SAM MORRELL

Astrophysics
Environmental Intelligence
Computer Science

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Chirp has a New Home

October 7, 2023

At the end of 2019, I posted about a little app that my colleagues and the University of Birmingham and I had been working on called Chirp — a web and iOS app for keeping track of the latest gravitational wave alerts. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down LIGO, and Chirp, but now it’s coming back...

About Me

August 12, 2018

I am a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, currently applying my training in astrophysics to help better understand, and hopefully begin to solve, the pressing ecological crisis caused by artificial light at night (ALAN). I lead the development of our Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer model, whose outputs we correlate with measurements of animal...

Web Development for Physicists

February 17, 2018

I’m fortunate enough to be sitting at the intersection of two disparate fields which are rapidly hurtling towards each other. More than ever, it’s becoming important to publicise you and your research, whether you’re in academia or in the private sector. Sooner or later, this is likely going to mean you’re going to requiring some...

Outreach

October 23, 2017

I passionately believe that communicating research is a key responsibility of every researcher. A regularly do outreach talks and interviews about and around my own research. I also play a role in some longer term outreach projects. Chirp I currently lead an international collaboration developing Chirp, an app for the web, iOS and Android that...

My Plans for the Apple Watch

August 24, 2017

I have traditionally been a fan of Apple stuff, but lately I’ve found myself becoming less and less enamoured with their current offerings. Whether it be the lacklustre MacBook Pro, with zero USB-A connectors and complete lack of an SD card slot, or the omission of a 3.5mm audio jack on the latest iPhones, they...

What I’ve Been Listening To – January 2017

February 1, 2017

Port Cities – On the Nights You Stay Home This is yet another group that convinces me that Canadians are great at music. Any indipendent artist supergroup of sorts, this the combination of 3 different solo acts in a glorious song writing, music producing partnership. If the chilled beat with well produced drums wasn’t enough,...

Redesigning XRT-C

July 17, 2016

As some who read this may know I’m involved, well currently the project lead, on the Exeter Radio Telescope at Caradon (XRT-C) project. The idea behind this project is great; to build a professional grade, 4.5m radio telescope in the Cornish country side that can be used by students across the UK. Up until now,...

Once Again, With More Soul

March 22, 2016

In my free time of late, I’ve been busy beavering away on my latest website. This one has taken a few weeks to perfect and hone but this is the brand new website for my band Soul Traders. This has been coming for a little while, and when you see the old site you’ll understand why. It’s...

What I’ve Been Listening To – February 2016

March 1, 2016

And so we come to the end of the sophomore month of the year. The days are really beginning to draw out and the weather is beginning to warm up just a tad before making the full on rampage towards the freshness of spring. It’s time for another helping of music, so buckle in and...

What I’ve Been Listening To – November 2015

December 1, 2015

And so it’s that time of year again. The nights rapidly draw in after making the exasperated jaunt back from British Summer Time to good ol’ GMT. The fog lies thick over the city as the temperature make it’s downward meander to sub-zero degrees celsius. The feeling of autumn, and indeed shortly after the crisp...

Gambling with Statistics – Monte Carlo Methods

July 20, 2013

Hey all! In my recent work I’ve been using numerical simulations involving radiative transfer, which basically  means transferring energy via radiation such as light; in the form of photon packets. The way these simulations are run is via a method known quite widely in the physics world called ‘Monte Carlo Methods’. It took me a...

New Years Day Star Trek Marathon – 2012

January 1, 2012

Hey all, as has been a tradition for me for many years, I must have a Star Trek marathon. It just has to happen. I generally do this on Christmas Eve Eve, but owing to being confined to a hospital bed after an operation that day, it was not an option. So, I decided to...

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