This Week's Sci-light!

January is a time of new beginnings, fresh starts, and New Year's resolutions.  Perhaps the idea of a making a resolution that you anticipate breaking in just a few days has soured you on the fundamental idea of a clean slate.  It is true that you can change at any time, but there is something to the power of collectively bringing in the new.

An article on e Science News! (a great source for breaking science news) celebrated a discovery that could pave the way for a new chapter in world energy needs.  The burning of fuels derived from organic materials, commonly called fossil fuels, meets many of our energy needs today.  (If you take for granted electricity, try a day without it and see how much work you get done and fun you have.)  But meeting the needs of a world that is increasingly becoming electricity dependent, is no small matter.

Vertum Partners & Mondotopo.com

Alternative energy sources are one of the avenues being explored for just such a purpose.  Researchers are experimenting with energy produced by wind, sun and water.  A book I recently found, Gust or Bust, by Hannah Flynn and Ljiljana Grubisic takes readers through the benefits and challenges of windmills in the context of climate science and energy production.  One of the problems with using wind energy, for example, is that the energy produced varies.  To compensate for low wind, the energy generated during high wind has to be stored in batteries.  The cost of the batteries is high and reduces the cost-effectiveness of this form of energy...  

Photo credit Eliza Grinnell

...but there is a new solution!  Scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in collaboration with colleagues from Chemistry, Materials Science and Chemical Biology have developed a "metal-free flow battery that relies on the electrochemistry of naturally abundant, inexpensive, small organic (carbon-based) molecules called quinones, which are similar to molecules that store energy in plants and animals."

Photo credit Eliza Grinnell

The article adeptly outlines the current challenges of energy storage with traditional batteries and presents the clear economic and efficiency advantages of their battery comprised of electrochemical conversion hardware and a separate chemical storage tank.

The application of such a invention gives me hope.  But what really strikes me is all the interdisciplinary work that was done to invent the battery.  Such work cannot be done by solitary individuals but through shared ideas and actions.

At any rate, here's to the the New Year--may it be filled with new imaginations, new collaborations, new actions and new discoveries!

This Week's Sci-light!

Friday seems anticlimactic after having Thursday Halloween fun.  However, I thought I'd extend the festivities into today's Sci-light by looking for "spooky" animals.  And what better place to look than in the ocean.  Since the planet is 70% water by surface area and 90% of the living space is water, it's no wonder that diversity in species and adaptations abound in the depths.

Hairy crab, Photo courtesy of NIWA

My fun began with pictures of Odd Deep-Sea Creatures from  National Geographic.  These amazing organisms have been found at volcanos, canyons and deep sea corals.  The Trichopeltarion janetae  or "hairy crab" was first described in 2008.

Photograph by David Wrobel, SeaPics

Surfing the site, I found more  Deep-Sea Creature Photos.  I was scrolling through photos of the Pacific Viperfish (pictured to the right), the Atlantic Wolffish, and a Frilled Shark and reading short excerpts about these amazing organisms.  Then I came upon the Vampire Squid (below).  The volumonous glass-blue eye captured my imagination.  Indeed, it's eye is special because proportionally, it is the largest of any animal on Earth.  When googling for more information on the Vampire Squid, I happened across some videos imbedded in another blog by Jennifer Frazer.

 Kim Reisenbichler, National Geographic

What curious creatures will inspire you?  It doesn't matter. 
Just stay Sci-Curious!

This Week's Sci-Light

It's about 3:30 pm, and you're feeling sluggish.  While pumping a tank of gas, you decide you need something to keep you going.  You pick up a can of Coke and the Snickers bar catches your eye.  To tired to resist and a night of classwork to go, you pick it up.  

So what's the sugar content of your snack?  Coke has 39 grams of sugar and a regular sized Snickers bar has 30 grams.  What does that mean?  The average packet of sugar contains 4 grams.  So, with the two together, you've just taken in 17.25 packets of sugar.  

You may think I'm going to share research on the correlation of sugar and weight or diabetes.  I'm not.  In fact, the study that I'm highlighting excluded anyone that was overweight or had history of diabetes or pre-diabetes.  Author James Fenner in his article, "Blood Sugar Levels May Affect Hippocampus and Memory, Says Study," stated that individuals with elevated blood sugar levels are potentially at risk of developing memory problems.  The study published by the American Academy of Neurology in their online magazine, Neurology, was led by Dr. Agnes Flöel of Charté University Medicine in Berlin, Germany. 

Diagram showing the hippocampus in the human brain

As part of the limbic system, the hippocampus is responsible for processes associated with short-term and long-term memory.  To find out more about how the glucose interacts with the red blood cells and correlates to reduced recall, read the article.  And remember, this study provides the basis for more investigation.  Science works by taking small steps and retaking those steps in different ways to expand knowledge. 


