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 of them has Orkney ancestry – as Patricia Long reports. 1.3 billion years ago, two black holes spiralled into each other at almost two-thirds of [...]
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 of light or less, where journeys will require hundreds or thousands of years, or “fast” travel, at 10% of lightspeed or higher speed, where journey [...]
When the “yellow lights” first arrived in Kirkwall more than 40 years ago they began in Palace Road, King Street and School Place, and gradually spread all over town. Children were fascinated not only with how much light they provided, but also how they changed the colour of clothing and skin. They were a novelty. [...]
How did a controversial subject like parapsychology come to find a home in Edinburgh University? The story begins rather darkly, with the death of the terminally ill writer Arthur Koestler and his healthy wife Cynthia in a suicide pact in 1983. Koestler had a lifelong interest in dualism and the paranormal, and had written books [...]
The first Orkney resident to cross the Pentland Firth by air was The Orcadian’s young reporter, 18-year-old Agnes Shearer, who would later become the writer Ann Scott-Moncrieff – and in a short life produce acclaimed work that included stories of adventure for children and those of every age with a feeling of the open road [...]
Scotland is at the forefront of research and technological development in the field of wave and tidal energy and is home to leading companies such as Pelamis and Aquamarine. These companies are producing a whole new generation of wave and current devices which are starting to feed energy into the grid. Scale model tests on [...]
The art of geometry Metals play an important role in the development of drugs and medicines for the future, and when we combine particular metals with organic molecules to form a drug it’s known as a metallodrug. Particular metals have extremely important roles in human physiology, so by finding out all we can about the [...]
Eggs break and we cannot repair them, cups smash into pieces, and the dominant force in the world is the breakdown of any order, leading to the growth of entropy as described in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. That seemed to be part of the bedrock of physics, but now it is being challenged by [...]
In February 1999 Mr John Sibley was killed when his small pleasure boat overturned off the coast off the Suffolk Coast of England. He was a non-swimmer gone for a day’s sea fishing with a friend in calm seas. Yet his friend recalls a freak, solitary 10-foot wave. Why? This was no tsunami. There was [...]
Sea-squirts and Mushrooms Vanadium was named after Vanadis, the Norse goddess of beauty, due to its tendency to form compounds and solutions with a wide variety of colours. Vanadium is as abundant as zinc in the earth’s crust (0.015%), and is highly resistant to corrosion and very hard. Small quantities of vanadium add strength to [...]
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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