Closing the door on 2014 and Diving into 2015

Curiosity, the Mars Probe, Confirms Organics on Mars
We briefly went over the biobits that were necessary for life to begin on Earth.  Similar biobits, the building blocks of life, were found by the Mars rover Curiosity.  Combine this fact with the finding that Martian soil is 2% water, methane gas has been found in the atmosphere, a huge ancient lake was found, and these organics did not come from Earth - we have more scientists scrambling to find out what is or was on Mars!  Check it out!

                                  A photo, courtesy of CBC, of Curiosity - the Rover


ET is (probably) out there - Get Ready
If you're into videos - here's a TED talk from a SETI researcher who bets that we will find life out there in the next 24 years by discussing the new tech and laws of probability.

Don't Discount Planets with Horizontal Spinning Axis
In the search for extra terrestrial life, astronomers have always been looking at planets with similar characteristics as Earth.  No tilt to small tilt was one aspect that seemed to always be a characteristic until scientists at MIT have explained that planets that is spinning on a horizontal axis similar to Uranus could support life as long as the planet was completely covered in deep ocean.   Check it out here, at phys.org!

Since we Keep Talking about Life...
You guys enjoyed the last circular evolution animated GIF - look at how embroyos develop into babies.  Feast your eyes on this one.

New Photos from Rosetta Comet Landing
At the American Geophysical Union they spent the time to discuss the newest pictures released from Philae, the probe that's currently sitting on the comet.  They will wait until the comet approaches the sun at a different angle - sometime in March or April - Philae will then be able to use the sun's energy to power up and gather/send more data.  See here for more photos.

NASA to be Overfunded in 2015
Looks like excitement is building up in the space field.  So much so that NASA got MORE money than they asked for - $364 million more for a total of $18 billion.

Working for NASA would be pretty cool. Maybe Interstellar got me.  Or maybe these NASA employees doing this lip dub got me excited...

Working towards the Xmas Deadline

I understand that many of you are working on some scholarships, other courses (yikes - multiple tests for all courses this week), and layer B; but I assure you, scientists, researchers, and rovers are all trying to hit deadlines and non-stop working.

A New Theory on the Origin of Life
We spent a few days dissecting the origin of life; how did Earth go from rocks, to life?

Jeremy England, an assistant professor at MIT, has a new theory published.  Here's an excerpt from Quanta Magazine:

"... indicates that when a group of atoms is driven by an external source of energy (like the sun or chemical fuel) and surrounded by a heat bath (like the ocean or atmosphere), it will often gradually restructure itself in order to dissipate increasingly more energy...you start with a random clump of atoms, and if you shine light on it for long enough, it should not be so surprising that you get plant..."

For further info, listen to one of his multiple talks or you can look at his published paper "Statistical Physics of Self Replication".


Rosetta Findings Add to Debate of How Water Arrived on Earth
The more comprehensive findings of the comet that Philae has landed on is yet to be released; it takes about a year for the best quality pieces to be observed, analyzed, tested and written about.  However, an interesting one has already come out and it's caused enough of a stir that it's been reported by the weathernetwork.com. One of the more popular hypothesis of the origin of our water is that it came from comets and asteroids - but this more scientific description from NASA has been written here and they've concluded that water from comets such as the one they're studying now couldn't have been the source of our water.  The water at this comet has 3 times the amount of deuterium than our Earth water.

The Importance of Writing in Science
As we are closing to the end of the course, Mr. McCumber and I will be asking for some of your feedback on the organization of the course.  I understand that it may have been writing heavy for some of you, but even post-secondary education is slowly putting some emphasis on the writing as can be seen in this article from the Atlantic.

"Scientists need to know how to write to get their work published and get grants—it's an important skill that people assume they already have [once they reach a certain level], so no one ever teaches them how to write well in these specific formats...research is king, and it's important," she said, but over the past decade universities have started to pay more attention to the "soft skills" that scientists also need."

