The Pluto Files

Pluto is no longer considered a planet (old news, I know).

Apparently, school age children have taken serious umbrage with this change.

The Pluto Files is a collection of letters from school age children who miss seeing Pluto among the other planets.

From the link:

"It's not easy being a public enemy," writes Neil deGrasse Tyson in his book The Pluto Files. When Neil's museum grouped Pluto not among the planets but rather with icy comets in an obscure region called the Kuiper Belt, he heard from thousands of outraged Pluto defenders. It's tough being called a heartless Pluto-hater, particularly by a dismayed eight-year-old. Below, peruse a few of the letters elementary schoolkids sent Neil, and see how their tone shifted over the years, as the public slowly came to accept Pluto's fall from planethood.—Susan K. Lewis

My favorite letter was one from Madeline, dated Sept 2006.

Power to the planet Pluto, Madeline. Power to the planet.

(Since I now have 2 posts collected because of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, I guess this means I have to become a card carrying member of his fan club. )

(From PBS, Nova)

What happens if you fall into a Black Hole?

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at The Richmond Forum - What happens if you fall into a Black Hole?
is a video of a talk given by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. In it, he describes, based on known science of how Black Holes operate and how the human body responds to such conditions, what would happen to your body if you fell into a Black Hole.

For a few extra hours of science fun... check our Dr. Tyson's website. Besure to check out the video of Dr. Tyson on The Colbert Report- funny stuff! Or his appearance on The Daily Show.

I wish someone had told me how fun science can be back when I was required to learn it in exchange for grades that determined my future...

"Science is, in fact, interesting. It's just never been presented that way." - Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson


(From my friend, Daniel )

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Outer space is a fascinating place. From what we can see with the naked eye from our planet's surface to the images captured by NASA on other planet surfaces... it's a vast and relatively unexplored territory.

The image above is the surface of Mars. From the website:

Explanation: They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even when the image was being taken.

Be sure to check out NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Archives to see the daily picture from previous days and years. It goes back to 1995 and it's amazing to consider the difference in what we could see then and what we can see now. Compare the picture of the surface of Mars shown above to a 1995 picture.

(From NASA)

The Periodic Table of Awesoments

While I don't necessarily agree with every element (Bob Saget, for example), it is good to know that there is a table of Awesoments.

My question is... what happens when you mix the Awesoments?

Some things obviously go together well:

BaMkGr

Some compounds seem absolutely terrifying:

ShBb

(From 9GAG)

Baby pictures in lost wallets increase the chance they will be returned

Baby pictures in lost wallets increase the chance they will be returned is an article on Boing Boing explaining that Edinburgh researchers report that "lost" wallets which included baby pictures had the highest return rate, with 88 per cent of the 40 wallets being sent back.

I would print out and place this very picture in my wallet right now, if only I hadn't just burnt my father's new printer due to my forgetting that the printer is 110V, and the wall plugs here are 220V. WHOOPS. 

(From Boing Boing, picture from here.)

Ten Things You Don’t Know About the Sun

Ten Things You Don’t Know About the Sun is a Discover Magazine article by Phil Plait with 10 factoids that, among other things, clears up common misconceptions about the sun.

For example, you probably won't actually go blind by staring at the sun, despite what you've heard on 30 Rock (such a solid show, how could they steer me wrong?!). Also, the sun is bigger than your average star, it converts matter into energy, and it's not actually yellow.

Also, this article reminds me of how much I hate click through layouts. I much much much prefer seeing everything in one page.

Also, that's it.

(From Guy Danus)

Great Tweets of Science

Great Tweets of Science is a PhD comic about what it would be like if the great minds of science had Twitter accounts. Very, very nerdy.

My favortie is Darwin, who, like the Lonely Island Guys, is on a m*therf*cking boat.

(From BW)

Personal Genomes

(Guest TOTI by Guy Danus)

Personal Genomes, Harvard

"The Personal Genome Project is an open-ended research study that aims to improve our understanding of genetic and environmental contributions to human traits. In the second half of 2008, we will begin to enroll members of the public who are willing to share their genome sequence and other personal information with the scientific community and the general public.

The mission of the Personal Genome Project is to encourage the development of personal genomics technology and practices that:
* are effective, informative, and responsible
* yield identifiable and improvable benefits at manageable levels of risk
* are broadly available for the good of the general public"

The first ten participants in the PGP, called the "PGP-10", have volunteered to share their DNA sequences, medical records, and other personal information with the research community and the general public.

That's right folks! They are giving up their personal genomic privacy for the good of science! They've publicly released all of their private medical records.

The organization will soon be accepting other volunteers who wish to have their genomes mapped and participate in this study to better define the human genome.

Check out the following wheel for more information on the focus areas of the group:


(From /.)

Recurring Science Misconceptions in K-12 Textbooks

Recurring Science Misconceptions in K-12 Textbooks is a poorly laid out, but wonderfully written site about how all the things you learned in science grade school are wrong. Including "facts" about space gravity, the shape of rain drops,  and sound.

(From Metafilter)