Science Buddies Blog

Scientist's Pick: Smart Slime

January 29, 2010 3:31 PM

Note: This month's "Scientist's Pick" is from Science Buddies' staff scientist, David Whyte. David presented this project to the Science Buddies' team last fall. It's very cool! ~ Science Buddies' Editorial Staff Project: Smarter Than Your Average Slime: Maze-solving by an Amoeboid Organism Scientist: David Whyte Science Buddies' Difficulty Level: 7-9 I was doing some background research on simple organisms that might be used in science projects when I came across an article… Read more

A Better Cup of Tea

January 27, 2010 9:05 AM

While I do cook my pasta the amount of time noted on the box (which may or may not be necessary), I'm one of the laziest sorts of tea drinkers. I drink dozens of cups of tea a day, and each time I follow the same highly unscientific, though orderly, process: I grab my cup. I grab a tea bag (from the "tea drawer"). I grab my sweetener (there are science fair project ideas on that, too!). I rip open the tea bag and drop it in my cup. I rip open my sweetener and dump it in.… Read more

Pasta Efficiency

January 19, 2010 8:44 AM

Is pasta on the menu? If you are considering spaghetti and sauce, you may find yourself staring at the pot...waiting for the water to boil. It's best to bring the water to a boil first, right? And it's best to use the amount of water noted on the box, right? What happens if you cook with less water? What happens if you put the pasta in with the water at the start? What happens if you use hot water rather than cold water? What happens if you use a different kind of… Read more

The Golden State Star Party - III

January 18, 2010 8:52 AM

The Golden State Star Party - III Photo: Kenneth Hess, 2009. Specs: Stack of 17 images, 85 minutes total exposure time on a Nikon D3. The telescope was an Astro-Physics 155mm f7 StarFire EDF Triplet Apochromatic Refractor. [View full-size image.] I wrote earlier about my trek to the northeastern corner of California to attend the Golden State Star Party, as well as the process of taking deep-space images. In this final installment in the Golden State Star Party series, I… Read more

Tracking the Sun

January 15, 2010 12:32 PM

A new science fair project idea on the Science Buddies website caught my eye today because the apparatus shown in the photograph looks like a most amazing piece of sculptural scrap art. In fact, the "Helio Tracker" shown in the Build Your Own Helio Tracker--a Self-powered Mechanical Sunflower that Turns with the Sun abbreviated project idea demonstrates an ingenious and forward-thinking approach to the challenges of going green. The principles of phototropism tell… Read more

In the Wake of Shake

January 13, 2010 9:03 AM

While smaller US earthquakes made recent news, like the 6.5 magnitude shake in Northern California that was felt up into central Oregon, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday, has brought earthquakes into the foreground of national news and media reports - and thus in the awareness of students. According to reports, the quake in Haiti, an area where earthquakes are not common, was the strongest in 200 years. The world map of earthquakes in the last… Read more

Lab Notebooks

January 6, 2010 10:42 PM

Journals and log books are used by researchers and writers in almost every field. To make note of "what we do as we do it," we keep a record. To ensure we don't forget what happened on this day, we jot down a quick note. To remind ourselves later of the affect of this agent on that substance, we document. A quick look at samples from the over 13,000 pages recorded (often in reverse, mirror-image cursive) by Leonardo Da Vinci shows the range of materials that can appear in a notebook -… Read more

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