Q and A: Brains and knowledge

I received this question and I would like to answer it in two ways. First I will reason out an answer, then I will attempt to summarize my answer in a single paragraph based on the research and logic outlined.

Q: Would it be totally impossible to inject much knowledge into the brain using sound waves? Or maybe a laser to beam the information into a piece of machinery in the brain? 

A:The brain itself is not equipped to process sound waves, that is what our ears are for. Sound waves, as I'm sure you are aware, need something to move through just like waves in the ocean. Sound moves through air most commonly, but can also move through water, glass, wood, etc, but each material moves differently. A very dense material, like a metal door, will block out more sound that a less dense material like a wooden door. Air is the least dense state of matter on Earth which is one reason sound moves through it more efficiently than say water. Gas and liquid can both be described as fluid in motion, by this I just mean they move more easily than something solid.  This video has a good explanation for how sounds move through different materials. 

To get sound waves into the brain they would have pass through your skin, muscles, skull and the fluid around your brain. Whenever the waves pass through a different medium it would change the properties of the waves, as explained in the video above.

So even though we can encode waves with date by modifying the properties, the act of sending it through the head to the brain would contaminate the carefully modified data. If we found a way around this change to the sound wave, each attempt would have to be calculated at that point in time with specific measurements taken. Here's why: Everyone's head is going to vary. The thickness of the skin, the density of the muscle and skull, the consistency of the fluid around the brain and of the gray matter itself would all have to be taken into account. On top of that, we are alive so all of those variables are constantly changing for each person. Dehydration could change the density of the muscle or the fluid in the brain (This part is a little fuzzy for me, someone who knows more on the anatomy of the brain may be able to give a clearer picture), how much knowledge you have is going to change your brain, and even your mood could affect the brain's chemistry. What chemicals are present in your brain could change the movement of the wave.

As a clearer example, think of a clear, crisp autumn day, sound carries cleanly through the air. Now imagine a muggy day in the summer after an afternoon of rain, sounds don't carry as far. The air is now filled with water vapor (the humidity is higher) which will change how the sound waves carry through the air.

So my point is the “weather conditions” in your head would directly effect the injection of knowledge using sound waves. Which means while it might be possible, I doubt that it would be feasible. 

Now this is assuming that we can use these modified sound waves to stimulate the brain and some how get it to store or process information from these waves.  This is a huge assumption to even sugest that it could be possible.  But, I am no expert when it comes to the inter-workings of the brain, so with my limited knowledge I think the logical conclusion is it won't work.  

 

As far as using a laser to beam knowledge into the brain, there are several factors to consider.  One, let's assume we have the technology to interface the brain with a computer chip or mini motherboard.

 

Light is a continuous spectrum, from the Radio (low energy, wide waves of light) to gamma  (high energy, tiny waves of light) waves, as seen in the image below.  Lasers typically are created to emit light in the Ultra-Violet (UV) to the Infrared (IR) wavelengths.   This includes the visible spectrum.

 

Light Waves from High energy to Low energy

Let's start with the visible spectrum since that is what we are most familiar with.  Visible light is going to bounce off your skin.  It would not penetrate deep enough to reach machinery in your brain.

So, what about IR?  Well, we experience IR radiation (all light is radiation) in the form of heat.  So if you were to shine an IR laser at your head, you would warm up.  This could potentially interrupt your homeostasis (you're body's "happy" balance), so I'm not sure this would be wise either.

Two down, one to go.  UV?  Let me ask you this, what do we generally associate with UV light?  The sun/sun burns.  We know UV can damage your skin, even cause cancer.  I don't think shining a Laser emitting UV light would be very healthy.

Alright, well with those ruled out, what if we created a laser that emitted light in a different spectra? Let's go through them:

1. Microwaves? 
   1. Yum cooked brains?  Next Please!  Well, that's really only one wavelength in the Microwave spectrum.  So maybe, we will discuss this.
2.  Radio
   1.  Radio waves would probably be too large, they pass through us all the time and don't effect us, so this seems the most likely by far, but let's continue.
3. X-Rays
   1.  You really want to try to limit your exposure to X-Rays.  There is a reason X-Ray technicians don't stand there without protection if you are being X-Rayed so that won't work.
4. Gamma Rays 
   1. Long term exposure is also very bad for you.  Anything more energetic than Visible light, and you want to limit your exposure as much as possible.

