Scientific Theory

The Florida Board of Education has approved a science curriculum which includes evolution:

http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/425473.html

Is it a victory for the "Forces of Science", or is it ... NOT quite a victory?

Some people think that a "theory" is something that isn't proven. However, as the article says, a "scientific theory" is "a scientific and testable concept based on facts."

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT:

• How can we TEST evolution?
• What facts is it based on?
• Why would some people NOT want evolution taught as scientific fact?

Zoo

I thought the article was interesting and exciting, with the tiger attack. I thought it was cool.


This is the picture

http://static.flickr.com/51/147474762_b7af3d57e8.jpg

More News of the Satellite Shoot-Down

Here's an NPR story about last night's mid-eclipse satellite shoot-down:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19227400

The radio article includes some discussion of US-China differences around satellite violence.

Lunar Eclipse: SUCCESS!

23:20 EST

I step out onto the 3rd floor porch of the Red Lion Hotel... The dark, red moon is starting to pass out of the umbra and a bright crescent appears along the bottom.



Here's my photo:



One of those two other visible bodies should be Saturn, but I'm not sure which! Spaceweather has an interactive global map of photos other astronomers took this evening.

This just in, as well:

"ASAT HIT! US officials say the US Navy has successfully hit spy satellite USA 193 with a missile over the Pacific Ocean. " -- from http://www.spaceweather.com

Lunar Eclipse: Photos

Well, I can tell you it's COLD out there tonight! I went out sliding and stumbling across the flooded frozen parking lot at the edge of Stockbridge village, wondering if I was about to break through the ice and plunge into who knows how much green, icy Housatonic flood water...

And did I get some photos of the eclipse? Well... barely.

Here's the eclipse when it was just starting:

You can see that the edge of the moon has slid into the very dim edge of the earth's shadow.

Here's the eclipse about one half hour further along:


Hmm, not much difference there. One problem is these thin, translucent clouds that have covered the sky, so the light of the remaining crescent fattens up the moon in the above photo. Trust me, though, to my eyes, it's a spectacular sight!

Lunar Eclipse

Is anyone out watching the lunar eclipse tonight? I'm in Stockbridge, MA, and it's clear, so I'll go out later and try to take some pictures.

Here's an NPR story about the event:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19211082

This site posted an animation of the upcoming event:

http://shadowandsubstance.com/

Life beyond Earth (20 light years to be precise)

scientests have found another dwarf planet. unlike othe dwarf planets this one has a lot to do with us. This planets happenes to have an enviroment just like ours. It temperature ranges from 32 degrees to 104 degrees fahrenheit. these temperatures are ideal for water and where there is water there is life. Scientests aren't sure that there is life on this new planet but it would be a great spot for the human race. Too bad it is 20 years away (and thats traveling at light speed)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321

New Planets

This article is about to planets that are around a star that is about five thousand light-years away!

To see the complete article go to: www.sciam.com/article.cmf?id=scaled-down-solar-system

Fireball Hits Oregon

This article is about a fireball that hit earth in Oregon (hense the Oregon website). While reading this article pay close attention to the names and places. To see this complete article go to

www.blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/a_bird_a_plane_ a_ufo_no_that_w.html

Computer Equipment

Those of you who have any old computer equipment that you like, but a new computer, might want to check this out.

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-02/serial-ports-all

Meteor showers

This article is on meteor showers. Meteor showers are caused by a comet passing through the earth's orbit and leaving behind stardust. When the stardust enters the earth's atmosphere it will start burning and leave behind a stream of flashing light. A few well known meteors are Hallies comet which comes every fifty years. I found this article atractive because of the resent meteor showers we have had.
here is the cite for this article

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia-761587740/meteor-shower.html

Power Cords

Hey Guys, check this out! It's really cool.


http://www.popsci.com/gear-gadgets/article/2008-02/hungry-power

P.S. I think it would be SUPER cool if we could have ONE type of plug for ALL the
electronic-mostly-made-in-China-and-therefore-mostly-junk appliances we have!

Monkeys Count

this scientist monkeys arouned with monkeys and how thay can keep track of echother with thare vioces and faces
Elizabeth Brannon of Duke University is the leader of this expariment
for more info please visit this site
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http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050713/Note3.asp

The Space Wars

Space wars

What this story is about is that for all of these years the countries have been working with each other on space technology.

Great Lakes Pollution

According to recent studies some scientists belive that the great lakes have high levels of pollution and that everyone living around them has a high chance of getting cancer. http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004555.html

Atomic Drive

If you think your car is small think about this this car called the nanocars are so small you need 20,000 in singel file to span the with of a hire (hows that for small). whant to now more see the website at
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060823/Feature1.asp

I think If your like me and find this interesting you'll like this site.

Wet Mars?

Is Mars wet? Well, not now, but scientists think it was. New satellite pictures reveal river like embankments and large empty pools which look like they could hold water.  

Satellite Shoot Down

The Pentagon has just announced that they will send a missle into space to take down a broken spy satellite. It has a high chance of having a toxic gas cloud around it. This is the url for this info= http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/fishy-rationale.html

The Big Frog

Scientists from London and New York City have found a 70 million year old frog fossil in Madagascar (Africa). The frog is called  Beelzebufo. The same fossil was found in South America. The frog is thought to been big enough to eat small dinosaurs.   

The Aurora

The Aurora (the northern Lights) are a thing that have been capturing the human mind for ages. Stories of lights the shine threw the night with colors like peices of broken glass have been told for many years all around the world. But what is the aurora? the Aurora is a show of lights that appear in the northen parts of the earth. What happens is atmospheric gasses have a collision and cause a shower of electrons and protons. When these particils hit the earths magnetic field they produce different lights and alas the Aurora is born. And to think this is all happining 115 miles above our heads.Wow!

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2088

Spaceships Transit the Sun

In astronomy, a "transit" is when an object passes in front of a much larger object. It's sort of like an eclipse, only the object in front is WAY too small to block the object behind.

Here is a photograph of the ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting the Sun in sometime in the past week:

This photo was taken by Ricardo de Nasso of Pisa, Italy. I found it on http://www.spaceweather.com/. (Sorry, I can't find any direct URL there so that's the best link I can post!)

The Sun, Moon, and Earth, oh my!

My first post is on lunar eclipses.

Lunar eclipses are caused when the sun's light is blocked by the earth and out of the moon's range. When this happens the moon goes through a "shadow cone called an umbra at which time the moon is invisible to the earth sky."(microsoft encarta corporation) The amount of time the moon stays in the umbra is dependant on how long the moon is out of the suns light. When there is a full lunar eclipse the moon may gain a red tint. I found this article interesting due to the lunar eclipse that is coming up in a couple of days.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568140/eclipse.html

My second cite is on sunspots.

Sunspots are circles of black areas on the moon. Sunspots are caused by a "magnetic disruption across the sun's surface" causing it to cool.(microsoft encarta corporation) When this happen magnetic storms are created which travel to earth and can overload many electric items. Sunspots can last a fews days to a few months and can get as big as 384,500km. I liked this article on sunspots because I am fascinated by magnetism and electrical current.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701879658/Sunspots.html

posted by Zak A.

Michael Collins, Please Remember to Put Titles on All Your Posts!

Hey guys, check this out! It's really cool!

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-02/trap-lightning-block

New Solar System!

Astronomers have discovered a new solar system. It is 5,000 light years away. They discovered it by observing "gravitational lensing." This new solar system has "small" planets in it as well as big planets.

Here is the link:

• http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=scaled-down-solar-system

Do you want to know what "gravitational lensing" is? http://wikipedia.org/ has some good pictures and animations. Here's the link:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing