Day 5 (7th June): Science Lessons, Practical Lab session

Dr Saroj leading the discussion

During the morning session at the Castle, the teacher covered the definition of a good scientist, Green Chemistry, and a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of antibiotics. Although the definition of a good scientist was a minor segment of the morning session, I was deeply struck by the questions asked by the teacher, especially one where we were to state what sciences we would want to study in Cambridge. In the process of of answering this question, I suddenly felt riled up, and believed that if I did put in the extra effort, I could actually make it to Cambridge and have a chance to study my preferred field of Science. This has made me realize that it is possible to dream big, and aspire even harder to attain my goals. In Green Chemistry, we learnt more about what is being done to reduce our carbon footprint, and how we can play our part to reduce global warming. The debate on antibiotics challenged us to argue whether antibiotics are a boon or a bane to mankind. The lesson and discussions allowed me to look at Science on a global scale and that in the real world, it is not always possible to attain a win-win situation with the pros and cons to consider. 

Practical lesson at a Cambridge University Science Lab

In the afternoon, we went to the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge where we had a practical lesson in the science laboratory. My jaw literally dropped when I saw the facilities in the laboratory. The practical session was fun although I could not help but feel somewhat disappointed when my group's results did not achieve what was expected. Despite having a science background, the complexity of the task shocked me at first and made me realize that there is so much more to the sciences than what I have learnt in school. Overall, I feel that the Science course today has been a real eye-opener for me since I actually got to experience it in a different way.

- Ching Siu (CGS)

Sir Isaac Newton

What does it take to be a good scientist? That was the question that started off today’s lessons. A good scientist needs to have a natural curiosity about the world and have many different viewpoints on the same experiment. Marie Curie, Watson & Crick, Isaac Newton… these are just a few noble scientists that graduated from Cambridge University. After this, we touched on a piece of green chemistry. To be honest, I had never heard of green chemistry before today’s lesson. Learning how Green Chemistry will benefit the environment made me more conscious on the different environmental problems in the world. We also had a debate on the pros and cons of antibiotics. From that, I learnt that stopping medication of antibiotics halfway even when the illness is cured could lead to bad consequences. This was extremely intriguing to me as I am interested in the medical field.  

Watson & Crink:
Discoverers of the structure of DNA

Following this, we did an experiment on protein biochemistry called Protein Determination. We had to find out the amount of protein needed in each sample by comparing it with a control sample. By doing this experiment, I gained more insights on using the different laboratory tools and also what to use to create the sample for the experiment. This was something we have not done in Singapore before so I really enjoyed it. The huge lab, which was almost twice the size of the labs in Cedar, also enchanted me and having the chance to do an experiment in a Cambridge University lab was something not everyone would have the chance to. So that made me enjoy the experience even more.

Practical lesson at a Cambridge University Science Lab

Compared to the English lessons we had in the previous days, I was more interested in the science lessons today since in general I prefer Science to English. For Science, we got to experiment things we have never learnt before. Also since I’m more interested in the medical field in Science, I would be looking forward to the following lessons where we would be learning about gene therapy, drug discovery and anti-cancer drugs which are related to human health and medicine. 

- Geraldyn (CGS)

Science class today took us through what makes a good scientist, a debate on superbugs and antibiotics, a lesson on green chemistry and an experiment to quantify proteins. Relating the Science class to the English class, I found that a striking similarity between two is the need to view a subject from multiple perspectives. During English Class, the idea of modernism in art and writing requires one to look at something from different depths simultaneously in order to understand better. Similarly when learning science, we learn to view an outcome from different angles and come up with multiple explanations. 

Another common element is the need for an open mind to analyze and explain the world around us.

Dinner at The Giraffe

However, I feel science is also different from arts. In science, we deepen our understanding by expanding our knowledge of a certain field- discoveries are made everyday while in English we deepen our understanding of a text by discovering clues within the text itself. You could simply compare imagism and cubism with superbugs and green chemistry. In imagism we condense poetry to convey meaning more subtly while in Cubism, we observe how different shapes within a drawing interact with each other. Scientific discovery is very dynamic as chemicals, such as DDT, make problems come full circle and scientists are constantly creating new antibiotics to overcome superbugs. 

