 1959.
Following the release of the "Barbie" movie last summer, search queries about gynecology surged while searches for actual appointments remained stagnant, a cross-sectional study found.
At the end of the movie, Margot Robbie in the titular role of Barbie walks into an office building and declares, "I'm here to see my gynecologist."
In the first week after the movie's release, online search volume rose by 51.3% for terms referring to gynecologists (P<0.001) and by 154.1% for the definition of the word gynecologist (adjusted P=0.03), reported Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues in a JAMA Network Open research letteropens in a new tab or window.
But searches related to seeking gynecologic care did not change, nor did searches for broader health terms, which the authors wrote supports "the assumption that the observed increase in gynecologist-related searches may have been influenced by the film's release and not other factors."
Co-author Eva Senechal, BS, of McGill University in Montreal, told MedPage Today that the team was inspired by the sheer impact of the "Barbie" movie, which became one of the highest grossing movies ever.
"Are people learning more about women's health because of the 'Barbie' movie?" Senechal asked herself, especially because so many young people saw the movie. For them, "Barbie's" ending line may have been the first time they heard of gynecology, and the results highlighted that many people in the "Barbie" audience didn't know what a gynecologist is or what they do.
Ultimately, authors concluded that their "results suggest that 'Barbie's' closing line may have spurred interest in gynecology, further suggesting the potential influence of popular films on health literacy and awareness."
Nikki Zite, MD, MPH, of the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville, who was not involved in the study, said that this research "is a good reminder about the potential impact that movies can have," adding that she "laughed and cheered during that closing scene."
Melissa Simon, MD, of Northwestern Medicine in Chicago and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation, who also was not involved in the study, pointed out that the "Barbie" movie was released just over a year after Roe v. Wade was overturnedopens in a new tab or window.
"Barbie going to a gynecologist and taking care of herself and exercising her self-agency to obtain a healthcare appointment for her gynecologic health I think is an important message," especially on the big screen, Simon said. However, no cause-and-effect conclusion can be drawn from the study data or methodology, she cautioned.
Following the release of the "Barbie" movie, researchers analyzed search trends for 34 queries about gynecology. The queries were categorized as relating to the gynecologist, gynecologist definition, or gynecologist appointment, while another group of more general search terms served as controls: women's health, doctor, and doctor's appointment. Using Google Trends and Glimpse, the researchers compared weekly search trends for the year prior to and 3 months following the movie's July 21, 2023, release date.
"Other than 'Barbie's' release, there were no major events during this period that may have led to widespread changes in search interest in gynecology," the researchers noted.
Rachael Robertson is a writer on the MedPage Today enterprise and investigative team, also covering OB/GYN news. Her print, data, and audio stories have appeared in Everyday Health, Gizmodo, the Bronx Times, and multiple podcasts. Follow
Disclosures
This study was funded in part by a career development grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Jena reported receiving personal fees from Bioverativ, Merck, Janssen, Edwards Life Sciences, Amgen, Eisai, Otsuka, Vertex, Sage, Analysis Group, Freakonomics MD, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, as well as speaking fees from the AAE Speakers Bureau and Harry Walker Agency and royalties from Doubleday Books.
Senecha reported no conflicts of interest.
Other coauthors reported receiving consulting fees from Alosa Health, Analysis Group, Atheneum, Berkshire Hathaway Home Companies, Chronius, FVC Health, GLG, Guidepoint, NuvoAir, Ogilvy, Philips, Simbo, Substack, Tell Health, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as royalties from Doubleday Books.
Neither Simon nor Zite reported conflicts of interest.
Primary Source
JAMA Network Open
Source Reference: opens in a new tab or windowJena AB, et al "Online search interest in gynecologists after the release of the film Barbie" JAMA Netw Open 2024; DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24658.
Philippines races to avoid 'environmental catastrophe' from oil spill
by Faith Brown with Pam Castro in Manila
A coast guard staffer arranges an oil spill containment boom to be used in Manila Bay.
The Philippine Coast Guard on Friday raced to offload 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker and prevent an "environmental catastrophe" in Manila Bay.
One crew member died when the MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly seven kilometers (4.3 miles) off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.
An oil slick stretching several kilometers was detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.
Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said Friday the spill was "minimal" and that it appeared to be diesel fuel used to power the tanker and not the industrial fuel oil cargo.
