tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232109254916568492024-03-13T00:11:00.174-04:00Science Museum of VirginiaScience Museum of Virginiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158936666227453623noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-69082877152474856642014-04-22T15:15:00.000-04:002014-04-22T16:37:52.212-04:00Question Your World: Can we live on another planet? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Somewhere around 4.5 billion years ago a gigantic ball of mass started to take shape and would eventually become where we all live. So, the notion of a planet that can harbor life is not a strange one - after all, we happen to live on one. Are there any other places that are similar? Can we live on another planet?<br />
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For the past <a href="http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era2.php">200,000</a> years or so humanity has been here on Earth. In that time we've figured out how to use fire, harvest crops, change water streams, develop communities, embrace technology and learn about what happens beyond our tiny little cosmic stage. Not bad for a new species! Regardless, one thing we have yet to do is gain tactile proof of life existing anywhere else in the universe. <br />
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In order to search for life in other parts of the universe one needs to have a basic set of requirements. For example, the functionality of everything we know here on Earth can be traced back to our sun, so to look for other similar situations we must look at other stars (suns). Well, we also know that the Earth is both rocky and has water. Those are two more qualifications needed to search for similar conditions. There's also the matter of temperature. For example, Mercury is very hot, too hot to hold any life as we know it. Similarly the moons of Pluto are far too cold for our taste. Thus the position of the planet relative to its host star is a big deal as well. <br />
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Also, keep in mind, looking for planets is no easy task, the stars they orbit are so far away that we only see them as little dots of light in the night sky. Scientists have tried various methods such as the <a href="http://archive.seti.org/seti/seti-science/detecting_new/wobble_method.php">wobble</a> or <a href="http://www.iac.es/proyecto/tep/transitmet.html">transit</a> methods to hone in on and fine tune their understanding of such faint and distant worlds. However, this incredibly complicated process has shown some remarkable data. For example, in recent years we've gathered enough data to say that there's a really good chance that planets outnumber the stars in our universe. NASA's official exoplanet list grows all the time and we're up to over <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/8-8-billion-habitable-earth-size-planets-exist-milky-way-f8C11529186">8.8 billion potentially trip-worthy planets in our Milky Way galaxy alone.</a> Regardless, it takes a lot of factors in just the right balance to allow for comparable conditions to our home here on Earth. <br />
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Our Earth is a good size, one that can use its <a href="http://quest.nasa.gov/aero/planetary/atmospheric/gravity.html">gravitational pull to keep our atmosphere</a>. Aside from that, <a href="http://io9.com/5980232/new-definition-of-the-goldilocks-zone-puts-earth-right-on-the-edge-of-habitability">our distance from the sun allows for tolerable temperatures and the existence of liquid water</a>. Those two are very important aspects of planet-hunting. As of now we're the only place in the known universe to be this size and this distance from our host star. Well, we were the only place...<br />
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Recently, scientists used data from the <a href="http://kepler.nasa.gov/">Kepler Space Telescope </a>and announced the first ever exoplanet discovered to be a similar size and a safe relative distance from their host star. <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasas-kepler-discovers-first-earth-size-planet-in-the-habitable-zone-of-another-star/#.U1a-_eZdVwg">Kepler 186f</a> is one of 5 planets that orbits its red dwarf star. How far is it? About <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/39630/light-year-in-miles/">500 light years </a>from here - bring a book, it's a long trip.<br />
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So, we may not be able to go visit this place anytime soon, but this discovery is very important as it highlights the possibility of another life-harboring situation out there. It has taken us around 200,000 years to get from the first time we opened our eyes to today where we can learn about the vast distant reaches of the cosmos. The work that lays ahead for future generations could yield some remarkable findings on our universe, its creation and perhaps even a better understanding of who or what we are in the grand scheme of things.<br />
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Kepler 186f now joins the billions of other exoplanets discovered, but stands out with the distinction that it's the first exoplanet that meets a lot of the special qualifications needed to hold the most mysterious part of our universe, life.<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-21958168788024452392013-05-16T10:55:00.000-04:002013-05-16T10:55:43.729-04:00A Mysterious Gene Shift in Ancient Europe?!?!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For about 200,000 years humanity has been making its way from Africa to just about every corner of this planet. The<a href="http://origins.stsci.edu/faq/care.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> study of our past</a> helps explain the evolution of life here on Earth. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into digging through the past and have constructed the time line of our story, all the while continually making new discoveries. So, what happens when we make a new discovery that totally contradicts what we've learned? </div>
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Our earliest ancestors started off in Africa and since then had ample opportunities to spread across the planet over thousands of years. After decades of research scientists have been able to conclude that humans moved from Africa to the Middle East and Turkey, then some moved from there to central Europe and become the ancestors of modern day Europeans. Recently, however, that theory has been shaking in its bones. Results from a<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/ancient-europeans-genetic-transformation_n_3142552.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> recent excavation</a> seem to challenge the previously established theory of the European’s real origins. </div>
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Until a few weeks ago it was thought that the older human fossils (dating back 7,500 years) told a very clear story about the migration from Africa to Europe. The established idea proposes that once agriculture was introduced as a tool, humans were able to take this new process and out live the hunter gatherers around the world. A flow from Africa to the Middle East to Europe seemed to make sense considering the data that was available. However, new data in the form of more recent fossils seem to have scientists scratching their heads. </div>
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These newly studied fossils date back about 4,500 years and indicate a mysterious gene shift that has scientists baffled. <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome/MT" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mitochondrial DNA</a> from the two specimens are vastly different and pose a few questions on the origins of Europeans. Who were these people? Did the real ancestors to the Europeans perhaps travel up from the Iberian Peninsula? Did the people living in central Europe evacuate 4,500 years ago due to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-08/climate-change-may-have-doomed-ancient-maya-study-finds.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">crop failures from a quick change in climate</a>? Was this a pre-historic war that we have yet to find other proof for? Regardless of what happened the point is we just don’t know and the mystery of life continues to be an interesting study. </div>
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Even though we don’t know what the answer is, the good news is the system of science still works. Sometimes while we try to get details and answers to a question we end up asking different questions that begin a whole new branch of information. The doors are opened up on this topic and now the next generation of researchers and scientists will have their chance to answer this question. </div>
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The answers could range from the most obvious to the bizarre. Anyone from the most seasoned archeologist to contributors for popular TV shows now have their chance to look into this amazing and fascinating mystery.<br />
