Howie Firth follows the trail of an old Shetland folktale from the island of Fetlar through sea and sky, to find out who rode the gray horse and ran the red one. The search goes across Europe and south to the Greek island of Paxos and a message for a ship that fascinated the Roman Emperor Tiberius; then to Siberia and ancient Egypt and up into the night sky for ship and pilot, and the Fetlar horseman – and also a bear.
Two perspectives on the constellation of the Little Bear. Composer Stuart MacRae introduces a filmed performance of his quintet Ursa Minor, performed by the Hebrides Ensemble. Astronomer Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans of the University of St Andrews describes the constellation and tells the stories of some of its most remarkable stars.
In 1950, a group of undergraduate students visited Eynhallow on an Orkney field trip – not realising it would be the start of one of the world’s longest-running wildlife population studies. 75 years of research into the lives of the island's fulmars has produced much insight into the life of an enigmatic seabird, an ocean wanderer, as Prof. Paul Thompson of Aberdeen University explains.
Viking Genes is one of the first population research studies to give volunteers the option to have “actionable” genetic results returned to them. For this to happen, a range of ethical and practical issues had to be overcome, as Dr Shona Kerr of Edinburgh University explains.
DNA is becoming increasingly important in healthcare. Prof. Jim Flett Wilson of Edinburgh University returns home to explain the opportunities for prevention and early detection of disease for Orcadians and Shetlanders, arising from results of the Viking Genes studies.
It’s 55 years since Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon – but few have followed and the dreams have faded. But now governments and companies are talking of a return to the Moon and it’s being seen as a technology testbed for exploring Mars and the asteroids, says Prof. Mahesh Anand of The Open University.
William Thomson, born 200 years ago, never went to school. At the age of 10 he entered Glasgow University, and by the age of 22 was professor of natural philosophy there. He went on to make discoveries in electricity and magnetism, heat and thermodynamics. He also made many inventions, which earned him a fortune, from which he bought a schooner to sail on long voyages. He became the first British scientist in the House of Lords, as Lord Kelvin. Prof. Graham Machin of the National Physical Laboratory, whose work in heat and temperature measurements builds on Kelvin’s foundations, tell the story of a man who was rightly called a northern wizard.
