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The Government has announced an investment of €43 million in 26 research projects

UL scientists work to identify social media ‘superspreaders’

Kevin O'Sullivan

University of Limerick research among 26 projects sharing €43 million investment

Space Week: Human limits, gravitational waves and beekeeping on Mars

Ruth Connelly of third class Ballintemple National School at the Discovery Science Festival in Cork City Hall. Photograph: Clare Keogh

Claire O'Connell

It’s an opportunity for schools and the wider public to explore and engage with this incredible Universe that we are all part of

Bye Cassini: Nasa’s Saturn probe sends its final transmission

Nasa’s Cassini above Saturn’s northern hemisphere prior to making one of its last dives. Photograph: Nasa/PA

Kevin O'Sullivan

The probe ended its 13-year mission by tumbling towards the ringed planet on Friday

That’s Maths: Andrey Markov’s brilliant ideas are still bearing fruit

Andrey Markov analysed the text of Alexander Pushkin’s classic verse novel ‘Eugene Onegin’

Peter Lynch

In a Markov process we can predict future changes once we know the current state

Brexit expected to increase pressure on EU’s rich fishing stock

Peter Tyndall with his grandson Ethan Walsh on his fishing boat ‘Shenandoah’ at Galway Docks. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy

Lorna Siggins

The good news is there is still a considerable resource left to protect, according to new research by Irish marine biologist Dr Peter Tyndall

Andrey Markov analysed the text of Alexander Pushkin’s classic verse novel ‘Eugene Onegin’

That’s Maths: Andrey Markov’s brilliant ideas are still bearing fruit

Peter Lynch

In a Markov process we can predict future changes once we know the current state

Further indication of how climate change is intensifying storms; the remnants of Wilson’s Bridge in Swan Park, Buncrana, Co Donegal, after extreme floods in August. Photograph: Peter Murtagh

Is the current effort to combat climate change a utopian project?

William Reville

Why the changes to human behaviour necessary to ease climate change will have to be directed by government

Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, now with its fountain

Euler and the failed fountain of Sanssouci

Peter Lynch

That’s maths: Frederick the Great ignored the advice of a genius in maths and physics

The message has been sold successfully to women that they can have both successful careers and flourishing families

Equal opportunities for female academics requires social and structural change

William Reville

A formula must be devised to ensure women are not handicapped in the promotion stakes because of time devoted to having and raising children

The 2017 path of the Great Americian Eclipse which will be seen on August 21st. Source: NASA

That’s Maths: The Great American Solar Eclipse

Peter Lynch

Darkness to descend on parts of the United States as Saros 145 eclipse series casts its long shadow

US president Donald Trump winces while delivering remarks on the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. Public perception of the flawed character of politicians is one of the strongest causes of voter detachment from politics. Photograph: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Democracy in danger – what to do

William Reville

William Reville: Why politicians should increasingly justify policies on moral rather than economic or electoral grounds

It’s a piece of cake: One way to remember the value of pi is by means of a ‘piem’, a poem whose words have letters corresponding to the digits of pi

It’s as easy as pi

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: The computation of ever more accurate estimates of pi has preoccupied enthusiasts for centuries

Fake story was written in the jargon typical of gender studies papers

The penis story that didn’t stand up

William Reville

William Reville: Reputable social science journal fell for paper ‘deliberately constructed to be complete, comical nonsense’

Milo was born in September 2005, so he died just short of his 12th birthday

Why does the death of a pet matter to us so much?

William Reville

We were unprepared for the level of grief that struck us after Milo died

Pythagoras: the mathematician in The School of Athens, by Raphael, from 1509. Photograph: Creative Commons/Wikimedia

Quadrivium: the noble fourfold way to an understanding of the universe

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: Plato saw the value of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy

From Mallow to Cambridge: Mathematician Robert Murphy

Robert Murphy – ‘had a true genius for mathematical invention’

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: He had become an accomplished mathematician by the age of 13

Stanley Milgram’s results indicate that most of us would follow orders to do terrible things, just as the Nazis did; surely a poignant result for Milgram, a son of Jewish immigrants

Obedience to authority: most of us would follow orders to do terrible things

William Reville

Alarming findings by Prof Stanley Milgram of Yale University have since been confirmed in many studies

James Joyce - It is said he wrote Finnegans Wake to “keep the critics busy for 300 years”. It’s keeping mathematicians busy too. Photograph: Hulton Getty

Fractal fiction: measuring the sentences in Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’

Peter Lynch

Scientists analysed sentence lengths in 100 great literary works and found clear patterns

