YouTube Space Lab helps students design science experiment in space

YouTube Space Lab helps students design science experiment in space | Ubergizmo window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '139683546053659', status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML }); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); Network:Ubergizmo English, French, SpanishUberphones Subscribe to RSS Ubergizmo ReviewsMobileGamingAndroidAppleComputersGadgetsConceptsPhoto/VideoEvents |  Jobs Home > Gadgets > YouTube Space Lab helps students design science experiment in space YouTube Space Lab helps students design science experiment in space Edwin Kee 10/10/2011 15:14 PDT

Video content site YouTube as well as computer company Lenovo have come together to roll out a worldwide initiative that targets 14 to 18 year-old high school students, gaining the assistance of space agencies NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in the process to roll out the YouTube Space Lab, an initiative that enables students to design a science experiment which astronauts will then perform in space. Hmmm, space monkeys pulling tricks now?

A couple of experiments will have the privileged of being performed from space as well as live-streamed on YouTube, so make sure what you have in mind is good enough to impress the panel of venerable judges who include Stephen Hawking, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne and Cirque du Soleil’s founder Guy Laliberté. Interested students are required to submit a 2-minute YouTube video describing their experiment, and when March 2012 rolls around, half a dozen finalists will head off to Washington DC in order to take part in a ZERO-G flight that simulates the experience of life in outer space.

With two winners selected from the crop, their experiments will then be conducted 250 miles above Earth.

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Is Science Fiction Writing Necessarily Not Serious Literature?

I love writing. I love writing science fiction. I also love to read.

There, I said it. The horrible truth, out in the open on the first line! Clearly this author knows nothing about suspense. What more could be expected from a science fiction writer?

To be slightly more serious for a second, I do indeed love writing. What I dislike are small minded people who think that writing should only occur in a particular way, in a particular genre, style or voice. For example, "expert book reviewers" who tell me a book is bad because of the author's style, or that science fiction (SF) is puerile.

Apart from the obvious considerations of spelling, grammar and punctuation, an author has a massive degree of freedom in how their thoughts reach the reader. Sometimes even these minimal rules are deliberately broken in order to tell the tale.

Of course, a writer wants his work to be read, but it is also about making an emotional connection with the reader. The form writing takes can be formal, like Dickens, or truly unique and free-flowing as in the case of Joyce's Ulysses. What really matters is the connection or, if you prefer, the emotional communication. If there is no emotional connection then you could just as well be reading a telephone directory. If science fiction writing can effectively form this connection with the reader then how can it be judged as "poor literature"?

How much poorer the world of literature would be without Joyce, Dylan Thomas, Wordsworth or Shakespeare. By the same token how much poorer also if there were no Asimov, Heinlein, Niven or Banks. This loss would surely be most severely felt in the world of ideas.

Science fiction is the world of ideas. It is the result of looking at the world and asking, "What if?"

Sometimes these ideas have changed the world: Star Trek's Communicators, once thought impossible, are now commonplace as mobile phones. On the darker side, the movie Aliens showed us robotic guns, power-assisted exoskeletons and various forms of scanners and image-enhancement technology. All of these things are now quite current and accepted in today's world.

With such power to change the world, should science fiction really be seen as the poor relation to "serious literature"?

Sometimes science fiction is not so much about the gadgets, but more about the sociology. Here SF gives the author the ability to explore a world that is different, yet uncannily like our own. Here too there are many notable works: H.G.Wells and The Time Machine as well as War of the Worlds can both be seen as social commentary. His lesser known short story, Tono-Bungay, satirises the advertising of the day and arguably predicted the atom bomb. Wells is of course just one author, but others could included here such as George Orwell (1984) or Aldous Huxley (Brave New World).

So what of the science fiction of the future?

Increasingly the gap between science fiction and science fact is narrowing. People talk seriously about a technological singularity in our near future, in which artificial intelligence will become a fact. With the current rate of improvement in computer data storage and processing power, who really knows?

Sadly, science fiction has not yet shown us a solution for the problems of today's world, but perhaps the book or movie that hints toward that solution is just around the corner.

Dave Felton is a forty something writer wannabe. Although I write a short stories, blog extensively, post widely on the web and am currently writing another novel, I consider myself a "wannabe" as that first published novel still eludes me. Until that day comes you might want to look up my personal blog at http://djfelton.com

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Homeschool Science - Teaching Elementary Science With Great Literature

How do you teach a fact-heavy subject like science with great literature? First,science is not fact-heavy, or, at least it ought not to be. British educator, Charlotte Mason called science the study of "the great scheme of the unity of life".

