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Autism Causes

By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog

A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or ASD in a child can be devastating for parents. Scientists have been seeking the cause of ASD for decades but it still remains elusive. ASD is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that result in a wide range of symptoms, disabilities and skills. The official categorization of ASD includes three primary diagnoses: Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Delays - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis of Autistic Disorder must include impairments in three cardinal domains: communication abnormalities, impaired social functions and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Autistic Disorder is more on the severe end of the spectrum with impairments in all three domains. Autistics exhibit marked problems with social interactions, they have delayed and abnormal communications development with as many as 50% not speaking at all. Behaviorally, those affected can be insistent in maintaining routines, resist change and can engage in repetitive behaviors such as hand flapping or rocking.

People with PDD-NOS have some but not all of the symptoms of AD or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder. While those with Asperger's Syndrome have problems with social interaction and respond unusually to their environment much like individuals with autism. However, they do not have the communication and cognitive deficits. They can exhibit unusual idiosyncratic interests in very limited things, for example train schedules, snakes or the weather.

So what causes autism? Twin studies have revealed that there is a strong genetic component to autism. If one identical twin is affected with Autistic Disorder there is a 36-95% chance that the other twin will also be affected. While the risk for fraternal twins is 5-20% which is also the chance of a couple with an autistic child having a second child with autism. The second clue that there is a genetic component is that there are other known genetic disorders in which there are higher autism rates including Downs Syndrome, Turner Syndrome and duplications in chromosome 15.

The search for the gene(s) involved has been underway for many years. There are close to 800 genes that have been found altered in people with autism. It appears that different genes or combinations of altered genes lead to autism in different people. No two autistic individuals are likely to have the same genetic alterations leading. It has been determined that 5-10% of autistic individuals have acquired new mutations not present in their parents' genes. Gene alterations may couple with environmental exposures in causing autism. For example, gestational diabetes, folic acid deficiency at conception, in utero exposure to certain drugs, living near a city with air pollution all increase the risk for autism. There is also some evidence to suggest that the gut microbiome plays an important role in development and disruptions in the normal flora may also contribute to the development of ASD.

Scientists are working hard to understand the complex genetic and environmental factors that are involved in ASD. Unfortunately, the causes of ASD are very heterogeneous. One fact is irrefutable, autism is not caused by vaccinations.

Medical Discovery News is hosted by professors Norbert Herzog at Quinnipiac University, and David Niesel of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.

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With Our Planet At The Crossroads, The Future Of Conservation Depends On Science
This week, conservation takes center stage as 6,000 global experts dive deep into the issues that will define the physical future of our planet. And with the all the far-reaching impacts of these decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of our planet, it's a gathering that cannot come soon enough.

"2016-09-06-1473177013-8324484-RebeccaShawblogphoto.jpg"

Photo Credit: © Michel Roggo / WWF

The World Conservation Congress is the single largest conservation event in the world. It brings together a broad cross-section of conservation minds. Leaders and decision-makers from governments, businesses, indigenous organizations, academia, and NGOs are here to identify evolving trends, current threats, and innovative solutions to the challenges we collectively face in safeguarding biodiversity and protecting ecosystems that provide life-supporting services like clean water and air.

Expectations are high as momentum is on our side. Last year, international leaders set a collective agenda to end poverty and ensure sustainability remains front and center when they adopted the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. And, some 195 nations came together in a concerted effort to combat climate change and prepare our communities for its impacts, with the signing of the Paris Agreement. On the heels of these two ambitious agreements, this year's Congress looks to set a global agenda for how we manage our natural environment for human, social and economic development - and do so in a way that lives up to the promise set by these pacts.

It's no small task. And like all significant challenges the world faces today, we need the right mix people with the right kind of talent and a diversity of perspectives to drive the kinds of innovative solutions needed to get us back on course. At the Congress, delegates are building relationships among unlikely partners - from local communities to multi-national companies to global NGOs - to identify the kinds of disruptive solutions we need.

We are sharing our insights into new technologies that can help plan for future growth, making sure the pace of development does not exceed the pace of conservation. We're driving solutions with unleashed creativity, grounding them in sound science, and redefining the way we approach conservation at scale.

I'm here talking about how WWF works with our partners to help drive conservation, using science to accelerate biodiversity protections while helping improve local communities.

