The mole in question is not the furry underground creature that leaves behind mounds of earth, but a unit used in chemistry. On Mole Day, science teachers and students around the world celebrate Avogadro’s Number.

One mole of any substance contains Avogadro’s Number of atoms or molecules of that substance.

The number is 6.02 x 10²³, which is is why Mole Day is celebrated each year from 6.02 am to 6.02 pm on 23 October (as Mole Day falls on a Sunday this year, it will be celebrated on Friday 21 October).

Mole Day aims encourage interest in chemistry, and each year schools around the world celebrate it with some tongue-in-cheek activities related to chemistry and moles. Last year’s annual theme was “Moles of the Caribbean”, and this year it’s “Moles of the Round Table”.

How to take part

The Mole Day competition is being run for Irish secondary schools by Cork Institute of Technology’s Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry.

To enter, simply show how your school celebrated Mole Day by entering your poster, flag or animation on the Mole Day theme. Besides the laptop prize for the winning school, there is an iPad prize for the best individual student entry. Check out CIT’s website for full details of how to enter.

Mole Day celebration ideas

Here are some ideas on how to celebrate Mole Day in your school:

• Toast the mole with 18g of water
• Run your own Molympics (with any mole-related sport)
• Have a Mole Day pun or joke competition (“Why was there only one Avogadro? When they made him, they broke the moled.” “How much did Avogadro exaggerate? He made mountains out of molehills.”)

Learn more

Check out the winning entries from last year’s competition on Facebook.

Find out about the Avogadro Constant on Wikipedia.

Visit Moleday.org for more ideas to help you celebrate this unusual day.

Volunteers at Sea2Sky: NUI Galway students Caroline Hoade from Oranmore, Co Galway, and Oisín Robbins from Clara, Co Offaly

European Researchers Night takes place on 23 September in 800 venues across 320 cities, showcasing science on a grand scale.

The Irish event, Sea2Sky, takes place in Salthill, Galway. Sea2Sky is a free, family-oriented event at which hundreds of scientists will showcase their work in the fields of Marine, Atmospherics and Astronomy.

The event will also feature music and entertainment for younger and older visitors. Sea2Sky is being organised by NUI Galway, in collaboration with the Marine Institute and Galway Atlantaquaria.

Exhibits throughout the day will allow the public to learn more about whales and dolphins, take a 3D tour of the universe, tour the Galway Atlantaquaria, check-out scientific demonstrations, and take part in a variety of other hands-on activities.

Scientists will be on hand in the main exhibition hall in Leisureland where stands will display areas of science from energy research and marine life to the study of the solar system. Visitors will have a chance to explore the mini-sea exploration vehicle which was used by scientists in the recent discovery of hydrovents deep in the Atlantic.

Experiments and demonstrations

Chief organiser, NUI Galway’s Dr Andrew Shearer, says “This is a very unique opportunity for the public to participate in experiments and demonstrations. The jam-packed programme offers something for people of all ages, and gives children and adults alike the chance to be a scientist for one day.”

Doors to the Galway Atlantaquaria will be open throughout the day, allowing visitors to explore Ireland’s largest splash tank and huge Ray Pool.

They will also be able to see the 60 foot long Fin Whale skeleton and get their hands wet in the Touch Pool where experts will help the curious and brave to handle real starfish and crabs. Representatives from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group will also be present to discuss their work.

The walk between the two venues, Leisureland and Galway Atlantaquaria, will see amateur astronomers and their telescopes stationed along Salthill’s famous Promenade affording amazing views of the night sky after dark.

Puppets and storytelling

Local artists will add a theatrical flair during the day as Cups and Crowns Theatre perform ‘Lenny the Water Daughter’, Rab Swannock Fulton will weave tales for young and old with his dramatic storytelling skills, and puppeteer extraordinaire Tommy Baker will put on a show with ‘The Ecological Brothers’.