The Difference between Skeptics and Deniers
It's important to respect everyone's opinion.  Everyone is entitled to an opinion and so here is a bit of mine:  while some of those pro creationist essays I read over the past week had well-formed arguments and fall into the 'skeptics' of Darwin's evolution, others' essays fall into the "denier" category as further defined by a blog post over at Quarks and Quasars.

"Skeptics want evidence; they seek it; they find it; then they accept it. Deniers do not want real evidence and they won’t accept any if it is brought before them.  A person who rejects an idea that is backed by scientific evidence is a denier, and they are anti-science."

Alright, so that wraps up this week's post.  Let me know what you guys think.  Let's finish the last week strong!

Trying to Improve my Curating Skills

Last post regarding evolution was the first one that really attracted much of your attention.  I have to work on what content makes it up here.  I hope this week doesn't let you down!

First up is regarding a spectacular find on unearthing neanderthals.  In class, we're currently learning about fossilization and how it has helped paint the picture of evolution and how the world used to be. Although they found this cave of 12 neanderthals last year, they're still reporting and finding new things as they continue their analysis of the quartz and chert tools.  All three types of absolute age dating has placed these neanderthals at an age of 40,000+ years.  Incredible.

Up next is a fantastic imaginary video of what human exploration will be like in the near future.  All footage is based on real photos of the planets.  This could be a reality in your lifetime!  

Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.

Summer Research Prize Opportunity

McMaster university is trying to encourage students to consider astronomy as a university program by offering a new summer research prize opportunity.  Since it's new -  very few people know about it - which increases your likelihood that you will win a summer research position and $6200.  

Here are the details that I've received from Sara Cormier, the outreach coordinator (same position as Dr. Michael Reid in last week's guest lecture)  from McMaster: 

I just wanted to draw your attention to a brand new research prize for first year students offered by the Department of Physics & Astronomy at McMaster University. Current Gr. 12 students who are interested in applying to the Chemical and Physical Science I program (formally Physical Sciences I) and considering an Honours program in the Physics Department can apply.

What is it:
The prize is a paid research position in the Department of Physics & Astronomy working under the supervision of a faculty member. In the summer (2016) after their first year of university, the prizewinner will work full time for 16 weeks in a research laboratory or theoretical group. The nominal value of the prize is $6200 plus an early start on their research career!

Applications are open now and will remain open until January 31st. Students interested in applying are asked to submit an essay describing a project related to physics, astronomy or biophysics that they have been involved in, and how it has shaped their interest in physics and astronomy. Possible examples are a science fair project, culminating task, lab experiment, volunteer position, special interest, lecture or event, club or competition, co-op placement. The essay must be 500 words or less. Applicants will be judged on their written responses and entrance average. Grades submitted with their program application will be used. 

The online application website can be accessed through www.physics.mcmaster.ca and clicking on the link "Chemical and Physical Sciences Entrance Prize in Research", you can also access it directly here. I've also attached a PDF of our advertisement poster if you would like to post in your classroom.

Related and Unrelated Stuff

ASAPscience is one of my favourite youtube channels.  It's quick and informative.    As a extension of Dr. Reid's lecture today - I give you ASAPscience's latest segment:  Can we actually live on Mars? 

I notice that some of you procrastinate regularly in class.  Some of you procrastinate with entertainment.  We are entertaining ourselves to death.  If you want to procrastinate, balance ourselves with consuming some self-improvement videos instead of mostly entertainment.  May I present to you:  LifeHack's "20 Most Inspiring TED Talks of All Time You Should Not Miss.  

...and I leave you with this animated .gif.  Start by following a leaf in the centre and see what it turns into.  It's foreshadowing for our next unit.  

