Taken with the help of hundreds of scientists and multiple telescopes across the world, the image is the first visual evidence confirming the presence of a supermassive black hole, known as Sagittarius A* or Sgr A* (pronounced sadge-ay-star), in the centre of the Milky Way.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) headquarters in Garching, Germany, was one of the multiple locations where the image was revealed today (12 May).

The ESO, of which Ireland is a part, is partially responsible for the telescopes used by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, the global research team that led the effort to capture the first ever glimpse of our galactic centre.

Because a black hole is completely dark, it is impossible to actually see it – even in an image. However, the image released today reveals the telltale signs.

In the image, a dark central region called a shadow is surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. Because of the black hole’s incredible mass – 4m times that of our sun – light surrounding the object bends under the influence of its powerful gravity.

Until now, astronomers studying the centre of our galaxy had only been able to conjecture the presence of a black hole based on observations of stars orbiting around something invisible, compact and very massive. This prediction goes all the way back to Albert Einstein’s work around relativity.

“We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein’s theory of general relativity,” said EHT project scientist Geoffrey Bower.

“These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very centre of our galaxy and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings.”

The team’s results were published today in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

This is not the first time scientists have been able to capture an image of a black hole, however. In 2019, the ESO and EHT revealed the first-ever photo of a black hole – from a different galaxy, far, far away.

The image was from the centre of a galaxy called M87 which is approximately 55m light years away from Earth – meaning that if we travelled at the speed of light in that direction, it would take us 55m years to reach it.

Even though Sagittarius A* is at the centre of our galaxy, it is still 27,000 light years away from the Earth. Adding to the complexity of viewing the black hole is the high density of stars between the Earth and itself.

“Although many black holes are known in our galaxy, the one in the galactic centre is hundreds of thousands of times more massive again,” said Prof Paul Callanan of the University College Cork Department of Physics, who is involved with the ESO.

Callanan said that imaging such an object in the heart of our galaxy is an important step in our understanding of supermassive black holes, and how they interact with their environment and affect the evolution of galaxies.

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California-headquartered Equinix has four data centres in west Dublin. Its work with Codema will see the two organisations look into ways that waste heat from these data centres can be used to support facilities in the local area, which include a hospital, university and an aquatics centre.

Codema works with Dublin’s local authorities with the aim of accelerating the region’s net-zero transition through innovative, local-level energy and climate research, engagement and projects. Last year, it announced a €1.2m project to test mass-scale retrofitting of buildings in the capital.

Donna Gartland, CEO of Codema, summed up its mission as leading “the low-carbon transition in Dublin”.

“We have enough waste and renewable heat available in Dublin to completely move all buildings away from fossil fuel heating, and working with progressive and ambitious industry stakeholders like Equinix enables us to bring these district heating projects to reality,” she added.

In 2020, Gartland told SiliconRepublic.com about the challenges involved in reducing Dublin’s reliance on fossil fuels and the opportunities of district energy schemes.

There are many concerns about the environmental impact of data centres in Ireland and the toll they may take on the country’s energy supply. New figures released earlier this month revealed that Irish data centres consumed more electricity than rural dwellings last year.

Equinix has been making efforts in recent years to reduce its carbon footprint. Over the past three years, it has reduced its Irish data centre carbon emissions by 16pc and it aims to become carbon neutral globally by 2030.

The company plans to achieve this goal through initiatives such as district heating, which delivers low-carbon heat to buildings through a network of insulated underground pipelines. District heating is fuel agnostic, which can help to drive down heating costs and ensure security of supply.

Maurice Mortell, Equinix’s sustainability lead in EMEA and managing director for Ireland, said that the company’s partnership with Codema would help it explore ways to work towards its own decarbonisation while also benefitting the local community.

“Codema has been doing admirable work in its goal to decarbonise Dublin. We are delighted to be working with them and look forward to learning how we can continue to support them on their important carbon-zero mission,” Mortell added.