We're ramping up high-tech solutions for combatting wildlife poaching. The illegal taking of wildlife has sky-rocketed in recent years, largely driven by demand in Asia. It's an incredible threat to tigers, rhinos, elephants, gorillas and other extraordinary wildlife in Africa and Asia. With sky-high price tags for horns, tusks and other body parts, these animals don't stand a chance unless we can stem the tide and reverse these trends.

Made possible by a grant from Google.org, WWF's Wildlife Crime and Technology Project is using adapted and new technologies to create seamless systems to protect wildlife from poachers. We are arming parks and reserves with thermal cameras and human-detection software, equipping rangers with devices to track the presence and movement of wildlife, and aggressively testing new uses for drones as part to our anti-poaching efforts. By deploying these and other technologies, we are leveling the playing field for rangers and actively protecting threatened species.

Science can also quench the thirst of a water-loving planet. Across the globe, climate-driven droughts are increasing in frequency and intensity. In recent years, heat waves and droughts in the Midwestern US, India, Brazil, and California set records. As these events grow more severe, we'll likely see increased conflicts among industry, farmers, city-dwellers and the environment as the amount of water available for consumption progressively declines.

We need to manage these resources with a transparent and collaborative science-based approach. It's our best hope for escaping future water wars and the scarcity trap. We need to embrace these new approaches, such as WWF's community-based Basin Report Cards, in which participants create a shared knowledge base to actively manage their local water supply sustainably and adaptively over time, even in the face of a changing climate.

We must continue conserving the reefs that foster biodiversity and feed local communities. For 3.1 billion people around the world, fish is an essential source of protein, accounting for almost 20 percent of the annual intake of animal protein. For those who are highly dependent on marine sources of protein, the local fish market is the nearest coral reef. Coral reefs provide the most diverse habitat of all marine ecosystems, housing one quarter of marine species in only one-tenth of the ocean's surface area. In these places, we must meet human dietary needs while ensuring the long-term persistence of the diversity of species. This requires a mix of social and natural science to get the balance right.

In Indonesia, WWF and its partners have established Marine Protected Areas designed to safeguard biodiversity, ensure productive fisheries and increase human well-being. Carefully established monitoring programs for social and environmental outcomes indicate that in many cases, the triple bottom line is possible and sustainable.

As this week's Congress points out, it's not an understatement to say our planet is at a crossroads when it comes to conserving nature. Decisions we make in the coming years - and even this week - will have long-term impact on the health and sustainability of the world we leave to those who follow in our steps. As we discuss, debate, and decide on those actions, it's critical we ensure good science guides the way.

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1473182468000

science

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With Our Planet At The Crossroads, The Future Of Conservation Depends On Science
This week, conservation takes center stage as 6,000 global experts dive deep into the issues that will define the physical future of our planet. And with the all the far-reaching impacts of these decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of our planet, it's a gathering that cannot come soon enough.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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science

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I, Trigger
In August, the Dean of my alma mater, the University of Chicago, sent a letter to its freshmen nixing trigger warnings and such. The ban hit the headlines , provoking lively debate ("PC or not PC?") in comment-land. Lively, but unfocussed, because "trigger" is a looking-glass word. Besides, the issue goes much deeper. To nudge the conversation toward clarity, I offer my personal experience, not with triggers but as one.

Imagine this. I'm talking with people I've never met before, say at a college reception. They're all articulate, accomplished: a sociologist, a biologist, a psychologist, and a historian. "What do you do?" someone eventually asks me politely. I say "Mathematics" and they all start trembling. Not in awe, but in fear. Their eyes brim with tears. And then, one by one, they confess. "My algebra teacher was wonderful but geometry made no sense to me." Or "I loved math up to sixth grade, but after that, I was blocked." Or "My brother was good at it." Or "I wanted to be a doctor but I failed calculus."

Their confessions perplex me. I'm neither a therapist nor a priest. Should I have warned them that my answer might upset them, and offered them earplugs? Or smiled politely and said, "That's all right, dear, you have other talents?" No. As a staunch UC alum I challenge them: "Why are you telling me this? "

Silence. I push on: "When you meet a violinist, do you turn pale and say you couldn't play a note!? When you meet an economist, do you blush beet red and stammer that you dropped the course?" No, they admit, they do not. "So why do you confess to me?" They laugh nervously, then steer the conversation back to their own terrains.