A Medley of Items

Europa's Icy Plate Tectonics Supporting Life
This is an oldie but a goodie.  It relates to our upcoming chapter on geologic time and life.  New Scientist is reporting that Jupiter's moon, Europa, is currently undergoing plate tectonics.  The difference?  Europa's plates are made entirely of ice due to its distance from the sun.  No other planet is currently undergoing plate tectonics in our solar system, and with Europa's abundance of water, any similarities to Earth elicits excitement to those of us in search of extracurricular life.

Turning Peanut Butter into Diamond
Another reason why not to buy your significant other a diamond - it now can be created from peanut butter.  By trying to simulate Earth's scorching and pressure cooked conditions, scientist Dan Frost somehow stumbled upon creating a diamond from peanut butter.  Aren't you wondering why peanut butter was inside his experiment in the first place?  Read here for more!

Update in Hawaii - House Toppling Lava
The volcano that erupted in June 27 has slowly made its way 13.5 miles to this house.  Even after four months, this leading edge lava has still reached 1149 degrees Celsius, enough to melt this house in its path.  The family watched from far away as their house toppled over. This is somewhat upsetting. 

Rosetta - Finally Landing its Comet Rover
History will be made as humanity will now be landing rover Philae on a comet.  Here is a tremendous infographic depicting space satellite Rosetta and rover Philae's journey so far.

Wow - a Little Unfair isn't it?

In 2009, an earthquake in an Italian town of Aquila killed at least 309 people.  When things go badly, the public and the government look for someone to blame.

They chose the geologists.

In the courts, the geologists were found guilty of manslaughter and were originally sentenced to 6 years in prison as well as pay $10 million in damages.

Thank goodness it was appealed and the ruling was reversed.  Check out more here on BBC or motherboard.

Relative Size of Planets and Breaking News on Plate Tectonics

Here's a cool picture depicting the relative size of the planets.  I've probably shown this a couple times already, but it's just one of those things that is interesting for me to see again and again.  

Breaking news: our geology plate tectonics textbook has to be updated again if other geologists confirm this finding.  Turns out the tectonic plates aren't rigid and there is shrinking and deformation of plates due to the plates cooling.  Check it out here if you want more info.  

ISS - Fail. Fail Forward, Though, Right?

Six seconds after takeoff when the second set of engines were supposed to take over, the rocket blew up. No casualties reported yet. It's sad, but mistakes happen. Most important is to learn from it and prevent it from happening again.

Impressive Infographic

A reddit user has posted a spectacular infographic visually explaining how every planet in the solar system would be able to fit between Earth and our own moon.  I didn't believe it myself, and was about to go and dig up all diameters of each planet - but, it's already done.  Also, Wolfram-Alpha, the google for calculations, can give the total diameter in one query.  

Hawaii Volcano May Force Evacuations

At a rate of 10 yards per hour, the sudden change in flow from south to northeast in June has Hawaiian authorities asking people in a remote village to evacuate.  There is the smell of burning asphalt that fills the air as the advancing lava flow destroys roads as shown in the pictures below. Please see weather.com for more details and images.  The basalt pillows discussed in class are evident in the pictures below.

Physics Demos from Space - What Happens in a Weightless Environment?

This is a long exposure shot of the Earth from the ISS.  What do you think are those blue spots on the Earth as well as those blue streaks in space?  Leave the possibilities in the comment section below.  

If you want more from this particular astronaut, he's completed many physics experiments in space, taking advantage of the weightless environment.

Potential Martians, Moving Rocks, Canadian Space Work Opportunity, and more Space Selfies

1)  Trending on reddit:  "Cell-like structure found within 1.3 billion-year-old martian meteorite.  Exciting news, except for the fact that it was a misleading title.  If you read further into the article, the professor leading the team's investigation of the meteorite says: "... our research found that it probably wasn’t a cell but that it did once hold water – water that had been heated, probably as a result of an asteroid impact.”  Well, there was water.  That's somewhat significant in itself to warrant a link and a picture.  

2)  Perfect timing for our 'earth processes' unit.  Rocks are moving in Death Valley.  See more pics here.

