Starry Eyed

 Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Muzerolle (STScI), E. Furlan (NOAO and Caltech), K. Flaherty (University of Arizona/Steward Observatory), Z. Balog (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), and R. Gutermuth (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

REAL WORLD: We've only been taking our astrobiology course for two weeks now, but it's already paying dividends. For example, it's rewarding to realize how much better we understand some of the science articles we come across on a daily basis. Like yesterday, a NASA news release let us know that the Hubble and Spitzer observatories have both seen a binary protostar with an interesting strobe light effect. 

Not all that long ago, 'protostar' wasn't in CJ and Annabelle's vocabulary. Now, not only have they heard the word, they could tell you what one is and how it's formed. 

What makes the object (named LRLL 54361) so interesting, is that every 25.34 days (yes, exactly), it emits a burst of light.  Astronomers think the burst of light is material being dumped onto the growing protostars.

And today we came across a story with the headline "Life found deep below Antarctic ice" from Science News. That's a topic we were learning about just yesterday in the "Life in Extreme Environments" lecture. The kids were super excited when I showed them the story.

Turns out just a couple of weeks ago, a U.S. research team drilled down 800 meters below the ice surface of a subglacial lake in West Antarctica  In their three 10-liter samples retrieved from Lake Whilans, they found a treasure trove of cells containing DNA. It's the first evidence of life in a subglacial lake in West Antarctica, and it's believed the microbes they retrieved have been sealed off below the ice for at least 100,000 years. Neat-o!

This afternoon we finished listening to the rest of this week's lectures and took our quizzes. I was a little wary, as the subject matter covered was full of new vocab and ideas and lots of dates. Happily, we each got 19 on the first try and 20/20 on the re-do. Phew. Next week, we're going to be studying about Mars, apparently. I'm hoping our past Mars studies help us on this unit.

CARR-TOON: We discovered a great TED-Ed animation featuring astronaut Jerry Carr. 

Carr trained during the Apollo era, and when the program was canceled, he thought his changes at spaceflight might have been dashed, as well. However, he was tapped to be a commander of Skylab. Overall, Carr spent over 2000 hours in space, orbiting the Earth over 1,000 times. 

Carr is an engaging storyteller. We found that our for ourselves when we met him last September at The Museum of Flight. 

Here's the 5-minute video. It's worth a watch.


POPPING TAGS: Today between computer programming, Bollywood and acting classes, we went thrift shopping. Good day. I got the boots I'll need for our planned trip to the snow zone on Sunday, Annabelle got a couple bags of My Little Ponies and CJ scored a new to him "Ripley's Believe It or Not" book, which he loves. 

Of course, we couldn't help but sing Macklemore's (#1 in the nation!) song "Thrift Shop" as we made our rounds. Such a catchy tune and love that a hip hop artist is glorifying how smart it is to hit up Goodwill and how stupid it is to wear a $50 t-shirt. 
Here's the original and profanity laced version of the song. (You have been warned! Super not suitable for work.) 
I should also tell you that we have been to every thrift show pictured in the video (Macklemore's from Seattle).

 If you prefer the radio version, here's a nice alternative - him performing it on Ellen. 

Scrambled Eggs

GOOD EGGS: During our foray yesterday into egg science and how you can tell a fresh one from a bad one, of course we encountered some eggsellent resources. By following a few links, we wound up on an activity called "Take an Egg for a Spin" on the (very cool!) Science of Cooking site. 



I hard boiled an egg so we could do the experiments.


In the first one, you take two eggs, and get them spinning on a table. You stop both eggs and release them and then watch what happens. ...

Imagine the kids' surprise when the raw egg started spinning again. Why? Momentum! The egg's liquid center didn't stop when we stopped the vessel/shell. It worked every time.


