Halloween Science!

Happy Halloween!  Have fun and be safe trick or treating if your kids are still of age to want to go out trick or treating.  In the past I've worn my cow costume while trick or treating with our kids.  Last year they told me no.  Boo to them!  This year I'm not taking no for an answer.  If walking around with a cow is embarrassing, so be it! 

If you're not trick or treating, or even if you are and have the time, you can turn many typical Halloween festivities into science activities.  I found this really cool webpage listing all sorts of different Halloween themed science activities.  These are a great way to occupy your time and have fun with your kids.

23 HALLOWEEN HOME SCIENCE FUN IDEAS FOR KIDS

Many of these are activities I've done with my kids, without the Halloween theme.  For example, Bubbling Slime is a typical slime making activity, but altered slightly to make it Halloween themed.  Flying Tea Bag Ghosts takes the floating tea bag science activity and turns them into little flying ghosts!  Now that's cool! 

So check out the site above and get started.  Oh, and don't listen to your kids.  Just dress up as a cow for Halloween because you want to...or want to embarrass your kids.  :-)

Risk Board Game - Bad Geography

As a family we've been playing more strategy based board games this summer and one of those games is Risk.  It's a fun game, but similar to Ticket to Ride, the geography of the world map is not the most accurate.  Take a look at the image below (not ours).

Given a flat board that maps a round world (sorry flat earthers...you are still horribly wrong), some liberties need to be taken when creating the board.  But a few leave me shaking my head.  Consider Iceland.  This is the island just east of Greenland.  Notice how Iceland is actually EAST of Great Britain?  Um...no.  Iceland is not east of Great Britain.  Iceland is clearly west of Great Britain.  Having been to Iceland once, with plans to go back next summer, the placement of Iceland on the Risk game board really bugs me.  Call me a big nerd if you want (I consider this a compliment), but I want Iceland placed correctly!  :-)  Here is an image of a more correct placement

Don't let the bad geography stop you from playing, however.  It's still a great game!

This Blog's History: Water in the Trappist-1 System?

In case you missed it the last time, and you don't want to miss something this cool, I bring back to you, for This Friday in This Blog's History, the blog post I wrote on the preliminary evidence for water in the Trappist-1 solar system.  This system is of particular interest to astronomers, but to learn why, you need to click the link below.  :-)

Water in the Trappist-1 System

5th Grade Energy Efficiency

My 10 year old recently finished a science unit on energy efficiency in her 5th grade class.  Upon completion of the unit, students received an energy efficiency kit from the local power company.  In the kit were a couple of LED light bulbs, a low flow shower head, a low flow sink head, and an LED night light.  When we first moved into our house we slowly changed all incandescent light bulbs to energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs (those curly ones).  Recently we've started changing the fluorescent light bulbs, as they go out, with even higher efficiency LED bulbs. 

LED night light similar to the one my daughter brought home.

The LED night light my daughter brought home has a 1 Watt bulb in it.  This compares to the 4 Watt incandescent bulb in my daughter's current night light.  This means the LED light uses one fourth the energy of the incandescent light.  This is similar to the difference in a standard 60 Watt bulb and a standard LED replacement.  Most LED replacement bulbs are 9 Watts, meaning they use about 6.7 times less energy.  A greater energy savings than this night light, but similar.  The bigger question though, is how much money this one night light saves.  Let's take a look.

The difference in wattage is 3 Watts, which is an energy savings of 3 Joules per second.  The night light is probably on each night for approximately 10 hours.  There are 3600 seconds in each hour, so this is a total of 36,000 seconds.  Multiply by 3 to get the number of Joules saved per night.  This works out to 108,000 Joules.  Now consider 365 nights per year.  Multiply by 365 to get 39,420,000 Joules per year.  That may seem like a huge amount of energy, but a Joule is a tiny amount of energy.  Let's convert this to kW*hr as this is the common energy unit reported on your energy bill.  This gives us an energy savings of about 11 kW*hr.  An average energy cost per kW*hr is about 12 cents.  Thus this single LED night light will save us about $1.32 per year.

