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Public and Science

BA Media Fellowships - http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/scienceinsociety/_Schemes_and_awards/MediaFellowships/ - The BA Media Fellowships are intended to create a greater awareness and understanding of the workings of the media among practising scientists, social scientists, clinicians and engineers. - Apply online for the 2008 scheme.

BA Festival of Science - http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/FestivalofScience/ - One of Europe's largest science festivals will visit Liverpool, European Capital of Culture '08, from 6 - 11 September. - Our week long, jam- packed programme offers the biggest celebration of science, engineering and technology in Europe. With loads of events for everyone, join us in and around Liverpool for talks, plays, debates, hands- on activities and more. Find out about the science of superheroes, which Beatles memory is most magical and what happens when science and culture collide.

BBC H2G2 - Hitch Hikers Guide - Write an entry for our online Encyclopedia - and read what others have written - Maths, Science & Technology - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/C6 - Artificial Life & Genetics, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computers, Engineering, General Science, Inventions, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology.

Bristol Science City of Ideas - http://www.sciencecitybristol.com/ - As the fourth annual Festival of Ideas and the fifth annual Festival of Nature both draw to a close, its a good time to reflect on the wealth of science, technology and innovation happening all around us - in our businesses, our universities and even in our public spaces. - You can find out more about some of that across the pages of this website - visit the news pages to see some of the latest technology and research coming out of our universities and businesses, the significant investments in everything from robotics and advanced engineering to our creative industries and extensive work going on with the children in our schools to raise science skills and aspirations.

Bristol's universities take lead in public engagement - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWEnews/article.asp?item=1147 - The University of Bristol the University of the West of England have jointly won a £2 million bid to set up and operate a new National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement. - 09/11/2007.

Carfree Communities: The Challenge for Ecotowns and Cities - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1203 - One Day Conference, 2 May 2008 - Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, College Green, Bristol - Keynote Speaker: Rosie Winterton, Minister of State for Transport.

CERN - http://public.web.cern.ch/public/Welcome.html - Welcome to the public website of CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory - The last pieces of the puzzle - Like the last pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle, the final components of the titanic Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments at CERN are slotting into place. At ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb the remaining large pieces of equipment are being carefully lowered into the caverns in preparation for the start up later this year of the most powerful particle accelerator ever, the LHC.

Cheltenham Science Festival - http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/science_festival.html - 4-8 June, 2008 - In 2007, Cheltenham Science Festival took our audience to new extremes. - What did you miss? - In June 2007, some of the most distinguished scientists and thinkers of modern times discussed an array of topics from the effects of environmental damage to investigating the limits of human endurance. We even managed to make the sun shine for the entire five days.

Could we be swarmed by Robots? - ITN - http://itn.co.uk/news/95705b9e0220138fff24ef6d7583de67.html - A groundbreaking new project shows how robots could soon work together in swarms, bringing an idea from a TV show to life. - A team of scientists has been inspired by the series Stargate which features robots which work together - although not always for the good of mankind - and have come up with a prototype for how similar technology could benefit the real world. - Mar 13 2008.

Creative Technology Network - http://www.creativetechnologynetwork.co.uk/ - Creative Technology Network - From broadcasting, games and animation to design, visualisation and mobile media, the Creative Technology Network brings together individuals and organisations from across computing, communications and the creative industries. - With a focus on cross-sector networking and collaboration, the year-round programme of events, workshops and showcases seeks to establish an active community from across academia, industry and the arts, to share good practice, support innovation and enhance research.

Environment and Research - Science for Environment Policy - DG Environment News Alert Service - http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/research_alert_en.htm - There is evidence that the results of research are not always fully exploited. It is thus important to improve the dissemination of research results so that they are both more usable for policy makers and help to communicate understanding of environmental issues to the general public. - That is the reason why DG Environment has decided to establish this service in order to reinforce the links between science and policy. - The target audience are policy makers as well as the wider public. - This service provides scientific information in the field of the main themes of the Environmental Action Programme and relevant to DG Environment policy priorities in support of the knowledge based approach.

Environmental Protection UK and UWE Annual One-day Conference - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH - PREVENTION BEFORE CURE - The 10th Annual Conference jointly organised by the South West Division of Environmental Protection UK (formerly the NSCA) and the University of the West of England, Bristol is on Thursday, 21st of February 2008 at the Watershed, Bristol. The theme for this one-day conference will focus on Environment and Health policy and research. There will be presentations from the Health Protection Agency, Barts and the London Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bristol, University of Aberdeen, UKPHA, South West Public Health Observatory, and the University of the West of England.

ESA - European Space Agency - European Astronaut Selection - http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Astronaut_Selection/index.html - 10 April 2008 ESA PR 21-2008. With ESA astronauts working in the Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the first of ESA's new ATV cargo ships having delivered fresh supplies to the station, ESA's human spaceflight activities have entered a new era. It is now time for ESA to seek out new talent to bolster its Astronaut Corps for future manned missions to the ISS, the Moon and beyond.

ESA to recruit new European astronauts

ESA to recruit new European astronauts

Mean machines - http://www.dylan.org.uk/irobot.html - As Hollywood returns to Asimov's three laws, Dylan Evans examines what it would really take to stop robots from hurting humans - Thursday July 29, 2004 - The Guardian.

MyHab - http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/get_involved/enterprising_young_brits/2007_finalists#james_dunlop - 2007 Enterprising Young Brits People's Choice award - Whilst studying Product Design James Dunlop, 23, came up with the idea for the myhab, an eco friendly two-person habitat made from recycled cardboard and plastic. myhab was initially designed to combat the inconvenience and waste caused through traditional camping, particularly at music festivals where thousands of tents are left behind. Whilst supplying myhabs at festivals and events James is also exploring the idea of marketing the product as an emergency shelter in natural disaster situations. - Vote for your favourite Enterprising Young Brit.

National Science and Engineering Week 2008 (7-16 March) - National Science and Engineering Week (formerly National Science Week) is an opportunity for people of all ages, areas and organisations to take part in science, engineering and technology activities.

National Science & Engineering Week Awards (NSEWA) 2009 - http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/scienceweek/default.htm - The RCUK Science in Society Unit announced its award scheme for 2009 to support public engagement activities in National Science and Engineering Week 2009 (6 - 15 March). All seven Research Councils are involved in supporting the scheme, providing access for funds of up to £2,000 per project to successful applicants working in the arts, life, earth and social sciences wishing to engage the public with issues relating to science and engineering.

New Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology launched in SW - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1234 - The new Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology, (IBST), the first of its kind in the UK, will focus on the cutting edge of research into bio-sensing systems and their technological applications. Over 100 scientists are expected to attend the launch at the University of the West of England (UWE) on the 18 March 2008, including several from New Jersey in the USA, a key region for Biotechnology. Representatives from over 60 companies and institutions working in this field will also be attending. - UWE News 2008 - 17/03/2008.

Planet SciCast - http://www.planet-scicast.com/ - Planet SciCast started life as an idea from TV kids science producer Jonathan Sanderson, who has worked on many of those programmes you'll have heard of, like How2 and Big Bang. - It seemed like an ideal fit with the existing audience for NESTA's www.planet-science.com/, and also an ideal project to partner up with the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) who are responsible for this excellent Planet Scicast website.

Planet Science - NESTA - www.planet-science.com/ - FREE interactive fun and resources.

Public Engagement - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/projects/engagement/index.htm - Science Communication Unit.

RAeS Space Group - Discussion paper on "Return to the Moon - A UK Perspective" - http://www.acc.co.uk/raes/space/Return_to_the_Moon.htm - Pat Norris - On 01 May 2008 the RAeS Space Group committee published a new discussion paper on "Return to the Moon - A UK Perspective" with a view to sparking debate on that subject. - Those of you who are already members of the Royal Aeronautical Society will have seen the Discussion Paper in the May 2008 issue of the Society's magazine "Aerospace Professional". - The rationale for UK participation in robotic and human missions to the Moon is assessed. The science objectives are found to be strong, as is the use of the Moon as a test-bed for exploration beyond the Earth-Moon system. UK and international initiatives are reviewed, showing that the UK has extensive expertise to bring to bear. Recommendations for action by UK government are presented including the need for a sustainable programme of missions rather than a one-off, and the benefit of UK leadership of discrete and critical elements of any lunar project in order to attract public support.

RAeS Space Group - ESA to recruit new European astronauts - http://www.acc.co.uk/raes/space/ESA_Astronaut_Selection.htm - ESA European Astronaut Selection begins Monday 19 May 2008, closes Sunday 15 June 2008 - ESA to recruit new European astronauts - Registration takes place online. The application website will be made available from Monday 19 May 2008. - The closing date for applications is Sunday 15 June 2008. - ESA's human spaceflight activities have entered a new era. It is now time for ESA to seek out new talent to bolster its Astronaut Corps for future manned missions to the ISS, the Moon and beyond.

RAeS Space Group - MISSION VIRGIN GALACTIC - http://www.acc.co.uk/raes/space/mission.htm - THE UK'S FIRST OUT OF THIS WORLD NATIONAL SCHOOLS COMPETITION - London, Tuesday 29 April 2008: - Today The Royal Aeronautical Society, The Royal Air Force and Virgin Galactic launched 'MISSION VIRGIN GALACTIC' a truly innovative National Schools Competition. - Mission Virgin Galactic will be open to all 11 - 14 year old students (Key Stage 3) across the UK and has been designed with the backing of education experts to fit within and complement the national curriculum. The aim of the competition is to inspire pupils in the areas of science, maths, technology and engineering in a fun and exciting way. - Working in teams of four to six pupils, the challenge is to design a marketable product that demonstrates one or more of the science, technology or engineering principles used in the Virgin Galactic space tourism programme. - http://www.missionvirgingalactic.com/.

Rolls-Royce Science Prize - http://science.rolls-royce.com/ - The Rolls-Royce Science Prize is an annual awards programme. There are huge prizes up for grabs from £15,000* for the winner down to 50 special commendation prizes of £1,000*.

Sense About Science - http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/ - Promoting good science and evidence for the public.

Science City Bristol - http://www.sciencecitybristol.com/ - As the fourth annual Festival of Ideas and the fifth annual Festival of Nature both draw to a close, its a good time to reflect on the wealth of science, technology and innovation happening all around us - in our businesses, our universities and even in our public spaces. - You can find out more about some of that across the pages of this website - visit the news pages to see some of the latest technology and research coming out of our universities and businesses, the significant investments in everything from robotics and advanced engineering to our creative industries and extensive work going on with the children in our schools to raise science skills and aspirations. - You will also find more news about our inaugural event, SPark in the Science City, held at HP Labs in April 2008, including photographs and presentations from some of the speakers. More than 130 attendees from across the city region listened to key speakers Lord Sainsbury, Hermann Hauser and Professor Eric Thomas give their unique perspectives and insights on our city region. - News - http://www.sciencecitybristol.com/news/default.asp?&refresh=true&pagenumber=4.

Science City Bristol

Science City Bristol

Science comic makes chemistry fun - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1188 - Science communication experts from the University of the West of England have teamed up with 'Horrible Science' illustrator David Smith to develop a series of ten comics designed to make Chemistry fun for primary aged children. - UWE News 2008 Issue date: 14/01/2008.

Science for Environment Policy - DG Environment News Alert Service - Special Issue - Biofuels - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/scienceforenvironmentpolicybiofuels.htm - 29th February 2008 - European Commision DG Environmental News Service - Biofuels - the way forward? - Interest in biofuels is growing and the proposed EU target to increase the amount of biofuels used in transportation to 10 per cent is likely to drive further research and development in this field. - This thematic issue reports recent advances in biofuel research, focusing on research into the environmental and land use impacts of increases in biofuel crop production..

ScienceHorizons - Shaping Our Future - Public Engagement

ScienceHorizons - Shaping Our Future

Sciencehorizons - UWE Involvement - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/projects/engagement/sciencehorizons.htm - Sciencehorizons is a DTI project supported by a'Sciencewise', grant (an Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) funding stream). We are working on the project in collaboration with Dialogue by Design, DEMOS and BBC Worldwide Interactive Learning. - Further Information - http://www.sciencehorizons.org.uk/. - Public 'needs to drive science' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5325190.stm - BBC Science/Nature - By Elli Leadbeater - Norwich - Views are wanted on emerging areas of science and technology - A new project funded by the UK government aims to give the public a chance to drive science policy.

Space Experiment Competition - http://www.spaceexperiment.info/ - A chance to fly your own experiment in space - The British National Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited are offering UK schools the chance to fly an experiment on one of the small satellites built by SSTL. - Who can enter? Any UK students, either individuals or teams, between 14 and 18 can propose an experimental package.

