“Dark matter?” You cannot see it. But there is something there. As for what it is, it’s anybody’s guess! Dark matter does not interact with light. At all. Which makes it difficult to detect. “But if you cannot see it? How do you know it is in fact there?” Well, it does interact with gravity, and as it does so it bends the path of any light ray passing nearby...
Continue reading That Mysterious Missing Matter – Cocktail Party Physics
Right on cue, day turned into a sudden eerie twilight as a great swathe of the Earth’s surface quickly plunged into transient darkness. The magic number is 400. For many observers, weather conditions were far from ideal. Clouds obscured the much awaited spectacle of the 2015 eclipse. Thankfully, alternatives were available to astronomers keen not to miss the big event…
Continue reading 400 – Anatomy of a Solar Eclipse
At the beginning of the 20th century, the discovery of the radiometric “clock” revolutionised our understanding of the Earth’s deep history, confirming what geologists had been claiming for decades. Nevertheless, newer and more accurate dating methods posed further problems in themselves. After all, how do we know our Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and not a mere few thousands of years as suggested by the Bible?
Continue reading Testing Times – Methods of Dating the Geological Past
“The West Africans are scared” said Ban Ki-moon at a meeting of the United Nations in Washington U.S., discussing the growing threat of Ebola. And you could feel the sense of urgency as World leaders discussed the Ebola crisis. Not enough money has been put forward to tackle the disease. We are late in our response. And the clock is ticking…
Continue reading Ebola NOW! The Exponential Growth of a Deadly Outbreak
It seems quiet at first, and even dull. Not much happening… Dreich, as one might say! Sad. Grim. Bleak. Not much to do… Not much to see here… Just sheep… But wait!! Look closer! Is that Dolly in this field? Now, that’s interesting! Oh, Aye, we’re in Scotland! It changes EVERYTHING…
Continue reading Scotland’s Quiet Revolutions – One Nation with Sovereign Achievements… and a Pure Dead Brilliant Future!
Earlier this month, UKube-1, a satellite built by Glasgow-based technology firm Clyde Space, successfully launched on a test flight from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It is the first ever spacecraft to be fully assembled in Scotland.
Continue reading Satellite of Love – It’s Up, Up and Away for Scotland’s UKube-1
Today’s the 60th Anniversary of the Death of Alan Turing – a genial mathematician, a cryptographer and one of the pioneers of computer science at Bletchley Park. He is considered one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century. Alan Turing‘s life was one of complexity and secret triumphs, overshadowed by a very public tragedy.
Continue reading Colossal Genius: Alan Turing
Ten years ago, the discovery of the wonder material – Graphene – was announced. Graphene is thin, stronger than steel, flexible, non-metallic, yet electrically conductive. For all these reasons, graphene promises to transform electronics, as well as other technologies. Because of its potential in industry, researchers have been looking for ways to make defect-free graphene in large amounts.
Continue reading Graphite to Graphene… in a Kitchen Blender
They are found everywhere in Nature. From the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the petals of a flower, the bracts of a pine cone, or the scales of a pineapple. The Fibonacci numbers are applicable to the growth of every living thing: a single cell, a grain of wheat, a hive of bees, all of mankind. From sunflowers to sea shells, the same recurrent mathematical pattern can be observed in Nature, again, and again, and again…
Continue reading Fibonacci’s Golden Spiral – The Relationship between Maths and Nature
Break a magnet into two pieces, and what do you obtain? What you get, unsurprisingly perhaps, are two new magnets – each one with two sides of opposite polarity. You don’t get a north half and a south half. Back to square one, it seems…