Sep 8, 2014Jul 8, 2015 Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

Vision, by Dr. Kieran Ryan of VISICORT

In the fourth of our weekly series of articles by NUI Galway researchers, Dr. Kieran Ryan, VISICORT Project Manager, writes about ‘Vision‘ and VISICORT’s research into improving corneal transplant outcomes by preventing rejection.

Eyes are the organs of vision, detecting light and converting it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. Eyes come in ten different forms, with the simplest types of ‘eyes’, merely eyespots, detecting whether the immediate surroundings are light or dark (photoreception).

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Sep 3, 2014Jul 8, 2015 Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

Our Marine World, by Dr. Louise Allcock

In the third of our weekly series of articles by NUI Galway researchers, Dr. Louise Allcock, Lecturer in Zoology and Ryan Institute Principal Researcher in Functional and Evolutionary Biology, writes about ‘Our Marine World‘ and her work exploring Ireland’s deep sea habitats.

The Real Map of Ireland: Image courtesy Marine Institute

You don’t need me to tell you that Ireland is surrounded by sea. But do you know how deep that sea is?

Close around Ireland, on the continental shelf shown in brown on the map above, it’s not very deep – around 200 metres or so. But at the edge of the shelf, the sea floor gets suddenly deeper, dropping to around 3 km deep in the Rockall Trough, and 5 km deep on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain.

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Aug 29, 2014Jul 8, 2015 Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

Physics in Real Life, by Dr. Rebekah D’Arcy

In the second in our series of articles by NUI Galway researchers, School of Physics Lecturer Dr. Rebekah D’Arcy, writes about the ever evolving world of Medical Physics.

Physics in Real Life – Medical Physics

Hippocrates (460-377 BC), who is known as the “Father of Western Medicine”, may have been the first medical physicist. Over two thousand years ago, in order to locate where an infection was located, he would smear mud over a patient’s back, knowing that infected tissue is warmer and would therefore dry the mud faster. Technology has improved a lot since then and modern thermography, which looks at heat coming from the body using an infrared camera, is very different from Hippocrates’ methods.

In fact modern medical physics uses techniques which sound like they come straight from a science fiction movie.