Month: May 2026

Moons, maths and mystical maidens

A QMUL astronomy banner with the Moon behind it
Credit: Jo Brodie – under a Public Domain CC0 licence

Heavens above, you’ve discovered a new celestial object! What would you call it? Would you name it Clom, Skaro, Poosh, or even Raxacoricofallapatorius? Or maybe those names are already taken. This sort of thing is complicated – even when it comes to naming new planets, moons or asteroids there are rules, and the need for a bit of computer science too.

It’s not Spock

Asteroids start off being designated using the year and the month they were first detected. Only once their orbit has been correctly predicted can they then be named. Predicting the orbit needs a cosmic fusion of astronomy, physics and lots of computer processing to predict and then check they are where they should be. Choosing a name is not too easy either. Since 1971 when one astronomer named an asteroid ‘2309 Mr. Spock’ after his pet cat, the International Astronomical Union decided to ban pets’ names, but that didn’t stop some creative discoverers getting the names ‘6042 Cheshirecat’ and ‘9007 James Bond’ agreed.

Over the moon

Moons are more difficult to name – more rules apply and more physics and computer science are needed to show they are what they are. A moon not only has to orbit a planet, it must do it in a well-defined way. For example the Cassini probe that’s exploring Saturn and its wonderful ring system discovered a range of small moons that keep the rings of Saturn crisp. Some of these tiny ‘shepherd moons’ orbit near the edges of the gaps in the rings. Materials that drift close to them are pulled back by gravity into the rings, spun off into space or made to crash on the shepherd moon itself. To be able to name one of these moons you need to be able to show that its orbit is stable. When the scientists think they have found a moon, the data from the sensors on the Cassini probe is fed into sophisticated computer simulations to show if that moon has a stable orbit. The outcome of the calculation decides if the moon is, well, a moon.

Good Moon Hunting

The software can even hunt down and find unknown moons. Using the laws of geometry and Kepler’s laws of planetary motion (three rules that German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered in the 16th century) and applying them to the data from the probe it‘s possible to guess where a moon might be. Scientists then perform a full analysis of the data, including whether the possible moon’s orbit is affected by other known moons, and are able to determine where the previously unknown moons actually are. Using this method, scientists have even discovered so-called retrograde moons, which orbit in the opposite direction to Saturn’s rotation.

Once the orbit is predicted and checked the computer-discovered moon can be named. The scientists have now found so many of these mini-moons that the rules about names have had to change.

More giants and monsters please

To start with the moons of Saturn were named after mythological Greek and Roman giants, but as more were discovered astronomers went over to naming them after the mythical Titans, who fought alongside the giants (and were pretty huge themselves). Finally as more moon hunting showed an ever larger and more fascinating picture the names had to expand to include giants and monsters in Norse, Inuit and Gallic mythologies. Astronomer Carl Murray of Queen Mary, University of London, part of the team who discovered the Saturnian moons Polydeuces and Anthe said “I never thought that a knowledge of ancient mythologies would help me do astronomy”. Quite where this moon-related voyage of discovery will end no one quite knows.

Galileo was the first to observe
Saturn’s rings though he had no
idea what they were. He wrote in his
notebook that the planet had ‘ears’.

Knowing the neighbourhood

Finding moons and keeping an eye on asteroids is an activity that involves astronomers, physicists and computer scientists. Without these scientists all working together, each bringing their skills to work on the problem, our solar system could be a less well-known and more dangerous place to live. We know where things are, after all. We don’t want to end up like Poosh and loose a moon.

Out of the way

Computer science also allows the paths of asteroids to be predicted, which is what’s needed to name them. More importantly these computer models can predict if the asteroids will cut across Earth’s orbit. We don’t want to be unexpectedly hitting one of these lumps, even if the idea makes for a good movie.

Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London

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Looking inside medicine – computer scientists in the body

Medical scanner image from Bethesda naval medical center, Maryland via Pixabay

Computer scientists are helping doctors, surgeons, biologists and psychologists get inside the body and mind, and improving the way that medical care will be provided now and in the future. It’s a fascinating story of biology, maths and computing and it all starts with an X.

What a picture!

