It gives us lasers and computer chips, and it explains the bonds that build atoms into materials and the forces that power the sun; and Heisenberg completed the first stage in the island of Helgoland 100 years ago. The story starts with something familiar – heating an object and observing the heat it emits. To make the calculations fit, Max Planck suggested that radiation – till then pictured as waves – comes in tiny units; he called them ‘quanta’. The outcome was the groundwork for the whole of modern physics, as Prof. James Millen of King’s College London explains.

It’s an utterly different type of computing, which we’re told will make it possible to do things that have never been done before. But how does it work? And what are the dangers? And when will the first working machines arrive? Prof. Andrew Briggs of Oxford University is working on the development of quantum computers. He explains the underlying ideas and the application of AI for taking them forward.

We often picture the quantum world as ‘uncertain’, a world of probabilities and randomness. Not so, says Slovenian physicist Andrej Detela. It's more like a dance, with entangled particles part of a deeper layer of harmony – which we break when we interact with them. To understand, he says, we have to look afresh at the concept of disorder – entropy – that has dominated physics since the 19th century. Alongside it we must put the concept of order, syntropy – which leads to a second stream of time.

We’re used to seeing glistening heaps of kelp thrown up on the beach by a strong storm. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent, how are seaweed forests coping? Researchers in seven regions, from Portugal up to Orkney, are working together to find out. They’re finding that some seaweed forests are surprisingly resilient, with Orkney showing differences from elsewhere – as Ruby George from Swansea University explains.

It was the only flightless seabird in the northern hemisphere, and the last one in Orkney was shot in Papa Westray in 1813. Paleontology researcher Ilari Pätilä from the University of Helsinki tells the story of the great auk – and also some of the other magnificent seabirds from the prehistoric past, among them the ancient albatrosses whose fossils were first discovered in Britain.

Geometry deals with shapes, algebra with numbers. To bring them together fascinates Prof. Minhyong Kim, director of Edinburgh's International Centre for Mathematical Sciences. He is a leader in arithmetic geometry, which seeks to build the familiar world of geometry from deep number structures. He also has a long interest in physics, and its huge challenge: how to reconcile quantum theory with Einstein’s general relativity? Is the question, he asks: is the universe algebraic or geometric?

Soil is much more than a mass of sand and clay, says Prof. Karen Johnson of Durham University – it is a mass of life, with a myriad of tiny micro-organisms carrying out a myriad of processes, and all adding to the life and potential of whatever we decide to grow. If we listen to what the soil needs and feed the soil rather than the plants, then plants and soil will both succeed.

More than a millennium ago, Norse settlers brought native sheep to Faroe and Iceland and began a long tradition. Its value continues today, with new markets opening for the meat and wool. Dorthea Joensen works for the Faroese Agricultural Agency which collects the wool, and also works on her own family farm. Jens Ivan í Gerðinum is an agricultural researcher, with degrees from Aberdeen and Copenhagen, and a farmer and sheep breeder and a judge in the national tup ring. Hafliði Halldórsson is a master chef and managing director of the Icelandic Lamb cooperative, which recently took part in a project which highlighted nutritional levels in the meat.

Behind every big construction project is a massive world of logistics planning, movements, and producing materials. It all goes by the name of temporary works, and it’s anything used to support people, plant and the ground, and to test things onsite. Chartered civil engineer Jemma Quin has worked on airports, buildings, electrical substations and railways. The work at times has involved varied challenges – like having to demolish and rebuild a bridge in a weekend.

A hundred years ago gramophone record technology made a breakthrough with electrical recording. The wax master disc was still stamped out mechanically – but the recorded sound could now be amplified, filtered and balanced electronically and the process was under way that would lead to LPs and CDs and all the digital forms of today. Prof. Tom Stevenson tells the story, with recorded examples.

Meg Rodger from Berneray founded the Birlinn Wool Company to sell the yarn from pedigree Hebridean sheep from her own flock and from neighbouring crofts. She works to a ‘whole sheep plan’ – covering yarn, sheepskins and meat boxes, and has woven a traditional Norse cloak. Alison Gault of Belfast School of Art describes community wool initiatives for Rathlin Island and for the Aran Islands, with computer-aided design and manufacture involved.

From distant stars to tiny cells, cameras open up new worlds – and now they have entered the quantum domain. At the University of California, Berkeley, a team of physicists and biologists use individual electrons to image proteins inside cells. One of the team, Dr Eric Cooper, shares the latest images and explains how quantum mechanics holds the key to building ever more powerful quantum cameras.

