My first Magazine SFI Little Book - April Re-print edits included | Page 43

81 Flying High Ireland has been a member of European Space Agency since ESA’s foundation in 1975. Today, more than 40 Irish companies are working with ESA on a range of projects with benefits for both space exploration and life on terra firma. They include TechWorks Marine, which uses realtime ocean sensors and satellite data to assess marine and coastal pollution, Radisens Diagnostics, which is developing rapid and convenient blood-testing technologies for use in space and on Earth and ÉireComposites, which is improving materials technology to build more fuel-efficient rocket launchers and civilian aircraft. Irish rugby team show you really are what you eat In a world first report linking exercise to gut microbe diversity scientists at the Science Foundation Ireland funded APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork have studied the gut profile of 30 elite athletes from the Irish rugby football team. The study revealed a connection between exercise and protein consumption to the diversity of microbial colonies in their guts, an important revelation as gut diversity is known to be associated with superior health and a reduction in several diseases and syndromes, including obesity. apc.ucc.ie 82