"Starquake" reveals neutron star's magnetic field

Neutron stars can have powerful magnetic fields around them, resulting in the name 'magnetars'. These fields could in theory rip the star apart momentarily releasing the huge amounts of x-ray energy sometimes seen from these objects. A neutron star with a magnetic field 6000 trillion times that of the earth has recently been discovered in the constellation Sagittarius which has had some very large recent "quakes" that have been observed by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft.

See New Scientist.

The calculator is 40 years old

The handheld calculator is 40 years old this year - and models are now part of the IT collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The museum in fact has the "original 1967 prototype from Texas Instruments, which weighed 3 pounds, was encased in aluminum and ran on batteries. At the time the calculator was developed, existing models were heavy desktop devices -- not handhelds."

The development team included TI engineer Jack Kilby who died in 2005. Kilby invented the integrated circuit at TI in 1958 and later won the Nobel Prize for his work.

See Computerworld.

Congratulations to Dr Alan Casey

Our congratulations to Dr Alan Casey who successfully completed his PhD viva on September 21st.

Alan was supervised by Dr Gordon Chambers of the School of Physics and FOCAS facility manager Dr Hugh Byrne. His external examiner was Professor Kenneth Dawson, Head of Physical Chemistry at UCD. Alan's work was also assessed by internal examiner Dr Pat Goodman and by internal reader Dr Maria Davoren.

IoP report on Physics in the Irish Economy

The Institute of Physics has recently commissioned a report examining the importance of Physics in the economic life of Ireland. As an example of the findings, 85,000 jobs are in physics based sectors in Ireland (5.3% of all jobs in the economy). This compares with 82,000 jobs in the banking, finance and insurance sector.

See IoP in Ireland - Report.

Congratulations to Dr Ray McCue

Dr Ray McCue successfully completed his PhD viva on September 13th. Ray was supervised by Dr James Walsh of the School of Physics and his external examiner was Dr Maurice Whelan of the Joint Research Centre at Ispra. Ray's work was also assessed by internal examiner Dr John Cassidy and by internal reader Dr Suzanne Martin.

See Ray's PhD Work.

The implications of students’ ‘evolving’ use of technology

Good piece dscussing what students do wth technology today, what their priorities are, and how teaching may need to evolve to best reach students today. From the article, “IT is not a good substitute for good teaching. Good teachers are good with or without IT and students learn a great deal from them. Poor teachers are poor with or without IT and students learn little from them.”

See Inside Higher Ed.

Stem cells drive metastasis

Researchers at Duke University have identified a distinct group of stem cells that exist within pancreatic tumours, that are responsible for metastasis, and render the tumour resistant to chemotherapy. The findings are of significance for treatment and theories on the formation and metastatic potential of cancer.

See The Scientist.

Surviving the end of the world

Recent research by a group of European and US Physicists demonstrates that, in the case of one extrasolar planet orbiting around a red-giant star in Pegasus, it is in fact possible to survive the red-giant expansion of a star.

See Nature.

Bad Science

There's a regular and excellent column in The Guardian by Ben Goldacre called Bad Science, which shows how poor mainstream media is at reporting science, how they simplify results to the point of idiocy for the sake of a headline. Mind you some of the science referred to is questionable too! Goldacre recently pointed out the flaws in the reporting of research that indicated the evolutionary basis of why blue is associated with boys, pink with girls.

Well worth a regular read.

See The Guardian Unlimited.