Science – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

The COVID-19 R number in Northern Ireland has drifted back up towards 1 since the partial lifting of the lockdown restrictions

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 30, 2020, 7:30 am

| Readers 84265

The COVID-19 basic reproduction number, or R, has become the most crucial metric for policymakers as they start to tentatively reopen the economy following the lockdown measures that were implemented in March to halt the spread of the disease. Lockdown measures will only be relaxed when the R value is below one. To attempt to calculate the R value for Northern Ireland, I used Imperial University’s EpiEstim app, which provides estimates for the reproduction number from daily case count data …

Bowling For Michael Moore – The tricky business of renewable energy…

Am Ghobsmacht on May 26, 2020, 7:00 am

| Readers 3781

The Planet of the Humans, produced/tagged by Michael Moore caused a bit of a stir recently with the criticism ranging from “hmmmm, a bit out of date” to “he’s effectively now a white supremacist” Here’s a Guardian critique of Moore if you think the latter summary is a glib throwaway exaggeration: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/07/michael-moore-far-right-climate-crisis-deniers-film-environment-falsehoods My own criticism is reserved not for the clumsiness of the attempt to highlight both corporate involvement and the reality of renewables but for the rash conclusions from …

Establishment of biosecurity zones could allow different regions of Ireland to safely emerge from lockdown at different speeds

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 12, 2020, 11:08 pm

| Readers 2505

The Northern Ireland Executive announced their roadmap to relaxing coronavirus restrictions today, following similar publications for England and the Republic of Ireland. Unlike the Irish government’s plan, no dates were released with the plan, although there is an aspiration to progress through the plan’s five stages by the end of 2020. Progress on lifting restrictions depends on the all-important R0 figure, the number of people with Covid-19 who subsequently infect others. However, calculating R0 is difficult and necessarily imprecise. An …

Covid-19 just part of Darwin’s dangerous idea…

Terry Maguire on May 9, 2020, 1:30 pm

| Readers 3668

Some years back, the vagaries of cheap air travel and the capriciousness of meetings schedules conspired to place me in central London with a few hours to spare. So I took that rare opportunity to visit the Gothic cathedral that is the Natural History Museum (NHM) to see a Charles Darwin exhibition. In my youth, pathetic in the eyes of my peers, Darwin was my hero; his simple, powerful idea excited me sufficiently to make studying science a joy rather …

Northern Ireland’s mental health crisis

Paul Gosling on April 27, 2020, 9:01 am

| Readers 2090

Mental health is a global challenge, but poor mental health is at crisis levels in Northern Ireland. That crisis is in part an ongoing impact from the Troubles, Siobhan O’Neill, professor of mental health science at Ulster University, says in the latest Holywell Trust podcast. “We’re seeing a rise in mental health problems in the Western world,” says Siobhan. “We know that around one in four or one in five people in Europe and the West have a mental health …

Watch the new Michael Moore movie Planet of the Humans for free…

Brian O'Neill on April 22, 2020, 2:52 pm

| Readers 7303

Today is Earth Day and thanks to Covid-19 the planet has been getting a rest recently from the ravages of human damage. There is a popular theory in computer circles that as Artificial Intelligence gets more clever it will eventually realise that the best way to save the planet is to kill all the humans. As I typed that sentence I realised that is also the plot of the Terminator Movie… Anyway Michael Moore has a new movie out and …

The Biopolitics of Covid-19

Seán Brennan on April 2, 2020, 11:23 am

| Readers 2349

It’s like that Wizard of Oz moment, when the curtain gets pulled back, and we are confronted with the reality, that systems of social administration and political governance appear to be in want: and political leadership has failed in its primary role, to protect the health of the people. Such is the Potemkin-like nature of many globalised societies now, it’s taken a pandemic to see through this façade, of mediocre management and amateur political leadership driving the global polity. And …

Day three of #ImagineBelfast’s virtual festival of ideas and politics – finishing at 8pm with an interview with Burned author Sam McBride

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 27, 2020, 10:30 am

| Readers 268

Having sold out two nights of Sam McBride in conversation with William Crawley at the close of the planned week of face-to-face events, the virtual Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics broadcast will finish at 8pm this evening with the author of Burned talking about his impressions of the published RHI Inquiry Report. Before that, from 1pm you can watch talks about economic growth and community banking, a reprise of Lord Patten of Barnes’ recent speech in Belfast when he reminisced about his time in Northern Ireland and his reflections on the Patten report into police reform, thoughts on how COVID-19 has challenged the arts sector and may change political culture, as well as comedy from Stand Up, Speak Out and the Democracy Inspector.

What’s in the Coronavirus Bill?