So Radio would really be the safest option let's explore it to see if it would really work.  Radio waves include wavelengths starting at 0.1 meters and up.  There can be Radio Waves the width of a baseball or the width of the Earth.  This means the receiver would have to be that large.  That's why car antennas are long is so they can receive the right signals.  We get radio waves from Jupiter that need 20 foot long antennas.  This means that while it might be possible, your brain may have to be wired to be a receiver.  But wait, what was that I saw?

This is an interesting image of the spectrum. 

Pay special attention to the location of the Microwave Oven.

Notice where the Radio wave spectrum begins (about the size of a baseball) and where the source is under that (The microwave).  That's where the spectrum overlap a bit.  A microwave oven emits a wavelength of about 0.12 meters.  So there may be hazards at this area of the spectrum (Microwaves to small Radio waves) causing heating from the molecules in your brain, much the way a microwave uses water molecules to heat your food.  To learn more about how a microwave works to heat your food I suggest you watch this video (he gets into some more technical part of the microwave, but the section that discusses how the microwave uses water is very well done).  So that is my hesitation of using Microwaves.  Also, fun fact a Maser is a microwave producing laser!

 

I'm not seeing an easy way to work this, unless you had a fiber optic cable that connected the outside world to the machine in your brain, which has many problems associated with that. 

Here's the punch line:

Q: Would it be totally impossible to inject much knowledge into the brain using sound waves? Or maybe a laser to beam the information into a piece of machinery in the brain? 

A: While I hesitate to say "totally impossible" I'm not sure possible would be the right answer either.  The brain is a mysterious organ, having presented many challenges in science, so I do not want to say "impossible" but based on our current understand I would say no, it's not possible, not in the ways you have proposed. The second question proves to be more promising, but only if certain assumptions are made. Assuming we have a good way of hard-wiring the brain with machinery, then there may be a way to convey knowledge into the machine. This is a large assumption.

Why Science Education Is Important

Scientists have always been separate from the rest of the world.  Sometimes it is a mutual separation, sometimes one side or the other alienates science/scientists.  To clarify, I mean some scientists disconnect from the rest of the world; just as some people don't know how to connect with scientists.  There are always exceptions.

Some of us try to rectify this rift.  That is my goal in life.  I don't understand why this rift exists and here is why.

Children are natural scientists.  We are born ready to learn, yearning to learn.  We look around each day and ask Why?  So oft that parents get frustrated and run out of answers.  Sometime the wit of a child's question strikes deep into the heart of our own questions about the universe.  They have such striking clarity, just beautiful insights at times.  As we get older our minds are flooded with new chemicals that distract, but as a child the whole world can be understood with the simple question of Why?

Some people maintain that very question (maybe that's why most scientists I know are very in touch with their inner child), and they tend to become any form of a detective.  As a child I wished to be a detective, and each subsequent career goal I dreamed up were all seeking answers.  For years (over 6) I wanted nothing more than to be an Egyptologist.  I wanted to throw myself anything from Ancient Egypt, just bask in it.  I still have a strong passion for Ancient Egypt, but I discovered physics, or more specifically astrophysics, in high school and something clicked.

When children lose that "Why" drive they tend to become complacent, the answers are just beyond their grasp and maybe they can never obtain them.  But I don't believe that is true.  If people stopped asking why, we wouldn't have any modern convenience.  Sometimes the question is modified into "Why Not?" which can be just as important.  Repeatively asking why is only the base of science.  A real scientist knows when to pause from asking long enough to collect data and process that answer given.

I feel like everything in life that seems overwhelming should be approached with the "why."  That's the foundation of psychology and sociology (these are considered "softer" sciences because the data collection is more subject to observational bias (human behavior is hard to quantify), but fundamentally they practice the scientific method).  If more often people would take a deep breath and ask themselves "why" did I do this, or my family/friend/person on the street do that, they might develop a greater understanding of the world.  And I think that's what sets apart scientists from other people at times.  We are trained to do this about everything. 

