Dara Ó Briain at the launch of Dublin City of Science 2012. Image: Dublin City of Science

While Dara Ó Briain is best known for his humorous contributions to shows like The Panel, QI and Have I Got News For You, he also co-hosts Stargazing Live on BBC Two with Professor Brian Cox.

Dara’s love of the stars was sparked in his teens when he was asked to bring out the rubbish one night and he spotted the constellation, The Plough.

He is a passionate advocate for science and studied physics and mathematics at University College Dublin, so we thought we’d post up some of his most memorable quotes on the subject.

On science

“The intellectual thing is hugely overstated. I get an unseemly amount of credit on shows like QI for the fact that, at the age of 22, I was very good at mathematics. It’s the equivalent of someone carrying a photograph in their wallet of this gorgeous woman and saying, ‘That’s my college girlfriend.’ You can’t trade on it that long.”

“Evidence isn’t much to ask for, is it? Aren’t we all getting tired of ‘well, I know a woman and she had a terrible headache, and then she rubbed a cat on her head, do you know, two days later her headache was gone!’ Evidence kills this nonsense. Evidence scares away the charlatans, and protects the unsuspecting: basically, evidence kills fairy tales, and aren’t we all a little old for fairy tales?”

On physics and astronomy

“ ‘Well science doesn’t know everything…’ Well, science knows it doesn’t know everything. Otherwise it would stop.”

“‘Physics rocks’ is a really naff, geeky, nerdy title. Physics doesn’t rock. It doesn’t have to rock. Physics underpins the very nature of the universe and our understanding of where we are – tiny little bits of flotsam floating in a much bigger picture – and physics is cool.”

“Physics allows us to write with a piece of chalk on a blackboard the very structure of the universe and the shape of it. I mean… What’s not to love?”

“Astronomy sparks the imagination. One of the great universal sources of wonder is just to tilt your head back and gawp at this incredible show unfolding above you.”

On IT and gaming

“I find the whole internet industry very exciting and very interesting, not least the job title. Webmaster is my favourite of all those. Walking around the office going ‘I… am a webmaster! I am master of the web! Feel the power of my firewall!’”

“I genuinely don’t see why this notion persists, that gaming alone in a room is somehow bizarre. Someone made the point that video games are unhealthy. Reading is sitting in a room, and no-one’s saying that about reading. I’m not slamming reading, by the way. But a lot of good things happen in a room. Why video gaming gets a bad rap, I have no idea.”

“I love video games. I enjoy saying that because, as I said, half the room are looking at me, going, ‘Ah jaysus, you’re 38.’ Right? Isn’t that a bit stupid, right? You’re not supposed to like video games, right? It’s the largest entertainment industry in the world, and we’re supposed to not enjoy it, right? This is one of the weirdest things for me. I am a gamer and I’m very proud to be a gamer.”

“I love video games for this reason over all other art forms. They do a thing which no other art form does, right? You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album. But you can be bad at playing a video game and the video game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the video game. No other art form does this. You’ve never read a book and three chapters in, the book has gone, ‘What are the major themes of the book so far?’ You’ve never been listening to an album and after three songs the album has gone, ‘Dance for me. Show me how good your dancing is.’ ”

In this video, Dara takes a humorous look at our fear of exposure to bacteria (please note, the bacteria bit is at the start – after that, it’s about ASBOs and hoodies).

Up to 25 primary schools in each county will participate in the campaign during which time students are asked to record their sightings of swallows and frogspawn as well as 10 other optional species. Students are also invited to measure temperature, wind and rainfall.

To find out more about this project, visit Greenwave.ie.

There are three age categories:

• 13-14
• 15-16
• 17-18

The submissions will be evaluated by a panel of 15 judges which includes: Steve Myers, the Director for Accelerators and Technology at CERN; Mariette di Christina, the Editor-in-chief of Scientific American; Vint Cerf, the Vice President of Google; and Shree Bose, who was the Grand Prize Winner in 2011 for her project on cancer treatment.

Some of the prizes include a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic Expeditions, $25,000 and $50,000 educational scholarships, a choice of internships at CERN, Lego or Google, digital subscriptions to Scientific American, Chromebooks, Android smartphones and much more.