Okay, that's not much.  We are not suddenly doing a three month summer cruise around the world with this savings.  But it is a savings and once you factor in ALL light bulbs in your house, the savings can add up quickly and easily cover the extra cost of purchasing an LED light bulb versus an incandescent light bulb.  Yes, LEDs cost more initially, but they last much longer and use much less energy, resulting in much greater savings down the road.  Start slow by replacing bulbs one at a time as they go out in your house.  Replacing all bulbs at one time is a very daunting cost that not even I could swallow.  One light bulb at a time, however, is much easier to handle. 

Scotland - The Last Day

All good vacations must come to an end and our visit to Scotland was no different.  On our last day we packed up and drove to the Edinburgh airport.  Let me offer you some advice based on our experience flying home from Scotland.  Give yourself plenty of time at the airport!  This isn't new news, but I'm not sure what I was thinking when I booked the flight.  Actually, I know what I was thinking and it was incorrect thinking!  On the way home we flew from Edinburgh to London to the United States.  For some reason I was thinking we'd go through customs in Edinburgh and as long as we got to the Edinburgh airport early, we'd be fine.  It didn't click to me until we were already in Scotland that Edinburgh to London is NOT an international flight.  It's a domestic flight!  London to the United States was the international leg of the journey.

We had a two hour layover in London and we made our London flight, but it was far too close for comfort.  First, our flight from Edinburgh was delayed 15 minutes.  Second, while en route to London we were told not to get up and exit the plane right away as room was needed for emergency medical personnel to enter the plane.  Someone on the plane was having a medical emergency.  This probably bought us time.  Although we had to wait 5-10 minutes to leave the plane, when the plane touched down in London we immediately taxied to a gate very quickly.  Under normal landing procedures, the taxing would probably have taken longer.  I'm still leaving this in my story to make it sound better.  :-)  Then I swear our plane parked at the end of the airport farthest from where we needed to go.  Then we needed to transfer terminals (a 15 minute bus ride).  Then more walking.  We were walking briskly and sweating by the time we arrived at the London gate.

Thankfully we did not have to go through customs in London.  When returning from Ireland two years ago, we went through customs in Dublin before departing.  On that trip it took us 3 hours to get from the front doors of the airport to our gate.  Ug.  If customs in London was necessary, we would have missed our flight.  Yikes!

My point is this.  Give yourself more than a 2 hour layover when flying internationally.  Maybe it will work, but I'd much rather have too much time than too little time.  If there's too much time, I always have a book or magazine to read.

Scotland - The Kelpies

On our last full day in Scotland we drove from Dunoon to Edinburgh, taking it easy before checking into a hotel and preparing for our flight home the next day.  On the drive over we stopped at the Keplies sculpture, which can only be described by an image.

The Kelpies

Yes, this is a large sculpture of two horse heads!  Very impressive, especially when viewed from close up.  But here's my question.  Why?  Why indeed!  From what I was able to determine, it is a piece of art that serves as a monument to "the horse powered heritage across Scotland."  Okay then.  

I certainly wouldn't put this at the top of my must-see list in Scotland, but if you have the time and are nearby, go ahead and visit.  It is impressive!

Evolution Misconception #7: Fossil Record Gaps Disprove Evolution

Here is the seventh in a continuing series of evolution misconceptions.  Evolution deniers often argue the gap in fossil records disproves evolution.  Not so.  It is true there are gaps in the fossil records.  Some of these gaps are the result of not yet finding transitional fossils (fossils that show traits of two ancestral groups), while others are the result of fossils that do not preserve well, making it very difficult to find these transitional fossils.  However, this does not disprove evolution.  There is still a great deal of information supporting evolution.  A gap in the fossil records does not change any of this evidence.  A gap provides no new explanation to explain the fossil evidence we do have.

