What Happened While I Was Researching Fleas..

Fell into a webhole and found this cool site...

FT Exploring Science and Technology

This Is Why We Love Science

Science and Beer

Remember Those Photos?

Well, they were taken on July 16, 1945......

In New Mexico......

With a 10 foot lens that was seven miles from this event, at a shutter speed of 1/100,000,000th of a second......

The man who took these photos was world-renowned as the man who could stop time (due to his high-speed photography and film-making, he would become a professor at MIT with an entire educational center now named after him).

These are photos of the first nuclear bomb detonation.

Check out the Edgerton Center at MIT:

Edgerton Center

From the NY Times (And NOT Made Up......)

150th Anniversary of the most mis-quoted title in science history:
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard "Origin of the Species"
Enjoy.

Plus some other cool science stuff, with multi-media (oooo....)
Also presumably not made up.

NY Times Science

Kill the Bottles!!

Revolutions have to start somewhere....

The Telescope and Us

Nice Scientific American article on the telescope (now with bonus slide show!!)

10 Telescopes That Changed Our View of the Universe

Do You Have a Cat? This May Not Be News to You..

From 60 Second Science:

Your Cat Really Does Control You

The Link to the Main Podcast Site:

60 Second Science

More Short Science Podcasts from the American Chemical Society:

Byte-Size Science

Why Are These Photos on a Physics Blog?

Photos by Harold Edgerton


What is this?
Why are these on a physics blog?
Answers forthcoming......
(Full disclosure: black and white is original photo, colorized version is altered)

Physics Types..Check out comPADRE

comPADRE is a physics and astronomy education community with tons of stuff for teachers and students.

comPADRE

Online Simulations

Online sims for Physics, Chem, Bio, Earth Science, Math and simulations for cutting edge research, including stretching DNA and molecular motors.

PhET Online Simulations

3-D Electrostatic Fields

For a great visual aid for electric fields from various charge configurations: this applet will map forces, velocities, field lines, equipotentials.

3D Electrostatic Field Maps

Look Up and Ponder

Heavens Above is awesome for finding and observing everything in the sky.


Tracking Satellites (in real time)

Best Telescope Ever

http://hubblesite.org/

Beyond brilliant. (web link contains complete information about this movie)

http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/Magnetic_Movie/Magnetic.htm

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

From the Shallow End of the Pool

Having searched the length and breadth of a minute fraction of the blogosphere, I am still in the process of trying to put blogging into a context to help my students learn. The vastness cyberpspace is daunting.

At least in this preliminary investigative phase, I can see using blogs as another mode of interaction with students. My concern there is that I would have to put a cap on the amount of time devoted to this endeavor. I could easily see that one could fill up an entire day simply blogging. Surely no one does that…….

I would sooner spend actual time with students after school engaging them in face-to-face interaction, but at the same time I do realize that the potential of the web to provide additional channels of communication and instruction, but then I worry about the fact that there are only so many hours in the day and if I devote more time to virtual interactions that means that there is less time for actual in-person interactions which means either less sleep for me (no way..) or fewer actual person interactions….oh …..what a conundrum the web hath wrought.

The questions of “Will they support student learning?” and “How could you use a blog or a wiki to support student learning?” for me at least are still undecided. I believe that blogs can absolutely support student learning. The issue for me is the answer to the second question. I want to find the most effective and efficient way to use blogging ( and Web2.0) to maximal benefit for the students, while at the same time keeping Web2.0 in the context of a tool for knowledge, rather than the end in and of itself.

Marshall McLuhan (wikipedia THIS guy) once said of television, “The medium is the message”. He examined the influence of media independent of its content, and while TV brings us many wonderful things, it by and large is a passive medium. So is a feeding tube. Whatever comes through the tube may keep you alive, but there’s no taste at all and you better be happy with what is shoved through the tube. Sometimes it’s great, mostly it’s junk. The thing that gives me pause about the same aphorism being applied to Web2.0 is that the new incarnation of the web is interactive, and people who might not otherwise ever interact can now do so limitlessly. Now, if only I could harness that great power for good…..

Got kids? Send 'em to MIT for free. Over 1900 courses available. Here's a good place to start.

Free MIT education

Geckos and Physics: Van der Waal's forces! Angular momentum! Invincible gecko robots ! (really... well..no, but they are robots)

Geckos and Physics

It's All About The Carbon..

A "must listen" for all carbon-based life.
A great series of podcasts for all sciences. Plus the second link has the podcasts in a 5 part cartoon series. Awesome.

The Life of Carbon

The Life of Carbon Cartoon Series

Breaking the Sound Barrier Revealed! Age Old Mystery Finally Explained (clearly)....

Phlea Physics