Beetle man is coming to a school near you

Last week The Rocket Scientists visited a local grade 6 school to tell the students about their great Canadian boreal forest and the tiny, but mighty, mountain pine beetle. This was the second time we visited this school and unbeknownst to us we have apparently acquired the nickname “Beetle man”. We also brought with us tree cookies, beetle damaged bark and wood with galleries, a plate of blue stain fungus, beetle specimens and a stereo microscope. We also brought live Alberta born beetles with us to show the students, so clearly we lived up to our nickname. We had lots of fun with the students and got many great questions. The students very intrigued that such a “cute little bug” could cause so much damage.

Grade 6 slide show on the boreal forest and the mountain pine beetle.

Beetle man is coming to class 🙂

Hands-on mountain pine beetle station set up and waiting for the students.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Today’s launch fest is a go!

Today’s launch fest is a go. The weather is cooperating and the forecast for today predicts cloudy skies (check), fog patches dissipating late this morning (check) and a high plus 2. The current conditions at the  U of A Cosmodrome are -6.7C and -13C with the windchill with a wind speed of 4.7m/s (corresponding to 17km/hrs). Dress warm!

We will start setting up around noon and the first launch should follow shortly thereafter.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Preparations in full swing for upcoming rocket launch fest

Preparations are in full swing for the launch fest on Saturday. As we are writing this there is a busy melee in the main Vehicle Assembly Building as the human and feline staff of The Rocket Scientists are getting all the vehicles ready for the big day.

A weather update. Today Edmonton is experiencing freezing rain! It’s -6C (-11C with the windchill) and it is actually raining (as in liquid water coming down). How this seemingly physics-defying phenomenon can occur is a mystery to us. Further research will have to be conducted. Saturday’s forecast looks better and currently promises a sunny day with a low of -7C and a high +1C, no word on the wind yet though. Stay tuned. The wind restrictions for the launch have previously  been outlined here.

The University of Alberta Cosmodrome (UAC) can now be found on Google Maps. The full details of the launch event can be found here (note the updated start time).

Rocket scientist in the main Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) staging the Lower Troposphere Launch System (LTLS) on one of the vehicles that will participate in the launch fest. How many rockets do you see?

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Upcoming rocket launch fest

The fall is in full swing in the northern hemisphere and recently the first autumn snow flakes (is that an oxymoron?) arrived in Edmonton. Fall is also the start of the rocketry season. 😮 The first rocket launching fest of the season has been scheduled for November 3. For this event we will bring our full arsenal of rockets including our newest awesome addition. The details of our this newest rocket are still classified and you will simply have to join us to see this amazing and powerful rocket blast into the sky. You will be blown away!

So come and join us for an afternoon of awesome kid friendly rocket science at the beautiful U of A Cosmodrome. Dress warmly (it is a big open field and it is likely going to be subzero and windy), bring sturdy boots and bring your friends, siblings, parents and your favourite canine (yes, dog are allowed). We’ll bring the rockets, snacks and hot coco.

Where: U of A Cosmodrome, park here (roughly at 13004 62 Avenue) then hike out to the centre of the ginormous field

When: Saturday November 3 @ 1pm noon (Update on Nov 1!)

What to bring: Warm clothes, toque, finger gloves and sturdy boots. It will be cold!

Caveat: We are depending on the weather. The most critical aspect of the weather is wind speed (and of course rain but that is unlikely at this time of the year). Specifically, the Model Rocketry Safety Code by the National Association of Rocketry specifies that wind speeds do not exceed 20 miles / hour during the launch window. The Rocket Scientists’ official wind speed data is obtained from the weather station at the Department of Earth of Atmospheric Science at U of A. Note that wind speeds of 2o miles per hour correspond to 9 meters / second (which are the unit provided by the weather station). We will be closely monitoring the weather on the morning of the launch fest and we will post a confirmation no later than noon Nov 3 that the launch is a go on (or no go), so stay tuned (by checking this very blog).

Rockets and kids rock! Junior mission specialist Kowalski prepping the HeliCat for launch.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Caturday felids: My cat can bike better that you can

Who said that cats can’t bike? Probably no-one simply because the sheer idea of a cat on a bike seems to defy reason. Well think again people. On this last caturday of October we bring you MJ, a feline girl biking around Philadelphia using her male human as an organic interface (API?) for controlling the bike (the concept of the extended phenotype brought to new highs – nudge nudge to Jerry Coyne who brought us this story). How does this happen? Do you wake up one day and think, “Wonder if my cat will perch on my shoulder like Blackbeard‘s parrot if I go cycling around the city?” Bottom line, this is thinking outside the box at its best. A neat tidbit, the groovy music is by the Ratatat, a New York City experimental electronic rock, and this particular track is fittingly called Wildcat. Who said that cats can’t bike? Keep on biking MJ, you rock!

This message has been approved by Katzeprinzessin Goethe.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

When kids are marching to their own drummer: An important lesson for teachers and parents

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when the greatest minds of our times receive that magic phone call in the middle of the night, during their dental appointment, or during some other awkward moment with a person sounding like the guy from the IKEA commercial on the other side. It’s the beginning of October, which means  that it is Nobel Prize time, people. As bona fide science aficionados with close ties to Sweden, the Swedish Royal family, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Rocket Scientists are huge fans of the Nobel Prize hoopla.