What's going on? It seems I've rung a bell -- the school bell. Let's ponder the metaphor. The English have rung bells from time immemorial so I looked up "ring, v " in the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, expecting to find a long and interesting history. But no! The metaphor is just eighty-four years old! Here are the first two entries under "c. to ring a bell : to awaken a memory":

1934 A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay. Why should the Local Pavlov have
chosen to ring just those particular bells which happen to be rung?
1933 L. Thayer Counterfeit iii. Wait a second, Ray... Why does that name ring
a bell with you?

Why did this metaphor emerge when it did? What happened just about then, besides the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler, and the first sighting of the Loch Ness Monster? Here's one: Ivan Pavlov's work on conditioned reflexes was diffusing to the English-reading public.

The famous Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) won the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his work on mammalian digestive systems. But the bell that rings when we hear "Pavlov" isn't a stomach rumbling, it's the literal bell he used in his later work on dogs. As the Nobel Foundation website explains to children,

...he struck a bell when the dogs were fed. If the bell was sounded in close
association with their meal, the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, they responded by drooling.

Maybe that's it! People who quake when they learn what I do are conditioned! Not to drool at the sound of a bell, but to tremble and weep at the sight of a math teacher! Think about it. Year after year, children stress out on timed tests. Decades later, when they meet me, stress-behavior kicks in reflexively.

Nonsense, you may be thinking. These adults are grown up; they got over that long ago. But maybe they haven't. Maybe they can't. I wasn't surprised to learn, from the OED , that Aldous Huxley made the Pavlovian connection. He was interested (to say the least) in drugs and visited physicians who studied them. My father was one such doctor but don't I think Huxley paid us a call. Dad worked in the Addiction Research Center at the Narcotic Farm, a federal prison/hospital near Lexington, Kentucky. The Narcotic Farm was indeed both prison and hospital: inmates served time on dope charges, but they were also there to be cured. After detox, they were counseled and taught useful trades-farming, carpentry, and so on-to prepare them for clean, productive lives on the outside. Yet most of them returned one, two, or even ten years after their release, addicted all over again. The relapse rate was ninety per cent.

What is relapse, and why is it time-independent? Dad, a disciple of Pavlov, thought
addiction might be a form of conditioning. Just like in dogs, but with drugs instead of food, and syringes instead of bells. Indeed, ex-addicts were cured if they didn't go home again. They didn't relapse in new lives in new places. But, hanging out with the old gang even for a day, or setting foot on the old street corner, brought on the old craving full force. I learned about conditioned reflexes at the family dinner table; what I know about that science, I learned then. But, naive though I must be, I'll put it out there anyway: I trigger relapse!

With this insight, I'll take another tack next time. I won't warn or soothe or challenge my weeping interlocutors. Instead, I'll invite them all -- the sociologist, the biologist, the psychologist, the historian, the violinist and the economist -- to join forces and work together to understand triggers in addiction, PTSD, math anxiety, literature and much more. That's a conversation for a college.

Note: This blog draws on my essay "Bells and Whistles," in P. Casazza, S. G. Krantz, and R. D. Ruden, I, Mathematician, II, COMAP, Bedford, MA, 2016.

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Small Island States with Big Ocean Visions
Over the next two weeks I will be representing the world's smallest nation, the Republic of Nauru, at a meeting at the United Nations aimed at protecting the world's greatest natural asset, the ocean. For the people of small islands, understanding the importance of the ocean to human survival is as natural as breathing. If the ocean is healthy, we are healthy; if the future of the ocean is uncertain, so is ours. It is therefore alarming to witness the warming, rising and acidification of the sea around us due to climate change, and the increasing pressure on tuna and other fish stocks we depend on, and it has made Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like mine among the loudest voices calling for international action.

Along with our fellow SIDS, Nauru has been working for years to encourage all governments to prioritize ocean health, and we celebrated a year ago when a coalition of states and organizations succeeded in securing a strong Sustainable Development Goal for the ocean, SDG 14. Over the coming days our task at this Prepcom meeting is to begin translating our shared visions for addressing threats to the ocean into the terms of a breakthrough international agreement to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ), or the high seas. This is vital as what happens on the high seas directly affects territorial waters. Neither fish, nor pollution, nor the impacts of climate change pay any attention to the 200 nautical mile demarcation lines that divide national from international waters. If we are serious about protecting the ocean, and meeting the targets contained in SDG 14, we must agree on how to effectively, sustainably and fairly govern and manage the high seas. And we must do so without delay.

