Thursday, June 28, 2012

Got the Right Stuff?

You too can fly in space!! Well, your experiments can. The ArduSat opens space adventure to everyone. You design an experiment, sensor, or whatever and voila! science in action and bragging rights to boot! Take That Big Bang Theory! Also, Discover magazine is sponsoring the Discover Space Challenge. The winning submission will fly aboard ArduSat and win $1500. The deadline for submitting your idea to the contest is July 6, 2012. So enter already!

Monday, June 25, 2012

A Plea for Bees

Acting state apiarist for Pennsylvania's Dept. of Agriculture, Dennis van Engelsdorp, studying colony collapse disorder, provides an update on bees and beekeeping in America. I love honey and use it in my tea (never the fake stuff). If you are a honey lover as well, check out this TED.com talk. Dennis van Engelsdorp - A plea for bees

Perceived Temperature vs. Actual Temperature

I grew up in Nevada. Summers were hot and dry. Sweat dried almost instantly.  It is forecast to be 102 degrees Fahrenheit in Little Rock today. Toasty!
Well, I was out at lunch and it didn't seem all that hot. How is that possible? Did the weather person miss the mark or is the temperature still climbing?
Hmm... Apparently, we perceive thermal comfort versus actual temperature on a variety of factors. Check out Wolfgang Kessling's TED.com video. His company is designing the outdoor air conditioning for the Football World Cup in Qatar scheduled for 2022. He describes an interesting use of science and technology. http://on.ted.com/Kessling


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Pinterest - more ways to share science

It seems like every time you turn around there are new online media sites popping up. When my daughter told me about Pinterest, I was less than enthusiastic. However, I've changed my tune. Pinterest is an easy place to save cool images and links that you run across while looking for something else. So, I created boards to save everything from Science & Nature to Robots to Steampunk to Architecture and more. For someone who is pretty visual, it works a lot better than a ton of computer bookmarks. Check it out! http://pinterest.com/sciwhisperer/