Science Spin July 2010



Science Spin, Issue 41, incorporating SPIN ACTIVE and SCHOOL SPIN
IN THIS ISSUE:

What's news?



When cells can't stick together we become mentally ill. Are the Canary Islands about to blow? Looking at perfectly preserved insects from 95 million years ago.



Science careers



Emma Teeling is obsessed by bats and is passionate about comparative genetics.
Gareth Dyke has been here there and everywhere searching for the original birds. As a palaeontologist, he wants to know when dinosaurs took flight.



Young Scientists



Gonzaga students, Patrick O'Doherty and Ben Redmond, have been looking at Twitter as a trend analysis and sentiment tool.
Conor Hynes from Confey College in Leixlip wonders if stick insects could escape to to join the Irish aliens.



The emotional brain



How do we know why people are happy, cross, or sad? Veronica Miller explains how the brain processes our emotions and why we sometimes lose the head. Part three in Veronica's brilliant series on how the brain works.



Applied science



Splitting the flow in medical implants could make all the difference between recovery and amputation. Last year the number of college spin off companies went from just ten to thirty-five. Can WiFi use the rules of polite conversation?



DIT comes together



In the biggest single development yet for higher education, all the Dublin Institute of Technology colleges are to be relocated in a brand new campus at Grangegorman. The long awaited move has been given the green light to go ahead and is expected to completely transform the area.



Is Ireland rich?



Yes, says our Chief Scientist, and compared to many other countries we have enormous intellectual capital.



Want to get media coverage?



The huge increase in funding for science in Ireland has not been matched by a corresponding rise in media attention, and Science Spin has some guidelines for researchers who want to get a better press.



Battle for iron



Researcher, Heather McLaughlin from UCC described how the bad bugs steal our iron.



The first synthetic cell



Will we be able to manufacture life in the future? As Roy Sleator from Cork Institute of Technology writes, creating the world's first self-replicating sythetic cell is a breakthrough that raises lots of scientific and ethical issues. As some commentators have said, its now possible for a computer to become a parent.



The mines of Killarney



Thousands of years ago it was the copper rather than the lakes that attracted attention. At Ross Island, copper was being mined before the discovery of bronze, and axe heads were being exported to Britain.



Features in this issue

• Batwoman [Science Careers ]