In the evening adult can participate in a special storytelling session. Also for adults is the opportunity to share their thoughts and learn from experts in the Cafe Scientifique ‘What’s in your Water?’ led by NUI Galway’s Professor Martin Cormican and hosted by renowned broadcaster Leo Enright. After night fall on the beach there will be a dramatic fire show before returning to the main hall for a musical finale to end the event.

The Sea2Sky event is funded under the European Union’s Marie Curie Programme and by Discover Science & Engineering. Sea2Sky is a free family event and will take place in Leisureland and Galway Atlantaquaria, Salthill, from 11am-11pm.

To view the full programme, or for more information, visit www.sea2sky.ie

As Dr Goldacre explains on the site: “I am a very big fan of nerdy day trips, from sea forts to abandoned nuclear bunkers, dead Victorian racecourses, roads that are falling into the ground, narrow gauge railways that take you to a power station, wherever.

“I like decaying infrastructure, terrifying modernity, and enthusiast-run museums with six pages of small-font text explaining every exhibit (looking at you, Bletchley Park).”

Check out the map and submit your own favourite “nerdy” places to visit. The map already has over two dozen Irish locations on the map, and some of these have been added by one of our Science Ambassadors, Eoin Lettice.

These Irish “nerdy day trips” range from the fossils and transatlantic cable at Valentia Island to the Ulster Folk Museum in Hollywood with its new Titanica exhibition.

The call for entries is now open, and primary schools across Ireland are invited to visit the RDS website  to submit an expression of interest to participate in the 2012 Fair.

The annual science fair is open to fourth, fifth and sixth class pupils (Republic of Ireland) and Key Stage 2 (Northern Ireland). It provides an opportunity for students to think about science in practical, fun ways.

Projects are not limited to a specific theme, so schools can choose a topic that interests them and make the most of the chance to learn something new.

The RDS Primary Science Fair is not a competition – the emphasis is to encourage a positive learning experience for each class and to inspire students to see science as exciting, challenging and fun.

Successful schools will be invited to exhibit on one day of the RDS Primary Science Fair, which takes place from 12-14 January 2012 as part of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Entries for the 2012 RDS Primary Science Fair are now open and will close on 5 October  2011. Schools will be notified of their allocation by mid-October to allow plenty of time for classes to work on their projects!

For more information visit the RDS website, telephone 01 240 7990 or email primarysciencefair[at]rds[dot]ie.

Deirdre Kelleghan and her telescope

An interactive drawing workshop for children created by an amateur astronomer from Bray, Co Wicklow, has been recognised for its educational value by one of the world’s most prestigious science publications.

Science Magazine is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It gave the SPORE (Science Prize for Online Resources in Education) to Deirdre Kelleghan and the European Universe Awareness  initiative (UNAWE) for her “Deadly Moons” workshops.

In the workshops, children aged 6-12 learn about our Moon and some of the other exotic moons in our solar system.

The “deadly” bit in the “Deadly Moon” title was inspired by a common phrase used by children in the early astronomy workshops when looking at the Moon through Deirdre’s telescope – in Ireland the word “deadly” is popularly used to mean “totally amazing”.

“When I found that UNAWE were looking for downloadable resources, I was delighted to offer the ‘Deadly Moons’ workshop to them as they could reach more children than I could ever do,” Deirdre explains.

Once “Deadly Moons” was shared on the UNAWE website, it became available globally and has been given by many other astronomy educators around the world.

Some Irish schools have also used Deirdre’s workshops to enhance their applications for Discover Science & Engineering’s Primary Science Award.

Learn more

Check out “Deadly Moons” on the UNAWE website

Visit Deirdre Kelleghan’s website

Read essays in Science Magazine by the current and past SPORE winners

The groups meet simultaneously on the second to last Tuesday of every month at  7pm in Dublin and across the UK (including London, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Reading and Nottingham).

The Dublin meetings take place upstairs in Against the Grain on Wexford Street, and the next meet-up is on Tuesday 23 August.

MathsJam also runs an annual conference, which takes place this year on the weekend of 12-13 November at Wychwood Park near Crewe in England.

