Driving through the Discovery Place parking deck one morning, I noticed a van had just hit a moth. Interested in identifying what type of moth had just suffered this unfortunate fate, I quickly parked and headed toward the scene of the “hit and run” with the intention of collecting the critter and getting it to my office. But as I approached, an uninvited guest swooped down and stole the object of my wonder, carrying it just out of my reach. As the thief started to peck vigorously at his prey my insect friend bounced in small arcs over and over in a brave attempt to escape. The attacker was not giving up easily though, doggedly pursuing the moth as I, wide eyed with wonder, marveled at the ancient predator vs. prey drama unfolding right before my eyes.
Finally, as the... Keep reading.
Back in 2000, Dr. C. Everett Koop said: “Except for smoking, obesity is now the number one preventable cause of death in this country. Three hundred thousand people die of obesity every year.” Childhood obesity is certainly a national concern. To address this science and health based issue, Discovery Place ScienceReach offers a popular program entitled: “You Are What You Eat” The program helps learners to make healthy and wise dietary choices. But how do we show the importance of nutrition with living things so that people can experience and observe it? How could I experiment with this idea? So this got me thinking …
Do organisms other than humans have to make “wise nutritional choices”? Specifically, do insects get fat?
It is always a good... Keep reading.
News for Schools: Target Field Trip Grants
October 09, 2009
As part of Target's corporate commitment to education, the national retailer is awarding 5,000 grants of up to $800 each for school field trips. Applications can be submitted online and the deadline is November 3, 2009. Click here for more information about this opportunity to beat school budget blues!
Target Field Trip Grants
Every autumn we are captured by color. But is it only color? There is also form, contemplation of sequence and order in the world which capture us too. Looking from a distance at the edge of a pine tree or more closely at the margin of a leaf, you will notice an undulate (toothed, notched, or wave‑edged). Resin ducts or twigs, the mineral Halite (salt) and Galena (lead ore) are cubes. Needles, twigs, human fingers, are cylinders. Leaf and wood fibers are lattices, and the cells in wood, needles, and blood are spheres or spheroids. If the sun shines just right, the shadow of a tree forms a rough circle or ellipse on the forest floor. When you look at any living thing as a whole, it is a composite of many geometric shapes or patterns — the composite. Are we not also a part of... Keep reading.
Do you ever wonder about your very strange body? What is the deal with crusty versus liquidy earwax? Why is it different colors? Why does its consistency change over time? Where does it come from? Is it produced by the body or captured from the atmosphere? Are some people more predisposed to earwax production/capture than others? Is there a genetic foundation to earwax production? Are there uses for earwax that I have not considered? What wonders do you contemplate about your body?
SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure is with us at Discovery Place right now and we’re very excited. But the exhibit does raise a few questions:
* Since the sea floor is about the same size as the area of the moon’s surface, how do marine archaeologists find anything and how in the world did Odyssey Marine Exploration find the U.S.S. Republic? Seems to me like that’s not a needle in a haystack; it’s a pinhole in one of grandma’s old quilts.
* Which do you think is the most important ingredient: luck, technology, or science?
* What are ROV’s and photomosaics, anyway and how do they apply to marine exploration?
* Aside from finding artifacts, what other uses are there for ROV’s and photomosaics today?
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