3)  An innovative new Canadian space company has just started their company.  You want a job in space?  You need to start preparing for your job as soon as yo ucan.  So start following this company.

4)  More astronaut selfies while they do work maintaining the ISS.  See more on Discovery.

Geosites or a Bolide - Which do Your Prefer?

Breathtaking compilation as voted by the people of the internet. Behold, we have the best geosites of the UK in the world. The following is just a few, but go here for the full view by map.  I guess you could chart your next trip eh?

Brimham Rocks - Outcrops Category

Jurassic Coast (a wicked name, to boot!) -  Educational Category

Island of Staffa - Adventurous Category

An amateur astronomer captured something on his camera.  He saw something absolutely weird, and then went onto reddit for some help in identification.  He apparently has found a bolide, a fireball from a meteor.  This is an event that astronomers go decades without seeing.  Without further adieu, here it is in a short time lapse video:

Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Volcanoes. Do They Really Say - Volcana?

Here are some volcanoes happening around the world in the past week.  The first two  pictures depicts Mount Sinabung erupting on October 8 as seen from Karo district located on Sumatra island.  The last picture I posted is of the Japanese launching a satellite to orbit Earth in an effort to better measure and predict natural disasters.  

Let's go Colonize Mars - Not So Fast, Says a Report from Scientists

There has been over 80,000 applicants to go Mars on a one way ticket and to be on a reality TV show.  This is how they'll view their ex-home from Mars.  Photo cred:  NASA rover Curiosity

In a report by MIT students, those amateur astronauts will most certainly die.  In a 35 page report, Sydney Do has pointed out all the potential points for error in the 6 billion dollar project.  That's a pretty interesting project, isn't it?

Lunar Eclipse Timelapse

Title of imgur post:  Tried my hand at a timelapse-type shot last night, very happy with the results.

Most upvoted comment:  Sometimes I wonder what life might be like if I had motivation and talent...

"No matter how many mistakse you make, or how slow you progress - you're still ahead of everyone who isn't trying."  - Tony Robbins

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

If you find yourself sleepless, you may want to check out the lunar eclipse tonight.  It's about 3 hours long, so there's a good chance you could get to see it.  There's also a meteor shower out there.

Check out this site from Globalnews for more info:

Remix Humanity's Mixtape

So, Voyager 1 is now 11 billion miles from Earth. It is continually playing a mix of audio that contains directions on how to find Earth as well as many of humanity's most important cultural music. You guessed right, there's no Justin Bieber on it.

If you could send out audio clips, what would you put on it?

Anyway, here are all the audio sounds which contain "the music of Igor Stravinksy and Chuck Berry, human greetings in dozens of languages, the staccato of an infant's cry, an urgent train whistle, choruses of crickets, and a whale's ethereal song."   I'm not sure if really any aliens would understand this, but this is really about sharing to the aliens what we really are and we all sound like on earth.

Keep in mind, this is what was sent out 37 years ago when Voyager was first launched. WARNING: It's 5 hours long.

The Best Geosites in the World - Take a Look and Vote!

The Geological Society recently held a vote for the top 100 geosites in the world. We will be looking at them in series - the first category that we'll take a look at is: Landscape. Here is my personal favourite. Which one is yours?

 

Cute Comic

I shall only post the first few panels of the following comic by Treelobsters.  Click on here to get the rest - it's cute and will bring a smile to your face.

Teachers Going Out to Learn....

Mr. McCumber went to a Bill Nye talk, and Mr. Shin recently went to the Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, which has the biggest telescope in Canada.  We're trying to gear up for the space portion of this course!

Drone Captures Ultimate Earth Combo

So my friend got a $600 Quadracopter and I sat there one day for hours on end trying to pilot it. Comparing grade 9 math to calculus is like a playing with remote controlled car and trying to attempt this Quadracopter. Even after hours of practice, I couldn't maneuver it consistently within the rooms of the house.  