"No oil has been leaking from the tank itself, so we're racing against time to siphon the oil so we can avoid the environmental catastrophe," Balilo said.
The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.
AFP journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel load oil dispersant and a suction skimmer onto a boat to be used against the slick.
Balilo said oil spill containment booms had also been deployed in preparation "for the worst case scenario" of the industrial fuel oil leaking before it could be offloaded.
Once the weather improved, coast guard divers would inspect the position of the tanker so the "siphoning operation" could get under way, he said.
The coast guard met with representatives of the MT Terra Nova's owner and a contracted salvage company on Friday to discuss the timeline.
"There's nothing to be worried about for now, but we should not be complacent," Balilo said.
Coast guard personnel carry a suction hose for deployment at a port in Limay.
Swamped by waves
The incident happened as heavy rains fueled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
After setting out late Wednesday, the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas.
Balilo said investigators were seeking to verify testimony from the crew that the vessel was damaged as it tried to turn back and had to be towed by another ship.
Somehow the tow line was cut and the MT Terra Nova "lost control" in the large waves and went down, he said.
"We will see if there were protocols violated or if there was a lapse in decision-making," Balilo said.
Campaign group Greenpeace said the owners of MT Terra Nova should "foot the bill" for any environmental damage and compensate affected communities.
One of the worst oil spills in the Philippines was in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.
Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometers of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.
A tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras in 2006, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.
Philippines races to avoid 'environmental catastrophe' from oil spill
MANILA
The Philippine Coast Guard on Friday raced to offload 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker and prevent an "environmental catastrophe" in Manila Bay.
Haberin Devamı JULY 26,2024
One crew member died when the MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly seven kilometres (4.3 miles) off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.
An oil slick stretching several kilometres was detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.
Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said Friday the spill was "minimal" and that it appeared to be diesel fuel used to power the tanker and not the industrial fuel oil cargo.
"No oil has been leaking from the tank itself, so we're racing against time to syphon the oil so we can avoid the environmental catastrophe," Balilo said.
The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.
AFP journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel load oil dispersant and a suction skimmer onto a boat to be used against the slick.
Balilo said oil spill containment booms had also been deployed in preparation "for the worst case scenario" of the industrial fuel oil leaking before it could be offloaded.
Once the weather improved, coast guard divers would inspect the position of the tanker so the "siphoning operation" could get under way, he said.
The coast guard met with representatives of the MT Terra Nova's owner and a contracted salvage company on Friday to discuss the timeline.
"There's nothing to be worried about for now, but we should not be complacent," Balilo said.
Swamped by waves
The incident happened as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
After setting out late Wednesday, the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas.
Balilo said investigators were seeking to verify testimony from the crew that the vessel was damaged as it tried to turn back and had to be towed by another ship.
Somehow the tow line was cut and the MT Terra Nova "lost control" in the large waves and went down, he said.
Haberin Devamı
"We will see if there were protocols violated or if there was a lapse in decision-making," Balilo said.
Sixteen of the 17 crew members were rescued.
Campaign group Greenpeace said the owners of MT Terra Nova should "foot the bill" for any environmental damage and compensate affected communities.
One of the worst oil spills in the Philippines was in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.
Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
Haberin Devamı
The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometres of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.
A tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras in 2006, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.
Mongolians fight plastic pollution in vast steppe
by Khaliun Bayartsogt and Oliver Hotham
Mongolia is among the world's top per capita producers of plastic waste, and without a centralized recycling program, campaigners say some 90 percent of it ends up in landfills.
Mongolian herder Purev Batmunkh sighs as he picks through waste strewn across a field—the refuse of an unsightly and deadly waste pollution problem affecting swathes of the steppe.
His country is among the world's top per capita producers of plastic waste, and without a centralized recycling program, campaigners say some 90 percent of it ends up in landfills.
"Most people live in the moment and they don't really think about the future and just throw their garbage," Batmunkh told AFP in the Khishig-Undur district of Mongolia's northern Bulgan province.
"They don't know how long this garbage will stay, for how many years."
Illegal dumping is common and some of it then blows into pastoral lands, where it is eaten by livestock.
Batmunkh said one of his cows had been "drooling and could not really move".
"A few days passed and it died," he said.