There was also an experiment with just the hard boiled egg. The challenge was to get it spinning super fast (>10 revolutions per second!). Once it’s spinning fast enough, and you let go, the egg rises up on one end, spinning like a top. Why? Apparently it’s the friction between the eggshell and the tabletop. It pushes the spinning egg, The friction slows the egg down some, and contact point with the table moves off center. The egg then begins to twist as it spins, and one end rises up (for a few seconds at least).

We were so happy when it got up on end! 

Talk about an easy, cheap, fun science eggsperiment!

AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN: First thing this morning, we tuned in to a Canadian Space Agency broadcast featuring William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) and Chris Hadfield, current commander of the International Space Station. Talk about when worlds collide! 

If you missed this morning's chat, you can find the video here: http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/captain-kirk-calls-the-space-station-video/



AFTERNOON DELIGHT: Weather-wise, today was an absolute gem! 
Sunny, and unseasonably warm, with no wind. Delightful!

We celebrated it by parking in 'The Village' and walking several blocks, to the library. Here are the kids entering a park between our car and the library.

Once we got to the library, there, under a boulder, we spied our first blooming crocus of the season. Sweet! We walked back to the car, and didn't quite have our fill of it all, so we took the extra minute to drive out to the bluff and took in the sights.

Glad we did. :)

This afternoon, CJ's BFF from kindergarten joined the kids' yoga class for the first time. Fun!

Whirly Wednesday

 
SWIRLY: Annabelle has been playing around with one of her Christmas presents for the past few days. It's Spiral Draw by Klutz - obviously in the "Spirograph" family of toys. It contains nowhere near the number of wheels a good ol' Spirograph set used to contain, and there aren't pins to hold your frames in place while you simultaneously draw and spin your shape maker around, so it's a bit clunky, and prone to getting stuck or moving too much. 

However, every once in awhile you can manipulate it into doing what you want.

 

I think we need to order today's version of the official Spirograph to see if it's any better. 

I did a little reading today and learned that Spirograph was invented by a mechanical engineer (why does that not surprise me?) named Denys Fisher, originally as a drafting tool. It was introduced to the toy market in 1965.  By the way, those awesome vintage Spirograph kits from the 1960s and 1970s go for a mint now on eBay,   

FRESH FACTS: This afternoon, I saw an interesting graphic online purporting to be about how to judge the freshness of an egg. 

It showed that when you drop a very fresh egg in cold water, it sinks to the bottom and rests on its side.
A week old egg will sink, but its wide end will stick up a bit more than the pointy end. A  3-week old egg stands nearly on pointy end, but is still submerged. A bad egg floats. 

I told the kids I thought it interesting, but just because we saw that on one spot on the Internet, did it mean it was true? No! Also, I didn't like the fact the author didn't know the difference between 'its' and 'it's,' so I cast a suspect eye on it.

I said we could easily to an Internet search and see what other sources have to say. I reminded them that noting the source is SO important when you're considering whether or not to believe what you read.

We found a short article in gourmet go-to Bon Appetite agreed with graphic. I told the kids that was pretty much good enough for me. But I also told them that usually I like to be able to find facts on a Web site with a .edu for education or .gov for government, and I showed them how to do an advanced search to produce only results from those types of sites. 

In doing so, we discovered The Accidental Scientist "Science of Cooking" bulletin board, where the egg graphic was confirmed. 

WEEK 2: Today we listened to a couple more lectures and took our first quiz for week 2 of the astrobiology course.  

We learned about early life on Earth, and what the rock and fossil records tell us. The oldest microfossils are in stromatolites. They're 3.46 billion years old, found in Western Australia. 

The lecture also made us aware that the phrase "Tree of Life" perhaps isn't best, as not all life produces vertically, along branches, with DNA being passed from parent to child. Rather, some organisms exchange DNA horizontally, by a 'touch,' as the professor explained it. That was news to CeeJ and Bee. At that point, CJ stated poking Annabelle and he said, "Do you have blue eyes now?" His experiment didn't work. 

