Posts Tagged ‘scottish’
Plaudits for precision potato predictor
FARMERS could produce more salad and seed potatoes thanks to a new way to predict the size of their crop while it’s still buried in the soil. The “Tuberzone” project used the global positioning system (GPS), satellite images, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor potato plants as they grew. It predicted the size of…
Read MoreSwimmer tells pupils to mix sport and studies
A SWIMMING champion has advised young people to combine sport with their studies during a visit to his old school. Tobermory Mackay-Champion, who hails from Clathy near Crieff, graduated from the University of Oxford this month with a first-class undergraduate master’s degree in earth sciences. He holds eight Oxford swimming records and is the British…
Read MoreWhisky casks go digital
RESEARCHERS at the University of Strathclyde have developed a computer simulation to help whisky distillers fill their casks without spilling any spirit. As well as the computer program, the engineers built a cask-filling test rig and achieved 99% consistency when filling a 200-litre cask in less than one minute. Inconsistent cask filling can lead to too…
Read MoreOnline gigs from stunning locations
SOME of Scotland’s best-known locations will form the backdrop for a series of performances on the new “Music Is The Answer” Youtube channel. The Forth Bridge, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and McCaig’s Tower at Oban are just some of the sites that will play host to artists including Be Charlotte, Luke La Volpe, and Oakzy B…
Read MoreAuthors pick top lockdown crime novels
Ahead of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, which begins online on 18 September, authors Alex Gray and Gordon Brown – who writes as Morgan Cry – pick their favourite lockdown books. Alex Gray Three books that were really good during lockdown days include Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky. A terrific read, thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written and quirky.…
Read MoreTurning beer byproducts into chairs
GRAINS left over from beer brewing and gin distilling are being turned into tables and chairs for Dundee Science Centre. Aymeric Renoud named his furniture making business after “draff”, the wet grains left behind when beer is made. Renoud adds a binder to draff from 71 Brewing in Dundee and botanicals used to make gin…
Read MoreMaggie’s funding boost from Christie’s auction
AUCTION house Christie’s will launch an online sale on Wednesday to raise money for Maggie’s cancer support centres. Works have been donated for the auction by artists including David Bailey, Antony Gormley, and the estate of Lucian Freud. Sandy Nairne, former director of the National Portrait Gallery and now chair of Maggie’s art group, said: “These…
Read MoreAboyne Highland Games stages online piping contest
THREE of the piping competitions held by Aboyne Highland Games will shift online this summer. The open competitions for the piobaireachd, march, and strathspey and reel categories will be held virtually on 1 August. Two-thirds of the 32 competitors come from the UK, with the remainder from North America. Recordings of their performances will be…
Read MoreEdinburgh’s Saughton Park turns even greener
A PUBLIC park in Edinburgh has turned even greener after installing a hydro-electric scheme and two ground-source heat pumps to power and warm its buildings. Carbon dioxide emissions from Saughton Park are expected to be cut by the equivalent of 90 tonnes thanks to the new equipment. City of Edinburgh Council will also cut its…
Read MoreScottish dancer returns with solo triple bill
AFTER five years behind the scenes, award-winning Scottish choreographer Rosie Kay will return to the stage this autumn with a triple bill of solo works. Edinburgh-born Kay expects to perform her Absolute Solo II show – which will consist of Artemis Clown, Patisserie and a new work, as yet untitled – in her current home…
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