Listen: Why Chinese astronomy was 800 years ahead of the west The world’s first atlas of the stars was produced by Chinese astronomers. This achievement came eight centuries before Europeans managed to produce their own chart, thus underlining the superiority of Chinese medieval astronomy. We discuss how exactly the Chinese astronomers mapped the stars, how [...]
Archive for September, 2011
6 Sep
A cycle helmet with built-in sensors and indicators
Cycling in Dublin city is a dangerous business due to large volumes of traffic, unsafe or totally absent cycle lanes, and an inability of drivers to ready cyclists’ intentions. Rory Hughes, a student at Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, can’t do much about the traffic or cycle lanes, but he has found a way to help drivers [...]
5 Sep
Do antidepressants destroy love, sex and relationships?
LISTEN: Do antidepressants destroy love, sex and relationships? In the region of 240,000 Irish people require daily medication for depression and anxiety. The most common drugs prescribed are the SSRIs, which include Prozac, Lustral and Seroxat. Shockingly, as many as 75 per cent of those taking SSRIs report dampened or lost sex drive, as well as [...]
5 Sep
A (GREENHOUSE) GAS MAN: John Tyndall
The first researcher to identify the ‘greenhouse effect’, to explain why the sky is blue, and to develop optically pure air – the foreruner of today’s cleanroom technology, which is used in the manufacture of high-tech electronic devices. These are just some of the many reasons why John Tyndall, from Leighlinbridge Co Carlow was certainly [...]
