Wait, Voyager traveled HOW far?!?!?

In 1977 NASA launched Voyager 1  and 2, two probes boldly going where no spacecraft had gone before!  After 35 years of zipping through space these ultimate inanimate explorers still work and are still communicating with us!  The Voyager program has been a vital source of information used by astronomers in understanding more about our own cosmic back yard.  Some of the most commonly used photos of our solar system have been snapped by Voyager 1 and 2 while they blast towards interstellar space!  The last planetary rendezvous was when Voyager 2 did a flyby of Neptune in 1989.  Since then the cosmic explorers have just been blasting on ahead and away from our sun.

These are unmanned spacecraft so they can travel at some pretty amazing speeds.  The speeds reached by these spacecraft allow them to travel huge distances, after all there's a LOT of space in space.  Voyager 1 is leaving our solar system and heading into the great-even-more-so-unknown of interstellar space at a whopping speed of 32,000 miles an hour!  This means this flying vessel can trek about 912,000 miles a day!! That's a pretty fast flight!

For more information on this program check out NASA's voyager page!

Ladies and Gents, The impressive PENCIL!

400 years ago lead was harnessed to wood and thus pencils were born!  Today, most pencils are made of graphite surrounded by a wooden shell.  The average pencil can draw a line for about 35 miles!  If you're not drawing 35 mile long lines you could be writing words, about 45,000 words is the average life span of a graphite pencil.  This prolific writing tool is used all over the planet so it’s no surprise that about 15 billion pencils are manufactured every year!  That's enough to reach (end to end) from Earth to the moon seven times.  Also, seeing as how pencils work in zero gravity, they're often used for space missions over standard pens.  This impressive tool has been used by such great minds as Thomas Edison, John Steinbeck, and Johnny Carson!  Remember to use a sharpener because writing with a broken pencil is...pointless! 

More pencil related articles can be found right here: http://www.economist.com/node/17043890
or here: http://www.pencils.net/facts.cfm

The Amazing Human Heart!

The Human Heart is pretty amazing! It's the power house of our circulatory system. One muscle with four chambers that pumps about 1900 gallons of blood every single day!  That's pretty impressive considering that this vital organ only weighs about 10 ounces.  Don't let size fool you though, the heart's work goes a long way, literally!  The average adult human circulatory system can actually reach about 60,000 miles. That's enough to wrap around the Earth four times!! On top of all this, as if that were not impressive enough, the human heart will beat about 3 billion times in a full lifetime!  Pretty impressive! No wonder we all <3 the human heart!

The Amazing and Incredible Human Foot

Painter, inventor, scientist, and all around smart guy, Leonardo Da Vinci, once said: "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
True that Leo!
Consider for a moment all the things the human foot does to make our lives more interesting.
Field goals, tap dancing, drum sets, ballet, marathons, soccer, skateboarding, driving, reaching for that top shelf in the kitchen, karate, and showing off mad dance skills at parties are all possible because of the human foot.  26 bones working together to accomplish some amazing achievements step by step!  Props to the human foot!

Question Your World - Women In Science

Now is a great time for science. New inventions, discoveries, and groundbreaking research are constantly improving the quality of our lives. Women scientists have contributed greatly to our understanding of the world. Marie Curie helped us understand the very nature of the atom and radioactivity. Grace Hopper helped unlock the power of computers. Sally Ride and Mae Jemison helped us to understand the cosmos. Jane Goodall’s research on primates helps us better understand ourselves. Their hard work and contributions continue to be a fantastic source of inspiration for many generations of female scientists to come. Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs.
Imagine what our world will be like when women fill a greater share of STEM jobs? The Science Museum of Virginia is a place for girls to dream about the possibilities of their future. Programs like Girls in Medicine and Girls in Science invite hundreds of future female scientists to dream about how they can help make the world a better place through STEM. Now is a great time for progress…and a wonderful opportunity to inspire the next generation of scientists.

For more info on other females that have changed the world of science click here: Women in Science For even more info check out this page: Yesterday & Today's Women in Science

Question Your World - Some Hot Nascar Science

Have you ever thought about the numbers behind NASCAR?  We’re not talking about the number of your favorite driver; we’re talking about the amazing math and science behind these speedy racers.  For example those super powerful engines race around at incredible speeds. Some have even been known to go around 200 mph in a straightaway, thus producing a lot of engine heat.  Temperatures have been recorded at about 140 degrees INSIDE the car.  Compound that with the amazing about of heat from the friction of those wheels constantly rubbing against the track and we’re looking at some hot, hot, hot numbers!

So, 140 degrees inside the car and the heat of the track itself, we’re looking at some sweaty drivers!  In fact, some NASCAR drivers have been known to lose anywhere from 5 – 10 lbs simply from perspiration!

Those are some hot-hot rods! 

Want more info on the science behind racing? Click here! : http://www.buildingspeed.org/

Need even MORE info on the science of these fast machines?... MORE Nascar Science

QUESTION YOUR WORLD - WATER YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Water we talking about?!?!? We're talking about two hydrogen atoms forged together with one oxygen atom. The merging of these two elements has been monumental to life as we know it here on Earth! Every person you know and most every single living thing on this planet needs water. For us humans, we need about 8-12 glasses of delicious fresh water. So, how much fresh water is there on this planet anyway? Well, most of the Earth is covered in water. A beautiful blue liquid carpet coats nearly 70% of the Earth's surface. Despite its abundance, we can't actually use all of that. We humans need fresh water (not salt water that seems to own the monopoly on our oceans). It's pretty amazing to consider that only 2.5% of all the water on our entire planet is useable for drinking. Oh but there's more! That 2.5% fresh water statistic is accurate, but not very useful for us considering that it factors in all the water that's frozen in ice, running below our feet, in the atmosphere, plants, and animals. So, what even smaller amount is useable by us? A little less than 0.4% of the water on this planet is available for all of us to use for drinking! That's right, the seven billion plus global population has to share a little less than 0.4% of the water on this planet,thus making it one of our most precious resources. So, I guess it’s true when we're told to turn off the tap when we're not using it, because that water is a very special part of this Earth and our lives and we certainly should not be wasting it.

Aside from keeping humans hydrated, water serves a few other important tasks. We need fresh water to grow all of our delicious foods! Everything from your morning coffee to your late night ice cream snack requires the use of this awesome substance, water! Also, don't forget, we're not alone...your pets, those birds you hear when you go outside, the animals you see on TV, and most any other critter needs the same thing that keeps us going, yep...you guessed it, water!

Some more info on this amazing and rare resource: water facts
Also, water's good for you!!: water for the body