Negotiating a new, legally-binding international agreement on marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction is an immensely complex undertaking, but when completed it will take its place as one of the great international legal instruments of our time. It is a responsibility that delegates meeting in New York do not take lightly, but also one that we must execute with a degree of urgency. Maintaining the status quo will not keep us comfortably ticking along; it will leave the high seas - half the surface of the Earth - in continued peril of unregulated exploitation, and hold back efforts to boost the resilience of the ocean to climate change. For vulnerable island and coastal communities this spells disaster. Fortunately, the successful negotiation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 gives us momentum, and offers hope that a robust High Seas Biodiversity Agreement can be swiftly reached. The task before us may be complex, but much of what should constitute the foundations of the agreement has already been laid by marine scientists and the negotiators of earlier agreements.

"2016-09-01-1472739754-806244-ChristianVizlMarinePhotobank.jpg"

©ChristianVizl/MarinePhotobank

The High Seas Biodiversity Agreement should focus on how the high seas can be jointly governed in order to meet the SDG 14 targets and all the goals agreed to under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These targets include to "sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience"; to "end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans"; and to "conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas." The BBNJ can be a key partner in implementing this ambitious, and essential, agenda, but only if it lives up to the challenge by including the mechanisms needed to eliminate harmful and illegal fishing, and establish marine protected areas, including reserves, on the high seas so that biodiversity and ecosystems can flourish. It must also contain provisions that ensure that access to and benefits from the natural resources of the high seas are equitably shared among all nations, large or small.

When we take our seats at the discussions on the substance of the new High Seas Biodiversity Agreement at the UN this week, the delegates from SIDS may represent only a tiny proportion of the world's population, but we feel that we also speak for the ocean. We hope that all states will seize this exciting opportunity to forge a new future of responsible, science-based high seas governance that benefits all people and conserves the blue heart of the ocean. We believe it is a vision well within our reach.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post in partnership with Ocean Unite, an initiative to unite and activate powerful voices for ocean-conservation action. The series is being produced to coincide with the UN's Preparatory Committee Meeting (Aug 26-Sept 9) on an internal legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and is a part of HuffPost's "What's Working" initiative, putting a spotlight on initiatives around the world that are solutions oriented. To read all the posts in the series, read here.

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Driverless Vehicles: Ways to Improve Safety and Accelerate Environmental Progress Together
Are autonomous "driverless" vehicles truly the "next big thing" to transform our transportation system? If so, how soon, and what are the consequences for both safety and environmental values?

Federal policies to advance autonomous vehicle use should go hand-in-hand with policies to accelerate zero and low emissions vehicles and implement the Phase 2 CAFÉ standards that require much higher vehicle fuel efficiency.

Federal oversight agencies are initially focusing on autonomous vehicle safety, but they can do more than one thing at a time. Consistent with the Obama Administration's overall climate change policy solutions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should assess ways in which autonomous vehicle use can reduce greenhouse gas pollution. This should be a "both-and": the technological advances that are spurring development of autonomous vehicles can create opportunities to both reduce fatalities on roadways and reduce pollution that harms our health and environment.

If federal policies are crafted with a broader view to address climate change solutions, driverless cars can significantly help the United States to reach the greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals set at the United Nations COP21 meeting in Paris where our nation pledged to achieve a 28 percent domestic reduction in greenhouse gas pollution by 2025. The new vehicle technologies developed and deployed here can also be transferred and exported to advance global climate change solutions. As a matter of climate change science, it doesn't matter for the atmosphere whether carbon pollution comes from Indiana, India or Indonesia.

Transportation is the second largest source of greenouse gas pollution. Promoting the development of driverless cars that include an emphasis on vehicles with zero or low carbon emissions is an important climate change solution.

Optimizing driving efficiency - for example, through smooth acceleration - which has been shown to cut emissions as much as 60 percent. Autonomous vehicles can be programmed to reduce "heavy-footed" driving.

