Wherever the phrase ‘raining cats and dogs’ originated from, it was a long time ago. If you want to get with the times, you could simply say it’s raining birds. Different locations over the past month have experienced quite a strange kind of downpour, with a number of birds falling from the sky. Sufferers of ornithophobia, a fear of birds in regions of Arkansas, Sweden and Louisiana, may have been tested quite severely recently.

The media has us all dumbfounded with these extraordinary findings. Some scientists claim that these incidents happen regularly, but that it is only on account of the recent media hype that people have begun paying attention to it.

Research fellow in UCD’s School of Biology and Environmental Science Dr Gareth Dyke’s work is based on the evolutionary history of birds and their dinosaurian relatives. Dr Dyke tells The University Observer that he has in fact come across the phenomenon birds of falling from the skies “not in real life, but there are some examples in the fossil record of mass accumulations of fossil birds from all kinds of environments preserved in rocks deep out at sea, or in the middle of lakes. Mass death accumulations are rare, apparently, but must happen because we see evidence for them in the fossil record.”

This certainly means that, while claims were made that fireworks influenced one of the cases over the past month, they obviously played no part in the occurrence centuries ago. Dr Dyke also explains how “these mass death accumulations are rare. Otherwise, they would not make the news.”

One of the latest press releases from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission puts the cause of this bizarre occurrence down to abnormal, deafening sounds and the added disruption of fireworks in the area of Beebe.

The statement reads as follows: “It appears unusually loud noises, reported shortly before the birds began to fall, and caused the birds to flush from a roost. Additional fireworks in the area may have forced the birds to fly at a lower altitude than normal and hit houses, vehicles, trees and other objects.” It goes on to add: “Blackbirds have poor night vision and typically do not fly at night.”

Other preliminary testing by the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Centre in Madison has reasoned that the sudden blunt force trauma on New Year’s Eve caused the upset and deaths of the birds. Tests performed on the birds concluded that they suffered from internal haemorrhaging. Further tests are ongoing for a range of chemical toxins and infectious diseases, while pesticides tested have received negative results.

Commencing at 11:30pm, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife officers have reported of blackbirds falling from the sky within a square mile area of Beebe. Before the ringing in of the New Year, some 5,000 birds had hit the ground, the majority dead and some still barely alive. The birds, dead or alive, littered the streets of Arkansas, creating a series of obstacles for drivers in the process.

Furthermore, lifeless fish have been discovered washed ashore en masse. Crabs have also been the victims of this mysterious epidemic in other reported cases. Moreover, only 125 miles away from the bird case in Beebe, approximately 100,000 fish have been found floating lifelessly.

Officials believed that “cold water stress” was the reason for these highly unusual deaths. However, some people are speculating that the Gulf of Mexico oil leak last April could have played its part despite vast amounts of chemicals used for its clean up.

Avian flu may have been the epidemic here a few years ago, but let’s hope this bird fever does not proceed to infect humanity anytime soon.

The Forum Bar has closed its doors, and sadly, very few got to say their goodbyes due to the adverse weather conditions that gave UCD no choice but to close before the semester came to an end. Some students were oblivious to the fact that it closed, owing to the pandemonium on campus, with buildings opening and shutting their doors on the whim of the snow during the last few days of term.

Needless to say, other universities have survived keeping the sessions alive, the banter flowing and the general student social life energised with a single student bar such as the College Bar in NUIG and Trinity College’s Pavilion Bar, otherwise known as ‘The Pav’.

The Forum Bar is closing due to the ongoing construction at the new Student Centre. The new building will become the middle of the Student Centre, as it will extend to both the old Student Centre building and the Sports Centre. The proposals for the new Student Centre were ongoing for many years before the cranes and the scaffolding became apparent on campus, and its provisional opening date is September 2011.

To many, the Forum Bar was a hidden gem in UCD. For those who knew it well, the Forum Bar, located in that unassuming corner beside the Student Centre, provided more than a venue to have an alcoholic beverage.

Memories of the Forum Bar chiefly involve society events, class events or having a lunch between lectures with a few friends. The University Observer itself has hosted end of semester get-togethers in the Forum Bar and other events during the year and other societies have routinely done the same. The Forum Bar was a meeting place for the beginning of a class party, a venue which suited table quizzes and a place one learned how to play pool. It served as a foil for the often crowded student bar and proved the perfect place for less mainstream events such as open-mic nights and comedy gigs.