North Ronaldsay’s wool mill is expanding into new premises, with a meat larder alongside at a new commercial hub for the island. North Ronaldsay Trust's Community Development Manager Luke Fraser describes the project. We hear about the sheep and their traditional management from the Clerk to the Sheep Court, Michael Scott. Tim Ross describes the success of the North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival in repairing the 13-mile-long sheep dyke, and Jane Cooper reports on work on facilities for meat.

Dr Russell Miller and Dr David Whittaker of the National Physical Laboratory describe how quantum effects underpin much of technology today – from semiconductor chips in mobile phones to atomic clocks providing precise timing for telecommunications and banking systems. They tell the story of advances in precision measurement and demonstrate examples of cutting-edge techniques.

Prof. Minhyong Kim, the director of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh, is one of the world’s leading number theorists. He is also the author of nine popular books about mathematics, several of which have become bestsellers in his native South Korea; his latest one is a colourful cartoon adventure for children. One of the Centre’s new projects is Mathematics for Humanity, aimed at supporting projects in mathematics that help to make the world a better place. He describes what a pure mathematician does and why.

Romance isn’t easy when you’re a honeybee, says biologist Johnathan Doran: fewer than 1 in 100 males ever get the chance to mate. “It’s a challenge made even tougher by everything from habitat loss and flower shortages to pesticides, construction and noise pollution.” In a lively presentation for family audiences and everyone interested in the life of bees, he and fellow-biologist Dr Eoin Cowie take a closer look at what’s standing in the way of love for nature’s most famous pollinators. There is a mix of discussion and hands-on science demonstrations along the way.

Join poet Valerie Gillies and artist Rebecca Marr, with their current exhibition at the Pier, where they will weave a story of grass through poems and images and natural history readings. "Grass has regenerative powers." they say, "because it grows from the root not the tip. Grasses are a powerful symbol, withstanding constant grazing and trampling. We found that the grasses restored us."

There are numbers beneath the surface in music: you can count notes, bars, words and letters of accompanying text …. So, says musicologist and composer Dr John Purser, music offers a rich potential for composers interested in patterns of numbers. He provides examples: the late 13th-century Inchcolm Antiphoner, the 16th-century Carver Choirbook, and William Wallace’s Creation Symphony in the late 19th-century. He shows number patterns in music and words, illustrated too by some of his own work, played by Iain Campbell (piano) and Elizabeth Sullivan (violin).

Prof. Lisa Raphals, University of California Riverside and University of Edinburgh, looks at how chance worked in the life and thought of two of the great cultures of history.

In just a couple of generations, the UK has experienced a food revolution. Instead of relying on what can be grown or caught or processed locally, we have daily access to a great choice of products from around the world, delivered to a local store by highly efficient ‘Just-In-Time’ distribution systems, run by a few large suppliers. But in a world of increasing uncertainty, asks Prof. Tim Lang, author of a new report on national food security, how well prepared are we for any disruption?

Just about everything we eat or wear or use has been brought from somewhere distant. A vast web of intricate global supply chains coordinate the movement of container ships, freight planes and lorries to an ever-increasing pitch of precision. But, says Prof. Aseem Kinra of Heriot-Watt University, the more we optimise a system, the less resilient it is to any disruption – in an increasingly uncertain world. He looks at the risks – and possible ways for an island community to build resilience.

Dr Alan Walker, close friend and colleague, describes the 2013 Nobel physics laureate's love of art, music and the outdoors, and the adventures, occasional mishaps, and ultimate enjoyment of journeys with him to places including CERN in Geneva and Stockholm for the award, and Plockton and Orkney as well.

Len Wilson, former boatbuilder, tells the story of the tall ships and the men who sailed them, while naval architect Dennis Davidson of Murray Cormack Design describes Stanger’s and Copland’s shipyards in Stromness and some of the ships they built.

Are science and religion opposed, with science somehow more ‘real’? Not at all, says Prof. Andrew Briggs, who holds degrees in both science and theology. Both science and religion, he says, start from an ultimate curiosity about the world – and science swims in the slipstream of the flow of the deep questions they ask about our existence.

Out on the west, with high rocky hills and sandy beaches, Barra's stories span the centuries from Viking invasions to the Highland Clearances, with a long tradition of fishing and crofting. Dr Pernilla Sörme balances the running of a small croft in the island with leading international collaborative projects, and she shares stories of life on Barra today and its resilience in the modern world.

Over the past 4 billion years we’ve come through some thrilling, chilling episodes, says Prof. John Baez, University of California Riverside and University of Edinburgh. We collided with the planet Theia, there was ‘Snowball Earth’ when most of the oceans froze, and there was the asteroid impact that ended the age of dinosaurs. Some catastrophes are well documented, others only theorised, but life somehow came through them all. Can this, he asks, give us hope in today’s uncertain times?

