In the early hours of Sunday 31 October the clocks go back an hour throughout most of Europe and daylight saving time (DST) comes to an end. In this post I'll talk about the practice of putting the clocks backwards and forwards and why this may be coming to an end The beginning of DST… Continue reading Daylight Saving Time ends
In 2019, the year before the restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic, the world energy consumption was slightly higher at around 170 000 TWh. In this post I will talk about some of the science behind this amazing fact and discuss the challenge of getting solar energy from where it is plentiful to where it is… Continue reading Opportunities for solar energy
This year, the June solstice will fall on 21 June. In the northern hemisphere, it is the day when there is the most daylight and when the Sun is at its highest in the midday sky. The origin of the word solstice is from two Latin words: sol, which means Sun, and sistere, to stand still. On the… Continue reading June 21 2021 – the solstice
Many people know that Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor (The Little Bear), is also known as the pole star. Indeed, the name Polaris itself was invented in the sixteenth century and is derived from the Latin stella polaris -pole star. The location of Polaris - Image credit Wikimedia Commons Polaris is… Continue reading The changing pole star
As mentioned in my previous post, in the early hours of Sunday 27 October the clocks go back an hour throughout the European Union and daylight saving time comes to an end. Although many Europeans will welcome the extra hour in bed on the night of 26/27 October, I suspect that a lot of people… Continue reading Daylight Saving Time
Explaining Science 