Second-year Human Nutrition student, Aoife Curran, remembers: “When I was in first year, all of us human nutrition students met with our lecturers in the Forum Bar. It was a lovely evening, as we got to chat to our lecturers and students from different years in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

“It was the preferred venue for societies to meet up,” she adds. “Particularly at the beginning of term, where new and old members got to know each other.”

UCD Students’ Union Women’s Officer, Regina Brady reminisces: “The last night I was in the Forum Bar was for the Welfare Crew Christmas party and we had a great night there because we were able to section off an area for ourselves. We had some lovely finger food and everyone was chatting away and had a great time.”

With Black Monday taking place yesterday and the prolonged Christmas exams only concluding today, the Forum Bar will be missed this week in particular. A lengthy line of students, stretching longer than your average dole queue, is expected and anticipated in the Student Bar for the remainder of the week.

Asked how the Student Bar and the Forum Bar compared, second-year Engineering student Brian Nolan notes: “It was a different animal really. It was quiet, the drinks were always good.” Second-year Animal Science student Ursula Mc Cormack adds that the Forum Bar was “a cheaper and more comfortable alternative to the Student Bar”.

Being well located beside the Student Centre and the Sports Centre was an ideal location for a bar, the Student Bar being located on the opposite side of campus could be inconvenient for Sports clubs after matches unless they are able for the last hurdle which is the extra ten-minute walk. Brady explains: “It was really handy to have the Forum Bar so close to the Student Centre. However, with the news of the amazing new Student Centre with all its facilities, it will benefit students in the long run.”

Coping with the Forum Bar’s customer base as well as its own customers, the Student Bar will be beginning on a bustling note this semester. The celebrations will have begun already for the fortunate ones without post-Christmas exams greeting them on their arrival back from the holidays.

Oh Forum Bar: we will miss you.

The University Observer understands that private benefactors will provide the funding should the proposals come into fruition, despite a reduction in the Leinster Rugby defecit due to a major hike in ticket sales last year.

Leinster Rugby are currently based in Riverview and have their offices in Donnybrook adjacent to its recently renovated stadium, which opened in 2008.

UCD and Leinster Rugby share a long history and the latter already already avails of UCD’s all-weather and regular pitches for training purposes. Leinster players such as Fergus McFadden and Brian O’Driscoll began their rugby careers by playing for UCD Rugby. Club insiders say that Leinster Rugby wish to erect a facility adjacent to the UCD campus in the former Phillips building at Clonskeagh, which is owned by UCD. UCD Boat Club currently use this facility to house their equipment.

Leinster Rugby declined to comment when contacted by The University Observer on the matter, as the team’s training and administrative set-up currently does not permit club officials to comment on the issue.

A spokesperson for UCD declined to comment on the speculation.

There is no official contract in place between the two bodies at the time of going to print, however speculation has intensified in recent days, with reports in The Irish Times verifying the validity of these rumours.

The area outside the James Joyce Library proved the perfect set up for Homeless Week. With a larger amount of people traipsing towards the building than usual due to final exams looming, the display really did highlight the social problem at hand. As UCD’s SVP auditor, Conor Tonry, put it: “I think it’s always a big problem that seems to be overlooked by a lot of people. On a night like tonight, there will be over 100 people sleeping rough in Dublin city centre.”

The sleep out kicked off on November 15th and lasted until the Friday of that week, when the cardboard tiling that the concourse had become accustomed to was removed.

It may not have been one’s ideal dose of beauty sleep, but the beauty of the sleepout was that the ordeal was all in the name of charity. This experience of putting my feet in someone else’s shoes was like nothing I’ve ever done before. However, my shoes were well insulated, and when I did manage to squeeze them on, it was hardly as if I was living the severe conditions which homeless people are forced to endure every night.

Seven layers later, I was as warmed up as a sunburnt, hefty penguin. I peeled off two layers for later like a Christmas pass-the-parcel game. You’d think I’d be jealous of the students leaving the library at midnight, their brains having reached saturation point ready for a bed with a mattress but no, I was having an enjoyable time and there was a feel-good factor that went hand in hand with doing the sleep out.

Ross Hannon, a third-year Arts student, explained there were everyday things he didn’t miss for a second: “I haven’t had the urge to watch TV at all this week,” he says, before adding: “You’d learn more in a group of 15 people than you would in a lecture for two hours.”

I had two hours sleep that Thursday night, because I was soaking up the whole social aspect. The sleep out was banter central and the music was ample. At one point, different musicians had moved to various points outside the library to play. It somewhat resembled Oxegen in microcosm, given that different musicians had their own mini stages, while a site to rest your head down wasn’t too far afield.

As well as the social aspect of the sleep out, the other reason for it was as clear as our breath in the cold air. UCDSU Ents Vice-President, Jonny Cosgrove, spoke of how: “There’s a fun side and really why you’re here. We’re all on the same page”

Deciding to go to sleep at 5:15am when the amount of people wide awake had dwindled down from approximately 80 to four meant the region of maximum body heat in the centre of the herd was fully taken. Being on the outside meant being more exposed to the real homeless situation and it was quite cold.

We definitely take our beauty sleep for granted. It is fair to say that there are so may virtues related to sleep; you are more vigilant, and have the feeling of being as bright as a button in the morning. So those early risers that made it in for the early college starts were an inspiration. They bring to mind those who are subject to these conditions on a daily basis.

Moreover, on Thursday night, students from TCD, NUIM and DIT journeyed to outside our library to make a statement in unison. Kevin Conlon, a previous auditor, describes the effectiveness of the event, as “we weren’t just another poster on a wall or another talk in a lecture theatre, we were a very visible, very untidy presence outside the library”.

Hopefully everyone’s sleepouts were teamed up with a lie-on at the weekend. The week was ultimately a success, creating awareness of homelessness and raising the figure of €4,500 for the St Vincent de Paul Society. All in all, the experience was amazing and feeling fresh from catching up on some sleep, I’ve already begun contemplating on completing the full week of the sleepout next year.

SIPTU’s Education Sector Secretary, Tommy Murtagh, opened the meeting in Theatre Q, as an open discussion for people to vent and discuss the course of action to take and to encourage both students and staff to participate in the march that was being organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

SIPTU’s Education Sector President and UCD Sociology lecturer Dr Kieran Allen expressed disappointment at turnout at the staff-student meeting and was optimistic for a higher UCD turnout at the march itself, in spite of a haziness surrounding the purpose of it:  “Now we’re in a situation where the march on Saturday will hopefully be well attended, but I have found it very, very difficult to explain to people why we are marching, what is the point?”

Dr Allen addressed the open forum by citing a recent poll on the Joe Duffy’s show “where people were asked were you happier this week than you were last week and twice as many people said they were happier now that the IMF had came in” and made a stance. Having outside experts in peoples’ opinions is going to rectify the situation stemming from “the profound dislike for the government.”

With the name ‘A better, fairer way’, Garda estimates claimed that 50,000 people assembled at Wood Quay for what was intended to be a peaceful demonstration, but estimates ranged from 50,000 to 100,000. A SIPTU press release issued prior to the march said, “the publication of the Government’s budgetary plan meant it was now ‘imperative for working people and their families to join the national demonstration on Saturday, November 27’”.

Irish Times columnist Fintan O’ Toole addressed the marchers, saying that “the country was paying billions to bail out the banks and that the Government had declared war on the poor”. He said Irish people were “not subjects, but citizens, and wanted their republic back”.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, chief secretary of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world’s largest Islamic organisation, recently highlighted the scale of the escalating problem that is Islamophobia. In particular, he focused on its prominence in Europe, but this is no longer just a European issue.

Islamophobia is an international issue that has arisen because of global doubts and fears about different religions, denominations and peoples. The OIC spans over 57 states internationally and its purpose is to safeguard Muslims’ interests and provide them with a good sense of security. Ihsanoglu has compared the strife that Muslims must endure to the mounting fascism and Nazism during the 1930s. He feels that Islam is veiled “in the first stages of such a thing”.

Xenophobia can be defined as the unreasonable, irrational fear or hatred of strangers or of that which is foreign or strange, and it has unfortunately become commonplace in society. Hostility towards people of different nationalities is, in some people’s eyes, part of normal human behaviour. Islamophobia is, therefore, a form of xenophobia

Xenophobia is not a recent phenomenon by any means. Prejudices against religions, views, values and places of origin that are not one’s own have existed as long as humans have been on Earth. Take for example World War II or the Ku Klux Klan, schisms that have brought about resentment and hostility towards those who hold different beliefs or values, or who simply experience a different way of life.

Racism, prejudice and xenophobia are nothing new to the 21st century, but the trend of Islamophobia has become worryingly prominent of late. In September, Amnesty International has claimed that “fear, discrimination and persecution against Muslims” is steadily on the increase in the US. It now seems as if the clothes that we wear, along with the values, beliefs and opinions that make us individual, are now being used for the purposes of division, separating us from others and impeding the development of close-knit communities.

