Mary Mulvihill Association
@rememberingmary.bsky.social
100 followers 140 following 940 posts
Commemorating the life and work of pioneering science writer and broadcaster Mary Mulvihill by supporting science journalism, communication and heritage
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rememberingmary.bsky.social
@uniofgalwaylib.bsky.social @dublincityuni.bsky.social @unioflimerick.bsky.social @ucc.ie @tcddublin.bsky.social
rememberingmary.bsky.social
The time has arrived (no pun intended) to announce that the theme for The 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award will be ..... Time ⌛⏰⌚⏱.

We are all very excited to see the different directions entrants will explore with this theme.

marymulvihillaward.ie/2025/10/04/2...

The clock is ticking .....😊

#time
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Last week we launched the 2026 Mary Mulvihill Student Media Award. The prestigious science communication award, gives students from all across the island of Ireland the chance to win €2000. 💶🏆👏

This year's award theme is 'Time'. ⏳

Full details below:
marymulvihillaward.ie/award/

#science
#media
rememberingmary.bsky.social
The time has arrived (no pun intended) to announce that the theme for The 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award will be ..... Time ⌛⏰⌚⏱.

We are all very excited to see the different directions entrants will explore with this theme.

marymulvihillaward.ie/2025/10/04/2...

The clock is ticking .....😊

#time
rememberingmary.bsky.social
This Thursday evening, the 2025 Mary Mulvihill Award and Science@Culture Talk will take place.

As we prepare, former award winner (Eoin Murphy) @beyondthelab.bsky.social writes about what he learned this year on The Story of Life and What Comes Next.

www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/s...
The story of life and what comes next
Eoin Murphy takes us on a whistle-stop tour of life on Earth and ponders where we go from here.
www.siliconrepublic.com
Reposted by Mary Mulvihill Association
beyondthelab.bsky.social
I was delighted to get the chance to chat with Rebecca Graham @siliconrepublic.bsky.social about how I got into science communication and more importantly how crucial The @rememberingmary.bsky.social Award was for me and for others in finding out way into the field. 🙏🙏🎙️
rememberingmary.bsky.social
That brings the story of 'Life' series to an end. Good luck to everyone who entered this year's #MaryMulvihillAward. 🤞🤞🤞
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Perhaps current and past generations have not taken the action which we should have. The question now is, will the children of today and perhaps their children have the courage, political leadership and foresight to change the direction we seem to be going? Lets hope so.🙏🧵30/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Although for good reason there is much doom and gloom around the current status of life on planet Earth, surely the fact we have never known so much about the impact of our actions nor have we had so many ways of improving the situation, offers opportunity to change. 🧵29/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
With the consequences of climate change already being experienced by many around the globe, there are some who believe the future of our species lies beyond this planet. 🧵28/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Much focus has recently been placed on climate tipping points, events which if triggered could lead to a cycle of environmental collapse. Many scientists believe that 5 of these thresholds are at immediate risk of being crossed, and 3 more could be reached in the 2030s. 🧵27/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
2024 marked the first year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5oC. In addition, the past ten years 2015-2024 have been the ten warmest years on record. These figures are already exceeding the limits set by the Paris Agreement in 2015. 🧵26/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Dr. Jane Goodall echoed what many other conservationists have said in recent years by claiming, ‘we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction’. Species loss is occurring at a rate estimated to be between 100-1000 faster than the natural background rate of extinction. 🧵25/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Some scientists believe we have now left behind the Holocene Epoch and entered the Anthropocene. This term describes a period of time during which human activities have impacted the environment enough to constitute a distinct geological change. 🧵24/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
For the past 11,500 years, Earth has been in the Holocene Epoch, a relatively stable time for climate and temperature. January 2025 was the warmest on record globally, despite the fact we are in a la Nina, the cold phase of the the El Nino Summer Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.🧵23/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Despite the advances made in renewable technology, it may be too late for much of the life on this planet. A recent paper published in Nature analysed over 2000 different studies and found human action to be driving biodiversity loss among all species across the planet. 🧵22/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
But since the onset of the industrial revolution, we have seen a 50% increase the levels of CO2 now present in the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas account for 75% of global greenhouse emissions and 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. 🧵21/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Climate simulations suggest that the extinction of the megafauna may have led to a slight increase in global warming, but the growth of agriculture which would later follow could have led to a slight global cooling. Thus the net change being small. 🧵20/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
In the millenia before the industrial revolution, mankind was having an impact on the global environment. The use of fire, spread of agriculture and the extinction of the megafauna are clear examples. 🧵19/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
But all these advances have come at a cost. Up to the beginning of the 1800s, carbon emissions had remained relatively stable. However, since the arrival of the industrial revolution this has changed. 🧵18/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
In the two centuries since we passed the 1 billion people mark, we have seen human population reach 8 billion. Current projections suggest that we will reach 10 billion by the end of the century, before leveling out. 🧵17/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
By AD1, human population is thought to have reached as high 170 million. Excluding a couple of short exceptions, this figure would continue to steadily grow over the next 1700 years reaching 1 billion by the start of the 19th century. 🧵16/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
For most of human history the overall population is believed to have remained low. Possibly even as low as 1 million people, but with the advent of farming, rapid growth began to occur. 🧵15/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
From the Plague of Justinian (541-549 AD, ~ 50 million deaths), to the Black Death (1334-1353 AD,~ 200 million deaths) up to the 100 million people who lost their lives to the Spanish Flu (1918). As we developed, so too did microorganisms. 🧵14/31
rememberingmary.bsky.social
Plagues and other infectious diseases have no doubtfully threatened humans for as long as we have lived with animals, but the first documented epidemic is believed to have occurred in Athens in the year 430BC, killing up to 75, 000 people or 25% of the population. 🧵13/31