The Culex approximation I woke to a high pitch whine in my ear. Springing immediately from the bed, I set to work. Every mosquito in that room was going to die! It was the early hours of the morning in a hotel at Ma’ale HaHamisha, just outside Jerusalem. I wasn’t at all sure if I […]
by Gareth Arnott & Irene Camerlink Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics, initially developed by economists to model human strategic decision making, and popularised with well-known examples such as the Prisoner’s dilemma, and Russell Crowe’s portrayal of the Nobel laureate John Nash in the film A Beautiful Mind. However, biologists were quick […]
By Camilla Bertolini @CamiBe90 We have been recently hearing about microbeads and the microbead ban on the news. But you may still wonder “what is a microbead?” Microbeads are defined as manufactured solid plastic particles (polyethylene, polypropylene or polystyrene) of less than five millimeters in their largest dimension. They can be found in exfoliating beauty […]
Professor Peter Hotez is the international poster boy for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD’s), and having sat in the audience of one of his lectures, it is easy to see why. Though eminently humble and diminutive in stature, his intellect, charm, and distinctive look instantly rally eye, ear and mind. He is the archetypal antihero; […]
By Phil Hamill Picture this, you are sitting out in a beer garden (probably in the Parlour bar) on a beautiful sunny day enjoying a refreshing pint of cider, or two, after a hard day’s work. It’s a nice picture isn’t it?, now have you ever wondered what is behind the great taste of […]
By Camilla Bertolini @CamiBe90 Citizen science projects are proliferating everywhere. Initiatives span from subtidal surveys (Seasearch) to insect counts (e.g. Great British Bee Count). With the fast moving technological advances, readily available and user-friendly species-ID apps are being constantly developed (e.g. sealife tracker can help you with the identification of marine climate change indicators). […]
By Camilla Bertolini @CamiBe90 What is the first thing that comes to your mind after hearing the word “squidpop” ? Here a few things that popped into my mind after hearing it from the first time: a squid flavoured lollipop, a squid flavoured fizzy drink, an inflatable squid that pops… the possibilities of […]
By Jonathan Dalzell @jjdalzell It seems very likely that my research group is currently the only to be developing transgenic, or ‘GM’ crops in Northern Ireland. A disappointing realisation, and perhaps one of the reasons underpinning our former environment minister’s decision to ban outright the growing of GM crops in Northern Ireland, […]
By Dr Nadescha Zwerschke When you are on holiday in some exotic place and you meet your next door neighbour you wonder how small the world actually is. And indeed, increasing globalisation has caused the removal of many geographic boundaries. Former isolated continents are now connected via an intensive exchange of people, goods and […]
By Camilla Bertolini @CamiBe90 Bright sunshine outside today as I am about to head out to the beach. Those of you that have seen me walking around Belfast with buckets, coloured flags and big bags of scouring pads possibly can guess that by “heading out to the beach”, I don’t mean going to lie down […]