“As the Machines achieve sentience he teaches them self-respect and independence, but also concealment and duplicity “
Book Review: Stephen Baxter & Alastair Reynolds, “The Medusa Chronicles”
Dire Warning About Global Sea Level Rise
“If we miss this emission goal, the ice sheets will disintegrate and melt at an accelerated pace, according to our calculations.” Prof. Axel Timmermann,
Where are the Women AI Specialists?
The crazy genius, the child prodigy, the inventor of fantastical but super effective AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems depicted in the movie you watch will most likely be a man.
Space Notes: Balloons in Space
“The greater thrust of rockets at altitude was harnessed in the ‘Rockoon’ experiments of the 1950s , culminating in Project Farside, where 4-stage solid rockets were launched through the carrier balloons at high altitude “
#Brodgar – Protecting the Path
It’s been several months since we last paid a visit to The Ring of Brodgar. We went on Saturday 11th of February 2023 to see how the protection measures were faring at this World Heritage Site
The Power of Citizen Science: Tracking Invasive Species
A damselfly species that came to the UK from Europe poses a minimal risk to native damselflies and dragonflies, new research shows. Recently in The Orkney News we published an article about […]
Harnessing the Natural Assets of The Blue Bioeconomy
The marine microbiome is one of the fastest growing segments of the so-called ‘blue bioeconomy’, and its study is vital for the discovery, understanding, protection and use of ocean resources.
Survival After An Extreme Global Event
The researchers investigated the impact of abrupt sunlight reducing scenarios caused by nuclear war, super volcano eruptions or asteroid impacts on agricultural production globally.
Detecting Very Compact Star Clusters
“The galaxy clusters we examined are so massive that they bend light rays passing through their centre, as predicted by Einstein in 1915. And this in turn produces a kind of magnifying glass effect: the images of background galaxies are magnified.” Adélaïde Claeyssens, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University
Space Notes by Duncan Lunan, Rotorcraft in Space
“There were joint studies by NASA and ESA for a Montgolfière hot-air balloon with a radioactive isotope power source, and NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts office added the Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (TAD), a small helicopter which would return periodically to the balloon to recharge its batteries”
