Number of the Week: 88%

That's the proportion of 18-24 year-olds in Britain who could not name any female scientific figure - either current or historical.

In saying that, just less than half were able to name a famous male scientist either.

A spokesperson for the Royal Society described the results as "frustrating".

The results come despite scientists being viewed as good role models, according to the same poll by the Society.

Plant sciences expert Professor Lorna Casselton FRS, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society, said:

“The situation for women in science has changed hugely since I was a young woman struggling to persuade the Science Research Council to give me a postdoctoral grant and to take me seriously as a scientist. Today, the numbers of women reaching the top in science is increasing all the time.

“While it is frustrating many people are still unaware of the contribution made by women to science in the past, overall I am encouraged by the findings of this poll. They suggest public perceptions to women in science are changing. The Royal Society wants to encourage more girls (and their parents) to see science as an achievable and desirable career path. We want to show them that women can reach the top and experience the thrill of being the first person to make a scientific breakthrough. Most importantly we want to encourage them to see science not only as a fulfilling career but one that can change the world and contribute to our quality of life.” 

A list of the most influential British women in science is here.

It would be useful to compile a list of influential Irish women in science, past or present. Add your nominations as a comment below or send them to communicatescience1@gmail.com

Number of the Week: 2025

A NASA image of how the adapted spacecraft might look

That's the year when parts of the International Space Station could be ready to be sent to an asteroid.

NASA has this week held a conference to decide what to do with the $100 billion station after it retires in 2020 and, after Barack Obama's pledge to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, it seems a bit of recycling may be in order.

One suggestion for the retired space station is that one of its compartments, called Tranquility, could be attached to a pair of spacecraft capable of landing on the an asteroid.

Another option being discussed is the idea of creating a large centrifuge type structure in order to achieve some form of artificial gravity in space. This may prevent bone and muscle loss in astronauts experiencing zero gravity.

A (pdf) summary of the options as outlined by NASA at the conference is available here.

Number of the Week: 2070

That's the year when an important species of reef-building coral could stop growing in the Red Sea, according to a recent study published in Science.

Diploastrea heliopora growth has declined by 30% since 1998.

Co-author Anne Cohen told the BBC:
"The coral is an animal, and the colony made up of millions of tiny, little animals - and they together build this huge thing that is seven metres in diameter".

"As they are growing, they are building this calcium carbonate skeleton that the animal is basically leaving behind. If you cut through a colony, only the very top layer is actually living - the rest of it is all dead".

The team of scientists used a CT scanner to examine the growth rings in the coral and say that at sea surface temperatures above 30.5C, the growth rate of the coral plummets.

Using future climate change scenarios, the team calculated that the coral would cease growing entirely, if these climate change predictions were accurate, by 2070 (see graph below).

Number of the Week: 127 dB

After a bit of a lull in proceedings, the number of the week returns!

That's the 'sound pressure level' of a South African vuvuzela horn which we have been hearing for the last week or so, like a soundtrack to all of the World Cup matches.
The earpiercing noise is louder than a lawnmower (90 decibels) and a chainsaw (100 dB). Extended exposure at 85 dB puts you at risk of permanent hearing damage, while exposure to 100 dB or more can lead to hearing damage in just 15 minutes.
However, to put it in context, a survey by Hear the World has shown that samba drums and airhorns (two instruments commonly found in the terraces) can also produce volumes of 122 and 124 dB respectively. Indeed, "two fans singing" can reach 122 dB.
Enjoy the game.

Number of the Week: 7,323

That's the number of ideas put forward so far (as of noon today) as part of the Your Country - Your Call initiative. Despite their being no category heading for science, a fair share of the proposals are science based. From the idea to send teams of science postgrads into schools to promote science to the idea to look at teleportation as a feasible means of transportation in Ireland. All human life is there! You've got just a few hours before the open call for proposals close at 11.59 tonight.

Number of the Week: 235 years

The age of "the oldest pot plant in the world" - a cycad of the species Encephalartos altensteinii which can be found at Kew Botanical Garden's in London.
It was collected in South Africa in 1773 and brought to Kew in 1775 where it now grows in the Palm House.
The Eastern Cape giant cycad, as it is known, has been used as a food source in its native range by removing the stem pith, burying it, rotting it, digging it up, kneading and baking it.
Image: The cycad is re-potted in 2009.
There will be lots more photos from Kew in the next post.

Number of the Week: 15,000

The number of trees distributed by Coillte to be planted by community groups across the country during National Tree Week, which happens this week. Ireland remains one of the least wooded countries in Europe, with just 10% of our land covered in tress compared to a European average of 40%. Despite this, over 20 million visits are made every year to Irish forests.

Number of the Week: 600 million metric tonnes

The estimated amount of water ice located near the Moon's north pole. The ice was spotted by the American LCROSS satellite aboard the Indian lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1. The results of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite suggests that "a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible" according to Paul Spudis from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. President Barack Obama cancelled the American programme for a return to the moon by 2020 in February of this year.

Read more about this story:

LCROSS

Chandrayaan-1

Number of the Week: £20 million

The amount spent by the British NHS on refurbishing the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital despite the complete lack of scientific evidence to suggest that it works any better than a placebo. A commitee of British MPs have urged that homeopathic medicine no longer be funded by the taxpayer. In a dig at the Prince of Wales (whos Foundation for Integrated Health funds homeopathy) Edzard Ernst, a long standing critic of homeopathic medicicine told New Scientist this week: "Either we are governed by evidence and science, or by Prince Charles."

Number of the Week
19

The age of Egyptian king Tutankhamun when he died. A team of Egyptian scientists have this week shown that the 'boy-king' probably suffered from a rare genetic disorder called Kohler disease II. The disease would have weakened his bones leaving him too weak to fight off malaria which may have eventually caused his death. The debate is not over yet though. Some scientists still believe that the broken ribs of the mummy may indicate that he may have died after a fall from his chariot.

Number of the Week
4 seconds

The amount of time a new ultra-precise optical clock would be out by if it were to measure the 13.7-billion year age of the universe. The clock uses the oscillation of a trapped aluminium-27 atom to measure time and was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado.

Number of the Week
80%

The percentage of modern endurance runners who land heel-first. Scientists in Harvard compared long-distance runners in Kenya and in the US and found that more then two thirds of runners who ran barefoot did so on the balls of their feet. Running on tiptoes may explain how our ancestors ran long distances without the benefit of hi-tech running shoes.
The full letter to Nature is available here.

Number of the Week
$14 billion

The commercial value of the pollination activity of bees in the United States. A team of scientists working in France have shown that bees fed on pollen from a single flowering plant had a less healthy immune system than bees fed on pollen from a variety of plants. The scientists have proposed a link between a fall in plant biodiversity and a decline in bee populations worldwide.
The full research article is published here.

Number of the Week
7.0

The magnitude (on the Richter Scale) of the earthquake that hit the Caribbean state of Haiti on Tuesday. The quake struck about 10 miles south-west of the capital Port-au-Prince and was followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred in the boundary region separating the Caribbean plate and the North America plate.

Number of the Week
3.14159......

Fabrice bellard, a French computer scientist used a conventional desktop computer (costing around €2,000) to calculate the mathematical constant 'Pi' to nearly 2.7 trillion digits. That's around 123 billion more than the previous record set in 1995 using multi-million euro supercomputers. It took a total of 131 days for the computer to complete the calculation and check the result.