Space Horizons - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/JANS/spacehorizons/ - Space Horizons is a project that aims to deliver ideas on space and any other related information. Based in the South-West of England, Space Horizons also promotes the idea of space tourism which we are very much involved with. It's the place to be for any space related news, events and information in the South West of England! - Information Technology Management for Business - Year 2.

Space Horizons - UWE - JANS Student Group Project

Space Horizons - UWE - JANS Student Group Project

Space Horizons - JANS Project Report - JANS Group report - Word Document - Explains how Yahoo Pipes and RSS Feeds were used in the Space Horizons JANS group project.

'Sugar-cube' robots could team up and change shape - The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/13/robots.artificialintelligenceai - Ian Sample science correspondent - Swarms of tiny robots that join forces to tackle the job at hand, and repair themselves when they are damaged, are being built by a team of British scientists. - The motorised, sugar cube-sized robots are designed to communicate with one other, and will be able to assemble themselves into much larger machines to carry out specific tasks when required. - Scientists at the University of the West of England in Bristol are experimenting with the swarms as part of a 10m Euro (£7.5m) project called Symbrion, to build highly-adaptive machines that can transform themselves to suit very different tasks and environments. The robots are expected to operate in dangerous and unpredictable environments, such as searching for survivors in war zones, exploring distant planets and recycling material in toxic waste dumps. - "Not only will they cooperate, they'll self-assemble and self-organise into artificial organisms," said Prof Alan Winfield, a member of the team. - "Probably the most important and difficult part is once they have all connected together, they've got to decide what they need to be." - March 13 2008.

Swarms of Transformer-style robots to be built - The Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/03/13/scirobot113.xml - By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent - 13th March 2008 - A £4.6 million project to create swarms of hundreds of autonomous, Transformer-style robots has been launched. - Scientists aim to create a prototype team of self-organising, shape-changing mini robots that work as a team by 2013. - The self-healing robots will be able to dock with each other, share energy and co-operate to maximise their abilities to achieve different tasks. - Researchers from 10 universities who are collaborating in the European Union-funded Symbrion programme say future applications include search and rescue missions, space exploration and medicine. - Prof Alan Winfield, of the University of the West of England, Bristol, said: "A swarm could be released into a collapsed building following an earthquake. - "They could form themselves into teams searching for survivors or to lift rubble off stranded people. - "Some robots might form a chain allowing rescue workers to communicate with survivors while others assemble themselves into a 'medicine bot' to give first aid. - "The robots have functionality on their own, but they can also combine together or adapt and change as the situation requires. - "The individual robots won't change physically, but they will adapt and evolve their functionally."

The trouble with swarm intelligence - New Scientist - http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/03/trouble-with-swarm-intelligence.html - Software bugs are annoying - glitches that cause software to misbehave and do unpredictable things. But such bugs may actually be the future of robotics, if they are to exhibit intelligence that emerges from a swarm of simple individuals like social insects. - That's what a researcher involved in a new EU-funded project to advance swarm robotics told me: "Software bugs are emergent properties - but today we think they're bad and must be fixed. We need to know how to design the kind of emergent 'bugs' that produce swarm intelligence in nature." - So said Alan Winfield, a roboticist at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, who is working with colleagues in the UK and Europe on the new project. - March 13, 2008.

University of Bristol - Can you trust a robot to work safely with you in the kitchen? - http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2008/212017945313.html - Can robots and humans work safely together? This issue will be addressed thanks to a research grant of over £1 million from the European Commission (EC). - The project called Cooperative Human Robot Interaction Systems (CHRIS), based at Bristol Robotics Lab, (BRL) is a collaborative research partnership between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). - Press release issued 14 May 2008.

University of Bristol - http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2008/212017945291.html - Lord Sainsbury unveils science park masterplan - Press release issued 30 April 2008 - SPark, the new £300 million science park for Bristol and Bath, was launched on April 29 with Lord Sainsbury, the UK's leading expert on science and innovation, unveiling a model and images of how the first building, SPark One, will look. - The announcement came as part of a one-day conference celebrating Science City Bristol and all that the city-region has done and continues to do in the world of science and technology. - More than 120 business, university and public-sector leaders attended the event at HP Labs, Filton, to hear speeches from Lord Sainsbury, Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners and architect of the Cambridge Phenomenon, and Johnny Ball, science enthusiast and former TV presenter.

Image of how the first building, SPark One will look.

Image of how the first building, SPark One will look.

University of the West of England - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/index.htm - The Science Communication Unit at UWE is internationally renowned for its diverse and innovative activities, designed to engage the public with science. We are also committed to training would-be science communicators via dedicated workshops and our successful MSc Science Communication course. For further information, please visit our project pages.

US to back 21st century learning - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7569484.stm - By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News Website, Silicon Valley - The US Congress has given the go-ahead for a new centre to explore ways advanced computer and communications technologies can improve learning. - The National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies will focus on "bringing education into the 21st century." - Supporters said classrooms have failed to keep up with technology innovations. - "America's reputation as an international leader rests in the hands of our youth," said Sen. Chris Dodd. - 19 August 2008.

UWE entrepreneur takes myhab to nine UK festivals - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1259 - UWE News 2008 - Issue date: 17/04/2008 - James Dunlop, a graduate from the University of the West of England, will launch his myhab design at nine festivals this summer. myhab is an environmental alternative to a tent that James designed as part of his final year project at UWE in 2006. - myhab caused something of a media storm when it was promoted by UWE and James Dunlop secured backing from sponsors MINT very soon after graduating as well as a clutch of design awards from New Designers 2006, Enterprising Young Brits and Bristol Design Festival. He has spent the time since setting up his own company and developing and marketing his myhab product.

UWE first in UK to install radiotherapy training tool - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1233 - A revolutionary new tool to help train radiotherapy radiographers has just been installed at the University of the West of England. The Vertual (sic) Linear Accelerator (VLA) will enable students to develop technical skills in a virtual setting before they go onto clinical placements. UWE is the first university in the UK to install this version of a virtual linear accelerator and will be the only university in the South West to house this resource. VLAs will be installed in 10 Universities throughout the UK as part of a £5m Department of Health initiative, detailed in the Cancer Reform Strategy, in response to a predicted increase in the need for radiotherapy radiographers to treat cancer in an aging population as identified by the National Radiotherapy Advisory Group (NRAG). - UWE News 2008 - 17/03/2008.

UWE Swarm Robots - New Scientist - The trouble with swarm intelligence

UWE Swarm Robots - New Scientist - The trouble with swarm intelligence

UWE investigates evolving 'swarm' robots - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1231 - The University of the West of England (UWE) is a partner in 'Symbrion', a ground breaking new European funded project, which will investigate the principles of how large groups (swarms) of robots can evolve and adapt together into different organisms based on bio-inspired approaches. - The aim of the project is to develop the novel principles behind the ways in which robots can evolve and work together in large 'swarms' so that - eventually - these can be applied to real-world applications. The swarms of robots are capable of forming themselves into a 'symbiotic artificial organism' and collectively interacting with the physical world using sensors. - UWE News 2008 - 13/03/2008.

UWE leads 'Visions conference' in London - 'Robots - by their future masters' - Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 December 2007 - The Royal Academy of Engineering - A group of thirty students from South London will have the chance this week to explore their aspirations for the future and the part robots will play in it, in a unique 'Visions Conference' at the Royal Academy of Engineering - UWE News 04/12/2007.

UWE manages news wire for environmental policy - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1192 - The Science Communication Unit at the University of the West of England has won 200, 000 Euros from the European Commission Directorate General Environment to manage a news alert service called 'Science for Environment Policy'. The news service will consist of weekly e-news Bulletins that will target environmental policy makers to help them make informed decisions. - Issue date: 17/01/2008 - UWE News 2008.

UWE News 2008 - Architect helps Kevin McCloud's six day house - Issue date: 01/05/2008 - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1267 - Prefabricated straw bale panels rendered with lime designed by Craig White, lecturer at the University of the West of England, are being used for The House That Kevin Built by Grand Design's Kevin McCloud during Grand Design Live starting this weekend. - The Grand Designs show is going live for a six day long run of programmes celebrating British design and innovation from Sunday 4 May to Friday 9 May 2008. The programme will feature Kevin McCloud's efforts to build a house in just six days using cutting edge sustainable building techniques.

UWE News 2008 - Can you trust a robot to work with you in the kitchen? - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1271 - Issue date: 13/05/2008 - Can robots and humans work safely together? This issue will be addressed thanks to a research grant of over £1 million from the European Commission (EC). - The project called Cooperative Human Robot Interaction Systems (CHRIS), based at BRL (Bristol Robotics Lab) is a collaborative research partnership between the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and the University of Bristol. - The research is based on the hypothesis that safe interaction between robots and humans can be achieved through engineering the robot and its 'thinking' (cognition) for joint physical tasks which involve real world objects. - It will specifically look at the problems of a human and a robot working together in the same space, for example in a kitchen where the service robot is performing a task such as stirring soup, while you add cream. - Professor Chris Melhuish, (BRL) explains: "When we interact with other humans we are interpreting facial expression, body position, gestures, tone of voice as well as sharing a goal and understanding and following verbal instructions. For example in the soup situation, not only does the robot need to know what the goal is (making the soup) but he also needs to know how hard to stir the soup, what it means when you hold up your hand to say enough, to interpret the look of pain on your face if you accidentally get splashed with hot soup, and to stop stirring when told. This project aims to develop the rules we need to introduce this level of sophistication into service robots who are working closely with people".

UWE News 2008 - Checking out the air we breathe at UWE - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1244 - 2nd April 2008 - Visitors to the University of the West of England's Frenchay Campus on Monday 7 April will have a unique opportunity to see cutting-edge air quality and vehicle emissions monitoring systems in operation at a free event between noon and 4pm. - Stroud-based Enviro Technology (ET), holding the event in association with University's Air Quality Management Resource Centre, will be measuring emissions as vehicles drive by using a unique device called the Accuscan 4600. Because it's a remote-sensing system, there is no need for the vehicle to stop so that a measurement can be taken and the equipment is capable of surveying as many as 4000 vehicles a day, depending on traffic volume.

UWE News 2008 - Egg shaped baby incubator launched at UWE Technology Show - UWE News 2008 - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1282&year=2008 - 5th June 2008 - Students at the Bristol Institute of Technology based at the University of the West of England are showing off final year project work at two venues this year to coincide with the Bristol Design Festival under the brand name 'Expression'. - UWE Product Design graduate, James Dunlop who has had tremendous success with the MyHab project that he designed during his final year at UWE in 2006 will give an opening speech at the UWE show. - Amongst the many innovative designs is a revolutionary egg shaped baby incubator designed by Product Design student Doug Campbell. Doug's incubator is designed in such a way that it helps nurture the essential bonding between parents and new born children that can be marred by current box shaped incubators. Doug said, "A friend of mine had a caesarean section last year and her baby had to be confined to an incubator for long periods. I was inspired to design my incubator in such a way that would allow parents to get close to their new born babies even when they are hooked up to monitoring and life saving equipment in incubators."

UWE News 2008 - Heart Robot launched in the West - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1277&year=2008 - Issue date: 27/05/2008 - A team of researchers from the University of the West of England has built a robot designed to stimulate emotions. Fusing the apparently disconnected disciplines of performance art with robotics and artificial intelligence Heart robot is about to enter our world and will make an appearance at regional festivals and events throughout the summer. - Heart robot will first appear at Bedlam Street Festival in Bath on Sunday 1 June followed by Cheltenham Science Fair, St Pauls Carnival, Bristol Circus Festival, Bristol Harbour Festival, special encounters at cafes and bars around Bristol and at Bristol's new busking zone.

UWE News 2008 - 'Issues of Tidal Energy Capture in the Severn Estuary' - Issue date: 24/06/2008 - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1292 - 'Not a bore! Issues of Tidal Energy Capture in the Severn Estuary' - Science Café at UWE on Monday 30 June 2008 18:00 to 19:30 - What are the key issues and what are the impacts of developing tidal power in the Severn Estuary? What are your views on the options or the idea of harnessing energy from the estuary? Is this an appropriate way to reduce carbon emissions? What about the ecological impacts? Is this appropriate regional development? - A Science Café has been organised at the University of the West of England on Monday 30 June 2008 to explore the issues surrounding the development of tidal power in the Severn Estuary. The event is open to anyone who is interested in learning more and taking part in a discussion about this issue that is of vital importance to the region. The outcomes from this event will help shape the agenda of a larger Public Forum being planned in October 2008. - The Science Café is taking place at the One Zone, Room 2E27 at UWE's Frenchay Campus.