It makes a difference at every stage of life, says Dr Irene Watt – for babies and children, teenagers, adults young and old. It can be used in child development, to build confidence, promote teamwork, help communication, create bonding and friendships, and to help health and mental wellbeing. A music educator for more than 35 years, she is a research fellow at Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Institute, and music director of two award-winning choirs and Aberdeen’s Harp Orchestra.

Could Orkney, today so dependent on the supermarket distribution system, become more self-reliant in food? UHI Agronomy and Agriculture Institute director Dr Henry Creissen highlights a range of possible new crops for humans and livestock. Gardener Ed Bollom describes the range of vegetables and fruit that can grow in exposed situations elsewhere, and the potential for expanding food-growing in all situations, from fields and gardens to pots and polycrubs.

Houses in Orkney have quadrupled in price in little more than 20 years, with young people unable to find a home. School rolls are falling, with the population slowly becoming an ageing one. How many houses are needed? Luke Fraser draws on many years’ experience in Orkney’s housing sector to set out the figures. And in practical terms, how can Orkney gear up to build what’s needed? Stephen Kemp of Orkney Builders, a former president of the Scottish Building Federation, responds.

In September 2022 Maarten de Vries got Covid, and he found some of the symptoms didn’t go away, including muscular pain, brain fog and fatigue. After several months he was diagnosed with long Covid. A keen synthesizer player, he had found that even this took too much energy, but he had a particular commitment to a monthly online jamming session with a fellow enthusiast. He tells the story of what happened in the weeks and months that followed, and shows some of the instruments that he plays.

Data can help in the care of people with chronic conditions, says Prof. Stephen Friend. It can be gathered in by smartphones or wearable technology. When augmented by an AI approach, this data could able the forecasting of symptom changes, and offer health guidance based on empowerment. These methods, he says, can be used for a wide range of conditions, from diabetes and arthritis to Parkinson’s and dementia.

Are there better options to current ro-ro routes? True ro-ro with more terminals and shorter and more frequent inter-island links? Expanded air freight to augment the inter-island air passenger service? Fixed links? Or a carefully-integrated mix? Howie Firth summarises the story of today's pattern and sets out questions. Prof. Aseem Kinra of Heriot-Watt University shows how transport is a system, with each element chosen to help the whole overall flow. A speaker from the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) outlines new air freight options.

From the Arctic to Antarctica – the Belgian documentary photographer and explorer Christian Clauwers takes us on a planetary journey to see stunningly beautiful landscapes, to highlight their fragility in the face of melting glaciers and rising sea levels. He shows us small Pacific island states whose survival is now at risk: atolls and coral reefs with blue lagoons and white sands, lying low in the water – Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. We hear of the impact of melting sea ice on biodiversity, including food crops and species like polar bears and penguins.

The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss open up massive land use issues which need to be tackled urgently, says Prof. Roger Crofts. Land, he says, is needed for so many purposes – which can conflict: to expand food production for local consumption and export; to plant trees for carbon offsetting and supplying the timber industry; for restoring nature, protecting soils and recovering wetlands; for producing renewable energy; and for housing and economic development.

Prof. Bill Sanderson highlights the benefits for coastal communities of seabed restoration. PhD student Emmy Cooper-Young looks at potential restoration sites and how to find the very best locations for oysters in Orkney. Prof. Joanne Porter looks at the great seagrass meadows of Orkney, in sheltered bays and around Sanday, Westray and Wyre – and their living world of juvenile fish, shellfish and invertebrates.

On the west side of Otterswick Bay in Sanday, noted Walter Traill Dennison, and only visible with the the low spring tides – are the remains of many trees. And, he observed, Sanday folklore speaks of an old woman who asked the question: “What has become of the woods of Otterswick?” Associate Professor Scott Timpany of UHI Orkney has been studying pollen and plant macrofossils from the site, to build up a picture of an ancient forest and the probable date when it was drowned by the sea.

Old people in Orkney told George Marwick of Yesnaby, born in 1836, that they heard the shuffling feet of the dancers in the sky. But with the Northern Lights over 80 kilometres above us, few scientists believed it. It was only in 2012 that a researcher recorded the sound, and mechanisms are still unclear. Dr David Kerridge, who for many years led the British Geological Survey’s earth magnetism research, discusses the evidence for auroral sounds and describes the current understanding of how the aurora is created.

