Throwback Thursday - 2014 Christmas Lectures | #SciSparksAdvent

As the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are coming up, I thought you might like to be reminded of the Christmas Lectures last year, so here's the first episode from last year's lectures.

The Young Scientists Journal Conference

Tomorrow is our 2nd science communication conference at The Kings School, Canterbury and we'd like you to join us online tomorrow. Throughout the day we'll be posting things on social media - so check out the links below.

My Twitter -  @Sci_Sparks

The Young Scientists Journal Twitter - @YSJournal

Our website - www.ysjournal.com 

Conference Website - http://events.ysjournal.com/

Facebook - The Young Scientists Journal 

FIGHT!!!! | #PictureoftheMonth

For this month I thought I'd bring you a completely different picture, this time of two very territorial birds!

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/wpy/gallery/2013/images/behaviour-birds/4742/light-path.html

The Emperor of ALL Penguins :)

Emperor Penguins are the heaviest and tallest of all the species of penguins - so heavy that they can weigh up to 45 kg. In fact, they're very cleverly adapted for life in the frozen climates of the Antarctic as temperatures can plumet to as low as -60C. They, like other Penguins huddle together to conserve their warmth and protect them from the wind. What's even more amazing is, is that they rotate so the penguin(s) on the outside don't get too cold! Despite the cold weather, they even continue to breed. During their breeding 'season' they lay a single egg and leave it behind whilst they go on hunting trips which can last up to 2 months! This isn't necessarily because they're neglectful but because sometimes, they might have to travel up to 50 miles purely to reach open waters where they feed on fish, squid and krill. The very important job of keeping the eggs warm, actually falls to the male penguins and once the females return, they have a belly full of food which they then regurgitate for the newly hatched chicks. Once their chicks are nicely fed, the female takes over and keeps the chicks warm in their brood pouches. This of course, frees up the male to take over foraging duties. The males then continue to hunt for food until the chicks have developed enough to cope with the Antarctic chill.

Lemurs!

Lemurs are amazing creatures but they're also endangered. Scientists have discovered an incredible evolutionary past - suggesting Lemurs where once as big as some gorillas! They're also incredibly sociable, perhaps because their family can be as big as 15. Of course, because of their endangered status, we want to do everything we can to protect them - that's why we see them in many of our zoos - in fact, in zoos they can live up to 30 years, compared to the 18 years they can live up to in the wild. When it comes to dominance, it's all girl power! Scientists think that this is an evolutionary tactic for the females as they need more resources to give birth and look after their young. They also use their scent as a huge power advantage. They get involved in "stink fights", where they rub their tails against the tree as a huge warning to the other lemurs!

The Solar-Powered Personal Plane

You'd probably love a personal jet, but what about a solar-powered personal plane? This could be the future of transport - Fly Citycopter. At a maximum speed of 193 kilometres (120mph) per hour you could go from London to Paris in under two hours. The designer,  Eduardo Galvani thinks it will help ease pressures on public transport and general inner-city congestion. Although it's only just a design concept currently, the hope is the plans will inspire major players in the transport industry and maybe become the face of inter-city travel.

What Altitude Can You See the Curvature of Earth?

From Felix Baumgartner's daredevil skydive to teddy bears we've sent into space we're all familiar with the Earth's characteristic curvature. 100km from the Earth's surface is usually taken as where space begins - but Felix's jump was at around 24 miles (39 km), well under the height that space is considered to begin. So the answer is - no one really knows! Although passengers on board Concorde did see the curvature of Earth at altitudes of about 60,000ft. Although this gives a pretty clear indication of the figures, this can be distorted by plane windows for example. Because of this debate, research has taken place to determine the real figures. After much deliberation the real altitude is around 35,000 ft  - so next time you take a plane ride see if you can see the curvature of Earth! 

Follow the rest of my #SummerofScience and me on Twitter @Sci_Sparks. Don’t forget to download my charity eBook, Science Bites: A Short Tour of the Universe HERE. 

#SummerofScience 

Our 21st Century World

We now see the world through different eyes. Whether it's global warming and the Europe-wide thunderstorms or the middle-eastern crisis. Whatever it is... we can't help but look at our world through different eyes. So today, I thought as part of the Summer of Science I'd put a collection of my favorite pictures of Earth together. 

And no, this picture hasn't been photoshopped!! 

Just for good measure - one of the coolest astronaut selfies!


Follow the rest of my #SummerofScience and me on Twitter @Sci_Sparks. Don’t forget to download my charity eBook, Science Bites: A Short Tour of the Universe HERE. 

How will we have changed 1,000 years from now?

With technology and knowledge of how the human genome works ever increasing, we could actually speed up the past of evolution with radical results.

We could become superhuman

Disease Resistant: Genes which offer protection from many big killers such as  Malaria and HIV will probably become more dominant, and the cures and treatment will become more effective.

Super- intelligent: If we could work out the genetic basis of intelligence we could start screening fertilised eggs in order to make brainier babies.

Ginger: Natural selection actually dictates that Natural selection dictates that all the survivors would be ginger.

Better- Looking: It's fairly normal to get with a partner that is good looking, so the child then has 'good looking' genes so over time these genes become more prominent, kind of like selective breeding, where the genes become more dominant throughout the generations.

Man and Machine Merge

A life in silicon? : If some scientists are right, it could be possible to transfer human intelligence to machines by using a variety of scanners to produce far more detailed images of the brain than ever before!

Obsolescence of humans: Once artificial intelligence has been created, who knows what could happen to humans? Machine intelligence could mean that humans become obsolete.

NASA: Tales of Triumph and Disaster - Part 1

40 years ago history was made worldwide, when the first man was landed on the moon. This will tell the ever continuing story of endeavours undertaken by the USA at the forefront of manned and unmanned space exploration.



The Astronauts part of the Mercury Mission

On July 1958 NASA was established, with one simple brief: to beat the Russians in the space race.  Drawn from military training pilots the hope was to get humans safely into space, but quickly and to a deadline.

During the 1950’s the American’s were still trailing the Russians in the space race.  NASA firstly established the Mercury programme to train seven astronauts to be ready for space. One included Alan Shepard who NASA selected for America’s first manned mission into space. Scientists at NASA were shaken as Russia launched their first manned space flight on the 15^th April 1961, only a few weeks before NASA’s first manned mission was to be launched.

On May 5^th Alan Shepard’s flight was still a history-making event. Whereas Yuri Gagarin had only been a ‘passenger’ in the vehicle, Shepard was able to manoeuvre the Freedom 7 space capsule himself.  Shepard made a safe return to Earth with a splashdown at sea and recovery by helicopter, even better still this was all captured on camera and broadcast to millions worldwide. As he returned to mainland America, he was honoured with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.

This historic event signalled the first of many missions by NASA and further joint projects with various contries, including Great Britain, find out more in “NASA: Tales of Triumph and Disaster – Part 2” , coming soon)

The Latest Moon Landing

Recently, China has hit the headlines for the most recent moon landing for decades. They successfully managed to land the moon rover, called the "Jade Rabbit" on Sunday last week. The rover was named the "Jade Rabbit" after an ancient Chinese myth. Some of the youngest lava flows on the Moon are within reach of a leading US lunar scientist.

Officials in charge of the project have said that five of the eight pieces of scientific equipment on the moon currently have begun their observations. The observations could unlock key pieces of information into both the history of Earth and the Moon.

 

How do scientists communicate with deep space probes?

Communicating with something over 11.2 billion kilometres (7 billion miles) away is no mean feat. It involves a huge network of worldwide radio antennas. These are strategically placed across the Earth so there will always be one that the probe can send signals to, 

Likewise space probes (e.g Pioneer 10) need radio antennas to send pictures, weather information and much more to. However power constraints mean the the probes transmit very weak signals that get weaker the further away the probe gets. Antennas have very large dishes to capture the probe's signal. Yet greater amplification and noise reduction is needed to boost the signal to a readable level.   

If the Sun's gravity was reduced what would happen to us?

A sudden reduction in the Sun's gravity would trigger massive earthquakes on earth as we were shifted along with Earth's altered orbit. However finding something that would cause this would be very difficult! A slow reduction in gravity would mean that the earths orbit would slowly be altered. In fact what happens is the Sun's mass decreases very slightly converting it into heat and light. To put this into context the mass that the sun looses each year is about 0.25% of the sun's mass since it first was formed. Also as the Sun grows older the Sun also gets brighter which means the Earth stays warm.

Why has the UK had such hot weather this July?

June saw the weather across the UK as decidedly mixed with some good weather, but interspersed with this, we saw many spells of wet and windy weather. This was due to the jet stream being across the Atlantic, slightly further south than what is normal for this time of year. 

A major change took place just after the start of July as the jet stream took a dramatic shift northwards. This meant that the newly placed jet stream deflected the bad weather towards Ireland and Scandinavia. Then high pressure was dominant across the UK, in meteorological terms this is known as a blocked pattern. At this time of year, high pressure generally signals good weather and this coupled with the strength of sun can bring very high temperatures 

One thing unusual for the UK is that most of the UK has benefited from this good weather, and these high temperatures haven't been confined to one area. Also we have had very few thunderstorms in the last few weeks. Most people think that these always accompany the hot weather, in this case it is because the hot weather isn't from France or Spain. 

