Okay, Today at work a computer tower was acting up. It was covered in dust and beeping like crazy. I really don't know what's wrong with it, so I decide to start the only place I know, to clean it.
Dusk in a desktop, or even a laptop, can cause a lot of problems. I try to clean mine out once a year. Well this computer has never been cleaned. Amung all of our cleaning supplies, we do not have a can of condensed air. But I knew that we had a balloon hand pump!
I have to say, I've cleaned computers MANY times, but this was one of the fastest. I always struggle to clean the fans, but the hand pump cleaned them off within seconds. It was wonderful.
I'm going to have to get one for home. They are cheap, I just looked up the price at party city (since it's on my way home from work) and I can spend under $10 and have a few options.
Anyway I thought I would share this discovery today. I'm sorry I've been rather awol. There has been a lot going on right now and I'm just trying to focus on work and home for a time.
Never stop learning or questioning!
Alison
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
A Quick Astronomy Question
Q:
A: The book I would recommend is the Pocket Sky Atlas. This was the required field book for my Observational Astronomy class. Also, I would suggest learning how to use a Skymap. They can be found here, each month a new one comes out with this months events in Astronomy, and what the sky will be like on a nice clear night.
As for telescopes, there are many factors to consider.
One: What will you be using it for? How deep into the night sky do you want to see? I guarantee you won't have a view like the Hubble, but you would be surprised what you can find with a simple telescope.
Two: This is a big one. Budget. You can easily spend less than a $1,000 on a new telescope. If I could go out and buy the telescope I wanted right now I would probably spend $500-$700. (That would most likely include the accessories that I want)
When you look at telescopes there are several different styles to consider. I'm partial to reflecting telescopes, but there are also refractors. Reflecting uses mirrors, Refracting uses lenses. Both work very well, I'm just more used to reflecting
Another option to consider is the size of the aperture. Basically the larger the diameter of the barrel the better the view. Of course, the larger the barrel the less likely you are going to move it a lot.
Telescopes.com is a good resource for looking into different telescopes. They have a beginner telescopes section with prices ranging from ~$50 to ~$400. The other thing to consider is binoculars. A nice pair can be turned to the night sky and you can see a surprising amount. Actually the skymap mentioned above lists what you can see with binoculars each month as well.
So the actual recommendation? Well looking around telescopes.com, I found a reasonable one. It is a 3 inch reflecting telescope. It is a table top style, which means it is very small. But it also comes bundled with a tripod here. I'm not a huge fan of the table top style, but a lot of that depends on your viewing area and set up. If you had a tripod, it would be a lot more versatile which is what sold me on it.
To me, if you go below a three inch telescope you might as well get binoculars. The biggest limitation to using binoculars is that if you don't have a stand for them, you have a hard time sharing the view.
Good Luck,
Alison
A: The book I would recommend is the Pocket Sky Atlas. This was the required field book for my Observational Astronomy class. Also, I would suggest learning how to use a Skymap. They can be found here, each month a new one comes out with this months events in Astronomy, and what the sky will be like on a nice clear night.
As for telescopes, there are many factors to consider.
One: What will you be using it for? How deep into the night sky do you want to see? I guarantee you won't have a view like the Hubble, but you would be surprised what you can find with a simple telescope.
Two: This is a big one. Budget. You can easily spend less than a $1,000 on a new telescope. If I could go out and buy the telescope I wanted right now I would probably spend $500-$700. (That would most likely include the accessories that I want)
When you look at telescopes there are several different styles to consider. I'm partial to reflecting telescopes, but there are also refractors. Reflecting uses mirrors, Refracting uses lenses. Both work very well, I'm just more used to reflecting
Another option to consider is the size of the aperture. Basically the larger the diameter of the barrel the better the view. Of course, the larger the barrel the less likely you are going to move it a lot.
Telescopes.com is a good resource for looking into different telescopes. They have a beginner telescopes section with prices ranging from ~$50 to ~$400. The other thing to consider is binoculars. A nice pair can be turned to the night sky and you can see a surprising amount. Actually the skymap mentioned above lists what you can see with binoculars each month as well.
So the actual recommendation? Well looking around telescopes.com, I found a reasonable one. It is a 3 inch reflecting telescope. It is a table top style, which means it is very small. But it also comes bundled with a tripod here. I'm not a huge fan of the table top style, but a lot of that depends on your viewing area and set up. If you had a tripod, it would be a lot more versatile which is what sold me on it.
To me, if you go below a three inch telescope you might as well get binoculars. The biggest limitation to using binoculars is that if you don't have a stand for them, you have a hard time sharing the view.
Good Luck,
Alison
A personal explanation
I want to apologize for my absence lately. I have been pretty divided. I realize that this is rather unprofessional of me, and I am sorry. I am human. I had intended to write another post about science news for September. I was asked a question recently about the most recently discovered comet "C/2012 S1 (ISON)." I also want to follow up on the initial Higgs article with a more indepth question I was asked.
So where have I been? Well September is a bad month. There are two things that make it very personally depressing. I spent the end of September with a friend. The first week of October I experienced an increase in my mood, but was playing catch up with house and life matters. The second week I prepared to throw a party. Now it is the third week of October. I have to work this weekend (just like I did all the other weekends with exception of this past one).
I also have been working on a new project. I have a line of jewelry I make, and I started a blog for it.
I am hoping to resume writing on here true scientific posts soon. I will most likely cover the comet question first.
Alison
So where have I been? Well September is a bad month. There are two things that make it very personally depressing. I spent the end of September with a friend. The first week of October I experienced an increase in my mood, but was playing catch up with house and life matters. The second week I prepared to throw a party. Now it is the third week of October. I have to work this weekend (just like I did all the other weekends with exception of this past one).
I also have been working on a new project. I have a line of jewelry I make, and I started a blog for it.
I am hoping to resume writing on here true scientific posts soon. I will most likely cover the comet question first.
Alison
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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.
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
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”.
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
Thursday, September 6, 2012
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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.
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.
- Which reptile still has their teeth showing when they close their mouths?
- Crocodiles
- What continent was the viper from yesterday?
- Asia
- What is the theme of this class?
- Reptiles
- T/F: SC has crocodiles in our swamps.
- False
- T/F: All turtles can pull their necks into their shells?
- False
- T/F: All turtles have webbed feet?
- True
- What was the first snake pulled out today?
- Great plain rat or Corn.
- What country was Daisy, David's snake, native to?
- Kenya
- What are two main differences between a turtle and a tortoise shell?
- Weight and Shape.
- What is the difference between the Corn snake and the Great Plains Snake?
- Coloring.
- T/F: The Science Center has Venomous snakes.
- False.
- What is a box turtle?
- Tortoise.
- What is a terrapin?
- Mix between turtle and tortoise: Lives in water and on land.
- What reptile is a good mother?
- Alligator.
- Where is the pattern the same for both the Corn and the Great Plains snake?
- Belly/bottom
- Who won the race on Monday?
- Box Turtle.
- What type of turtle was the last shown yesterday?
- Sunburst turtle.
- T/F: Snakes are warm blooded?
- False.
- T/F: The black snake has the same pattern on his belly as the Corn snake?
- True.
- Who was the first kid of the summer to hold three snakes at once?
- Jason.
- How far south can we find corn snakes?
- 30 miles south of Spartanburg SC.
- What is the current count of sea turtle nests in SC?
- 4,367
- Which island had eleven hundred and one sea turtle nests?
- Cape Island
- When do sea turtles nest?
- Night.
- When is the end of the sea turtle nesting season?
- Tonight, tomorrow, last night, pretty much now.
- When does nesting season begin?
- Mid of May.
- Where do the eggs live in the nest?
- The egg chamber.
- How many eggs can a sea turtle lay at once?
- 150 eggs
- T/F: Leather back sea turtles are very common.
- False.
- T/F: Leather back sea turtles can weight about 1000 lbs.
- True.
- Can turtles/tortoises live without their shells?
- No!
- What is it called when fishermen use nets that are miles long?
- Long Line fishing.
- When fishermen catch something that they don't want while fishing for something else, what is it called?
- Bi-catch.
- South Carolina's state reptile is?
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle
- T/F: Cape Island is open to the public during nesting season.
- False.
- What date did the sea turtles begin nesting this year?
- April 30th.
- When will the nests be finished hatching?
- By the end of September/1st of October.
- What was the first predator to go after the baby alligator on the video yesterday?
- Skunk.
- T/F: There are snakes called Queen snakes.
- True.
- What do Queen snakes eat?
- Soft crayfish, they freshly shed their exoskeleton.
- What's David's favorite snake?
- Red tailed Boa.
- Do snakes get hungry after they shed?
- Yes.
- Can snakes bite you, even if they are not venomous?
- Yes, they have teeth. But that doesn't mean they will.
- What type of snake did David bring today?
- Red tail boa.
- How many snakes does David own?
- 30
- How many snakes has David brought in?
- 4.
- Which is longer, a crocodile or a caiman lizard?
- Crocodile.
- In snakes, which are larger, male or female?
- Female.
- In turtles, which is larger, male or female?
- Female.
- What is my favorite turtle?
- Sunburst turtle.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Tickles: The Video
I created a video about Tickles the baby snake who died.
It's on my youtube channel.
I just wanted to share. I really loved this snake.
It's on my youtube channel.
I just wanted to share. I really loved this snake.
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