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Oh and there is one other potential answer to this mystery....</div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-56358852819849915912013-04-30T10:33:00.000-04:002013-04-30T10:33:20.458-04:00Voyager 1 is finally about to leave the solar system! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Our lovely and comfortable home here on Earth is a long ways away from the end of our solar system. Don’t forget, there’s a lot of space in space.<span> </span>Here on Earth concepts of boundaries involve rivers, lakes, mountains, human imposed borders, and so on.<span> </span>However, this is not how the limits of our solar system are established.<span> </span>There is no one thing at one point that defines the end, but there is definitely an end and it’s really far from here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">About 13 billion miles from home and well past all the other planets is an area known as the <b><a href="http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/plasma-wave/voyager/heliopr.html">heliopause</a></b>.<span> </span>This is the part of space where the solar winds, over a significant distance, slow down and are eventually stopped by the interstellar medium.<span> </span>Meaning this is as far as the impact of our sun can reach.<span> </span>This area is also the extent of our solar system, where the sun’s influence is </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">gradually overcome by the stellar wind of particles from other stars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The heliopause is so far away that we are only now getting real time data from the outskirts of our solar system courtesy of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.<span> </span><b><a href="http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/">Traveling</a></b> at a speed of nearly one million miles a day (912,000 miles per day to be exact) for the last thirty-five years, the <b><a href="http://www.space.com/17688-voyager-1.html">Voyager 1</a></b> is finally approaching the heliopause.<span> </span>This cosmic explorer will become the first human made object to leave our solar system and remarkably, it still works!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/">The Voyager spacecrafts</a></span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> were launched in 1977 to gather more data on our solar system and then to continue to travel beyond the heliopause into the vastness of space.<span> </span>So, when will Voyager 1 reach another stellar system?<span> </span>Well, not for a while.<span> </span>In 40,000 years our then-power depleted spacecraft will be about 1.4 <b><a href="http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/lightyears-to-miles.htm">light years</a></b> (8.23 TRILLION miles) away from its closest star.<span> </span>The spacecraft have been loaded with plenty of analog data should they end up finding their way into the hands (or whatever appendages) of other beings way out there.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">So, even at that amazing speed it will take a long time (huge understatement) for it to reach another stellar system.<span> </span>After all it took nearly thirty-five years just to approach the edge of our own cosmic neighborhood.<span> </span>Don’t forget, there’s a lot of space in space.</span></div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-38728693383800601442013-04-23T11:57:00.002-04:002014-12-09T14:45:09.352-05:00New Music and Your Brain! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Why do we like the music we like?</div>
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Think about all the music you've ever listened to. Everything from <b><a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/07/18/100890536/beethovens-best-the-ultimate-5th-symphony">Beethoven's 5th</a></b> to "<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_Me_Maybe">Call Me Maybe</a></b>" are processed through the brain, but what about them allows the brain to say yay or nay? </div>
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So, why do we like the tunes we like? Well, there's no complete answer just yet, but scientists are exploring more and more about our brain and discovering some pretty neat stuff. </div>
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First we must understand that music is indeed comprised of a lot of sound vibrations. So, before we answer the question about why we like music we must understand that what we are really answering is why certain series of sounds feel better than others. To answer this question we must dive deep into the human mind. The brain is comprised of lots of compartments and relays. One of those compartments is called the <b><a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/auditory+cortex">auditory cortex</a></b>, this is the part that stores all the sounds you've heard in your whole life. Remember those screeching tires, ice cream truck song, hammers hitting nails, the soundtrack to Lord of The Rings…and so on. All of those sounds are cataloged by the auditory cortex including all the songs and patterns of sound that you've heard in your entire life. Each person's auditory cortex is totally unique. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-weight: normal;">In a recent experiment conducted by the </span><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130411143056.htm">Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital</a>,</b> the brain was studied to see how the auditory cortex communicates with the <b><a href="http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_cr/i_03_cr_par/i_03_cr_par.html">accumbens nucleus</a></b>. This is the part of the brain that shows signs of reward and pleasure. In this study they noticed that the accumbens lights up when it hears new music after the song has been filtered through the auditory cortex. Wait a minute…isn't the auditory cortex different for different people? Yes, it sure is. That's why different people like different music. One possibility is that all the sounds you've ever heard in your life will dictate and determine the desire to hear similar sounds in the shape of new music. </div>
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Your stored and cataloged audio experiences could have a lot to do with how you process your opinions on the new sounds you are hearing. Pattern recognition and predictions of where the songs go are powerful processes that the brain computes as you hear the new songs coming into your ear for the first time!</div>
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The big question now, after more research how will this impact our lives? Well, this could be considered the ultimate targeted marketing plan or the ultimate musical survey. We'll find out as time passes! </div>
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Yet another insight into your complex and unique brain! </div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-36631664333388498282013-04-22T13:11:00.000-04:002013-04-22T13:11:04.473-04:00Wecycle Project! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tired of opening bottles the old fashioned way?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0lUuyp3-wasouLLmhN70xL2u572WsLwYK6xpWqfrDbfNXYPJcTuSjfNz38H9BS3y2Or0fj2rrVHcpkBDCcxiEOB-bYqER7G7K9R1Tpo1-RyBmm_FugHlVKMRL2zjKYTQGY3S9GWOgZqI/s1600/IMG_2105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0lUuyp3-wasouLLmhN70xL2u572WsLwYK6xpWqfrDbfNXYPJcTuSjfNz38H9BS3y2Or0fj2rrVHcpkBDCcxiEOB-bYqER7G7K9R1Tpo1-RyBmm_FugHlVKMRL2zjKYTQGY3S9GWOgZqI/s320/IMG_2105.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Say goodbye to busted teeth and those awkward stares from strangers by making your own recycled bike chain bottle opener!! <br />
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For this project you'll need an old bike chain, a bike chain cutter, a bike chain link set, and your favorite tasty bottled beverage!<br />
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<b>Step 1</b>: Get an old bike chain (be sure to clean it very well by using the right cleaners and let it soak for a few hours!!)<br />
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<b>Step 2</b>: Grab a chain cutting tool (if you don't have one go to your friendly neighborhood bike shop, they should have a few laying around!)<br />
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<b>Step 3</b>: Cut 12-16 links off your bike chain<br />
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<b>Step 4</b>: Admire your handiwork...very well done, good job you!<br />
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<b>Step 5</b>: Get your bike chain links<br />
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<b>Step 6</b>: Connect the two ends of the bike chain with your link<br />
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<b>Step 7</b>: Place on the bottle and pop-that-top!<br />
