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Wed, Nov 29, 2023 04:55 AM All times are UTC

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Ian Whittaker

Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University

I completed my PhD in 2010 looking at the interaction of the Sun with the upper atmosphere of Venus. Since then I have held six postdoctoral contracts, covering medical imaging, solar physics, the Earth's radiation belts, lightning in tropical cyclones, X-ray astronomy, and X-ray observations of the Earth's magnetopause.

I currently teach at Nottingham Trent University, where I am responsible for astrophysics lectures, laboratory supervision, tutorials and student projects. I am very strongly interested in space science outreach, encouraging students and the public to take an interest in how our planet interacts with the solar system.

Space Science Series

Earth has many objects in orbit but definitely only one Moon – despite what some people think

Nov 10, 2023 14:37 pm UTC| Science

Big Brother has always chosen its contestants for entertainment value rather than for intellectual debate. This was recently highlighted in a discussion started on the programme by dental therapist Chantelle, who suggested...

Space Science Series

Nasa's Psyche mission is set for launch – here's how it could unveil the interior secrets of planets

Oct 15, 2023 04:07 am UTC| Science

Its unlikely to be a bad omen, but Nasas mission Psyche is currently due to launch on Friday 13 October. Lifting off at 10.19 EDT on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, it faces a perilous journey and isnt scheduled for arrival...

Space Science Series

Chandrayaan-3: India hopes to land a rover on the Moon for the first time

Aug 22, 2023 04:20 am UTC| Science

On Wednesday August 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission Chandrayaan-3 will deploy its lander and rover to the surface of the Moon. As the name suggests, this is the third mission in a programme of...

Scientists have started steering lightning with lasers – here's how

Jan 24, 2023 07:36 am UTC| Science

Lightning may look beautiful but every year it kills thousands of people, does huge amounts of damage to buildings and infrastructure, and causes power outages. The only protection we have is lightning rods, which were...

Space Science Series

The UK is about to have its first space launch – but Cornwall is unlikely to become a new Cape Canaveral

Oct 19, 2022 08:52 am UTC| Science

Virgin Orbit, a US company which provides launch services for satellites, has announced that the first orbital space mission from the UK will blast off from Cornwall. The rocket, which will carry nine satellites, along...

Ax-1: why the private mission to the International Space Station is a game changer

Apr 05, 2022 11:57 am UTC| Science

Its not long since billionaires were competing to get to the edge of space. Now, the first set of private citizens are getting ready to take a SpaceX shuttle up to the International Space Station (ISS). Unlike the short...

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin: can they be more than 'space' joyrides for millionaires?

Jul 18, 2021 10:33 am UTC| Business

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and his team successfully flew to the edge of space on the Unity 22 mission aboard a Virgin Galactic plane on 12 July. The event was hailed as the start of space tourism, narrowly...

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Economy

Western Pharma Shifts Focus from China to India Amid Rising Geopolitical Tensions

Western drugmakers are increasingly turning to alternative sources for drug production and clinical trials, shifting their attention away from Chinese contractors. According to industry experts and executives, this...

Stellantis and Italian Government Discuss Measures to Increase Car Production

Stellantis has initiated in-depth discussions with the Italian government with the primary objective of bolstering car production within the country. This collaborative effort aims to boost economic growth and streamline...

How governments use IMF bailouts to hurt political opponents – new research

Sri Lanka received a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March amid soaring inflation, debt and a sovereign default. In exchange for US$3 billion (2.4 billion), the government committed to spending...

The government just killed 50 infrastructure projects – what matters is whether it will fund them on merit from now on

The federal government has just announced a list of projects to be abandoned as a result of an independent strategic review of its infrastructure investment program. The review found the cost of the A$120 billion,...

Interim housing isn't just a roof and four walls. Good design is key to getting people out of homelessness

State governments across the country have plans to increase social and affordable housing to address ballooning waitlists. While necessary, this wont be enough to clear the backlog of people waiting for public...

Politics

What Joe Biden's meeting with Xi Jinping means for geopolitical tensions

U.S. President Joe Biden has engaged in a crucial face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. This high-stakes diplomatic encounter was...

How a new identity-focused ideology has trapped the left and undermined social justice

Yasha Mounks new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, explores a radical progressive ideology that has been taking the world by storm. From its unlikely beginnings in esoteric scholarly theories...

Rwanda plan: Rishi Sunak has insisted on pushing ahead – here's where he could take it next

The UK supreme court has ruled against the governments plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing. But this isnt the end of the story a version of the plan is likely to resurface in some form. The initial...

Myanmar’s military junta appears to be in terminal decline

Myint Swe, the acting president of Mynamars military government, has warned that the country will be split into various parts after his armed forces suffered huge territorial losses to resistance fighters recently. His...

China: why there has been a sudden 'surge' of antisemitism in the People's Republic

During the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, many nations have tried to maintain a neutral stance by not explicitly supporting either side. But despite attempts at balanced commentaries at the top of business and...

Science

NASA's first successful recovery of asteroid samples may reveal information about the origins of the universe

The OSIRIS-REx mission is NASAs first mission to collect samples from an asteroid in this case 101955 Bennu and return to Earth. OSIRIS-REx is an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification,...

Did this chemical reaction create the building blocks of life on Earth?

How did life begin? How did chemical reactions on the early Earth create complex, self-replicating structures that developed into living things as we know them? According to one school of thought, before the current era...

Will Saturn's rings really 'disappear' by 2025? An astronomer explains

If you can get your hands on a telescope, there are few sights more spectacular than the magnificent ringed planet Saturn. Currently, Saturn is clearly visible in the evening sky, at its highest just after sunset. Its...

Specialized training programs using sensory augmentation devices could prevent astronauts from getting disoriented in space

When landing on the surface of the Moon, astronauts can become spatially disoriented, which is when they lose sense of their orientation they might not be able to tell which way is up. This disorientation can lead to...

Is some of the body that collided with Earth to form the Moon still recognisable inside our planet?

Scientists have dated the birth of the Solar System to about 4.57 billion years ago. About 60 million years later a giant impact collision between the infant Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia created the...

Technology

European Tech Sector Faces Challenges and Shows Resilience Amid Global Economic Shifts

The European technology sector is navigating a challenging economic environment, as evidenced by recent data from venture capital firm Atomico. This year, European startups are expected to raise around $42 billion, a...

Hexa, Paris's Quiet Powerhouse in the Startup World

Tucked away in Paris, Hexa, a startup studio, has quietly made waves in the business-to-business (B2B) software realm. Though Hexa may not be a household name, its the force behind several successful unicorns like Front,...

Amazon Launches New Serverless Solutions to Simplify Database Management

Amazon recently unveiled its latest advancements in serverless technology during the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. These innovations aim to simplify the management of Aurora, Elastic Cache, and Redshift serverless...

Hussain Elius Ventures into DeFi with Wind.app

Hussain Elius, known for co-founding Pathao, one of Bangladeshs leading ride-sharing applications, is making strides into the decentralized finance (DeFi) space with his new venture, Wind.app. This smart contract wallet,...

Bitcoin Mining Enhances Energy Efficiency and Grid Stability, New Study Reveals

A recent study brings a different view of Bitcoin mining, highlighting its potential benefits for energy management and grid stability. This study, crafted by Bitcoin advocates and a former key figure in Texas electric...