The Ballylickey botanist; the Skibbereen astronomer; the Cloyne caterpillar collector, Madame Dragonfly. Robert Hume highlights the lives and achievements of three female scientists from Co Cork, and the obstacles they faced to achieve recognition of their work

A US military judge allowed a marine sergeant convicted of murder in one of the biggest war crimes cases to emerge from the Iraq war to walk free today, nearly two months after a military appeals court ruled he had an unfair trial.