Hello to the Science Inclined and Science Embracing,
My friends have all heard me say that I still want my winter and all this “great” or “beautiful” weather is really not! I still want my winter and it looks like we might get a small sampling of what we “should” have had. Others who have heard me go on about the wonder of the Foucault Pendulum have heard me talk about how astronomy used to take a long time to do. It took weeks, months or even years, of careful observations and notes about where things were in the sky to notice small changes to figure out that the center of universe was not the earth. Note: Astronomy is still a long and arduous discipline/science! However, this week the Moon and Regulus will be doing a dance in the sky that you will be able to see in just a few nights of sky watching. What is the connection here? Well I might get some of my winter and you might not get to see the dance! I’m not too sorry!-}
Looking a bit farther ahead, you may want to start planning for what you want to be doing in 2 years. It’s time to start planning for the Great North American Eclipse on April 8, 2024! Just five years ago we got to experience the first total solar eclipse in the US in about 40 years. There are stories of eclipses throughout history. I’m not sure how many records there are of any before humans started actively recording history but there are many cases where myths are based in real occurrences. Indigenous peoples around the world tell myths which contain warning signs for natural disasters. Scientists are now listening
It seems like I have been looking up to the sky a lot recently. It looks like the exploration of Mars has taken a hit from Russia. The Rosalind Franklin Rover is ready but will have to wait to look for life on Mars. Thanks to an amazing Ingenuity from NASA flight on Mars will continue!
This week there are many more opportunities to learn than I’m listing here…
Ask a Science Envoy: Animal Behavior; Machine Learning and the Value of Niche Science Mon @ 8:00 (livestream)
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? Ask the Scientiest Wed @ 2:30 (livestream)
Science Denial: Why It Happens And What To Do About It (livestream) Thu @ 4:00
After Dark: Trees It’s already fire season! (LIVE) Thu @ 6:00
** The Universe in Verse – A charitable celebration of science and nature through poetry Fri @ 7:00
These are days of horror and tragedy as well as joy for our fellow humans and all living/thinking/social animals. You can’t go very far without hearing about the horrors, and threats of worse for our friends and families in Ukraine, even if you don’t think you have any. Western science severs ties with Russia
It appears that for now the ISS remains a place of science, respect, and cooperation, at least on board. I would like to offer up a different item to watch and hopefully give you hope. I have to include this even though it isn’t exactly on subject, it certainly will impact the future of science, technology, education, medicine and much more in the years to come. It really is one of the most joyous things to have happened in the middle of so many horrid things. Watch the whole thing, smile, celebrate, and shed some tears of joy! The Jackson-Booker cheer.
Do you remember the moves of John Travolta? Well now there’s John Travoltage! (Scuff the shoe and move the finger!)
Have a great week learning and marveling at the new and ongoing science humans engage in and if you can afford to find an organization that you can support and send some very needed help to Ukraine and your local informal science education organization of choice. (It is tax time after all.)
herb masters
“Who indeed will set bounds to human ingenuity? Who will assert that everything in the universe capable of being perceived is already discovered and known?” -Galileo Galilei
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