Of course the fact remains that not everyone will get along with everyone because of personality incompatibilities, but our very interaction with strangers is becoming more strained nowadays. Our mothers warned us from an early age to never talk to strangers, but today’s attitude seems to be more like never show tolerance to strangers. This pessimistic attitude is beginning to infiltrate our society and more and more people are mimicking this unsavoury behaviour.

Many people are also frustrated with the actions or inaction of politicians. Tackling rising trends such as Islamophobia certainly seems to be a problem that is far from the top of any government’s agenda at the moment. Politicians are often portrayed as a greedy bunch and it seems that they are ignoring this contentious situation and staying quiet instead of tackling the issue head on, in the hope of acquiring more support come election time.

Just as students stood up and marched on November 3rd, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that everyone should stand by what they feel is necessary and just. The international pandemic that is Islamophobia has led to many people campaigning to raise awareness of the fear, yet there are other bodies that view this sort of action as unjust and unreasonable. Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) is one such group that strives to marginalise the Islamic community. The group feel that “Islamophobia is the height of common sense”.

There is a wide selection of written material with arguments for and against Islamophobia. One such book received the following praise from author Natsu Taylor Saito: “Stephen Sheehi’s Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims is a brilliantly synthetic work; a gift to all who struggle to understand the anti-Muslim sentiment so pervasive in contemporary America.”

While there is much literature that helps us to understand the term and the reasoning behind it, let us not forget that Islamophobia is a controversial and contentious issue.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a visit to Indonesia. After postponing the visit twice, Obama is now hoping to bridge the gap between members of the Islamic community and other people in society who hold prejudices against them. He declared: “We don’t expect that we are going to completely eliminate some of the misunderstandings and mistrust that have developed over a long period of time, but we do think that we’re on the right path.”

While Obama is attempting to rectify the situation, xenophobia itself is a phenomenon that we will all have to live with for the foreseeable future. In fact, it seems likely to last forever. Islamophobia, however, is an extreme case. Is it another phase of extreme prejudice that the world is going through? The 1930s, of course, posed horrendous difficulties for Judaism. The 2010s present a quite different dilemma that nonetheless contains echoes of our prejudicial past. Yet ultimately, whether Islamophobia will continue to grow, or whether its prominence will eventually dissipate, remains to be seen.

Business and Law student Brendan Lacey was elected by the SU Council as the first person to take the new office.

Lacey told The University Observer that he is “delighted that the role has been created. I’ve been looking froward to seeing something like this in the union for a long time.”

Lacey is hoping to make the annual Newman Games bigger than ever, but also emphasised that he hopes not to interfere with the sports clubs that already exist on campus.

There was just one objection at Council to the creation of the office, from Smurfit School os Business representative Gemma McCahill, who is currently studying a Masters in Accountancy. McCahill said: “I opposed the motion because I felt that whilst we need a Sports Officer, the motion was put to Council when I felt it was too vague.”

She added: “For me it looked like just creating a postion for the sake of saying we have this position.”

Speaking to The University Observer, UCDSU President Paul Lynam said that there is a void where a sports officer should be and that therefore there is a necesity for such an office to be created: “I figure a sports officer fills that gap, that much needed gap that’s there.”

Lynam explained that UCD is one of the last universities to create such a role: “Most universities down the country have a sports officer. I think it’s important that we have daytime entertainments through the facility of sports to match the already successful night time entertainment in UCD.”

He was also keen to emphasise the gap between daytime and nightime entertainment in UCD, and expressed his belief that a Sports Officer would create daytime entertainment through the “facility of sport” for students between lectures.

Lynam hopes that the creation of activities such as 5-a-side football tournaments, pool tournaments and other sports competitions, will encourage student participation in sport on a social and non-competitive level.

Lynam is also happy with the benefits the creation of the office will have for the SU, as it is “something proactive we can do with costing too much money.”

In the words of one of the twenty-first century’s best scientific minds, Stephen Hawking: “It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem, but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward.”

Whenever advances in science and technology are announced, the conclusions are often followed by phrases like: “this technology is still ten years away” or “we will have to wait five years to see results”. Did you ever wonder, did the results obtained after those agonising few years conflict with these scientists’ hypotheses?

On top of that, was the perfect idealised outcome actually reached at the end of those five years? Were their hopes and predictions for the project realised and ultimately, was the time worth the wait?