The weekly science podcast Scibernia has an interview with the Dublin MathsJam organiser, Andrew Doran Sherlock (the interview starts around 5:40 into the podcast).

For more details of MathsJam events in Dublin and elsewhere, check out the @MathsJam twitter feed or the Dublin MathsJam’s Facebook page. The MathsJam website also gives details of how to set up a MathsJam group in your own town or city.

The 30 engineering, medical and biomedical engineering students are taking part in the third European Society for Engineering and Medicine Summer School at TCD.

The students have been learning how to work together in small groups to design new medical devices for specific medical and clinical problems. They have also been taking courses given by 15 leading professors of biomedical engineering and medicine.

An important sector

The medical devices sector is rapidly growing in Europe, with half a million people empoyed in over 11,000 medical technology companies. Science specialists work in a wide range of fields, from medicine to electronic and materials engineering.

Ireland is also a leading player in the sector, with the highest per capita number of medical technology personnel in Europe. Nine of the top 10 global companies how have a manufacturing base here.

“Current healthcare challenges, such as the ageing of Europe’s population as well as big killers such as cardiovascular disease, require multidisciplinary approaches for diagnosis and treatment,” says the summer school’s organiser, Professor Richard Reilly, Director of the Trinity Centre of Bioengineering at TCD.

An expert group recently identified a strong future demand  for jobs in Ireland’s medical devices industry – particularly for graduates with an understanding of design engineering, good management practices and quality assurance.

Learn more

Visit the websites of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering and the European Society for Engineering and Medicine

The “remote astronomy” project is designed to teach STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths). The online initiative between the two cities is called “Web of Stars”.

Today’s session involved a class of Coláiste Choilm students, to celebrate the Cork school’s winning achievement in the May 2011 Pharmachemical  Ireland Industry Awards for Science Teaching Excellence. The awards are given to schools whose science teachers motivate their students to study science by making  science more current and appealing.

Time differences facilitated the perfect environment for today’s live session with astronomer Conrad Jung, as it was dark in San Francisco while it was bright in Cork. This allowed the students’ work to be carried out at Blackrock Castle Observatory during normal school hours.

Astronomy images

Since October 2009, astronomers at the Chabot Space and Science Center have been observing the night sky in the San Francisco Bay Area for targets chosen by Cork students. The US astronomers deliver the images to the students via a video link at live sessions in the Cork observatory during monthly workshops.

Web of Stars also supports the development of academic links, teaching, learning and research, between the educational institutes in the two cities.

Learn more

Read more about the Web of Stars initiative on the Blackrock Castle Observatory website

The 12 to 14-year-olds took part in competitions that tested their analytical chemistry skills. In the morning they were challenged to a game of “Chemical Cluedo” – working in teams to solve the crime of who murdered Captain Salter by using forensic science techniques such as chromatography, and analysing evidence collected from the crime scene.

In the afternoon they took part in the “University Challenge”: using a number of hands-on, practical activities using Bunsen burners and other lab equipment, the students raced to decipher the exact chemical recipe necessary to produce a range of coloured solutions.

Read more about the Salters’ Festival of Chemistry

A second engineering summer school will take place on 24 June, offering a taste of experiences as wide-ranging as remotely controlling a wastewater treatment plant, building an eco-house and designing a go-kart. The initial session on 23 June is already fully booked.

Limited places are still available for the Computing Summer Camp, which runs from 13 to 17 June. Activities include constructing and controlling robots, and directing a virtual “mini-movie”.

On 27-28 June the Science Experience Summer Event will also offer students two days to delve into a wide range of scientific disciplines, including Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics.

Aimed at students in transition, fifth and sixth year, summer schools at Irish third-level colleges are designed to give prospective students a taste of college life through a wide range of hands-on practical activities.

Places for NUI Galway’s summer schools are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. The last date for receipt of applications is Tuesday, 31 May. Find out more about the summer schools on the NUI Galway website.