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Born in Belfast, Rooney studied pure maths at Trinity College Dublin before undertaking her PhD in applied maths at the University of Oxford. She also participated in the International Space University’s Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program in 2018.

Following her inclusion on the Forbes list, Rooney told SiliconRepublic.com that she has always been innately curious, so STEM was a natural interest for her.

“When it came to space, I was mesmerised by the night sky and staring at the stars, and I loved how unknown and unexplored it was. I always longed to contribute to the understanding and exploration of space and the universe.”

Working at NASA

Now, Rooney works as a mathematician at the NASA Ames Research Center in California, studying exoplanet atmospheres to understand how they formed, what they’re made of, and if they could be home to extra-terrestrial life.

“We can’t go to these planets because they are extremely far away, so we rely on telescopes looking deep into the universe to get a glimpse at them. These telescopes detect light from the planets and we break this light up into its different wavelengths, sort of like a rainbow,” she said.

“The result is what we call the planetary spectra and it can tell us what the planet is made of, its temperature and other characteristics. I work on the theoretical side of these studies, writing and solving mathematical models that simulate how these atmospheres scatter and absorb light to produce the spectra we see, and what different gases and chemical species must be present in the atmosphere to do this.”

While she was fascinated by the night sky from a young age, Rooney said she didn’t expect her degree or PhD to lead to her current role. It was just her love of maths that led her through education, and along the way she started to see how her mathematical research knowledge could be applied to the space sector.

‘Women are significantly outnumbered in the physical sciences, so that has to change’
^{– CAOIMHE ROONEY}

“I started to seek out opportunities that allowed me to bridge these two passions. Participating in the International Space University Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program was an important part of my journey, as it gave me my first real experience within the space sector,” she said.

“After that, there was no doubt that I wanted to pursue a career in space. Being awarded the NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship was the most incredible opportunity and I am so grateful to my supervisor Prof Mark Marley for taking the chance on me!”

Rooney is now the sole mathematician in a room full of astrophysicists at NASA Ames Research Center, which she said is incredibly stimulating.

“We work as a team, each bringing our own specialty to the table, and I’ve tried to absorb as much as I can from the expertise of my colleagues. We’ve discovered that I am much more comfortable when given a system of equations rather than a written paragraph that explains the same phenomenon,” she said.

“I feel very lucky to work alongside my research team at NASA and contribute to the exciting projects we’ve been working on.”

Space research

While working at NASA and researching space is exciting, Rooney said it’s not without its challenges.

“It can be difficult to validate the mathematical models due to the limitations of the data we get back from telescopes. The physics and maths required to accurately model a planetary atmosphere is extremely involved and complicated, so we need to think carefully about what the most important aspects are to include, and what are the least detrimental to neglect,” she explained.

“To test whether we made the right decision, we must compare our models to real data from the telescopes, but this is not straightforward due to limitations in the resolution of the data and the wavelengths we can observe.”

However, with the launch of the new James Webb Space Telescope late last year, Rooney said that researchers will “soon be blessed” with higher resolution data extending to longer wavelengths. “This is very exciting.”

An often-challenging area of a career in research is having to explain why a particular area of focus is important. For Rooney, getting a better picture of how the universe was formed and how it evolved is critical.

“I think that anyone who studies space and planetary science has a greater appreciation for the uniqueness and fragility of our own planet and how truly lucky we are that the Earth satisfies the conditions for life as we know it,” she said.

“I think it’s also very important to educate the public and the younger generations about the research we’re doing so that everyone can appreciate the wonder of our universe and inspire the next generation of scientists and change-makers.”

Diversity in STEM

While change has been happening in the STEM industry in terms of gender balance, Rooney said there’s a lot more work to be done – especially in maths and science, which are “genderised at a very early age”.

“You only have to walk up and down the aisles of a toy store to see that the science and engineering toys are in the boys’ aisles and significantly lacking amongst the girls’ toys. We need to begin fuelling girls’ curiosity and scientific thinking as early as we do for boys.”

Rooney has already been doing her own work to try combat this. Outside of her role at NASA, she is also the co-founder of Mathematigals, an educational outreach initiative that aims to make maths fun and accessible for young girls.

“I think everyone has thought to themselves, ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ when studying maths in school. And maths certainly has the stigma of being hard and boring. We are hoping to change that by showing how maths underpins everything but doing this in such a way that it’s fun and comprehensible to everyone,” she said.

“Women are significantly outnumbered in the physical sciences, so that has to change, but even the ones that are already in maths are not being showcased and celebrated. We want to give those women a platform to share their contribution to their fields and be role models for young girls who are interested in STEM.”

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The total budget for the research and innovation programme for 2021 and 2022 now stands at almost €16bn.

As well as the budget increase, the EU has also made several adjustments to the programme, chief among them new measures to support researchers affected by the war in Ukraine.

A new scheme called MSCA4Ukraine has been allocated a budget of €25m to support displaced academics from Ukraine. The programme is part of the existing Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training.

It will enable Ukrainians to continue their work in academic or non-academic organisations in EU member states and countries associated with Horizon Europe. It will also allow them to re-establish themselves in Ukraine when possible to rebuild the country’s research and innovation capacity.

Researchers’ families will be supported in line with other MSCA programmes.

In March, the European Commission launched a dedicated portal for Ukraine-based researchers as well as researchers fleeing the country, called the European Research Area for Ukraine portal. This provides information on initiatives at EU level to help affected researchers.

“Ukrainian excellence in research deserves our support in these extremely difficult times,” said Mariya Gabriel, the commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth.

“With MSCA4Ukraine, we will further strengthen the solidarity and scientific cooperation between the EU and Ukraine, and make sure Ukrainian researchers can continue their work.”

As part of the amendment to Horizon Europe, legal entities established in Russia, Belarus or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine will not be eligible to participate in actions supported by the EU research programme.

In addition to the supports for Ukrainian academics, the updated Horizon Europe includes the continuation of WomenTechEU.

This programme, which offers coaching and mentorship opportunities to women deep-tech founders to help them overcome industry bias, will see its budget tripled to support more than 100 women-led start-ups. Three Irish start-ups – Xtremedy Medical, Kids Speech Labs and Konree Innovation – were picked to take part in the programme’s pilot in March of this year.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have also signed a guarantee agreement. This will see the Commission will support up to €26.7bn of EIB financial operations to enable public investments in sectors such as clean energy, digital and transport infrastructure, health and education over the next seven years.

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At The Complex arts centre, six sewing machines appear to be self-operating, with each one turning on at seemingly random intervals and various speeds. However, the machines are being controlled by workers in a textile factory more than 8,000km away in Bengaluru, India.

When the factory workers press the foot pedal of their sewing machines in India, the data is transmitted in real time to the machines in Dublin, which reproduce the movement using motors.

The Red Thread exhibition was created by conceptual artist Kerry Guinan with the help of an international team of collaborators. Guinan said she chose sewing machines for the exhibition as she feels the industry represents a “limit point” when it comes to automation.

The exhibition aimed to show the moments of human interaction between people at opposite ends of supply chains, highlighting the scale and humanity of the globalised economy.

For the art project, a tiny laser was placed under the pedals of the machines in India that can detect distance from the ground. When the workers press the pedal with their foot to use the machine, the laser can detect the small changes to gauge when the machine is on and how fast it is going.

Using Arduino technology, the data from the Bengaluru factory is transmitted through the cloud to the Dublin machines, where motors connected to the pedals activate when the machines are used in India.

Two of the technical fabricators behind the project, Sai Mulpuru and Frank Prendergast, said the data from the laser is collected every tenth of a second, while the latency between the Indian factory and the machines in Dublin is only around one second.

Mulpuru said different sensor options were tested such as magnetic or ultrasonic sensors, but these were not sensitive enough to capture the subtle movements of the pedal effectively.

While the laser was successful, Mulpuru said its sensitivity caused difficulties in a factory environment, as bits of dust and fabric would fall under the pedal and disrupt the sensor during tests. This meant regular monitoring was required during the exhibition to keep the sensors working.

Prendergast said one of the biggest technical obstacles on the Dublin side was reducing the noise in the machines, as “we wanted it to be a reflection of the people, rather than the machine”.

“It’s been superb to work across continents with Sai and it’s kind of a reflection on how we can do this now,” Prendergast added.

At the event, the machines don’t run at full speed very often, with some turning on for short bursts at a time. Guinan said there are many human aspects to the textile work that aren’t being shown by the machine itself, which indicates the amount of work in labour that can go unconsidered.

The event ends tonight (10 May) with a performance by musicians Natalia Beylis and Michelle Doyle at 7pm, who will perform a score on the industrial sewing machines in The Red Thread installation.

The feat of making the project work across continents is also explored in an accompanying film by Anthony O’Connor.

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The awardees are from 10 higher education institutions around the country: University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Maynooth University, NUI Galway, TU Dublin, University of Limerick, Tyndall National Institute and Dublin City University.

The research projects will investigate various aspects of health and climate such as childhood ADHD, future coastal sea levels, next-generation batteries, antiviral drugs to treat Covid-19 infections, safety-critical software, the link between obesity and cancer, and the future-proofing of crops to withstand flooding.

SFI director general Prof Philip Nolan described the projects as “wonderfully diverse”.

“But they have one thing in common: they ask fundamental questions and will lead to important scientific breakthroughs, with important applications in areas such as climate action, biodiversity, human and animal health and digital transformation, with real and lasting benefits to our society and economy.”

Among these grants, 58 ‘high-risk, high-reward’ projects will receive around €32.3m to facilitate innovative and novel approaches to research, while 18 larger-scale collaborative research programmes will receive roughly €21.4m in funding.

“I am delighted to support this programme which funds individual-led research, with an emphasis on fundamental research at the cutting edge of science and engineering which will help us build a better future for Ireland through discovery, innovation and impact,” Harris said.

He added that the funding will support 216 people in various research positions to further develop their research careers. This number includes 93 postdoctoral scientists, 105 PhD students and 18 research assistants.

In line with its gender strategy, SFI said 42pc of the research grants are going to projects led by women researchers. SFI also said 32pc will be led by emerging investigators early in their research careers. In 2020’s Frontiers for the Future programme, 45pc of the 71 research grants were awarded to women.

The programme is being run in collaboration with Geological Survey Ireland and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, which are co-funding a number of the grants.

Health and climate

One of the supported researchers is Maynooth University’s Dr Niamh Cahill, who aims to develop state-of-the-art software to better understand and predict changes in Irish sea levels to improve costal defence strategies and reduce the impact of extreme sea-level changes.

Meanwhile, Trinity College Dublin’s Prof Valeria Nicolosi seeks to develop the next generation of batteries beyond lithium-ion technology by using novel materials. It is hoped the project will find ways to overcome the scarcity and distribution issues associated with the use of lithium and cobalt.

RCSI’s Prof James O’Donnell will investigate how the body controls the levels of a critical component used in blood clotting, to help identify more effective ways to treat people with inherited blood-clotting disorders.

University College Dublin’s Dr Alexey Lastovetsky aims to develop software that can reduce the significant energy needs associated with daily computer use, without compromising functionality and performance.

Also at University College Dublin, Dr Tancredi Caruso and Dr Jonathan Yearsley will investigate how microbes in the soil support the ability of plants to resist extreme weather events, in order to improve the resilience of agriculturally important plants.

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The WMO’s latest climate update noted that the chance to temporarily exceed this temperature average has been increasing rapidly since 2015, when the odds were close to zero. Between 2017 and 2021 there was a 10pc chance that one of those years would reach the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature increase.