A controversial scientific leap forward within recent history was cloning. Candid cloning dates back to 1997 in Scotland.The first case of cloning was performed on Dolly the sheep. Dolly was an exact genetic replica of her mother.

Scientists have spent a long time trying to extend the scope of the research of cloning to humans. This flurry of ideas and excitement enables them to ponder what could be achieved to benefit humankind through the manipulation of the human genome.

Back in 1997, it was thought that by the year 2010, cloning would be helping to create a new and perhaps better generation of humans. As you might now realise, unless we have a major breakthrough between now and Christmas, you won’t be receiving your very own clone under the tree in three months time.

This is an example of a technology which promised unimaginable results, but has not yet delivered. Perhaps this is not to do with faults in the theories and technology, but due to the moralistic and religious debates which can stunt scientific progress.

What can be amazing about scientific predictions though is how little they can sometimes realise the scope of what they encompass.  Accidental discovery is a cornerstone of scientific progress. Research by Alexander Fleming into bread mould led to the discovery of antibiotics.

Examples of up-and-coming technologies that should be ready before 2025, include the digital home and algae biofuels. The digital home is still ten years off schedule.

Algae biofules were still ten years away, according to Shell, at the end of November 2009. There has been a spark of interest in producing fuel from algae since the middle of the last century. The US Department of Energy have carried out pioneering research on this alternative, environmentally-friendly fuel from 1978 to 1996, nearly a fifth of a century project.

Interestingly enough, your very own artificial pancreas should be ready by 2015, which may get to you before the development of algae fuels. Emotional robot pets are another fascinating arena of technology once again, nowhere near completion, but something that has been promised for years. As time elapses, people’s expectations only grow in anticipation of such proposals.

Scientists, inventors, engineers and all the people involved in breakthrough technologies find it profoundly difficulty to meet its ever-growing demands. Robot development takes a lot of time and with a consumer cycle being so short on certain products, scientists can be forced to act quickly.

An invention in development that has baffled people for years is the hover car, which is an almost impossible fantasy in the eyes of the ordinary person.  Apparently, the hover car is the future. Just not the near future.

Driving a car in thin air will probably become common place one day. We’ll hopefully all receive our chance to experience some of the exhilarating thrills Harry Potter has experienced with the wave of a wand.  Hover cars could be the transportation of tomorrow, but don’t take this literally. It will most definitely be a few tomorrows down the line before this invention makes its way to the market.

Who knows where science will be in five, ten or even twenty years? Scientists often claim to know, but only time will tell if they are correct. It is said that patience is a virtue, but the long haul can be agonising.

The University Observer understands that UCDSU President Paul Lynam has objected to this year’s university budget.

However, despite Lynam’s reservations with the budgetary plans, his requests for changes to be made were ignored and the university elected to approve the proposals without his consent.

Speaking to The University Observer, Lynam said that he objected to the implementation of these plans on the basis that every area of the budget was to receive a five per cent cut: “I think that certain areas should take priority over others, such as academic support and student support.”

Lynam questioned whether the best interests of the student body were being looked after, amid ongoing concerns that the university would impose significant cuts to areas which he deems to be of greater importance than other areas, such as the student support unit.

He went on to say: “My main objection is that I have Student Union priorities, which is student support unit, and that should take less of a hit than everyone else.”

Concern was also expressed by Lynam over the deeper impact of budget cuts to UCD students: “If it affects the university reputation, it may affect bringing in numbers next year, which would affect our financial intake.”

He went on to state his belief that third-level education is taking a bigger hit than other areas in terms of the national budget, stating that the budget cuts will have a negative impact on the number of graduates produced in this country. “Budget cuts to education are detrimental to the economic future of the country,” he said.

In addition, Lynam said that he anticipated further cutbacks would made in education, among other areas, in the future. He explained how the implementation of these cuts was almost inevitable as a result of the country’s current financial climate: “We’re in an era of austerity measures,” he said. “I expect everything in the country to be cut dramatically.”

Lynam is pessimistic with regards to the extent of cutbacks being made, as his summary of the overall affect that the budget is likely to have indicates: “Every cut will affect the student regardless of what department, even if it’s from the commercial department and advertising for the university.”

Chemistry has definitely come a long way from the propositions of the ancient Greek that all matter on Earth was comprised of four elements: wind, fire, earth and water. The elders of ancient Athens obviously forgot to account for the scores of elements that form the modern periodic table. Man has undergone an epic journey of discovery in the intervening years, gaining a better understanding of the natural world and its properties – and learning how to exploit its abilities to ensure a safer and healthier environment for its species. Today, our standard of living has been largely determined by chemistry.