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<b>Step 8</b>: Enjoy your tasty bottled beverage!<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-65426166025483120212013-04-09T10:54:00.002-04:002014-12-09T15:01:12.375-05:00What came first the chicken or the egg? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Science is the process by which we can ask and answer questions about our natural world. Everything from your most routine activities all the way to the quest for our universe’s origins are fair game for the field of science! So, let's put science to the test and answer an age-old question: What came first the chicken or the egg?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;">So without the egg there would be no chicken, right? However, at the same time without the chicken would there be an egg? Well, actually, yes there would be. This is the story about the long and detailed process of evolution. <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(biology)">Eggs</a></b> are used by any species that <b><a href="http://biology.about.com/od/basicgenetics/a/aa062708a.htm">sexually reproduces</a></b>. So to trace back the history of eggs we must look back at some of the earliest species that sexually reproduced.<br />
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First of all, some of the earliest eggs date all the way back to early <b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2097609/Fossils-Namibia-worlds-oldest-animal-life--oldest-ancestor-sponge-760-million-years-ago.html">sponges</a></b>, literally hundreds of millions of years ago. After millions upon millions of years of natural selection on mutations and variations an early avian species was produced, we’ll call this a “proto-bird”. This early bird laid eggs that would, again after generation upon generation of natural selection, turn into a wide variety of bird species.<br />
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One of those bird species was what we could call a “proto-chicken”, meaning it was some variation of what we know as a chicken, but not exactly what we have available on Earth today. Well, that “proto-chicken” laid eggs and eventually the species started to morph and change slowly due to natural selection and voila, an egg was laid that would hatch and give birth to what we now know as a <b><a href="http://a-z-animals.com/animals/chicken/">chicken</a></b>. <a href="http://www.livescience.com/3072-eggs-chickens-scientists.html"><b>The egg allowed for the chicken to be born</b>.</a><br />
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Now, why that chicken crossed the road is a whole different story all together...<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-54431559874832076942013-03-26T10:28:00.000-04:002013-03-26T10:28:56.157-04:00A skyscraper made out of wood?!?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There are currently over <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/">seven billion humans</a> on this planet. As this population grows we'll need more and more homes for all these people. With limited resources and a constant watch over our impact on the environment, a big question gets brought up frequently for future of residential construction…can we make housing more eco-friendly? </div>
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As access to resources and the growing population enter a new era in the housing conversation, so will the creative minds in the engineering and architecture industries. Sometimes these new issues require some old fashioned thinking. That's exactly what Canadian architect <a href="http://inhabitat.com/michael-green-unveils-wooden-tallwood-skyscraper-for-vancouver/">Michael Green</a> had in mind when he set out to design and build a 30 story skyscraper made out of wood. Wait a minute, doesn't wood catch on fire? Won't this be a big safety issue? Well, wood does catch on fire, but throughout history various cultures have used wood as a means of shelter and clearly most of these individuals were able to survive. With that said, Michael Green and his crew have built in several fire prevention techniques into the blue prints ranging from sprinkler systems to fire traps. The remarkable part about the building is not its safety features, its something totally different. </div>
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Generally making a large building like this would involve concrete construction. The current process by which we put up buildings actually releases thousands of pounds of <a href="http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/">green house gases</a> into the atmosphere. This is where the wooden skyscraper stands apart! The wood used for this construction spends its entire life soaking in green house gases where as the process of making concrete construction adds to our global climate issues. This building is eco-friendly by simply using materials that don't add to the greenhouse gas emissions! </div>
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For those worried about rotting wood and other natural issues that would make this building's longevity a concern, no worries, there are many wooden structures around the world that are thousands of years old. In fact there is a <a href="http://www.nomadicamerican.com/things-to-do-in-changzhou/">pagoda in China</a> that stands over 500 feet tall and has been up for over eight centuries now! </div>
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Will these eco-friendly designs catch on? Architects like Michael Green are knocking on wood and hoping they will! </div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-69256517998714529182013-03-19T13:51:00.000-04:002013-03-19T13:51:58.464-04:00Cloaked Nano-particles <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Everyone’s familiar with the old fable about the wolf in sheep’s clothing. In this story a wolf dresses up like a sheep and sneaks past the farmer to go straight to his fluffy targets. Well, a similar story is currently unfolding in the medical field and it could have a huge impact on cancer patients. </div>
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Scientists are working on taking a nanoparticle and wrapping it in the outer membrane of a white blood cell in order to let it sneak past the watchful eye of the immune system. As of now the immune system is able to detect foreign objects like nanoparticles and remove or destroy them within minutes. Dressing the nanoparticle up to look like a white blood cell allows the immune system to let it pass into the bloodstream without much commotion. These camouflaged medical deliveries could last in the body for up to hours at a time. Remarkably, these nanoparticles would go directly to the source of the malignant cells. In other words, these nanoparticles can deliver specific types of drugs to specific cells. In this instance the idea is that chemotherapy could be delivered straight to cancer cells only.</div>
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This would be a huge step forward in the medical field. Currently the most commonly accepted form of cancer treatments involve a broad range treatment, meaning we have yet to isolate the treatment to only cancer cells. These masked nanoparticles, in theory, would be able to go straight to the malignant cells and let the rest of the body system carry on as business per usual.</div>
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Research on this is continuing and hopefully more news will develop in the near future.<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-41319481068771641722013-03-12T15:17:00.000-04:002013-03-12T15:17:59.217-04:00Pi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Science and math fans around the world have been celebrating <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html">Pi </a>day for a while now. Pi is the 3.14 number that helps us understand circles, so what better day to celebrate than March 14? So, the question is what makes Pi so special?
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From the wheels on your car to the orbit of distant stars in the cosmos are all put to paper using our old friend, Pi. These practical applications help determine the size, shape, volume, area, and circumference of circles. Imagine the Spalding basketball factory without Pi, we’d have some weirdly shaped basketballs…or whatever they’d be called. Pi’s use in our day to day lives surrounds these circular concepts, but wait, there’s so much more.
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One of the amazing things about Pi is that it is an irrational number. Meaning, it goes on forever. The digits that comprise Pi take up more digits than some of the largest numbers we have, like the massive googolplex for example. In fact, in 2011 Pi was calculated out to over 10 trillion numbers! Mathematician <a href="http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/science/most_digits_of_pi_calculated_Shigeru_Kondo_and_Alexander_Yee_sets_world_record_101848.htm">Shigeru Kondo</a> took 371 days to calculate Pi to 10,000,000,000,050 decimal places. Big stuff!
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Here’s the kicker, when calculating all those trillions of digits for Pi, it was noticed that there are no repeating patterns in there. A truly random set of numbers strung together in an endless chain. What does one do with these large, endless, non-repeating numeric patterns? Those big computational issues come in handy for testing today’s supercomputers and their programming speeds.
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So, from putting satellites in geosynchronous orbit, to testing super computers, to helping make that perfect pumpkin pie, Pi is an extremely well rounded number.
