ben butterworth

clear and simple journalism

Category: Journalism

  • PhD Profiles – Catherine Upex, University of Bristol

    Yesterday, Catherine was ill. Today, her morning meeting overran by an hour. Yet, if she’d never told me, I never would have known. “I think it’s quite cool,” she says, cheerful and energetic. “I look at congenital heart disease in pregnancy and how it affects how the heart changes shape.”

    Congenital heart disease affects 1 in 100 babies born in the UK, according to the charity British Heart Foundation (BHF). Their odds of survival used to be dire; only 1 out of every 10 babies with these conditions would survive past their first birthday. Now, though, innovation has massively increased that chance to 8 out of 10. The result? We have a large population of adults with congenital heart disease, something previously unheard of. “A lot of them are women, and they’re then asking their GPs: “Can I have children?””

    It’s a complicated question. One of the ways pregnancy strains your body is by demanding more of your heart; you’re pumping blood for two, now! Adults with congenital heart disease typically don’t have as healthy of a cardiovascular system as those without, so doctors used to recommend they avoid getting pregnant. Times have changed: “it’s now: how we manage their care when we put this extra strain on their bodies?”

    Rather impressively, Catherine is already a published author. “I didn’t expect it to happen so soon” she says. Her paper in Biochemical Pharmacology looks at how synthetic cannabinoids, like the notorious “Spice” found in vape pens across schools in the UK, affect your heart’s rhythm. She and her co-authors found that these drugs interfere with the processes that regulate your heartbeat. The irregular beating of the heart, or arrhythmia, is dangerous. It can make you faint and can even cause sudden death.

    In experiments, the team found that synthetic cannabinoids blocked the transport of chemicals in and out of cells through a specific structure called an “ion channel”. This blockage could affect how the signal telling the heart to beat is transmitted and cause arrhythmia. Catherine’s computer simulations confirmed that these drugs were blocking the ion channel in a unique way we’ve not seen before. “All the computational stuff aligned perfectly well with what they found in the lab. … The combination of the two made for a really strong paper, which was quite cool.”

    So where will she go from here? Well, she’s certainly not short of ideas. While we talk, she throws out several ideas that interest her, from investigating the links between congenital heart disease in mothers and children to potentially modelling dog hearts with colleagues in veterinary sciences. But, for now, she’s content to go with the flow. “I’ve always been, like, thinking about what am I doing next? And now I’m quite excited that I’ve just got three years now to … get my teeth into this and not think about what’s next”

    You can read Catherine’s Open-Access paper in Biochemical Pharmacology here. She’s also on LinkedIn!

    This article © 2025 by Ben Butterworth is licensed under CC BY 4.0

  • Correction: “Is orange (wine) the new white ?”

    This article has been edited since it was first published. Among other things, it was pointed out that some terminology had been used incorrectly; the full details of these changes are available here.

  • Is orange (wine) the new white ?

    Is orange (wine) the new white ?

    Orange wine has surged in popularity: but what is it?

    This week, I went to an orange wine tasting at DBM wines in Clifton, Bristol, to find out why these eye-catching new wines have caught the attention of so many.

    Orange wine, it turns out, is not made of oranges. “Orange wine is the opposite of rosé” says DBM Wine’s Nick Cowley. While rosé uses red wine grapes in a fermentation process very similar to making white wine, orange wine uses white wine grapes in a process very similar to making red wine.

    Wine makers make white wine by crushing white grapes and separating the juices they release from the remaining pulp. This juice is transferred into vats to start fermenting and the leftover grape pulp is discarded. To make orange wine, however, the grape juice and pulp aren’t separated right away and are left together to macerate for days, even weeks. 

    This process is similar to how you make red wines with black grapes, except red wines are left to infuse for longer, sometimes months. This infusion process extracts flavour compounds from the grape pulp before the juice is filtered off for fermentation, such as the distinctive tannins common in red wine. 

    “They’re really good food wines,” says Nick. “Orange wines tend to pair well with strong, garlicky foods like tapas.” The tannins from the infusion process give orange wines more astringency than white wine, which pairs fantastically with meats and strong flavours. This astringency isn’t so overpowering that a glass of orange wine can’t be enjoyed by itself, though; some tasters at Wednesday’s “Orange is the New White” wine tasting at DBM Wines called them “quaffable”.

    Orange wines seem to be popular almost exclusively among people in their 20s and 30s, according to Nick’s experience in the store. It doesn’t surprise him, he says, as different generations enjoy different tastes; he suspects their affinity for orange wine began in visits to trendy wine bars and restaurants. Orange wines are becoming so popular that this week, DBM’s regular weekly wine tasting had to expand to run on two nights to meet demand.

    Despite this, it seems like orange wines are still relatively niche; Majestic Wine’s website reveals they only stock 3 varieties of orange wine and have not yet made a section dedicated to it. Even looking in major UK supermarkets like Tesco, Lidl, Waitrose and ASDA, I could only find a total of 6 distinct bottles.

    Don’t let this fool you into thinking that there isn’t a wide variety of orange wines, though. Because customers don’t know what to expect of orange wine the way they do for red or white wines, many brewers are experimenting with what orange wines can be like.

    So what should you look out for when buying a bottle of orange? Experience trumps everything, says the DBM wines team – test them out glass by glass until you find your own taste. If you’re stuck for inspiration, start with orange wines made in the same regions as other wines you’ve enjoyed. Also keep an eye out for orange wines aged in amphorae, terracotta vases used as storage by the ancient Greeks, that impart a neutral flavour that let orange wine’s flavours shine.

    This article was originally posted on 13/6/25 and was edited with corrections on 20/6/25. Footnotes this article and details of these corrections are available here.

    This article © 2025 by Ben Butterworth is licensed under CC BY 4.0

  • End youth homelessness this Easter while crushing strangers at Catan

    From 5-20th April games nights all over Bristol will raise money for the youth charity 1625 People.

    Cafes, bars and games shops all over Bristol will host games nights this Easter to help end youth homelessness in the charity 1625 People’s ‘gaming for good’ campaign.

    1625 People works with young people facing homelessness to give them the support they need to “be the best they can be”, whether that be finding them a place to stay or providing them with essential skills training. Their “gaming for good” campaign urges people to “play for a cause” and donate.

    Venues all over Bristol will host games nights from the 5th to the 20th April to raise money for the chairity. Events range from a “Buddy Up!” social gaming night at Replay, a popular board games cafe, to a Mario kart tournament at Kongs, the King’s Street institution .

    1625 People run 3 supported housing projects and 270 bed spaces in the South West and Bristol for young people in need of accommodation. They are restoring the Grade II listed Kingsley Hall on Old Market Street into a hub for support and training, hoping to create a “welcoming, safe space(s) where young people can overcome isolation, improve their mental wellbeing and create connections.”

    So get gaming! See the full list of gaming for good events on 1625 People’s site here!