X-rays were the first practical method of examining the inside of a living body. The process involves firing high energy X-rays through the body with a photographic plate at the other side. Dense bits of the body like bones absorb radiation. That leads to a lighter area on the developed photographic negative. In effect a shadow is cast through you onto the photograph, giving a view inside. A problem with this is that, as with any camera, it’s hard to get the photograph exposure right. Worse you have to find the space to store hundreds and thousands of sheets of film. Worse still, suppose your doctor in Manchester needs the X-ray taken of you when you are wanting to play football so you are in Frankfurt. The film has to be sent by post. Enter computer scientists to make things easier.

Portable pixel pictures

New digital X-ray systems are being developed. These use X-ray detectors not film and produce digital images rather than the standard photographic images. The advantage here is that those images can be processed using clever algorithms to correct for problems in exposure, or even to pick up particular shapes in the image. The diagnosis can be helped by the artificial intelligence in the computer, which can spot unusual patterns in the image and alert the doctor. Better still since these digital X-rays are computer based. They can be easily stored and transmitted throughout the world to places where they are needed.

A slice of life

X-rays, even digital X-rays, can only give you flat images of the body innards. Like a shadow they squash all the depth details. Your insides are three-dimensional (3D) though, so it would be useful to be able to slice through your body and get a view inside. This is possible using a computer based method called tomography, from the Greek tomos (slice) and graphia (describing). It still uses X-rays but in a Computed Tomography (CT) scan the X-ray source and the detector rotate round the body taking lots of images at different angles. It’s like casting different shadows as the sun moves round you. So imagine you’re using tomography on a cylinder, and your X-ray source is a torch. Move the torch round the cylinder and look at the shadow cast on a piece of paper moving at the opposite side to the torch. Each ‘shadow’ picture would look the same because a cylinder is circularly symmetric. Now imagine a more interesting shape. Each of the shadow pictures would depend on where you were at the time in relation to the shape. With some clever maths, a reconstruction algorithm and a computer you can go from the shadow pictures back to the shape. These shapes are the organs and innards of your body, and they can be recorded in their full 3D glory. There are now systems that spiral the X-ray source round the body making it quicker. You can even do tomography at very high speed allowing slices through the beating heart to be calculated. Interestingly the maths behind this technology, called the “Radon transform” after Czech mathematician Johann Radon (1887-1956), was developed purely as an abstract mathematical theory. No one at the time could see any use for it!

Check in at the Digital Hospital

Life-saving healthcare and medical imaging is going digital. Using video conferencing, mobile scanners and even remote operated robotic surgery the field of tele-medicine allows expert medical care to be provided any time, any place. Today’s progress towards the digital hospital combines different ways of taking information about the state of your body, such as digital X-rays, or tomographic images, readings from digital thermometers or digital blood pressure readers. We can combine all this information with your personal information into one big file, so there is no need for multiple paper copies to get out of date or lost. The hospital information system keeps track of all your data, and also importantly who has access to it.

Tomorrow’s world and you

According to Alan McBride, a computer scientist who is working on these state of the art medical systems:

“This technology is a major step forward in health care where the UK is leading the way. The government’s grand scheme will allow images taken in Newcastle to be shown on your GP’s desk in London, together with the hospital report, which will automatically be emailed to their inbox. Computer science is playing the major role in all this, creating new ways to aid clinical practice, with plenty of scope in the future for talented computer scientists to get involved.”

The computer scientists who make this happen will not only be technical specialists but also experts in understanding human behaviour. We will only get the benefits such a grand scheme promises if the conflicting needs and concerns of all those involved are taken into account: patients, nurses, doctors, managers and politicians…that will take major people-skills.

Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London

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As Easy As A Bee Sees

A bee sitting on the leaves of a blossom tree in Blackheath
Bee on blossom by Jodiepedia, Public Domain Dedication (CC0) via Flickr.