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For more information check out the official <a href="http://www.piday.org/">Pi-Day</a> page, but for a rock song about the number check out the video below.<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-62671788551856986112013-02-20T17:57:00.001-05:002013-02-20T17:57:10.874-05:00A Sweet Way to Fuel the Future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What’s the future of fuel? Well, there are many ideas that have been presented ranging from solar to wind to hydropower. The growing energy needs of our planet will require some creative thinking and likely some ideas that don’t reside in the standard energy toolbox that we are accustom to today. With that said, a sweet new idea has been brought to the table that involves using sugar to help fuel the world of tomorrow. </div>
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An international group of researchers have been working with the US Department of Energy and have recently presented a very interesting idea on how sugar polymers could help provide a form of fuel that would work with our existing vehicles.</div>
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This discovery is centered on an enzyme that could enhance the growth of cell walls in plants. The thicker cell walls would contain an abundance of a sugar polymer called <span style="background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; color: #222222;">Galactan</span>. In theory using this sugar polymer and a fermentation process, scientists could create fuel. Not just any old fuel, but a fuel that works in existing engines. </div>
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In addition to this, the plant in use would not be a food plant. Currently we use corn to help make the ethanol as a vital component to the gas we use. Corn is certainly an edible item that could be used to feed many people around the world, but a sizeable amount is going into the production of fuel. This new idea would involve using non-food plants, thus not impacting the global production of food.</div>
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Wait, there’s more! The process by which this fuel would be made would involve having large areas dedicated to vast fields to grow these plants. Plants take in CO2 as they grow, thus (globally) consuming the CO2 that is put out by vehicle emissions. The plants with enhanced cell walls would effectively be a carbon neutral process, meaning it balances out the input and output of CO2 in our atmosphere. Making this a step in the right direction for dealing with the large amount of unchecked emissions, which we experience today.</div>
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So, a carbon neutral process that doesn’t take food out of the mouths of others AND works in the existing vehicles we have today? <span style="background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; color: #222222;">Galactan</span> fuel is definitely a creative idea that warrants more research and attention!</div>
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Fuel your curiosity for this topic:</div>
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What is Galactan?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactan" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/<wbr></wbr>wiki/Galactan</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">What does it mean to be CARBON NEUTRAL?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/carbon_neutral.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.<wbr></wbr>webopedia.com/TERM/C/carbon_<wbr></wbr>neutral.html</a> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Why Planet Cell Walls?</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21709/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.<wbr></wbr>gov/books/NBK21709/</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Is anyone else talking about this?:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/12/21/boosting-galactan-sugars-could-boost-biofuel-production/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://newscenter.lbl.<wbr></wbr>gov/news-releases/2012/12/21/<wbr></wbr>boosting-galactan-sugars-<wbr></wbr>could-boost-biofuel-<wbr></wbr>production/</a></span><br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-91010057720698807342013-02-19T14:07:00.000-05:002013-02-19T14:07:28.495-05:00What does a loom have in common with your laptop?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">If you’re reading this you must be using some sort of computer. Most of us have an idea about the origins of our modern computer units, but sometimes explaining the lineage of these machines leads only up to the first design. The big question is - how did we get all the way to a computing machine? We could not have gone from fire or the wheel straight to iTunes, right? What’s responsible for the giant leaps and bounds in technology that make our life what it is today? The process of science, that’s how!</span><br />
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Clothing, oddly enough, has a distant relation to the machine that is allowing you to read these words right now. In the early 1800s, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/299152/Joseph-Marie-Jacquard" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Joseph-Marie Jacquard</a> invented a mechanical power loom that could weave really intricate patterns in fabric. The designs of fabric were rooted in a wooden slot card that controlled the loom’s weaving directions.<br />
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A few decades later, <a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Charles Babbage</a> used this slot card idea to create a machine that calculated numbers based on a paper slot card, his machine had the way cool name of ‘The Difference Engine.’ Instead of resulting in a lovely rug with intricate colored designs, Babbage had intricate data and numbers punched into a card. The detailed weaving concept inspired detailed data processing. </div>
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Then, <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/census-tabulator.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Herman Hollerith</a> took Babbage’s paper slot idea to the next level by creating a system that could input detailed numbers and data on a larger scale. This invention was soon picked up by the <a href="http://www.census.gov/#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">U.S. Census Bureau</a>and Hollerith was rewarded quite nicely. So, what does a math-freak do with a lot of money in the late 1800s? Well, this particular math-addict helped co-found a little company that we now know as<a href="http://www.ibm.com/us/en/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> IBM</a>. The rest, as they say, is history…or cache and cookies.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">For more information check these links out!</span></div>
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<a href="http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">History of Computers</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/punched-cards/2/4" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #34647f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Punched Card's Pedigree </a></div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-85735934764677934462013-01-10T13:42:00.001-05:002013-01-10T13:42:16.499-05:00NYC to Tokyo in just 45 minutes? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, who's up for grabbing lunch in Tokyo today?</div>
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Yes, Tokyo, Japan. Well, today this may not be a possibility, but scientists are working on new plane designs that could make this lunch date a distinct possibility.</div>
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XCOR, a rocket engineering firm, has announced the design of a new suborbital plane called the Lynx. This vehicle would be able to take passengers from New York City to Tokyo in just 45 minutes. Pretty amazing, right? This plane would launch into the sky and reach about 60 miles above the Earth's surface. This would place the passenger above almost all of our atmosphere. Currently most commercial flights only get about 23,000 feet up (a little over 4 miles). So, 60 miles above the Earth is a pretty large step up considering today's standards. The lynx would be high enough for passengers to see the curve of the Earth, the blackness of space, and experience a little bit of weightlessness. The flight would take only 45 minutes at the amazing speed of 3,800 mph (mach 5) that the engineering firm wishes to achieve. </div>
