Degree Apprentice Software Engineer Opportunity

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Completed your Post-16 qualifications and thinking what next?  Why not consider this fantastic opportunity with the HMRC, Newcastle upon Tyne.  Under the direction of product managers, scrum masters and technical leads, you’ll work with software developer colleagues to build, develop, test and deploy digital services for our users. This diverse role means you will gain experience in working in a fast paced agile/scrum development environment; as well as gaining experience in developing digital and web solutions.

There are 15 vacancies, you will be paid a starting salary of £23,367 a year, and study towards a BSc (Hons) in Digital and Technology Solutions at Northumbria University!

Sound good?  For more information click here

The Great North East Space Expo

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On 22nd June, Think Physics and Northumbria University sponsored and exhibited at the Great North East Space Expo.  This event was organised by the Ashington Learning Partnership, and held at the Discovery Museum.  It was a really good event, with over 390 students coming along to learn about space and careers in the space sector.

Some of the students from ALP have produced a video giving a taste of what went on.

Untidying the lab

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As the centre of all things Think Physics (other than the coffee machine), Think Lab can get a little… let’s just say busy. Recently, however, organisational salvation has arrived in the form of a gigantic pair of Gratnells cupboards.

For a while we mostly stared at them in awe, but the delivery of a vast shipment of lab equipment – seriously, a fork-lift was involved – forced our hand. Today, then, was The Grand Sorting Out of the Lab Day.

Inevitably, the day has mostly looked like this:

Tidying Think Lab

Indeed, by the end of the day the lab could charitably be described as a work in progress. We’ll get there, however. Just as soon as we find another roll of tape for the labelling machine…

8 Minutes 20 Seconds Exhibition

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Think Physics joined forces with The Holy Biscuit gallery on 15th and 16th of May to contribute to another action-packed NewcastleGateshead Late Shows. This collaboration was in honour of the International Year of Light and a timely addition to Northumbria University’s UKMHD Conference this May.

The result of the collaboration was 8 Minutes 20 Seconds, an exhibition presenting an artistic interpretation of the science behind the sun. The 8 Minutes 20 Seconds refers to the time it takes for light from the Sun to reach the earth.

The exhibition featured Helen Schell’s large scale optical illusions exploring the solar eclipse and John Jo Murray’s scientific sculpture, exploring how light can create subtle changes in colour and reflections. Sarah Davis’ work explored our understanding of the world from the prehistoric era through to the present through bold motifs and colours to chart the Earth’s development and relationship to the sun. While, Emily Simpson looked at how camera filters process light differently from the human eye, exploring the impact of the sun on technology.

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The exhibition was interspersed with interactive science exhibits and texts curated by Think Physics and Northumbria University MSc Science Communications students Jacalyn Laird, Jane Shearer and Lucy Mace, who focused on how the sun creates light and how we interact with it. During the Late Shows the students guided visitors round the interactive elements of the exhibition ensuring the scientific content of the exhibition was accurate and engaging. The exhibition was enhanced by a number of events, including an opening for members of the UKMHD Conference, an Art & Science discussion evening and a visit from St Catherine’s Primary School.

All photos by A Baker Photos.

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The show has received over 1000 visitors and had some fantastic feedback from visitors:

“Fantastic! Great ideas linking art and science with some beautiful artwork and interactive exhibits”

“Informative, interesting, enjoyable. Thank you”

“Creativity and excellence – with great, clever and interactive displays.

 

You can read more about the Think Physics and Holy Biscuit collaboration in NARC Magazine.

#girlswithtoys

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Yesterday, National Public Radio in the US published an interview with an astronomer, in which he’s quoted saying:

“Many scientists, I think, secretly are what I call ‘boys with toys’.”

Many other scientists are, of course, not boys at all. But they still have toys, and for the last eleven hours or so Twitter has been awash with fantastic photos of scientists, grouped under #girlswithtoys. There are lots of telescopes:

…there are plenty of other bits of apparatus and equipment:

I have no idea what a dual intracellular amp is, but it’s clearly making someone happy.