On the other hand, this man took a Quadracopter, attached go pro camera, and went to Iceland to get some serious volcano footage.  

There was a point in which he captured the volcano eruption and the Aurora Borealis at the same time. What a beautiful (potential) moment that illustrates both the power and beauty of Earth at the same time.    Let me know if you could find it in either the video above or below.  

Other Layer B Awards

Best Hand Drawn Infographic

This infographic has tremendous thought and planning behind it.  Not only is it visually stunning with its cubic cleavage, it is organized and laid out so that it is useful for anyone trying to identify any minerals.  When one first encounters a mineral, one visually inspects the mineral first which is why the artist puts visual properties on the left.  The infographic has minimal, well chosen words and aided the explanations with objects allowing the reader to quickly get an idea of what each mineral test entails.  The infographic was pretty exhaustive and informative.  The only issue I have with it is that the artist labelled 'chemical properties' under physically identifying minerals.  

Best App-Aided Infographic

This was an infographic that was done by piktochart.  There was a lot of information found in this infographic and it was also well organized.  It was visually fun to look at but my main comments to the artist was to cut down on the number of words to let your audience flow through the infographic.  Put some effort in summarizing each test so that your reader can get the main idea.  

Best Concept Map

Exhaustive and an all-encompassing concept map.  You want to know how all the key words are connected in the unit?  Look no further than this.  It is well planned,  visually laid out, and many interconnections between different concepts are present.  Absolutely spectacular work.    

Best use of Statistics - Showing what an Infographic Really Should Include (RESEARCH!)

See the full infographic here.  

There should have been some stats that you guys have researched about minerals.  ie:  What % of minerals have a hardness of 1?  What % of minerals are green?  Stats are integral aspect of an infographic - do some research and put it in there if you choose to do an infographic next round.  I encourage you to take look at this infographic and to see the interaction level of this artists' work.  

Math is Used to Explain the Universe...

 Math is always been abstract.  Then, at some point, science catches up and can often utilize that math to describe and predict the happenings of the universe.  For example, the imaginary numbers you learned about in Gr 11 math - I used it to partially describe electricity's behaviour while studying in university.

XKCD, a popular comic, compares math and science based on purity:

Math is a convenient tool to describe the things we can't really understand - like black holes.  In the latest news, the physicist, Mersini-Houghton, has just mathematically proven that black holes do not exist.  She has married two known sides of science - quantum physics with general relativity with her finding, which is a pretty big deal. We'll see if it stands up to the scrutiny of the other scientists.

The Alps, Like Never Presented Before

Hundreds of mountaineers got together for a tremendous photoshoot of the Alps.  The pictures are just breathtaking.

From the Bored Panda

Volcano

A volcano named Ontake San has suddenly erupted in Japan.  Check out this Volcano Cafe for two reasons- 1)  it has amalgamated the latest news and we can certainly learn from it and 2)  the posting would have scored pretty well on the rubric.  Can you spot which parts Volcano Cafe could improve upon?

It's also pleasing to read this quote isn't it?

"The base of the volcano is 17 km2 and the composition is mostly rhyolite but the upper parts also contain pyroxene and andesite. The longest lava flow that had been produced run 17 km."  

Photo Creds:  Gary Wolff

Warp Drive: 17 000 Year Flight Compressed into 5 Months

So, NASA has designed the exterior of the warp-drive space ship.  With this warp drive, we can theoretically travel 10 times faster than the speed of light by 'warping' the space around the vessel and jumping from one space to another, using Einstein's general relativity.

From IXS Enterprise Flickr - 1600 hour concept project

More Earth, Less Space. Did I Hear you Right, Donnie?

An awesome speech by DiCaprio.  He was much more efficient in delivering information that I was in my 45 minute double Powerpoint yesterday.

I issue a challenge to you, the people who lack listening endurance, to listen to DiCaprio for 4 minutes without getting distracted.  

This Probably Won't Work...

