Happy New Year! | 2015 Review

Welcome back to my blog! I hope you all had a great Christmas and an  amazing new year!

So much in science happened last year. Until last year, Pluto was a place we knew pretty much nothing about but in 2015, we finally made it to Pluto, the images came back and the results where simply stunning. Scientists formulated a computer generated face of our past - shaking up the history of our origin. There was also a record breaking effort to travel around the world in a solar plane -  a journey however which was not difficulty free. Scientists also put in place some radical plans to protect endangered animals and to put poachers off of them. This involved things like marking shells of tortoises so they'd no longer be sell-able by poachers. Paris also held a major climate summit to formulate a deal to finally attempt to combat the growing issue of global warming. Finally, in December the UK had its first official British Astronaut, Major Tim Peake, who took off from Kazakhstan to spend 5 1/2 months on board the ISS. This event brought to a close a momentous year in science, although one which can hopefully be bettered this year!

Science this year...

We're virtually four months through the year and a lot has happened, so here is your four month round up of all the latest, and ever continuing developments in the world of science. 

Scientists have begun to start communication once more with the Philae lander on the Rosetta Comet. Last year scientists achieved the impossible as they managed to land Philae on the moving Rosetta comet. Unfortunately late last year the lander lost power but scientists are now hoping the lander will receive enough sunlight to recharge the batteries using the solar panels on the lander. 

Scientists have also commenced the #missiontohell, sending a probe inside the orbit of mercury, venturing well beyond what we've ever done before, all through enormously high temperatures! 

Lunar Mission One have also issued a status update on the 10 year long mission to the moon to study the full depth of the moon's surface. 

And only today in fact the king who changed the potential status of the whole monarchy was reburied. He gave us an incredible insight to the genes of the royals and they traced his genes though many generations to find a living descendent so they could in fact confirm this was Richard III. There were also surprising revelations over the King himself, that he did in fact have scoliosis, (curvature of the spine) 

Also today there has been revelations that the co-pilot of the crashed German wings plane wanted the plane to descend. This poses millions of questions as to why this actually happened, even should that kind of control go to the pilots? 

As we begin to look towards the second half of the year, British astronaut Tim Peake enters the final stages of his training to become an astronaut on the ISS for 6 months, doubtless following in the footsteps of Chris Hadfield. 

Whatever you think about science, this year, in its relatively early stages has brought up a whole load more developments and will continue to do so throughout the rest of 2015.

to be continued...  

Science through the eyes of a 16 year old

I went to the Big Bang Fair Eastern, presenting my project - communicating the science of space and space travel. Although I didn't win anything, I came back to the amazing news that my eBook that I'd made free for the day had reached the top 100 in free science books. By the end of the night my eBook reached number 3 on free science books!

I absolutely love science communication - but many teenagers are put off by what they're taught in science lessons. I reckon this is partly due to the fact revision for the GCSE's always seems to become learning huge lists of bullet point information. To a lot of teenagers - they often don't know or understand the point of what they learn.

So what can be done?? In my opinion it's about getting teenagers and school aged children to see beyond the classroom which what I've tried to address with my eBook, Science Bites. I've covered many topics that you do in school up until GCSE level - I've then adapted them to make it fun for people of all ages to read, you can download my eBook here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Bites-Short-Tour-Universe-ebook/dp/B00LHOXRO4. 

Follow the rest of my #SummerofScience and me on Twitter @Sci_Sparks. Don’t forget to download my charity eBook, Science Bites: A Short Tour of the Universe HERE.