I'm not saying shut off emotion, emotion is an important part of life, but so is understand why you reacted to something.  Why did you cry when you watched a sad movie, or why didn't you cry?  Both are important questions.

Some questions don't have an answer, sometimes they have more questions.  But that's the thrill of the chase.  Asking yourself the hard questions can be wonderful.  Sometimes you have to let the question hang there, like a grape on the vine, ripening.  You should only pick the "fruit" when it has matured.

I have a neighbor and we constantly challenge each other.  We always ask each other "why."  And sometimes having someone ask you why is as important or more important that asking yourself why.  I can get stuck in my head going around and around looking for answers to "Why?" but often having her ask me helps me form an answer aloud that silently I would have been stuck thinking about.


Enjoy the questions!
Alison

Amazing Project

Tonight I came across the most amazing thing.  It's called Zooniverse.  I saw a link on facebook sharing the Andromeda Project (about), where you can actually go through the images of the Andromeda Galaxy and label star clusters, distant galaxies and picture errors for the astronomers. 

For those who have been out at the observatory with me, you probably know that Open Clusters are my favorite deep sky objects. This is my personal favorite that I've observed:

NGC 2362:  Located in the constellation of Taurus, the first time I found this open cluster the beauty actually took my breath away.  This image cannot fully convey the wonder, but few images could ever attempt to replace looking through a telescope yourself.

The point is to go through the images and help label clusters and points of interest or irregularities for the scientists.  The tutorial was quick and fairly easy, they also have an added guide to help with tricky identifications and a forum (called Talk) to connect with other users.

I'm excited about this projects because of my passion for clusters, but also because it helps me give back to the researchers.

On the Zooniverse website they have 13 different science projects that you can choose to help.  A majority of the projects are Astronomy based, but they also have 4 biology (3 nature, 1 health), 2 Climate and 1 Humanities projects.  Also they have 3 different lab projects, 2 space and one humanities.  Although one of the space one is about marine life, so it's a mix.
I plan on trying out each one and reporting back to you. 

Also if you would like see what I've done in the Zooniverse suite, I have claimed the user name AskAlisonScience.  I'm not sure exactly what the mechanisms are for looking at user profiles yet, but if you join and can look me up, that's my name.

Keep Learning!
Alison

What exactly is a Higgs?

When someone hears of the higgs search what do they think of?  Black holes maybe.  We all remember the rumors that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, a particle accelerator that was built to find the Higgs particle and conduct many particle physics experiments) creating black holes and causing a panic.  Well don't worry you can always check the webcams.  Okay, so that's a joke, but it's amusing to me.  Really if you want to know if we are okay, you should check this site.  You can refresh it as much as you want.

But back to the point.

Origins (a National Science Foundation funded website committed to communicating advance science to the public) has a wonderful explanation on the Higgs Boson particle and field.  As they outline it was the question "What is mass?" that lead to the search for the Higgs particle/field.  We think of mass as being inherent to all matter, so how, why would we need something to explain mass?  Well in science we try to ask the questions that seem easy but turn out are pretty hard.  Try to answer the question what is mass.  You will probably come up with a circular answer.  For example:

What is mass?
Well we know that matter has mass.
Okay, what is matter?
Well matter is what makes up the universe.
And the universe is?
All matter and energy.
Well that brings us back to what is matter, or we could ask what is energy, but we would pretty much end up in circles again.

We try to explain these basic yet very complicated questions much in the same way people try to answer or communicate the idea of love.  It can be tangible in a way.  We could discuss the biological process of love, but that's not enough for a lot of people.  What causes the process to begin anyway, pheromones?  Not always.  Love is a complex interaction of emotions, which are not easily quantified.  But maybe that's a discussion for another day.

Back to the Higgs.

The Higgs particle was predicted by the standard model (and a man named Peter Higgs).  The standard model outlines our knowledge of particle physics.  It explains the particles we have discovered or predicted and the physical interactions in the universe.  How can things be predicted here?  Well that includes a lot of theory and math.  But I found a good explanation.

Victoria Martin, a former student of Peter Higgs and current researcher at the LHC, gave a wonderful description called the "A Layperson's Guide to the Higgs Boson."  Here are the highlights, slightly shortened.

