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Shark Week: The Great White

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Math Blaster

The most anticipated week of the year has finally arrived: Shark Week. Airing on Discovery Channel in late July or early August every year, Shark Week has attracted millions of curious fans who want to learn more about these beasts of the ocean. This year marks Shark Week’s twenty-sixth year on the air and people are still fascinated with these amazing marine animals. There is one shark in particular, however, that has captivated the interest of the public for many years: the great white.

Named for their white bellies, great white sharks are the largest predatory fish on Earth. They average fifteen feet in length, but records show that these sharks can grow up to twenty feet and weigh over 5,000 pounds. Great whites have smooth, streamlined bodies shaped like torpedoes that allow them to propel through the water at speeds up to fifteen miles per hour. These sharks also have the ability to leave the water completely by breaching through the air to attack prey from below. With their keen sense of smell and hundreds of sharp teeth, these sharks prey on animals such as sea lions, seals, salmon, sea turtles, and small whales.

Although many people believe that this fish preys on humans, scientists now understand that people are not on the great white’s menu. Most great white shark attacks that occur are simply curious sharks “sample biting” humans, meaning that they bite and then release when they realize that this is not their normal prey. These sharks rarely come near shore except when attracted to prey such as herring and mackerel. So while great whites have a reputation as being mindless killing machines, we now know that they are not as fearsome as we once believed.

The great white is often a misunderstood fish and is considered an endangered species by many marine biologists. By getting a better understand of these large fish, humans can help protect them from going extinct and be better prepared when they come across one in the water. During Shark Week, audiences will learn about more than just the impressive qualities of the great white. There is so much to learn about the mysteries of these deep ocean fish and, while sharks come in all different shapes and sizes, they are all incredibly fascinating.

Filed under: Current Events, Just for Fun, Newsletter, Science Facts | Tagged: current news, newsletter, Science facts | 1 Comment »

Scientists Find Key to Short Gamma Ray Bursts

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Math Blaster

Short gamma ray bursts that occur in our solar system are some of the brightest explosions to be observed by scientists. These explosions occur when the life of an ultra dense neutron star is ended by a catastrophic collapse to a black hole. The result of these short gamma ray bursts releases as much energy in one second as our entire galaxy does in a year. Scientists have long speculated that enormous magnetic field strengths are the key ingredient to explaining these powerful emissions, but had not been able to recreate such forces.

At the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), scientists set out to determine how these magnetic fields—one hundred million billion times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field—could be generated from neutron stars that have a much lower magnetic field strength. These scientists were able to explain this phenomenon by finding rotating plasma layers in these magnetic fields that were continuously rubbing together. This process is called magnetorotational instability and causes magnetic fields to become extremely amplified. Until now, scientists had not been able to recreate this phenomenon without the present numerical simulations.

Scientists at AEI simulated a hypermassive neutron star with an ordered magnetic field that was then subsequently made more complex as the star continued rotating. Once it becomes dynamically unstable, it eventually collapses to a black hole. These simulations have shown and confirmed the presence of magnetorotational instability and its effect on the rapid amplification of these stars magnetic fields.

The results of these findings have a two-fold effect. First off, it shows the development of the magnetorotational instability in the framework of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Secondly, and most importantly, it has a profound astrophysical impact because it proves that ultra strong magnetic fields could be the key ingredient in understand the massive energy release of these short gamma ray bursts.

Filed under: Current Events, learning resources, Science Facts, What's New | Tagged: current news, newsletter, Science facts, What's New | 3 Comments »

Getting to Know Pluto

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Math Blaster

For most of us, we fondly reminisce of Pluto as our solar system’s ninth planet. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was initially considered to be the smallest planet in the solar system until astronomers discovered similar worlds in a zone deep beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt in 2005. Were these newfound worlds also planets or a new type altogether? In 2006, this intriguing finding resulted in Pluto’s reclassification as a dwarf planet.

Dwarf planets are classified by a few unique properties. First, like planets they orbit the sun. Second, they have enough mass to have a nearly round shape. Third, they have not cleared the neighborhood around their orbit. Due to their smaller size, dwarf planets are unable to sweep up or scatter objects near their orbits like their larger counterparts. This characteristic is the main distinction between planets and dwarf planets. Planets have cleared a path around the sun while dwarf planets tend to orbit in zones with similar objects that cross their path around the sun. Finally, dwarf planets are not moons.

While dwarf planets like Pluto may be smaller, they can still have moons that orbit around them. In fact, Pluto has five moons, two of which were given names on July 2^nd 2013. Formerly known as P4 and P5, Pluto’s new moons have been renamed Kerberos and Styx, respectively. The new moons were discovered in 2011 and 2012 during observations of Pluto using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3. Kerberos lies between the orbits of Nix and Hydra (discovered in 2005) while Styx lies between Charon and Nix. Kerberos has a diameter roughly between 13 to 34 kilometers while Styx is 10 to 25 kilometers across.

After their discovery, research team leader Mark Showalter called for a public vote to name the two moons. To remain consistent with Pluto’s other satellites, the names were derived from Greek mythology, particularly those associated with the underworld. Kerberos was named after Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the underworld (Kerberos is Greek for Cerberus). Styx was named after the goddess that ruled over the underworld river that transported the souls of the deceased.

While some may see Pluto’s new categorization to a dwarf planet as a demotion, new discoveries are revealing amazing qualities about it. With five moons and a family of other dwarf planets, Pluto is helping astronomers learn more about our solar system and the universe we live in.

