August 2008

10 things you can stop worrying about

August 12, 2008

In an attempt to combat the media’s relentless pursuit of anxiety-producing headlines, the NY Times Science Page (July 29) just published a list of ten things you don’t have to worry about while you’re on vacation. While most of these are not guaranteed to be completely safe and worry-free, the latest results are promising. In [...]

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Do you love pipetting?

August 10, 2008

Oh my goodness, check out this hilarious video from Eppendorf pipettes. Do you love pipetting? You’ll love their new EpMotion. Here’s a snatch of the lyrics: And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great) Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate) It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no [...]

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Some fine questions about the nature of light

August 9, 2008

A teacher on a teachers’ listserv asked some fine questions about the nature of light. Here are her questions, and my answers. 1) If light is energy that is emitted by accelerating electric charges – often electrons in atoms – how do teachers explain the fact that light moves through a vacuum? [[Post edited 6/15/10, [...]

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Myth: Fuel efficiency at the low end of the scale — MPG vs GPM (OR news from geek dad)

August 6, 2008

REVISED 9/11/08 I just recently got an email from my father that showed to me once again that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I guess geekgirl is truly the progeny of geekdad. (He’s a retired physical chemist, BTW). He saw an interesting article in Science about how we calculate fuel efficiency in [...]

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If you could hop like a frog…

August 3, 2008

It can be tough to get K-8 students engaged in math, or to really get across the idea of size and scale.  My latest podcast features a talk by math enthusiast David Schwartz talking about some real-world size comparisons that can make size and scale relevant to children’s lives.  Give it a listen! David Schwartz’s [...]

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Fourteen passive-aggressive appetizers

August 2, 2008

This is totally not science, but I couldn’t resist. This one’s hilarious. Check out this New Yorker article for Fourteen Passive Aggressive Appetizers, including For a taste of the U.K., fry up mini-servings of fish-and-chips. Take it to the next level by wrapping them in small pieces of newspaper, which, oddly enough, all seem to [...]

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Neat news! Saturn’s moon has a liquid lake!

August 2, 2008

I almost never post any science news, but this one was big enough to make it over my radar, in part because of the webcasts that I did at the Exploratorium on Titan. NASA CONFIRMS LIQUID LAKE ON SATURN MOON PASADENA, Calif. — NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes [...]

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A plethora of science teaching resources

August 1, 2008

Here is a list of useful resources for physics teaching: Simulations and Computer Modeling The National Science Digital Library just announced the creation of a new web resource for finding curriculum resources. The Open Source Physics Collection provides curriculum resources that engage students in physics, computation, and computer modeling. Computational physics and computer modeling provide [...]

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