On SPIN
In SPIN
Ireland's science wildlife and discovery magazine
Upfront
Upfront
Linen
August 30, 2010
P for POWERONCE upon a time, when linen was a big trade in the north west of Ireland, urine was used to help separate the fibres from flax plants in a process known as retting. More than a century later, a researcher at Bristol Robotics Lab working in collaboration with ...
Hares
August 30, 2010
HaresHARES in Northern Ireland are in decline, and researchers at Queen's University Belfast think that harvesting of grass for silage is involved. Hares head for long grass when ready to give birth, and unfortunately, this coincides with harvesting time. Machines trap and kill the young hares, and as Dr Neil ...
Fast links
August 30, 2010
Fast linksTHE first high capacity10 gigabits per second (gbps) links for a national educaton and research network have gone live. The upgrading means better connections for scientists involved in data processing on a big scale. The optical network is part of the e-INIS project, under which DIAS, UCC, NUI Galway, ...
Superbugs
August 30, 2010
SuperbugFOLLOWING antibiotic treatment gut flora becomes upset and a superbug, Clostridium difficile, can take advantage of the situation, and it now regarded as the most rapidly increasing hospital-acquired illness in the western world. The broad spectrum antibiotics used against it, vancomycin and metronidazole often fail, and resistance is becoming a ...
Autism
August 30, 2010
AutismOVER 50 institutions were involved in a search to identify genes relating to autism, and in June, two universities, TCD and UCD published their joint findings from this study. Genetic variations in children with autism and their families were examined and compared to contols. Internationally, over 1,000 of the former, ...
Where have all the eels gone?
August 30, 2010
EelsCLIMATE is thought to determine where eel larvae go after leaving the spawning sites in the Sargasso Sea. Researchers from Institute of Aquatic Resources at the Technical University of Denmark, reporting their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, explain that climate has a big influence on ocean currents. ...
Dublin to become an IBM 'Smart City'
March 24, 2010
In a major boost for government's stated desire to create more high value, high tech jobs, IBM announced today that it will set up its first Smarter Cities Technology Centre in Dublin.It is anticipated that the Smarter Cities Centre will create up to 200 jobs over the next three years ...
QUB scientists boost endangered mussels
March 24, 2010
The prospects for the survival of endangered freshwater mussel species - vital for the health of rivers - has been given a welcome boost by scientists from QUB following a 12-year cultivation project."Freshwater mussels are an important part of the ecosystem in many rivers as they filter water keeping it ...