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Travel has always been a great source of inspiration and invention among humans. The earliest means of long range travel took place on foot. Our earliest ancestors walked a lot. This was made a little easier with the advent of floating wood on water, boats. Once upon a time it took nearly nine months to cross the ocean. As boats became more efficient the time took a little bit less, but you just could not make it faster than months at a time. On Dec 17, 1903, the Wright brothers took one giant step forward in human transportation when they successfully flew the very first plane in North Carolina. This design was very elementary compared to our modern day flying machines, but at the time this was a monumental achievement. The Wright flyer was the first spark that ignited the rapid evolution of flying technology. Shortly after the Wright brothers invention, planes developed into machines that could make trans-atlantic flights. The first non-stop transatlantic flight went from Maryland to Ireland in a whopping 29 hours. Think about that for a moment. Humans were used to taking months to make this journey and suddenly there came a time in which it only took 29 hours, a fraction of the time it took on boat. As planes developed the flight times got shorter. Currently, a flight from Maryland to Ireland takes about nine hours. So, let's zoom out a little, 9 months on boat, to 29 hours on early plane, to 9 hours using modern technology, in a relatively short time period of technological evolution. Sure, 45 minutes seems bizarre, but consider what the first plane passengers must have thought when crossing the ocean below them. What XCOR is hoping to do is just continuing the growth of technology and use the process of science to help advance a very basic component of human life, travel.</div>
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The Lynx plans on launching in 2013 with ticket prices starting at $95,000. There has been no official announcement on the on-board baggage just yet. Stay tuned for more developments!</div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-68949578619217392722013-01-04T12:27:00.001-05:002013-01-04T12:27:12.471-05:00Stop Thinking!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why can’t we stop thinking? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Try to stop thinking for five seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Ready?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">…steady…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">……GO!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay, now you’re just reading this and not-stopping-your-thoughts!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So why can’t we stop thinking? Well, this is the handiwork of our old
friend, evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A long time ago moment-to-moment readiness was necessary for
survival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those days people had
to worry about things like lion attacks, leopard attacks, monkeys stealing
berries, scorpions, falling rocks, drowning, giant snakes, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This required a brain that was constantly
working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally, not every
single cognoscente being had the most efficient brain and thus the process of
natural selection got involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Those that ended up as menu items on the savannah could not pass their
genes on to the next generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those that did survive turned out to be our ancestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This process, generation after
generation, fine-tuned the brain to be working 24 hours a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A lot has changed since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, you’re reading this on a computer monitor and not having it
read out to you around a tree, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, our brain has not stopped working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This genetic gift from our ancestors is still working around
the clock, but now it has to process different types of information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some capacity we’re still ready to
react to sudden things like lion attacks, but more realistically car accidents
or dropping a tray of food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Regardless our brain is still constantly thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our preservation instincts have had to
adjust with the modern times:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Was that my exit?!?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I didn’t know I have a wealthy relative in Angola?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“So, what will my boss will think of this?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I wonder what will happen if I eat that now?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and so on…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This cerebral power-house works around the clock! No wonder it consumes
20% of our body’s energy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
pretty amazing considering that the brain is a mere 2% of our body mass! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This non-stop thought factory is what makes us who we are so please
remember to think responsibly!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> Learn more here: </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/why-impossible-stop-thinking-evolved-neurologist_n_2236625.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/why-impossible-stop-thinking-evolved-neurologist_n_2236625.html</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.healthboards.com/boards/general-health/55481-help-my-mind-wont-stop-thinking.html">http://www.healthboards.com/boards/general-health/55481-help-my-mind-wont-stop-thinking.html</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77UhRTqkRcliIekG_NCi6X9_yMzNshiZXVe3_D5Ds4_mCo_0dOkrgz-zU7_VTfOCweqvMQ-swTBAdAG27JTTBryMA9YXomDlIIJkd0573qY7mC-WbYIYP5zti7NBXChpcpRxiX5fz4NHO/s1600/brain-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77UhRTqkRcliIekG_NCi6X9_yMzNshiZXVe3_D5Ds4_mCo_0dOkrgz-zU7_VTfOCweqvMQ-swTBAdAG27JTTBryMA9YXomDlIIJkd0573qY7mC-WbYIYP5zti7NBXChpcpRxiX5fz4NHO/s320/brain-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-4628656702596783682012-12-21T12:01:00.003-05:002012-12-21T12:01:58.721-05:00Holiday Fun at the Polar Express Pajama Party
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEE115dxlKm_k4YQ8SlR6HCS1jPb48VBW3NQcLFB3BQ7Q5Lnqyjb7g9OrvS_o34pFxRBRf9yMidD0CuQHuhWfIJKf3xYwz51UI_OPqjQcSZMOCENl8iezJv9CciHgQJBsumRIM_jztCPw/s1600/photo+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEE115dxlKm_k4YQ8SlR6HCS1jPb48VBW3NQcLFB3BQ7Q5Lnqyjb7g9OrvS_o34pFxRBRf9yMidD0CuQHuhWfIJKf3xYwz51UI_OPqjQcSZMOCENl8iezJv9CciHgQJBsumRIM_jztCPw/s200/photo+(3).jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thanks to all of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Museum
member families</b> who brought cute pajamas and lots of holiday cheer to our
Polar Express pajama parties! Hundreds of cookies and numerous gallons of milk
were consumed - and our member kids handcrafted tons of holiday ornaments. But
of course, the highlight was the super-comfy showing of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Polar Express</i> on the biggest screen in Virginia. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpabpvK7X8t3dKgEExV2LCMMj982DmM3fQMcBJhWmgM5iOOSqM433fueItYaoW4OCMD7iyfvsYHdWRbquLi0qxm6sU_-a1wQed-WhYiT8T2tj3nseQojh1I6fKqME5jVGu406atlAUIc5t/s1600/super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpabpvK7X8t3dKgEExV2LCMMj982DmM3fQMcBJhWmgM5iOOSqM433fueItYaoW4OCMD7iyfvsYHdWRbquLi0qxm6sU_-a1wQed-WhYiT8T2tj3nseQojh1I6fKqME5jVGu406atlAUIc5t/s200/super.jpg" width="125" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We want to
repeat the parties next year and give more member families a chance to come. What do you think members – should we do
it again? Any ideas on how to make it even more fun? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you haven’t seen <em>The Polar Express</em> in IMAX<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">®</span> yet, it’s still showing through December 31. Members can use their free passes or buy discounted
tickets for only $5. It’s a great accompaniment to our <strong>Fruitcake Science</strong>
experiments that will happen December 26-30. Come see us during holiday break! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Membership - Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507302480006243782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-35028964041907234772012-12-20T16:54:00.001-05:002012-12-20T16:54:48.589-05:00From Elated to Deflated
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigh00y9i21yL92dkPcPRut4gFxjyTiUowHoL9h03f_8jp7hZeWiVwULSpnTsY698xhfT2JR8WIE09DNOe4xw0VtiT4RzFv2-HJAUvoSZELS2_PwIW65tlkQMGdSLNJ7d_YxAYoZYoPt4JZ/s1600/IMAG0624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigh00y9i21yL92dkPcPRut4gFxjyTiUowHoL9h03f_8jp7hZeWiVwULSpnTsY698xhfT2JR8WIE09DNOe4xw0VtiT4RzFv2-HJAUvoSZELS2_PwIW65tlkQMGdSLNJ7d_YxAYoZYoPt4JZ/s320/IMAG0624.jpg" title="" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Barbieris getting ready to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">wrangle the fruitcake balloon</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">On December 1, our fruitcake balloon made its
debut in the Dominion Christmas Parade. Created to celebrate <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fruitcake Science</b>, our favorite holiday
tradition of destroying – oops, we mean <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">experimenting</i>
on holiday fruitcakes in the name of scientific inquiry, we were thrilled to be
floating everyone’s least-favorite holiday treat down Broad Street. A hearty
bunch of staff and friends of the Museum wrangled the balloon, including our
member contest winners – the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barbieri Family</b>.
