The latest “The Manga Guide To..” series brings us the universe. This is the second book from the series I have reviewed and I was looking forward to how this will encompass the vastness of the universe as a topic. As always, the story unfolds in manga form while teaching the reader all the questions raised. It starts with the Japanese story of Kaguya-hime, and her wish to go back to the Moon where she came from. This setting opens up the universe, with the book guiding you on your journey.

The history and discovery

What I love about this book is how it goes right back to the roots. Before modern technology, civilisations from ancient times only had their perception of the universe based from what they saw with the naked eye. The ancient Greeks for example adopted the geocentric theory (the Earth being the center of the universe) by Ptolemy for nearly 1,400 years until Copernicus arrived on the scene in 1543. These facts and many more make for an interesting read, with explanations on why each theory was adopted.

This then leads onto the development of telescopes and how great discoveries by Galileo et al changed the way we viewed the universe completely. There are some elements within the book that explain such things and calculations in detail, but the information is not overwhelming to the point where it is hard to understand. Diagrams coupled with analogies reinforces the explanations throughout. This reminds me of The Manga Guide To Relativity which was also laid out in the same vein. I am glad they kept this format as it works quite well.

Manga story with science

The manga story weaves seamlessly with the science; the manga is quite amusing and the fusion between the two works well. The enthusiasm for the topics discussed from the author is noticeable throughout, and you can tell that the passion is there. It is great to see this passion come alive in each of the pages, which makes it a joy to read. I am still amazed by what has been covered in those pages; even though there are so many unanswered questions about the universe it covers so much of what we know and what we want to know. From our solar system, to the universe and multiverses, the book itself seems to expand with knowledge just like the universe expanding as described.

In the end, the story of Kaguya-hime takes an interesting turn as the students play out what they have learned. Even Proessor Sanuki that help them on their cosmic journey plays a part in the end. Overall, I highly recommend this book; as a teaching tool for school kids and for anyone that has a love for manga with science thrown in.

About Motoko

First embraced the inner geek at the age of 10 with a Commodore 64 and programming in BASIC. Avid PC gamer, Gundam Gunpla builder, manga editor and anime enthusiast. Loves Mountain Dew and Ghost in the Shell. Twitter: @Motoko_K

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“The Manga Guide To…” series has been reviewed before, but this time we hit the topic of relativit­y. This being a lazy Sunday afternoon, I had several options. Play StarCraft 2, watch anime or put my brain into gear and see how much information I can absorb. I chose the latter, and this being a manga as well, I figured it would be fun at the same time.

The Prologue sets the scene; it is summer break and the crazy headmaster has decided that all students need to write a report on one topic over the holidays. A quick spin of the wheel and… it lands on relativity. All the students gasp in horror, relativity?! No one has a clue at all! But in steps the heroic Minagi to volunteer and take their place. However, he soon regrets his decision but he has Miss Uraga to teach him.

A dry topic made interesting

The sciences are not something I am particularly strong at; the interest is definitely there but all those numbers and equations. I was never fond of mathematics at all and of course a topic such as relativity does involve calculations a great deal. Also there are many concepts involved which you need to grapple with on top of everything else.

After reading the first couple of chapters, I started to ease into all the explanations. It helps that all the explanations Miss Uraga outlines are demonstrated in story form or scenarios which make it easy to understand. Not only that, but I felt compelled to read on to see the manga story unfold with Minagi. It’s not exactly a full on manga serial, but there are funny elements that keeps the interest.

From the brief to the in-depth

One of the things I like about this book is that after the initial manga explanations, there are much more detailed descriptions afterwards. All important equations are explained with diagrams to help cement them. The key thing with topics like this is the ability to understand without feeling overwhelmed. It does this superbly without having to dumb down too much any of the concepts involved.

Another nice touch is going through the history behind relativity; from Newton to Galileo and of course Mr. Einstein himself. E=MC2 is explained but the reader soon learns there is much more to relativity than this.

To summarise…

I like this book a lot; it is a perfect companion for children wanting to learn more about relativity and for them to develop a sound working knowledge of the theories involved. Even adults would enjoy this and it is pitched just right for people who have no knowledge before. And even if you DO have knowledge of it, you will still find this an engaging read.

About Motoko

First embraced the inner geek at the age of 10 with a Commodore 64 and programming in BASIC. Avid PC gamer, Gundam Gunpla builder, manga editor and anime enthusiast. Loves Mountain Dew and Ghost in the Shell. Twitter: @Motoko_K

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Automatic Lover Book Review

Not so long ago I got sent Automatic Lover by it’s author Ariadne Tampion. She called it a steamy love story for geeks. Now one thing I will say before I go any further, this is not a book for young children. Personally I’d give it an over 16 age limit.

The story line is fun and interesting providing lots of questions about human computer interaction. It also brought up the question of computer ethics and at what point HCI becomes more than just humans controlling and programming computers. Is it possible for a computer robot to learn and analyse human emotion and react in a way that pleases a person. It also shows some of the risks and benefits of such interactions.

The book although light hearted really does make you think about what might become the future of robotics and in some ways it’s fun and others slightly disturbing.

