Science Friday

JUMPING JUPITER: Today we didn't make or bake anything. We did deck some halls, but more on that later. 

I made it a point to try to be more science forward today. To that end, can we share this really gorgeous photo of Jupiter (above)? 

If you look in the lower, right hand corner of the infrared image, you'll see a new, (relatively) small cyclone that has recently formed. 

The photo's from Jupiter's south pole. It was taken on Nov. 4, 2019, when spacecraft Juno was making its 23rd science pass of the largest planet in our solar system. (More information about the Juno mission is here: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.

The first think, or person, I thought of when I saw this image was Vincent Van Gogh. The swirls remind me of his "Starry Night." 

REPORTING IN: I had a meeting away from 'campus' today for a couple of hours, so I left CJ and Annabelle an assignment to complete. I asked them to pick up any one of a number of "Science News" magazines we have (thank you Gpa R), and pick any article that struck their fancy and write a short summary about it. 

Here's what Annabelle shared. ... 

The Science News article “Brain Waves Duel During Slumber” discusses a study performed by researchers at the University of California on how certain brain functions play a part in whether we remember or forget something during sleep. The scientists mostly looked at movement in the motor cortex during non-REM sleep in mice that had undergone training to move a waterspout on the previous day. They noticed that when “slow oscillation” brain waves were stopped before hitting out the area in charge of remembering how to move the spout, the mice had a harder time re-learning how to do it the next day. This seems to show that these slow oscillation waves help promote remembering information. On the other side of the coin, “Delta waves” were three to four times more common than the slow oscillation waves, and when they were prevented the mice retained the information better, meaning these Delta waves most likely promote forgetting. It’s still unknown how the brain chooses which things to remember and which to forget, but more research will me done to understand how we can use the knowledge of these brain waves to potentially help people in rehab and recovery after an event like a stroke.

Hmm. Interesting. I'd like to read the whole article. 

CJ chose to write about a long-range NASA mission.

In 2012, Voyager 1, a man-made space probe launched back in the 1970s, crossed the outer border of the solar system, thus becoming the first man-made object to do so. Six years later, Voyager 2 did the same, this time equipped with a sensor that measures the qualities of surrounding plasma in space. Voyager 2 nearing the border outside of the solar system allowed NASA scientists to closely study the composition of the outer solar system. An article from Science News described the first reports of the outer solar system from Voyager 2: "Somehow, contrary to expectations, the sun’s magnetic field lines up nearly perfectly with the local galactic field." NASA scientists will likely make more detailed findings from the Voyager 2 reports in the near future.

Well, well, well, isn't that interesting. I'm also intrigued - I didn't know that Voyager 2 had a sensor that Voyager 1 did not. I'd definitely like to learn more.

SILVER BOUGHS: I feel we're a little late to the holiday decorating game this year. We did manage to get our vintage aluminum Christmas tree up yesterday. I kind of like its juxtaposition against the forest in the background.