Abstract concepts become easy to picture and understand when they are experienced in context. A picture-packed, glitzy book filled with facts cannot teach "the great scheme of unity of life" but literature and hands-on experimentation can.

Charlotte Mason felt that the only sound method of teaching science is to combine field work and great literature. Ms. Mason saw that the teaching of science in our schools has lost much of its educative value through a fatal and quite unnecessary divorce between science and the 'humanities.

Why use literature in a study of science?

Charlotte Mason wrote of the unnecessary divorce of the sciences and the humanities: "It is through great literature that one gets at great thoughts, not through dry, 'dumbed down' textbooks." (A Philosophy of Education, p. 223).Ms. Mason was not opposed to textbooks, only to their exclusive use and that they are too often "dry and dumbed down".

What if I don't have a strong background in science?

Learning along with your child is one of the delights of homeschooling. However, if the concern is that you will miss something of what a child should know in a science curriculum, consider this. If your child can name every scientific term, define it, and still not have a sense of wonder or a curious mind, you will have failed. If you want to be sure you haven't missed anything, borrow a science textbook and study the topics as a guide.

Where can I find good science books?

Look for living books in both non-fiction, fiction and biographies. Study the book choices of high-quality curriculum companies that use literature extensively. Go to your library and ask to see the science section. If the book has too many high graphics, and is not of a strong literary quality, leave it there.

Here are five titles that you can find through inter-library loan or a Amazon, the online bookstore:

Robert Boyle: Trail Blazer of Science, John Hudson Tiner

The Story Book of Science, Jean Fabre

Archimedes and the Door of Science, Jeanne Bendick

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine,John Hudson Tiner

Louis Pasteur:Founder of modern medicine, John Hudson Tiner

If you want to learn more about homeschooling and the Charlotte Mason method, read my article "Seven Keys of Learning".

Download it free here: Charlotte Mason

Sheila Carroll helps homeschooling parents use living books and Charlotte Mason's methods to produce outstanding results in learning.

http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com

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Science Fiction Literature Lecture Series Audio Book Review

There sure is a big difference in Science Fiction Literature or the modern label "Sci Fi" and you have to be careful when you tell people you like Science Fiction, as they are liable to label you a wacko. The Genre has certainly widened in the Twentieth Century and it has become very popular thanks to Hollywood making some of these classic novels into major movies.

Movies such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Gattaca, Logan's Run, 2001, and most recently the Blockbuster Matrix has done wonders in expanding the base of readers and fans of the genre. Of course to truly understand how all this came to be, perhaps it might be wise to understand the entire history. So, I'd like to recommend a very good Audio Book Lecture Series, which can be found on the NetLibrary System, easily accessible online once you have a library card to most major libraries;

"From Here to Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction Literature - Modern Scholar Lecture Series" by Drout, Michael D. C.; Publication: Prince Frederick, MD Recorded Books, 2006.

This audio book modern lecture series is 7 hours and 33 minutes long, and you might have to listen to it twice to really get acquainted with the history of Science Fiction. It explains all the authors, their styles, concepts, trilogies, series, and the sub genres, many of which are a little out there, not very politically correct and way outside the mainstream; such as Sci fi horror and fantasy.

Drout was very careful to give proper tribute and acknowledge the genius of the greats like Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series and the excellent and numerous works by Arthur C. Clarke and others. I hope you will enjoy this audio book as much as I have.

Lance Winslow enjoys community philanthropy - Lance Winslow likes small business. Lance Winslow has also been involved in the Oil Industry; http://www.oilchangeguys.com/aboutus.shtml/.

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Science In Literature - Writers And Scientists Bridge The Gap

Fictional scientists are invariably portrayed as unscrupulous power seekers, out of touch with reality. At best they are caricatured as socially inept, white-coated misfits - think Jekyll, Frankenstein and Strangelove. All too often writers are forced to rely on these misguided stereotypes due to a lack of relevant knowledge and an understandable reluctance to seek help from experts who might disapprove of their ignorance. Now an exciting project called SciTalk aims to bridge the perceived gap between writers and scientists by bringing them face to face.

The SciTalk project was conceived by scientists Ann Lackie and Peter Normington with financial backing from Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). Writing successful novels as Ann Lingard, Ann draws on her scientific background for her stories which, she explains, "have some science, or scientists as characters, in them - but the science is there as an incidental, subtle insights, the scientists are 'people'; the stories are people-led, not science-led." She sees the whole scientific community as a huge, untapped resource for writers. The project exists, "to counter the lack of good modern science, and the unrealistic depiction of scientists in novels and plays; and to show writers what a goldmine of exciting and inspiring topics there are in modern science." Ann is keen to stress that SciTalk aims to help writers put science into their fiction and is not about writing for the science fiction genre.

