SECTION 2

Good morning, and welcome to the museum – one with a remarkable range of exhibits, which I’m sure you’ll enjoy. My name’s Greg, and I’ll tell you about the various collections as we go round. But before we go, let me just give you a taste of what we have here.

Well, for one thing, we have a fine collection of twentieth and twenty-first century paintings, many by very well-known artists. I’m sure you’ll recognise several of the paintings. This is the gallery that attracts the largest number of visitors (Q11), so it’s best to go in early in the day, before the crowds arrive.

The there are the nineteenth-century paintings. The museum was opened in the middle of that century, and several of the artists each donated one work (Q12) – to get the museum started, as it were. So they’re of special interest to us – we feel closer to them than to other works.

The sculpture gallery has a number of fine exhibits, but I’m afraid it’s currently closed for refurbishment. You’ll need to come back next year to see it properly, but a number of the sculptures have been moved to other parts of the museum. (Q13)

‘Around the world’ is a temporary exhibition – you’ve probably seen something about it on TV or in the newspapers (Q14). It’s created a great deal of interest, because it presents objects from every continent and many countries, and provides information about their social context – why they were made, who for, and so on.

Then there’s the collection of coins. This is what you might call a focused, specialist collection, because all the coins come from this country, and were produced between two thousand and a thousand years ago. And many of them were discovered by ordinary people digging their gardens and donated to the museum! (Q15)

All our porcelain and glass we left to the museum by its founder (Q16), when he died in 1878. And in the terms of his will, we’re not allowed to add anything to that collection: he believed it was perfect in itself, and we don’t see any reason to disagree!

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OK, that was something about the collections, and now here’s some more practical information, in case you need it. Most of the museum facilities are downstairs, in the basement, so you go down the stairs here. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you’ll find yourself in a sitting area, with comfortable chairs and sofas where you can have a rest before continuing your exploration of the museum.

We have a very good restaurant, which serves excellent food all day, in a relaxing atmosphere. To reach it, when you get to the bottom of the stairs, go straight ahead to the far side of the sitting area, then turn right into the corridor. You’ll see the door on the restaurant facing you (Q17).

If you just want a snack, or if you’d like to eat somewhere with facilities for children, we also have a café. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you’ll need to go straight ahead, turn right into the corridor, and the café is immediately on the right. (Q18)

And talking about children, there are baby-changing facilities downstairs: cross the sitting area, continue straight ahead along the corridor on the left and you and your body will find the facilities on the left-hand side. (Q19)

The cloakroom where you should leave coats, umbrella and any large bags, is on the left hand side of the sitting area. It’s through the last door before you come to the corridor. (Q20)

There are toilets on every floor, but in the basement they’re the first rooms on the left when you get down there.

OK, now if you’ve got anything to leave in the cloakroom, please do that now, and then we’ll start our tour. 

SECTION 3

SUPERVISOR:      Hi, Joanna, good to meet you. Now, before we discuss your new research project. I’d like to hear something about the psychology study you did last year for your Master’s degree. So how did you choose your subjects for that?

JOANNA:             Well, I had six subjects, all professional musicians, and all female. There were violinists and there was also a cello player and a pianist and a flute player. They were all very highly regarded in the music world and they’d done quite extensive tours in different continents (Q21&Q22), and quite a few had won prizes and competitions as well.

SUPERVISOR:      And they were quite young, weren’t they?

JOANNA:             Yes, between 25 and 29 – the mean was 27.8. I wasn’t specifically look for artists who’d produced recordings, but this is something that’s just taken for granted these days, and they all had. (Q21&Q22)

SUPERVISOR:      Right. Now you collected your data through telephone interviews, didn’t you?

JOANNA:             Yes. I realised if I was going to interview leading musicians it’s only be possible over the phone because they’re so busy (Q23&Q24). I recorded them using a telephone recording adaptor. I’d been worried about the quality, but it worked out all right. I managed at least a 30-minute interview with each subject, sometimes longer.

SUPERVISOR:      Did doing it on the phone make it more stressful?

JOANNA:             I’d thought it might … it was all quite informal though and in fact they seemed very keen to talk. And I don’t think using the phone meant I got less rich data rather the opposite in fact. (Q23&Q24)

SUPERVISOR:      Interesting. And you were looking at how performers dress for concert performances?

JOANNA:             That’s right. My research investigated the way players see their role as a musician and how this is linked to the type of clothing they decide to wear. But that focus didn’t emerge immediately. When I started I was more interested in trying to investigate the impact of what was worn on those listening (Q25&Q26), and also whether someone like a violinist might adopt a different style of clothing from, say, someone playing the flute or the trumpet (Q25&Q26).

SUPERVISOR:      It’s interesting that the choice of dress is up to the individual, isn’t it?

JOANNA:             Yes, you’d expect there to be rules about it in orchestras, but that’s quite rare.

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SUPERVISOR:      You only had women performers in your study. Was that because male musicians are less worried about fashion?

JOANNA:             I think a lot of the men are very much influenced by fashion, but in social terms the choices they have are more limited … they’d really upset audiences if they strayed away from quite narrow boundaries. (Q27)

SUPERVISOR:      Hmm. Now, popular music has quite different expectations. Did you read Mike Frost’s article about the dress of women performers in popular music?