Three perspectives on protecting the sea from some of the ways in which humans can pollute it. How Orkney’s Marine Environmental Unit monitors the biology of Scapa Flow to protect it against pollution. How Greener Orkney have been gathering litter from North Isles beaches, targeting hotspots through beach surveys and drone flights. And how tabletop-size equipment can transform ocean plastic into feedstock for 3D printing – and ultimately an Orkney chair.

When Assiepattle slew the Stoor Worm, its teeth became the Orkney, Shetland and Faroe islands. Its body became Iceland – where its liver, set alight by a blazing peat, still burns today. How do Icelanders feel about their origin, and do they share the same fireside stories that Walter Traill Dennison recorded in Sanday of mermaids and selkies? Tom Muir introduces Prof. Terry Gunnell of the University of Iceland.

Orkney families have rich and varied traditions of their origins. Some say they're from a shipwreck – maybe a Spanish Armada vessel or the Crown, transporting Scottish Covenanter prisoners to the West Indies; or from a single survivor washed ashore. Others say they were settlers from Norway or servants of a Scottish earl – or escaping trouble in mainland Scotland. Dr Ragnhild Ljosland of UHI Orkney has been gathering up family origin legends and finding they build into a fascinating picture.

Vincent van Gogh often incorporated celestial elements into his work. Now we can compare his paintings with real astronomical data. And when we do, says Dr Vassilios Spathopoulos, we get a lot of surprises. "Sometimes van Gogh exercised artistic licence with celestial positioning and appearance, but remarkably, at other times he depicted astronomical objects with striking accuracy, suggesting careful observation of the night sky."

How to transport a 6-tonne stone slab many hundreds of miles, from Scotland to Stonehenge? Dr Mark Cooper of the University of Washington is a biophysicist with a deep interest in archaeology and ancient ships. He describes possible forms of boat construction that would have been strong enough to cope with the Irish Sea and the North Sea, as well as the Pentland Firth – and also methods of navigation, and thus systems for measurement of length and time.

Only a few of Orkney’s Neolithic cairns have produced bones of the people from that time, but the number has now increased with an excavation at Blomuir in Holm. And this time many of the bones are not mixed up together but preserved as articulated skeletons. The survival of these skeletons, says joint excavation leader Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark of the National Museums of Scotland, makes Blomuir “truly exceptional and unique”.

Amongst the ruins of ancient Nineveh were fragments of thousands of tablets of baked clay from a Babylonian king’s library, written in cuneiform writing. They included an original story of the Flood – and also a record of appearances of the planet Venus over 21 years. The exact date of the observations is not clear. But, as Dave Craig shows, modern Stellarium software can match them up with NASA data.

It began with crochet squares, and developed into jumpers – and eventually they were producing knitwear for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Harrods in London. The community company, Isle of Sanday Knitters, brought in additional income to island households, and provided new challenges and opportunities to many people, and really changed lives. Ages ranged from late teens to late 80s, and at its peak the company was enlisting knitters from Shetland to Wolverhampton. For most of its three decades, Sandra Towrie was designing and knitting, and she has now written a book telling the story. For much of that time Tom Rendall was company secretary, and he joins her to look back at a remarkable story.

On 2 October 1925 the Scots inventor John Logie Baird sent the first televised image – the face of a ventriloquist’s dummy called Stookie Bill. It was scanned by a whirling disc with a 30-hole spiral, with the signal sent down a wire to modulate a neon lamp in the receiver; and the moving image appeared on a screen. Prof. Tom Stevenson tells how the technology developed so rapidly that within 11 years the BBC was transmitting a 405-line picture from Alexandra Palace. And by the end of 1958 Orkney had its own service, from the wartime radar masts at Netherbutton.

It's an ideal example of how to make good use of energy. The intensive heat that operates the stills at Highland Park used to be vented out into the atmosphere, but now it’s providing warm air to help dry the malt in the kiln, and warm water for the mash tun. The story’s told by Alasdair Punton, process design manager at Edrington, and distillery manager Marie Gulliver, with time for questions and discussion, and we round off by raising a glass of Highland Park to Dr Tim Dolan, who did so much for the distilling industry.

It was called Orkney’s only nightclub, just by the Brig o Waithe, on the corner of the Orphir road, and it was a source of late-night nourishment to a generation of young Orcadians going home from Friday night dances. There were packets of Orkney crisps, bottles of Sunjoy, and hot pies on a biscuit tin lid. The light came from paraffin lamps, and water came from the well. Willie Farquhar in his cobbler’s leather apron welcomed everyone – and passed into Orkney legend. A fellow Stenness resident, local historian Patricia Long, tells the story, with reader Graham Garson.