"Platooning" - where a group of vehicles follows each other very closely on a highway - can increase fuel efficiency by 5-20 percent. This vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology can precede the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles.

Alleviating congestion, especially in city centers, to enable freer-flowing traffic and less start-and-stop driving that burns more fuel and creates more pollution.

Reducing vehicle weight. If driverless cars prove as safe as developers claim, then smaller, lighter, more efficient vehicles become more possible.

This is not, however, a one-way street. Adding more gas-powered driverless vehicles on the highways also presents the risk of reversing decades of progress in policy work to reduce vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and pollution. The ease of not-driving while reading a book, chatting with friends and family, or snoozing in a driverless car can facilitate longer commutes, more vehicles and more congestion on the highways, more exurban sprawl, and more VMTs. Unless there are accompanying fuel efficiency improvements through better vehicle technologies that substantially reduce pollution, there is a risk of moving backward (or at least not moving as far forward) in achieving greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals.

Simply put, policies to advance autonomous vehicle use should work together with federal policies to accelerate zero and low emissions vehicles and to ensure progress implementing the Phase 2 CAFÉ standards for higher vehicle fuel efficiency in order to reduce pollution. .

These opportunities and challenges are ripe for discussion. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced in January that the NHTSA intends to work with automakers and state governments to remove barriers by developing prototype laws and regulations. While the initial U.S. DOT and NHTSA discussions are focused on setting safety standards, the agencies should also engage the U.S. EPA at the table and infuse climate change considerations into the discussions and resulting guidelines over the next six months.

EPA's recent draft Technical Assessment Report on the CAFÉ standards begins to address greenhouse gas pollution impacts of autonomous vehicles: "EPA, NHTSA, and CARB are beginning to explore research on the potential emissions and fuel economy impacts of emerging transformational technologies and transportation trends."

That's a step in the right direction for devising the best policy roadmap for incorporating autonomous vehicles into our national transportation system in a way that improves both safety and environmental quality for us all.

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Apple set to control homes through new connected home app

Apple will be launching an app this autumn, which will allow users to control multiple home appliances through speaking to their smartphone.

The Home app will roll out with Apple's latest iOS 10 update in September, and aims to enhance the company's existing platform HomeKit, which until now has worked by connecting different device apps together.

A hub to “control your home”

Now, Home will be a hub where users can access all of their connected home products, including lighting, locks, heating and cooling, plugs and switches, blinds and sensors for appliances such as kettles.

Home will rival smart thermostat apps such as British Gas's Hive and Alphabet's Nest, and connected home hub Samsung's SmartThings.

Apple describes the new app as a “simple and secure way to manage home automation products in one place”, and to “set up, manage and control your home”.

Voice activated through Siri

The app links up with Apple's Siri feature so will be voice activated. Users can choose whether they want to manage home devices individually or group certain ones together, such as lighting, locks and heating, and control them with a single command.

Users can also organise their day into “scenes”, for example “I'm home”, “Good morning” and “Good night”, which when selected will trigger a series of actions, such as lights and heating coming on when they get home.

Can be used remotely

The app will also show specific details, such as the exact temperature of a thermostat at a given time, or the percentage at which dimmer lights are lit.

The app allows devices to be controlled remotely away from the home, or alternatively through other devices such as the Apple TV. It will also be possible to set timer triggers, and also event triggers for example, requesting the heating to come on only if the temperature in a room drops below 20°C.

The app will be available for £10.99 through the iTunes Store this autumn for users of iPhone 5 and later editions. An exact release date for iOS 10 is yet to be revealed.

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Channel 4 TV show Hollyoaks undergoes rebrand

Channel 4 TV show Hollyoaks has had a brand revamp, taking on a new logo and new title sequence.

The redesign is the soap opera's first major one in six years, and has been completed by the design and graphics team at Lime Pictures, the production company for the show.

The new logo replaces one implemented in 2011, which was made up of a 3D sans-serif typeface that used two interchangeable colours.

Prior to this, the soap had a flat logo which incorporated plus sign and arrow gender symbols, implemented in 2007.

The new logo sees a return to flat typography, which still makes use of two shades but without 3D elements.

The two colours are interchangeable depending on context, but are most commonly seen as white and grey, used against various title sequence backdrops.

