In my previous article, we went over one of the reasons why Nitrogen is so important (living organisms have to have it to make proteins to live and grow) and where most of the “extra” usable Nitrogen can be found (animal waste). There is, however, another, extremely important, piece to the equation of why Nitrogen […]
Category: Science Literacy
Article #6: Nitrogen and the most important person you’ve never heard of, Part 1
Every living thing requires Nitrogen to live. Nitrogen (a gaseous element with the atomic symbol of N) is an essential part of every protein molecule, and proteins are essential to the structure and function of all organisms. All organisms get the nitrogen they need to make their proteins from the environment. Some organisms, like animals, […]
Article #5: OMG! It’s a GMO!
One of the reasons I feel so passionately about the importance of scientific literacy for EVERYBODY is that there are a great many important issues related to science that are impacting our world every single day and affecting our futures, every single day. Some of those issues are relatively small things like, for instance, a […]
Article #4: What’s up with all the hydrogen?
So. We’re a couple of weeks into our journey of discovery. I hope that you are getting something out of these articles, even if it’s just the realization that you already know a lot more science than you think you do. Please let me hear from you with your comments and questions. It’s a whole […]
Article #3: What’s the matter with gravity and inertia?
Did you get the pun in the title? Matter? Gravity? It’ll make more sense after you read the article, and I’m sure you’ll think it’s hilarious. Our previous article was mostly about scale, trying to give everyone a sense of the size and scope of the universe, from the very small, like atoms and subatomic […]
Article #2 Scale. How much is “a lot”
Did you know that a recent study estimates that there are about 70 trillion cells in a human body? Did you know that only about 30 trillion, or so, of them are human cells? The rest are microbes of one kind or another. Yes, that does mean that there are more non-human cells, mostly bacteria, […]
Article #1 Science! Keep reading for a chance to win free money!
Did just reading that first word either make you shudder a little because of memories of fourth grade science tests? Did it make your eyes start to glaze over, until you read the part about free money? If either of those is true for you, you’re in good company. If you hand most people an […]