Science Week 2011

Let do Science \o/. Science Week takes place from the 13th to the 20th of November. There are hundreds of events all over Ireland promoting science. TOG will be doing its part by running two events for Science week. We will be hosting a night of interesting talks and a kid friendly Science Week workshop.

Science Week Talks

Join us on Friday 18th from 6.30pm for a night of eye opening talks. We will have four-short twenty minute talks that will inspire about the world of science. Talks will start at 7.15pm the space will be open from 6.30pm.

 

Talk 1 Life of the Dead Zoo

The Natural History Museum is where we go to see the birds, beasts and bees in all their stuffed and pickled glory. But what goes on behind the scenes?  What is hidden behind the mysterious ‘Staff only’ doors? This talk will unveil some of  the secret life of the Dead Zoo and the use of  Natural History collections for science and art.

This talk will be given by Rose Farrell.

Talk 2 DIY Fire Tricks at Home

Everyone loves to play with fire. Come along to this talk and you might even get to play with some.
We will go through the top 10 things you can do with simple household materials and a few projects we have been working on in TOG.
We will teach you things things you never knew about fire with a very interactive and entertaining discussion.
You might even have some fun.

This talk will be given by Christian Kortenhorst.

Talk 3 Does space weather mean that it rains even in space? Not really, but…

The Sun is an average star – not too big, not too small – but its proximity to our planet makes it to be the most important star in the universe.  We know that without the Sun we would not exist.  However, it can produce some not-desired effects to our everyday life, and this is why the study of space weather is important for our actual society. This talk will show what we know about the Sun, what space weather is, and how you can help scientists for a better understanding of the Sun.

This talk will be given by Dr. David Perez-Suarez

 Talk 4 Molecular Gastronomy

Every time you step into the kitchen to make food, you’re doing a chemistry experiment.  Whisking air into a foam, applying heat to a steak, mixing cake batter in a particular fashion, there’s a scientific reason for how these things work or can be improved.  With a little understanding of the science behind food, cooking can only get better (and more interesting!).

This talk will be given by Triona O’Connell.

Squishy Circuits Workshop

Snail with LEDs made of conductive doughThere is no better way to get into science than just putting your hands right in, and with squishy circuits you can do just that.

Squishy circuits are a great way to demonstrate electrical circuits to kids (and adults!).  It consists of a conductive dough and an insulating dough that are used in the building of circuits, along with batteries and more usual electrical components like motors and LEDs.

During the workshop, we will see some useful demos you can use to teach with the dough, and have some hands-on fun building circuits. There’ll be demonstrations of how you can use the dough to investigate resistance in a circuit.

And the fun part, building sculptures that incorporate electrics, or building giant squishy circuit boards.  You can bring your imagination and build whatever you fancy.  Tríona will be on hand to offer help or suggestions as needed.

This workshop is free to attend although registration is required, as space is limited. It will last about 1 hour, starting at 3:00pm on Saturday 19th November. You can use the form below to register.

What to bring? Bring a 9V battery. Optionally, if you’re already familiar with Arduinos you can bring your own (this is optional and there’ll be plenty to do without one!).

Continue reading “Science Week 2011”

Hackerspaces and the Formal Education System

Most of us at one time or another have been in the formal education system. Do we have a good experience ? Could it be better ? Can hackerspaces solve the problems?

The Dublin Google Technology User Group(GTUG) will be hosting a panel discussion on this very topic. The panel will be made up of members of our hackerspace ,  educators and employers.  It is set to be a lively thought provoking discussion.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 26th of July.

Time: 6.30 pm

Location: Google HQ, Barrow St., D4

Sign Up: Here

Cost: Free!!

Continue reading “Hackerspaces and the Formal Education System”

Open Source : A philosophy for Life talk & Open Social Night

On Saturday 6th of November, we are delighted to have John Looney from Google give a passionate talk about Open Source : A philosophy for Life. This talk also coincides with our normal lively Open Social nights. These nights are a great chance to come and meet the members of TOG and have a bit of fun. BYOB. The night kicks off at 7pm. All welcome.

John Looney
After many years working in Google, John Looney realised that there were strong correlations between the way Google works internally, and the way the Open Source community works. It’s allow Google to stay reasonably flexible, despite growing it’s engineering teams past 10,000. In this talk, John examines various aspects of Open Source culture and how they can be mapped to a large organisation. This talk would be interesting to anyone who is curious how open source has managed to deliver such a stunning array of impactful projects and how large organisations can function efficiently. There will also be some discussion on how such culture that is certainly not unique to Google Engineering.

Science and Innovation

The upcoming Science Week and Innovation Dublin Festival represent a fantastic opportunity and an interesting challenge for TOG. With the week and festival running from the 7th-14th November and 10th-21st November respectively. We have an opportunity to run over two weeks of events. The challenge is what to fill the two weeks with.

So we’re looking for your suggestions and ideas for events, activities and projects. Think big!

Our space offers a lot of scope with a class room, large common room, workshop, kitchen and other workrooms. We’ve got equipment like hand/power tools, a CNC router, 3D printer, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzer, sewing machines, science, computer and networking hardware, etc. The ability and time to get materials or extra equipment. Add working on activities over multiple days and the skills of TOG members and the wider public. I think we can come up with something interesting.

Post your suggestions as a comment below.