Every so often scientists announce that a large space rock or asteroid will pass within a couple of hundred thousand kilometres of Earth. The tabloid press proclaim a near miss and that we were lucky to dodge Armageddon. Headline grabbing stuff it may be, but the truth of the matter is, that it is only a matter of time until the Earth experiences an impact event when one of these asteroids makes it through our atmosphere and explodes with tremendous force creating significant damage.
Last year a team of researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington announced that they had stored and read back over 200 MB of digital data stored on laboratory synthesized DNA molecules. To put this in context, a typical picture on a smartphone is in the region of 3 – 5 MB. Last week another team reported that they had made further strides and have managed to store more information using DNA than was previously possible.
At the end of 2016 the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) called for Killarney National Park’s designation as a UNESCO biosphere reserve to be withdrawn. This call was backed up by the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan. Both IWT and the Green Party cite mismanagement of the park, overgrazing by deer and the threat that invasive species including Rhododendron poses to the national park as being key concerns.