Articles in the Category: Backyard Science
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, Backyard Science, Citizen science, SciClips, Space on 01 21st, 2010 | 1 Comment
Help NASA Image Mars
Here’s your chance to make scientific history. NASA is inviting the public to help choose sites on Mars to point a high-powered camera as part of a visual survey of the Red Planet.
The HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shot over 13,000 images already. Now NASA is opening...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Physics and Chemistry, Video on 01 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Building a Potato Powered Calculator
Long a science fair project staple, this potato powered calculator is easy to recreate yourself. Batteries not necessary.
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Engineering, Environment, Greenovation, Solar, Video on 01 7th, 2010 | No Comments
A House of Cards in the Columbian Jungle
Dedicated environmentalists, or eccentric architects? Nearly a decade ago, the Jimenez family moved from the Colombian city of Cali to a humble home in the jungle made entirely out of paper.
They keep cool, cook, do laundry and demonstrate how to live off the grid by generating their own energy.
How To…Grow a Crystal Garden
Put a sparkle in your decor with this easy-to-grow crystal garden.
Here are a few other recipes to grow crystals at home.
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Climate Change, Ecology, Environment, Plants, SciClips on 10 29th, 2009 | No Comments
Open Data Opens Doors for Citizen Scientists
Members of the Surui tribe in Brazil test Open Data Kit, photo courtesy of Carl Hartung, UW
Cell phones are coming to the aid of international health workers, environmental monitors and even citizen scientists. Now loaded with a data collection tool, Open Data Kit is the brainchild of some doctoral students...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Adaptation and Extinction, Backyard Science, Books, Climate Change, Ecology, Environment, Physics and Chemistry, Video, Wind on 10 28th, 2009 | 3 Comments
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
They call William Kamkwamba “the boy who harnessed the wind.” At 14, after dropping out of school, the African boy in a rural Malawi village taught himself how electricity works, and built a windmill from scraps and pieces of a bicycle.
Now 22, Kamkwmaba has a book, detailing how he built...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips, Scientainment on 10 27th, 2009 | No Comments
Balloon Boy Takes Us All for a Ride
The man behind the recent hoax captured our attention but smeared amateur science in the process. Fame-hungry Richard Heene used his son and some faked backyard science to launch his reality TV career.
Most people thought it was highly unlikely that a 40-pound boy stowed away in the balloon and floated...
Puzzle People Make Math Magic
Brilliant minds have been challenging people to embrace math for centuries. But one man made recreational math fun and has been inspiring legions of followers for decades.
His name? Martin Gardner. This mathemagician has been transforming frightening formulas into fun.
But recreational math doesn’t...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Physics and Chemistry, Podcast, Video on 09 16th, 2009 | No Comments
Backyard Science: Lava Lamp 101
As the school year begins, many Freshmen dorm rooms will have the perennial lava lamp gracing a bookcase or desk. With more students tightening their budgets here is an easy and cost-effective way to build your own lava lamp.
See the world’s biggest lava lamp in Soap Lake, Washington.
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, Backyard Science, Computer Science, Featured Articles, Space, Video on 08 19th, 2009 | No Comments
40 Years Later, Google Puts Us All on the Moon
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Google Earth users can now search the moon.
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Animals, Anthropology, Backyard Science, Biology, Climate Change, Computer Science, Discoveries, Engineering, Environment, Featured Articles, Geology, Health and Medicine, Marine Science, Math, Physics and Chemistry, Plants, SciClips, Space, Video on 08 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Turning the iPhone into the SciPhone
Just over a year old, the Apple iTunes App Store is churning out–or rather independent developers are–applications to calculate tips, find restaurants and even play countless games. But there is little for the science-interested smart phone users.
Oh sure, among the tens of thousands of...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Computer Science, Featured Articles, Plants, Video on 08 5th, 2009 | No Comments
Science and Smart Phones
Watch the video Smart Phones and Science: Spot the Weed.