"So what is this particle Higgs invented? We particle physicists investigate the properties of fundamental subatomic particles. Just as everything is made of molecules and those molecules are made of atoms, it turns out those atoms themselves are made of more fundamental particles: electrons, protons and neutrons. We believe the electron is a truly fundamental particle: it isn’t built up of smaller building blocks. However we know that the protons and neutrons are not fundamental; they consist of three even smaller particles we call “quarks”.

This is where Higgs’ particle comes in. We can’t figure out why the electron and the quarks have a mass; unless, somehow, they obtain a mass by interacting in a special way with the so-called Higgs field.  If this Higgs' explanation is correct and this Higgs field really exists and is present everywhere in the Universe, then one consequence is that the Higgs field can clump together and form a new kind of particle. This new particle is Higgs’ particle, which we call the Higgs boson. To see if Higgs’ theory is really true we will need to find some Higgs bosons and see if they really do interact with quarks, electrons and the other fundamental particles we know about."

I only have one final note.  On July 31st, 2012 this news was released, and I'll give you the punch line: 
"the ATLAS Experiment submitted a scientific paper describing the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs Boson."  
 Now in science this is going to require a LOT more testing, but it is still pretty exciting.  Science is actually a really slow process sometimes, we try to be both optimistic about discoveries and cautious.  We have to keep out method in tact and repeat experiments including letting other teams of scientists repeat them.  Only after many people have concluded the same things can we truly feel safe making a revolutionary statement.  So I present that news with excitement and baited breath waiting for more testing.


I'm going to let it rest here.  Let me know if anything need clarification.
Alison

Top 10...Errr, Top 4.5 Science Links For August

Here are my top 4.5 favorite articles I've read online this past month.  With them I've included a brief summary and why I enjoyed it.  (Note, they are not really ranked, I enjoyed all of them, so the numbers are just to keep track.)  I was going to do top 10, but the month got away from me, with the move.  The reason it is 4.5 is because I included another link without comment.  Perhaps we could have a discussion about link 4.5?  Read it, and let me know if you have any questions.

1.  Mission discovers multiple planets orbiting two suns

     This article discusses the recent discovery of planets orbiting a binary star system.  We've seen this type of system in the movies but this is the first time we have observed multiple planets around a system like this.  This discovery was made by the Kepler Mission, a NASA mission to discover exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars.  (exo-meaning outside of our solar system) AKA extrasolar planets).  Why did I include this?  Well not only is this REALLY COOL science, but it pushes our understanding of how a solar system forms.

     Remember, science is like cleaning out a closet, the room is going to get messy when you pull all the stuff out of the closet, but in the end everything is better.  Asking questions in science is the same way, the answer you think you are going to get is often not there, instead you find more questions which you must then answer. 

2. The Algorithm That Finds Connections Scientists Never See

    Why I loved this article is because it highlights an interesting side of science.  Basically this:  Scientists like small easy to manage problems.  Sounds good right?  The problem is that the real world is very interconnected, there are a lot of variables that are hard to manage and to measure all of them all the time.  This is one reason that the weather report is highly variable.  Calling for rain all week?  Well it was cloudy Monday...  Then it was sunny all week.  There are many global variables to track in weather prediction.  The same is true for all areas of science.  When you get down to real world systems there are truly thousands (if not infinite) of variables to keep track of.  

     In medicine, not only what the person eats, how much they exercise, what kinds of exercises, bathroom habits, sleep patterns, stress levels, emotional stability, family history, genetics, home life, weather, air quality, levels of communication between the patient and the doctor, etc all effect the delicate balance of human life.  It is nearly impossible to always account for all these things when treating someone. 

3. Is it possible to learn while asleep?

     One of my favorite books is A Brave New World and this reminded me of that.  I have always found the idea of learning while sleeping fascinating.  I love learning and would love to do it around the clock.  However learning to sniff when I hear a specific noise isn't what I was going for.  That doesn't mean this isn't a cool study, it is very cool.  Of course I instantly thought of Pavlov's dog (Pavlovian conditioning) when I read this. 

