One Big Snowflake

Google is commemorating the largest snowflake on record today.  It was 15 inches in diameter and fell in 1887.  I had no idea such a record existed and was worthy of its own Google search page.  I don't usually do more than one update a day, let alone more than one in a hour, but today appears to be special...


Link to an article in the Washington Post about this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/snowflake-google-doodle-world-record-largest-flake-drops-in-on-the-logo/2012/01/27/gIQAaBmwWQ_blog.html?tid=pm_pop

Mr. Wizard

I watched this show religiously as a kid on Nickelodeon.  I can still remember some of my favorite episodes: the straw and grape juice, how to measure the height of a tree with a pan of water, bursting hydrogen/helium filled balloons with a candle, and the explanation of Archimedes' "Eureka!  I have found it!" quote.

The show was awesome. 

Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard) died one month shy of his 90th birthday in 2007.  He was a pilot in World War II and was (along with Bill Murray) a guest on the premiere of "Late Night with David Letterman."

I'd love to own those episodes again.  They are wonderful for teaching and hopefully interesting kids in science.  The best I've found is this website, but it says "only select episodes are available for purchase."  That might just be good enough for me!

More about Don Herbet: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0378532/

More about Mr. Wizard's World, purchase DVDs: http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/

More Nansen!

Today, I listened to more about Fridtjof Nansen.  His polar expedition ended unsuccessfully in some ways, but in other ways was incredibly wonderful, timely, and was a feat to be celebrated.   Seriously - read about this guy!  If you want some more inspiration, read this quote from him:

"It is within us all, it is our mysterious longing to accomplish something, to fill life with something more than a daily journey from home to the office and from the office home again.  It is our ever present longing to surmount difficulties and dangers, to see that which is hiding, to seek the places lying away from the beaten track..."

Read more: http://www.frammuseum.no/Polar-Heroes/Main-Heroes/Fridtjof-Nansen.aspx

Here's a picture of his famous ship, the Fram:

Again - thanks to the "Stuff You Missed in History Class" podcast for introducing me to this quote!

Skiing Greenland

Have you heard of Fridtjof Nansen?  I hadn't.

In 1882, he skied across Greenland from the west to the east.
In 1893 with his ship Fram, he set out to ride the ice across the North Pole.
In 1922, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

This guy was spectacular.  He also wrote books on his adventures!

The First Crossing of Greenland by Fridtjof Nansen

Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen

Here's a modern biography of him:

Nansen, by Roland Huntford

More Info about him: LINK

Here's a pic of him!

Many thanks to the "Stuff You Missed in History Class" Podcast from www.howstuffworks.com for introducing me to him.

A Slug that's a Plant

The things you hear when you listen.

Last night I chatted with work friend during our train ride home.  He told me about this crazy slug: Elysia chlorotica.

The slug eats algae (a plant) for food, but it incorporates the chloroplasts from the algae for itself.  This means that it can get energy from food AND from photosynthesis.  According to this article, the slug can "...live up to nine months without eating anything while still maintaining its normal nutritional rates..."  Crazy!

Here's a link to an article:   http://www.independent.com/news/2010/jan/30/first-known-photosynthetic-animal/?print

Quote

Here's an interesting quote I read this morning:

Minute creatures swarm around us ... objects of potentially endless study and admiration, if we are willing to sweep our vision down from the world lined by the horizon to include the world an arm's length away.  A lifetime can be spent in a Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a tree. -- E. O. Wilson

Edward O. Wilson is a retired Harvard professor who, among many other accomplishments, studies ants.

LINKY: http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Entomology/wilson_e_o.html

Jurassic Park

Anyone who reads my main blog, Amedeo, will know that I love the book Jurassic Park.  It's fabulous (read it).

I got a job posting in my email yesterday about a position involving scientists determining the structures of proteins from genes that are 600 million years old.  The lab hopes to learn some things about protein structure evolution.

Fascinating!

Just because - here's a pic of one of my favorite scenes from the movie...

 

Sickle Cell Trait

Ryan Clark will be sitting out this week's playoff game between his Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos (there's something to say here about Tim Tebow and God, but I'll let it pass).

Clark suffers from the sickle cell trait, not sickle cell disease.  This disorder arises from a mutated hemoglobin gene (see my Carbon Monoxide Poisoning post on Amedeo) that leads to half moon-shaped red blood cells (sickles) that are sticky and tend to die.

Humans carry two copies of each gene.  Sickle cell disease is when both hemoglobin copies are mutated, which means the majority of red blood cells are sickled.  Sickle cell trait is when only one hemoglobin copy is mutated and only some of the red blood cells are sickled.

Interestingly, while sickle cell trait comes with its own set of problems (including trouble exerting yourself at high altitudes), it does protect the person against malaria.

In Africa, upwards of 40% of the population could have sickle cell trait.  Of course, this genetic advantage is a double edged sword.  Should two parents who have the trait have a child, that child has a 25% chance of inheriting sickle cell disease and dying, but a 50% change of being immune to malaria.

Pittsburgh Steelers LINKY: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/04/sickle-cell-trait-keeps-steelers-safety-out-of-playoff-game/?hpt=hp_t3

Malaria and Sickle Cell Trait LINKY: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/2/l_012_02.html