This year the Orkney Nature Festival is running the Brodgar Bug Bash on Saturday 18th May 11am – 12.30pm. This is a FREE event and you don’t need to book for it. […]
Space Notes 41 – April 2024
by Duncan Lunan After the Nova-C ‘Odyssey’ lander fell silent on February 29th, the causes of the crash near the lunar south pole became more clear. The much-vaunted fix of replacing the […]
The Face of an Emperor
The facial reconstruction of Emperor Wu who was ethnically Xianbei. Image credit: Pianpian Wei
Citizen Scientists’ Valuable Contributions to Study of Risso’s Dolphins
Sightings made of Risso’s dolphins off the coasts of North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland by members of the public are adding valuable insights and contributing to new research being undertaken by […]
The Sky Above You – April 2024
By Duncan Lunan The Moon will be New on April 8th, and Full on April 23rd. The Moon passes Jupiter on the early evening of the 10th, and no other visible planets. […]
Charting the mightiest and fastest current on the planet #ClimateChange
Continuously swirling around the southernmost continent, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is by far the world’s most powerful and consequential mover of water. In recent decades it has been speeding up, but scientists have […]
Book Review: Ancestral Machines, A Humanity’s Fire Novel
I enjoyed the ‘Humanity’s Fire’ trilogy which preceded this novel, but I was concerned that the opening of the Well into vast sub-layers of alternative realities and ancient technologies would submerge the emphasis on human values which had characterised the early parts of the trilogy. …
Economic & Environmental Costs of Rising Loch Temperatures
Scotland’s lochs and reservoirs are undergoing rapid and extensive warming, with water temperatures of most monitored lochs rising by between 0.25 and 1 degree Celsius per year between 2015 and 2019. Between […]
Space Notes 41: When Shuttles Crash
It’s about an attempt to nobble a British spy satellite called Zephyr, as part of a bigger plot by second-grade officers in the US forces and British Military Intelligence to trigger World War Three for their own ends. …
Menopausal Whales, Caring Duties & a Long Life
Menopause is known to exist in five species of toothed whale: short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, killer whales, narwhals and beluga whales.