Sarah Creighton on March 23, 2020, 9:13 am

| Readers 2407

This week the government intends to push its Coronavirus Bill through Parliament. In its “summary of impacts” document, the government states that the bill is “temporary, emergency legislation” which intends to “provide powers needed to respond to the current coronavirus epidemic.” MPs will be expected to grapple with the 300-page bill over the course of a few days. It will, for as long as it is in operation, fundamentally change our way of life. The legislation represents the biggest diminution …

Eugenics and Scientific Racism…

Robert Campbell on February 29, 2020, 10:56 am

| Readers 6172

In early January 2020, Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief Special Adviser, wrote a blog piece in which he advertised for advisers to work in No 10. One of the groupings was for “weirdos” and “misfits”. Andrew Sabisky was appointed. The media trawled through Sabisky’s own blog for his thoughts, finding that he’d said, for example: —There are excellent reasons to think the very real racial differences in intelligence are significantly – even mostly – genetic in origin —One way …

Science and pseudoscience…

Robert Campbell on February 15, 2020, 7:54 am

| Readers 3391

The pseudo in pseudoscience means false, or fake, or deceptively resembling; pseudoscience is fake science. What then is ‘real’ science? You can think of it as knowledge found by observation and experimentation in the natural or physical world. It is is a ‘systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.’ This is done by the scientific method. We are introduced to natural science in school when we study physics, chemistry and biology; geography and geology …

The rise and rise (and fall?) of CBD oil…

Terry Maguire on February 14, 2020, 4:13 pm

| Readers 1963

Over the thirty-five years of my career it has been a cherished wish that the public generally, and pharmacy colleagues specifically, would eventually become enlightened to, if not dependent on, the validity and superiority of science in decision making particularly in the choice of medicinal treatments we use. Sadly, that cherished wish remains unfulfilled and was painfully dashed when I attended the UK Pharmacy Show at the NEC Birmingham at the end of last year. Twenty-three stands featured CBD oil …

revisited : owning and running an electric car in NI

Brendan Heading on January 13, 2020, 10:26 pm

| Readers 3026

nichola-mallon-with-ecar-600x400

Some Slugger readers might remember, back in 2016, that I decided to take the plunge and lease an electric car. Recently, more attention has been paid to this topic; BBC NI recently ran a few segments about it, and I noted at the end of one of the leader’s debates prior to the election that the leaders were all asked if they had plans to change to an electric car. Then, this morning, I noticed that the Department for Infrastructure …

Climate breakdown: The time to act is now…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on November 6, 2019, 3:19 pm

| Readers 1125

Images of intense storms, heavy flooding and devastating droughts increasingly feature in mainstream and social media. Extreme weather events are indicative of large-scale, long-term shifts in our planet’s average temperatures and weather patterns associated with climate change. We humans affect the earth’s temperature and climate by adding vast amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), cutting down rainforests and farming livestock. In 2019, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2, the most …

Getting creative with health…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on October 10, 2019, 5:13 pm

| Readers 421

Creativity is a fundamental part of human nature, and the use of the arts to improve health and wellbeing is not a new idea. Yet we still tend to think of the arts as the remit of the talented few with most of us giving up artistic pursuits as we leave school and get older. Unlike other behaviours that can be beneficial to our health, such as exercise, a varied diet and social support, we don’t think of creative engagement …

What Northern Ireland needs to do to decarbonize its economy

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on September 28, 2019, 8:08 pm

| Readers 3760

Following from the speech given by environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, there has been a significant amount of discussion about the failure to respond to the world’s unfolding climate crisis. Northern Ireland contributes to greenhouse gas emission to a much greater extent than its small size would suggest. The charts at the top of the page show Northern Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2017, compared with the target of …

SOAPBOX – Tech for Good: walking in the footsteps of medieval monks to harness collective intelligence and technology for social good

Soapbox on July 14, 2019, 5:08 pm

| Readers 727

Máirín Murray, co-founder of Tech for Good Dublin, calls on us to walk in the footsteps of medieval monks to harness our collective intelligence and technology for social good to make tools that serve and empower our communities. To forge new connections. To hammer out practical solutions. To shape technology towards new positive purposes. Together, she argues, we can change our world for the better, and make a positive dent in the universe.

“Alternative arrangements for the Irish border” is a euphemism for red tape and mass surveillance

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 22, 2019, 12:47 am

| Readers 4498

The fabled “alternative arrangements” for the Irish border have come to prominence again, following the announcement from Prime Minister Theresa May that the government would “be under a legal obligation to seek to conclude alternative arrangements” to the Irish backstop by the end of 2020. Quite what “a legal obligation to seek” something actually means is unclear. What is also unclear is what these “alternative arrangements” might actually mean in practice. Disgracefully, the British government has forced customs experts, and …

UK Parliament Declares Environment and Climate Emergency

Claire Mitchell on May 1, 2019, 7:18 pm

| Readers 4593

The House of Commons has tonight declared an “environment and climate emergency.” The first national parliament in the world to do so. This comes in the wake of mass civil action by Extinction Rebellion, school strikes for climate, and local declarations of climate emergency all over the world. The UK Labour Party, which proposed the motion, asked MPs to “act with commensurate urgency.” Something which the Green Party have been urging for a very long time. In the last few …

Ards and North Down Declare Climate Emergency

Claire Mitchell on February 28, 2019, 8:02 pm

| Readers 5924

Yesterday, on 27th February 2019, an eerily summery winter evening, Ards and North Down Borough Council passed Northern Ireland’s first Climate Emergency motion. Led by Green Party councillors Rachel Woods and Barry McKee, the motion was agreed without changes in a full meeting of the Council chamber. This comes not a moment too soon for a region which is set to face major challenges over the next 10-20 years as temperatures, and sea-levels, rise. Parts of the Ards peninsula, along …