Lime Pictures says the new logo has “clean lines and a modern feel” but also a “slightly retro look to recognise the show's heritage”.

The new branding has also been applied online and across social media applications, using a revamped “H” icon as the motif.

The new title sequences aim to be “vibrant, fun and glossy”, says the show's executive producer Bryan Kirkwood, and include shots of new characters on the show. Lime Pictures say the sequences aim to “move away from CGI” and more towards film.

Music accompanying the title sequence has also been reworked, completed by musician A Skillz.

2016 marks the soap's 21st year on Channel 4. The new title sequences and branding roll out this week.

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Shortlist revealed for £20 million River Thames permanent light installation

"View-West-From-Tower-Bridge-LR" — © Malcolm Reading Consultants/Luke Hayes

The shortlist has been announced for a competition to design a permanent light installation on the River Thames.

The Illuminated River International Design Competition backed by the Mayor of London and the Rothschild Foundation will see one team develop concept lighting schemes for four famous London bridges: Westminster, Waterloo, London and Chelsea.

They will also design the masterplan for another 13 bridges between Albert and Tower Bridge.

The shortlist includes Adjaye Associates, AL_A, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Les Éclairagistes Associés, Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, Sam Jacob Studio and Simon Hejidens.

Design, engineering and architecture firms

The six finalists have been whittled down from over 100 multidisciplinary teams, made up of 346 individual design, engineering and architecture firms.

Hannah Rothschild, chair of the Illuminated River Foundation, says: “The final shortlist represents an exhilarating mix of talent, inspiration and design approach. In November the finalists' concept designs will be unveiled, and London will have six possible visions of how the river and the city might be transformed after dark.”

After the concept designs go on display to the public in November, a jury made up ofsfigures including Lord Rothschild and Dame Julia Peyton-Jones will announce the overall winner in December.

The post Shortlist revealed for £20 million River Thames permanent light installation appeared first on Design Week.

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V&A director Martin Roth steps down

Director of the V&A Martin Roth, who set up the museum's design, architecture and digital department, has announced that he will stand down from his post this year.

61-year-old Roth leaves after five years doing the job, and was behind many of the museum's most successful exhibitions including David Bowie is and Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.

His tenure also saw the museum's highest ever recorded visitor number of 3.3 million in 2014.

“We will have to get used to living without European funds”

Roth leaves his post after reportedly telling German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle in June that the UK's vote to leave the European Union was a “personal defeat”.

On how the decision would affect the cultural sector, he said: “On a national level, we will have to get used to living without European funds. That will especially affect research.”

He added that he felt affected “on an ideological level more than an economic one”, and that the phase of exiting the EU would be “horrible”.

The V&A was unable to confirm at the time of publishing whether Brexit played a part in Roth's decision to step down, but says there are “various reasons” for his departure.

“A significant contribution” to the museum's success

Roth, who was born in Germany, was previously president of the German Museums Association, and before that held director and curator roles at various science and history museums in Germany.

Roth himself says: “It's been an enormous privilege and tremendously exciting to lead this great museum…Our recent accolade as Art Fund Museum of the Year feels like the perfect moment to draw to a close my mission in London and hand over to a new director to take the V&A forward to an exciting future.”

He is set to step down this autumn, and the V&A's board of trustees is currently seeking a new director.

Nicholas Coleridge, chairman of the trustees of the V&A, adds: “Martin's tenure as director has been marked by a highly successful period of creativity, expansion and re-organisation of the V&A. He has made a significant contribution to the success of this museum.”

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The 1900 World's Fair Helped Shape How We Talk About Tech Today
Debates rage today about the risks and benefits of modern technology -- driverless cars, robots and drones in warfare and commerce, surgery by robotic rather than human hands, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and genetic manipulation of food, organisms and even human beings.

The National Institutes of Health recently announced that it plans to end the ban on funding research for part-human, part-animal embryos, raising urgent ethical questions like: What if this produces an animal with a partly human brain?

But the origins of these very modern concerns date back more than a century, with lively discussions about "modernization" underway as early as the world's fair in Paris in 1900. One especially compelling, yet largely forgotten, analysis was penned by Henry Adams, the son of a congressman and diplomat, descendant of two U.S. presidents, a highly regarded historian and a conflicted technology enthusiast. His reflections were contained in his posthumously published autobiography, "The Education of Henry Adams."

