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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.

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...

SpaceX astronaut launch: here's the rocket science it must get right

May 29, 2020 14:17 pm UTC| Science

Two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, will make history by travelling to the International Space Station in a privately funded spacecraft, SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. It will also be...

Four graphs that suggest we can't blame climate change on solar activity

Jan 28, 2020 08:44 am UTC| Nature

The past decade (2010-2019) was the hottest on record and five of the top 10 warmest single years have all occurred since 2015, according to reports released by the UK Met Office and the World Meteorological...

Space milestones: here are the missions to look forward to in 2020

Jan 06, 2020 17:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Last year was an excellent year for space exploration, with the icing on the Christmas cake the first ever image acquired of a black hole by the Event Horizon Telescope. This year, 2020, is set to be interesting too....

Internet jokesters call for people to storm Area 51 to find aliens – here's some science to consider

Jul 26, 2019 09:10 am UTC| Entertainment

Millions of people have signed up to a tongue-in-cheek Facebook event to storm the US military base Area 51 on 20 September to discover whether aliens are inside. While the organisers said it was a joke, the US military...

SpaceX Dragon 2 set for nail-biting landing – here's the rocket science

Mar 09, 2019 06:08 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

If all goes to plan, a fiery Dragon will light up the sky over the Atlantic before hopefully cooling off with a watery splashdown on March 8. The SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule is of enormous significance for spaceflight as it...

NASA wants to send humans to Venus – here's why that's a brilliant idea

Oct 16, 2018 14:55 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Popular science fiction of the early 20th century depicted Venus as some kind of wonderland of pleasantly warm temperatures, forests, swamps and even dinosaurs. In 1950, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Natural...

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Economy

Soybean Futures Slip as Traders Await Trump-Xi Trade Signals

Chicago soybean futures edged lower on Thursday as traders closely watched Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit to Washington for signs of progress on U.S.-China agricultural trade and future soybean purchases. CBOT...

European Stocks Fall as Bond Yields and Geopolitical Risks Weigh

European stocks closed lower on Thursday as rising bond yields, geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and concerns surrounding artificial intelligence weighed on investor sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped...

Trump, Xi Focus on Trade and AI at White House Summit

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday, opening high-level talks focused on trade, artificial intelligence, security and broader U.S.-China relations. Xis trip...

Oil Prices Jump 3% as Houthi Attack Revives Supply Fears

Oil prices surged about 3% on Thursday, with Brent crude reaching a one-week high after a Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions. Gains eased later as reports emerged...

Wall Street Ends Flat as Oil, Treasury Yields and Fed Jitters Rattle Markets

Wall Street finished mostly unchanged on Thursday after a volatile session driven by surging oil prices, rising U.S. Treasury yields and increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve signals. The SP 500 closed nearly flat at...

Politics

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Restore Third-Country Deportations

President Donald Trumps administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to continue deporting migrants to countries other than their homelands without automatically giving them an opportunity to raise...

Netanyahu Defends Israel at UN as Delegates Stage Walkout

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, defending Israels military actions as dozens of delegates walked out in protest. The speech came as...

US Backs Musk in Fight Against EU’s €120 Million X Fine

The U.S. government has formally moved to join Elon Musks legal challenge against a 120 million ($136.5 million) European Union fine imposed on his social media platform X, escalating a dispute over the reach of European...

Netanyahu’s Brief US Trip Highlights Strains With Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to make an unusually short visit to the United States for his UN General Assembly address, underscoring signs of strain in US-Israel relations ahead of Israels October...

Abbas Reaffirms November 28 Palestinian Elections

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed plans to hold legislative elections on November 28, potentially marking the first Palestinian parliamentary vote in two decades, even as political and logistical obstacles...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Former OpenAI Data Center Chief Chris Malone Joins Nvidia

Chris Malone, the former head of data centers at OpenAI, has joined Nvidia as vice president of its DSX Platform, strengthening the chipmakers leadership team as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure continues...

Akamai Shares Surge on $11.6B Anthropic AI Cloud Deal

Akamai Technologies shares jumped as much as 20% in after-hours trading Thursday after the cloud computing company announced an $11.6 billion, seven-year agreement with artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. The contract...

Oracle Shares Fall as New Mexico AI Data Center Faces Power Delays

Oracle Corp. shares fell after reports that the technology giant is seeking protection from financial obligations linked to its massive artificial intelligence data center project in New Mexico amid regulatory and...

BlackBerry Shares Rise as Q2 Earnings, Revenue Beat Estimates

BlackBerry shares climbed more than 2% in premarket trading Thursday after the cybersecurity and software company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results and issued an upbeat full-year revenue outlook....

Apple Extends Qualcomm Patent Licensing Deal

Qualcomm said Thursday that Apple has extended its patent-licensing agreement with the U.S. chip designer, maintaining a key part of their relationship even as the iPhone maker works to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm...