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Mini Med

On the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March On Day 2 we met a dietician and physiotherapist who
I attended a Mini Med Course along talked about their jobs on a day to day basis. We visited the
with other TY students around the laboratories connected to the hospital and observed the
country in the National Maternity work done by all of the medical scientists. We met a Junior
Hospital, Holles St, Dublin. On the first Doctor who told us about all the studying and exams that
day we met Dr Venita Broderick who she has to do.
organised the course. We then listened to Professor Shane On the final day I learned how to do Basic Life Support on
Higgins who talked about life as a med student and working a baby. We were shown how a baby is incubated and we
in a hospital environment. We got a tour of the hospital and practised on models. We got to speak to some of the patients
saw a head to toe examination of a new born baby. Dr Donal in the wards. We met a midwife and she told us about her
O Brien talked to us about keyhole surgery and we got to work and why she loves it. It was a great experience and I
practice on models. We got the opportunity to practise got a real insight to what a career in healthcare is like.
getting scrubbed for theatre, it is definitely not as easy as
it looks! Sophie Reilly

TYPE- Transition Year Physics Experience 2018

On the 12th April 2018, Carla Van der Laan and I, Rachel power is the equivalent to that of 40 million billion billion
Alexander were lucky enough to get the opportunity to 100 Watt bulbs!
go up to Trinity College Dublin to experience the life of an Our next lecture was on the effects of space debris on earth,
Astrophysics student in Trinity for the day. It was due to take given by Prof. Brian Espey, who has previously worked with
place on the 1st March, but due to the bad weather it had to NASA. He also showed us pieces of asteroids that have
be rescheduled to April.
previously hit earth. It was amazing to get to see these, and
On April 12th we had an early morning wake-up call at to think that they were once in space!
6.00am in order to catch our bus to Dublin. We got the We then had a lunch break so we raced into the city to get
bus, and were on our way to becoming a college student! some food, in order to be back for the next lecture, which
We arrived into Dublin at around 9.30am and we walked to was based more on pure physics than astrophysics. This
Trinity with just a little help from Google Maps. When we was given by Prof. David McCloskey. This lecture included
arrived in Trinity we were immediately taken aback by the demonstrations which allowed us to understand the difficult
beauty of the campus and the buildings there. When we topics a bit more easily.
finally found our way to the Physics Laboratory, we were
greeted and received name badges, and went into the The following lecture was the one that I had looking forward
beautiful library to wait until everyone else arrived. In the to all day, Space Weather. This was given by Dr. Sophie
library we saw the advances of the scientific equipment Murray, who had previously worked with the Met Office
over the years, which made us realise just how far science in Britain, using her knowledge on space weather to help
has come. After waiting a few minutes we made our way up predict the larger weather events, which can sometimes be
to the Schrodinger’s Theatre, where our lectures for the day caused by occurrences in space. She told us about CME’s
would be taking place. (coronal mass ejections) which can occur when a sunspot
is formed on the sun. It is these CME’s that can cause the
We were introduced to our first lecturer, Dr. Eric Finch, Northern lights to appear at lower latitudes, like those
a retired lecturer from Trinity, who gave a lecture called of Ireland. They can also cause power outages and GPS
‘Physics by Powers of Ten’. This was a very interesting lecture, malfunctions. At the end of the day, we were told about the
in which he showed us, using artist’s impressions for the physics courses available in the college. To finish off the day
most part, what the universe looked like, the scale began at we went for a bit of retail therapy, and then got the bus back
1025 metres and got smaller by powers of 10. This lecture home, after a brilliant day.
that was a great start to the day, as it showed us where we
were in terms of space. This was a very interesting day that really made me want to
learn more about space, and want to see more of Trinity. I
We then had a break, before our second lecture began, this would definitely recommend this to anyone that has even
was given by Prof. Jose Groh, it was another very interesting the slightest bit of interest in Physics, as it is an amazing day.
lecture, this time on the formation of the universe. From this
lecture we learned all about how stars are formed, and what By Rachel Alexander
they are. We also learned about the sun and how the sun’s

74 The Royal Times 2017-2018