Do you remember Summer 2018? Ed Sheeran came to Ireland and played ‘Galway girl’ to hundreds of thousands of people (including me) in a series of concerts. In Cork the English Market celebrated its 230th birthday. Storm Emma hit Ireland in early 2018 and during the summer Storm Hector left many households without power. In…
Sweet Treats Apple pie is my favourite dessert to eat in the winter, and I always choose apple pie over pumpkin at Thanksgiving. This recipe has the wonderful tartness of apples and the warmth from cinnamon and mixed spice which makes it perfect for a cold night. The butterscotch sauce is optional, but who could…
Study shows endangered species can reproduce without mating California condors, a critically endangered species, can reproduce without mating, according to a study by conservation scientists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. During a routine analysis of biological samples from the California condors in the zoo’s breeding programme, the scientists found that two condor chicks…
A Parent’s Perspective A young woman I was talking to thought it would be difficult to ask her four friends, who are atheists, to accompany her into the church to light a candle. She’s Catholic, while they don’t believe in God; the presumption might be that such an invitation would be rejected. It’s a pretty…
Self-driving race cars make history in Indianapolis The winner was not a driver but an algorithm at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the top car clocked an average speed of 218km/h, ushering autonomous vehicles into a new era. Setting the record pace over two laps, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) won…
Children’s Corner Energy is constantly changing forms and transferring between objects. There are many forms of energy, a few science whizzes may have heard of what is known as the law of conservation of energy: “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed – only converted from one form of energy to another.” Why don’t we…
Medical Matters This month figures show that the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland has surpassed 400,000 since the pandemic began. The death toll due to the coronovirus now stands at more than 5,000 of which about 75% occurred in those aged over 75. In fact, half of all deaths…
Living Laudato Si’ Earlier this month, the Archbishop of Dublin’s first pastoral letter, ‘The Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor’, was launched in An Tairseach Ecology Centre, Wicklow. During his address, Archbishop Dermot Farrell noted, “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor go hand in hand. There…
900-year-old sword found encrusted in shells off Israel A sword believed to have belonged to a crusader who sailed to the Holy Land almost a millennium ago has been recovered from the Mediterranean seabed thanks to a sharp-eyed amateur diver, the Israel Antiquities Authority has said. Though encrusted with marine organisms, the metre-long blade, hilt…
Mindful Living These articles on meditation each month are written to point towards a contemplative way of being in the world and to nourish in readers an awareness of who they are at the deepest level of their being. It is not particularly helpful for anyone to take a single article and to draw inferences…
Maria Byrne
Chai Brady
Dr Kevin McCarroll