Ariadne Tamion’s background is as an electrical engineer with a passion for robotics and programming. In her own words, Ariadne sees Automatic Lover as an ode to women engineers and the contribution they can make to society.

If you want an interesting read that is both fun, geeky and sexy then this book is definitely one for the beach!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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Back when I was still at university (a while ago now) I got invited to a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) black tie event in London at the National Gallery as a friend of a scientist. The event was interesting but one thing that did strike me there was that there weren’t may female scientists there. They all seemed to be other the other half to a scientist.

A number of years on and it looks like the RSC is having a bit of a change around. That change appears to be starting at the top!

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), which traces its roots to 1841, has elected a woman to be its President for the first time. There seem to be a lot of firsts this year, what with the first Young Scientist of the Year also being female…. I see a trend forming!

Inorganic electrochemist Professor Lesley Yellowlees, of the University of Edinburgh, will take up her two-year Presidency of the RSC in the summer of 2012. The Scotland Girl Geek Dinners will be pleased!

From July this year she will be President-Elect, working with current President Professor David Phillips, of Imperial College, London.

Professor Yellowlees MBE FRSC undertook her degree and her PhD at the University of Edinburgh.

The election of Professor Yellowlees coincides with this year’s International Year of Chemistry, designated by the UN, and inspired by the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie’s winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

David Phillips said: “Professor Yellowlees has an outstanding record of contribution to our science through her research and her teaching as well as her activities to promote chemistry and the RSC, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

“Her academic and scientific record, combined with her profound interest in the future of chemistry as a subject, make Lesley Yellowlees an ideal choice for President. It is a happy, and welcome, coincidence that she has been elected 100 years after a woman chemist was honoured on the world stage for her achievements.

“Lesley is noted for her energy, her sense of commitment and for speaking up for science. All these qualities will be of great value to the advancement of the chemical sciences in the year that she is President-Elect and during her time as President.”

Professor Yellowlees said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to become the next President of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The RSC has been in the vanguard of promoting the relevance of the chemical sciences and I plan to work with all members of the society to increase our influence and importance.

“In this International Year of Chemistry, during which we are celebrating the life and achievements of Marie Curie, it gives me additional pleasure to realise that I will be the first woman President of the society. I feel honoured, privileged and excited about my forthcoming role.”

Like professor Yellowlees, we too are delighted that she has taken up this position, placing her as a great role model for scientists around the world!

It definitely feels like there is a change starting to come about in the science sector as women are once again showing that determination, hard work and willingness to put themselves forward pays dividends. That’s two great female role models that have come up for the science sector in a week. interestingly I’m yet to see these great achievements make national or international waves in the media. So spread the word! The science industry is crying out for great female role models!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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Every year young scientists and engineers put together interesting and exciting projects in the hope that they will achieve the accolade of national scientist or engineer of the year.  Until now this has always been won by men.  To date there had never been a single female winner, but this year everything has changed!  For the very first time the judges have found that a female scientist has come up with the most interesting, innovative and inspiring science project out of all of the applicants.

The Big Bang Fair: UK Young Scientist’s & Engineers’ Fair played host to the finals of the National Science & Engineering Competition. The judging panel which included TV star Professor Brian Cox, was impressed by the number of entries from young women this year.

The amount of entries resulted in the best ever showing of female award winners since the competition began. And the esteemed title of UK Young Scientist of the Year was awarded Hannah Eastwood – the first female to win this widely celebrated accolade

She fought her way to the top with a project exploring how chromium can be removed from drinking water, in order to purify tap water and reclaim it for the steel industry where it is a valuable resource.

When presented with this award she said: “This is an unbelievable opportunity to be an ambassador for science and to inspire young girls. I’d encourage them to get involved and consider all the great opportunities that are out there.”

With this in mind it looks like the stars of the future will be bursting the Science stereotype and helping to shine a light on the next generation of female scientists.

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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The incredible team at the University of Southampton successfully launched a Windows Phone 7 handset into the stratosphere as a testbed for a series of experiements to further atmospheric research into pollution. Friday’s launch utilised a helium filled balloon to elevate a small package to an altitude of 18237 meters/59832 feet. The package contained a Windows 7 phone handset, additional power supply and a commodity digital camera which recorded 1,200 images during the flight.

At it’s maximum altitude the balloon burst (as expected!) and the package returned to Earth via a small parachute. During the flight a custom application on the phone recorded the latitude, longitude and altitude. While in range of the cellular network the application streamed it’s data to another application running on Windows Azure.Windows Azure provided the computational “horse power” to project the likely landing point of the package.

The image below shows the team preparing to launch Astra 7

This is a great example of inexpensive hardware being combined in a creative way with phone software and a cloud service to enable something (scientific research in this case) that would otherwise have been prohibitively expensive yet which can bring benefit to us all.

The team’s write up provides much more information as does Stuart Dredge’s article on the Guardian tech blog and Cliff Saran’s piece on Computer Weekly.

Kudos to Keith who beat me to it in his post which gives a heads up of the flight’s impressive statistics.

The image below shows the package containing the phone at it’s maximum altitude

Congratulations to the Astra 7 team including Dr Andras Sobester, Dr
Elizabeth Hart, Dr Steven Johnston and Neil O_Brien. Thanks to Geoff
Hughes, Ben Nunney (@bennuk), Will Coleman and Lou Waller for their support

I’m delighted to be able to say that this wasn’t a PR stunt – it was
serious scientific research as part of The University of Southampton’s
ASTRA (Atmospheric Science Through Robotic Aircraft) project

About Stephen Lamb

Steve Lamb is known to be a positive disruptive force and is a geek with a passion for making the most of every day!

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BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has announced the winners of the Digital Revolutions short film competition at Sheffield Doc/Fest. ‘This chair is not me’ by Andy Taylor-Smith has won the Amateur category. ‘The Scanner’ by Edward McGown has won the Professional category.

Elizabeth Sparrow, President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said:

“We set out to see how technology has changed lives by inviting people to make films. The shortlist was very competitive but the winners stood out for the judges. ‘The scanner’ is an enlightening film that tells us how innovative information technology is being used to diagnose and treat a rare genetic condition and illustrates the power of IT to improve our health and well-being. ‘This chair is not me’ is an impressive piece which shows how technology empowers the disempowered.”

Kevin MacDonald, Oscar winning director of One Day in September and competition judge said of ‘This chair is not me’:

“This film has beautiful imagery. A genuine, touching story, it’s well executed and narrated”.

Frank Boyd, Creative Director, Crossover and competition judges said of ‘The Scanner’:

“Within the constraints of three minutes the filmmaker has introduced us to a technology very few of us know about and an illness very few understand.  It gives a real insight into an impact of digital technology that is not widely recognised.”

The winners were:

Amateur Category

‘This chair is not me’ by Andy Taylor-Smith

While cerebral palsy confines Alan Martin to a wheelchair and inhibits his speech, he refuses to limit himself. When he gains access to technology that enables him to find a voice, his life is transformed.

Professional Category

‘The scanner’ by Edward McGown

Dr Alastair Garfield and Kate McAllister MA show how the latest computing technology influences the lives of patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome – a rare genetic condition that causes near permanent hunger, leading in turn to chronic obesity.

About BCS Pioneers

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is sharing the stories of five Information Pioneers who truly enabled the information society. Videos coming soon!

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Google have just announced the RISE awards!  These awards are aimed at rewarding people with good ideas that support anyone from a minority group into the STEM subjects.  Rather than me giving all the details I’ll let Google do the talking this time!  But I will say if you have a project that can make a difference and need some funding to do it then it’s well worth putting in your application.  This application is currently open to those in Europe and the US version I am told will happen later in the year! So get your thinking caps on!

At Google, we believe a STEM education (science, technology, engineering & maths) can lead to creative, exciting and rewarding opportunities. That’s why we’re so enthusiastic about supporting it for all students.

Google RISE Awards (Roots in Science & Engineering) are designed to fund, promote and support STEM and computer science education initiatives in Europe. Through RISE, Google will provide awards to organisations that positively impact pre-university and university students, especially those from underrepresented groups in technology, eg. female engineers, minority groups, people with disabilities.

Apply now for financial support or volunteer resources for your program. Deadline for applications 31st October 2010.
google.com/riseawards

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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The Guardian have recently announced that they are running a Science Hackday at their London offices.  There are already plenty of interesting attendees signed up but I think they need the help of all the geeks out there to get the word out to more girl science geeks! They have a great list of attendees but seem to be lacking a few female science geeks that I know are out there! So here goes! Spread the word! All the details on the event can be found below along with the location of where to sign up!

So let’s get everyone excited and make things …with science!

Hack days are fun and awesome. Science is really fun and totally awesome. Let’s put the two together.

For those who haven’t been to a hack day before here’s the details of what they are:
A bunch of science enthusiasts get together in the same physical space to collaborate and create awesome things, usually by mashing up APIs. A Hack Day is usually 48 hours long and involves a sleepover

Who is this for?
Imagine a Venn diagram showing the intersection of web  and science enthusiasts  …that’s a pretty big intersection. Science Hack Day is for anyone with an interest in science who wants to dabble with APIs and datasets.

If you’re a coder or a designer or just an enthusiastic person with good ideas, Science Hack Day is for you

Interested?

Sign up here

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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Next Thursday, March 25, 2010, AAUW will release a new report, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, which focuses on innovative ways to help girls and women succeed in these fields.

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? The AAUW report presents eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers — including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities — that continue to block women’s participation and progress in science, technology, engineering, and math. The report also includes up-to-date statistics on girls’ and women’s achievement and participation in these areas and offers new ideas for what each of us can do to more fully open scientific and engineering fields to girls and women.

You’ll be able to download the report on the release date, but we also wanted to let you know that we are live-streaming a panel presentation with the report’s authors and experts, which audience members will be able to comment over live-chat and Twitter. This live-stream event will take place at 9:30 a.m. EST on Thursday, March 25.

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

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