Very common evolution diagram. Image Link

It is important to note that the gap in the fossil record is closing with new studies and new fossil evidence.  Transitional fossils are in fact not rare.  Here's a link to a great website discussing what we know about transitional fossils.

Transitional Fossils

If you haven't, read the book "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist.  You can also find more information, including options to watch the "Your Inner Fish" documentary, here:

Your Inner Fish

I watched this documentary with my 10 year old a couple of years ago and it was fantastic!  One of the episodes focuses on transitional fossils and explains they are quite common.  Yes, there are still gaps in the fossil records, but those gaps are quickly closing as more studies are done and more evidence is discovered.  

To conclude, no, the gap in the fossil records does NOT disprove evolution.

This Blog's History: Upcoming Solar Eclipse

In case you missed it last month, here's my post on upcoming solar eclipses.  If you live in the United States and missed the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017, there's another coming in 2024.  Click the link below to read my original post and see the map of future totality paths.

Upcoming Solar Eclipses

Scotland - Glasgow

On our second to last full day in Scotland, we took the car ferry from Dunoon to the other side of the loch and drove into Glasgow.  After parking we walked around a bit and visited the Glasgow Cathedral.  I'm not religious, but I had to admit the architecture is quite amazing!

Glasgow Cathedral - Outside

Glasgow Cathedral - Inside

After visiting the cathedral, we walked around a bit more and then took off for a car ride around the loch back to Dunoon.  This was the long way around, but we had the time and wanted to check out Loch Lomond.  Very pretty!

Loch Lomond

After this we went back to our house in Dunoon, made dinner, packed up, and prepared for our trip back to the United States.  Glasgow wasn't our favorite.  It looks more modern and after 9 days visiting historic areas, Glasgow just seemed a bit of a let down.  I'm sure there are many fun things to see and do, but we just didn't see/do those things.

Unicorn Poop Slime

Over this past Labor Day weekend, while I was out of town in Iowa, my wife and kids took an afternoon and made Unicorn Poop Slime.  Google it and you will seriously find recipes for Unicorn Poop Slime.  Here's just one website describing how to make it.

Unicorn Poop Slime

Basically you need regular school style glue, borax, shaving cream (to make it fluffier), and food coloring to adjust the color as you like.  My wife tells me you can by the biggest box of borax imaginable for less than five dollars.  The slime recipe use one tablespoon of borax, so we have quite a bit of borax leftover in our house.  LOL!

Follow the recipe, of which there are many different varieties online, and soon you have slime!  We've had the slime for about 3 weeks now (at the time of this writing) and it hasn't dried out and the kids continue to play with it.  It drives my wife and I a bit mad at times because when they toss it around, tiny fragments will break off and inevitably our kids don't fully clean up there mess.  You can see our slime in the video below I made while testing the consistency.

Despite the headaches of cleaning up bits of slime our kids don't pick up, this is a cool science experiment that is easy for kids to complete on their own with just a bit of parental guidance.  Our kids have had many hours of fun playing with their slime too, so well worth the minimal effort it takes to make.

Scotland - Inveraray

On one of our last day's in Scotland we drove from Dunoon to Inveraray, a very scenic drive along a couple of lochs, and toured the town and Inveraray Castle.  I already wrote about Inveraray Castle a few days ago, so let me have this blog post focus on the town of Inveraray.  

Map of Inveraray, Scotland and surrounding area.

After visiting Inverary Castle we parked in Iveraray and walked around.  Inveraray is located at the end of Loch Fyne and offers some very scenic views.  We were there for several hours in total so it was very cool seeing the difference in the shoreline between high tide and low tide.  While in Inveraray we had lunch at one of the many excellent restaurants (from what I'm told since we only actually ate at one of them).  I had fish and chips, which I highly recommend if you ever visit Scotland.  If memory serves correct, I had fish and chips no fewer than four times in Scotland!  All were excellent!  