Unless you are living under a rock (and a lot of things that are important do live under rocks) the daily announcements of this year’s laureates from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences are hard to miss. Many laureates have remarkable stories to tell about how they got to where they are, some of these stories involve overcoming difficulties and disbelieve in their abilities from people around them. This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has been awarded to John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for their pioneering work on cloning. John Gurdon’s story, in particular, is remarkable and poignant as images of his, by now, infamous grade 3 report card are spreading rapidly across the internet. Apparently Gurdon did not do so well in biology when he was in grade 3. This is not only irony at its best but it also provides a very important lesson to anyone interacting with children, particularly in an educational setting. Gurdon’s story clearly shows the importance of schools being very cautious and judicious about labelling children with disorders just because they do not fit the mold and push the limits of the teachers/schools/principals patience. While the intentions may be good, e.g. trying to allocate extra resources or accommodation to children struggling in school, the risk of stigma and self-fulfilling prophesies may far outweigh any potential benefits.

When John Gurdon went to school, ADHD had not yet been invented. It was not an available condition and people didn’t know they could have it. If Gurdon had been a grade 3 child some 40 years later someone else might have tried to label him, put him on medication and told him to calm down. Although we do not know what serendipitous events enabled John Gurdon to become on of the greatest minds of our time there is undoubtedly a large number of children in our schools that have been labeled and put on medication just because they march to their own drummer. Sadly many of them may never encounter the fortuitous events that enable Gurdon to develop his talent. As teachers we have the great responsibility for providing all our children with the opportunity of finding and pursuing their talents and passions, no matter what drummer they march to and even when the drummer plays too loud.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Caturday felids: A philosophical Francophone cat

Apparently French cats, just like their human counterparts, are philosophical creatures pondering deep existential questions. This clip won the hugely popular The Internet Cat Video Film Festival. There were about 10,000 entries of which 79 were shown. (The entire playlist of those 79 is on YouTube at this link.) Some astute bloggers with too much time at their hands figured out that that’s a success rate of 0.79%, far more selective than Harvard University.

And the winner is “Henri 2: Paw de Deux”:

 

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Change the world. Be a teacher.

“Do not underestimate the value of education. Educate those around you; family, friends, everyone.” – Craig Mello (Nobel laureate)

Today it is World Teachers’ Day. This is event is held annually on October 5th since 1994 – when it was created by UNESCO – to celebrate teachers worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.  Since its inception World Teachers’ Day has been recognized across the world through activities ranging from students writing letters to their favourite teachers to national holidays in some countries. The Rocket Scientists would like to join the chorus of accolades celebrating the amazing job teachers do every day in classrooms and the vital contribution they make to society. So thank you teachers for guiding our children when they cannot find their way, supporting them when they feel lost, inspiring them and helping them find and develop the ability, passion and imagination to pursue their dreams. You are shaping and changing the world, one child at a time.

Take a few minutes to take a stand for teachers and say thanks to a teacher who has made a difference in your life or in the lives of your children, or visit www.5oct.org to send a World Teachers’ Day e-card.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

Water rockets in the park

 

With the rocket launching season around the corner The Rocket Scientists ventured to one of our city parks recently to launch water rockets.  This was a first for us so we were not sure what to expect. The choice of water rockets was merely a coincidence. It was a gorgeous fall day and we were heading to the park to hang out with friends at the playground. On our way we stopped at our local hobby store to just “check things out”. As it happened, while rummaging through the rocket department, we came across a single abandoned water rocket set. 🙂  One hour later we were in the park trying to finish a 2 litre bottle of pop so we could use the bottle for the fuselage. After a quick field-assembly of the sub-orbital vehicle we rigged up the launch pad and suspensefully (and cautiously) pressurized the rocket. We did not know what to expect, after all “water rocket” does not sound like  it would create any “sparks”. We were not disappointed. The first launch was a spectacular success. The water sprayed all over the place and in a blink of an eye the rocket blasted off the launch pad and accelerated amazingly fast into the atmosphere. It is hard to gauge how hight the rocket flew, bet it definitely cleared the tallest trees in the park. Following this first successful launch we continued with a series of launches varying the water volume and air pressure under the guidance of our resident physicist. We found an interesting phenomenon arising when using large water volume where the rocket would initially launch slowly and then suddenly accelerate very rapidly. It was very neat and a different experience from our usual rocket launches.

Pressurizing the vehicle is a two-person job.

Ready for count down.

We have lift-off of water rocket 1!

– “I think it went into orbit.”
– “Yeah, definitely…”

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).

 

Engineering Expo 2012

This Caturday The Rocket Scientists spend at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, attending the annual Engineering Expo. It was a beautiful sunny first day of fall and the engineering students and faculty had pulled all the stops with explosive and fiery demonstrations, catapults, autonomous vehicles and flying machines, laser shows and a whole lot of smiling beavers (it’s their mascot, because beavers are engineers to). We spend most of the day strolling through the department visiting and revisiting exhibits, dancing in laser fields, test driving and flying vehicles and chatting up a storm with the students. Needless to say we are completely jazzed about engineering and our minds are buzzing with ideas and plans for all manners of contraptions. Arduino here we come… 🙂

Welcome to the Engineering Expo where science, math and engineering creates contraptions out of this world.

Laser dance that beats the original.

Hydrogen vehicle receiving a seal of approval by The Rocket Scientists (just see how happy the students were).

Demonstrating the amount of energy in a packet of sugar. Sugar-high anyone?

Combustion 101. Kids – do not try this at home. You too can do this one day, however, if you study hard and do well in school.

May the curiosity be with you, always! This is from the “The Rocket Scientists” blog (http://therocketscientists.ca ).