I do have people lined up to read your blogs.  I swear.

I'm actually trying to get more people to read your blogs.  However, my latest attempt probably won't be successful as I doubt telling people they're scientifically wrong will actually get them to click on AC's blog.

People just don't know that minerals such as diamonds can't be created by organic matter such as coal.  I guess they didn't take sarth and epace science.

What, can't I shameless plug my students' blogs?

Nvidia, a Graphics Card Designer, Disproves a Couple Conspiracy Theories

We now have the technology (commercially) now to create the whole moon landing scenario. Nvidia, a powerful graphics card company that powers the video that we see on our screens, takes us through their process of trying to render and simulate the whole landing scenario and 'proves' that the weird lighting conditions on the moon was due to the reflections and albedo (remember that word from gr 10 science?) of the moon and objects surrounding their camera, including their space suits.

Check it out here if you have some time.  

The First Formative Blog Awards

Thank you to all who have completed their very first blog post.  I understand there was some trepidation among some of you, but we all pretty much took the dive and started to write.  It was definitely interesting to read as I got to learn about your personalities and what interests you in this course.  I learned about many different things including the rarest mineral on Earth, that diamonds can be coloured, and the biggest star that we've discovered(it's huge).  I have feedback for each of you, and hopefully it will take you to the next level.

Another method of taking your blog to the next level is by reading your fellow classmates' work.

I'd like to take this moment to highlight some spectacular  blogs authored by some of our classmates. Many of you have worked hard to try to meet the expectations highlighted by the rubric and it's important to illustrate what they've done so that we may learn from it.

Best Overall Blog 
In Annieway, the attention to detail on the layout of the blog is especially apparent in her background choice. Not only does this background choice visually stunning, but it corresponds with her equally fantastic blog post regarding light pollution. She has posted a couple different things, demonstrating that she knows that she is to use this blog not only as an assignment posting medium, but also as an ideaboard for anything that she finds interesting earth and space wise.

Best Post
Earthy-Spacey is simultaneously informative as well as highly entertaining.  I had to reread many sentences to fully understand his many allusions and metaphors that showcase his interesting personality. Wow, just wow.    

Best Integration of Knowledge from Another Course
In Wandering Attention, AW asked an important question in class that I couldn't answer to her satisfaction.  She used her blog 20 time to explore the answer to that question and it led her to some chemistry concepts learned in grade 11 as well as some biology in grade 12.  Check it out!

Best Blog Incorporating Pop Culture
AF blogged about the possibility of a double sun as seen in Star Wars.  He explains what we, the common audience, understands - the single sun solar system.  He naturally transitions to a recent finding of the Hubble Space telescope, the binary star system and explain what he has learned about it.  Although I'd like to have seen some more scientific detail or exploration, AF takes home the best blog incorporating pop culture by successfully balancing pop culture and science content.  
 
By the way, there is such a thing as blog awards for some countries.  Here's Singapore's big blog award gala event as well as Ireland's. It's pretty serious. 

Science or Pseudoscience?

Most probably pseudoscience.

There's probably still many things wrong with this .gif.   (ie:  our star can't turn into a black hole and our solar system would probably die by the time we get into contact with a black hole) but it's still somewhat entertaining.

                                                                                              Credit:  https://twitter.com/SciencePorn

Trending on Reddit - Some Uncommon Images from the Apollo Program

Below are some amazing images from the Apollo Program 50+ years ago.  You may find the rest on imgur.  Take a look as it's just much more impressive full screen, but probably not as impressive live. Please, Elon Musk, work faster and make space travel available within my lifetime.

If you scroll the comments, you will find some people doubting the validity of the photos, as well as the actual mission itself.  These are always important questions.  I encourage you to delve further into the topic during your blog time if you're interested.

I've highlighted two comments below.  Can you answer them?

1)  Why are some of the pictures involving Earth upside down?
2)  Why is the resolution of the photos so high?