Spending the weekend on lake Pokegama (Po- Keg-Ama, not Pokey-Gamma) in Grand Rapids gave a nice opportunity to get some really dark skies for astronomy and astrophotography. The first evening was overcast until well past my bed-time. The second evening was pretty special. Around 10pm, the milky way was glowing overhead, the constellations were hard …
Category Archives: science
Science Showoff
A month or two back, looking to publiscise the work I do, I got talking to the university PR people. It was suggested I email Steve Cross at Science Showoff and do a 9 minute stand-up science/comedy set for them. I was skeptical to say the least; but noting ventured, nothing gained. I prepared a …
QMUL Canalside
Some recent photographs from the Regent’s Canal as it passes though the QMUL campus. There were several of these grasshoppers chirping away, trying to find a mate. They were very approachable, not vanishing just as the shutter clicks. Common species, both male and female have short front wings and no hind wings.
Too Hardcore
I caught this Rosemary Beetle early today with the intention of CT scanning it for #CTguess & #xraystuffinmylab on Twitter, also because I’m genuinely interested in these beetles. Consulting the literature, it seemed that nitrogen asphixiation & several hours in a freezer should painlessly euthanise the beetle, leaving it in good condition for scanning. This …
Weather
I’ve been playing around with a homebrew weather station again, I dusted off the code I’d had running on a spare Raspberry Pi and added a few features to it. It’s now logging temperature, humidity and air pressure. I plan to add some more external sensors as soon as the parts arrive from eBay. The …