After walking around a bit and checking out the shops in Iveraray, we stopped at one of the several ice cream shops in the town for a tasty dessert.  Before leaving Iverarary we stopped at The Loch Fyne, a local seller of Loch Fyne Scotch whiskies.  We tasted a couple and purchased a bottle of whiskey.  Okay, fine, we purchased two bottles of Scotch whiskey.  LOL!  

Entrance to Loch Fyne Whiskies in Iveraray, Scotland.

Before heading back to Dunoon, we drove a bit along the loch shoreline, taking in the views.  All in all it was an excellent day.  If you're looking for a more laid back day while in Scotland, I recommend the Inveraray area.

Science for the People Podcast

One can never have too much science in their life, so let me suggest yet another excellent science themed podcast to add to what is probably an already too large podcast listening list.  :-)  The podcast I'm recommending today is titled "Science for the People" and does an excellent job discussing various science topics.

Science for the People Podcast

Science for the People Podcast

Science for the People is produced out of Canada and self-describes as:

"Science for the People is a syndicated radio show and podcast that broadcasts weekly across North America. We are a long-format interview show that explores the connections between science, popular culture, history, and public policy, to help listeners understand the evidence and arguments behind what's in the news and on the shelves. Every week, our hosts sit down with science researchers, writers, authors, journalists, and experts to discuss science from the past, the science that affects our lives today, and how science might change our future."

I've been listening for a couple of months and really enjoy this podcast!  Check it out if you are a science enthusiast or help the science enthusiast in your family become aware of this podcast.  

This Blog's History: The End of Cassini

The Cassini mission (to Saturn) ended on Friday, September 15, 2017, when Cassini was directed to plummet into Saturn's atmosphere.  A wonderful mission that provided a great deal of information to astronomers on Saturn, Saturn's moons, and their role in our Solar System.  In case you missed my original post on this, I bring it back to you for This Friday in This Blog's History.  Check out the link below for the original post from last month.

The End of Cassini

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

I recently finished reading The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins.  In this book Dawkins address several science topics and goes into detail in how our ancestors several generations ago explained these phenomena and compares them to how we explain them today with a much greater level of scientific evidence.  A few topics discussed are Earth's tectonic plates, evolution, the age of the Universe, tsunamis, etc.

Book cover of The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins.

Although I already understood much of the science Dawkins discusses, I still found it to be a wonderfully written book that does a fantastic job explaining complex scientific concepts to a general audience.  I particularly enjoyed Dawkins' use of various religions to explain how our ancestors explained these scientific concepts.  What we know to be true today was not obvious several centuries ago.  Although it's easy to say today the Earth is round, picture yourself as someone living hundreds of years ago without the use of today's technology.  Determining the Earth is round is a much more difficult task!

This is a book I can see my kids reading in a few years and walking away with a general understanding of these scientific concepts.  Dawkins has written several books that go into great detail, but this book does a wonderful job explaining science to an audience that may not already have a background science.  If you, or someone you know, is a budding science enthusiast, this is a great birthday or holiday gift option!

Europa Clipper Mission

NASA has produced a large number of amazing missions exploring the solar system in the past several decades, and continues to produce a large number of amazing missions.  The mission currently on the books I find the most interesting is the Europa Clipper mission.  I've shared many times that water found elsewhere in our Solar System always brings up the question of life.  Water doesn't assure the existence of life, but it greatly increases the chances.  There are several moons in the Solar System in which there is much evidence supporting the existence of liquid water underneath the surface.  One such object is Europa, one of Jupiter's Galilean moons.

Image of Europa's surface, courtesy of APOD.  https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160519.html

Now that is super cool!!!  Europa's surface has many cracks and different colored features.  This is due to Europa's ever changing surface.  Europa has a solid ice surface, but underneath is likely an ocean of liquid water heated by tidal interactions with Jupiter.  Where there's water, there's the possibility of life.

The Europa Clipper mission is still in the planning stages with a tentative launch date in the 2020's.  This most likely means the end of the 2020's if not into the next decade.  Complicated missions such as this have a tendency to experience many delays.  This is not a lander to touch down on the surface of Europa.  That would be super cool, but adds further complications.  Right now the plan is for the Europa Clipper to orbit Jupiter and do many close flybys of Europa for a more detailed look at the surface.  