"We gutted the cow and we found that all the way from its neck to its intestines and bladder, there was a plastic raincoat inside it."
But in the steppe, it appears to have had little effect.
In a nearby field, a mountain of multicolored plastic waste, from fizzy drink bottles to tires and shopping bags, lies festering just a few meters from where the horses graze.
Illegal dumping is common and some of it then blows into pastoral lands, where it is eaten by livestock.
'Zero-waste'
Annual plastics production worldwide has more than doubled in 20 years to 460 million tonnes, and is on track to triple within four decades if left unchecked.
Only nine percent is recycled, and according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, its contribution to global warming could more than double by 2060—having accounted for 3.4 percent of global emissions in 2019.
But, in rural Mongolia, some are trying to help.
Since 2018, local NGO Ecosoum has organized one of the area's first recycling facilities—encouraging herders and others to pick up local waste and bring it to them for processing.
Partially funded by the European Union, it is seeking to turn Khishig-Undur into Mongolia's first "zero-waste" district.
"These kinds of plastics are all over Mongolia," Batkhuyag Naranbat, technical coordinator at the recycling facility, told AFP, columns of processed bottles piled high behind him.
"Livestock go out and eat these plastics and even die eating plastic," he said.
Since 2018, local NGO Ecosoum has organized one of Khishig-Undur's first recycling facilities -- encouraging herders and others to pick up local waste and bring it to them for processing.
"We need to stop."
For Naranbat, work starts bright and early, when he and his colleagues head out to collect waste from those who can't bring it to the facility themselves.
They then separate the plastics into what can be re-used and what can't.
The plastic is then pressed into one-ton cubes, placed on a truck and sent to the capital Ulaanbaatar for processing.
People in the areas used to dump plastic in giant pits or burn it, Naranbat said.
"But when we learned about how this plastic pollution is detrimental, not only for the world but for our own country, we asked: 'what have we done?'" he said.
"We are the ones who caused the problem, we should be the ones to solve the issue."
Herder Batmunkh, who is 58, also decided to help, heading out on his horse every week to scour the steppe for rubbish to pick up and deliver to Ecosoum.
Herder Purev Batmunkh picks through waste strewn across a field in rural Mongolia.
"While I'm herding, I'll spot a bit of garbage and I'll put it in the bag that I have," he said.
His diligence hasn't always made him friends.
"When I tell my neighbors to take care of the garbage, they mock me and say, 'Batmunkh rambles on about nonsense,'" he said.
"They don't care."
'Large companies' to blame
While individual habits need to change, Naranbat said the companies that produce the plastic must be held accountable.
"They need to change and start using other forms of material, like aluminum—those things are recyclable," he said.
A fourth and penultimate round of UN-led negotiations on a world-first pact to solve global plastic pollution wrapped up in Canada in April.
Talks are set to conclude in November in South Korea, though a proposed cap on plastic production did not make it into the draft text and remains a major sticking point.
A worker at a plastic processing plant where bottles are recycled to make pet resin in Ulaanbaatar.
But Batmunkh said he felt everyone needed to play a role in helping make Earth a better place.
"The things that separate us from animals is our rationality –- that makes us human," he said, his young grandson, hanging on his every word, pulling on his arm.
"As humans who are living on this Earth, all of us need to bear the responsibility of caring for our planet."
A 'Doomsday wreck' stuffed with 1,400 tons of WW2 explosives is collapsing, threatening the Thames with a tsunami, a new survey of the ship has revealed.
The SS Richard Montgomery sank in the Thames Estuary in August 1944, coming to rest at a depth of roughly 49ft, about a mile-and-a-half from Sheerness, Kent.
Her masts still loom above the water line and plans are in place to remove them, lest they should collapse on to the wreck and trigger an explosion.
But now a new survey of the vessel has revealed 'concerning' signs of decay in the body of the ship, all observed in the year since the last survey.
The new report warns that 'the deck space near hold three appears to have started to collapse on the port side. This appears to be recent'.
A 'Doomsday wreck' stuffed with 1,400 tons of WW2 explosives is collapsing, a sobering new survey of the ship has revealed, threatening the Thames with a tsunami
The SS Richard Montgomery sank in the Thames Estuary in August 1944, coming to rest at a depth of roughly 49ft, about a mile-and-a-half from Sheerness, Kent
Meanwhile, the 'whole forward section of the wreck', which lies in two halves on the bottom, 'appears to have an increase in lean' of 10 to 15cm.