But, in my thinking, this study provides yet another reason for me to reach for an apple (23 g of sugar), a banana (17 g of sugar) or a peach (15 g of sugar) instead.  If you're curious about the sugar content of your snack of choice, check out Sugar Stacks!

This Week's Sci-light

I love writing this blog--I get to search the internet for interesting and breaking news and then pass it on to an eager audience.  What could get better than that! 

Perhaps I've found an answer in an article on ScienceNews for Kids by Sid Perkins called Cool Jobs:  Repellent Chemistry.  As part of a STEM initiative funded by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, this article explores first nature's use of repellent surfaces through chemistry and physical structure and then highlights three scientists who are researching applications of nature's strategies. 

Photo credit:  iStockphoto

The lotus leaf is a perfect example of both chemistry and structure to accomplish the task of repelling water because of it's waxy leaves (that's chemistry) and the very tiny bumps on the leaf's surface (that's structure).  But reading on, I'm amazed at the potential applications and discoveries being made.  Whether you're a student of science or a teacher of science, this fascinating article will make you want to know more.  And knowing more is what Sci-curious is all about!

This Week's Sci-light

On June 28, 2013 I wrote a Sci-light on the Voyager I--a spacecraft launched in 1977 the same year Star Wars was released.  This amazing spacecraft seems to share a common ancestor with the Energizer bunny. 

Image obtained from NASA 2002 shows one of twin Voyager spacecrafts, launched in 1977.

It's still going!  Where do you end up when you just keep going?  Apparently, "where no machine has gone before!"  Ok...I'm done.

But truly, Voyager has now gone where no machine has gone before.  In a news conference on Thursday, NASA scientists announced that on August 25, 2012 the month NASA's rover, Curiosity, landed on Mars, Voyager slipped out of the Sun's empire, the heliosphere, and passed into interstellar space.

While the New York Times article, "In a Breathtaking First, NASA's Voyager 1 Exits the Solar System" by Brooks Barnes introduces you to the Voyager 1, the NASA team, and what's next for the spacecraft, the stark comparison between the past and the present caught my attention.  In this story, a spacecraft with 8 track tapes, transmitters with the power of a refrigerator light bulb, and computers with a fraction of the memory in a low-end iPhone took us to where we have only imagined, and Lawrence J. Zottarelli, a 77 year old retired NASA engineer, wrote precise and expert computer coding to increase the amount of data we received at the boundary.

Sometimes it's easy in the search for the new and better technology to forget the steps taken before and disregard them as outdated.  But just as we would not be without our ancestors, so the technology of today would not exist with out the innovations from before. 

So my hat's off to the "imagineers" of yesterday who remind us of the ever circling spiral of time that brings the past to the present and into the future!

TED talk UCSD Style

Just a quick post for today. 

Check out this talk "The Real Scientists of San Diego: Kathryn Furby at TECxUCSD," who highlights what it is to be a scientist and how scientists can communicate who they are and what they do more to increase effectiveness. 

Would love your comments on this one!

This Week's Sci-light

A New Twist on Place-based Education...

 I was surfing the internet for organizations that support students interested in STEM when I came across an article by Judy Lin entitled, "UCLA Engineers work to keep Watts Towers from cracking."  For those of you not from LA, the Watts Towers are an iconic monument in south LA, created by an Italian immigrant, Simon Rodia, between 1921 and 1954.  For more history about the artist and the tower, visit the Watts Tower website.  (Even reading the history of this website will be interesting.)

From UCLA Today, August 21,2013

The tallest tower rises to the height of 99.5 feet and all are an intricate lattice work of concrete and steel ornamented with broken glass, sea shells, and tiles.  But there are problems.  This is where art meets science.  The towers are cracking and some of the ornamentation is falling away.  Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), that preserves the towers, has been working on a solution.  But repairs have not held.  A grant from the National Science Foundation brought in a team of UCLA engineers, Robert Nigbor and Ertugrul Taciroglu along with undergraduate and graduate students, to collect data and analyze the reasons for the problems. 

The referenced article from UCLA Today outlines the instruments used and documented tremors detected in the structure as well as recorded changes in even the properties of the tower that occur simply from sunrise to sunset. 

Beyond the fascination with history and the science of conservation, this article reminds me that the application of science is not just for far away places like the Great Barrier Reef or Yellowstone National Park.  It is right in our backyards and neighborhoods, available for brilliant minds who like the coal miner and construction worker by day and artist by night, Simon Rodia, can see potential in the 'found items' of our environments.

Use your knowledge of science, engineering, technology or mathematics to advance and protect your place in the world!