UWE - Science Event - Issues of Tidal Energy Capture in the Severn Estuary

UWE - Science Event - Issues of Tidal Energy Capture in the Severn Estuary

UWE News 2008 - Machine vision lab has smoother approach to tile quality - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1264 - Issue date: 28/04/2008 - Surface defects in ceramic tiles, invisible to the naked eye, could be automatically detected by a new system being developed at the University of the West of England. The system would detect imperfections such as pinholes, crazing, rough or dull glazes, even on tiles with a texture or relief pattern, saving the industry time and money and reducing wastage. - A demonstration model is being developed at UWE's Machine Vision Laboratories, in collaboration with the University of Bath and Fima Surface Inspection Ltd. It is based on photometric stereo technology, an area where UWE is internationally recognised for its expertise.

UWE News 2008 - UWE brings health and science display to Islamic Fayre - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1329 - UWE brings health and science display to Islamic Fayre - Issue date: 20/08/2008 - Staff and students from the University of the West of England will contribute to the theme of 'Mind, Body and Soul' at Bristol's tenth annual Islamic Cultural Fayre. The event takes place on 24 August 2008 at Eastville Park and for the first time the University is one of its sponsors. - UWE's stand will focus on Health and Life Science. There will be a display of medicinal plants and their use in traditional remedies, many of which still remain the basis of advanced pharmaceuticals for treatment of cancer, malaria, heart disease and depression. There will also be activities based on psychology research; optical illusions; health quizzes; blood pressure measurements, heart rate and pupil reactions; body scans and bones.

UWE News 2008 - UWE is part of the Science City equation - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1228&year=2008 - Issue date: 12/03/2008 - The University of the West of England has joined with other local scientific organisations to celebrate Bristol's status as a Science City with a range of events, lectures and demonstrations. - Scientific companies and institutions across Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area are shaping our world and these celebrations, organised as part of National Science and Engineering Week, have been designed to encourage people to get involved and find out more about what is going on in the city. - Events at UWE include a 'Science Awareness Day' where year 12 and13 pupils get a chance to see some of the most modern and sophisticated science research laboratories in the South West. They will see demonstrations of equipment for studying material obtained from scenes of crime, genes in plants and humans, and environmental pollution. Experts in the field of environmental sciences, microbiology and psychology will give presentations aimed at stimulating the pupils' interest in studying science.

UWE News 2008 - UWE launches green strategy to safeguard children's future - Issue date: 22/04/2008 - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1262 - Staff and students can work out their personal carbon footprint or find out how to volunteer for conservation projects. Displays on energy saving and air quality monitoring will show how to make a difference by switching off unnecessary lights and equipment or using the new low-emission ULink bus service.

UWE News 2008 - We all love robots - it's official! - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1272 - Issue date: 15/05/2008 - Public interest in the impact of robots is overwhelming according to an evaluation of Robot Thought a tour of public engagement events organised by experts at the University of the West of England, Bristol. - Robot Thought, a programme of events focusing on the impact of robots toured the UK for over two years from 2005 to late 2007, visiting Science Centres and Festivals in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Wrexham and Newcastle. Audiences flocked to learn more about how robots impact on our daily lives. The shows asked questions like - would you like to have your house cleaned by a robot? Would you trust a robot babysitter? If a fully functioning, thinking robot could be developed, would you consider it human? - The shows were aimed primarily at families with children aged between 5 and 7 but the research shows that the interest was far more wide ranging with a significant interest from teenagers. - Dr Karen Bultitude, Senior Lecturer at the Science Communication Unit at UWE, led the team who devised the Robot Thought programme. She said, "We knew that people were interested in robots but the Robot Thought tour generated audience levels way beyond our anticipated 7,000 over the two years. We attracted over 30,000 people to the series of events. - "We found that people liked to see 'real' robots (research robots) and that there were also great benefits for the Science Centres we worked with who had in most cases not worked with roboticists as closely before. Our show provided an overview of the key issues and current thinking in robotics and audiences got the chance to take part in informed dialogue at workshops. Many of the science centres we have worked with will continue to run robotics events and shows as a part of their normal activity."

UWE on Top Gear - Sunday 18th February 8pm - engineers from our Faculty were involved in was aired at 8pm. It featured a Robin Reliant rocket powered car, sort of modified to resemble a NASA space shuttle! Mike Ackerman and Chris Hart both worked with UK Rocket Association and the Top Gear team to help make the stunt happen - UWE News - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1002&year=2007.

UWE puts learning on tap with podcasts - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1130 - Scientists at the University of the West of England will use podcasts to teach water analysts at Wessex Water up-to-the minute skills in microbiology. - UWE News - 11th October 2007.

UWE Science Communication Unit - Beacons National Co-ordinating Centre - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/ - UWE, in partnership with the University of Bristol, has been selected as National Co-ordinating Centre (NCC) for the RCUK's beacons for public engagement. The Beacons are university-based collaborative centres to help support, recognise, reward and build capacity for public engagement in the UK. Research Councils UK in partnership with the UK funding councils and in association with the Wellcome Trust are investing £9.2M into this initiative over the next four years in order to support a step-change in recognition for public engagement across the higher education sector.The Beacons and especially the NCC will be points of contact and support for all those interested in public engagement in all disciplines (not just science). They will be up and running from January 2008.

UWE Science Communication Unit - News Service - Science for Environment Policy http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/projects/engagement/news_service.htm - The Science Communication Unit at UWE has been commissioned by the European Commission to deliver a News Alert service covering environmental research with policy relevance. The News Alert service is delivered weekly by email to subscribers across Europe and is available through the DG Environment website, on dedicated 'Science for Environment Policy' pages. It will carry regular updates on science relevant to Environment Policy.

UWE Science Communication Unit - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/ - The Science Communication Unit at UWE is internationally renowned for its diverse and innovative activities, designed to engage the public with science. We are also committed to training would-be science communicators via dedicated workshops and our successful MSc Science Communication course. For further information, please visit our project pages.

UWE Science Communication Unit - Subscribe to 'Science for Environment Policy'! The Unit is pleased to be running the Science for Environment Policy news service, on behalf of the European Commission. If you would like to receive news alerts, subscribe here - http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/research_alert_en.htm.

UWE Secretary of State visits UWE - UWE News 2008 - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=1236 - The Secretary of State for Department of Innovation, University and Skills, John Denham visited the University of the West of England's new Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology, (IBST) The first of its kind in the UK, the institute will focus on the cutting edge of research into bio-sensing systems and their technological applications. The new institute has attracted worldwide interest with over 100 scientists attending the launch at the University of the West of England (UWE) on the 18 March 2008, including several from New Jersey in the USA, a key region for Biotechnology. With a unique focus on the application as well as development of the technology the launch has attracted representatives from over 60 companies and institutions working in this field. - 20/03/2008.

UWE student brings waterside to life with mobile technology - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1201 - UWE News 2008 - Issue date: 05/02/2008 - An MA Media Student from the University of the West of England, has created a vivid and engaging artwork which brings to life a walk along the 'New Cut' in Bristol using the latest mobile technology. - Jackie Calderwood is one of a number of postgraduate students who will be showing their work to an invited audience at the MA Media Showcase at the Watershed from 18:00 to 21:00 on Tuesday 5 February 2008. The MA Media programme offers strands in animation, graphic arts, interactive arts, and screenwriting. - Work from the Show will be available on http://www.mamediashow.uwe.ac.uk after the event.

UWE student brings waterside to life with mobile technology.

UWE student brings waterside to life with mobile technology.

UWE student wins funding for climate change game - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=886&year=2006 - A student from the University of the West of England (UWE) is one of the winners in partnership with the think tank, the New Economics Foundation (nef) of nearly a quarter of a million pounds to tackle climate change. Susan Ballard a part- time PhD student is researching how a climate change game developed by nef can help people reduce their contribution to global warming. - UWE News - 4th July 2006. - See http://www.playdecide.org for how other versions of Democs generate online results. You can download the game from http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/democs.aspx.

UWE students get podcasts on the brain - http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/article.asp?item=992&year=2007 - Students studying Applied Biology and Psychology at the University of the West of England are reaping the benefits of their lecturer's innovative approach to teaching by downloading a series of lectures on the brain to their phones and iPods which they can then listen to whenever they choose.

UWE - The Exchange - http://rbi.uwe.ac.uk/internet/news/theexchange.asp - Page 10-11 Trimming the waste line: How a Knowledge Transfer Partnership resulted in a waste management programme that provided a financial gain of a quarter of a million pounds for a South West company. - Page 12 Walking with Robots: A pioneering public engagement initiative, which involves robots, is aiming to generate enthusiasm for science and engineering in classrooms around the country. - Page 15 Putting the SPark into Innovation: SPark, the £300 million Bristol and Bath Science Park project is set to play a key role in growing and developing knowledge-based industries in the South west. - 'the Exchange' magazine is dedicated to sharing and developing knowledge in the South West's businesses and the community, highlighting and encouraging discussions and partnerships. If your organisation would like to know more about opportunities please do not hesitate to get in touch.

UWE - The Exchange - Page 10-11 Trimming the waste line: http://rbi.uwe.ac.uk/internet/news/theexchange.asp - How a Knowledge Transfer Partnership resulted in a waste management programme that provided a financial gain of a quarter of a million pounds for a South West company.

UWE The Exchange - Page 10-11 Trimming the waste line

UWE The Exchange - Page 10-11 Trimming the waste line.

UWE - The Exchange - Page 12 Walking with Robots: http://rbi.uwe.ac.uk/internet/news/theexchange.asp - A pioneering public engagement initiative, which involves robots, is aiming to generate enthusiasm for science and engineering in classrooms around the country.

UWE The Exchange - Page 12 Walking with Robots

UWE The Exchange - Page 12 Walking with Robots.

UWE - The Exchange - Page 15 Putting the SPark into Innovation: http://rbi.uwe.ac.uk/internet/news/theexchange.asp - SPark, the £300 million Bristol and Bath Science Park project is set to play a key role in growing and developing knowledge-based industries in the South west.

UWE The Exchange - Page 15 Putting the SPark into Innovation:

UWE The Exchange - Page 15 Putting the SPark into Innovation:.

Walking with Robots - http://www.walkingwithrobots.org/ - What is a Robot? What do we want robots to do in the future? What can they do now? Can robots have personalities? Can a fully-functional conscious robot be developed? If so, would it be human? And should it have rights? - Walking with Robots is a three-year programme of public events funded by the EPSRC that aims to address these questions and more.

Walking with Robots - Logo

Walking with Robots - Logo

ZeroCarbonCity - http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/projects/events/ZeroCarbonCity.htm - Staff from the Science Communication Unit (Graphic Science) have contributed to the British Council's International Climate Change campaign ZeroCarbonCity and are lined up to contribute to more events over the course of the year.

Zero Carbon City Logo - Reacting to Climate Change.

Zero Carbon City - Reacting to Climate Change - with UWE Science Communcation Unit


The necessary efforts of organisations dealing with climate and space to reach out to the public can be assisted by interactive online visualisation that encourages public involvement, and this can be further linked to events where the public is involved. An example of such events is the Hewlett-Packard Science Lectures.

Online media can assist in this role and the new Semantic Web and Web 2.0 technologies enable production of software for explanation, visualisation and modelling of scientific and engineering problems. Also this enables development of online software which can be used by non-programmers to developer further software, so generating a cycle of development that could generate a large community of users and new programmers. This encourages communication and collaboration amongst the public as well as scientist and engineers. This involves creation of Semantic Wikis, modelling and visualisation tools that could be linked to scientific models such as climate models, and interactive forums.

An example application could be a link from climate models that allow members of the public to adjust parameters and see the results of such changes (even though the results are generated on high powered computers at the Met Office). This could be made to work in a similar way to the link between personal PCs and servers, where the client does not have to be aware of which servers are performing background tasks. This is similar to other projects such as the BBC Climate experiment, SETI@home and Stardust@home, but would involve the users active involvement in its development.

As an example - Astronomy, has harnessed skills of this very diverse range of people to make new discoveries (Mutchler and Schenk). The SETI@home project encouraged computer owners to use spare capacity for analyzing radio telescope data. The Open University Climate Modelling experiment used a similar approach. Stardust@home asks for volunteers to search for intersteller dust particles and tracks through photos on their computer. The GalaxyZoo project combines the computer and internet technology and human skills, and asks people to identify galaxy types.

Astronomy - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/aerospace.htm#Astronomy.

References

BBC Climate change - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/portal/climate_change/default.stm - news, opinion & explanation from around the BBC.

BBC Science/Technology News - Cosmic dust disc to force rethink - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7185969.stm - By Dr Chris Lintott Co-presenter, BBC Sky At Night, Austin - The discovery of a large disc of dust around a binary star system could force astronomers to rethink their computer models of the Universe. - The remarkable find around WZ Sagittae was made by teachers and students from across the US, working with scientists from the Spitzer Science Center in California and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. - The National Optical Astronomy Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope project incorporated schools in Montana, California and Pennsylvania. - 14 January 2008.

GalaxyZoo - http://galaxyzoo.org/ - Welcome to GalaxyZoo, the project which harnesses the power of the internet - and your brain - to classify a million galaxies. By taking part, you'll not only be contributing to scientific research, but you'll view parts of the Universe that literally no-one has ever seen before and get a sense of the glorious diversity of galaxies that pepper the sky.

HP Science Lectures - Bristol, UK - http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/lectures/ - The Hewlett-Packard Science Lectures were established in 1996 as a forum for improving the public understanding of science. Held at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, they provide an opportunity for the public to hear distinguished lecturers discuss a broad range of scientific topics, from current research to the interaction between science, technology, art and society.

Mutchler M, Schenk H, Amateur Astronomers and the Hubble Space Telescope - http://www-int.stsci.edu/~mutchler/amateur.html.

Open University Climate Modelling - http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/worldaroundus/grassroots.html - The development of the climateprediction.net climate model was almost as involved and intricate as the climate it sought to map - here, Bob Spicer recalls the inspirations and frustrations of getting the model created; on the next page, he reveals exactly what the number crunching is for.

SETI@home - http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ - SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

Stardust@home - http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ - August 10, 2007 - Stardust Phase 2 Begins - Today marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the story of Stardust@home. With the launch of the new and improved Stardust@home Phase 2 volunteers ("dusters") will be able to search for interstellar dust particles at an unprecedented level of sensitivity. Even the subtlest tracks and particles, which may have eluded detection in the first phase of the project, now stand an excellent chance of being found by ever-vigilant dusters.

This amateur satellite to Mars - is an excellent example of what can be achieved by interest amateurs.

P5A - An amateur satellite to Mars - Archimedes - http://spacefiles.blogspot.com/2007/10/p5a-amateur-satellite-to-mars.html - Space Files Blog - P5A - An amateur satellite to Mars - Archimedes.

Space Files Blog - P5A - An amateur satellite to Mars - Archimedes

Space Files Blog - P5A - An amateur satellite to Mars - Archimedes

Universe Today - High School Students Discover Asteroid - Here’s another wonderful example of how amateur astronomers can make important discoveries. Three high school students from Wisconsin discovered an asteroid while doing an astronomical observation project for a class in school. Connor Leipold, Tim Patika, and Kyle Simpson of The Prairie School near Racine were notified this week by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts that the object they discovered has been verified as an asteroid. - Written by Nancy Atkinson - January 17th, 2008.

Universe Today - Podcast: How Amateurs Can Contribute to Astronomy - Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs make meaningful contributions to discoveries. Many professional researchers work hand-in-hand with teams of amateurs to make discoveries that just wouldn't be possible without this kind of collaboration. In fact, Pamela regularly relies on dedicated enthusiasts for her data on variable stars. - December 11th, 2007.

Universe Today - Podcast: How to Win a Nobel Prize - Written by Fraser Cain - Just a couple of shows ago, we showed you how to get a career in astronomy. Now that you've got your career in astronomy, obviously the next goal is to win a Nobel prize. We're here at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, which is just one tiny step that a person has to take before you get that Nobel prize. - January 14th, 2008.

Universe Today - Podcast: The Large Hadron Collider and the Search for the Higgs-Boson - Space and Astronomy News - January 4th, 2008.

Universe Today - SETI@home Needs You! - If your New Year’s resolutions include trying something new, expanding your horizons, or doing something to benefit humanity, this is for you: SETI@home needs more volunteers to help crunch data in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). And the easy part is that your desktop computer does all the work. - Written by Nancy Atkinson - January 3rd, 2008.

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Links and Articles

Association for Science Education - http://www.ase.org.uk/htm/homepage/notes_news/sep2007/natsciengweeksep2007.php - This autumn, the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) will be running a series of National Science and Engineering Week information sessions across the country from London to Inverness.

Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution - http://www.brlsi.org/ - The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) is based in a unique listed building in the heart of the beautiful and historic city of Bath. - Here we put on a programme of talks and discussions, which are unrivalled for the range of subjects covered, featuring some of today’s leading thinkers and researchers, along with concerts and exhibitions. Also based here are our internationally recognised collections and library of rare books. - The Institution was founded in 1824. - Events Diary.

BBC Education News - Call for major science campaign - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7030194.stm - A major campaign to boost the teaching of science and technology is needed if the UK is to keep its place in the global economy, a key report warns. - 5 October 2007.

BBC Education News - CBI wants more pupils in science - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7553040.stm - British business leaders want all brighter teenagers to take three separate science subjects in secondary school. - The Confederation of British Industry wants separate sciences to be the norm, rather than combined science. - England's education ministers say those who do well in tests will now have an entitlement to separate sciences. - 11 August 2008.

BBC Education News - Physics teacher shortage warning - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7478302.stm - Almost one in four secondary schools in England no longer has any specialist physics teachers, a survey suggests. - The report into the supply of physics teachers, published by academics at the University of Buckingham, warns of a threat to the subject's future. - The government has set targets to promote the number of physics teachers in secondary schools. - 30 June 2008.

BBC Education News - Relative decline of science PhDs - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7218525.stm - Scientists warn that there has been a fall in the proportion of UK students taking science doctorates. - A report by the Royal Society says doctoral degrees in science have fallen from 65% to 57% of all PhDs for UK students in the past 10 years. - 31 January 2008.

BBC Education News - Revival hopes for 'stem' subjects - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7561430.stm - by Angela Harrison BBC News education reporter - A growing number of students are taking maths and science A-levels, prompting hopes that a downward trend in popularity is being turned around. - There have been concerns about the numbers taking "stem" subjects science, technology, engineering and maths. - But data on the numbers of students taking them in England, Wales and Northern Ireland suggest an upturn. - There were 4,500 more entries for maths this year (up 7.5%), while entries for chemistry rose 3.5% and biology 2.7%. - 14 August 2008.

BBC Education news - Why the resurgence in science? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6510083.stm - Shola Adenekan - 30 March 2007 - For Sam Jenkins, the allure of science began at a very tender age with the regular visits he made with his parents to natural history museums and exhibitions.

BBC Horizon - The Six Billion Dollar Experiment - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/universe/ - Tuesday 1 May 2007, 9pm, BBC Two - In the coming months the most complex scientific instrument ever built will be switched on. The Large Hadron Collider promises to recreate the conditions right after the Big Bang. By revisiting the beginning of time, scientists hope to unravel some of the deepest secrets of our Universe.

BBC Magazine - How to build your own Sputnik - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7049002.stm - It seems incredible that the technology that went into building the first successful satellite 50 years ago can now be found lying around the average house. You could even build one yourself, as Paul Rubens explains below. Fancy having a go? Then, sign up to the Magazine's Sputnik Challenge at the bottom of this page. - 22 October 2007.

BBC Radio 4 - Arthur C. Clarke: The Science and the Fiction - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/arthurcclarke.shtml - Heather Couper meets the man behind the ideas.

BBC Radio 4 - Big Bang - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/ - Radio 4 joins CERN on 10 September 2008 as scientists attempt to discover more about the origins of the Universe by recreating the aftermath of the Big Bang. - The experiment is one of the most complex and significant of modern times - and one that raises a lot of questions! What would you like to know? Professor Brian Cox, a physicist at CERN, answers some of your questions. There's still time to send in a question by using the form below. Read the first batch of his answers now. The questions included: - 'Will the Collider be able to prove to scientists that many other dimensions exist as well as ours?' - 'What are the possibilities of multiple Big Bangs creating multiple parallel universes?'

BBC Radio 4 - BIG BANG CERN SWITCH ON - A special programme about women and science - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/ - Wednesday 10th September.

BBC Radio 4 - Big Bang Day: Engineering Solutions - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d9yz3 - Adam Hart-Davis follows the construction of one of the most complex experiments ever attempted. The new Large Hadron Collider atom smasher at CERN has 6,000 superconducting magnets to steer the proton beams travelling at the speed of light around its 27-kilometre particle race track. Electronic detectors the size of churches observe new matter created inside the machine, and a hundred thousand computers around the world are standing by to analyse all the data. - 10 Sep 2008.

BBC Radio 4 - Big Bang Day: Five Particles - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d8xyx/comingup - Simon Singh examines the significance of subatomic particles.

BBC Radio 4 - Big Bang Day: The Making of CERN - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d9b4b - Quentin Cooper explores the fifty-year history of CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Switzerland - 8th and 9th September 2008.

BBC Radio 4 - Jonathan Edwards looks into - Programme 3 - Artificial Intelligence - http://www.bbc.co.uk//radio4/science/jonathanedwardsseries2.shtml - Radio 4 Broadcast - In the final programme in the series, Jonathan looks into Artificial Intelligence. A keen fan of science fiction, especially films like The Matrix, Jonathan wants to know how much science fact there is in AI. - Jonathan Edwards - 28 March 2007.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Animal Robots - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080306.shtml - Radio 4 Broadcast - Scientists are looking at the whiskers and the extraordinary sensing abilities of the rat. - It's lead to the creation of 'whiskerbot' a new type of robot that will be able to go into the places too dangerous for us humans to reach. - On its journey it will tell us more about how the human brain makes sense of what we sense everyday. - Sue Nelson is joined by Professor Tony Prescott, Adaptive Behaviour Research Group, Sheffield University and Dr Tony Pipe, IAS Laboratory, University of the West of England. - Sue Nelson - 6 March 2008.

Animal Robots - BBC Radio 4 Material World - Bristol Robotics Laboratory

Animal Robots - BBC Radio 4 Material World - Bristol Robotics Laboratory

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Back to the Future: Dan Dare - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080501.shtml - Back to the Future: Dan Dare - It inspired one of the country's best known cosmologists, Stephen Hawking and Buckingham Palace had it regularly delivered during the 1950s. - The Eagle magazine sold 1 million copies per issue in its hey day. - A new Science Museum's exhibition 'Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain' explores the legacy of World War Two for the country's science. - Quentin Cooper is joined by exhibition curator Ben Russell to find out more. - 01 May 2008. - BBC Science/Technology News - Dan Dare 'inspired UK innovation' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7376571.stm - By Andrew Webb Technology reporter, BBC News - Classic comic hero Dan Dare fired the imagination of young Britons in the 1950s and heralded the birth of hi-tech Britain, an exhibition at the London Science Museum reveals. - A British-built nuclear bomb and a prototype of the BT Tower are on display as part of the show. - The museum says the Eagle comic's space hero not only reflected but influenced the UK's wealth of inventions during the 1950s and 60s. - Portable televisions and radio alarm clocks are among the collection, capturing the upbeat spirit of Eagle. - 1 May 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Café Scientifique - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20070510.shtml - Café Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology and hear scientists, or writers on science, talk about their work and discuss it with diverse audiences. - 10 May 2007.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Global Science - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080103.shtml - Our planet provides food, water and energy for its 6.6 billion inhabitants. - Science helps us maximise the Earth’s resources, but the world's natural mechanisms are coming under unprecedented strain. - In this week's programme, Quentin Cooper talks to four scientists about the role of science in sustaining and preserving our world. - 03 January 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Here comes the Sun - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080221.shtml - Solar Panel Technology - In just 40 minutes on a sunny day in the UK, we receive enough energy from the Sun to provide the country’s entire energy requirements for a whole year. - Quentin Cooper finds out how we can make more use of the Sun. - Why are solar panels currently so inefficient and how can the blackness of a moth's eye could help improve our ray catching abilities? - 21 February 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Managing Uncertainty in Complex Models - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20070419.shtml - Radio 4 Broadcast - Thursday 19 April 2007 - In many branches of science, more and more predictions are made by running computer models. But as these models get increasingly complex, a better understanding of the mathematics of uncertainty is becoming essential, especially when important policy decisions hinge on the scientists' predictions.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Periodic Table of Videos - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080828.shtml - Radio 4 Broadcast - Periodic Table of Videos - There are 118 new videos available on the internet. That number (among many other videos) is significant because it’s the number of elements in the periodic table - 16 more than when Tom Lehrer sang his famous song listing the elements. - The new video collection comes from Professor Martyn Poliakoff who, along with colleagues in the chemistry department at the University of Nottingham have created the latest internet video hit by making short films about each element in the periodic table. - Quentin is joined by Professor Poliakoff and his fellow periodic table video star, Dr Debbie Kays. - 28 August 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Science vs the rest of the world - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080529.shtml - Radio 4 Broadcast - 29 May 2008 - In a special programme recorded at this year's Hay festival, Quentin Cooper asks three leading scientific thinkers what happens when the frontiers of science come up against the realms of politics, religion and public opinion. - Science is always pushing into disputed territory, such as the recent Parliamentary debates over human-animal embryos or the ongoing arguments over climate change. But when the different states of mind meet, where does the line get drawn?.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Swarm Intelligence - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080508.shtml - Scientists are still trying to find out how such highly complex insect societies like termite mounds and bee hives are organised. - This is the emerging science or Swarm Intelligence. - Insect cities are coordinated when there is no 'insect mayor', no 'brain insect', controlling behaviour. - How does this happen? - Quentin Cooper is joined by Professor Nigel Franks, University of Bristol and Professor Alan Winfield, University of the West of England to find out. - 9 May 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World and Open University - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20070809.shtml - During August Material World is broadcasting four programmes made in association with the Open University. This week, Quentin goes to the University of Bath to meet science students who've signed up for the Open University's "Technology in Action" course - Thursday 09 August 2007.