At the heart of SciTalk is a database of scientists who have volunteered to share their experiences and enthusiasm. Writers can search for an expert in a particular field and make arrangements to meet on a one-to-one basis. All contributing scientists are UK based so that writers can visit real laboratories and work places and can put their questions directly to the scientists. The project encourages diversity among its scientific volunteers with lab technicians and post-grad researchers as welcome as Royal Society Fellows. Ann Lackie says, "I want writers to see that 'scientists' are not just the elite, but that science is carried out by armies of foot-soldiers and graduate students too!" Scientists have been quick to endorse the scheme. Baroness Susan Greenfield, Director of the Royal Institution, says, "By giving scientists in literature a human face we will encourage young people to consider a career in science as well as helping the general public feel more comfortable with the high-technology age in which we live." SciTalk has already attracted several well-known scientists to the database but they are not easy to find. The website is deliberately arranged so that scientists can only be found through topic area. This encourages writers to think about ideas rather than concentrate on a famous name.

Since its launch in August 2005, many writers have benefited from the project. Playwrights, TV screenwriters, poets, novelists, short-story writers and even artists and choreographers have contacted the website. Several successful meetings have taken place including a week in an Oxford laboratory for one writer. A recent collaboration between novelist Liz Jensen and scientist Daniela Schmidt is to feature on Radio Four's Leading Edge programme and authors Philip Pullman and Maggie Gee are firm supporters of the project. Philip Pullman admits that his own writing has benefited from listening to experts in various fields and he is all for scientists and writers talking to each other.

For those writers who have taken advantage of SciTalk, the experience has been a positive one. As one participant put it, "SciTalk is a wonderful resource for writers. To have such easy access to expert minds and to be able to ask questions and receive feedback allows a writer to develop ideas and to gain specific details that no amount of reading could supply. The SciTalk site provides actual human beings that can be relied on to make scientific information accessible and accurate." For Anne Lackie the feedback is encouraging. However, she sees the scheme as a long-term affair and is planning several high profile events in the future, including a workshop at this year's Edinburgh Literary Festival. Her biggest hope is, "that the insights these writers gain will, through their novels, stories and plays, reach a wide readership and audience, and that people will see that scientists are ordinary people too - and that science encompasses a mind-blowingly exciting and unusual range of topics and ideas."

Louise Dop is a successful Freelance Writer and Technical Author.

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The Importance of Literature Search and Review in a Research Based Master of Science (MSC) Degree

Research based Master of Science (M.Sc.) is composed of a well designed experiments in order to substantiate a hypothesis. Therefore, understanding the M.Sc. project is imperative for the postgraduate student to design suitable and more importantly applicable experiments for his or her project. Comprehension of a project can be achieved through literature search and review.

Sufficient, if not extensive, literature search and review throughout a research project is a must in order to gather data and discover the previous works of other researchers on related topics. The type of literatures can ranged from journals, theses, websites, scientific magazines and textbooks. However, one has to appraise the information collected especially from non-established websites because, not all information is valid as it claims.

In a research project, literature search should be the first step. At this stage the objective of literature search and review is to enable a student to construct an outline or plan for his or her project. The outline should be a general and logical sequence intended for the thesis write up. It serves as a guideline throughout the research project. Be prepared that the content of the outline may change along the way as the direction of the project depends largely on the results of each experiment. As a student start to embark in his or her project, the literature search and review will be centered to a more specific area of the study. Some of the minimum aspects that need to be established during a literature search and review are:

• Is the study has been covered by other researchers - if the study has been covered in previous work, then it is advisable to modify or entirely change the project.

• Methodologies used by researches - for illustration purpose, we shall use "Analysis of Carbamazepine in Tablet Formulations" as the topic of interest. There are various methods that can be employed to determine carbamazepine in its formulation. Some may use ultra-violet spectrophotometer while others may use high performance liquid chromatography. Therefore, it is good to match the resources on hand versus those used by the researchers. In most cases, the resources may not need to be exactly as those published in the literature. Adaptation using existing resources can be made but the method may have to be validated.

• The characteristics or problems identified in previous works -the characteristics or problems published by researches in similar field will help a student to a great extent in understanding the topic and therefore will be better equipped in managing the study.

Justine Choy has obtained a Bachelor Degree with Honours in Chemistry and has completed her Master's Degree in the field of Pharmaceutical Technology. Currently, she is holding a managerial post in a R&D laboratory of a local pharmaceutical company.

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