ScienceFix

I recently traveled through Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and Paris. I put together some of the more interesting science related items. I saw Dolly the cloned sheep on display in the Royal Museum in Edinburgh Scotland. She of course was the first successfully cloned organism, which created quite a stir in the science world in the mid 1990’s. Even though it was exciting to see her, it was a little weird seeing her rotate around in an enclosed glass cube in the children’s part of the museum. It didn’t seem too respectful. I saw big, black slugs everywhere in England and Scotland. They weren’t as big as a banana slug, but they were big nonetheless. Once of the highlights of the trip was seeing a working trebuchet. I first learned about trebuchets in the wonderful NOVA video, Medieval Siege. Trebuchets are huge slings that can hurl 50 pound plus sandstone balls at castle walls. It is truly amazing how medieval engineers developed such weapons, utilizing principals of force, gravity, and energy. At Warwick castle where the trebuchet was, they also had an exhibit of birds of prey and scavenging birds, one of which I videotaped its flight. At Oxford University, my wife and I visited the science museum. We weren’t supposed to videotape in there, but I couldn’t help myself. I got some shaky video of 19th century microscopes, and an old Netownian style reflecting telescope. In Ireland, we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. In the back corner of the cathedral was the Boyle Monument. It is a two story wood carving that Richard Boyle had commissioned. His son Robert, is displayed in the bottom center part. Robert Boyle is the scientist who discovered the relationship between volume and pressure of a gas–Boyle’s law. The last photograph is of a Highland ox. Not very scientific, but just funky looking.