One of the latest hot properties in the world of chemical industries is the research of what are called ‘ionic liquids’, which were discovered as recently as the late 1940s. Frank Hurley and Tom Weir, working at the Rice Institute in Texas, discovered that they could make some salts turn liquid at close to room temperature. They mixed a powdered organic salt known as alkylpyridinium chloride with another salt, aluminium chloride, before gently heating the mixture. They observed that the two powders reacted together quickly and – to their surprise – formed a clean, colourless liquid: the world’s first ionic liquid.

Ionic liquids are a particularly attractive prospect, because of the manner in which the cations and anions can have their physical, chemical, and biological properties modified to cater for whatever specific purpose required. The applications of ionic liquids are vast, and interlinked with vital everyday processes: new ionic solvents can be easily tailored to address the needs of a specific chemical reaction across a wide range of applications.

To understand the economic importance of ionic liquids – also known as ‘ionic salts’ – and liquid electrolytes, we must consider their properties. As the name suggests, ionic liquids contain clusters of ions (or electrically charged atoms), characteristically associated with salts. Ionic liquids, just like the powdered sodium chloride you sprinkle on your food, are salts. But distinguishing theses fine salts from your standard everyday table salt couldn’t be any easier: while table salt has to be heated to over 800 degrees Celsius to become a liquid, the anti-biofilm agents in ionic liquids remain fluid at the ambient room temperatures found in hospitals. Thankfully, therefore, there’s no chance of you accidentally grabbing a bottle of ionic liquid next time you’re in the chipper.

The ionic salts consist of an organic ‘cation’ (or positively charged ion), typically an ammonium or phosphonium salt, and an inorganic ‘anion’ (or negatively charged ion). The beauty of such salts is that anions and cations can be fine-tuned to offer a wide range of solvent properties, which in turn can be manipulated and utilised to their full chemical or medicinal advantage. Ultimately, ionic liquids possess properties similar to many other polar solvents with high boiling points.

Many types of bacteria (such as the hospital superbug MRSA, which is resistant to antibiotics) exist in colonies that reside on the surfaces of materials. Such colonies are typically cloaked in coatings, known as biofilms, which protect them from antiseptics, disinfectants, and antibiotics. These microbial biofilms have not only blanketed our hospitals in recent years, but have also been seen to lodge and thrive inside water pipes and cause pipe blockages in industrial processes. The aim of the game in tackling this bug therefore, from a medicinal point of view, is to concoct a medicinal mixture that strike a balances between having the lowest possible toxicity to humans, while being potent enough to erradicate the colonies of bacteria that live on our skin.

Luckily for us, the shield of resistance built by these biofilms has been breached, thanks to ionic liquids – and what’s more, it’s Ireland that has left the rest of the planet green with envy, as we emerge as one of the world leaders in mastering the chemical application of ionic liquids. The Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (or ‘QUILL’) in Belfast, considered to be one of our island’s hidden gems in the field of green chemistry, is the world’s first specialist facility in the research of iolic liquids. Experts at QUILL have recently developed new agents to combat MRSA in the form of ionic liquid which attacks the infection in two ways – by killing colonies of these lethal microbes, and by disabling the ability to produce the biofilms that provide shelter for such bacteria. “We have shown that when pitted against the ionic liquids we developed and tested, biofilms offer little or no protection to MRSA, or to seven other infectious microorganisms,” reports Martyn Earle, QUILL’s assistant director.

There are a multitude of applications for an ionic liquid-based antiobiofilm – mostly, such as the aforementioned effects on MRSA, in the medical arena, where they can be used to improve infection control and reduce patient morbidity in hospitals, thus alleviating some of the financial burden to healthcare providers. But another project QUILL and other institutes have initiated deals with the application of ionic liquids for the removal of chewing gum on our streets. After all, if ionic liquids can dissolve rock and plastic, dissolving chewing gum is a bite-sized problem that ionic liquids can most certainly resolve.

Who knows, the substance may be just that elixir of life needed to boost our globe’s immune system against the symptoms of global warming, or Earth’s other imminent dangers. There’s no limit to what ionic liquids can do – it seems that we, unlike the ancient Greeks, are smart enough to acknowledge that, as once coyly noted in Mean Girls, the limit does not exist.