Then there are the not-really-instruments-just-cool-toys:

Drop whatever you’re doing and spend a few minutes scrolling through the #girlswithtoys stream (see also the live feed). It’s a glorious depiction of scientists doing what they love, with the tools and instruments of their work.

(top image from this tweet – who doesn’t love a spot of Antarctic heli-fishing?)

Update, 11am: One of the most remarkable photographs is this:

Margaret Hamilton during the Apollo Program (NASA / WikiMedia Commons)

Margaret Hamilton during the Apollo Program (NASA / WikiMedia Commons)

I’d never heard of Margaret Hamilton, which seems outrageous given that she was the lead flight software engineer on the Apollo programme. That is: the code written by her team landed men on the moon. In the final moments before touchdown, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module computer was swamped with excess data and pushed beyond its limits. It’s a fairly standard story in software engineering circles about how the development team anticipated such a situation and had built a system that could tolerate it. Their foresight avoided calamity.

I’ve read the story many times, but I’ve never heard it mentioned that Hamilton led that development group, nor that she coined the very term ‘software engineering.’ Her Wikipedia page is awesome.

The Young Engineer Design and Technology Competition

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Northumbria University are delighted to be once again supporting the annual ‘Young Engineer Design and Technology Competition’ held at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle and organised by Hexham Rotary Club on Tuesday, 2nd July 2015.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students who are submitting GCSE or GCE Design or Technology examination projects to showcase their work to judges which, has in the past included entries from: graphics, materials, textiles, electronics, systems, engineering and food technology.

Students do need to attend schools in Northumberland, North Tyneside or Newcastle to enter and and can expect to compete for student prizes of £150 and school prizes (£350), as well as other awards.

Teachers: If you would be interested in submitting entries or would like further information about the competition, please email Bryan Bell (Hexham Rotary) brian.bell@btbell.co.uk  or alternatively you can download further details below:

YEDT Further Information

YEDT Entry Form 2015

Deadline for entries: Friday 12th June 2015

A-level Subject Take-up

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Ofsted have published an analysis of the numbers and proportions of girls and boys studying A-level subjects in England:

Until now there has been no single source of data for schools or inspectors to consult that sets out the numbers and proportions of girls and boys that progress from Year 11 to AS levels and then from AS to A level. This report provides that data, so that schools can compare their own performance against the national picture. Several subjects have significantly unequal numbers of girls and boys, for example physics.

Do read the report for the figures in detail, but Dom McDonald, Programme Manager, Outreach at the Royal Society of Chemistry has the STEM subjects summary:

Also on Twitter, he went on to note that the most extreme subject appears to be Computing, with a girls:boys ratio of 0.09:1.

Yikes.

The Magic of Light Boxes

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Think Physics, and Think Club members, had a great time at Maker Faire UK this weekend.  As you may have seen from our blog, we’ve been creating and making things for Maker Faire for a few weeks.

Here are some of the creations from our wall of light boxes.  There was an ever-changing parade of light sculptures on the wall, although some boxes lasted a little longer than others.

If you came along, can you spot your creation?

The Wonders of the Sun

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Think Club 0 – Maker Week, day 5+1. Pendulum predicament edition

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Maker Week may be over, but there’s plenty of making still to be done. You’ll notice from the picture above that I’ve been hacking away at the turntables again. Meanwhile, Joe now has a refined version of our LED lamps sorted out. It’s pretty neat, and bright enough, but we’ve counted up and realised we’ve the means to make a lot more lamps. Tomorrow is likely to see some production-line soldering.

The biggest challenge of the day, however, has been the pendulum:

ThinkClub0_Build-Week1-Monday_again-1

Joe is right to look pensive. We wired things up, swung a kettle, heard chime roughly when we’d expect them – then, just as we started to celebrate, we noticed that the chimes were, in fact, coming entirely at random. Drat.

We scratched our heads, rewired, tried again. It was worse.

We scowled at it, tried something else. That didn’t work either.

Eventually… we ate some of the biscuits. Subsequently, we think we have a solution. It’s a bit touch-and-go, but close enough that we reckon we can afford to sleep tonight. We’ll pick up the pieces in the morning and see if our current thinking is correct.

>ulp<