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!).

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Quick note on workshop availability

If you tried to sign up for the R workshop or the Christmas origami workshops in the last couple of days and either were unable to, or didn’t receive a confirmation email from Julie, please try again! We had a technical hiccup and the “bookable” forms stopped working and mistakenly marked the events as full ; you need to go to the blog posts directly and use the form there to sign up. Very sorry about this — we hope to see you soon at our events!

PS: There is only 1 space left for the R workshop, don’t wait too long!

[Editors note: Although handled by a different person, same goes for the Electronics Workshop this Saturday. Last I heard there are only a couple of spaces left.]

Workshop: A Taste of R

Tog will be hosting a “Taste of R” workshop on November 24th, taught by Kevin O’Brien (Dublin-R). R is a programming language used for statistics.

This workshop is targeted at complete beginners. Students should be reasonably familiar with computers and have knowledge of loops. The statistical content will be kept as straightforward as possible.

When? Thursday, November 24th, from 7.30pm till around 9.30pm
Cost: €5 for non-members, free for members

Please use the form below the cut to sign up. If you tried to sign up previously and didn’t receive a confirmation, you need to do it again! Apologies for the confusion.

Updated to add: we’re full! You can still sign up to be added to the waiting list.

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A Hackerspace Book Club?

Yep! I don’t know about you, but I find myself reading endless piles of how-to books, technical journals, blog posts, and forums. While a lot of fun, I feel I’d do well to remember to dream from time to time. Afterall, how many objects first appeared in sci-fi books, films, or tv shows that have since become a reality? And have you heard of the role some of the cyberpunk novels played at the beginning of the hacker(space) movements? That makes them darn near cultural! And then there are those of us that just want to do something for fun, with no pressure, just because.

So here’s the plan. Last Friday of every month we meet in TOG, chat about the book, and pick a new one. If you can’t make it, or want to talk about the book in the in-between then stop by our boards forum. It’s free for anyone to join (so long as you haven’t been previously banned) and all posts are publicly accessible, even by those who choose not to sign up. It’s not mandatory, just a handy repository of information.

What kind of books will we be reading? Primarily; fiction. Otherwise, some classic sci-fi and cyberpunk books with a maker/hacker ethos, or that look at consequences of new tech. The idea is the members will suggest books, and whichever suggestion is most popular will be the one we will all read. You will be responsible for getting your own texts, and we won’t be asking how. But I will strongly suggest you visit your local library, or local (possibly second-hand) bookshops. It also doesn’t have to be printed, if you can find an audio-book version you are also most welcome to join in the fun!

But the first couple of meetings do present a couple of problems. The first meeting will be Friday, 25th November, from 7pm. We don’t have a lot of time to get much reading done, so I’m going to pick the shortest book on my list of suggestions. That is “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick, the book that inspired the ‘BladeRunner’ film. Then, we aren’t going to be meeting the end of December, so instead I propose a two-month reading block, and will suggest the longest book on the list, “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson.

So, to summerise. The book for this month is “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. We will meet Friday, 25th November, from 7pm in TOG to chat about it, and pick another book. At the moment I’m suggesting “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson, but it will be up the attendees to decide. The next meet-up then will be Friday, 27th January, from 7pm in TOG. And if you can’t make any of the meet-ups, you can catch up on choices/discussions here.