<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The drama began about four blocks into the journey, when the
fruitcake encountered the low-hanging traffic lights at Broad and Allen Streets
– the same intersection that gave the Rudolph balloon an unfortunate head
injury two years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fruitcake handlers used all their muscle and might to
get the fruitcake low enough to pass below the lights. After a few agonizing minutes
of struggle, the fruitcake finally moved under the light and across the
intersection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But alas, the fruitcake had sustained a puncture wound and
quickly began to deflate, ending its parade journey almost as soon as it began.
You can watch the drama unfold </span><a href="http://wtvr.com/2012/12/02/fruitcake-not-so-indestructible-after-all-deflates-in-parade/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">here.</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do you think we will let a traffic light get in the way of
our holiday fun? No way. The fruitcake balloon will be back next year – just a
few feet shorter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Join us December
26-30</b> and help us perform some despicable experiments on fruitcakes, and bring
a fruitcake to donate to science. Don’t worry about us telling your grandma or
aunt. It will be our little secret. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Membership - Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507302480006243782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-64255029805100847362012-12-12T15:12:00.001-05:002012-12-12T15:12:54.646-05:00It's the End of the World...Again!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING!!!….AGAIN!!!!!</div>
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If the world had ended every time a bad prediction was made, we would be in some real trouble! </div>
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Humanity's doom and gloom world ending predictions have happened several times in the past. So, its no surprise that we're hearing a lot of buzz about it again, after all, it's been a while. This time around the cause is based around the Mayan Calendar. Here's what you need to know about this alleged curtain call that the Earth is facing on Dec 21, 2012. First of all the initial chaos was based around a bad prediction made for the year May 2003 when a rouge planet by the name of Nabiru would sweep into the inner solar system and smash right into Earth. Okay, so that didn't work out quite as well as the predictors anticipated. NASA and various space agencies around the planet keep a watchful eye for asteroids, space junk, and definitely rouge planets that could cause problems. Much to some people's dismay, the no-show of planet Nabiru in May of 2003 was embarrassing. I mean, no one wants to be totally wrong, right? So, the next best option was to shift the end of the world to the next 'logical' time, Dec 21, 2012. </div>
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Why Dec 21, 2012? Its right before the holidays, everyone's cozy in scarves and sweaters, and we're smack dab in the middle of big holiday feasts. Why would anyone possibly want this to be the end of the world? Well, some people noticed that the Mayan Calendar ended on Dec 21, 2012. This gave enough creative freedom to examine various other earth-ending options. All of a sudden new ideas started to pop up surrounding this wintery deadline. The predictions got real out there, real fast! </div>
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<b>Asteroids! </b><br />
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It's not just a fun video game, it's a great way to end the world! So, of course, plenty of asteroid theories started to appear. Again, the experts shook their heads and used the proof of the planet's astronomical resources to explain that this could not happen. Currently, we have the ability to track any major threatening asteroids all the way out to the asteroid belt! That's about 100 million miles away, and moving at the speeds asteroids do we're able to spot them about 20 years in advance. We've looked up and we've tracked the trajectories of all the big problems that could happen and we seem to be in the clear at the moment. Regardless, the skeptics continued to think of other fun ways to keep the garbage from going out on Dec 22. If asteroids wouldn't do it then perhaps something bigger could. </div>
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<b>How about…the…planets!</b> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYtHr1r5U_rQG52dCTLVmu9evZgWtDekAbxvnJxSDyb9qa4RAYPSdp1WgXTQYhYwGqCCZo53_yt4oDUBDKZtE6KVJO2PYI3UgpwRZli-Sg_j3dRMZ22bLKoOfA1A60gH04Mw7NEGGxwNd/s1600/Planetary-Alignment-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYtHr1r5U_rQG52dCTLVmu9evZgWtDekAbxvnJxSDyb9qa4RAYPSdp1WgXTQYhYwGqCCZo53_yt4oDUBDKZtE6KVJO2PYI3UgpwRZli-Sg_j3dRMZ22bLKoOfA1A60gH04Mw7NEGGxwNd/s320/Planetary-Alignment-2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yeah, that's the ticket! Planets lining up and causing problems. Kind of like when you see a line of bullies in the playground, you know you're in trouble. However, other than the relatively larger size of some planets compared to us, they bare very little resemblance to a school yard bully. If you see a line of bullies, you may be in trouble. If you see a line of planets, you're going to be just fine. In fact the planets in our solar system have aligned several times in this century alone. With the exception of causing some fear on internet blogs, nothing else has really happened. The 'fear' was that the planetary alignments would trigger a series of world ending natural disasters. The prediction was that on Dec 21, 2012 the Earth would experience several huge volcanoes going off all at once! Hurricanes would sweep the coast lines! Earthquakes would bring major cities to the ground! Tornadoes! Lightning! Tsunamis! Snow storms! Ahhhhh!!!!! Whoa, wait a minute. So, in theory, if all this happens when the planets line up, shouldn't we have already seen this happen once or twice already? After all, the planets have been aligned in the past and from what we can recall, there are no records in recent or even in previous times where THAT much chaos has happened all at once. Plus the planets ARE NOT lining up this year at all, they're all over the place! Hmm….okay, so that one's not as likely. So, what else could they dream up? </div>
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<b>The Earth's magnetic poles? </b><br />
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Some people started to tout the change in the magnetic poles which would shift the Earth (literally) UPSIDE DOWN! It seems the only thing that's upside down about this prediction is the science involved. The Earth does shift its magnetic poles from time to time, but much like anything that's worth doing, it takes a while. You can't just flip a light switch and turn the world upside down, yet. Our planet takes thousands of years to shift its magnetic poles and it is very much so a part of the natural process of being our planet. To switch poles in the course of one day? That may be a little out of the question based on what we have learned from billions of years of geologic records and all the very smart educated experts around the world. Okay, so that one's a little out of the realm of possibility. What else could possibly be left? </div>
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<b>Here comes the Sun!</b><br />
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Ah, yes, the sun! The sun is a great way to end the world. The heat of the sun is what gives us life, but if it were to somehow vastly grow or send a massive sun flair our way, it could become a very bad day on Earth. So, this became the next runner up for the big catastrophic event that would end the world on Dec 21, 2012. Okay, so sure, lets talk about the sun. Now, billions of years from now, the sun will grow in size vastly as it becomes a red giant, right before it collapses into a little white dwarf and spend the rest of its time in retirement, but for now the sun is going to be chillin' (or heating…depending on how you look at it) and carrying on business as usual. So, the fear behind the earth ending sun-show can be put to rest as well. What else could they possible come up with that could cause legitimate alarm?</div>
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<b>How…about…the….ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!!</b><br />
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There's something to be said about coming up with the most creative end of the world prediction. In the past people have used piddly little things like comets, asteroids, planets, sun flairs, and what have you. This Dec 21 cut off has yielded a pretty fantastic and imaginative theory. According to some, on Dec 21st, THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WILL LINE UP!! Now, before we get into the science behind why this prediction is just plain wrong, lets give props to the amazing imagination that allowed this theory to happen in the first place. Imagine every star, black hole, comet, asteroid, random hydrogen particle, new forming stars, old dying ones, all escaped light….EVERYTHING!! Everything in a nice neat line. An O.C.D. person's dream come true! However, things are moving in specific trajectories that will make this alignment 100% IMPOSSIBLE. However, again if the entire universe were to line up, the events happening on Earth would have little to no impact based on gravitational pulls. The gravity of the sun and the moon (though much smaller than the sun's gravity) have the most impact on what happens here on Earth. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and even it has no urgent gravitational impact on our major natural processes. The universe lining up would make for one amazing photo opt, but life on Earth would more likely than not continue.<br />