Anyway, given the fact that DNA can be passed sideways, so to speak, the phrase "Web of Life" or "Ring of Life" might be more appropriate than "Tree of Life." But call it what you will, the "_____ of Life" is divided into three domains. There are the prokaryotes/single celled organisms bacteria and archae (organisms that live in extreme conditions). The prokaryotes are the oldest and most abundant of Earth's lifeforms. And then there are the eukaryota (multi-celled life like plants and animals, fungi, etc.) These organisms have cells which contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. 

While there was definitely a whole slew of new-to-us words, the content and concepts covered in the lectures were straightforward. We were all really happy with how (relatively) easy the quiz was for us. We each only missed on on the first try (we get a do-over for free), and scored 100 percent on the second go round. Go MPA!

I thought it was great, today when we logged into Coursera, Annabelle mentioned that she wants to take some more classes. So do I! But I also told her I think we should get this rather complex one out of the way first. 

HAILING FREQUENCIES OPEN: How would you like to listen in to a phone call between Captain Kirk and the commander of the International Space Station? It's going down tomorrow morning! 

Both Canadians, William Shatner and Chris Hadfield have been chatting via Twitter since Hadfield took the helm of the ISS. Their phone call will take place on Thursday, Feb.7 at 10:40 am ET (that's 7:40 a.m. our time), and will be broadcast on the Canadian Space Agency's Web site. Try this link: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/webcast.asp  or this one, if the first doesn't work: rtsp://142.74.2.40/asc-csa

                                          source: Canadian Space Agency

Catching Up

OFFICIAL BUSINESS: Monday afternoon, we stopped by the King County Administration Building. I'd never been inside before, but had admired it countless times from the outside. I dig its appearance. 

Turns out it was supposedly voted the ugliest government building in the country in the '70s, shortly after it was built in 1971. Hmph. I beg to differ. ;)

I actually really like its hexagonal windows and the diamond pattern on the exterior. (From inside the windows look kind of coffin shaped, by the way.)

We were there getting new tags and a new license plate for the Honda. I was not thrilled when I found out last week I had to buy a new plate. Turns out they're required by law in the state every seven years. That seems ridiculous and excessive to me. My existing plate looked brand new. But not like I had a choice, the law's the law. I tried to turn the lemons into lemonade by ordering a personalized plate. I mean, If I was going to have to spring $40 for a stupid generic plate I didn't need, why not spend $25 or so more and get one I liked? We should have it in about a month. Stay tuned ...

On our way out of the BEAUTIFUL building  we - barely - noticed some artwork. The reason I saw barely is because it was up so high on the building, you really couldn't see it all that well. 

One thing that we could easily see, however, was a plaque telling us all about the artwork "Rhododendrons"  by Harold Balazs. Heck, there was even a phone number we could have called to learn more about it. It's part of the city's "Listen 4 Culture" program, which we'd never heard of before.Pretty cool. 

Tonight, while browsing the "Listen 4 Culture" web site, I learned the work (porcelain enamel on steel) used to be in the Kingdome before its demolition. How 'bout that?! I wish I knew exactly where it was at the 'Dome. I swear, in a cobwebby corner of my mind, I can actually picture this thing in that concrete bunker.

MONDAY SCOOT: For our Monday exercise and outing, we walked/scooted from our place to Terminal 91, on Puget Sound. It's a 2.4 mile round trip. Below, CJ thinks he's taking a short cut. Annabelle reached the spot around that curve where the two paths reconnect first. Why? We talked about it and noted that although it was farther, she had a lot less friction to fight on her wheels.  She had easy gliding compared to CJ, who had to fight the terrain.

The tide was pretty high, so we didn't have much beach to explore, but we clambered around rocks and checked out the gray cityscape. 

 

On the way back, the kids had to trudge up a big hill. CJ won this 'race' ...

but they both celebrated at the top. 

Insert "Rocky" theme here. :)

LECTURED: On Monday, we took our third astrobiology quiz. It was a bit of a toughie, with 20 questions covering a lot of information about DNA, RNA, and the building blocks of life. 

