Science – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

Three young women from Kinsale win the grand prize at the Google science fair

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2014, 9:07 am

| Readers 275

With regards to girls doing well with the love and support of their community, the news from west Cork is hopeful… Ciara Judge, 16, Emer Hickey, 17, and Sophie Healy-Thow, 17, were noted for their discovery of bacteria that deposits nitrogen from the atmosphere into soil. The Kinsale Community College students scooped the grand prize at the Google Science Fair in California last month. Two years ago, the three then-third year students, took the top prize at the BT Young …

Photo of the day – “The Milky Way” above Moor Lough, County Tyrone

Brian O'Neill on October 12, 2014, 8:00 am

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Photo by MNM Photography, Taken on September 26, 2014 The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy some 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter, which contains 100–400 billion stars. It may contain at least as many planets as well. As we all worry about if Stormont will collapse, who can march where etc etc it does no harm to remember that we are one of 7 billion people on a little planet in the infinite universe. Is …

And then there were just two candidates left standing for the Seanad byelection…

Mick Fealty on September 30, 2014, 6:23 pm

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So John McNulty has gone. That just leaves Sinn Fein’s Lurgan based candidate Cat Seeley and independent candidate Gerald Craughwell, … That McNulty sure seems qualified. Board member of IMMA…impressive. pic.twitter.com/vdMNVr8hkU — Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) September 29, 2014 He cannot by law withdraw from his official candidacy but he’s indicated that people should not vote for him [eek, that’s bit messy – Ed]… That leaves a lot of FGers with a bit of a problem. The Seanad was getting unruly enough …

Time for an urgent review of all Northern Ireland’s oversight bodies

Trevor Ringland on July 2, 2014, 7:21 am

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When the Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland (PONI) recently accused the PSNI of refusing to provide his office with information relating to certain investigations, he acted on his interpretation of a set of facts. The police had their own, alternative interpretation, insisting that they have a legal responsibility for the care and management of all the information they hold, some of which is extremely sensitive. Although they gave careful consideration to every separate request from the Ombudsman, they were constrained …

Peter Hain: “since I was running the place I could more or less do what I wanted to do…”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2014, 5:23 pm

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The former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [and Wales, etc! – Ed], Peter Hain, has been reminiscing about the good old days… “When I was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 2005-07, [Prince Charles] was delighted when I told him that since I was running the place I could more or less do what I wanted to do. “I was able to introduce a trial for complementary medicine on the NHS, and it had spectacularly good results, that …

OFMdFM “operating on a day-to-day basis, in the same way a chameleon changes its colour, reacting to its environment…”

Mick Fealty on June 27, 2014, 5:44 pm

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Dr Cathy Gormley-Heenan on the View last night, description of the two old Crumlin Road lags currently in possession of the Scottish Baronial splendor that is Stormont Castle (that’s OFMdFM to you and me): “They are very reactive to the temperature, the environment, the circumstances in which they are operating on a day-to-day basis, in the same way a chameleon changes its colour, reacting to its environment. If it is is unnerved or under pressure, it suddenly changes the way …

Red Squirrels and Pine Martens in Fermanagh

Turgon on May 3, 2014, 12:20 pm

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Amid all the fevered discussion of recent days I thought something much lighter and fun was called for. From the BBC: Queens academic Dr. David Tosh has been trying to gain further information about the distribution of red and grey squirrels in Fermanagh with help from the Fermanagh Red Squirrel Group and the National Trust in putting up camera traps to photograph red squirrels. This has been somewhat successful but has actually taken many more photographs of the rarer and …

Killing me softly

Turgon on April 30, 2014, 1:50 pm

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At the start it is only fair to state that I am opposed to the death penalty. I respect those with a different opinion but I am clear that I do not support capital punishment. No one directly connected to me has ever been murdered so maybe I am naive and could change my mind but currently I think that would be unlikely. The USA has had another problem with an execution. In this case an inmate in Oklahoma started …

AFBI’s incentive scheme for scientific innovation ‘does not sit well’ with Stormont’s PAC

Mick Fealty on March 20, 2014, 2:34 pm

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Small matter, but it is worth noting. Stormont’s Public Accounts Committee found an interesting detail in the relevant NIAO report that, it should be said did not particularly feature in the Audit Office report as a genuine matter of concern. The subject organisation is the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI) at New Forge in Belfast, and as the BBC notes… …the institute’s coffers had been boosted by £20m plus of income from royalties from patents filed on scientific discoveries from …

Vegetarian Stalinism Part 2: Ready the Gulags on the South Downs

Turgon on March 15, 2014, 10:34 am

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Last month I highlighted the bizarre suggestion by the Green Party that in response to the flooding all government ministers and advisors who were sceptical of climate change should be sacked. Memorably when given the opportunity to refine and tone down this suggestion the leader of the Green Party Natalie Bennett claimed that even those advisers with no connection to environmental issues should be sacked if they do not accept climate change. The BBC suggested the Chief Veterinary and Chief …