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There's one other major thing that needs to be mentioned here. We've spent some time looking into all the sciences behind these bad-predictions, but we've saved the best for last. Let's discuss the mystical and magical powers of calendars. First of all, a calendar is simply a way to organize our days. Various cultures all over the world in many different time periods have created their own calendars. The Mayans were one of them. We, currently, are another group of individuals that use our own calendars. There is a calendar somewhere in your life. Perhaps hanging at your office, in your class room, or maybe in your home. Regardless of where the calendar is hanging, there's a really good chance that it has a 'last day' on it. Go to your calendar, look for the last day. Does that mean the world is going to end? No, it means its time for a new calendar. The Mayans made some wonderful observations about the cosmos and noted them down using the technology and resources they had available to them. There have been many times that we've learned more about our place in the natural world based on research and understanding. Thousands of years ago when the Mayans were making the calendars they were unaware of computer algorithms. Those didn't exist then. Currently we can map out what day of the week Dec 21 will fall on in the year 2015, 2080, 3500, or even 999,999 if we wanted to. When the Mayans were working on the calendar they had limited resources and at some point the physical organization of days had to end, because physical resources are limited. The concept of time is an infinite…not easily applicable to paper and pencil. So, this calendar had to have a 'last day' NOT because of the end of the world, but because you can't physically write down all the days from now till, well, infinity. So, the last day on the Mayan calendar is very similar to the last day on your calendar. It's just not indicative of the end of all life as we know it. </div>
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So, there's no need to fear and panic. For now, the phrase "It's the end of the world as we know it..." will just be part of a pop song by REM. No need to go crazy and start giving away personal possessions. Well, except for maybe some outdated calendars. </div>
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It's The End Of The World...Again</div>
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Produced by Prabir Mehta</div>
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Animation by Caroline Miller</div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-56089358651178822642012-12-02T15:08:00.001-05:002012-12-02T15:08:07.524-05:00From New York city to Tokyo in just 45 minutes?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">So, who's up for grabbing lunch in Tokyo today?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, Tokyo, Japan. Well, today this may not be a possibility, but scientists are working on new plane designs that could make this lunch date a distinct possibility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Travel has always been a great source of inspiration and invention among humans. The earliest means of long range travel took place on foot. Our earliest ancestors walked a lot. This was made a little easier with the advent of floating wood on water, boats. Once upon a time it took nearly nine months to cross the ocean. As boats became more efficient the time took a little bit less, but you just could not make it faster than months at a time. On Dec 17, 1903, the Wright brothers took one giant step forward in human transportation when they successfully flew the very first plane in North Carolina. This design was very elementary compared to our modern day flying machines, but at the time this was a monumental achievement. The Wright flyer was the first spark that ignited the rapid evolution of flying technology. Shortly after the Wright brothers invention, planes developed into machines that could make trans-atlantic flights. The first non-stop<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> transatlantic flight went from Maryland to Ireland in a whopping 29 hours. Think about that for a moment. Humans were used to taking months to make this journey and suddenly there came a time in which it only took 29 hours, a fraction of the time<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> it took on boat. As planes developed the flight times got shorter. Currently, a flight from Maryland to Ireland takes about nine hours. So,</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">let<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">'<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">s<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">zoom out a little</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt;">, </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">9<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">months<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">on <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">boat, to 29 hours on <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">early plane, to <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">9<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">hours using modern technology, in a<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> relatively short time period of technological evolution. Sure, 45 minutes seems bizarre, but consider what the first plane passengers must have thought when crossing the ocean below them. What XCOR is hoping to do is just continuing the growth of techn<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">o<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">logy and use the process of science to help advance a very basic component of human life, travel.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">The Lynx plans on launching in 2013 with ticket prices starting at $95,000. There has been no official announcement on the on-board baggage just yet. Stay<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> tuned for more developments!</span></span><br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-36400374996316478462012-12-02T14:46:00.001-05:002012-12-02T14:47:24.726-05:00The Guitar!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Guitar: The Instrument The Rocked The World.</div>
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Last year, about 3 million guitars were sold worldwide. That's more than all other instruments combined! Clearly this data indicates a large popularity for this relatively recent musical instrument. </div>
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Though its ancestors date back to pre-recorded times, the earliest 'guitar' dates back to the Renaissance. A neck, which contained a fret board and tuning pegs, was attached to a hollowed out wooden body to project the sound of the strings. These early guitars were all acoustic, requiring no electricity. This is where six strings were strung together to create an instrument that could play chords (two or more notes played together) or melodic lines in which notes could create basic musical sentences, note by note. The evolution of the guitar happened slowly over a few hundred years with basic changes to the types of shapes, materials, and sizes. The landmark evolutionary step for the guitar was in 1932 when, for the first time ever, it went electric. Like many inventions, the electric guitar came about as a necessity. In the 1930s Hawaiian styled slide guitar compositions were very popular. The guitar was commonly accompanied by various other instruments ranging from the bombastic percussion to loud and blaring horns! This presented a problem to the guitar players <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">that</span> who wanted to be able to be heard in their various musical combos. </div>
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In 1932 George Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker and a few others founded a company to manufacture a guitar that could be amplified. These steps would lead to a musical revolution that now yields the sale of 3 million units annually. So, how did they do this? Well, the answer lies in one of the most powerful forces that exists in our natural world, electromagnetism. The component added was the pick-up. The pick-up is a bar magnet surrounded by a tightly wound wire. This wire is wrapped around the magnet several thousand times. The pick-up is placed near the steel strings of a guitar. The motion of the strings, when plucked or strummed, creates a vibration in the magnetic field thus sending a current through the wire. That current comes out as a small electrical signal. Well, small's not going to cut it if we want to compete with drums and brass. So, the signal was then sent into a radio, which has the ability to amplify or boost electrical pulses and signals. This would create a larger more audible version of that electrical signal. This was the first time an electric guitar signal was sent through an amplifier to create a louder signal that could compete with the accompanying instruments. </div>
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Soon after, this technology was harnessed by many other musical and technological explorers. Varying designs on both the guitar and the amplifier quickly started to appear. The evolution of the guitar took a drastic shift once this technical component was added. Currently there are thousands upon thousands of types of guitars and amplifiers ranging from the simple and basic to the bizarre and complicated. </div>
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This new instrument was an integral player in the creation of new genres of music. The older classical orchestral music had no composed parts for guitar so new compositions were needed. Though there are some classical pieces that feature the guitar, the instruments footprint on the musical world really was made clear once musicians started to play blues, jazz, country, and bluegrass. These were the predecessors to nearly everything we hear on the radio today. Once the evolution of the instrument started to take shape, the evolution of genres quickly followed. Many musicians such as Robert Johnson, B.B.King, Fats Domino, and Jackie Brenston were helping establish the new genre of rock and roll, but there was much more in store for the guitar in the very near future. </div>