Very cool!  Keep your fingers crossed for a launch near the end of the next decade, followed by a trip of a few years to Jupiter, followed by awesome pictures and more information on Europa!!!  For more information on this mission, visit NASA's Europa Clipper website that offers further details.

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission

Clue Board Game

The other day my wife and I were talking about board games when the topic of the conversation turned to Clue.  I played Clue many, many times as a kid with my parents, but neither of us thought we owned it.  Looking in the closet, there it was, with the other board games.  Upon opening it, it had been played before, but neither of us have any recollection playing this with our kids or playing it at all!  I'm not even sure where it came from!!!

Classic Clue board game.

A few days later we introduced our kids to Clue.  After a refresher on the game rules and explaining the goal of the game, we set out to play.  Clue has quite a bit of strategy behind it and I look forward to future games with my kids.  If you just wait until you see all of the person, weapon, and room cards, before making an accusation, you are likely to lose.  You have to pay careful attention to which suggestions are made and by whom.  Often times you can cross off a suspect (person, weapon, or room) without seeing the actual card.  This allows you to make an official accusation a few turns earlier, increasing your chances of winning.

My oldest daughter came close to making an accusation.  I could tell she was only a turn or two away from knowing who did it, with what weapon, and in which room.  Unfortunately for her, I was ready before her and made the correct accusation.  I look forward to more games of Clue with my kids as it is a great game that is easy for kids to learn, but also includes quite a bit of strategy and critical thinking.  If you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of games that involve strategy and critical thinking!

Scotland - Inveraray Castle

On the third of three legs of our Scotland trip this past summer we stayed in Dunoon, Scotland and toured this area.  While there we drove up to Iverarary and visited Inveraray Castle.

Inveraray Castle

Throughout all of my posts on our trip to Scotland, I've pushed the advantages of purchasing the Explorer's Pass before visiting many of Scotland's castles and historical landmarks.  This castle, however, is not part of the Explorer's Pass and you have to purchase tickets separately.  Don't let that stop you, though.  This is an amazing castle to visit!  

Inveraray Castle is the seat of the Dukes of Argyll, currently held by Torquhil Ian Campbell.  When visiting the castle you see it is much more modern than most of Scotland's historical castles.  Each room is fully furnished with plenty of information describing the past and present of the castle.  

Dining room in Iveraray Castle.

This castle was a great change of pace from the castles we previously visited.  Yes, it costs extra since it is not part of the Explorer's Pass, but well worth the cost.  In addition, Inveraray itself is a nice town with plenty of small shops and eating establishments.  I'll talk more about this in my next Scotland post, but it's located on Loch Fyne and offers many scenic views.  Well worth the visit.

This Blog's History: Scotland - Dallas Dhu Distillery

In case you missed it when originally posted, for This Friday in This Blog's History I point you back to the post I wrote describing our experiences at the Dallas Dhu Distillery in Scotland.  A very informative look at the scotch whiskey making process.  For more details, go to the link posted below.

Dallas Dhu Distillery

JWST Launch Delay

When I first started teaching, in grad school way back in 2001, I would briefly share the basics of the James Webb Space Telescope with my students.  I don't think it had an official name at that time and each year the launch date was pushed further and further into the future.  The past several years, however, the launch date as remained the same, with a projected launch next year, 2018.  I just finished our unit on telescopes in my astronomy class this year when the news broke that the launch of the JWST is delayed once again. 

Model of the James Webb Space Telescope

The launch, scheduled for October 2018, has been pushed back to March-June 2019.  Not a full year, so not too bad.  Still a bit disappointing as this is the next great space based telescope to be launched.  The science this telescope will produce will be absolutely amazing!  The reason for the delay is to build in more time to complete the spacecraft that will carry the JWST.  The JWST is ready to go, but the craft that it travels in needs more time.