This growing lean eastwards, the report says, raises a 'a potential concern' about the wreckage 'being undercut as supporting sediment is eroded away'.
The survey also observed that a crack along the second cargo hold had grown 5cm wider and 37cm longer in a year, and was 'significantly buckled' further down.
This gives 'the appearance that the forward part of the wreck is splitting in two', the survey noted, causing the deck above to collapse up to 20cm in a year. Her masts still loom above the water line and plans are in place to remove them, lest they should collapse on to the wreck and trigger an explosion
Making matters worse, the back of the ship is 'like the forward section… potentially breaking in two about halfway along its length'.
Here, the report said, a stretch of deck six metres long had collapsed over half a metre in one year.
The revelations were made in the 2023 survey report, which was released last week.
In a statement, the Department for Transport said its priority was to 'ensure the safety of the public and reduce any risk posed by the SS Richard Montgomery'.
It continued: 'Experts have carried out vital surveying work to the wreckage and, based on their findings, we are revising our initial timeframe for removing the masts in the safest manner possible.
The 'whole forward section of the wreck', which lies in two halves on the bottom, 'appears to have an increase in lean' of 10 to 15cm
In a statement, the Department for Transport said its priority was to 'ensure the safety of the public and reduce any risk posed by the SS Richard Montgomery'
The survey observed that a crack along the second cargo hold had grown 5cm wider and 37cm longer in a year, and was 'significantly buckled' further down. This gives 'the appearance that the forward part of the wreck is splitting in two', the survey noted, causing the deck above to collapse up to 20cm in a year TRENDING
'The aim is to remove the masts as soon as possible should it be possible to establish a safe and effective operational methodology for doing so.'
Rich Lehmann, who chairs the environment committee at Swale Borough Council, which covers Sheerness, said the local authority was keeping a close watch.
He said: 'The deterioration of the wreck is concerning, and the council are monitoring the situation closely.
'Officers are in dialogue with the Department for Transport, who manage the wreck, and other relevant agencies to ensure that all necessary precautions are in place to mitigate any potential risks.
'The safety of our community and the protection of our marine environment remain our top priorities.'
Rich Lehmann, who chairs the environment committee at Swale Borough Council, which covers Sheerness, said the local authority was keeping a close watch
The SS Richard Montgomery was an American vessel carrying munitions for the allies in the Second World War
She ran aground on a sandbank and broke her back on it when the tide went out, sinking before all of her cargo could be recovered. It's feared she still holds enough explosive power to unleash a tidal wave in the Thames, earning her the nickname 'Doomsday wreck'
He continued: 'The SS Richard Montgomery is an integral part of Sheerness's history and holds a special place in the hearts of our residents.
'Any masts or artifacts removed from the wreck should rightfully be brought to Sheppey, and specifically to Sheerness, to preserve this significant chapter of our island's history.
'The wreck is not only a historical landmark but also a beloved symbol of our community's resilience and heritage.'
The SS Richard Montgomery was an American vessel carrying munitions for the allies in the Second World War.
She ran aground on a sandbank and broke her back on it when the tide went out, sinking before all of her cargo could be recovered.
It's feared she still holds enough explosive power to unleash a tidal wave in the Thames, earning her the nickname 'Doomsday wreck'.
The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty Ship built in 1943 to transport cargo across the Atlantic
The 7,200-tonne vessel safely crossed the Atlantic on convoy HX-301 without incident and was ordered to anchor off Sheerness.
The vessel was carrying some 7,000 tonnes of munitions and it was due to carry on to Cherbourg to unload its cargo.
However, on August 20, 1944, the Montgomery dragged her anchor and ran aground on a sandbank around 250 yards from the Medway Approach Channel.
The SS Richard Montgomery, pictured, sank in 1944 off the coast of Kent carrying 7,000 tonnes of munitions that were due to be shipped to Cherbourg for invasion of Europe
The SS Richard Montgomery dragged its anchor on August 20, 1944 and ran aground on a sandbank before her hull cracked and started flooding
A major salvage operation was launched to unload the vessel's deadly cargo although, within 24 hours cracks began appearing across the hull and the forward areas began flooding.