What if this produces an animal with a partly human brain?

In a chapter titled "The Dynamo and the Virgin," he ponders the implications of the machine age, expressing deep concern over what he sees as a dangerous clash between the seductive grandeur of modern science and technology -- what he calls "the Dynamo" -- and the essential undergirding of humanity, religion and traditional values, which he christens "the Virgin."

More introspective than descriptive, "The Education of Henry Adams" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919. It tops the Modern Library's list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century, outranking Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery," Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring."

Today, Adams's work is not nearly as widely known as those, but not for lack of merit and timeliness. Indeed, one could argue that it is even more relevant today than it was when it was written.

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The Galerie des Machines at the 1900 world's fair in Paris. (Photo12/UIG/Getty)

After studying exhibitions on art, science and technology at the world's fair in Paris, Adams concluded that -- despite his own appreciation of the merits of "progress" -- Americans were too ready to embrace new technology at the cost of traditional values. This raised for him a disquieting question for the dawning century: Will the human spirit survive the new age of the machine?

Adams was anxious that American culture was about to take a fateful turn, sacrificing traditional values on the altar of technology. Prompting his reflections was a visit to the Hall of Electrical Machines. He fixated in particular on one of the gigantic dynamos on display. Its purpose was beside the point. Adams's focus -- and his fear -- centered on its size and mechanism, its "huge wheel, revolving within arm's-length at some vertiginous speed" while making hardly a sound. Its workings, he wrote, were an unfathomable but seductive mystery -- one that left him in awe. The dynamo became for him the incarnation of modernity and a symbol of the "revolution of 1900" -- interwoven revolutions in science and technology that ushered in, most impressively, the new age of electricity, along with automated production, the car and the airplane.

And then there was the art. Adams contrasted the dynamo with the figure of the Virgin, which he suggested was the central inspiration behind much of what he had viewed in the fair's acclaimed art pavilions. The Virgin became his symbol for Christian tradition and, equated by Adams to the Roman mythological Venus, the female force in general. Looking to the future, he wondered if the god of technology, the dynamo's apotheosis, was on the verge of replacing, as he put it, the church and the cross. Adams was in fact seeking a middle ground between religion and science.

Will the human spirit survive the new age of the machine?

Adams's guide through the Hall of Electrical Machines was a leading American scientist, S. P. Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Although holding Langley in the highest esteem, he wrote of being puzzled and a bit disturbed by the scientist's laser-like focus on machines and forces, to the exclusion of the art displays and all else that was non-scientific at the fair. "Langley," he wrote, "with the ease of a great master of experiment, threw out of the field every exhibit that did not reveal a new application of force, and naturally threw out, to begin with, almost the whole art exhibit."

Adams, writing in the third person about his experiences, described how Langley taught him to appreciate, if not really understand, recent discoveries in radioactivity, radio and electricity. "[Adams] wrapped himself in vibrations and rays which were new, and he would have hugged Marconi and Branly [the inventor of the Branly coherer, one of the earliest radio wave detectors] had he met them, as he hugged the dynamo."

Long fascinated by modern physics, Adams later experimented with applying physical theories to the theory of human history, even in the face of skeptical feedback from scientist friends. But it was the dynamo that excited his strongest reactions at the Paris fair: "As he grew accustomed to the great gallery of machines, he began to feel the 40-foot dynamos as a moral force, much as the early Christians felt the Cross ... Before the end, one began to pray to it."

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Adams plays with his dog in an undated photograph. (Bettmann via Getty)

Indeed, Adams later did pray to it, composing a poetic tribute, "Prayer to the Dynamo: Mysterious Power! Gentle Friend! Despotic Master! Tireless Force!" he wrote, with more than a hint of ambivalence.

The rush of discoveries in science and technology sometimes left him longing for the solace of tradition, security and unity that he associated with medieval society and the church. That people who now seemed to be turning away from the Virgin worried him, for he believed it could mean the end of the great artistic traditions that were propelled by the power of Christian faith, "the highest energy ever known to man," surpassing even the power of the steam engine and the dynamo.

Adams noted that in Europe, the "force of the Virgin was still felt at Lourdes and seemed to be as potent as X-rays," while "in America, neither Venus nor Virgin ever had value as force." Despite his personal religious skepticism (he was attracted to religion but remained agnostic, never really reconciling the truths of science and religious faith), he regretted that his countrymen were apparently throwing in their lot with the machine worshippers.