“This study shows – with a high level of scientific skill – that we are getting measurably closer to temporarily reaching the lower target of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change,” WMO secretary-general Prof Petteri Taalas said yesterday (9 May).

“The 1.5 degrees Celsius figure is not some random statistic. It is rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet.”

In February, a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that some effects of the climate crisis may be irreversible if human activity leads to global heating exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius. It added that the people and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit.

In another report last month, the IPCC said that halving global emissions by 2030 is achievable, but hard and fast cuts are needed across all sectors and nations to limit global heating.

“A single year of exceedance above 1.5 degrees Celsius does not mean we have breached the iconic threshold of the Paris Agreement, but it does reveal that we are edging ever closer to a situation where 1.5 degrees Celsius could be exceeded for an extended period,” said Dr Leon Hermanson from the Met Office, who led the WMO report.

The climate update said there is a 93pc chance that one of the years between 2022 and 2026 will become the hottest on record, a title currently held by 2016. There is also a 93pc chance that the five-year average temperature between 2022 and 2026 will be higher than the period between 2017 and 2021.

“For as long as we continue to emit greenhouse gases, temperatures will continue to rise,” Taalas said. “Alongside that, our oceans will continue to become warmer and more acidic, sea ice and glaciers will continue to melt, sea level will continue to rise and our weather will become more extreme.

“Arctic warming is disproportionately high and what happens in the Arctic affects all of us,” Taalas added.

In March, the Conger ice shelf – which was roughly the size of Rome – collapsed into the ocean. It was the third iceberg calving recorded that month as Antarctica experienced temperatures 40 degrees Celsius higher than normal.

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The NexSys (Next Generation Energy System) project is a consortium led by the Energy Institute at University College Dublin (UCD).

It plans to develop energy integration technology that aims to help the Irish energy industry move towards net-zero transition. The NexSys project will also deliver a comprehensive programme of training for researchers in collaboration with industry over the next five years.

NexSys is co-funded by nine industry partners: EirGrid, ESB, Ervia/Gas Networks Ireland, CIE, RWE, SSE, Electric Power Research Institute, Atlantic Hub and Davy.

As well as UCD, eight other academic institutions are also involved as partners. They are Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, Economic Social Research Institute, Maynooth University, University College Cork, NUI Galway, Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast.

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has awarded €8m in funding to the project. This was matched by a philanthropic donation from David O’Reilly, chair of UCD’s Energy Advisory Board.

Director of NexSys and UCD Energy Institute, Prof Andrew Keane, said: “NexSys is about the future, the future of our energy system and how we get to net-zero carbon and also about developing our island’s talent to shape our future energy system.”

“We are uniquely placed with our industry partnerships to develop cutting-edge technologies alongside developing engagement and dialogue with society on the energy transition. The partnership will have potentially transformative socio-economic impacts, and will further enhance the global reputation of Irish research in the energy sector,” he added.

Prof Philip Nolan, director general of SFI, said the body was delighted to support the research partnership, adding that “successful research and innovation in this important sector will deliver a more cost-effective energy system with less impact on the environment supporting our transition to zero emissions”.

Nolan said that NexSys would also provide important future skills in the energy sector by training early and mid-career researchers in energy systems integration.

Prof Aoife Ahern, principal of engineering and architecture at UCD and senior researcher on NexSys, said the project “will play an important role in achieving a just energy transition for Ireland, in both public and private enterprises”. She added that the team would work to determine how Ireland can maintain its current quality of life while transitioning to renewable energies.

NexSys is the successor of the Energy Systems Integration Partnership Programme, which received €11m funding from SFI and industry partners. It was also led by UCD’s Energy Institute.

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The AT course was designed by Irish non-profit Enable Ireland with support from Microsoft.

Enable Ireland works with people with disabilities and their families across the country. It has an online learning portal with several different courses in AT geared towards users, parents, teachers and clinicians with an interest in assistive technologies.