By September 25, the salvage operation had to be abandoned after the entire vessel flooded.
The Richard Montgomery was one of 2,700 Liberty ships built during the war.
Science needs to get its house in order when it comes to energy use and waste
Water, water, everywhere… but in labs most goes down the sink. That’s the sad truth in chemistry where water-cooled condensers – essential for preventing the escape of reaction products during heating – waste huge amounts of this increasingly valuable resource. A single condenser can use over 2 million litres per year. This issue is part of the paradox that afflicts science: while the world looks to it to provide new technologies to cut energy consumption and shepherd scarce resources, labs themselves are resource hungry and produce large volumes of waste.
Labs consume far more water and energy than similar-sized buildings: they account for around 60% of a university’s total water use and as much as 65% of a university’s total energy consumption. All the labs in the world also generate 2% of plastic waste and each chemist produces, on average, 4–15 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
Chemists are not blind to this dilemma. A global survey recently found that 84% of chemists want to reduce their lab’s environmental footprint, and many of them are taking action. Chemistry World has recently looked at the first paper that compares different air-cooled condensers. It provides a handy way for chemists to see which solution might work best for them when conducting reactions under reflux. Promisingly, even relatively low-tech and cheap options perform quite well, offering cost-effective ways to save water and money.
Another recent paper, from the lab of Nobel prize winner Ben Feringa, outlines and quantifies the benefits of going green with simple solutions such as closing the sash on fume hoods (reducing air flow by two-thirds and saving on heating), insulating rotary evaporators’ water baths (cutting energy use by 56%) and idling electron microscopes at night (saving 40% of their energy use). This saves the faculty thousands of euros per year.
Such work is part of a growing trend of scientists thinking much more about their environmental footprint and ways to shrink it. The Royal Society Of Chemistry’s recent Sustainable Laboratories programme is one of those initiatives, with the first grants released earlier this year to cover small changes that make labs more sustainable.
To make these kinds of changes in labs commonplace what’s needed is education. The authors of the air-cooled condenser paper urge tutors to include such devices in organic chemistry practicals so students are aware of them from the off. Educational programmes of this kind are already being rolled out at many universities. Such simple measures can bed in the concept so that the scientists of the future are already primed to make their labs greener. That way change becomes second nature.
Patrick Walter Patrick is the news editor for Chemistry World, having previously had various stints on science journals, writing for society newsletters and editing and writing jobs.
Archaeological dig at Tycho Brahe’s island lab reveals some of his alchemical secrets
Analysis of glass and ceramic shards retrieved from an archaeological excavation in Sweden could reveal new insights into alchemical experiments carried out by the Renaissance astronomer, Tycho Brahe. The researchers found traces of nine chemical elements on the inner and outer surfaces of the fragments including copper, gold, zinc and tungsten.
Brahe, who lived between 1546 and 1601, is well-known as an astronomer, but he also had a less well-documented interest in alchemy. In 1576, King Frederik II of Denmark offered Brahe the island of Ven as a lifelong fief, saying he wanted to support Brahe’s work. Brahe accepted and between 1576 and 1580 he erected Uraniborg, a unique combination of palace, observatory and alchemical laboratory
Brahe has his own observatory and lab built on an island in what is now Sweden after he found favour with the Danish king
‘It was like the Cern of the day,’ says Kaare Lund Rasmussen, professor emeritus in the department of physics, chemistry and pharmacy at the University of South Denmark, and one of the researchers leading the study.
While Brahe published books and articles on his astronomical work, very little is known about his alchemical studies at Uraniborg. ‘The story about Tycho is always written about the astronomy,’ Rasmussen says. ‘And the reason is that he wrote very little about his alchemy – he wanted to keep [it] secret – whereas the astronomy he published books … and that came out to the world, whereas the medicine making did not.’
After his death, Brahe’s palace and observatory on Ven was demolished and the stones reused for new, humbler buildings. However, in 1824, the remains of the observatory were unearthed, along with traces of two ovens from his laboratory. A further archaeological dig in 1988–1990, which concentrated on the garden and surrounding buildings, unearthed fragments of glass and ceramics that may have come from the laboratory.