The deadline for submissions is 1 April, 2012. Find out more at Google’s Science Fair website.

The research found that localisation contributes more than half a billion euro to our economy and employs several thousand people.

There’s more to it than just language and translation – it’s about the design and development of major software programs. The Microsoft Office suite was localised for 300 million people by just 180 Microsoft staff in Dublin.

There are careers in localisation for all sorts, from project managers to linguists and software engineers. Read more about the report on MyScienceCareer.ie

They talk about what they did in school and in college and what life as a scientist is like. Their work in biology, marine research, physics and mathematics has brought them around the world and given them great experiences and opportunities.

Dee Lawlor – biologist:

“Personally, I love the challenge of studying and research and I get really bored without it. Getting to play with cool science toys is great – everything is more interesting under a microscope! The best part for me is when I discover something new.”

Teresa Martin – marine researcher:

“As part of my job, I get paid to do underwater research whether it be specimen collections or underwater photography and what better reason to do my favorite sport – scuba diving!”

Eoin Ó Colgáin – physicist:

“In the last year alone, I have been to Seoul, Mumbai, Barcelona, New York, Dublin and Oviedo, Spain where I now based.”

Tom Barry – businessman and mathematician:

“Choosing to do a maths degree was, for me, natural as it was the thing I was most interested in. But it has turned out great. At age 22, I was a maths lecturer in Trinity College, giving lectures to IT night degree students.”

To learn more about these Science Ambassadors, visit MyScienceCareer.ie

L-R: Donnacha Carroll, Sharon Boland, Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick, Eoin Delaney and Jordan Nash

Four Offaly students have been selected to be the county’s STEM Ambassadors and have received scholarships from the county board.

The scholarship programme was established by the Offaly County Development Board to encourage more secondary school students to get involved in science and to pursue courses and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The four ambassadors are:

• Jordan Nash, Coláiste na Sionna
• Sharon Boland, Coláiste Íosagáin, Portarlington
• Eoin Delaney, Tullamore College
• and Donnacha Carroll, St Brendan’s Community College, Birr.

They have since moved on to science courses at universities and ITs around the country.

Sharon Boland is now studying physiotherapy in UCD, Donnacha Carroll is taking medicinal chemistry in Trinity, Eoin Delaney is doing engineering in UCD and Jordan Nash is studying mechanical engineering in GMIT.

They’ve developed a smartphone-optimised website that gives you access to the most recent images of the Sun from cutting-edge solar observatories such as the NASA’s SOHO and STEREO satellites.

Following activity on the Sun enables you to determine when cosmic effects such as the aurora borealis, which is caused by solar wind, are likely to be visible in our skies.

Visit www.solarmonitor.org to see the latest images of the Sun.

2. Meet the overall winners of the 2012 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly from Synge Street CBS, Dublin.  The video also features interviews with Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn, the CEO of BT Ireland, Colm O’Neill and the Irish Times Science Editor, Dick Ahlstrom.

3. Watch highlights of some of the projects that were entered into this year’s Young Scientist Exhibition. Students explain their concepts while Brian O’Driscoll, Dan Rooney, and Richard Bruton talk about the importance of the event.

Visit the  BT Young Scientist and Technology website to find out more

The research will be carried out as part of the INFOMAR programme (Integrated Mapping For the Sustainable Development of Ireland’s Marine Resource). The INFOMAR project will cover 125,000 km² of Irish shores to chart the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the seabed.

Find out more on the INFOMAR website.

SAILS (Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science) works collaboratively with 13 partner organisations and universities from 12 EU countries in training teachers to impart the skills of analytical and critical thinking in students.

The project aims to stimulate interest in students in science subjects at second level and to promote the uptake of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at third level, so that Ireland continues to produce highly skilled graduates. It will also focus on problem-solving and workplace skills.

Minister Quinn said: “It is great to see Irish researchers now leading an international consortium of this size. This highlights the advances we have made in our research capabilities.”

Speaking at the initiative’s  launch at Dublin City University, Brendan Cannon from Intel Ireland highlighted the importance of the scheme.

“The ability of Ireland to be competitive in the future and to create sustained, long-term employment requires us to put in place foundations in education that emphasise 21st-century skills-based learning,” he said.