      Side note: In A Brave New World they use hypnotic conditioning of children to teach their beliefs while the children are asleep.  That's why I thought of it.

4. Chemical Exposure in the Womb from Household Items May Contribute to Obesity

     Chemical exposure during development can be very complicated.  When the embryo's cells are developing they are more reactive than an adult's cells.  In the early stages especially when the cell signaling is crucial.  From one cell we get millions that end up being sectioned off into to different organ types.  This means that from early signals the cells begin to organize and form the first tissues of the babies.  This is why chemical exposure can have such a dramatic effect, cells signal each other with chemicals.  The likely conclusion here is that the exposure to PFCs stimulates fat storing cell production.  Of course this is just my educated guess, I have not done any personal research into this.

4.5. Compounds activate key cancer enzyme to interfere with tumor formation

So let me know if there are any questions/comments about 4.5 (Or any of them of course). I would love to clear anything up or start a discussion.

What's on tap for this month?  Well I plan on doing a Top ten list at the end of the month/beginning of October.  Since I have a few Astronomy programs scheduled I will be doing an Astronomy related post.  Also, I want to get some serious work done on a particle physics entry that I promised I would write.

Keep your questions coming.
Alison

Reptile Trivia

I'm posting this really late, the move took it's toll.  I'm back at work in the science center today so I thought I would catch up with this post.  I plan on having a newly researched post next week and hopefully my top links for the month.

Today (August 8th, 2012) during Reptile summer camp, we played a trivia game.  I typed up the questions, so I shall share them.  Some of them are very specific to the camp, but some of them are general knowledge.

1. Which reptile still has their teeth showing when they close their mouths?
   1. Crocodiles
2. What continent was the viper from yesterday?
   1. Asia
3. What is the theme of this class?
   1. Reptiles
4. T/F: SC has crocodiles in our swamps.
   1. False
5. T/F: All turtles can pull their necks into their shells?
   1. False
6. T/F: All turtles have webbed feet?
   1. True
7. What was the first snake pulled out today?
   1. Great plain rat or Corn.
8. What country was Daisy, David's snake, native to?
   1. Kenya
9. What are two main differences between a turtle and a tortoise shell?
   1. Weight and Shape.
10. What is the difference between the Corn snake and the Great Plains Snake?
    1. Coloring.
11. T/F: The Science Center has Venomous snakes.
    1. False.
12. What is a box turtle?
    1. Tortoise.
13. What is a terrapin?
    1. Mix between turtle and tortoise: Lives in water and on land.
14. What reptile is a good mother?
    1. Alligator.
15. Where is the pattern the same for both the Corn and the Great Plains snake?
    1. Belly/bottom
16. Who won the race on Monday?
    1. Box Turtle.
17. What type of turtle was the last shown yesterday?
    1. Sunburst turtle.
18. T/F: Snakes are warm blooded?
    1. False.
19. T/F: The black snake has the same pattern on his belly as the Corn snake?
    1. True.
20. Who was the first kid of the summer to hold three snakes at once?
    1. Jason.
21. How far south can we find corn snakes?
    1. 30 miles south of Spartanburg SC.
22. What is the current count of sea turtle nests in SC?
    1. 4,367
23. Which island had eleven hundred and one sea turtle nests?
    1. Cape Island
24. When do sea turtles nest?
    1. Night.
25. When is the end of the sea turtle nesting season?
    1. Tonight, tomorrow, last night, pretty much now.
26. When does nesting season begin?
    1. Mid of May.
27. Where do the eggs live in the nest?
    1. The egg chamber.
28. How many eggs can a sea turtle lay at once?
    1. 150 eggs
29. T/F: Leather back sea turtles are very common.
    1. False.
30. T/F: Leather back sea turtles can weight about 1000 lbs.
    1. True.
31. Can turtles/tortoises live without their shells?
    1. No!
32. What is it called when fishermen use nets that are miles long?
    1. Long Line fishing.
33. When fishermen catch something that they don't want while fishing for something else, what is it called?
    1. Bi-catch.
34. South Carolina's state reptile is?
    1. Loggerhead Sea Turtle
35. T/F: Cape Island is open to the public during nesting season.
    1. False.
36. What date did the sea turtles begin nesting this year?
    1. April 30^th.
37. When will the nests be finished hatching?
    1. By the end of September/1^st of October.
38. What was the first predator to go after the baby alligator on the video yesterday?
    1. Skunk.
39. T/F: There are snakes called Queen snakes.
    1. True.
40. What do Queen snakes eat?
    1. Soft crayfish, they freshly shed their exoskeleton.
41. What's David's favorite snake?
    1. Red tailed Boa.
42. Do snakes get hungry after they shed?
    1. Yes.
43. Can snakes bite you, even if they are not venomous?
    1. Yes, they have teeth. But that doesn't mean they will.
44. What type of snake did David bring today?
    1. Red tail boa.
45. How many snakes does David own?
    1. 30
46. How many snakes has David brought in?
    1. 4.
47. Which is longer, a crocodile or a caiman lizard?
    1. Crocodile.
48. In snakes, which are larger, male or female?
    1. Female.
49. In turtles, which is larger, male or female?
    1. Female.
50. What is my favorite turtle?
    1. Sunburst turtle.