JOANNA:             No.

SUPERVISOR:      He points out that a lot of female singers and musicians in popular music tend to dress down in performances, and wear less feminine clothes, like jeans instead of skirts, and he suggests this is because otherwise they’d just be discounted as trivial. (Q28)

JOANNA:             But you could argue they’re just wearing what’s practical … I mean, a pop-music concert is usually a pretty energetic affair.

SUPERVISOR:      Yes, he doesn’t make that point, but I think you’re probably right. I was interested by the effect of the audience at a musical performance when it came to the choice of dress.

JOANNA:             The subjects I interviewed felt this was really important. It’s all to do with what we understand by performance as a public event. They believed the audience had certain expectations and it was up to them as performers to fulfil these expectations to show a kind of esteem … (Q29)

SUPERVISOR:      … they weren’t afraid of looking as if they’d made an effort to look good.

JOANNA:             Mmm. I think in the past the audience would have had those expectation of one another too, but that’s not really the case now, not in the UK anyway.

SUPERVISOR:      No.

JOANNA:             And I also got interested in what sports scientists are doing too, with regard to clothing.

SUPERVISOR:      Musicians are quite vulnerable physically, aren’t they, because the movements they carry out are very intensive and repetitive, so I’d imagine some features of sports clothing could safeguard the players from the potentially dangerous effects of this sort of thing. (Q30)

JOANNA:             Yes, but musicians don’t really consider it. They avoid clothing that obviously restricts their movements, but that’s as far as they go.

SUPERVISOR:      Anyway, coming back to your own research, do you have any idea where you’re going from here?

JOANNA:             I was thinking of doing a study using an audience, including ..      

SECTION 4

As we saw in the last lecture, a major cause of climate change is the rapid rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the last century. If we could reduce the amount of CO2, perhaps the rate of climate change could also be slowed down. One potential method involves enhancing the role of the soil that plants grow in, with regard to absorbing CO2. Rattan Lal, a soil scientist from Ohio Stage University, in the USA, claims that the world’s agricultural soils could potentially absorb 13 per cent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – the equivalent of the amount released in the last 3o years. And research is going on into how this might be achieved.

Lal first came to the idea that soil might be valuable in this way not through an interest in climate change, but rather out of concern for the land itself and the people dependent on it. Carbon-rich soil is dark, crumbly and fertile, and retains some water. But erosion can occur if soil is dry (Q31), which is a likely effect if it contains inadequate amounts of carbon. Erosion is of course bad for people trying to grow crops or breed animals on that terrain. In the 1970s and ‘80s, Lal was studying soils in Africa so devoid of organic matter that the ground had become extremely hard (Q32), like cement. There he met a pioneer in the study of global warming, who suggested that carbon from the soil had moved into the atmosphere. This is now looking increasingly likely.

Let me explain. For millions of years, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been regulated, in part, by a natural partnership between plants and microbes – tiny organisms in the soil. Plants absorb CO2 from the air and transform it into sugars and other carbon-based substance (Q33). While a proportion of these carbon products remain in the plant, some transfer from the roots to fungi and soil microbes (Q34), which store the carbon in the soil.

The invention of agriculture some 10,000 years ago disrupted these ancient soil-building processes and led to the loss of carbon from the soil. When humans started draining the natural topsoil, and ploughing it up for planting, they exposed the buried carbon to oxygen. This created carbon dioxide and released it into the air. And in some places, grazing by domesticated animals has removed all vegetation, releasing carbon into the air. Tons of carbon have been stripped from the world’s soils – where it’s needed – and pumped into the atmosphere.

So what can be done? Researchers are now coming up with evidence that even modest changes to farming can significantly help to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Some growers have already started using an approach known as regenerative agriculture. This aims to boost the fertility of soil and keep it moist through established practices (Q35). These include keeping fields planted all year round, and increasing the variety of plants being grown (Q36). Strategies like these can significantly increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil, so agricultural researchers are now building a case for their use in combating climate change.

 

One American investigation into the potential for storing CO2 on agricultural lands is taking place in California. Soil scientist Whendee Silver of the University of California, Berkeley, is conducting a first-of-its-kind study on a large cattle farm in the state (Q37). She and her students are testing the effects on carbon storage of the compost that is created from waste – both agricultural, including manure and cornstalks, and waste produced in gardens (Q38), such as leaves, branches, and lawn trimmings.

In Australia, soil ecologist Christine Jones is testing another promising soil-enrichment strategy. Jones and 12 farmers are working to build up soil carbon by cultivating grasses that stay green all year round (Q39). Like composting, the approach has already been proved experimentally; Jones now hopes to show that it can be applied on working farms and that the resulting carbon capture can be accurately measured.

It’s hoped in the future that projects such as these will demonstrate the role that farmers and other land managers can play in reducing the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. For example, in countries like the United States, where most farming operations use large applications of fertiliser, changing such long-standing habits will require a change of system. Rattan Lal argues that farmers should receive payment not just for the corn or beef they produce but also for the carbon they can store in their soil. (Q40)

Another study being carried out …