Tycho Brahe is well known as one of the last – and most influential – astronomers working before the advent of the telescope. Far less is known about his alchemical work as he kept a secret
Rasmussen and Poul Grinder-Hansen, a historian at the National Museum of Denmark, were then tasked with convincing the museum in Lund, Sweden, who had possession of hundreds of shards taken from the site, to allow them to carry out analysis on them. ‘They weren’t all too eager to do that,’ says Rasmussen. ‘[But] they gave me five shards.’
Cross sections of the shards were analysed for 31 trace elements with the aim of detecting any traces of the chemical substances on the inside or outside of the shards. ‘[We were] very lucky in the sense that [for] one shard there was nothing on either side of it,’ says Rasmussen. ‘The others, there were different elements that were clearly increased or enriched and so for the first time, we have this light cast into this laboratory.’
The shards of the alchemical reaction vessels were found to contain a number of elements, including some that were virtually unknown at the time
The researchers found traces of nine chemical elements on the inner and outer surfaces of the fragments – copper, antimony, gold, mercury, nickel, zinc, tin, tungsten and lead.
The presence of copper, antimony, gold and mercury was consistent with previous research suggesting they may have been used in three of Brahe’s medical preparations. One for the prevention and treatment of an epidemic disease or other infectious contagion, a second for the treatment of epileptic diseases and a third for diseases affecting the skin and blood, such as scabies, chronic venereal diseases and elephantiasis.
‘Copper, antimony, gold and mercury were known to be used in the recipes,’ says Rasmussen. ‘But the other ones, nickel, zinc, tin, tungsten and lead, they were not mentioned anywhere. So, something else must have happened in the alchemy lab … but tungsten, that is really, really hard, because that was hardly invented [at that time].’
The researchers speculate that a tungsten-containing mineral may have been used in the laboratory because of mistaken identification or its chemical composition being unknown.
Umberto Veronesi, an archaeologist and heritage scientist based in Lisbon, Portugal, says what he found ‘particularly interesting and exciting’ about the study was that it was talking about a ‘very high profile person’ – which he says is ‘a rare occurrence’ in archaeology. ‘The beauty of archaeology is that it very often speaks to us about anonymous people – especially when it comes to this kind of scientific laboratories … we don’t really know the names and the interests of the people who are working there, they are usually quite anonymous,’ he adds. ‘That’s the big contribution of this paper, because it is like an open window, a very rare opportunity to look into what a very important person in the history of science was doing.’
Veronesi says that, having worked with similar materials before, he wasn’t surprised by the identified elements as they were consistent with someone interested in alchemy.
‘What’s important is that they found certain elements on the surfaces, especially the inner surfaces of these vessels, and that these are related to operations that could be metallurgical operations, but they equally could be medical operations,’ he says.
He adds that it would have been useful for the researchers to discuss in more detail the findings of their analysis that did not have a clear explanation.
‘They mentioned that there are some elements, like copper, like zinc, which cannot be matched to Brahe’s recipes and that’s exactly where I would have tried to dig a little more – it could tell us something, for example that Tycho Brahe was also working with copper alloys for whatever purpose, or sometimes they were trying to make alloys in order to understand how single elements and single metals work when, when treated in specific ways.’
Julia Robinson Julia joined the Chemistry World team as Science correspondent in May 2023. She previously spent eight years leading the clinical and science content at The Pharmaceutical Journal, the official journal of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, a membership body for pharmacists.View full profile
Chemical analyses find hidden elements from renaissance astronomer Tycho Brahe's alchemy laboratory
Date: July 25, 2024
Source: University of Southern Denmark
Summary:
Danish Tycho Brahe was most famous for his contributions to astronomy. However, he also had a well-equipped alchemical laboratory where he produced secret medicines for Europe's elite.
FULL STORY
In the Middle Ages, alchemists were notoriously secretive and didn't share their knowledge with others. Danish Tycho Brahe was no exception. Consequently, we don't know precisely what he did in the alchemical laboratory located beneath his combined residence and observatory, Uraniborg, on the now Swedish island of Ven.
Only a few of his alchemical recipes have survived, and today, there are very few remnants of his laboratory. Uraniborg was demolished after his death in 1601, and the building materials were scattered for reuse. However, during an excavation in 1988-1990, some pottery and glass shards were found in Uraniborg's old garden. These shards were believed to originate from the basement's alchemical laboratory. Five of these shards -- four glass and one ceramic -- have now undergone chemical analyses to determine which elements the original glass and ceramic containers came into contact with.
