Kate Rauner's Blog, page 27

Yes, Science Needs Poetry #sciku #haiku #CreativeEd #poetry

I ran across this delightful piece of advice: “The next time you want to explain something complicated, write a haiku instead.”

[image error]If you know a student who likes science but grumbles at English, show them this:

Carbon increases

Air warms through century past

More heavy rains fall.

Reducing a concept to its basics presents a wonderful puzzle. That next assignment to write a poem will be fun. You don’t have to limit yourself to haiku, but it does boil things down.

Which leads me to a LOL from a proponent of the idea of science with art. Is this a typically dense presentation or what:

Current interdisciplinary dialogue generally perpetuates the ideology that scientists do science and artists do art. However, research and experience shows that scientists—and society more broadly—benefit from scientists creating works beyond their discipline (Swanson et al. 2008, Opermanis et al. 2015). Broadly, creativity is defined as the production of original and useful ideas (for a broader discussion of creativity, see Stein 1953, Barron 1955, Runco and Jaeger 2012), and a variety of creative approaches, primarily from the arts, are increasingly appreciated in science education, communication, and practice (Jacobson et al. 2007, Swanson et al. 2008, Opermanis et al. 2015). For example, in Latvia, the Nature Concerthall brought science and arts (poetry, music, dance, photography, and videography) together as part of an information campaign to enhance public knowledge and awareness of nature conservation issues and resulted in both greater attendance and perceived greater knowledge of biodiversity issues by attendees (Opermanis et al. 2015). At the same time, the integration of creative practice in professional development opportunities for scientists is increasing; the last several years have seen multiple speakers at ecology and environmental conservation conferences (e.g., Society for Freshwater Science 2018, World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2018, Resilience 2017) using different creative practices to highlight the role and value to ecology and environmental conservation of these practices. At the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2018, in Montréal, Canada, Linwood Pendleton’s plenary, “Rethinking marine conservation science in three acts,” brought together poems, music, video, and dance to demonstrate how creative approaches can help to achieve and celebrate breakthroughs in marine conservation science (Pendleton 2018). Research focused on innovation in science also demonstrates that creativity is something we can practice and improve and that proficiency in a fine art, craft, or literary pursuit is a significant predictor of scientific productivity and innovation (Root-Bernstein 2003). Poetry, the focus of our article, is one creative practice that conservation scientists can use to enhance their capacity to innovate, to communicate their work in compelling ways, and to enhance their own learning, as well as that of others. Bioscience Vol 68 Issue 11

Yes, that wall of words is all one paragraph in the original.

What’s your favorite topic? Put on your creative cap and write poetry. Here’s my offering. A new “sciku” inspired by my very first blog post:

Popping out as steam

Jiggling atoms remove heat

Blow to cool your tea

 

What Happens When a Cult Colonizes Titan? Nothing Good #scifibooks

As a confirmed introvert, I’ve been practicing for the coronavirus all my life, even if I do miss hanging out in my favorite coffee houses. But I have gotten a lot of writing done this year. The conclusion to my trilogy of a cult colonizing Saturn’s moon, Titan is planned for release in August, but you can snag an early review copy now.

Fynn thinks he escaped his family’s cult until he’s kidnapped to Titan. Kin should be his greatest ally, but instead they’re his greatest threat, as Fynn and his sister clash over the colony’s survival.

Click the book cover below to find your copy on Story Origin. If you don’t use this great source for free and discounted ebook bundles (all genres) you’re in for a treat. Create your account (or log in if you’re a member) and choose your favorite format for Titan Martyrs. Limited time offer, through July 2020, so hurry.

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Fynn’s story began with the award-winning Titan. If you missed Book 1 and Book 2, read them today. Click Now

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A Decade of the Sun

A decade of observing the Sun, compressed into an hour (and tinted yellow, because that’s what we expect.) Watch a few seconds of this at least. Get a feel for the grandeur. Save the hour long version to play instead of the Burning Yule Log next Christmas.


The full, magnificent hour is on this NASA page.





Then, if you aren’t enough of a Sun fan to watch the entire video, go to the 6 minute version:

Eau de Space, Once Used to Train Astronauts, is Coming to You #NASA #spacenews #citizenscientist

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Steeped in the smell of space

Space has a smell, a smell brought back into the Apollo lander and the International Space station on the suits and equipment of astronauts.

“It’s kind of like a smell from a gun, right after you fire the shot,” said Peggy Whitson.

“A burned/metallic odor that clings to suits and equipment, similar to the scent of an arc welding torch,” said Don Pettit.

Not all of them find it unpleasant.

Over decades, NASA worked with fragrance experts to reproduce the smell for use in astronaut training, to reduce the surprise they might feel. Now, you can get a sniff for yourself.

Eau de Space will introduce the world to the first perfume independently verified by actual astronauts for its smell. Designed in partnership with award-winning professionals in the perfume, fashion, technology, and design industries, Eau de Space is ready to manufacture and meet its minimum order quantity needs to begin bottling and shipping in October 2020.

For a limited time, pledge just $14 for an early bird bottle or $29 to buy a bottle of Eau de Space with a matching donation to a K-12 STEM program. Kickstarter

Another fragrance, Eau de Moon, is in the works.

