Category Archives: Education

Too Toxic for Microorganisms – Not

The Pit of Life and Death by Richard Solensky:

The water became as acidic as lemon juice, creating a toxic brew of heavy metal poisons including arsenic, lead, and zinc. No fish live there, and no plants line the shores. There aren’t even any insects buzzing about. The Berkeley Pit had become one of the deadliest places on earth, too toxic even for microorganisms. Or so it was thought.
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the researchers identified it as Euglena mutabilis, a protozoan which has the remarkable ability of being able to survive in the toxic waters of the Berkeley Pit by altering its local environment to something more hospitable. Through photosynthesis, it increases the oxygen level in the water, which causes dissolved metals to oxidize and precipitate out. In addition, it pulls iron out of the water and sequesters it inside of itself. This makes it a classic example of an extremophile.

Magnetic Movie

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo

Magnetic Movie was shot in NASA’s Space Sciences Laboratories at UC Berkeley for Chanel 4 in association with the Arts Council of England.

In Magnetic Movie, Semiconductor have taken the magnificent scientific visualisations of the sun and solar winds conducted at the Space Sciences Laboratory and Semiconducted them. Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Semiconductor were artists-in-residence at SSL. Combining their in-house lab culture experience with formidable artistic instincts in sound, animation and programming, they have created a magnetic magnum opus in nuce, a tour de force of a massive invisible force brought down to human scale, and a “very most beautiful thing.”

Magnetic Movie is the aquavit, something not precisely scientific but grants us an uncanny experience of geophysical and cosmological forces.

Cool video: I must admit I am confused at how extensive the artistic license taken with the animation is.

Ninja Professors

From the excellent Piled Higher and Deeper comic strip by Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com. Like many of the best comics (Dilbert, xkcd) 🙂 PhD is authored by an engineer: Jorge Cham got his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, and was a full-time Instructor and researcher at the California Institute of Technology.

US Navy Sponsored Technology Summer Camp

US Navy plants a new seed of future engineers

When 14-year-old Dayne Savory first heard about a summer camp on technology in suburban Maryland, he had no idea that he would become so interested in science and engineering.

“Even though engineering was not one of my first options, now I will consider it. After attending this program I realized that I was able to do this,” Long Island resident Savory said.

Worried about the steep decline in U.S. science and engineering graduates, U.S. institutions such as the Navy and the NAVSEA — the command in charge of building, buying and maintaining the Navy’s ships- are promoting technology camps and competitions around the country. They’re doing it through partnerships with a growing number of associations such as the nonprofit Seat Pleasant, Md.-based Patriots Technology Training Center.
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The students built underwater robots and held a competition on July 3 at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex.

Thurman Jones, president of the Patriots Technology Training Center, said that the number of participants grows every year. To support this summer’s edition -as well as other programs organized by the Patriots Center — the U.S. Navy and the NAVSEA provided more than $100,000 worth of in cash, technical equipment and volunteers, according to Jones.

How Prozac Sent Science Inquiry Off Track

I post often on examples of scientific inquiry in action. I think it is an important way to see how science works while searching for answers. The process is not a simple one, but after a solution is found it can often be presented as obvious. But while trying to find answers it is quite difficult.

How Prozac sent the science of depression in the wrong direction

But the success of Prozac hasn’t simply transformed the treatment of depression: it has also transformed the science of depression. For decades, researchers struggled to identify the underlying cause of depression, and patients were forced to endure a series of ineffective treatments. But then came Prozac. Like many other antidepressants, Prozac increases the brain’s supply of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. The drug’s effectiveness inspired an elegant theory, known as the chemical hypothesis: Sadness is simply a lack of chemical happiness. The little blue pills cheer us up because they give the brain what it has been missing.

There’s only one problem with this theory of depression: it’s almost certainly wrong, or at the very least woefully incomplete. Experiments have since shown that lowering people’s serotonin levels does not make them depressed, nor does it does not make them depressed, nor does it worsen their symptoms if they are already depressed.
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In this sense, Prozac is simply a bottled version of other activities that have a similar effect, such as physical exercise.
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It is jarring to think of depression in terms of atrophied brain cells, rather than an altered emotional state. It is called “depression,” after all. Yet these scientists argue that the name conceals the fundamental nature of the illness, in which the building blocks of the brain – neurons – start to crumble. This leads, over time, to the shrinking of certain brain structures, like the hippocampus, which the brain needs to function normally.

Nearly Waterless Washing Machine

Professor Stephen Burkinshaw, Chair of Textile Chemistry at the University of Leeds, has created a nearly waterless washing machine. Xeros ltd. has been created to commercialize products based on this system (both for home use and for solvent-based commercial garment cleaning). Given the predicted trouble for supplies of freshwater technology that can reduce water use will be very useful.

Virtually waterless washing machine heralds cleaning revolution

Researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a new way of cleaning clothes using less than 2% of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine.
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A range of tests, carried out according to worldwide industry protocols to prove the technology performs to the high standards expected in the cleaning industry, show the process can remove virtually all types of everyday stains as effectively as existing processes whilst leaving clothes as fresh as normal washing. In addition, the clothes emerge from the process almost dry, reducing the need for tumble-dryers.

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

Photos from my hike in Starved Rock State Park, Illinois in 2006.

blue flower photos of red berries

500 Million-year-old Stromatolite Fossil

VMNH scientists confirm discovery of 500 million-year-old fossil

Virginia Museum of Natural History scientists have confirmed that an approximately 500 million-year-old stromatolite was recently discovered at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry near Roanoke, Virginia. This is the first-ever intact stromatolite head found in Virginia, and is one of the largest complete “heads” in the world, at over 5 feet in diameter and weighing over 2 tons. Stromatolites are among the earliest known life forms, and are important in helping scientists understand more about environments that existed in the past.

A stromatolite is a mound produced in shallow water by mats of algae that trap mud and sand particles. Another mat grows on the trapped sediment layer and this traps another layer of sediment, growing gradually over time. Stromatolites can grow to heights of a meter or more. They are uncommon today but their fossils are among the earliest evidence for living things. The oldest stromatolites have been dated at 3.46 billion years old.

Nebraska Firm Expands Recall of Beef Products

Nebraska Firm Expands Recall of Beef Products Due To Possible E. coli O157:H7 Contamination, USDA

Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Neb., establishment is expanding its June 30 recall to include all beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26, totaling approximately 5.3 million pounds
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FSIS advises all consumers to safely prepare their raw meat products, and only consume ground beef or ground beef patties that have been cooked to a safe internal temperature of 160Âº F. The only way to be sure ground beef is cooked to a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria is to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature.
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Also as a result of the investigation, on June 25 FSIS announced a recall of ground beef products sold at Kroger retail establishments in Michigan and in Central and Northwestern Ohio.

Another example of the questionable state of food safety in the USA.

NASA Set to Test Mars Ice

UA Lander begins ice analysis:

‘Phoenix’ scraped at an ice layer buried underneath the soil in what mission scientists call the “Snow White” trench. The lander used a blade attached to its robotic arm to scrape up small piles of icy soil that each contain between two and four teaspoonfuls of material. The robotic arm will now scoop up that material and sprinkle it into the lander’s Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. That instrument will use its ovens to “bake” the sample and “sniff” any gases it gives off (water vapor, for example), to determine its composition.

Martian Dirt Could Yield Asparagus

NASA scientists say they are “flabbergasted” to find that soil on Mars appears rich enough to grow such Earth-bound plants as asparagus.

U.S. space researchers revealed the results of their first “wet” chemical analysis of Martian dirt Thursday and said it is not as acidic as expected, appearing to have the requirements and nutrients to support life.