Filed under: Current Events, Newsletter, Science Facts | Tagged: Cerberus, Dwarf Planet, Kerberos, Math Blaster, Moons, newsletter, Parent Article, Pluto, Styx | Leave a comment »

Saturn’s Moon May Provide Clues to the Search for Space Water

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Math Blaster

Scientists have received the latest clues to aid their hunt for water in outer space with photographs taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Images of Saturn’s moon, Dione, focus on the 500-mile-long mountain Janiculum Dorsa—a landmark scientists use to compare Dione to Saturn’s geyser moon, Enceladus. Using Janiculum Dorsa along with other findings, researchers speculate that Dione may have once had a geologically active subsurface ocean.

Discovering subsurface oceans on Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan, Jupiter’s moon Europa, and now potentially Dione have led scientists to believe that there may be more worlds with water than previously imagined. These moons have played a crucial part in advancing the search for life beyond Earth.

Hints toward Dione’s possession of a subsurface ocean arose when Cassini detected a weak particle stream with its magnetometer. The spacecraft’s images suggest that a slushy liquid layer may exist beneath its icy crust along with fractures that spew water ice and carbon-containing particles. If the assumptions formed from Cassini’s images are correct and the moon does have a subsurface ocean, it would increase the moon’s chances for supporting life.

An intriguing clue toward Dione’s potential subsurface ocean is its mountain, Janiculum Dorsa. The mountain ranges from about 0.6 to 1.2 miles in height and appears to have deformed the crust beneath by 0.3 miles. Researchers believe that the deformation implies Dione has a warm surface, likely due to a subsurface ocean.

Cassini’s photographs have played a massive role in unlocking the mysteries of subsurface oceans on other worlds and the possibility of life in outer space. If scientists confirm the presence of a subsurface ocean on Dione, they may be able to find trends across multiple moons that could further their research into extraterrestrial life.

Filed under: Newsletter, Science Facts | Tagged: Dione, Janiculum Dorsa, Math Blaster, Moon, newsletter, Outer Space, Saturn, Search for Life, Subsurface Ocean | Leave a comment »

One Giant Leap for Mankind

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Math Blaster

With all the hours of hard work that your kids put in around the Math Blaster Space Station, have you ever caught yourself wondering about what it might be like to travel into the unknowns of outer space? Currently, only a handful of private citizens have already had the opportunity to orbit through space. However, with the recent proposal by a privately funded company to start manning missions to the moon, commercial spaceflight may be more of a realistic goal for the near future than ever before. In a matter of a few years, you could be booking yourself on a flight as one of the first space tourists or better yet, an official astronaut.

Now, that dream is as close as ever to becoming a reality. As companies like Richard Branson’s much talked about Virgin Galactic are actively accepting reservations for future trips into space. Depending on your chosen package, deposits for Virgin Galactic flights can range anywhere from $200,000 to $1 million. However, with the rate at which technology has been advancing in this field and with the development of new spacecrafts, there is now more than one company making waves in the market of commercial space travel.

More recently, Colorado-based start up, Golden Spike has made headlines promoting their plans for privately funded commercial flights that would take people from earth all the way to the moon. With the first flights scheduled for as early as the year 2020, the company prices each trip at about one and a half billion dollars. The plan was announced by CEO, Alan Stern, a former director from NASA on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the last moon landing, which occurred in 1972.

Although the costs of these flights may not be practical for average citizens, the announcement marks a great opportunity for the advancement of space programs worldwide. As technology and research proceed forward, we can expect that elite list of space tourists to grow at unprecedented speeds. And in the case of Golden Spike’s plans for flights to the moon, Neil Armstrong’s iconic words from the legendary Apollo 11 flight seem most fitting as this venture can easily be considered “one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.”

Filed under: Current Events, Newsletter, Parents and Kids, Science Facts, Technology and Kids | Tagged: current news, newsletter, space travel, technology | 4 Comments »

Out of This World Foods

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Math Blaster

While many of us celebrated last week’s Thanksgiving holiday with delicious foods and other seasonal treats, did you and your kids ever stop to wonder about the foods astronauts might eat while celebrating holidays in space? When food is taken into space, there are various requirements it must meet in order for trips to space to remain as efficient as possible. Space programs like NASA must consider how foods are stored, their overall weight for takeoff preparations, packaging, shelf life, nutritional value, and most of all how they will handle in zero gravity situations.

In the early days of space exploration, extended trips included simple, specialized foods that were often consumed through straws or packaged in tube form. More recently food supplies to space have become more varied with the help of food handling techniques in dehydrating, freeze drying or thermostabilization. Generally, when processing meals for space travel, any excess moisture or lingering microorganisms that cause foods to spoil must be removed. Foods are then later re-hydrated in space where hot water is readily available. In certain cases, some ready to eat items like fruit or vegetables can even be stored and consumed without special processing.

Other advances in food for spaceflight include specialized packaging and coatings on items to help prevent crumbs or any food related debris from interfering with the functionality of a space orbiting shuttle. Additionally, meals are usually served on trays that are attached to the walls of the shuttle or fastened to their laps or tables. The specially packaged foods are then attached to the trays using systems with magnets or other fasteners and warmed through the injection of hot water for purposes of re-hydrating the packaged items.

These meals are specifically designed by dietitians that ensure that all proper nutritional requirements are being met for each astronaut. Depending on an astronaut’s country of origin, some space programs have even designed meals around culturally specific flavors or foods. Moreover, some special observances are made for holiday meals like the recent Thanksgiving celebration aboard the International Space Station, which included smoked turkey, corn bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, pie, and thermo stabilized yams.

Despite the many advances in food designed for space travel, there are still a few precautions in place to help assure that missions remain safe and efficient. If your family would take a trip to space, what foods would you and your kids hope to find? Are there any things or seasonal holiday treats that they might look for ? Let us know!

Filed under: Family Fun, Just for Fun, Newsletter | Tagged: International Space Station, Math Blaster, newsletter, space | 3 Comments »

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