BBC Radio 4 Peer Review in the Dock - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/pip/208vb/ - Mark Whitaker investigates the tarnished image of a flawed process. Peer Review is supposed to be the keystone of quality control for research projects and academic studies, yet evidence of its many deficiencies has been building up for over 20 years. - American lawyers have started challenging expert witnesses on the basis that peer review no longer guarantees their expertise. Yet accurate peer review in fields such as medicine can be a matter of life and death. - Monday 4 August 2008 21:00-21:30 (Radio 4 FM).

BBC Radio 4 - Science - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/ - Index.

BBC Radio 4 - The Great Big Particle Adventure - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00db0x1 - Comedian and physicist Ben Miller explores the workings of the new LHC atom smasher at CERN in Switzerland and what it is designed to discover. - He looks at the Higgs Particle and how it enables atoms, molecules and our entire world to exist. - 10 Sep 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Apollo Moon photos reveal detail - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6966655.stm - Highly detailed photographs of the Moon taken by the Apollo missions are being made available to the public for the first in more than 30 years. - 28 August 2007 - Digital Planet - APOLLO ARCHIVE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4849402.stm.

BBC Science/Technology News - Arthur C Clarke: predictions - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7304852.stm - The imagination of the science fiction author Sir Arthur C Clarke bubbled over with ideas about the future of science, technology and human society. Here, BBC science and technology staff look at some that came true, and some that did not. - 19 March 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Asteroid mission concept unveiled - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6452311.stm - A Nasa scientist has proposed using the replacement to the space shuttle to land on a near-Earth asteroid. - Paul Rincon - 14 March 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604293.stm - By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News - Three decades after it was conceived, the world's most powerful physics experiment has begun. - Engineers are attempting to circulate a beam of particles around the 27km-long underground tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). - The £5bn machine on the Swiss-French border is designed to smash particles together with cataclysmic force, revealing signs of new physics. - This will re-create conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang. - 10th September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - Computing - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7508242.stm - The Cern facility has been intimately involved in the development of computing and the internet. BBC science and technology reporter Jonathan Fildes explains why. - In 1989 a computer scientist sat at his desk in a laboratory on the French-Swiss border and changed the world. - He invented a computer system to allow jobbing physicists working on a newly built particle accelerator to easily swap data amongst themselves. - The system quickly morphed, exploding into what is known as the world wide web. - Now a team at the Cern laboratory is at it again. This time, however, rather than just allowing scientists to share information, they have built a system that will also allow them to share computer power. - It is called the Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (LCG) and promises to transform any old desktop PC into the equivalent of a supercomputer. It has been developed to analyse the colossal amounts of data flowing from Cern's newest particle accelerator. - 6 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - Engineering - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7595855.stm - The Large Hadron Collider is not just an extraordinary science experiment, it is also a remarkable engineering undertaking. As BBC science reporter James Morgan relates, just getting it built is an astonishing story in itself. - 6 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - Guide - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7543089.stm - The most powerful physics experiment ever built, the Large Hadron Collider will re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang in an attempt to answer fundamental questions of science and the universe itself. - 6 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - Q&A - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7598996.stm - Professor Brian Cox is one of the LHC scientists at Cern. He answered some of your questions about the project and what it could find out. - 6 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' experiment starts well - Science - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7567926.stm - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will smash two beams of particles head-on at super-fast speeds, recreating the conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang, writes BBC science reporter Paul Rincon. - Scientists hope to see new particles in the debris of these collisions, revealing fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos. - They will be looking for new physics beyond the Standard Model - the framework devised in the 1970s to explain how sub-atomic particles interact. - 6 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang machine' fires up - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7543089.stm - The most powerful physics experiment ever built, the Large Hadron Collider will re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang in an attempt to answer fundamental questions of science and the universe itself. - Find out more about the LHC with this BBC News guide, starting at the top of the page with an introduction from Science Correspondent David Shukman. You can then explore key elements of the experiment using the links above. - 7th September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Big Bang' tunnel switched on - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7608031.stm - Two tiny flashes have marked the successful first circuit of a lightbeam around the 27km-long tunnel at Cern, where scientists are trying to recreate the moment after the "Big Bang". - 10th September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - 'Cash crisis' for science centres - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7053098.stm - Science education centres around the UK face serious financial threats and some have already closed, MPs have warned. - 21 October 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - Climate documentary 'broke rules' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7517101.stm - By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website - A controversial Channel 4 film on global warming broke Ofcom rules, the media regulator says. - The Great Global Warming Swindle attracted various complaints, including claims that it misled contributors. - In a long-awaited judgement, Ofcom says Channel 4 did not fulfil obligations to be impartial and to reflect a range of views on controversial issues. - However, it judges that the film did not mislead audiences "so as to cause harm or offence". - 21 July 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Dan Dare 'inspired UK innovation' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7376571.stm - By Andrew Webb Technology reporter, BBC News - Classic comic hero Dan Dare fired the imagination of young Britons in the 1950s and heralded the birth of hi-tech Britain, an exhibition at the London Science Museum reveals. - A British-built nuclear bomb and a prototype of the BT Tower are on display as part of the show. - The museum says the Eagle comic's space hero not only reflected but influenced the UK's wealth of inventions during the 1950s and 60s. - Portable televisions and radio alarm clocks are among the collection, capturing the upbeat spirit of Eagle. - 1 May 2008 - Radio 4 Material World - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20080501.shtml - Back to the Future: Dan Dare - It inspired one of the country's best known cosmologists, Stephen Hawking and Buckingham Palace had it regularly delivered during the 1950s. - The Eagle magazine sold 1 million copies per issue in its hey day. - A new Science Museum's exhibition 'Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain' explores the legacy of World War Two for the country's science. - Quentin Cooper is joined by exhibition curator Ben Russell to find out more. - 01 May 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Distant galaxies improve scanners - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7554488.stm - The reliability of patient MRI scans could be improved, after experts looked to the stars to find the answer. - Edinburgh University astronomers and clinicians found the method used to analyse studies of distant galaxies could be used to improve scans. - The astronomy algorithm, a set of mathematical instructions, can be used to correct image distortions which often occur during scanning. - It is hoped the discovery will save the health service time and money. - Patients who undergo MRI scans are required to lie still for 30 minutes or longer. - 11 August 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Elements brought to life online - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7507986.stml - The chemical elements are being brought to life online in a series of YouTube videos filmed at a UK university. - The project by a team in Nottingham is designed to stimulate interest in chemistry and comprises videos illustrating each of the 118 elements. - They feature a variety of experiments, some of which are too dangerous to be performed in classrooms. - The team behind the new guide to the periodic table said it should be complete by the end of July. - Periodic Table of Videos - University of Nottingham.

BBC News - Periodic Table of Videos image - Users can click on the links to see video demonstrations

BBC News - Periodic Table of Videos image - Users can click on the links to see video demonstrations

BBC Science/Technology News - From white continent to the blackboard - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7284396.stm - By Martin Redfern BBC Science producer, HMS Endurance off the Antarctic Peninsula. - 7 March 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - HP's plan to fix ailing planet - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7325121.stm - by Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley - Hewlett Packard is up to two years away from starting to build a "central nervous system for the earth", known as CeNSE. - The man leading this ambitious project is Dr Stan Williams who runs HP's Information and Quantum Systems Laboratory. - "The motivation for this work is realising and understanding the planet is sick and the disease is us," he told BBC News. - "As information technology people, we are not going to be the ones who proscribe and administer the cure but we should be the people who provide the information required to do proper diagnosis and treatment." - 25 July 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Hubble expert gives city lecture - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7325121.stm - A leading light in the European Space Agency is to tell a Belfast audience how the Hubble telescope has "built a bridge between science and art". - Lars Lindberg Christensen is in the city for a talk explaining how it has been "one of the most successful scientific projects of all time". - The lecture is a community outreach initiative between Queen's University and the Irish Astronomical Association. - 2 April 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Invisibility cloak 'step closer' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7553061.stm - Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible. - Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them "disappear". - The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre. - The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people. - 11 August 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Laser heats up the fusion future - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7407963.stm - By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News - The world's most powerful laser has heated matter to 10 million Celsius, hotter than the surface of the Sun. - The Vulcan laser concentrated energy equivalent to 100 times the world's electricty production into a spot just a few thousandths of a metre across. - Writing in the New Journal of Physics, scientists said they could create the conditions for fractions of a second. - 19 May 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Museum 'cocoon' prepares to open - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7594295.stm - By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News - The spectacular new wing of London's Natural History Museum has been unveiled. - The Darwin Centre Phase Two is designed around an iconic eight-storey "Cocoon", encased within a glass atrium. - The temperature-controlled Cocoon will house 20 million of the museum's 34 million plant and insect specimens, and laboratories for up to 200 researchers. - 2 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Nasa and Google form cosmic union - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6192523.stm - Detailed 3D images of the Moon and Mars will soon be just a click away for web users, following a deal between search giant Google and US space agency Nasa. - BBC News Technology - 19th December 2006.

BBC Science/Technology News - Nasa investigates virtual space - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7195718.stm - The US space agency is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. - The virtual world would be aimed at students and would "simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions". - BBC News Technology - 18 January 2008. - NASA MMO - massively multiplayer online learning game - http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/ - NASA Learning Technologies Request for Information: Development of a NASA-based massively multiplayer online learning game - The NASA Learning Technologies (LT) project supports the development of projects that deliver NASA content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

BBC Science/Technology News - New boom-time for British tech? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6978531.stm - Britain is still home to some of the world's best scientists - but when it comes to giving them the money to turn their ideas into world-beating companies we are third-rate. True? - Rory Cellan-Jones - Technology correspondent, BBC News - 5 September 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - Push for open access to research - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6404429.stm - Internet law professor Michael Geist takes a look at a fundamental shift in the way research journals become available to the public - BBC News Technology - 28 February 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - Science cuts 'hit UK reputation' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7373940.stm - By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News - The UK has been left looking like an "unreliable" and "incompetent" partner for international science, according to a committee of MPs. - It is one of the conclusions in a report looking into handling of the "funding crisis" in physics research. - The study pins much of the blame on the head of the main funding body, and says "urgent changes must be made". - 30 April 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Science Express train draws the crowds - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7335967.stm - By Prachi Pinglay BBC News, Mumbai - Jostling and rushing and pushing are characteristic features on trains in the overcrowded city of Mumbai. - And it was no different on platform number 13 at the city's main railway station Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) except that the visitors here were school students. - They were waiting to board "The Science Express", an Indo-German mobile science exhibition set on a train. - 8 April 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Seabed archaeology goes virtual - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7605718.stm - By Elizabeth Mitchell Science reporter, BBC News, Liverpool - People will soon be able to operate their own virtual submersibles to explore hidden treasures at deep underwater archaeological sites. - Shipwrecks and their priceless cargoes remain under threat from erosion, deep-sea trawling activity and looting. - The Venus project team has generated 3D digital records of underwater European shipwrecks that can act as a permanent record of these sites. - The simulator is being unveiled at the BA Science Festival in Liverpool. - 9 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Six teams vie for satellite prize - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7358438.stm - Six teams of students are vying for the chance to build an experiment for a satellite that will launch in 2010. - The semi-finalists are now required to work up a final proposal for submission in August; an outright winner will be selected by judges in the Autumn. - The winning experiment is required to be about the size of a lunch box, weighing no more than 1kg. - The contest is organised by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL). - It is aimed at students between the ages of 14 and 18. - 22 April 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - So what is the right stuff? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7360736.stm - By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Magazine - The European Space Agency is doing its first major trawl for recruits for more than a decade. An expected 50,000 applicants will be whittled down to four astronauts destined to live on the International Space Station. What are they looking for? - Being an astronaut is the opposite of being a learner driver. The learner trains a few days for many years of driving. The astronaut can train for years for a few days in space. - Since the beginning of space travel, people have asked themselves this question: what do you have to be like to be an astronaut?. - 19 April 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Space experiment contest launched - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7139356.stm - By Paul Rincon - Science Reporter, BBC News - UK schoolchildren are being offered the chance to design an experiment for a small satellite in an effort to boost interest in space science. - 13 December 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - Teacher finds new cosmic object - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7543776.stm - By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News - A new class of cosmic object has been found by a Dutch schoolteacher, through a project which allows the public to take part in astronomy research online. - Hanny Van Arkel, 25, came across the strange gaseous blob while using the Galaxy Zoo website to help classify galaxies in telescope images. - Astronomers subsequently confirmed that the object was one-of-a-kind. - The work has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - The object quickly became known as "Hanny's Voorwerp" - Voorwerp being the Dutch word for "object". - Researchers think this green blob got its energy from light emitted by a quasar (a powerful radiation source powered by a supermassive black hole) that has since gone dim. - Ms Van Arkel was an astronomy novice before taking part in Galaxy Zoo. - 6 August 2008.