However this hot weather isn't good for everyone, the Met Office and Public Health England have been collaborating to provide advice through the Heat Health Watch. 

Compared to last year, this hot weather is in complete contrast when we experienced a succession of weather systems that we got from the Atlantic. There was no recorded change to the position of the jet stream it was a constant feature throughout the summer of 2012.

What are black holes?

Black holes vary in size. Some are only as big as a single atom, but their mass is huge. The mass is just the amount of matter or "stuff" in the object. 

There is another type of black hole that's called "stellar" these have up to twenty times more than the mass of the sun. There might be many stellar black holes in the Earth's galaxy (the Milky Way) 

The largest black holes are called "supermassive." This type of black holes have masses that total to more than 1 million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its centre. The supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths. 

NASA is using satellites and telescopes that are traveling in space to learn more about black holes.

How Do Black Holes Form?

Scientists believe that the black holes were formed when the universe was first formed. Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself, or collapses. When this happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space. 

Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in, so for example made at the same time the Milky Way was formed. 

This image of the center of the Milky Way galaxy was taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K. Baganoff et al.

If Black Holes are "black" why do scientists know they exist? 

A black hole can not be seen because strong gravity pulls all of the light into the middle of the black hole. However scientists can see how the strong gravity affects the stars and gas that surround the black hole. Scientists can study stars to find out if they are flying around, or orbiting, the black hole.

When a black hole and a star are close together, high-energy light is made. This kind of light can not be seen with human eyes. Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see the high-energy light. 

Could a Black Hole Destroy Earth?

Black holes do not go around in space eating stars, moons and planets. Earth will not fall into a black hole because no black hole is close enough to the solar system for Earth to do that. 

Even if a black hole the same mass as the sun were to take the place of the sun, Earth still would not fall in. The black hole would have the same gravity as the sun. Earth and the other planets would orbit the black hole as they orbit the sun now. 

The sun will never turn into a black hole. The sun is not a big enough star to make a black hole. 

The ISS: "Making the Invisible, Visible"

Currently we are using the equivalent of 1 and a half planets worth of resources in order to survive on earth. With the advancement of medical technology and discoveries, we have an ever increasing population. In the near future we will need to find another planet to live on.   

Previous Expedition 34 of the ISS

The ISS is carrying out investigations, testing out the conditions that humans would have to withstand to live on a planet such as Mars to solve this problem, without having to risk money and human health by sending shuttles to Mars or other prospective planets. Other experiments that the ISS carries out are in various fields, for example biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology (which is the study of the weather)

The ISS may be circling the earth at 7,706.6m/s at 370km, but the International Space Station does a lot more than that. The ISS was sent into orbit on the 20^th November 1998.The ISS has spent a staggering 5243 days in orbit, 4530 of them have been spent occupied, that’s nearly 12 and a half years.

The cost of construction of the ISS mounted up to a massive 150 billion US dollars. The size of the ISS is approximately the size of an American football field and it is the largest man made machinery that orbits the earth.  The ISS has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations

View of a spiral cloud from the ISS (@Cmdr_Hadfield 

The technology onboard the ISS allows pioneering research to be carried out, most of which could very well be put to good use within our lifetime. One of the many experiments is tissue culture. This is where living cells can be grown in an environment where the results are not distorted by the force of gravity. These results could be used to test for treatments of deadly diseases and illnesses like cancer, without risking harm to patients whilst the treatment is still in the production stages. NASA has already developed a Bioreactor device on earth that can be used to simulate these effects that happen in space.  Every so often the ISS needs to be serviced, like a car, to do this a Soyuz space shuttle is sent out to service the ISS and deliver any essential equipment or materials to the station. Recently on the 29^th March the Soyuz shuttle managed to reach the ISS in less than 6 hours, compared to the usual 2 days. This brings forward new prospects of space travel, potentially making journeys to planets such as Mars possibly achievable in a reasonable timespan.

The crew on board the ISS changes regularly. On-board the ISS currently is Commander Chris Hadfield and Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko who began their stay when they docked their Soyuz TMA-07M which transported the crew to the ISS on Dec. 21, 2012.The crew on Expedition 35 is scheduled to remain on-board until May 2013.

You can see when the ISS passes are online here for June http://www.meteorwatch.org/iss-international-space-station-uk-passes-june-2013/

. Follow @VirtualAstro on twitter for more information on astronomy or  @Cmdr_Hadfield for amazing photos from the ISS 

About Me

I'm Claire and I'm currently 15, doing my GCSE's in the three sciences, French, Latin, Media Studies, English, Maths and History. When I'm older I would love to work in science communication, hence the reason why I am doing this blog.  So I hope that you find this blog informative and interesting, so feel free to leave comments or suggestions as a comment to any one of my posts.