Its new course is called Learning with Assistive Technology – Primary Education. It aims to empower teachers, SNAs and parents to provide better outcomes for students living with disabilities. It takes around 12 hours to complete and is self-directed.

Learners will familiarise themselves with topics relevant to primary school-aged students including universal design for learning, AT to support access to computers and mobile devices, supports for oral language, writing, reading and Irish, software and apps to support maths, technologies to support visual arts, drama, and music and ideas, technologies, and adaptations to support those who can’t otherwise participate in standard sports and activities.

Speaking about the new course, Siobhán Long, Enable Ireland’s national AT service manager, said that she and her colleagues had found that early introduction to AT leads to better outcomes and increased engagement levels among users.

“The course is designed to equip the learner with the knowledge and skills required to guide students as they progress through to second-level education and beyond,” she explained.

“With this ambition in mind, we have developed this course specifically for those with key roles in primary education and the guardians of primary level students using AT. We have significant experience of what works and what types of assistive technologies are available, and we want to share that experience with others.”

In 2020, Long spoke to SiliconRepublic.com about AT’s role in helping people with disabilities during the pandemic.

Enable Ireland has collaborated with Microsoft for 20 years on AT-related projects. “Working with Enable Ireland, we’re able to unleash the power of assistive technology, transforming the lives of people living with disabilities,” said James O’Connor, vice-president of Microsoft international operations.

“Enable Ireland’s new AT course is an important development in the AT story as it will support people caring for and educating those with additional needs to develop the skills required to integrate AT seamlessly into the classroom or the home environment.”

The course is available to teachers for €50, and to parents and SNAs at the discounted rate of €25.

Other courses available on the Enable Ireland portal include a Foundations in Assistive Technologies course, as well as several courses designed to help people use AT to engage in pastimes such as art, photography and music.

Enable Ireland also offers a free introductory course focusing on AT at primary level for those who are unable to commit to 12 hours. This course offers a broad overview of the topic and lasts approximately 1.5 hours.

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A total of 70 people from across Analog Devices’ three sites in Ireland gathered for the two-day event last week to research and design innovative ideas to mitigate the climate emergency and address real-world challenges.

10 teams pitched their ideas to judges on the second day of the event, with concepts such as a wireless data centre management system for energy reduction, a methane capture-to-energy system, a smart microgrid system for efficient energy use in local communities, and a smart occupancy detection tool to improve heating system efficiency.

“We were impressed with the creativity of the solutions and how the teams took the time to identify the issues first,” Analog Devices hackathon project manager Donal McAuliffe said. “We were particularly struck by the passion and motivation from all participants. The theme of climate action resonated with everyone.”

The winning team of six impressed the judges with their pitch, which went beyond the technology focus and set out a sustainable business model through annual subscriptions.

Adam Fahy, Sinead O’Dowd, Souvik Kundu, Enda Kilgarriff, Brian McCarthy and co-op student Emma O’Donovan’s idea focused on detecting and reducing the spread of wildfires.

Fahy said the team designed a mesh network of nodes that can be distributed around a forest to detect the potential and presence of a fire. An online dashboard would then allow forest owners to detect areas at risk in real time, which would allow firefighters to get to the right location at a much faster pace.

“If a fire is detected in two minutes it will require 10 litres of water to extinguish; if detected in 10 minutes it can take 1,000 litres,” McCarthy said. “The amount of water required to extinguish wildfires is another climate change issue.”

Fahy said the team focused on this issue due to the wildfires in California, which are becoming “more deadly and destructive” each year. He added that it can take between two and four hours for firefighters to reach a wildfire using current detection methods.

“By this time, a fire has significantly increased in size and takes weeks to get under control,” Fahy said.

Analog Devices now plans to examine the feasibility of developing this early wildfire detection model for future deployment.

“This product brings a technological solution to a very real unpredictable problem that we live with each summer in Spain,” Analog Devices fellow Santiago Iriarte said.

“With weather patterns getting more extreme, a product like this could position Analog Devices as a world leader in driving climate action.”

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