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In the early 1940s a young truck driver in Alabama took standard blues music and presented it with a slightly faster tempo and a more pronounced back beat. That truck driver was one of the many people who helped create a brand new style of music that was, as of then, a pretty uncommon sound in the average American household. What was the music? Rock and Roll. Who was the truck driver? Elvis Presley. Presley would later go on to be called 'The King of Rock Music'. With the influence of these early blues based musical pioneers, a fleet of musicians from around the planet started to perfect their 'rock' sound, including a quartet from Liverpool, England. The Beatles released their first album in 1963 and created a seemingly unstoppable musical trajectory. The fab four ushered in a cultural revolution that would change the guitar forever. For the first time ever a guitar based musical group was upheld in the public limelight as international celebrities. The guitar driven sound of the mop-top quartet became a staple on radio and television across the world. Soon after, other guitar-led musicians would sweep international media and inspire generations of future musicians.</div>
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The guitar is the instrument that rocked the world. </div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-27238067562438148372012-11-27T15:39:00.000-05:002012-11-27T15:39:31.507-05:00For Members: The Polar Express PJ Party Survival Guide
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</a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hello there, Science Museum of Virginia members! Welcome to the first just-for-members
entry in the SMV blog. We’ll be using this space to give you news on our
special member events and offers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />Our phones have been ringing off the hook with PJ Party
registrations. Our original date, Friday, December 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> is full.
Registrations for Saturday, December 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> are quickly approaching our
IMAX®<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DOME</i>’s capacity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />Both parties start at 5:30 pm, and the film
begins at 6:30. Here are some helpful hints to make your family’s PJ Party
experience one of the best of the holiday season!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confirm your reservation date. If you have any question
about which evening you’re signed up for, just call us at 804.864.1449 or email
</span><a href="mailto:membership@smv.org"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">membership@smv.org</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arrive as early as you can and use the IMAX®<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DOME</i> entrance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will give you time to check in, enjoy milk, cookies and crafts and get choice seats for the film at 6:30. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even if the holiday spirit moves you, please do not bring additional unregistered guests. We cannot guarantee that theater seats will be available for them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you registered and can’t come – please let us know so that other members can sign up and enjoy the party.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">HAVE FUN! If you have some PJ party photos you’d like to share after the event, send them to us!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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Membership - Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507302480006243782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-14888485501068707442012-09-28T17:12:00.002-04:002012-09-28T17:13:06.413-04:00Why Do We Sleep? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ZZZZZZZZZZZZ....</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ZZZZZZZZ....</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ah sleep, so peaceful!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, why do we sleep?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well, first of all every animal with a brain sleeps. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A lot of really important things happen while we are off in dreamy dream land. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sleep is when the body gets a chance to repair and process things. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This allows our brain to be refreshed and our cells (throughout the body) to get repaired, an important part of how wounds heal! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not only does it repair the body, but scientists believe sleep is also when your brain indexes and processes memories! So, sleep is pretty important for our day to day brain functions.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Going without sleep can lead to some scary stuff too. Losing just one hour of sleep has measurable consequences in loss of memory and cognitive abilities. In fact there have been some high profile disasters like Chernobyl and the Exxon Valdez that are a direct result of sleep deprivation. </span></span></div>
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Also, sleep can affect the hormones that control appetite! There's even a direct link between insufficient sleep and obesity! Proper sleep is vital for a healthy body!</div>
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Also, that's when you dream and that's when you get to be an astronaut or pirate or what have you. Get some rest, its good for ya! </div>
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Learn more with some sleep related links:</div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.stanford.edu/~<wbr></wbr>dement/</a><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2689703/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/<wbr></wbr>pmc/articles/PMC2689703/</a><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/p/TheoriesofSleep.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://psychology.about.com/<wbr></wbr>od/statesofconsciousness/p/<wbr></wbr>TheoriesofSleep.htm</a><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-63345409586773407372012-08-31T15:12:00.000-04:002012-08-31T15:12:29.960-04:00Wait, Voyager traveled HOW far?!?!?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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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. <br />
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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! <br />
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For more information on this program check out <a href="http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA's voyager page</a>!<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-57078427862347839752012-08-23T14:34:00.001-04:002012-08-23T14:34:46.179-04:00Ladies and Gents, The impressive PENCIL!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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400 years ago lead was harnessed to wood and thus pencils were born! </span>Today<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;">, 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</span> it’s<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;"> no surprise that about 15 billion pencils are manufactured every year! That's enough to reach (end to end) from Earth to the </span>moon<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;"> 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! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;">More pencil related articles can be found right here: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17043890">http://www.economist.com/node/17043890</a></span><br />
or here: <a href="http://www.pencils.net/facts.cfm">http://www.pencils.net/facts.cfm</a><br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-3914236953125429822012-07-02T16:41:00.000-04:002012-08-15T10:53:56.494-04:00The Amazing Human Heart!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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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!<br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-63738476656681068212012-05-31T12:17:00.000-04:002012-08-15T10:54:11.575-04:00The Amazing and Incredible Human Foot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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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."<br />
True that Leo!<br />
Consider for a moment all the things the human foot does to make our lives more interesting.<br />
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! <br />
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123210925491656849.post-1358767922828150632012-05-04T11:12:00.002-04:002012-08-15T10:53:40.315-04:00Question Your World - Women In Science<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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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.<br />
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.
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For more info on other females that have changed the world of science click here: <a href="http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/women-science/women-science.html">Women in Science</a>
For even more info check out this page: <a href="http://www.science20.com/i_can_get_science/yesterday_today_top_women_scientists-33348">Yesterday & Today's Women in Science</a>
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Prabir Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15123516621148213612noreply@blogger.com0