Update: Moving

Hello all.  My fiance recently got a job a few hours away, and I'll be living with him part time.

What that means: I will maintain my job at the science center three days a week and spend the other four with him.

The Blog:  I can't promise posts until we get settled.
I did promise a post about the Higgs; current research links; and I would like to add a section for questions that I'm asked.  So those will be coming, my life is just a little crazy.  Also I got a comment on improving my fire post and I need to look into that.

Happy Learning!

Alison

Breaking news! Or not....

Well it was brand new in February...

So this afternoon I am teaching for an hour in the Fossils and Dinosaurs camp.  Prepping for this, I was looking at some interesting videos.  I found this Nova program (Ice Age Death Trap) that premiered in February.  I wish I could show the whole thing to the kids (mostly because I want to see all of it), however it's a little long for this age group.  Instead I'm going to show them these three videos.

Video 1 is about Evolution seen in salamanders in California.  It's pretty cool.
Video 2 is about this interesting Prehistoric crocodile found in Tanzania. 
Video 3 is the PBS evening news segment on the Ice Age Death Trap  video.

Enjoy!

Fire: Why Blue is hotter than Red and What it Is.

When it comes to understanding fire, the first point I must make is that fire is a chemical reaction.  The physics/chemistry involved in fire is just fascinating. 


Here's what I'm going to cover:

• How Fire is a chemical reaction.
• Why Fire produces light and heat.
• What the different colors in fire mean.

To truly understand how it works we need to understand a few things about atoms.  Atoms are of course made of particles called electrons, protons and neutrons.  Which one plays an important part in chemical reactions?  Electrons have the most influence there.  Protons can play a large part in chemical bonding.



So what's the deal with electrons?  As you know they have a negative charge and they orbit the nucleus of the atom.   What you may not have known is that electrons orbit at specific energy levels.  If an electron moves to a different energy level it must either gain or lose the exact difference in energy levels.

A simple atom in ground state.  The blue is the electron (-) and the purple/pink is the proton (+).

What happens when the energy is gained?  Well the energy must come from somewhere.  "Energy cannot be created nor destroyed" it can only change form. This is why fires can start when it's hot.  If you heat something that is combustible you a giving the electrons energy in the form of heat.  Heat is a form of light, contained in the infra-red spectrum.  Our body interprets infra-red as heat.

This shows hoe our simple atom is excited, and the difference in the energy levels.

All forms of matter prefer being in an non-excited state (the ground state), the state that requires the lowest form of energy it can.  So after an electron is excited it wants to return to the ground state.  Thus the electron gives away the energy it absorbed by releasing it in the form of light.  The light can be all along the spectrum of light.  What states the electron changes between determines the wavelengths of light produced.

This shows how the electron returns to the ground state.

Here we have the spectrum of light, from Radio to Gamma waves, in increasing energy.  Showing how the visible red light is less energetic than visible blue or purple light.

The color of the visible light results from the energy. Blue light is more energetic than red light, which is why a blue fire is hotter than a red fire, it has more energy it is giving off.

This also is true in Astronomy, a blue star is much hotter than a red star. But “what burns twice as bright burns half as long” and maybe the numbers are not exactly true, the idea is, a blue star burns out much faster than a red star.  The hotter a reaction is the more fuel is used up at once. When the fuel is gone the reaction is over.

At night a blue light is much more blinding than a red light because our eyes have adjusted to the dark by dilating or expanding to let more light in.  When we are exposed to that energetic light we receive a lot more energy than our eyes were expecting.  This causes our pupils to shrink very quickly, the combination of all the light and the rapid shrinking causes pain and overwhelms our eyes which is why it is difficult to see afterwards.  When exposed to red light our eyes don't need to shrink much, if at all, so we can stay dark adapted.

To summarize...
Fire:

• A chemical reaction resulting in heat and visible light
• Purple/Blue Fire > Yellow/Red Fire (in energy)

Additional Information
 NASA explains Fire

Need more clarification?  This Richard Feynman video should help!

Let me know if anything was confusing, and always keep asking questions!

Why are Moths attracted to Light?

Most of my research as lead me to this conclusion:  They are not.  Not strictly speaking anyway. 

There are several different thoughts on why they seem to be though.

The first theory (T1) is they get confused by lights.  It seems that nocturnal moths use light for navigation.  Before we lit up the night with light polls, porch lights, and all the other lights we felt compelled to use at night; moths are said to have used the moon for navigation.  Our lights are brighter if they approach it, therefore they use it to navigate by rather than the moon.

Another theory (T2) is the moths are confused by the light because they are trying to get to the darkest spot next to the light.  This is due to "Mach Bands" (in the image below) where a color difference looks strongest at the point of highest contrast.  Meaning that the world looks darkest next to the light.  They are seeking the darkness and the bright light throws them off.  One scientist, Henry Hsiao, observed moths veering away from the light once they got close to it as they rarely actually bump into the light.

For some species of moth we have a third theory (T3) is moths just respond to different wavelengths (or color) of light differently.  This is why you are more likely to see moths around a white light than a yellow light.  One possible explanation of this is their food source.  They often eat the nectar from flowers, similar to butterflies.  Some flowers reflect ultraviolet light.  Ultraviolet light (UV) is a light that we cannot see as it is boarding the visible range.  Some insects like moths and bees can see in the UV range.  This means it is possible that they are approaching the light seeking out food rather than the light itself.

It seems that whatever the cause once they get to the light they are confused.  The reason they are seen sleeping near the light has two theories.
One: They often sleep as a reflex to the brightness mimicking the sun.
Two:  They merely tire themselves out flying around the light so they go to sleep on a near by surface.

A final note on moths: Not all moths are nocturnal.

References
T1 Links:
Penn State Research
Wikipedia
T2 Links:
io9
T3 Links:
How Stuff Works
Penn State Research

Quick Update

Hello everyone, I'm just letting you know that I'm alive and working on the fire blog.  I have been exhausted and working a lot lately.

Today I had the glamorous job of cleaning out a fish tank, the same tank I cleaned last week.  It turned green again in a week.  No one expected it to, but we worked very hard on getting the tank completely cleaned.  At one point we took a brief break.  When we (we = me + boss) went back into the animal room the largest fish had jumped out of the bucket we put them in.  He was flopping around on the floor still, so it must have just happened.  I noticed him and put him back before he died.  We then put a cover over the bucket.

Oddly even after days like that I still love what I'm doing.

Tomorrow I will learn how to use the starlab a portable planetarium.  I will be going to a library with my boss and giving a few shows.  I'm starting to get nervous, but also very excited.  I haven't done a show in a little while.

This Saturday I actually have the day off!  This is the only Saturday this month I am free!  Otherwise I will work up to 6 days a week.

I plan on posting a collections of links from recent science articles I like, and hopefully doing this periodically.  I would love to do it once a week, but I'm not sure I can right now.  So I'm going to aim for twice a month posting 10-20 articles I enjoyed over the past two weeks.

Possible Higgs?!

Possible Higgs
I'm speechless....

How to explain this?

Well, in physics we have something called the "Standard Model" which defines all basic particles in the universe as we know it.  The standard model predicted many particles before they were confirmed.  The Higgs particle is the only one that has not been found.

