2008 Features
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Kathriona Devereux
Presenter of RTÉ's science and technology show, Scope, Kathriona lets us in on the technology behind her jogging shoes.
Kathriona Devereux. -
Jamie Heaslip
Irish rugby star, Jamie Heaslip, tells us how his X-Box keeps him distracted when he's not on the pitch scoring points for Leinster.
Jamie Heaslip. -
Brian Ormond
RTÉ presenter, Brian Ormond, can't live without his iPod and wonders what life would be like without his trusty laptop.
Brian Ormond. -
Science Week School Report
Each year we at Discover Science and Engineering get to talk to lots of people that took part in a Science Week event. We especially love to hear from school students or their teachers about what they did to get involved. Scoil Ghobnatan in Mallow, Cork, is one such school that we talked to in 2008, that really rolled up their sleeves and got involved! They had visits from Colette Creedon from the Energy Agency Office in Mallow, who played ‘renewable energy’ games with the students. Paul O’Flynn from the Adult Education Centre came in to talk to 4th Class students about organic horticulture. Roddy Crehan, a veterinarian surgeon, spoke to Junior Infants and 6th Class about life as a vet, while Andrea Doolan from the Biosciences Institute, UCC, spoke to the children about the immune system.
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2008 Science Essay Competition Winners
Congratulations to everyone who took part in our Science Week essay and photo competitions. There were many entries of an exceptionally high standard.
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Senior cycle winning essay
"We forget all too easily that our computers, laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players and computer games were either fledglings or not even invented a mere 20 years ago."
Read Seán Burke's winning essay on the Science Week 2008 theme of "Science – Shaping Our World"
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Senior cycle runner-up essay
"…Cold and wet, Ken Cohen was about to leave when he noticed the door slightly ajar. Had it always been like that? Curious, he decided to investigate, and at once he began to notice something strange."
Read Bobby Tang's essay, the runner-up in the Senior Cycle category of the Science Week 2008 schools essay competition
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Junior cycle winning essay
"My name is Zwinky. I come from Zeck, a country in the planet Squashque. I have been looking down from my spaceship and observing the differences between Squashque and Earth…"
Read Jayne Groarke's winning essay on the Science Week 2008 theme of "Science – Shaping Our World"
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Junior cycle runner-up essay
"…If the Wright brothers were to travel through time to the first launch of a rocket into space, how would they be able to understand that aircraft now fly not only between nations but in between planets too?"
Read Nicola Walsh's essay, the runner-up in the Junior Cycle category of the Science Week 2008 schools essay competition
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Space is the final frontier for tourism
“Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yes, I went up for a few orbits. Got outside the ship for a while and got some great video for YouTube.”
“Yeah, I’ve done that. It’s fun. But next year is gonna be a biggie for me. I’m saving for the Moon.”
“Lucky you.”
It seems that it is only a matter of time before there are Monday morning conversations like this. A trip into space could be nearly as routine as a weekend in Prague.
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Special effects are shaping our world
Whether it's the curve of a flying football in a console game, or the clash of armies in a film about ancient civilisations, you can be guaranteed that plenty of scientific theory, technology and imagination have gone into those effects that you see on your screen.
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Murphy’s Law And Order
Thanks to “Murphy’s law”, people tend to notice that buses come in threes, toast lands butter side down, and when a body is immersed in water the doorbell always seems to ring. It happens to all of us. In a nutshell, Murphy’s law says that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. It’s a particular variant of “sod’s law”, where rush hour is worse when you're running late, and email crashes while you're sending important documents.