Thanks to cnn.com

Expensive and Short Rocket Trip or Leisurely Ride with Your Own Open Bar? #travel #space

I haven’t found a price posted for this extravaganza, but Virgin Galactic wants $250,000 for their rocket flight. Maybe Space Perspectives can beat that.

You won’t get the weightless experience in a balloon. It’s not a lack of gravity that creates what we call zero-g (Earth’s gravity is plenty strong in orbit) it’s the free-fall experienced by a “vomit comet” or the International Space Station.

I’d love to contemplate the curvature of the Earth against black space while sipping my favorite adult beverage. Surely they’ll serve champagne, since you’ll have two hours to sober-up on the descent.

Space Perspective hopes that in a few years it’ll also be taking space tourists on six-hour sightseeing jaunts, with a refreshment bar and social media capabilities at hand.

[Two hour ascent, followed by a] leisurely two hours for passengers to enjoy the 360-degree views from the cabin before the spaceship makes its two-hour descent to the ocean, where it will splash down safely. Voyage to shore will be completed by ship.

Company wants to take tourists to the edge of space in a 6-hour balloon ride

“Put the Loo in Lunar” Your Chance to Contribute to Humanity’s Great Undertaking #NASA #Artemis #contest

Exploring the moon sounds so exotic & exciting, but human needs must be met!

Want to be an Astronaut? Here’s What it Takes #NASA #astronaut

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Your suit for Mars may look like this

Over 500 people have made it into space. To join them, at least with NASA, the basic requirements aren’t that intimidating. It’s the competition that’s a killer.

NASA’s last class had over 18,300 applicants for 12 positions. Maybe you can apply more than once, since there’s no age requirement (applicants are typically between 26 to 46-years-old.) John Glenn was 77, though a lot of people thought being the first American to orbit the Earth and then a US Senator weighed into the decision to send him on a shuttle mission.

If you’re planning your future, here goes.

NASA is part of the American government, so you need to be a US citizen
You must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological or physical science, computer science, or math. Get working on your STEM courses
Then accumulate three years of related professional experience or 1,000 hours of piloting
Pass NASA’s long-duration astronaut physical

There are multiple parts to the physical. For example, you need 20/20 vision, although using glasses or LASIK surgery is okay. You also must fit into a spacesuit. With the snazzy new suits provided by SpaceX, maybe more body types will be accommodated than in the past.

NASA astronauts are required to pass military water survival training, pass a flying syllabus, and become SCUBA qualified, which includes a swim test. They also have to successfully complete training on the systems that run the International Space Station, extravehicular activity skills training for spacewalks, robotics skills training, and aircraft flight readiness training.

Thanks to quickanddirtytips for NASA’s list, but don’t despair. The Russians have suspended their tourist program, but maybe you can come up with the $250,000 ticket price  for a short tourist hop with Virgin Galactic… sometime soon. Various startups will compete for your fare… sometime not quite as soon. Keep an eye on Elon Musk. He may offer a trip around the Moon or even to Mars. It wouldn’t hurt to make friends with a billionaire now so you’re ready.

To Mars! #Mars2020

The launch window for NASA’s next Mars rover opens in a month, on July 20th. Headed to a crater that once contained a liquid water lake, will it find biosignatures? That is, evidence of life? Before we worry about that, will it land safely? The curse of Mars still nibbles at my mind.

What Alien Invasions and Coronavirus Have in Common #coronavirus #testing

Good science transcends disciplines. Someone trying to track invasive zebra mussels deals with a lot of false positives in DNA testing… the same type of testing used on the virus.

[image error]Zebra mussels are alien to North America and cause a lot of ecological damage in the east. If they move west, that’s a problem. Scientists use a clever technique to look for early signs of their presence. They take a water sample and test for the tiniest traces of the mussel’s genetic material, a test called PCR.

But researchers know a lot about where zebra mussels can survive, and the tests kept coming up positive in impossible places.

PCR tests gave a lot of false-positive results, that is, the test claimed it found mussel DNA when it wasn’t in the water source being sampled. Maybe contamination from the field or the lab, maybe leaks in the analytical equiment, or other problems. It’s a touchy test – in mussels and in humans.

This is a huge problem in locations with a low incidence of coronavirus (or zebra mussels.) If only 1% of the people tested are truly infected, but the false positive rate is a mere 2%, then most of the positives you think you see are false. Obviously, people who are not truly infected have no symptoms.

Are so-called asymptomatic people actually false-positive tests? If that’s the case, what we think we know ain’t so.

Mussel researchers re-sample and re-test where they get an initial positive, but labs have been overwhelmed for coronavirus testing, so the confirmation tests aren’t used. Yikes. Someone will sort it out eventually, but what about the meantime?

Fifth State of Matter – You’ve Never Seen This #poem #poetry #physics #NASA

The world that we see

Can’t show, normally,

Quantum properties

Because of gravity.

So Einstein and Bose,

A century ago,

Said get atoms cold,

Really, really cold.

Now those NASA imps

Gives us all a glimpse,

Coming to grips

With quantum tricks.

A tool for you and me,

Created so cleverly,

To parse relativity

And search for dark energy.

Calculate the transition temperature for yourself