Delays suck, but the mission is still planned, so fans of the JWST just need to wait a few more months. 

Evolution Misconception #6: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics Disproves Evolution

It's been a couple of months since I last posted an evolution misconception, so now is the time to discuss the sixth evolution misconception in this series.  The misconception states the second law of thermodynamics proves evolution is not possible.  Let's look at what the second law of thermodynamics has to say.

"The state of entropy of an isolated (closed) system always increase over time."

Okay, but what is entropy?

Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system.  For example, if an air freshener is sprayed in a room, the entropy of the system will increase over time and the air freshener molecules will disperse throughout the air in the room until you can no longer smell the air freshener.  The room is an isolated, or closed, system.

Anti-science evolution deniers claim this law of physics states entropy must increase and therefore evolution, which claims complexity increases over time (decreasing entropy), must in fact, be a lie.  Did the evolution deniers just debunk an entire field of science through this simple argument?  Um...no.  Not even close.

The second law of thermodynamics is true...IN AN ISOLATED SYSTEM.  The Earth is not an isolated system.  It is constantly being changed within an influx of energy from the outside, in the form of the Sun.  The Earth, therefore, is an open system, and not subject to the second law of thermodynamics.  Consider your desk at work.  Over time entropy changes and your desk gets messier and messier.  But if you add input into the system and change it from an isolated, closed system, to an open system by continuing to clean items up, the second law of thermodynamics doesn't apply.  Your desk gets cleaner and less disorganized.  The entropy of this system decreases over time in this example.

Don't worry, evolution is safe and it will always be safe because science is on its side.

Water in TRAPPIST-1???

You may remember the announcement of seven Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST-1 solar system.  This system is relatively close to us, at a distance of only 40 light years.  This means the light we see took 40 years to to reach us.  This may seem to be an incredibly large distance, but on astronomical scales, this is quite close.  Finding Earth-sized planets is a huge deal as it brings us one step closer to finding other, habitable planets in our galaxy.  In addition, this is a step closer to finding life outside of our own Solar System.  Life elsewhere would be the greatest discovery in the history of humans!!!

More recently, astronomers have detected the first signs of water loss in the atmospheres of TRAPPIST-1 planets.  Where there is water loss there is water.  These are just the first signs of water in this system and more research is needed to confirm, but this is very exciting news!  If there's water, that opens the door to the possibility of life in some form!  Wow!

First hints of possible water content on TRAPPIST-1 planets

Will life elsewhere be discovered in my lifetime?  I don't know, but the chances have increased in the last few years.  I'm hopeful, that's for sure, and I really do expect it to happen, if not in my lifetime, then in the lifetime of my kids.  

Scotland - Off the Beaten Path

On our drive from Loch Ness to our next destination, Dunoon, our GPS directed us off onto a 'B' road.  I'm not an expert on Scottish roads, but the 'M' roads are sort of like interstates in the U.S.  The 'A' roads are like your state and U.S. highways.  The 'B' roads, on the other hand, are very narrow, one-lane only, roads that take you off the beaten path.  We could tell why the GPS was telling us to take the 'B' road, as the 'A' road went off in the wrong direction before turning back around.  It was a major road, but with a much longer travel distance.  We decided to stick with the 'B' road.  The road was very narrow and very curvy.  We only encountered one or two cars and fortunately the road had pull-off points all over to pull over to the side and allow a car through.  The road gave us some great mountain views and about half way on this road, we came across a beautiful waterfall with a small parking area.  No signs at all indicating this waterfall was here, so we were quite happy that we took this road.

We couldn't have asked for a better spot to take a break from driving!  My advice is to take a few 'B' roads in Scotland.  We took a few others, and each time we were rewarded with beautiful scenery and amazing views.  Don't let the narrow, one-lane nature of these roads scare you away.  There are pull-off spots every few hundred feet, so if a car is approaching, you just pull over and then continue on your way.  Find a 'B' road to take and I wager you'll be rewarded.