Pythagorean Astronomy: Venus resurfaces

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Chris North

Back in September 2020, the new broke that an unexpected gas, phosphine had been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. While plans for making further measurements are progressing, the theoreticians have been hard at work modelling the atmosphere, and trying to explain how life could possibly exist in such a harsh environment Dr William Bains,
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Online teacher CPD sessions

Posted on 26 October 2020 by Grace Mullally

Are you looking to bring more cutting edge research into your classroom? Our teacher CPD sessions, which were recorded at the IOP Welsh Physics Teachers Conference earlier this year, should help you do just that.
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Is there life on Venus?

Posted on 30 September 2020 by Grace Mullally

People across the world have been excited by the recent discovery of the molecule phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus – the finding of an international collaboration of researchers lead by Cardiff University’s Professor Jane Greaves. With no known explanations for where the molecules came from, the two explanations left are some unknown chemistry
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Pythagorean Astronomy: It’s (Almost) Never Aliens

Posted on 14 September 2020 by Chris North

This is a special episode – released a couple of weeks earlier than normal – that’s because we’ve got a very special story to talk about this time. A team of astronomers has detected hints that indicate the possibility that there may be life in the clouds of Venus. Despite the maybes and possibilities, this
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Robotic explorers

Posted on 1 August 2019 by Chris North

July 1969 was the month that the first people walked on the Moon. 12 people walked on the surface of our celestial neighbour between 1969 and 1972. Since then, humanity has been confined to low-Earth orbit. There is talk of sending people back to the Moon, on timescales that vary depending on who you talk
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Gravitational Waves and Life from Venus?

Posted on 1 July 2017 by Chris North

At the start of June the LIGO team announced that they had made the third firm detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes. This latest detection, from the second observing run, adds to the collection of massive binary black holes detected by LIGO. One of the things that can be determined
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