Science Daily: Mars
- Ancient hot water on Mars points to habitable past November 22, 2024
- New research explores volcanic caves, advancing the search for life on Mars November 18, 2024
100 Hours of Astronomy
The canonical website for information is http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/. This page will be updated with new local to New York and Brooklyn. Keep in mind that there is a weather component to this event, but I hope to be able to sponsor both night viewing and some solar viewing, although the Sun has been very quiescent (no …
Another Reason to Turn off the Lights
Yet another study has found a connection between cancer and night-time lighting. Last time it was breast cancer, this time is it prostate cancer. In Darkness, Melatonin may Suppress Breast and Prostate Cancers, Science News reports on another study that shows a link between burning the midnight oil and human health. The great irony to …
Pendulums
For his science fair project, Jonathan investigated pendulums. His hypothesis was that how fast the pendulum swings, its period, should depend on how heavy it was. So I arranged to have 1-inch diameter pendulum bobs made of copper, steel, and wood. We suspended each from a horizontal beam, carefully measured so they were all the …
How Fast is Sound?
A few months ago, I read an article in The Physics Teacher (published by the American Association of Physics Teachers) on measuring the speed of sound using a couple of microphones hooked up to a computer’s line-in jack. Apart from having to make a trip to Radio Shack to buy some parts to convert two standard unpowered microphones into a pair of powered microphones for stereo input, the process was amazingly straightforward. I did a quick proof-of-concept in the dining room one evening and go
Ansel Adams Trivia
I just read this in Astronomy Beat #15, a publication of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, One of the most active leaders of the [Astronomical Society of the Pacific] was Charles H. Adams, an insurance broker and businessman, who had an amateur interest in astronomy. After joining the ASP Board in 1923, he soon …
365 Days of Astronomy
As part of the International Year of Astronomy, you can find a daily podcast on astronomy at http://365daysofastronomy.org/.
Globe-at-Night Survey Wants You!
The Globe-at-Night program is an annual program where you (yes, you) can help by providing data on the visibility of stars in the night sky. Your role as an amateur scientist is to make some observations (details on their web site), record the results, and submit them to the Globe-at-Night program. Your observations, along with …
Milky Way Gets a Little Bigger
There’s a New York Times Science article from yesterday reporting on recent measurements indicating that the Milky Way, our home galaxy is bigger than previously thought. We now qualify as a peer of the Andromeda galaxy. The critical measurement was how fast we revolve around the galactic center. The faster we’re going, the more massive …
Math Evolver, needs to evolve a bit more….
Math Evolver is a game by DimensionM used to teach pre-algebra to middle school students. While perhaps not quite as exciting as Halo, its very good. Good enough that my older son is willing to actually think in order to play the game (at least when I won’t let him play Halo which, of course, …
Science Geek Radio!
Heh, heh. Now my kids are going to love this Internet Radio Station: http://www.live365.com/stations/trappedinlab/. Okay, so it’s really me that’s loving it, but they’ll have to listen anyway…. All science-related songs, all day, non-stop. The mix is, as you might expect, a rather eclectic mix. All sciences are mixed up and the style may be …