BBC - The object is lit up by a long-dead quasar - Image - Hanny's Voorwerp (Dan Smith, Peter Herbert, Matt Jarvis, ING)

BBC - The object is lit up by a long-dead quasar

BBC Science/Technology News - The BA Science Festival - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7603086.stm - Science writer and broadcaster Sue Nelson reports from the annual British Association Science Festival, which this year is being held in Liverpool. Sue will be presenting a review of daily festival events in the X-Change, a regular and very popular feature at the festival. - 8 September 2008. - In video: BA Festival of Science 2008 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7600135.stm - Some of the UK's most innovative research teams have shown off their latest work at the annual British Association for the Advancement of Science festival. - Nick Higham spoke to a number of the scientists taking centre stage at the event in Liverpool. - 8 September 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - UK 'needs new manufacturing strategy' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7256209.stm - By Will Smale Business reporter, BBC News - As Indian and Chinese universities pump out an ever-growing number of highly skilled engineers, the future success of the UK's manufacturing base has never been more of a concern. - The question of how the UK's manufacturing sector can best cope with these increased global challenges was put by MPs on Thursday to the chief executive of UK aerospace giant Rolls-Royce. - 21 February 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Victorian 'supercomputer' is reborn - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7391593.stm - By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, Silicon Valley The world of computing could have been very different to that of today had a machine that was designed over 150 years ago been built at the time. - That is the view of Doron Swade, the man who is behind realising the creation of the famed Difference Engine No 2 which has just gone on display in Silicon Valley. - 10 May 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Virtual lessons stimulate students - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7016079.stm - A virtual reality system which allows children to manipulate planets or watch flowers spring to life has become a big hit in Singapore primary schools. - By Ben Sutherland - BBC News, Perth - 27 September 2007.

BBC Science/Technology News - Virtual telescope opens night sky - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7397811.stm - Twirling galaxies, exotic nebulae and exploding stars are now just a mouse click away for amateur astronomers. - Microsoft has launched WorldWide Telescope, a free tool that stitches together images from some of the best ground- and space-based telescopes. - Collections include pictures from the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes, as well as the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. - The web-based tool also allows users to pan and zoom around the planets, and trace their locations in the night sky. - 13 May 2008.

BBC Science/Technology News - Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7059974.stm - British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90. - The Somerset-born author came to fame in 1968 when short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick. - His visions of space travel and computing sparked the imagination of readers and scientists alike. - 19 March 2008 - Obituary: Sir Arthur C Clarke - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2358011.stm.

BBC Science/Technology News - Xerox plans the future of today - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7374500.stm - Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco - A rare glimpse of the future has been given by Xerox at its famed Palo Alto Research Centre (Xerox Parc). - On show were a handful of innovations including re-usable paper, environmentally friendly plastic, solar power, water filtering and a cell detection method that could help save lives. - Sophie Vandebroek, chief technology officer at Parc, told BBC News: "I think it is extremely critical to continuously come up with innovative ideas and work with your partners to turn them into innovations that the customers of the world can benefit from. - 1 May 2008 .

Bristol University - http://www.bris.ac.uk/researchreview/2007/11795153701.html - In our opinion... Science in the public spotlight - Man's role in causing climate change has been a topic of much interest over the past 30 years. It is a primary focus of UK and international scientific strategy and a political issue that guides public policy. It may also decide elections. As with all such issues, a major arena for debate is the media but, just as there are many sensible articles discussing climate change and, in particular, global warming, there are just as many that distort and misrepresent the science. Dr Rich Pancost, Professor Paul Valdes and Ian Ross, on behalf of the University's Global Change Initiative, put their side of the argument. - 22 June 2007.

British Computer Society (BCS) - Message from Science Council president Sir Tom McKillop - http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.19062 - 06 May 2008 - The Science Council is a new organisation and, of course, very much the creation of Sir Gareth Roberts. Having accepted the appointment of president, the challenge is how do I follow what Gareth has done? - For me the excitement is in taking the new organisation and building it in such a way that it can help represent science and scientists more effectively to society. - As an umbrella organisation, the Science Council's membership is a wide collection of different bodies representing chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, psychology and many other professional groups. We need to bring all of these groups together around common issues and deliver a much more coherent, aligned presentation of our interests to government and others with the aim of enhancing the status of science and scientists.

CAP Journal - Communicating Astronomy with the Public - http://www.capjournal.org/issues/01/.

Cosmic cookery: growing galaxies in a computer - http://royalsociety.org/exhibit.asp?id=3575 - EXHIBIT 15 - The Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition 2005 - Scientists at the University of Durham are attempting to recreate the entire evolution of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present day using 'The Cosmology Machine', one of the 'top 500' supercomputers in the world.

ESA - Fly Your Thesis! - An Astronaut Experience - http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYPQUG3HF_UnitedKingdom_0.html - 10 June 2008 - Calling all European students! ESA’s Education Office is offering the flights of a lifetime with the launch of a new programme called "Fly Your Thesis! - An Astronaut Experience". - This exciting programme will enable university students to fly their experiments in microgravity by participating in a series of parabolic flights on an Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft. - "Fly Your Thesis!" requires each team of students to design a scientific experiment to be performed in microgravity, as part of their Masters thesis, PhD thesis or research programme. Teams should register on ESA Education’s Project Portal and upload their outline proposals using the Letter of Intent template, by the deadline of 31 August 2008. - A Review Board will then select up to 20 teams, who will be invited.

'Zero-G' Airbus A300 for parabolic flights Photo - ESA

'Zero-G' Airbus A300 for parabolic flights - ESA

Students performing an experiment in Zero G Photo - ESA

Students performing an experiment in Zero G - ESA

ESA - Multimedia Gallery - http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmghome.pl.

Galaxiki - http://www.galaxiki.org/ - Galaxiki is a fictional online galaxy created, maintained and owned by its Community. Membership is free - sign up now to become a "Galaxician" and start editing stars, planets and moons, or get your own personal solar system.

Global science challenges: Your questions - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/7245396.stm - BBC News - From global warming, to biofuels and public health - how can scientists help? Send us your questions for Vaughan Turekian - who co-ordinates the global work of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - Some 10,000 scientists from around the world are gathering for the annual AAAS conference. Public health, biofules, science and world security are among the key issues up for discussion. - 14 February 2008.

Google: NASA should collaborate with public - http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/17/Google-Schmidt-NASA-public-collaborate_1.html - INFOWORLD - By Grant Gross, IDG News Service - January 17, 2008 - Google chairman and CEO cites Google Earth as an example of what can come about when NASA works with agencies outside the government.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Future - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hhgttf/ - In this Radio 4 series, Douglas Adams gave a unique insight into how new technology will change our lives.

How the Large Hadron Collider Might Change the Web - Scientific American - http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-lhc-may-change-internet - The LHC Computing Grid may teach the Internet how to quietly handle reams of information - By Mark Anderson - September 4, 2008 - When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) begins smashing protons together this fall inside its 17-mile- (27-kilometer-) circumference underground particle racetrack near Geneva, Switzerland, it will usher in a new era not only of physics but also of computing. - Before the year is out, the LHC is projected to begin pumping out a tsunami of raw data equivalent to one DVD (five gigabytes) every five seconds. Its annual output of 15 petabytes (15 million gigabytes) will soon dwarf that of any other scientific experiment in history. - The challenge is making that data accessible to a scientist anywhere in the world at the execution of a few commands on her laptop. The solution is a global computer network called the LHC Computing Grid, and with any luck, it may be giving us a glimpse of the Internet of the future.

Human Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies - http://w5.cs.uni-sb.de/~butz/teaching/ie-ss03/papers/HCIinSF/ - Michael Schmitz - CS Seminar "Instrumented Spaces" SS 2003 A. Butz, C. Endres, W. Wahlster.

iCampus - The MIT-Microsoft Alliance - Distributed Collaboration System for Mars Gravity - http://icampus.mit.edu/projects/MarsGravity.shtml - Project - To enable the Information Systems sub-group of the Mars Gravity project team to create an array of distributed network servers based on Microsoft .NET technology to allow real-time access to critical information needed by the team.

Making sense of Life - http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/apr/03/lastword.sciencenews - Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger (two modest science O-levels, one degree in English literature) explains why we're launching this new weekly science section - The Guardian, Thursday April 3 2003 Article history.

NASA Announces Study Proposal on Design of Human Lunar Lander - http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08008_Altair.html - WASHINGTON -- NASA's Constellation Program has released a broad agency announcement for study proposals to evaluate human landing craft concepts for exploring the moon. - The Altair spacecraft will deliver four astronauts to the lunar surface late in the next decade. NASA plans to establish an outpost on the moon through a sustainable and affordable series of lunar missions beginning no later than 2020. - "By soliciting ideas and suggestions from industry and the science community, NASA hopes to foster a collaborative environment during this early design effort," said Jeff Hanley, the Constellation Program manager. "Such collaboration will support the development of a safe, reliable and technologically sound vehicle for our crews."

NASA's Acquisition Internet Service - DEVELOPMENT OF A NASA-BASED MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE LEARNING GAME.

NASA Centennial Challenges - http://centennialchallenges.nasa.gov/ - Centennial Challenges is NASA's program of prize contests to stimulate innovation and competition in solar system exploration and ongoing NASA mission areas. By making awards based on actual achievements, instead of proposals, Centennial Challenges seeks novel solutions to NASA's mission challenges from non-traditional sources of innovation in academia, industry and the public. Current and past Centennial Challenges competition events are listed below.

NASA - Constellation Program - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html - NASA's New Spacecraft: Ares and Orion.

NASA - Great Moonbuggy Race - http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/ - There's still time to register for the competition - registration ends on February 1st. If you're interested in the rules and requirements, check out NASA's website.

NASA HIRISE - HiRISE Image Targeting Challenge - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html - HiRISE Image Targeting Challenge - Welcome to the Spring 2008 NASA Quest Challenge! Help scientists at NASA by suggesting a target for HiRISE! Calendar of Events below for Registration and other events. - This challenge is brought to you by MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera team in collaboration with NASA Quest. The HiRISE camera, now orbiting Mars onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is helping NASA to search for signs of past and present water on Mars. Understanding the history of water on Mars helps scientists understand if there is now or ever has been life on Mars.

NASA Learning Technologies - NASA - http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/ - Educational Resources - http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/education/education.html - National Aeronautics and Space Administration ... Learning Technologies.

NASA MMO - massively multiplayer online learning game - http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/ - NASA Learning Technologies Request for Information: Development of a NASA-based massively multiplayer online learning game - The NASA Learning Technologies (LT) project supports the development of projects that deliver NASA content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

NASA Multimedia - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/index.html.

NASA's new outreach plan - The Space Review - by Jeff Foust - Monday, July 2, 2007 - It has long been a central tenet of the space advocacy community that the public would be more willing to support NASA-and, in turn, press the White House and Congress to give NASA more money-if the general public simply knew more about what NASA did and how it was relevant to them.

Nasa to recruit through online games? - British Computer Society (BCS) - The US space agency is considering the idea of developing a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game that would be aimed at teaching pupils how to simulate space missions. - Nasa believes the game could help recruit the next generation of scientists and engineers needed to carry out its "vision for space exploration". - The agency has built what is called CoLab, an island in Second Life virtual reality where people and groups with an interest in space related subjects can meet and perform experiments. - The latest proposal has come from Nasa's Learning Technologies Project Office that supports education projects to promote science and technology. - 21/01/2008.