Scientists at the University of California are developing a way for the public to contribute data to research projects using a ubiquitous sensing device – the smart phone. This is a great way to collect data in weeks that would otherwise...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, Backyard Science, Featured Articles, SciClips, Space, Video on 07 27th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Spotting Jupiter’s New Spot
On July 19, a big chunk of something smacked into Jupiter, causing a black mark on the gas giant’s surface and raising a lot of questions. Fortunately, the newly upgraded Hubble Telescope was in the neighborhood and pointed its powerful lens at the impact site, giving scientists all sorts of exciting...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Featured Articles, SciLebs, Video on 07 3rd, 2009 | No Comments
Science of…the 4th of July
The trash can smoke ring generator is a signature finale in Steve Spangler’s stage show… and was recently featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Everyone always wants to know how to make Steve’s classic giant smoke rings… now you can make them at home with a special Fourth of...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, Backyard Science, Biology, Computer Science, Dinosaurs, Featured Articles, Math, Physics and Chemistry, Video on 06 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Georgia Girls Shine as Stars of Science
Summer is no time for idle minds. About 70 Georgia girls are getting a crash course in crime scene investigation, astronomy, dinosaurs and chemistry, neuroscience, computer science and mathematics.
The goal of the Women in the Sciences summer camp is to interest young women in pursuing careers in science.
Other...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Artificial Intelligence, Backyard Science, Biology, Climate Change, Computer Science, Diseases, Featured Articles, Health and Medicine, Marine Science, Math, Nanotechnology, Physics and Chemistry, Plants, RawAudio, SciClips, Space, The Brain on 06 8th, 2009 | No Comments
Science For All
In a move to take science from the lab and place it in the public square, the World Science Festival is about to start its second year of inciting curiosity.
REALscience talked with organizer and physicist Brian Greene to hear what we can expect at this year’s festival.
Photo: Physicist and Co-Founder...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Engineering, Featured Articles, Geology, Math, SciClips, Video on 04 8th, 2009 | No Comments
Catch the Geocaching Wave
Technology and treasure are pushing people to get out and explore parks, mountain peaks and back alleys in cities. It’s all part of geocaching, a nine-year-old GPS adventure game that is becoming a popular global sport.
And, while geocaching has its roots in navigation and exploration it is backyard...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Adaptation and Extinction, Animals, Backyard Science, Climate Change, SciClips on 03 2nd, 2009 | No Comments
Phenological Fun
Courtesy of Univsersity Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Don’t just read about climate change, get outside and watch it in action. And, help scientists gather data about seasonal pattern changes in many different plant species.
Join the Project BudBurst volunteer network to monitor climate...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Animals, Backyard Science, Biology, Space, Video on 01 23rd, 2009 | No Comments
ENZOology
Enzo Monfre, host and creator of ENZOology.com.
Eight-year-old Enzo Monfre, a curious kid from Texas, decided to create a show on YouTube to get kids interested in science and now Enzo is hamming it up online.
He teaches other kids not to be afraid of animals, ranging from geckos to scorpions.
He shows...
Science of…Freeze
December 2008 Global Temperatures
According to official numbers, 2008 is the coldest year on record since 2000 (and it is still .05 degrees Celsius warmer than seasonal averages) because of the influence of La Nina cooling pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
And winter has been brutal so far, with temperatures...
Lost Space Tool Bag Becomes Viewable Junk
Space Junk Orbits Earth, courtesy of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The latest piece of space junk–an expensive NASA tool bag–is making its rounds in the night sky over North America and western Europe. It is scheduled to burn up on re-entry later this year.
In the meantime, backyard astronomers...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Physics and Chemistry, Video on 12 16th, 2008 | No Comments
Dissolving Packing Peanuts
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Adaptation and Extinction, Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Backyard Science, Biofuels, Biology, Climate Change, Dinosaurs, Diseases, Engineering, Environment, Food and Nutrition, Genetics, Genomics, Geoengineering, Health and Medicine, Marine Science, Nanotechnology, SciClips, Space, Wave Power on 11 17th, 2008 | No Comments
One Celled Solutions
Model of a phage attacking a microbe, courtesy of Ohio State University
Science is facing some big questions, like how will we capture excess atmospheric carbon dioxide or how will we overcome antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections?
But, a one-celled organism that lives in the sea may have the...