The chemical analyses were conducted by Professor Emeritus and expert in archaeometry, Kaare Lund Rasmussen from the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark. Senior researcher and museum curator Poul Grinder-Hansen from the National Museum of Denmark oversaw the insertion of the analyses into historical context.
Enriched levels of trace elements were found on four of them, while one glass shard showed no specific enrichments. The study has been published in the journal Heritage Science.
"Most intriguing are the elements found in higher concentrations than expected -- indicating enrichment and providing insight into the substances used in Tycho Brahe's alchemical laboratory," said Kaare Lund Rasmussen. The enriched elements are nickel, copper, zinc, tin, antimony, tungsten, gold, mercury, and lead, and they have been found on either the inside or outside of the shards.
Most of them are not surprising for an alchemist's laboratory. Gold and mercury were -- at least among the upper echelons of society -- commonly known and used against a wide range of diseases.
"But tungsten is very mysterious. Tungsten had not even been described at that time, so what should we infer from its presence on a shard from Tycho Brahe's alchemy workshop?," said Kaare Lund Rasmussen.
Tungsten was first described and produced in pure form more than 180 years later by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Tungsten occurs naturally in certain minerals, and perhaps the element found its way to Tycho Brahe's laboratory through one of these minerals. In the laboratory, the mineral might have undergone some processing that separated the tungsten, without Tycho Brahe ever realizing it.
However, there is also another possibility that Professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen emphasizes has no evidence whatsoever -- but which could be plausible.
Already in the first half of the 1500s, the German mineralogist Georgius Agricola described something strange in tin ore from Saxony, which caused problems when he tried to smelt tin. Agricola called this strange substance in the tin ore "Wolfram" (German for Wolf's froth, later renamed to tungsten in English). "Maybe Tycho Brahe had heard about this and thus knew of tungsten's existence. But this is not something we know or can say based on the analyses I have done. It is merely a possible theoretical explanation for why we find tungsten in the samples," said Kaare Lund Rasmussen.
Tycho Brahe belonged to the branch of alchemists who, inspired by the German physician Paracelsus, tried to develop medicine for various diseases of the time: plague, syphilis, leprosy, fever, stomach aches, etc. But he distanced himself from the branch that tried to create gold from less valuable minerals and metals.
In line with the other medical alchemists of the time, he kept his recipes close to his chest and shared them only with a few selected individuals, such as his patron, Emperor Rudolph II, who allegedly received Tycho Brahe's prescriptions for plague medicine.
We know that Tycho Brahe's plague medicine was complicated to produce. It contained theriac, which was one of the standard remedies for almost everything at the time and could have up to 60 ingredients, including snake flesh and opium. It also contained copper or iron vitriol (sulphates), various oils, and herbs.
After various filtrations and distillations, the first of Brahe's three recipes against plague was obtained. This could be made even more potent by adding tinctures of, for example, coral, sapphires, hyacinths, or potable gold.
"It may seem strange that Tycho Brahe was involved in both astronomy and alchemy, but when one understands his worldview, it makes sense. He believed that there were obvious connections between the heavenly bodies, earthly substances, and the body's organs. Thus, the Sun, gold, and the heart were connected, and the same applied to the Moon, silver, and the brain; Jupiter, tin, and the liver; Venus, copper, and the kidneys; Saturn, lead, and the spleen; Mars, iron, and the gallbladder; and Mercury, mercury, and the lungs. Minerals and gemstones could also be linked to this system, so emeralds, for example, belonged to Mercury," explained Poul Grinder-Hansen.
Kaare Lund Rasmussen has previously analyzed hair and bones from Tycho Brahe and found, among other elements, gold. This could indicate that Tycho Brahe himself had taken medicine that contained potable gold.
Journal Reference:Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Poul Grinder-Hansen. Chemical analysis of fragments of glass and ceramic ware from Tycho Brahe’s laboratory at Uraniborg on the island of Ven (Sweden). Heritage Science, 2024; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s40494-024-01301-6
Cite This Page:MLA APA Chicago University of Southern Denmark. "Chemical analyses find hidden elements from renaissance astronomer Tycho Brahe's alchemy laboratory." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 July 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240725154836.htm>.
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