Science Projects | Science Buddies Blog (Page 58)

Cholera Season

November 1, 2010 8:01 AM

Smallpox, typhoid fever, bubonic plague, cholera... These may be health problems you know best from history class—or even from novels in your literature class. In a world in which super-bugs lurk on the medical fringe and new viruses like H1N1 and SARS have threatened to explode to pandemic proportions, it's sometimes easy to discount diseases, viruses, and bacteria that have proven epidemic in the past. But many of these bugs from "long ago" haven't ever completely disappeared. A bit… Read more

Trapped Below Ground: The Importance of Circadian Rhythm

October 26, 2010 9:10 PM

Nuts and Bolts: The study of Circadian Rhythms is called chronobiology. It's not about bugs! "Cicadas" are the insects that come back periodically—every 13 or 17 years in the case of some species. But the bugs (often called locusts) are not related to circadian rhythm. The term "circadian" stems from the Latin "circa" (which means "around") and "diem" (which means "day"). Thirty-three workers were rescued recently after being trapped under ground when a mine… Read more

Making Radio Contact with the Space Station

October 21, 2010 8:33 AM

If you consider FM-radio a bit old-school compared to your portable MP3 stash, it may be time to think again—with a look to the sky. Not only is it possible to see the International Space Station with the naked eye, it's also possible to make unofficial radio contact—from home or school! The ISS is equipped with its own HAM radio setup, enabling classes and interested amateur radio operators to talk to someone in space via radio. Tracking the ISS and attempting to make contact… Read more

A Vinegar-Based Effort to Save the Danube

October 14, 2010 11:11 AM

Red Sludge: What is It? According to The Associated Press coverage of the Hungarian spill, "red sludge is a byproduct of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a dried red clay-like soil." When a reservoir collapsed last week in Hungary, an estimated at 35 million cubic feet of toxic waste rushed into neighboring waterways and headed for the… Read more

Nobel: Palladium as a Catalyst

October 7, 2010 10:25 AM

Key Terms: Synthesis: forming or building a more complex substance or compound from elements or simpler compounds. Palladium: a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd Catalyst: a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without being affected by the reaction The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for their development of a procedure for "palladium-catalyzed cross coupling," an organic chemistry process… Read more

Nobel: The Wonders of Graphene

October 6, 2010 10:56 AM

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, a team of researchers from the University of Manchester. Using ordinary tape, Geim and Novoselov managed to extract a flake of graphene from a piece of graphite like that found in a regular pencil. Graphene is a form of carbon, which makes it sound fairly ordinary. But graphene has proven to be a wonder-material. At only one atom thick, graphene is the thinnest known material and also the strongest. It's harder than… Read more

Nobel: In Vitro Fertilization

October 5, 2010 4:42 PM

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded yesterday to Robert G. Edwards, a pioneer in in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy. Edwards' research and conviction that infertility could be treated, dates back to the 1950s. After years of experimenting with the fertilization of human eggs cells outside of the body, Edwards' efforts came to fruition in 1978 when Louise Brown, the first "test tube" baby, was born. Student Study Spearheading IVF practices and the knowledge bank… Read more

Survey Says: 10 Survey-Based Science Projects

October 4, 2010 11:38 AM

You may be able to win brownie points with friends and family if your science project involves baking dozens of cookies and asking people to tell you which one tastes best... the ones with regular chips or the ones with mini chips or the ones with white chocolate chips or the ones with carob chips or even the ones with M&Ms. A chocolate buzz can go a long way, but is it science? Projects that involve surveys and testing (even taste testing) by volunteers can be legitimate science projects,… Read more

New Exoplanet Discovered

October 1, 2010 4:04 PM

This week, a team of astronomers at the Keck Observatory announced the discovery of Gliese 581g, a planet orbiting Gliese 581, a red dwarf star twenty light years away (and part of the constellation Libra). Gliese 581g is one of six planets that have been detected around this star, but it is the first that seems to "fit" the requirements for life, which led Steven Vogt to term it the "Goldilocks planet." Vogt, one of the leads on the team that discovered Gliese 581g, is a professor of… Read more

Turning the Titanic

September 30, 2010 10:49 AM

Over fifteen hundred people died when the "unsinkable" Titantic sank in 1912, just days into the passenger steamship's first trip from Southampton, England to New York City. Collision with an iceberg undisputedly caused the tragedy, but recent news has raised the possibility that human error also played a role in the accident. Suspicions and possibilities floated to the surface last week as news sources reported on Louise Patten's claim that her grandfather, Charles Lightoller, second… Read more

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