Auschwitz: the SS doctor Fritz Klein, asked about his Hippocratic oath, said, “Out of respect for human life I would remove a gangrenous appendix from a diseased body. The Jew is the gangrenous appendix in the body of mankind.” Photograph: AP

The Nazis believed in medical ethics. But they were a twisted, depraved version

William Reville

Notions of ethnic purity and exclusion are still with us. We must remain vigilant

A watch tower in Camp X-Ray, the first detention facility to hold ‘enemy combatants’ at the US Naval Station on in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Does torture work? Trump says yes, but science says no

William Reville

More than 80 per cent endorse torture if they are personally close to the victims

Antique engraved portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, the grand master of structural innovation and invention in music

The mathematician’s patterns, like those of the composer, must be beautiful

Peter Lynch

Scientist and investor Yuri Milner speaks during the New Space Exploration Initiative ‘Breakthrough Starshot’ announcement last year in New York. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty Images

Reaching for the stars

William Reville

The Breakthrough Starshot programme is the brainchild of Yuri Milner, Russian-born Silicon Valley billionaire-physicist

French mathematician Yves Meyer

Yves Meyer makes wavelets with his mathematical theory

Peter Lynch

The French mathematician will next week receive the Abel Prize for his work

Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight, even though they are clearly underweight. Photograph: iStock

Winning the battle against Anorexia

William Reville

William Reville: Although anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, the statistics are encouraging

Nobel laureate for physics Enrico Fermi believed that anyone with a reasonable arsenal of basic facts could use them to estimate a wide range of quantities. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

How many A4 sheets of paper would cover Ireland? There’s a quick answer

Peter Lynch

Using basic knowledge and simple logic, we can make a good guess at the answers

Global warming: 50 per cent of the public think the Earth is getting warmer mainly because of human activity while 87 per cent of scientists do

Public's grasp of basic scientific facts is shaky

William Reville

A push to dispel suspicions of things such as pesticides has had little effect

Flooding along the banks of the Shannon River: Over the past century, global sea level has been rising at about 2mm each year. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons

Sea levels may rise even without further warming

Peter Lynch

It may take centuries to reach peak water levels given what past records show us

Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in 1944: his theory of general relativity describes how the large-scale universe works in terms of space, time and gravity. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

The biggest question: why is there something rather than nothing?

William Reville

Some physicists claim the universe sprang spontaneously out of nothing at all about 13.5 billion years ago

A widely cited 2013 study estimates that 47 per cent of American jobs are at high risk of being computerised soon

Fears of robots stealing our jobs are misplaced

William Reville

It was feared ATMs would displace bank tellers. However, deployment of ATMs reduces bank running costs, allowing banks to open more branches

The centrifuge was inspired by a simple spinning toy called a whirligig

A life-saving whirligig

Peter Lynch

Research shows how the complex dynamics of a simple toy can be exploited for valuable global health applications

The Irish Lotto: With six numbers to choose from 47, there are about 11 million possible combinations. Picture Nick Bradshaw

That’s Maths: How can highly unlikely events be commonplace?

Peter Lynch

Sir David Hand’s Improbability Principle codifies the paradoxical idea that extremely unlikely events happen frequently

Tanzania, Africa: life for these Hadza hunter-gatherers can be very physically demanding

'Exercise alone has little effect on weight. You must reduce your food intake'

William Reville

William Reville: Studies show hunter-gatherers burn no more calories a day than sedentary office workers

Is there no end to our fascination with infinity?

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: the concept of infinity leads to some interesting paradoxes

The Spire is simple in external form, but it involved advanced technology and fine craftsmanship to manufacture. Photograph: iStock

How the Spire sways with the wind but stays upright

Peter Lynch

The O’Connell Street landmark is a powerful symbiosis of art, architecture and engineering

1948: A classroom scene during a maths lesson. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Bring back rote learning, predictive text means lazy brains

William Reville

We need to combat technology-induced lazy brain syndrome caused by texting and calculators

Columnists

Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd -

Maureen Dowd: Prospect of President Zuckerberg is very scary

Pat Leahy - Political Editor

Pat Leahy: Varadkar starts to show his hand

Diarmaid Ferriter

Diarmaid Ferriter -

So much for Leo Varadkar’s ‘republic of opportunity’

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson -

DUP cannot sell supporters an Irish language Act

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Real news has value

Features & Opinion

For a career in science, you need passion and enjoy what you do

A science degree is about more than science – it can set you up for fulfilment in many different areas

Are food allergies another branch of clean-eating hokum?

The rise of the peanut allergy suggests there are others out there that we cannot yet explain

A question of trust in science

How can policy-makers discern between genuine disagreement among experts and false uncertainties raised by commercial interests?

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