Having retired from my final job as a Senior Committee Clerk from Orkney Islands Council, and subsequently done a three-year graduate course at Orkney College UHI, I spotted a report in a students’ newsletter, urging students to see the work being done in Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan. Founded in 1972, Barefoot College teaches practical knowledge [...]
Jane Goodall’s lecture in St Magnus Cathedral is now online. The lecture, given in the 2012 Orkney International Science Festival, was the Grimond Lecture, which annually highlights issues of global and local significance. The title of the talk was Reasons for Hope – reasons why despite the starkness of the challenges faced by humanity, Jane [...]
Night skies above us and the latest developments in space science are the subject of forthcoming schools and community presentations in Orkney. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh are joining... Read more →
Among her many community activities in North Ronaldsay, Kathleen Scott coordinated events each year for Orkney International Science Festival and the British Science Association – talks, workshops, night sky photography... Read more →
Three men are recognised as the pioneers of the LIGO system for detecting gravitational waves, one of the greatest physics discoveries of all time. And it turns out that one... Read more →
A new book on the sinking of HMS Hampshire a hundred years ago has been published. Julie Anya Guthrie welcomes it and reflects on the story of Lord Kitchener and... Read more →
The window of a former Orkney clothing shop is back in action with costumes this week. Aislin, Nyx, Nehalennia and Calypso were specially created for the Year of Innovation, Architecture... Read more →
Let’s go to the stars! Human interstellar flight is a problem with significant challenges. The possible approaches to an interstellar journey range from “slow” travel, at 1% of the speed... Read more →
When location, time and imagination come together, unique accomplishments are possible and this has certainly proven to be the case for Arbikie Highland Estate, a 2000-acre farm on the Angus... Read more →
Like a Nordic port of old, the Faroese capital of Torshavn smells evocatively of salt and tar. As we disembark the ferry, the harbour waters lap beneath the modest parliament... Read more →
You’ll know it when you see it, with its delicate mauve petals and yellow centre, its short stalk rising from the little rosette of green leaves. It’s a little distance... Read more →
Generating electricity from kites is a developing technology. Hands up if you visited the original 3MW wind turbine on Burger Hill, Orkney in the 1990s. In its day it was... Read more →
Through the 20th century the only commercial fishery in Graemsay was lobster, along with the occasional halibut or skate. In the main, whitefish and partan (edible crab) were for the... Read more →
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