We're now in week two of the class. This morning we listened to two short lectures. The first one was about the formation of the solar system and the early Earth. The second one was entitled "Conditions on the early Earth."

In the first lecture, we learned that solar systems form in molecular clouds of hydrogen, helium, and other elements. When they reach certain densities, they start forming structures and the  clouds collapse. We learned the most crucial event in the formation of a solar system is the ignition of a nuclear furnace. A nuclear fusion takes place, and some other stuff happens (that's science talk, there!) and planets begin to form. 

One interesting thing we learned is that beyond the Ice Line (relative to the sun) are gas giants. In our solar system, that would be Saturn and Jupiter. And we learned that the inner regions of solar systems have small, rocky planets (like Earth and Mars, to name two, in our solar system). 

In the second lecture, there was much talk of rock records - though it was noted we have no rock record for the first 11 percent of the planet's 4.56 billion years. There was also talk about how early Earth's environment was different from today's. For instance, there was only a trace of oxygen in the atmosphere back in the day, as compared to it being 21 percent now. And the sun wasn't as bright, as it was in its "Faint Young Sun" period. So how was Earth warm enough not to become a frozen wasteland? Well, back then there was more methane and carbon dioxide in the air. These greenhouse gases likely warmed the planet and kept the oceans liquid, Another interesting factoid - back in the Earth's infancy, UV rays were higher due to little oxygen resulting in a minuscule ozone shield. While this could mean doom to biological materials, the methane might have formed a smog, offering some protection, per our professor.

TEST DRIVE: This afternoon, we loaded the bikes into the back of the Honda and went down to the Burke Gilman Trail, along the south side of the canal separating the north end of Queen Anne and Fremont. It was a nice, wide open, flat place for the kids to get used to their 'new' bikes. 

I didn't bring a real camera, so all I have are these crappy cell phone shots. We traveled all the way from Seattle Pacific University, to under the Fremont and Aurora bridges, to South Lake Union, in the area of the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat. Gasworks Park was to the north.

As we headed east, under the Fremont Bridge, we raced an empty cruise ship. 

The Goodtime II won.

When we reached the turnaround point in our journey, our trip became not quite as fun. CJ accidentally rammed his bike into Annabelle's parked bike, knocking it over. When it hit the ground, its chain popped off. BUMMER. 

Here's a photo taken shortly after the incident. CJ looks more miserable about it than Annabelle.

I pushed Annabelle on her bike the majority of the way back to our car. BUMMER. 

Here's bike-less Bee under the Aurora bridge.

The happy ending is that Christian popped the chain back on Bee's bike post haste tonight. 

Soaring

FYI: Not that this needs any explanation, but what you see above is a clown riding a unicorn. From below, a shining knight in armor, a goblin and a Sea Monkey make appearances. From the top, a fire breathing dragon and a seagull are dive bombing. And most importantly, in the upper right, the Flying Spaghetti Monster appears to tell everyone to chill the hell out.

This is the back of Annabelle's dinner menu tonight. Any questions?

HIGH FLYERS: The highlight of the day was a trip to Tukwila and iFLY. It's always fun to watch the experienced flyers do their acrobatics and then see the kids do their impressions of superboy/girl.

We've been to iFLY several times before, but today the kids truly soared to new heights.

The last time we went to iFLY CJ was so skittish, his 'tunnel' time was spent clinging on to the instructor in a quasi-bear hug. Today, not so much! Look at this great form!

Each of them was so stable and solid during their tunnel time that their teacher was able to do a tandem fly with them way up high in the tunnel and 'round and 'round in tight circles.

So much fun to watch! I can only imagine what it felt like to fly like that!

NEW OLD RIDES: We recently donated the kids' bikes to Goodwill. They'd each outgrown their rides.

We've been meaning to find them new bikes, and this weekend Craigslist finally produced the right rides. Amazingly, we found each of them affordable, vintage Sears Spyder bikes close to home Sweet!