ROCKET SCIENCE IS FOR EVERYONE The year was 1969. I was a child of 6, just hitting that golden age where curiosity, awareness, knowledge and understanding all seem to start to come together, but before school starts to beat it out of you. NASA was about to succeed in, as President Kennedy said, “landing a […]
Tag: science educaation
Article #35: One Flu Over the Chicken’s Nest
It is still flu season. Normally, the major flu season runs from October to March, but this year has been pretty nasty. There is still a significant amount of influenza being reported in all age groups and the rate of disease, hospitalization, and deaths due to flu has been higher this year than any since […]
Article #32: Vaccination. Perhaps mankind’s greatest achievement
It’s flu season. I’m going to do the whole column on the flu next week, but to set it up, this week we’ll talk about pathogenic (that means “disease causing”) microorganisms a bit and how the human immune system and vaccination works to protect us from them. First off, it’s important to understand that this […]
Article #28: Tides and Forces
My last article, pre-Santa Claus, was about the Moon. One of the things I mentioned was that the Moon is responsible for the tides, so let’s talk about that. It’s a good opportunity to talk about some useful Physics First off, let’s clarify that the Moon isn’t the only thing that influences the tides, it’s […]
Article #26: The Moon. Super, Blue or Otherwise
Let’s talk about the Moon. It’s been particularly spectacular recently and you might have been hearing about “supermoons” and all that in the media. If nothing else, maybe it will help you answer your grandkids’ questions, one of these days. The Far Side of the Moon. Credit NASA. First of all, I’ve always wondered why […]
Article #25: Learning How to Learn
The Science Behind the Science Since this series of articles is dedicated to science literacy, this seems like it might be a good time to touch on the subject of learning. It seems relevant on several levels for readers, and it’s sort of in my wheelhouse, both as a Neuroscientist and as an educator. I […]
Article #24: Let’s Eat. And Be Thankful
Source: Norman Rockwell. Freedom From Want. This Image is in the public domain Halloween is just passed and Thanksgiving is on the horizon, so maybe this is a good time to talk about eating. It’s a WAY more complex subject than you might think. First off, let’s “set the table” and outline the basic facts […]
Article # 23: Flight
Let’s talk about airplanes. Airplanes are cool, just in general, but they are REALLY cool if you think about them in terms of technology. The first controlled, sustained flight of a powered airplane was only in 1903, 121 years ago. Wilbur Wright flew their wonky-looking airplane at a speed of about 8 miles an hour, […]
Article #22: A Half-pound of Kidneys Goes a Long Way
I think I mentioned when I started writing these columns that I am a Physiologist by training and I did research in Neurophysiology in a previous life. Despite that, I haven’t written a single column on physiology, yet. So, let’s fix that. It’ll be fun to play in my own sandbox. So much to pick […]
Article #21: Waves on the Beach. And everywhere else, all the time.
The subject of electromagnetic radiation has come up several times in previous articles, so we should probably spend a little time on it. We are bathed in invisible waves of all kinds, pretty much all the time. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Matrix”, in the part at the end where Neo gets up […]