Solar Dynamics Observatory: Year 4

Pete Baker on February 11, 2014, 5:00 pm

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Four years after its work began, and following last year’s three years in three minutes, Nasa have released another wondrous short video of a year of selected solar activity as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Video via Nasa Goddard. Full-screen viewing recommended. Stunning. [Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. Music: Stella Maris courtesy of Moby Gratis] The sun is always changing and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is always watching. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO keeps a 24-hour eye on the entire disk …

Slight rise in road deaths in 2013

Turgon on January 4, 2014, 4:49 pm

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One of the grimmer statistics which is complied at the end of a year is the number of road deaths each year. In 2013 it was 56, which is an increase of 8 as compared to 2012. In 2011 it was 59 and 2010 55. These results still represent an approximately 7 fold decrease in road deaths over the last 40 years. The BBC are reporting Mark Durkin stating: “It only takes one bad choice to ruin a life. We …

Those wanting a formal amnesty might start by having the honesty and the decency to ask out loud…

Mick Fealty on November 22, 2013, 4:55 pm

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Yesterday was notable for people in the British press taking notice of the Attorney General’s unpopular intervention with his suggestion of an amnesty that isn’t quite an amnesty. David Aaronovitch (pointing out that the Old Bailey trial of John Downey is about to commence on January 14th) had this to say in his column in The Times: There is something odd about an Attorney-General, for whatever motives, not defending the process of justice. Politicians have to make shabby compromises, but …

The Homeric madness of ‘two narratives’ and Northern Ireland’s political psychosis…

Mick Fealty on November 22, 2013, 1:29 pm

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Call miracle self-healing: The utter, self-revealing Double-take of feeling. If there’s fire on the mountain Or lightning and storm And a god speaks from the sky That means someone is hearing The outcry and the birth-cry Of new life at its term.. The cure at Troy, Seamus Heaney In the Irish Times, with forensic accuracy, Malachi O’Doherty highlights why much that passes for political discourse in Northern Ireland has failed to develop into a functional (not to mention sane) democratic debate: …

“an unforgettable journey across the Red Planet.”

Pete Baker on October 28, 2013, 10:24 pm

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Curiosity may have been on the surface of Mars for over a year, but ESA’s Mars Express has been in orbit around the Red Planet for almost a decade. It’s one of a number of ways Mars is being observed, up close and personal. And, like the Hi-RISE camera on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express has some specialised instruments on-board for that purpose. Among them is the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The stunning 3D images in this video were taken by that camera. The video was released …

Time-lapse: Earth

Pete Baker on October 12, 2013, 2:58 pm

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As the Guardian’s GrrlScientist says, “Wow. Just wow.” And, “Oh, I recommend “full screen” mode.” Indeed. Adds – If you watch closely you can see Ireland and the UK pass underneath at around 2mins 30secs in. Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo. Video credits Music: “Manhatta” composed and performed by The Cinematic Orchestra. (All rights reserved to their respective owners.) Film clips collected and edited by Bruce Berry. Images courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis …

UVF mural replaces ‘aspirational’ George Best mural in east Belfast…

Mick Fealty on September 4, 2013, 5:07 pm

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So, now you see it. Now you don’t. Here’s the George Best mural in Inverwood Court in Sydenham, as it was. Paid for under Peace III funding. Now it seems, things are going back to business as usual, as the PUP gear up for future elections, back come the UVF murals. It’s not the first time the reimagining project has reverted to paramilitary imagery either. Though the removal of what was intended to be an aspirational image has a certain …

A year of Curiosity

Pete Baker on August 6, 2013, 4:33 pm

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One year ago, after “seven minutes of terror“, Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory, the 900kg rover Curiosity, landed safely on the Red Planet and was soon taking a look around. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems] Full image and caption here. This scene combines seven images from the telephoto-lens camera on the right side of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity. The component images were taken between 11:39 and 11:43 a.m., local solar time, on 343rd Martian day, or …

“There’s no place like home…”

Pete Baker on July 24, 2013, 3:48 pm

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I didn’t ‘Wave at Saturn’ on 19 July when the Cassini probe, orbiting the gas giant, was taking a high-definition image of the view back home. I don’t think it encouraged a proper sense of perspective… But the resultant image is stunning. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute] It’s not the first time Cassini has looked home. Nor is it the only stunning image the probe has provided. But, as those involved pointed out “We can’t see individual continents or people in this …

SDLP to lodge an amendment to the DUP’s special motion on Tuesday…

Mick Fealty on July 14, 2013, 3:00 pm

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And it seems that the SDLP will be putting an amendment down when the Assembly meets for a special sitting on Tuesday. Conall McDevitt: “On Tuesday when the Assembly meets the SDLP will seek to give parties the opportunity back an amendment to the DUP motion which condemns the violence, challenges the sectarianism displayed this 12th and supports the lawful institutions of the land including the Parades Commission. “On Saturday at the fields we heard the language of war by …