On Friday March 5 BCO will launch a new interactive exhibit at Cosmos at the Castle, the award-winning interactive astronomy exhibit at Blackrock Castle.

The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Giga Galaxy Zoom project reveals the full sky as it appears with the unaided eye from one of the darkest deserts on Earth, then zooms in on a rich region of the Milky Way using a hobby telescope, and finally uses the power of a professional telescope to reveal the details of an iconic nebula.

The project thus connects the sky as seen by the unaided eye with that seen by hobby and professional astronomers.

“First Fridays at the Castle” is a free event held in association with Cork Astronomy Club. It  features lectures by visiting scholars, guided stargazing in Blackrock Castle’s courtyard and workshop activities for children.

The next First Friday at the Castle event will run from 6-10pm on 5 March. The theme for March is Space Robotics and at 8pm Donagh O’Mahony from the Tyndall Institute will give an overview of the challenges presented by space exploration and a summary of Ireland’s role in technology development for space.

In the online competition, you can play at home or at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic.

Each game lasts 60 seconds and you can play up to 500 games, earning points for each correct answer. Students who answer the most questions appear in the Hall of Fame.

This year for the first time there will be multi-levels for all age groups. While World Maths Day has been created especially for students aged 5-18 years, this year teachers, parents and media are invited to participate for the first time.

Last year almost two million students from 204 countries correctly answered 452,681,681 questions.

The organisers say that past results show students make significant improvements in their mental arithmetic skills – and have fun along the way.

Tutpup

Another free online maths competition is Tutpup. It aims to provide simple, fun, competitive games that help children learn and gain confidence with Maths, English and other key skills and knowledge.

Its fun games include “Maths 101″ (add, subtract, multiply or divide numbers in a race against the clock), “Maths Mix”, “Algebra”, “Spelling” and “Times Tables”.

Learn more

Take part today on the World Maths Day website

Visit the Tutpup website

This one-day exhibition by the PhD students of TrinityHaus will look at the carbon and ecological footprints of different people in Dublin.  It examines 10 different personas to identify how different members of a community interact with their environment.

TrinityHaus is a new venture at TCD that crosses traditional boundaries in engineering, sciences and the arts.

It is a catalyst for change and innovation by carrying our high quality industrially relevant research that underpins innovation in the energy demand management for low carbon living, people-centred design and sustainable construction.

Find out more at the TrinityHaus website

The events throughout the week aim to inform students, young professionals and SMEs about the importance of ICT skills in today’s society, and the wide range of opportunities that ICT-related jobs present. The campaign also aims to increase ICT skills among professionals and encourage more young people to take up ICT studies and careers.

Current plans for EU e-Skills week 2010 in Ireland include:

• 1 March – “Smart Futures” launch event in Dublin in conjunction with ICT Ireland and Engineers Ireland
• 1 March – launch event in Belfast
• 5 March – e-Skills for Lifelong Learning Event, including discussions on “Smart Teachers – Smart Learners” and “e-Skills for SMEs” plus case studies, European Union House, 18 Dawson Street, Dublin
• A schools competition with prizes

Keynote speakers for the “Smart Futures” seminar on 1 March will include the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan, as well as industry figures who will outline their views on future trends within the sector and the challenges Ireland faces in ensuring a supply of skilled graduates in the future.

Places for this free event are limited. To book, contact Richard Wilson on (01) 665 1308, or email rwilson[at]steps[dot]ie. Email katecannon[at]fit[dot]ie for more details on other events in Ireland during European e-Skills Week.

FIT (Fastrack to IT) is lead partner in Ireland and Northern Ireland for EU e-Skills week, working in conjunction with ICT Ireland and Momentum (the Northern Ireland ICT Federation).

Learn more

See the e-Skills Week website

Organised by ICT Ireland and STEPS to Engineering and supported by Fastrack to IT (FIT), the ‘Smart Futures’ seminar aims to inform potential industry volunteers of the importance of the technology sector’s contribution to the economy and its role in ensuring that Ireland develops as a true “Smart Economy”.

This seminar will explore the types of new and exciting opportunities emerging in the sector and emphasise that the supply of highly skilled ICT graduates is critical if Ireland is to continue to be a location of excellence for the technology industry.

Key note speakers for the seminar will include Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Conor Lenihan T.D. and top industry leaders who will outline their views on the future trends within the sector, and the challenges Ireland faces in ensuring a supply of skilled graduates to fill the technology roles of the future.

Participation in this event will equip potential ‘Champions’ with the knowledge and
materials necessary to become part of this important initiative.

Places for this event are limited. For further information and to book, please contact Richard Wilson on 01-6651308, or email rwilson[at]steps[dot]ie.

This event will take place at Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 5:00pm – 7.30pm.

The DCU Summer Scholars taster day will take place in the DCU Business School on Saturday 27 February from 2pm to 4:30pm. All are welcome.

Learn more

Read more about the summer school in our news section

For more details email summerscholars[at]dcu[dot]ie or check out the DCU site

The warm climates that predominated in Earth’s deep past provide some of the closest analogues for ongoing climate change. Simulating these climates using the same climate models employed to predict future climate change is an invaluable way of stress testing the models and checking their reliability. Dr Rodrigo Caballero, of the Meteorology and Climate Centre in UCD, will summarise current knowledge on this topic and discuss its implications.