74 search results for: "Science Break"
Science Break : Concrete
…People love coining terms to categorize periods of human culture into distinct Ages. I suppose it’s an exercise in how future societies will view us. The industrial age, the computer age, the hydrocarbon age, the information age…even geologists have got into the game, with the term Anthropocene. I wonder if…
Science Break : The Human Ear
…Compared to our other sensory organs, the human ear has always struck me as odd. We are delivered touch, smell, sight, and taste in such a seamless, integrated way that it’s almost magical. In comparison, the ear seems to be a home handyman job! I can relate to that, and…
Science Break : Calendars
…Calendars A friend of mine recently put forward the theory that differences in the historical levels of technical sophistication between human cultures are largely a matter of latitude. His thinking is that the further an ancient society lived from the equator, the more affected they were by the changing seasons.…
Science Break : Hominin Update (Part 1)
…The last few years have seen several significant finds related to human prehistory. There was the 2003 discovery of Homo floresiensis, aka “the hobbit”, a distinct (and extinct) species in the same genus as us, Homo. In 2017, more accurate dating pushed back the date of human arrival to Australia…
Science Break : Fireworks
…This past summer saw thousands of fireworks displays across Canada as we celebrated 150 years of Confederation. I’m sure few of us really understand how fireworks work, so this article will educate and prepare us for 2067, although if not dead by then I’ll certainly be deaf and blind. The…
Science Break : Animal Defense Systems
…One evening last summer our dog was in a frenzy – he’d cornered some critter under our deck, most likely a raccoon. However, the flashlight revealed a white, mangy little creature about the size of a cat. Its head, especially the jaw, was large in proportion to its body, and…
Science Break : CRISPR Genome Editing
…TCRISPR is a simple acronym to remember, but it refers to a very complex technology that promises to revolutionize gene editing and splicing. The letters stand for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”. The palindromic repeats are short repeated DNA sequences found in some bacteria that geneticists have been aware…
Science Break : Heart Attacks
…The spectre of heart attacks looms large in our collective psyche. We worry that one may strike us, or perhaps one of our at-risk relatives or friends will be afflicted. Some of us at times view them as retribution for an unhealthy lifestyle. But what do we really understand about…
Science Break : Reader Follow Ups & Blood Types
…Sometimes reader feedback leads to interesting dialogs. Two recent exchanges on DSLR cameras and ocean currents are worth sharing. First though, I want to apologise to all Cheeseheads. In Figure 1a from the Great Lake(s) article, I forgot to label the Green Bay lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet –…
Science Break : The Human Microbiota
…Growing up, I viewed the human body as a castle, with defenses to keep all the nasty bacteria and viruses out. White blood cells were the soldiers, sent off to do battle at breaches in the walls. In fairy tales everything good is inside the castle walls, everything bad outside;…
Science Break : Ocean Currents
…Besides the Gulf Stream, ocean currents are likely out-of-sight, out-of-mind for most people. I don’t even recall ocean currents being part of the geophysics undergrad curriculum, even though they should definitely fall under physics of the earth, with temperature and density physics explaining their dynamics. The following article is a…
Science Break : The Great Lakes
…Quaternary geology is fascinating, especially the late Pleistocene and into the Holocene (11,700 years ago to present) because it’s so recent, dynamic and all around us. In my article on the Spokane Flood (Kuhn, 2008), I alluded to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, humans had witnessed this catastrophic event.…
Science Break : DSLR Cameras
…The amount of sophisticated technology packed into a modern digital single lens reflex camera is simply astounding. In this article we’ll look at three of a DSLR camera’s most scientifically interesting components: the SLR mechanism itself, the camera lens motor, and the image sensor. Single Lens Reflex A single lens…
Science Break : And Now for Something Completely Different... Math and Science Jokes
…There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary numbers and those that don’t. There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data There are 3 kinds of people in the world: 50% understand percentages, and 50% don’t. When…
Science Break : Fear of Music
…To mark the 30th anniversary of the RECORDER magazine, a nostalgic article. Back in the 70’s and 80’s theme albums were all the rage... Thick as a Brick, Dark Side of the Moon, Diamond Dogs, to name a few. Music, lyrics and art work combined into a united theme or…
Science Break : The U-Curve
…This curve (Figure 1) describes the level of general happiness over an average person’s life. Studies are consistently showing the same result – human happiness starts high in youth, reaches a low point in mid-life, and then rises until death. Our late life happiness levels actually exceed those of youth.…
Science Break : Coral
…Coral colonies create reefs stretching for hundreds of kilometres, and corals are preserved in the Earth’s rocks since the Cambrian; as geoscientists we all know that. But what do we know of the humble coral polyp? The basic facts on this amazing little creature follow. If you read no further,…
Science Break : Practical Applications of Science
…Perusing my recent articles, I realized I’ve been touching on some rather somber topics lately, such as mental illness, psychopathy, prion disease, Nazi death camps, etc. So this month I decided to lighten things up and cover some cheerful examples of how science can be applied in day-to-day ways. Astute…
Science Break : Sociopathy
…If life was a sport, sociopaths / psychopaths would be the players repeatedly cheating. In real life they flagrantly flout fundamental human social rules, such as ‘Do unto others as you would do unto yourself,’ and ‘Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.’ If a sociopath had written these rules…
Science Break : Aerial Archaeology
…GIS technology, especially Google Maps and Google Earth, has given anyone the ability to view even the remotest parts of the globe. When my grandparents were young, in the late 1800’s, there were huge areas of the Earth that were simply blank spaces on western maps. The source of the…
