Science Snapshot 12: Wall of Birds

For the next few weeks, along with some of our usual posts, we're posting a series of  'Science Snapshots'.
Science Snapshot was really popular when we ran it last year for Science Week and this will be a continuation along the same theme.

You can see all of the snapshots so far by clicking here.

Today's image is from the Irish Natural History Museum, now re-opened after it's enforced closure. The museum is one of the best such museum in Europe and is often described as a 'museum of a museum'.

Mystery Letter - Solved

Last Tuesday, I showed you a large stone-built letter 'E' from a remote hilltop in West Cork. If you figured out why it was there and what it's for, well done!

The 'E' is part of a larger series of letters: EIRE. The letters along with a marker number were built during World War II around the Irish coastline to alert Allied and German bombers that they had reached Ireland - a neutral country.

Some of the EIRE signs are still extant and this one is located near Toe Head. Here are all four letters (click for the full view):

And here's an image of one of the signs from the air:

Finally, here's a clip from the BBC series Coast on just this subject.

Science Snapshot 11: Mystery Letter

For the next few weeks, along with some of our usual posts, we're posting a series of  'Science Snapshots'.
Science Snapshot was really popular when we ran it last year for Science Week and this will be a continuation along the same theme.

You can see all of the snapshots so far by clicking here.

Today's image is a bit a mystery for you to solve. It's a large letter 'E' made from flat stones on a remote cliff top near Castletownshend, Co. Cork. But why is it there? What's it for? Find out here!

Science Snapshot 10: Elephant Teeth Again

For the next few weeks, along with some of our usual posts, we're posting a series of  'Science Snapshots'.
Science Snapshot was really popular when we ran it last year for Science Week and this will be a continuation along the same theme - that's why this is number nine already!

You can see all of the snapshots so far by clicking here.

Some months ago, I asked you to identify a mystery object from the UCC Zoology Museum. Turns out, it was an elephant tooth! Well, here's one in situ in an elephant skull at the Irish Natural History Museum. Makes more sense when you see where it's supposed to be. Doesn't it?

Science Snapshot 9: Geological Time

For the next few weeks, along with some of our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day.
Science Snapshot was really popular when we ran it last year for Science Week and this will be a continuation along the same theme - that's why this is number nine already!

You can see all of the snapshots so far by clicking here.

Today's image is of some of the geology of the West Cork coast taken in April of this year.

Science Snapshot Eight: Infra-red

Science Week in Ireland concludes today. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we posted a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we may feature it in the future.

Today's image also comes from the Elder Museum of Science & Technology in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

It simply features yours truly photographed on a infra-red camera.

Science Snapshot Seven: Physics in motion

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today's image comes from the Elder Museum of Science & Technology in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

It features an amazing three metre high sculpture containing nine Betancourt devices and more than twenty mechanisms through which thirty balls continuously run.

Science Snapshot Six: Darwin's Bulldog

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today, it's an image of Thomas Henry Huxley as depicted in a statue in London's Natural History Museum. Huxley became known as "Darwin's Bulldog" because of his firm defence of Darwin's theories.

Huxley's debate with Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford is seen as a turning point in the public acceptance of evolution.

Science Snapshot Five: California and Cork Link Up

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today's snapshot comes from the Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO) in Cork. It features scenes from their recent "First Friday at the Castle Open Night" which took place on Friday last (5th November) and kicked off Blackrock's programme for Science Week.

The image above captures the scene in the packed interactive theatre at BCO. Ben Burness, astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center (CSSC) in Oakland California can be seen on the screen to the right on a live video link from the dome of one of Chabot's telescopes.

The left hand screen in that image shows transition year students at BCO creating cool astronomy images from data supplied directly from the telescopes in California.

The image below shows the magnificant Chabot Space and Science Center at night. BCO has already featured in one of our Science Snapshots this week and is well worth a visit!

Science Snapshot Four: Science Live!

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today's snapshot comes courtesy of the RDS and features images from the recent RDS Science Live for Teachers event which took place last Saturday, November 6th.

The event is designed to encourage teachers to find new and innovative ways to teach the primary school science and maths curriculum.

Science Snapshot Three: Castles in the Air

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.


Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

The next picture is a shot of Blackrock Castle in Cork City. A castle was built on the site first around 1600 at the behest of Queen Elizabeth 1 who suggested it would "repel pirates and other invaders" from the City of Cork.

The original castle was destroyed in 1827 by fire and it was rebuilt (as it currently stands) by 1829. The castle came into public hands in 2001 when Cork City Council purchased it.

It now houses Ireland's first fully interactive astronomy centre and a team of astronomical researchers from Cork Institute of Technology.

The castle and astronomy centre is open to the public and has picked up a number of awards for its exhibitions.

Science Snapshot Two: Skulls and Crossbones

Science Week kicked off yesterday in Ireland. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

The next picture is a selection of skulls on display at University College Cork's Schools Open Day which took place last month.

The skulls are part of the School of Biological, Earth and Environmaental Sciences' (BEES) extensive zoological museum.
 

Science Snapshot One: Copper Coast Geopark

Science Week kicks off today in Ireland and runs until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

The first shot is an image of Colette O'Brien's sculpture along Waterford's Copper Coast in the Copper Coast Geopark.
The sculpture, entitled Ice, Fire and Water, is designed to represent the common forces that shaped the Copper Coast and the other European Geoparks in north west Europe.

It is a massive piece of limestone, carved and shaped by the artisit in various places with mosaic areas attached.
Collete O'Brien is based in Co. Kilkenny and her work in the Copper Coast Geopark overlooks Dunabrattin Head near Boatstrand.

The Copper Coast Geopark is located between Tramore and Gungarvan and comprises of 25 kilometres of spectacular coastline consisting of scalloped beaches and dramatic, rocky headlands.