This is one of the main reasons we (mankind) built the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  The LHC is a particle accelerator, the largest in the world.  The size is important when colliding particles because the particles will have a longer distance to gain more energy before colliding.  All other particle accelerators failed to produce the Higgs particle before the LHC.  Now the LHC may have found it.  As always in science though, more tests are needed to reproduce the results.  But this could really mean a lot to the physics world.


I know this explanation is rather weak right now, and I apologize.  When I have time I will write a thorough post about the Higgs that I hope everyone can understand.

But before I do that one, I still need to work on that fire blog!  I have remembered it.  It is coming.  Expect it soon!

And as always, feel free to contact me with questions.

Science Camp: Week Two: Space Camp

This week is space week.  Last week was weather.  So far so good, I'm excited about the topics we did today.

I told the kids about the life of a star and fusion as well as explaining how telescopes work.  Tomorrow I am going to point the telescope out the window for them.  Sadly I cannot show them the stars because I only have them in the morning.

I've really been enjoying myself.  I'm even enjoying the stress of it all.

I'm going to have to come to some sense of balance to manage by blog and my responsibilities.  I will keep my promise about my next major post, but until then I will update about camp and interesting things that are happening.

Keep learning!

Camp: The First Two Days

I have been busier than I thought I would be the last few days.  On the upside I've been having a blast!

After my first afternoon doing this science summer camp I told my mom "I can't wait until I'm doing this for the rest of my life."  Even when I get frustrated I'm happy.  This past spring I kept thinking the words "I've arrived" when I was out at the observatory during a public night.  I keep thinking those words again.  What I mean by this is; I've become comfortable enough that I can answer most questions without prep and I am also comfortable with what I don't know.  I can enjoy the process of finding out myself or learning that I have more to learn.

Shanda and I are goofing around here.  We found these masks among other  supplies.

For example, we were talking about evaporation.  Shanda, a teacher I'm working with, posed the question "What happens if you add food coloring to water and let the water evaporate?  Does the food coloring stay in the cup or does it evaporate too?"  We were not sure of the answer and we had a discussion with the kids.  During the next break when the kids had some play time we realized that we had all the components to concoct an experiment.  In the discussion I pointed out that if you boiled sea water, you would be left with salt.

Our experiment was set up like this:  we put water, salt and blue food coloring into a ceramic mug.

Regular table salt and blue water.  Plus you can see that I took off my mask.

I then heated the mug on a hot plate to expedite the evaporation process.

Boiling blue salt water!  Next is a video if you are interested.

 We determined that we could make blue salt!  The kids thought this was very cool. 

 We had a lot of fun with this.  (Well I did at least!)  Soon we will be doing some crafts with the kids.  Hopefully I will get some good pictures of that.


I will answer the second question that I proposed soon.  I just wanted to share this first.  Again, my schedule has gotten away from me but I'm enjoying every minute of it.

I can't wait for tomorrow at camp.  Night everyone!

Question Two

And for my next trick, I mean post, I will be writing about fire.

Like moths drawn to the flame, you will be drawn to my next post!

I'm in a goofy mood, but I am going to blog about fire next time.  What it is, why it displays the properties it does.  And the title with be: Fire: Why blue is hotter than red; and what it is.

In other news, I will be volunteering at a local science center for one of their summer camps.  I'm excited about this.  I will be doing the demonstrations.  The summer camp is meteorology based so the experiments are simulating weather conditions and demonstrating related properties.  For example: I get to crush a can.  Some of you know what that is.  I'm very excited about this.  I will be can crushing in front of second graders.

For those of you who don't know what that is:  Video.  He does a pretty good job of explaining what's happening, but you if anyone wants me to explain it please comment or e-mail me.


I probably won't be posting tomorrow there's a parade and a birthday party that I will be going to.  But I should be posting on Sunday.

The First Question To Be Answered Is...

Why are moths attracted to light?

I was sitting in my living room watching a moth bounce against the window trying to get closer to the light inside. At the same time I found myself wondering what my first blog post should be.  I found it fitting that I should start this blog off with a question that I don't know myself.  So I will do some research tonight and post the answer tomorrow.

I look forward to learning something new with you.
Alison