National Space Society Kicks Off Space Ambassadors Program with Virgin Galactic - http://www.newvoyagenews.com/?p=334 - NewVoyageNews - May 29th, 2008 - The National Space Society (NSS) and Virgin Galactic announced today the NSS Space Ambassadors Program, which for one person will lead to a trip to space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. - Space Ambassadors will be trained to deliver an eye-opening new presentation designed to educate and inspire the public about the practical and humanitarian benefits of exploration and research in space.

NESTA - Events promoting innovation around the UK - http://www.nesta.org.uk/news/events/index.aspx - National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

Nova - Science Now - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/ - Science - Podcasting.

NSF and AAAS Announce 6th Annual International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge - annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge is now underway. Co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal Science, the flagship publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Visualization Challenge is a prestigious competition to find the photographs, illustrations, and digital media that best communicate science, engineering, and technology for education and journalistic purposes. - Deadline 31 May 2008 - Winning entries will be published in a special section of the September 26, 2008 issue of the journal Science and Science Online and on NSF's website - http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/. - The entry deadline is May 31, 2008.

Odyssey Moon is the First Lunar X-Prize Entrant - Universe Today - The Google Lunar X-Prize follows on the success of the original Ansari X-Prize. The first private group that can land a rover on the surface of the Moon, and complete a series of challenges before December 31st, 2014 will win $30 million. - In addition to the two founders, the Planetary Society announced today that they're going to pitch in with Odyssey Moon, helping out with education, public involvement, and serving as a science liaison for the project. - Written by Fraser Cain - December 6th, 2007.

Planetary Society Joins Private Effort for Moon Mission - http://www.planetary.org/about/press/releases/2007/1206_Planetary_Society_Joins_Private_Effort.html - On December 6th, Odyssey Moon, the first team to complete registration for the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE, will unveil its plans to land the first private robotic mission on the Moon. - The Planetary Society has joined the Odyssey Moon team to assist in education and public involvement and with international and science liaison for the project.

People & Planet can now reveal your university’s environmental performance score - http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreen/greenleague2007 - Awarded a First, 2:1, 2:2, Third, or Fail, we applaud the greenest and expose the least-green universities in the country.

Robots could reduce animal tests - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7246108.stm - By Helen Briggs Science reporter, BBC News, Boston - US scientists are taking the first step towards testing potentially hazardous chemicals on cells grown in a laboratory, without using live animals. - Two government agencies are looking into the merits of using high-speed automated robots to carry out tests. - 15 February 2008.

Scientific American's 60 Second Science - http://www.60secondscience.com/.

Scientific Journals International - http://www.scientificjournals.org/ - SJI mission is to give every researcher, writer or artist a fair consideration to be published. The academic, creative and scientific developments depend on the effective, rapid and efficient dissemination of information and ideas from all disciplines and at all levels. This revolutionary project is an attempt to provide a one-stop efficient forum for publishing research and creative work from all disciplines. There is no other journal in the world that aims to have this scope. - Current Issue - http://www.scientificjournals.org/current_issue.htm.

Severn barrage details unveiled - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7202413.stm - Details of a feasibility study into the Severn Barrage, a tidal power plan that could provide about 5% of UK electricity, have been announced. - BBC News Website - 22 January 2008.

SirPatrickMoore.com - http://www.sirpatrickmoore.com/ - As the name suggests, this is the only official site dedicated to the British astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore. - Since I have been broadcasting on TV and radio for fifty years, and have written quite a number of books, it was suggested that I might have my own website.

Sky at Night - Sky at Night - BBC Site.

So you think you can design an Aeroengine? - http://royalsociety.org/exhibit.asp?id=4662 - Economic development and the desire of modern society to travel mean that the number of flights taken worldwide is increasing 8% year on year. As a result, air travel is fast becoming a major contributor to climate change. Flying to Australia and back generates more carbon dioxide than the average driver in one year. 'The trick of keeping hundreds of tonnes of people and machine in the air and transporting them thousands of miles will always have some environmental consequences, the aim is to minimise the impact', says Phil Withers of the School of Materials at the University of Manchester. - Using state of the art techniques, Phil and his colleagues are working with Rolls-Royce to ensure the safety of new materials and manufacturing processes for the next generation of jet engines. - So You Think You Can Design a Jet Engine PDF.

So you think you can design an Aeroengine? - Source the Royal Society

So you think you can design an Aeroengine? - Source the Royal Society

South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWERDA) - Discovering Bristol Science City - http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/news/release.asp?ReleaseID=1839 - 2nd February 2007.

Space 4 Companies - http://www.space4companies.co.uk/index.php?view=events - EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TEAMWORK - Business and leadership professionals agree that effective communication skills, leadership ability and the desire to succeed as part of a team are at the core of any productive workforce. - Companies demand of their employees an awareness of their personal capabilities together with the confidence to contribute these effectively towards a good team dynamic. It's these skills that Starchaser aims to bring out in your workforce.

Space 4 Schools - http://www.space4schools.co.uk/ - BLAST OFF on a learning journey through space - Expand your educational experience by taking advantage of these fantastic and varied programmes, covering subjects ranging from space travel to the exploration of our Solar System. These immersive educational packages have direct links to the National Curriculum.

Teachers in Space - http://www.teachersinspace.org/.

The Future of the Web - http://www.nesta.org.uk/future-of-web-jonathan-kestenbaum-nesta/?playaudio=1 - Podcast - Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO, NESTA, introduces the event and Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 - http://www.astronomy2009.org/ - The vision of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) is to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery. All humans should realize the impact of astronomy and basic sciences on our daily lives, and understand better how scientific knowledge can contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society.

THE-MOON WIKI - http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Introduction - This wiki - The-Moon - is an experiment to collect data about individual features, arranged alphabetically by name. As a wiki anyone (after registering) can add or edit every entry.

The Planetary Society - http://www.planetary.org/home/ - the world's largest space-interest group, is dedicated to inspiring the public with the adventure and mystery of space exploration.

The Power of Information, 2007 - Mayo, E., Steinberg, T., - http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/publications/reports/power_information/power_information.pdf?id=3965 - Cabinet Office - An independent review by - Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg - June 2007 - The government's response.

The Royal Institution of Great Britain - Christmas Lectures - http://www.rigb.org/events/christmaslectures.jsp - We have now finished filming the 2007 Christmas Lectures, Back from the brink: the science of survival, starring Dr Hugh Montgomery a diver, skydiver, high-altitude mountaineer, intensive care doctor, genetics researcher and director of the UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance.

The Scientific Method - AstronomyCast - 26 May 2008 - (Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay) - http://www.astronomycast.com/astronomy/ep-90-the-scientific-method/ - You've heard us say it 90 times: "How we know what we know." But how do we know how we know what we know? So astronomers like all scientists use the scientific method. Without the scientific method we'd probably still think the Earth is flat, only a few thousand years old and the center of the universe. But with the scientific method everything changes. From biology, to chemistry, to physics, to astronomy it is impossible to count the number of changes that have happened to human society because of changes brought about from the scientific method. In this episode we tell you about what the scientific method is, how you can use it to improve your life, and discuss why gravity isn't just a theory.

UKSEDS Students for the Exploration and Development of Space - http://www.uk.seds.org/ - UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) is a volunteer youth organisation aimed at promoting space and related activities to a wider audience.

UKSEDS Students for the Exploration and Development of Space - http://www.uk.seds.org/conference/ - The UKSEDS 19th annual conference is only months away - The Open University, Milton Keynes - 17th-18th November, 2007.

Universe Today - 2009 Will Be the International Year of Astronomy - Written by Fraser Cain - The United Nations announced today that 2009 will be the International Year of Astronomy. There'll be a concerted effort around the world to increase awareness about astronomy, and give people access to tools, techniques and knowledge.

Universe Today - Arthur C. Clarke Dies - Written by Nancy Atkinson - Sir Arthur C. Clarke, writer, inventor and visionary, has died from heart failure at age 90. A master of science fiction, Clarke was known most for his futuristic book "2001" published in 1968, which was subsequently made into a landmark movie. Clarke wrote scores of fiction and non-fiction books, more than 100 short stories, and numerous articles and essays. - March 19th, 2008.

Universe Today - Astronomy Day - May 10, 2008 - Written by Tammy Plotner - Are you ready for Astronomy Day? Astronomy Day is a grass roots movement designed to share the joy of astronomy with the general population - "Bringing Astronomy to the People." During this year's Astronomy Day on May 10, thousands of people who have never looked through a telescope will have an opportunity to see first hand what has so many amateur and professional astronomers all excited! - May 8th, 2008.

Logo - Astronomy Day - May 10, 2008

Astronomy Day - May 10, 2008

Universe Today - Beer and Burgers With a Side of Science - Written by Nancy Atkinson - Astronomers and cosmologists endeavor to solve some of the great mysteries of the universe. One mystery scientists here at the AAS meeting in St. Louis are seriously trying to address is how to make science more interesting and accessible to the general public. While this issue has little cosmic implications, having a "science literate" population in our ever-growing technology-based civilization is not just an advantage, but becoming an absolute necessity. In attempt to tackle this concern, a group of astronomers are encouraging others to follow the lead of a concept that seems to be working: Invite the public out for a beer. - June 4th, 2008.

Universe Today - Celebrate Sun-Earth Day 2008 on March 20 - Written by Tammy Plotner - Over the past seven years, NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum has sponsored and coordinated education and public outreach events to highlight NASA Sun-Earth Connection research and discoveries. Their purpose is to interest school students and the general public to participate in programs that occur throughout the year and the kickoff is about to begin. This year's main event will be on March 20, 2008. - March 18th, 2008.

Universe Today - Former Astronaut to Bike Across US for Education - Written by Nancy Atkinson - Former NASA astronaut and Rocketplane test pilot John Herrington has a new state-of-the-art vehicle of choice: a bike. But it’s a touring bike fully loaded with a GPS, laptop, broadband phone, and digital and video cameras. Herrington is embarking on a cross country bike trek to promote and encourage student participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Herrington, once a college dropout who went on to fly in space in 2002 on the STS-113 mission, hopes he can help make a difference and impact on children by sharing his experiences and providing web-based, hands-on activities using STEM skills to solve problems while following his journey. Herrington also wants to encourage children to pursue their dreams and seek out exciting opportunities. "The generation that grew up in the age of the Apollo program and the journey to the moon was motivated by the excitement of space and the possibilities that it brought to the nation," said Herrington. "Those kinds of possibilities to explore the unknown and make new discoveries still exist, but we must motivate students to learn and have a way to connect what they learn to what they do on a daily basis." - August 14th, 2008.

Universe Today - Galaxy Zoo Results Show that the Universe Isn't 'Lopsided' - Written by Nicholos Wethington - In July of last year, the doors of the online galaxy classification site Galaxy Zoo opened for business. The response? Tens of thousands of people logged-in to begin classifying galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. If you've been one of the users madly clicking away at galaxies on the Zoo, this is what you've been waiting for: the first results have been submitted for publication, and it turns out that our Universe is, in fact, not 'lopsided'. - March 28th, 2008.

Universe Today - Get Ready for the 2008 Space Elevator Challenge - Looking for an exciting challenge, as well as a way to try and create easy and affordable access to space? The 2008 Space Elevator Beam Power Challenge has been announced by The Spaceward Foundation - Written by Nancy Atkinson - January 18th, 2008.

Universe Today - Get Ready for the Great Moonbuggy Race - You can tell that NASA is really serious about sending astronauts back to the Moon - they're even working on the moonbuggies (I mean, rovers). In order to get the best designs possible, the agency is opening up the competition to student teams to design the best lunar rovers they can. The 15th annual race is going to be in Huntsville, Alabama on April 4-5, 2008. And who knows, maybe some of their good ideas might make it all the way to the Moon. - More than 40 student teams from the US and other countries have already registered for the 15th annual Great Moonbuggy Race. The students have to design, build and then race their own two-person lunar vehicles across a simulated surface of the Moon. - There's still time to register for the competition - registration ends on February 1st. If you're interested in the rules and requirements, check out NASA's website - http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/. - Written by Fraser Cain - January 15th, 2008.

Universe Today - GoogleNASA - Google and NASA Ames announced today that they'll be forming a new partnership to work together on several space-related projects - December 18th, 2006.

Universe Today - Happy Space Day! - Written by Nancy Atkinson - It's the first Friday in May; therefore it must be Space Day! Since 1997 people around the world have used this day to celebrate humankind’s accomplishments in our exploration of space, as well as recognizing the benefits and opportunities that space exploration provides. While anyone can celebrate this occasion, the main goal of Space Day is to "promote math, science, technology and engineering education by nurturing young peoples' enthusiasm for the wonders of the universe and inspiring them to continue the stellar work of today's space explorers." - May 2nd, 2008.

Universe Today - Help Move An Asteroid and Other Space-Related Opportunities - Written by Nancy Atkinson - If you’ve got some ideas about how to deflect an asteroid or comet heading towards Earth, there’s an opportunity out there to have your concept reviewed by some of the world’s top astronomers and physicists. The only restriction is that you must be a student or a young professional under the age of 33. This announcement comes on the heels of notices of other opportunities for young people to get involved with space missions. The space sector must be listening to recent complaints that the younger generation feels a disconnect to space-related activities. At any rate, these are great opportunities. - April 9th, 2008.

Universe Today - Lunar Art - Written by Nancy Atkinson - NASA recently invited college and high school students to submit artwork for a contest on the theme "Life and Work on the Moon." NASA encouraged students to form inter-disciplinary teams, so that art and humanities students could collaborate with science and engineering students, "to produce the most well-informed art work possible." NASA just announced the winners of the contest. The first place submission is above, and is called Traffic Jam, by Justin Burns, a sophomore at the University of Memphis. - May 30th, 2008. - NASA art contest page - http://artcontest.larc.nasa.gov/2008_awards.html.

Universe Today - Name That Satellite - Written by Fraser Cain - Have you ever named a space mission? Well, here's your chance. NASA announced today that they're looking for help from the public to rename their upcoming Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) before it launches in mid-2008. - February 7th, 2008.

Universe Today - NASA's New Look - Written by Nancy Atkinson - NASA unveiled a new look for its website over the weekend, and hopes that blogs, interactive features, and a customizable layout will especially appeal to 18-25 year olds. - December 3rd, 2007.

Universe Today - NASA Reaches Out to Design Students to Confront Lunar Dust Problem - Written by Ian O'Neill - Last year, students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) were set one of the best coursework projects I've ever heard of. The project title was called "Design for extreme environments" and it was sponsored by NASA. By extreme environments, we are talking about the Moon, and by design, we are talking about arriving at new concepts as to how to prevent lunar dust contamination inside future lunar habitats. Since the task was first set, the enthusiastic RSID team have arrived at a concept that NASA will be using in the planning of the 2020 return to the lunar surface... - September 3rd, 2008.

Universe Today - The RISD Moon Buggy concept (Kevin Hand) - Artists impression.

Universe Today - The RISD Moon Buggy concept (Kevin Hand).

Universe Today - NASA's Planning its Own Version of World of Warcraft - Written by Fraser Cain - In a recent request for information, NASA announced that it's looking for help in the development of a NASA-inspired massively multiplayer role playing game. - The request for information from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was published to NASA's Acquisition Internet Service on January 16th, 2007.

NASA Wants Your Opinion on the Lunar Lander - Source Universe Today

NASA Wants Your Opinion on the Lunar Lander - Source Universe Today

Universe Today - NASA Wants Your Opinion on the Lunar Lander - NASA's Constellation Program has released an announcement that they are looking for people to evaluate the design of the Altair spacecraft that will land on the moon. So if you work in the science community or in a related industry, NASA wants your opinion. What they are looking for are evaluations of the current developmental concept for the Altair lander and the safety improvements that have been proposed, as well as recommendations for industry-government partnerships. - NASA page - http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08008_Altair.html - NASA Announces Study Proposal on Design of Human Lunar Lander - Constellation Program - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html - Written by Nancy Atkinson. - January 16th, 2008.

Universe Today - SETI.

Universe Today - Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Changing How Scientists -and the Public - Do Astronomy - Written by Nancy Atkinson - Recently we've had articles on Universe Today that have discussed the outer Milky Way Galaxy, dark matter, and the discovery of a new minor planet. These articles have a common thread: The discoveries all come from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). If you aren't familiar with SDSS, it encompasses a comprehensive survey lasting more than eight years, which has so far covered more than one-quarter of the sky. - August 21st, 2008.

Universe Today - Study Shows More Antarctic Ice Loss - Written by Nancy Atkinson - Increasing amounts of ice mass have been lost from West Antarctica and the Antarctic peninsula over the past ten years, according to a 10-year study from the University of Bristol, England. But at the same time, however, the ice mass in East Antarctica has been roughly stable, with neither loss nor accumulation over the past decade. - Professor Jonathan Bamber at the University of Bristol and colleagues estimated a loss of 132 billion tons of ice in 2006 from West Antarctica - up from about 83 billion tons in 1996 - and a loss of about 60 billion tons in 2006 from the Antarctic Peninsula. - January 16th, 2008.

Universe Today - The Galaxy Zoo is Busy - online site where you use your powerful human brain to help catalog galaxies for science. - August 9th, 2007.

Universe Today - The LHC Will Revolutionize Physics. Can it Revolutionize the Internet Too? - We already know that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be the biggest, most expensive physics experiment ever carried out by mankind. Colliding relativistic particles at energies previously unimaginable (up to the 14 TeV mark by the end of the decade) will generate millions of particles (known and as yet to be discovered), that need to be tracked and characterized by huge particle detectors. This historic experiment will require a massive data collection and storage effort, re-writing the rules of data handling. Every five seconds, LHC collisions will generate the equivalent of a DVD-worth of data, that's a data production rate of one gigabyte per second. To put this into perspective, an average household computer with a very good connection may be able to download data at a rate of one or two megabytes per second (if you are very lucky! I get 500 kilobytes/second). So, LHC engineers have designed a new kind of data handling method that can store and distribute petabytes (million-gigabytes) of data to LHC collaborators worldwide (without getting old and grey whilst waiting for a download). - September 4th, 2008.

How the LHC Computing Grid works (CERN/Scientific American) - Diagram - Universe Today

How the LHC Computing Grid works (CERN/Scientific American) - Universe Today

University of Bristol Press Release - Antarctic ice loss - http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uob-ail011108.php - Increasing amounts of ice mass have been lost from West Antarctica - Increasing amounts of ice mass have been lost from West Antarctica and the Antarctic peninsula over the past ten years, according to research from the University of Bristol and published online this week in Nature Geoscience. - Meanwhile the ice mass in East Antarctica has been roughly stable, with neither loss nor accumulation over the past decade. - Professor Jonathan Bamber at the University of Bristol and colleagues estimated the flux of ice from the ice sheet into the ocean from satellite data that cover 85% of Antarctica's coastline, which they compared with simulations of snow accumulation over the same period, obtained using a regional climate model.

University of Leicester - http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-2009/2008/02/nparticle.2008-02-21.0036312522 - Space Academy funding announced - New project to help boost support for science, technology, engineering and maths teaching in East Midlands. - The country’s first Space Academy will soon be opening its doors to young people from schools and colleges in the East Midlands and throughout the UK thanks to a £990,000 grant from East Midlands Development Agency (emda). The Space Academy will be set up at the National Space Centre in Leicester, with partners at the University of Leicester, the University of Nottingham, the Regional Science Learning Centre for the East Midlands and STEMNET. - The Space Academy provides education programmes, summer space schools, road-shows and conferences, built around schools’ curricula in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) using space as the inspirational hook. It is especially aimed at students from 14-19 years of age, and their teachers, in the East Midlands and beyond, encouraging and supporting them to consider the benefits and challenges of careers in these fields. It will draw on the skills and reputations of Universities in the region, which are international leaders in space-related subjects, and employers who need scientists and engineers.

World Space Week - http://www.spaceweek.org/ - The Largest Annual Public Space Event on Earth - Celebrated in some 50 Nations every October 4-10.

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NASA and public understanding

This extract from the article - NASA's new outreach plan explains NASA's plans to promote public undersanding of their organisation.

NASA's new outreach plan - The Space Review - by Jeff Foust - Monday, July 2, 2007 - It has long been a central tenet of the space advocacy community that the public would be more willing to support NASA-and, in turn, press the White House and Congress to give NASA more money-if the general public simply knew more about what NASA did and how it was relevant to them.

Web 2.0 and NASA's big five-oh

The document NASA's new outreach plan describes how NASA plans to implement the plan and communicate those messages to the public. That effort will be linked with NASA's year-long celebration, starting this October, of its 50th anniversary (the agency was officially created on October 1, 1958.) The core message and related themes will be used in a variety of 50th anniversary events, including a series of "NASA Future Forums" around the country: one-day conferences about the role of innovation in economic development, in particular the role NASA plays. Also in the works are a lecture series, new public service announcements, and targeted outreach to state and local leaders linked to upcoming shuttle missions.

Online media will also play a role in this outreach effort. According to the document, NASA is in the process of redesigning its web site to leverage a suite of technologies and techniques collectively known as "Web 2.0" that emphasize communication and collaboration among users. The new web site will include dynamic, customizable content; "social bookmarks" akin to web sites like Digg and del.icio.us; and the ability for the public to comment on NASA content. The document also mentions the creation of a "NASATube" and "NASApedia", presumably similar to the video-sharing site YouTube and editable encyclopedia Wikipedia, respectively.

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Related Pages

Aerospace - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/aerospace.htm.

Aerospace Modelling and Visualisation - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/aerospace.htm#AerospaceModelling.

Astronomy - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/aerospace.htm#Astronomy.

Distributed Databases & Grid Computing - About the Distributed Databases & Grid Computing group.

E-Learning Page - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning.htm.

E-Science and Engineering - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning.htm#EScienceEngineering.

Grid Computing - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/Modelling.htm#GridComputing.

Scientific Modelling - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/Modelling.htm#ScientificModelling.

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UWE Examples

Interactive Maps

UWE Examples - Interactive Maps.

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Taxonomies

Taxonomies.


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Diagrammatic

Diagrammatic.

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Survey Examples

Survey Examples

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Tutorial Example

Tutorial Example.


External Examples

Tutorial Example

External Examples - Taxonomies.

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Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality

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Scientific Modelling and End User Programming

Scientific Modelling and End User Programming

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Systems Biology

Systems Biology

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Robots

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/AutonomousSystems.htm.

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Latest News RSS Feed

Implementation based on Space Horizons - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/JANS/spacehorizons/ - Project for Information Technology Management for Business - Year 2.




Yahoo Pipes RSS Feed for these science stories - http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=9f51d0ae11666b4e87e3e29dcef42ea7.





Latest Podcasts RSS Feed

BBC Radio 4 Material World - ALFIE XI - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld.shtml - ALFIE XI - For the first time the UK is hosting the eleventh world Artificial Life conference: ALFIE XI. Artificial life 'attempts to understand the general properties of living systems by synthesizing life-like phenomena in software, hardware, and wetware'. The conference is being hosted by Southampton University in Winchester and has contributions from scientists around the world. - Quentin is joined by conference chair Dr. Seth Bullock, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton and Professor Mark A. Bedau, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College, USA. What kind of new scientific advances can we expect from 'artificial life'? - Thursday 07 August 2008.

BBC Radio 4 Material World - Subglacial Lakes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld.shtml - Radar surveys in the 1970s identified a number of liquid water lakes beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In recent years the number of 'sub-glacial lakes' we know about has risen to over 160. - Now the British Antarctic Survey has carried out the first geophysical survey on Lake Ellsworth - more than 2km below the ice sheet. The lakes exist in complete darkness, with ecosystems that have been isolated from the rest of the world for hundreds of thousands of years. The question is how do you explore them without contaminating them? - A UK university consortium is planning to explore Lake Ellsworth. Quentin Cooper talks to Dr. Martin Seigert from the University of Edinburgh who is leading the consortium and Dr. Andy Smith from the British Antarctic survey who led the geophysical team studying Lake Ellsworth. What can subglacial lakes on Earth tell us about life in extreme conditions on other planets? - Thursday 07 August 2008.

Implementation based on Space Horizons - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/JANS/spacehorizons/ - Project for Information Technology Management for Business - Year 2.



Yahoo Pipes RSS Feed for these podcasts- http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=2a1b55e7c658d4428d51500f96878130.




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Environment

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/Environment.htm.

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Energy

Biofuels - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/Energy.htm#Biofuels.

Energy Page - Energy Page

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Aerospace

Aerospace Page - Aerospace

Space Horizons - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/JANS/spacehorizons/ - Space Horizons is a project that aims to deliver ideas on space and any other related information. Based in the South-West of England, Space Horizons also promotes the idea of space tourism which we are very much involved with. It's the place to be for any space related news, events and information in the South West of England! - Information Technology Management for Business - Year 2.

Space Horizons - UWE - JANS Student Group Project

Space Horizons - UWE - JANS Student Group Project

NASA and public understanding

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Events Recent and Future

Public Science Events - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/PublicScienceEvents.htm.


Funding Links - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/proposallinks.htm.

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Home Pages

SEEDS Page - SEEDS Home Page

Peter Home Page - Peter Hale Home Page


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