Learning Science Through Technology
Newsletter for October 2003
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Animals Both Resilient and Fragile
Several stories in the news the last few days have me thinking about animals and how they are increasingly effected by us human beings. First, to Boston, where Little Joe took an unscheduled trip from his home in the Franklin Park Zoo. For Little Joe, a 300-pound gorilla, it was his second flight to freedom. His first attempt only got him as far as the zoo gates. His latest 2-hour outing got him as far as the bus station. Did he have more extensive travel plans?
The second story also from Boston. A Harvard researcher, studying orangutans, says that they could become extinct within 10 to 20 years. Orangutans are found only in the wilds of Malaysia and Indonesia. Deforestation there has escalated rapidly over the last few decades. Orangutans are sensitive to their environment and fill a relatively small ecological slot. Humans, are wide ranging, able to adapt to climate and terrain as varied as Alaska, to the steamy rain forests of the equator.
And the third story comes from Cuba, where a farmer has found a living insectivore, long thought to be extinct. The almiqui, which looks like a brown badger, with a long aardvark-like snout, was first identified in the late 1800's. Since then, only a handful have been sighted, the most recent in 1972.
Animals are both resilient and fragile. Little Joe lives in an artificial world, surrounded by the streets of Boston. No place for an ape. Yet his natural habitat is growing smaller and smaller. Orangutans too, live in a shrinking environment. Yet a smallish, perhaps less significant animal, in the eyes of some, keeps hanging on, despite what we believe and know.
*Image Courtesy NPS
New Posting
New Learning Gallery - Don't view this one right after breakfast. Disease vectors brings you close up to some nasty spreaders of disease. Two new galleries with great images from the CDC. [Link]
ScienceMaster Learning Galleries are a place to learn, to explore, to understand; from the microscopic to the cosmic. Each Learning Gallery contains a collection of images relating to one science or nature topic.
New Articles Posted - Richard M. J. Renneboog delivers another of his informative science articles. This month it is "Radon, A Rare Element". Learn about this noble gas, its uses and its dangers. [Link]
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SCIENCE NEWS AND LINKS
NOAA Ocean Explorer (Earth Science - Oceans)
Explore the ocean realm without getting your feet wet. Follow ocean explorations in near real-time, learn about ocean exploration technologies, observe remote marine flora and fauna, review NOAA's 200-year history of ocean exploration and discover additional exploration resources. [Link]
Isabel From Space (Earth Science - Weather)
If you happened to be in North Carolina, the sight of advancing Hurricane Isabel was surely unwelcome. From space, though, it was a thing of beauty. NASA's Terra satellite took this picture at 11:50 a.m. EDT on Sept. 18th just as heart of Isabel was making landfall. Red-, green- and blue-filtered images were combined to create a true-color view of the dangerous storm. A similar image was captured on Sept. 17th by NASA's Aqua satellite.
What causes a hurricane to start? Which way will it go? And how long will it last? Millions of people under that big swirling cloud have a sudden interest in these questions.
*Text and Image Courtesy Science@NASA MSFC
The End of Galileo (Astronomy - Space Missions)
The Galileo spacecraft's 14-year odyssey came to an end on Sunday, Sept. 21, when the spacecraft passed into Jupiter's shadow then disintegrated in the planet's dense atmosphere at 11:57 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The Deep Space Network tracking station in Goldstone, Calif., received the last signal at 12:43:14 PDT. The delay is due to the time it takes for the signal to travel to Earth.
Hundreds of former Galileo project members and their families were present at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for a celebration to bid the spacecraft goodbye. [Read More]
*Text and Image Courtesy NASA
NASA Mission Links (Astronomy - Space Missions)
Did you know that NASA has over a hundred past, present and future manned and unmanned space missions? If you want to catch up a mission you are familiar with, or learn about some of the not so well known missions, this page is a must. These links will take you right to each mission's home page. [Link]
Asteroid 2003 QQ47's Potential Earth Impact in 2014 Ruled Out (Astronomy - Near Earth Objects)
In early September, newly discovered asteroid 2003 QQ47 received widespread media coverage because of a chance, albeit small, that it could collide with the Earth in 2014. The chance of a strike was only 1 in 250,000, but that was enough to get everybody talking and fretting. A collision by an asteroid the size of asteroid 2003 QQ47 would release more energy than a million megatons of TNT and would create a worldwide global catastrophe.
Much to our relief, additional monitoring of the asteroid helped scientists recalculate the path it would take in 2014, and rule out any Earth impact. The moral of the story is to take the initial news of this type with a grain of salt, as it can take scientists days and sometimes weeks to come up with accurate numbers. For more information on asteroid impacts visit Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards
*Animation Courtesy NASA
Images of Health and Medicine (Health and Life Science)
If you are looking for images that you can use for school projects and reports, a great starting point for your Internet search is the National Institute Of Health and its many image galleries. A great place to explore too. Please observe any copyright or permissions that are posted on the individual sites. [Link]
Science Visualization Studio Brings You From Antarctica To The Sun (Science and Technology)
The NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio has created these online movies to educate and to inspire. Start with a flyover of Antarctica. Then cap off your visit with a journey to the sun.
The mission of the Scientific Visualization Studio is to facilitate scientific inquiry and outreach within NASA programs through visualization. To that end, the SVS works closely with scientists in the creation of visualization products, systems, and processes in order to promote a greater understanding of Earth and Space Science research activities at Goddard Space Flight Center and within the NASA research community. [Link]
*Image and some text courtesy of NASA
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Image Gallery [Link]
The National Image Library contains still photo images of wildlife, plants, National Wildlife Refuges and other scenics, as well as wildlife management work. You may search all the images through the National Image Library, or you may search by individual collection.
When using these images, please credit the photographer and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Ex. John Doe/USFWS. March 14, 2003 was the centennial anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. We have added a number of historical images documenting the Refuge System. Search Suggestions: For historic refuge images use keyword "centennial".
*Image Courtesy Gary M. Stolz/USFWS, text courtesy USFWS
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