Irish mammal species are few in number compared to the mainland European total or even the British total. So you'd think that we'd know their breed, seed and generation or at least how many of them we have and their distribution around the country. So imagine the amazement of the two post graduate students from UCC and Queen's University who were conducting run of the mill examinations of barn owl pellets last autumn, when they discovered undigested skulls which didn't match any small mammal known to exist in Ireland. And not just in one or two, these skulls were in the undigested pellets of barn owls and indeed kestrels too from 15 different locations in Tipperary and Limerick.
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The satellite image below shows a large aquamarine-coloured phytoplankton bloom stretching across the west coast of Ireland. Plankton, the most abundant type of life found in the ocean, are microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the surface of the sea. Just like plants on land they employ green-pigmented chlorophyll for photosynthesis — the process of turning sunlight into chemical energy. While individually microscopic, plankton chlorophyll collectively tints the surrounding ocean waters, providing a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated 'ocean colour' sensors onboard satellites.

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A member of the swallow family, the Sand Martin is a widespread summer visitor throughout Ireland.  Like the Swallow and the House Martin, the two other members of its family that breed in Ireland, it spends the northern winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but it nests in a very different location to either of these species: narrow horizontal tunnels which they excavate in sandbanks in coastal areas, at quarries and especially, as the species' scientific name suggests, along riverbanks.

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Six species of Sorbus are native to Ireland; five of these are whitebeams, and the sixth is rowan (see January 2008 issue of Village magazine). Whitebeam is a small tree which is now quite rare in the wild. Many whitebeam species from Asia and Europe have been planted in towns and parks and along our roadsides. 

 

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Following a litany of scandals from overcharging to stolen laptops, Irish Banks recently invested €100m in a security system that fraudsters can easily breach. In March, the Dundrum Shopping Centre was targeted in a spate of ‘skimming' – a form of theft where criminals clone bank cards, capture PIN numbers and empty bank accounts. Add a comment

Forget the iPhone (until an upgraded 3G model is released), Nokia's N95 is streets ahead of its mobile competitors in the overall package it offers: FM radio, MP3 player, bluetooth (to connect with wireless headsets and other devices), 3G (the fastest mobile internet connection), Wifi, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB storage, Skype, GPS navigation and Tri/Quadband (meaning it's compatible with mobile networks overseas). The latest N95 has a large iPhone–like screen and a similar user interface, but without the iPhone's touch-screen feature. Bill Pay Cost: €169 - €229 with Vodafone (depending on package), €179-€239 with O2, €299 with Meteor. Pre pay cost: €549 with Vodafone, or get it on eBay for approximately $500.
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Apart from setting a €50 note alight, one of the easiest ways to burn money these days is to buy gadgets and other electronics over the counter, particularly with the dollar and sterling taking such a hammering. There are plenty of US and UK based online vendors who will undercut retail prices in Ireland, particularly high-street shops whose mark-up pays the rent.

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Researchers in Glasgow University have made a radical development that could significantly increase the amount of data that can be stored in computers, iPods, USB keys and other storage devices. The researchers have reduced the size of a computer switch to the molecular level, five times smaller than existing computer switches, which could increase storage capacity by 150,000 times. This enable 500,000 gigabytes of disc space to be squeezed into a microchip about the size of a €2 coin. Millions of music tracks, videos and other data could be stored on tiny devices.

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