- Laura (CGS) 

After breakfast, we headed to the castle for our first science lesson. We met our Science lecturer, Dr Saroj, who introduced us on what makes a good scientist. Dr Saroj is a research Fellow from the Department of Pharmacology. Firstly we learned that scientist should never claim absolute knowledge as it is always open to falsification and that they always test hypothesis. Secondly, we learnt that the main criterion for good scientists should be that they should always extend their knowledge. Thirdly, they need to have a natural curiosity about the world in order for us to question everything we see and not take it for granted. They also should have an appetite to learn as for scientists it is a life-long learning process. They also should also have an ability to see things from many different perspectives so that they have alternative explanations. Then, they also should have an exceptional imagination in order to perceive how the world would be in the future. Last but not the least, they should have exceptional mathematical skills. These days, scientists are mainly judged through their publication record in scientific journals. Scientific journals communicate the research of these scientists. Most scientific journals cover a scientific field and publish research from within that field. So, the higher the number of times he has his researches published, the better a scientist is he.

 After the introduction we had a quiz in order to test our general knowledge. After the quiz, each of us was told to introduce ourselves and answer some questions based on our personal opinions. Some of us have similar personal opinions on who were the best scientists from Cambridge University such as Watson and Crick and Isaac Newton. Most of us also said that the most important discovery made in Cambridge is gravity or DNA. In my opinion, this lecture had enlightened me more about the job of the scientists and what they do. It is really useful and I enjoyed learning more about the job of a scientist.

After that, we had a lecture on Green Chemistry. We learnt that the definition of Green Chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products. We also learnt that Green Chemistry is about reducing waste, hazard, materials, risk, the prominent part of our daily lives. The second reason is that chemical developments also bring new environment problems and harmful unexpected side effects, which result in the need for ’greener’ chemical products. Green Chemistry also looks at the pollution prevention on the molecular scale and is also an extremely important area of Chemistry due to the importance of Chemistry in our world today and the implications it can show on our environment.  Then we learnt the 12 principles of Green Chemistry such as Prevention, Atom Economy, Catalysis Designing Safer Chemicals, Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries, Design for Energy Efficiency, the Use of Renewable Feedstocks, Reduce Derivatives, Design for Degradation, Real-time Analysis for Pollution Prevention, Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention and Less Hazardous Chemical Synthesis. So, the major uses of Green Chemistry are Energy, Global Change, Resource Depletion, Food Supply and Toxics in the Environments. In my opinion, the Green Chemistry lecture was really useful as it taught me many ways where we can conserve a lot of things such as energy so that the Earth would be a much cleaner and greener environment.

After the lecture on Green Chemistry, we had a debate on whether antibiotics are a bane or a boon to mankind. One of the banes of antibiotics is the overuse of antibiotics which has a potentially serious effect on health. It is a contributing factor to the creation of “multi drug resistance bacteria” informally called superbugs. Relatively harmless bacteria can develop resistance to multiple antibiotics and cause life-threatening infections. Another bane of antibiotics is that some antibiotics induce hyper-sensitivity and cause allergic response. This can cause rashes or even skin diseases such as eczema. These banes of antibiotics are really serious issues that would affect the health of the individual if he does not take his medication properly with care or if he misuses them.

One of the many boons of antibiotics is that it is simple to use. When we use antibiotics, we just need to take the pill once or twice a day by swallowing the pill with a glass of water. Thus, the drugs can be used broadly by all age groups. Another boon of antibiotics is that it does not create any problem in tissue and intracellular penetration. Thus, these antibiotics would just kill the bad bacteria or virus in our body. At the same time, they would not cause any serious problems to our body. So with proper use of the medication, antibiotics would only cure our diseases without affecting our health.