'Before the end, one began to pray to it.'

So, what does Adams have to say to us today as we confront the dilemmas of our own technological revolution? Adams was enthusiastic about modern science and technology -- today we might refer to him as an early adopter -- but he remained an essentially 19th century man, mindful of the challenges to society posed by 20th century technology. His hope was that dynamo and Virgin would ultimately join together in support of both our spiritual and material lives.

To be sure, we no longer speak of dynamos and Virgins, much less of "hugging dynamos." Yet, in many ways, Adams was extraordinarily prescient. With today's advances in artificial intelligence and genetic manipulation, we face the very existential crisis that Adams foresaw.

Precisely 100 years after Adams toured the Paris Exposition of 1900, Bill Joy, the co-founder and former chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, wrote his now famous essay in Wired magazine, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," projecting a dystopian future in which "our most powerful 21st-century technologies -- robotics, genetic engineering and nanotech -- are threatening to make humans an endangered species." Adams was not half so gloomy as Joy. From the vantage of the revolution of 1900, he welcomed our technological future, but with a crucial caveat: make sure our technology has a soul, not in the sense of superseding us as sentient human beings, but of living in spiritual harmony with our better selves.

This was produced by Zocalo Public Square.

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Deliveroo unveils new kangaroo as part of rebrand

DesignStudio has rebranded food delivery service Deliveroo, introducing a new kangaroo character while overhauling typography and staff uniforms.

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 in London and has since expanded to 12 countries and more than 100 cities.

Old logo designed by friends

The original logo was designed by friends of Deliveroo co-founder Will Shu, who says that it was necessary to rebrand following the rapid expansion of the company as the identity now needs to work a lot harder.

Shu says that when Deliveroo started out he did the deliveries and his co-founder and childhood friend Greg Orlowski handled the tech and development.

“Our customers were my ex colleagues and our office was my flat. Back then, our logo was something that a couple of friends drew” says Shu.

The original brand was designed with the Deliveroo website, rider boxes and business cards in mind. Since then advertising campaigns have been launched and the most visible part of the brand has become the thousands of riders who work for the company.

DesignStudio rode Deliveroo bikes

After a pitch process DesignStudio was selected and in its research phase took part in customer service shifts, became riders and according to Deliveroo's in-house design team “ate enough to get a sense of what restaurant delivery really means.”

DesignStudio's semiotics analysis focused on what the Deliveroo logo meant in other cultures and countries while workshops across the business considered where staff could see the identity being used in the future.

A range of different routes were initially worked on, some of which kept the kangaroo, while others looked for a new direction. As part of the wider process it was established that the kangaroo was loved both internally and externally, according to Deliveroo's in-house design team.

A new “bold and impactful kangaroo” has been developed and made deliberately angular so that it can dovetail with a broader graphics system across other touchpoints such as the website and rider kits.

“A symbol recognised as a character”

DesignStudio executive strategic creative director James Hurst says: “We have created a symbol that can be recognised as a character the roo irrespective of what language you speak while the minimalist aesthetic reduces established cultural associations that might be positive in one culture but controversial in another.

“This is a mark that Deliveroo will imbue with meaning over the next few years.”

The rider kit has been designed with rider safety in mind, says Deliveroo, and developed in consultation with road safety organisation Brake and the riders themselves so they feel happy wearing it.

There is hyperreflective material on the waist, shoulders and wrists of jackets to demonstrate the movement of riders at night while the rest of the material has been designed to be visible by day.

Meanwhile riders in warm climates wanted to be cool and riders in cold climates wanted to be warm and protected from the elements so this has all been accounted for with a range of clothing.

Typographic direction

Typography also takes its cue from the angular “roo”, particularly headlines which use a customised version of Stratos, “which echoes the angles and shape within the symbol and is brimming with personality for bold punchy headlines,” says Hurst.

He adds: “Its the same type used across the rider jackets and while its been worked into, is also the basis for the wordmark.”

A photography style has been developed across the brand, which focuses on the colour and texture of food and this has been art directed to appear real, messy and up-close, according to Deliveroo.

A roll out begins this Friday and Hurst says: “There is much more still to come.”