Science Spin - September - October 2014

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From Tablet to Tablet
Five and a half thousand years ago a Sumerian scribe used a clay tablet to record the allocation of beer, and now we are back to using code on tablets. At a museum for computers and communications based in Galway we learn that everything we have now has a connection to the past.

Rocky attractions
A major cross-border initiative is highlighting the geological wonders of the Mournes and Slieve Gullion. After many troublesome years visitors are being welcomed back into an area of outstanding beauty shaped by a geologically violent past.

Well bred potatoes
Four centuries after they were introduced to Europe, potatoes have become one of the world’s leading crops. However, lack of genetic diversity meant that they had little resistance to disease, but new breeds, developed by Teagasc are overcoming these problems.

Quantum biology
Why are biological systems so efficient? Many of the processes that enable us to live cannot be explained satisfactorily by stick and ball chemistry. Migration in birds is hard to explain, and why does photosynthesis work so well. Quantum mechanics provide some of the answers.

Chalk
Ireland’s most recognisable rock, yet, as Paddy Gaffikin explains, with the exception of a small exposure in Kerry, it only appears in the north east corner of Ireland. Formed in shallow seas by calcareous algae, so small that they can only be seen with the aid of a microscope.

Weird and wonderful
Sive Finlay introduces us to a colourful Australian dancer. The tiny peacock spider males have an irridescent tail flap which they wave while dancing to attract the female.