If it weren’t for the bees we would be in trouble. In the worst case, life on Earth could go the way of Mars. No plants, no animals, no life. Bees are the main way that flowers get pollinated. As the bees sup the nectar they carry pollen from flower to flower, allowing new generations of flowers to grow. But the way a flower looks to our eyes isn’t the same way a bee sees it. For example, bee vision works into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum and under the correct lighting in a laboratory the wonderful, normally invisible, patterns that bees can see are revealed. Biologists all over the world have been collecting information about the sorts of patterns that particular flowers display. This display is called a spectral profile, and Samia Faruq, a computer science undergraduate at Queen Mary University of London has done her bit to help these scientists peer into the world of the bees.

Her project involved creating a massive online database containing worldwide spectral profile information, so scientists can search this information easily. They can also combine information to help discover new facts using a method called clustering, where the computer pulls together all the data with similar properties.

Samia enjoyed the project: “I met and worked with amazing biologists during the project. It was great to find out what they needed and to be able to create it for them. I got the chance to collaborate and publish material together with them too. To know it will be used in their research is also very rewarding.”

Peter W McOwan, Queen Mary University of London

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Ancient Egyptian Binary

A segment of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus,
A segment of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, unknown (c. 2000 B.C), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What are the origins of binary? It is the way of representing numbers (and all other data) that underpins all digital computers which might suggest it is a very modern idea. Binary may be linked to modern technology, but it goes back a long way. Leibniz designed machines based on it hundreds of years ago. he was inspired by its use in I, Ching from thousands of years ago. Even the Ancient Egyptians used a form of binary around 4000 years ago.

A papyrus called the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus found near Luxor is from around 1550 BC makes use of binary. It is actually a copy of a much older, long lost document from about 4000 years ago. It shows how to solve a variety of mathematical problems including through arithmetic, algebra and geometry. It does not introduce binary explicitly but does give a way to do multiplication that uses a binary representation and is the basis of binary multiplication.

Any number can be made up by adding together powers of 2 (ie adding some combination of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …). So for example, 6 is just 2+4; 7 is 1+2+4; 11 is 1+2+8; 13 is 1+4+8, and so on. That mathematical fact is the basis for the binary representation of numbers. It means that any number can be represented as binary because binary involves replacing a number by 1s and 0s to indicate which powers of 2 to include in the addition. 13 is 1101 in binary. Each column in the binary number stands for a power of 2.

8 4 2 1
---------
1 1 0 1 = 13 because 
               (8x1) + (4x1) + (2x0) + (1x1) 
            = 8 + 4 + 1
            = 13

The first 1 in the binary says DO include 8 in the addition, the second 1 says DO include 4 in the addition, the 0 says DO NOT include 2 and the final 1 says DO include 1 in the addition, giving 8+ 4 + 1.

The Egyptians used this idea as the basis of an algorithm to make multiplication easier.

To multiply, say, 13 by 123, you note that 13 is 8 + 4 + 1 (1101 in binary), so 123 x 13 = 123 x (8 + 4 + 1). You therefore do the following series of multiplications, adding the results:

1 x 123 =    123
4 x 123 =    492
8 x 123 =    984
              + -------
                 1599

The Ancient Egyptians were effectively converting one of the two numbers being multiplied to binary to do the multiplication. This way means you do not need to learn all the different times tables as we all do at school. Hang on though doesn’t it mean you still have to do lots of hardish multiplications like 8 x 123? In fact, all you need to be able to do is double numbers, so know your 2 times table! Why? Because each row can be calculated by doubling the previous number, if you work out all the rows rather than miss out the ones not needed in the final addition. So doing the above again but including 2 x 123 but writing it out of the way so we don’t add it in:

1 x 123 =    123
2 x 123 =              246 (above answer x 2)
4 x 123 =    492           (above answer x 2)
8 x 123 =    984           (above answer x 2)
                   -----
                 1599

They used a similar algorithm to do division too, that involved multiplying one number by all the powers of 2 in this way. Perhaps you can work it out.

Doubling in binary is actually very easy, you just shift the number one place, adding a 0 on the end (as we do multiplying by 10 in decimal), which is why this trick of turning all multiplication into doubling is a good thing to have the ALU of a computer do to multiply!

The Ancient Egyptians may not have used binary to explicitly write numbers, and missed the trick of turning both numbers into binary to make doubling easy, but they did use binary and converted numbers to it to make arithmetic easier. That is why if you were an Ancient Egyptian administrator, having a copy of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus would have helped you pass your exams and then do the job.

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When an app becomes part of prayer

Kaaba, Mecca emerging from a smartphone screen
Image by Gulzer Hossain from Pixabay

How do you mix religion and technology? Riasat Islam a Computer Science lecturer at Queen Mary University of London tells us about his research as part of a team investigating how technology can best support faith.

Around one in four people in the world are Muslim. That is about two billion people and many now use mobile apps as part of everyday religious life. These apps can show prayer times, provide Qur’an reading, list dates for fasting, suggest supplications, or help find the Qibla: the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, which Muslims face during prayer.

This may sound like a small corner of the app world, but it is not. Some Islamic lifestyle apps have reached tens of millions of users. Muslim Pro, one of the best-known examples, reports more than 190 million downloads worldwide. Its parent company, Bitsmedia, has also raised US$20 million in an early round of funding. So Islamic apps are not tiny side projects. They are part of a large digital ecosystem used by millions of people, but they can still go unnoticed in mainstream technology research.

That is what made us interested. Our research asked a simple question:

How should technology be designed when it supports something as personal as faith?

We reviewed 11 popular Islamic lifestyle apps and interviewed Muslim app users about their experiences. We didn’t only look at what features the apps offered. We wanted to understand how those features supported religious practice, learning, motivation, and connection.

Many apps were good at providing information. Prayer times, Qur’an text, Qibla tools, supplications, Islamic dates, and reminders were common. These can be genuinely useful, especially when someone is travelling, studying, working, or living in a place where prayer times and mosque access are not part of everyday public life.

Is information enough?

But information alone is not always enough. A reminder can tell someone that it is time to pray. A tracker can record Qur’an reading or fasting days. A calendar can list important dates. These are useful features, but they do not automatically help someone understand, reflect, or grow.

That is where Human-Computer Interaction, or HCI, becomes important. HCI studies how people interact with technology. It asks whether technology fits into people’s lives, supports their goals, and respects what matters to them. For Islamic lifestyle apps, and for the growing area of Islamic Computing, this matters because the technology is entering a sensitive space: faith, worship, identity, learning, habit, and community.

Reminders

One issue is reminders. A prayer reminder can be helpful at the right moment. But if it becomes just another phone alert, it may fade into the background. If it is too forceful, it may feel uncomfortable. Good design means thinking carefully about timing, tone, and context.

Tracking

Another issue is tracking. Some apps let users track prayers, Qur’an reading, or fasting. This can support consistency, but it can also reduce spiritual practice to streaks, badges, or numbers. Worship is not the same as a fitness challenge. A better design might support reflection: helping users set personal goals, continue learning, or return gently after missing a routine.

Community also matters

Some apps let users share Islamic quotes or images. That can be useful, but it is not the same as learning with others or asking questions in a trusted space. Many Muslims learn religion through teachers, family, mosques, study circles, and scholars. Apps could do more to support trusted learning and connection, while also handling privacy and misinformation carefully.

Thinking more widely

The wider point is not only about Islamic apps. Computer scientists now design technology for health, education, wellbeing, accessibility, relationships, and faith. In these areas, success is not just whether the software works. The deeper question is whether it supports people well.

  • Does it respect the user’s values?
  • Does it help them understand?
  • Does it support meaningful progress?
  • Does it connect them to trustworthy help?
  • Does it fit into real life?

A prayer app can tell you the time. A better-designed Islamic lifestyle app might help you practise, learn, reflect, and connect, without getting in the way of the spiritual life it is trying to support.

Riasat Islam, Queen Mary University of London

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Getting Technical

  • Read Riasat’s team’s journal paper
    • Kabir, M., Kabir, M. R. and Islam, R. (2025). Islamic Lifestyle Applications: Meeting the Spiritual Needs of Modern Muslims. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction. DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2025.2595545. (Taylor & Francis Online)
  • How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 [EXTERNAL]
    • Hackett, C., Stonawski, M., Tong, Y., Kramer, S., Shi, A. F. and Fahmy, D. (2025). How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020. Pew Research Center. DOI: 10.58094/fj71-ny11. (Pew Research Center)

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