Then, we thought of ways of how to reduce the misuse of antibiotics. One of the answers that had been given by us was to educate the public to complete the antibiotics. We also talked about mainland China and India where the misuse of drugs are common as the people living there are quite poor and so, they stop taking their medication in the belief that they are cured. For example, tuberculosis requires a 6 month therapy. However, some of the poor people in mainland China and India would stop their medication after a week or two when most of the symptoms would go away. However, the bacteria are only dormant in our body and have not fully left yet. So when they stop taking antibiotics, these bacteria would become active again but this time, they would change their shapes so that the original antibiotics used by the patient would be ineffective against these bacteria. In my opinion, I found the debate highly entertaining and exciting.

Most of us were able to voice out our opinions about the reasons why antibiotics are a boon or a bane. I really enjoyed the debate as it taught me many things which I did not know at first. This is a really great and unique experience for me as we looked deeply and analyzed the solutions for the misuse of antibiotics and also the boons and banes of these antibiotics. Then Dr Saroj introduced us to protein biochemistry such as SDS-PAGE and Protein Determination. He also told us important information such as the fact that bigger proteins on a gel will run slower as they have a higher molecular mass when compared to smaller proteins We also learnt that amino acids, which makes us proteins, are either positively charger, neutral or negatively charged. Lastly, we learnt that protein separation depends on either their size or charge. After the protein biochemistry lecture, we went to the Cambridge city centre to get lunch and buy some souvenirs. 

After lunch, we headed to the Department of Pharmacology for our Science Practical Session. We were introduced to Dr Saroj’s colleagues and were also told to be quiet as exams were still taking place in the university. Dr Saroj told that the experiment that we had done was mostly commonly done by second year medical students. The experiment was about proteins, and we felt very excited and that the lesson was fun as it was the first time that we had lessons pitched at such a high level. It was a wonderful and unique experience as it is such a rare opportunity to do what second-year Cambridge students are doing. In my opinion, the practical session was really fun and entertaining as I was able to learn and experiment with things that we would never get a chance to do in Victoria School. We really enjoyed it very much and I really hope that I could do more of such in the future when I go to university.

We then had dinner at the ‘Giraffe’ restaurant where we met Joshua and Calvin, two Cambridge students who graduated from Victoria School in 2004. They told us about how they got into Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University through scholarships and that it was extremely enriching learning at the University. YOu have to learn how to be independent as you are away from home for a long time, and you have to do things such as doing the laundry and cooking meals on your own. They also told us there aren’t really any CCAs so if we wanted to play a sport or start a club or society, we could get together a group of friends who share the same interest as and just do those sports or activities together. They then told us the process of applying for a scholarship. For his PSC scholarship, Calvin shared how he was interviewed by a panel of 12 high-ranking officers, some of whom were clad in military uniform. He also had to endure an intense 4-hour test with a Psychologist. He told us about the wonderful experience he has had studying in Cambridge, such as the privilege of having friends living next door, so that when you have a question that you do not know how to answer, you can simply knock on the door of your neighbor and ask him for help. We also learnt that you are able to choose your own courses after you get the scholarship. That was not what I expected to hear as I thought that you would be given a course once your application for the scholarship is successful. 

Through this talk with Joshua and Calvin, we were  motivated by what our seniors have achieved. They told us that we have to take the initiative to attend the lectures by the professors as they would not bother to hunt us down if we skip any of them. They are also able to choose when they want their supervision sessions with their professors to be. Most importantly, we learnt that we have to do our best to achieve our goals, regardless of what they are. In my opinion, this talk by Joshua and Calvin had given me more confidence in being able to aspire of going to Cambridge University in the future. They also gave us their e-mails so that we would be able to ask them any questions in the future.

Overall, we had a wonderful time. It was really exciting to explore things that we have not learnt in school. I especially enjoyed the Science Practical Lessons in the Department of Pharmacology. It was our first Science day in Cambridge and it was a really unique experience. 

- Alvinn, Joshua, Darryl (VS)