Science Spinning on Dublin City FM
Science Spinning is a half hour weekly popular science show, broadcast from Dublin City, Ireland and presented by science writer, Seán Duke. Regular slots include: What's it all about?The Question is, and Inventive Minds. To suggest items for the show contact the Editor at: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie
Episodes
April 1, 2011 • 15 mins
Keywords: Limitless, Brain, Untapped Potential
Broadcast on East Coast FM, The Morning Show with Declan Meehan, 30th March, 2011
IMAGE: The idea behind the film Limitless is that we don't use up to 90 per cent of our brain, and if we did, we could develop extraordinary abilities [Credit: sciencedaily.com]
In the recent film 'Limitless' a writer that is suffering from writer's block takes a drug that enables him to tap ...
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March 28, 2011 • 28 mins
Keywords: Extra-terrestrial life, TB
IMAGE: The Milky Way pictured here, is made up of about 750 billion stars like our Sun, with an even larger number of orbiting planets. Is it conceivable that none of these planets have life, let alone intelligent life? [Credit: NASA]
Broadcast 24th March 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
The Question Is?
It has become common for scientists to assume that the Universe is teeming with l...
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March 11, 2011 • 27 mins
Broadcast 10/03/2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
PIC: 'Buzz Aldrin' pictured on the Moon, July 1969 by Neil Armstrong. Putting men on the Moon was a tremendous technical achievement, but is space exploration worth the effort & resources put into it? [Credit: NASA]
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? The Human Genome Project. What is it? and how will it change our lives? Tommie McCarthy, UCC, explains.
THE QUESTION IS? Is space explor...
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March 3, 2011 • 28 mins
Broadcast on 24th February 2011
IMAGE:
Experts estimate that fossil-fuel burning power plants, such as the one pictured here, a peat fired plant in Ireland at Shannonbridge, Co Offaly, lose up to 70 per cent of their energy through heat losses. New nano materials could change all that [Credit: Wikipedia]
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Genetics, past, present and future, explained by Ken Wolfe, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) he...
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February 25, 2011 • 27 mins
Broadcast on 17th Feb. 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
IMAGE: Solar Flare captured on the Sun by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on 8th Sept. 2010 [Credit: NASA]
What's it all about? Solar flares explained by Peter Gallagher, astrophysicist based at TCD.
The question is? We see only four per cent of the 'stuff' the Universe is made up of. Where is the invisible 'dark matter' and what is it doing? We ask Paul Callanan,...
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February 23, 2011 • 29 mins
Broadcast on 10th Feb. 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
IMAGE: The Mid Atlantic Ridge (in red) can be seen on land in Iceland [Credit: Elliot Lim, CIRES & NOAA/NGOG]
What's it all About? Sea Floor Spreading explained by Bettie Higgs, Geology UCC
The Question Is? How solid is the Earth's crust where tectonic plates collide? We ask Sergei Lebedev, of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Writer's Room. We talk to P...
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February 7, 2011 • 28 mins
Broadcast on 103.2 Dublin City FM on 3rd February 2011
IMAGE: Cover of 'Stone by Stone' a guide to the use of building stone in Northern Ireland [Credit: Appletree Press Ltd]
What's it all about? Geophysics explained by Prof Chris Bean, School of Geosciences at UCD.
The question is? Will nanotechnology change the world, and if so, how? We ask Aidan Quinn, Head of the Nanotechnology Research Unit at the Tyndall Nationa...
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January 29, 2011 • 25 mins
Broadcast on 103.2 Dublin City FM, 27th Jan. 2011
IMAGE:
Brown Trout, such as the one pictured here, are the subject of an new book by Irish fishery scientist, Martin O'Grady [Credit: Wikipedia]
THE QUESTION IS
Trees act as a brake on global warming, as they suck up 'greenhouse gases', but new pests are increasingly threatening trees in Ireland and around the world. We ask John Sweeney, climate researcher at NUI ...
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January 21, 2011 • 26 mins
IMAGE:
The cover of 'Ireland's Animals, myths, legends & folkore' by Niall Mac Coitir [Credit: Gordon D'Arcy].
The Question Is
Can we improve the quality of our Internet searches through co-operation? We ask Barry Smyth, Professor of Computer Science at UCD.
Writers' Room
We speak to Niall Mac Coitir, author of 'Ireland's Animals, myths legends and folklore'
What's it All About?
Prime numbers are the most basi...
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January 17, 2011 • 26 mins
IMAGE: Ireland suffered horrendous weather patterns in 2009 and 2010 [Credit: Four Courts Press]
The Question Is?
Software applications, or 'apps' for smartphones, such as the iPhone, are experiencing an explosion of interest. What is likely to happen in the mobile phone apps market in the next few years? We ask Barry Downes, a research leader in this field, with the Waterford IT-based TSSG research institute.
Writer'...
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January 6, 2011 • 28 mins
IMAGE: Newborn babies can experience undetected seizures, which can lead to serious consequences later in life. A team at UCC is developing technology to better ensure earlier detection and medical intervention. [Credit: Science Foundation Ireland]
Science Books: Interview with Richard Kirwan, former director of the Ordnance Survey about his book 'If Maps Could Speak'.
The Question Is?: Can scientists develop pro-biotic...
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December 17, 2010 • 26 mins
Ireland's Maths Problem; Shape-shifting implants; Mobile defibrillator
IMAGE: A smartphone, such as this iphone, could be converted into a mobile defibrillator, according to Belvedere College science students [Credit: Gizmodo]
What's it all about?
Electroactive Polymers, or EAPs, are materials that change shape in response to electricity. These have potential for use as futuristic medical devices, for use, for example,...
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November 26, 2010 • 29 mins
Quantum Computers, Wave Energy off Ireland, Innovation Academy
IMAGE: The wave energy that resides off the coastline of Ireland could provide 40 per cent of our electricity needs, experts state. [credit: www.ecofriend.org/]
What's it all about?
Experts state that a quantum computer, based on manipulation of atoms, could make today's computers look like a child's abacus. But, how do they work, and when can all expect t...
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