Family Science | Science Buddies Blog (Page 32)

Biodiversity at Halloween: A Spider Variety Show

October 26, 2011 8:37 AM

Kim and her kids spotted an Argiope aurantia like the one shown here on a daily walk. Image: Wikipedia, Deisy Mendoza. Family Exploration Remember, your students are curious about the natural world around them. A simple walk to school or through a park can be a revelation—and a great opportunity to talk about science. But you have to slow down and look! There are spiders—and much more—to be discovered! Related posts: Earth Day: Turn Over a New… Read more

Sounds Like Halloween

October 25, 2011 8:16 AM

Family "Listening" Fun What does Halloween sound like? Ask your kids, and they'll probably come up with a rapid list of eerie sounds they associate with Halloween. You can explore principles of the Movie Music science project with students of all ages. If you want to separate the music from the movie, you might gather instrumental music samples that each have a different "feeling" (e.g., happy, scary, hopeful). Listening to these kinds of tracks and categorizing them by… Read more

Trick-or-Treat Science

October 24, 2011 10:32 AM

Image: Wikimedia Commons. Halloween is next week, and you may have your mind on the treats you hope to rack up going door to door in your neighborhood, candy bag open. While Halloween's entourage of ghouls, goblins, and zombies may push science from your mind, you don't have to carve too many pumpkins to turn up a treat bag's worth of great science ideas related to Halloween. All this week we'll be spotlighting some creepy crawlies, some things that go bump in (or light up) the… Read more

The Science of Too Sour

October 21, 2011 10:54 AM

Tang, an orange-flavored, powered drink developed by William Mitchell was popularized on board NASA's Mercury flight in 1962. Experimenting with powdered drinks and levels of "sour" can offer kitchen science fun for the whole family! Image: Wikimedia Commons. Born on October 21, 1911: William A. Mitchell, a food scientist who created many classics for General Foods that might ring a bell for teachers and parents, from Pop Rocks candy to Tang. Even Cool Whip and quick-set Jell-O, a… Read more

Color-Soaked Bugs: Color Sense in Insects

September 2, 2011 11:40 AM

Dr. Mohamed Babu, India, turned thirsty garden ants into a cool series of photos and an interesting hands-on look at color sense and insects. You've heard of being caught red-handed? The brightly colored abdomens of the bugs in a series of photos taken by Dr. Mohamed Babu (Mysore, India) leave little doubt as to which colors of sugared water the translucent-bellied ants in his garden had been sipping. Reportedly, his wife noticed that the ants turned white when they sucked up some… Read more

Form and Function: A LEGO Camera

August 26, 2011 9:52 AM

Legotron camera, by photographer Cary Norton. Image used with permission, courtesy of Cary Norton. Photographers with an engineering streak are always looking for creative ways get an image from an unexpected source. Sometimes invention starts with a big (and heavy) box! Other times, innovation comes in a smaller format, the challenge for a reduced (or upcycled) footprint being part of the novelty and the fun. Turning empty mint tins into pinhole cameras, for example,… Read more

Slingshot Science: The Physics in Angry Birds

August 16, 2011 3:54 PM

It's hard to believe that a year ago I wasn't yet wise to the squawking, oinking, glass-shattering, wood-breaking, and highly addictive cacophony of Angry Birds. Slingshot a little bird through the air to knock down a structure that seems like a house-of-cards rendition of the Three Little Pigs? When it comes right down to it, that's exactly what you've got... a modernized and mobilized twist on the tried and true fairy tale story of the pigs who each tried a different building material to… Read more

Inspired by Neil Armstrong

August 5, 2011 5:19 AM

Born on August 5, 1930: Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. The story of Neil Armstrong's historic Apollo 11 mission captivates and inspires many young moon watchers. With the right science projects, they can turn their enthusiasm into an exciting hands-on astronomy project! (Image: Wikipedia. In 1966, Armstrong was part of the NASA Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 8 was his first spaceflight, followed in 1969 by the historical Apollo 11 moon landing mission, during… Read more

The Artful Side of Bacteria

July 27, 2011 2:48 PM

It's a strange reality when you realize that bacteria can be beautiful. One Science Buddies' Science Mom finds art at the Exploratorium. The photo above shows a portion of one of the two Winogradsky bacterial panels at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. A few weeks ago, we moved from a quick stop at Crissy Fields (and an unplanned ocean dunk for one) across the street to the Exploratorium for a few hours of mesmerizing hands-on science exploration. Our small ad-hoc group… Read more

Building Bridges

June 13, 2011 8:42 AM

(Image: Wikipedia) Bridge Building Inspiration Born on June 13, 1806: John Augustus Roebling, an engineer especially known for suspension-style bridges and the design of the Brooklyn Bridge. From straws to balsa wood to egg shells, students can get hands-on this summer exploring and testing bridge construction. In an episode (link no longer available) of the "Magic School Bus," Ms. Frizzle's class experimented with gum drops and toothpicks. What will you use? A classic Magic School Bus… Read more

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