Blog Comment

I believe this video is very accurate when it comes to science, and gives a general feeling of "open research".
This video is well done, and also informative.
http://buildingblogsofscience.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/scifund-is-up-at-rockethub/#respond

Changes to Earth's Rotation or Revolution

The earthquake that caused the tsunami shifted coastlines and elevations and it may have effected Earth's rotation. The earthquake was of magnitude 9.0m the largest in forty years. Earthquakes occur when a section of tectonic plates lying under an ocean shift, sliding further underneath an adjoining plate causing it to spring upwards.
The recent movement of tectonic plates made Earth's overall mass more compact. As a result, the speed at which Earth rotates has increased slightly.
The length of a day may have been shortened to 2.6 microseconds.
According to a scientist's calculations, the redistribution of Earth's mass will also effect the planet's wobble, or the slight circular movement made by the axis of the rotation.
The Earth's wobble will increase by almost an inch as the result of an earthquake.
Earthquakes and tsunami's often remind people of how powerful mother nature can be.

Neptune

Spring has appeared on Neptune, probably 39 years ago, until 2005 when summer arrived. This occurred earlier this year when a team of U.S. astronomers examined images of the solar system's eight planet taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The pictures revealed that Neptune's southern hemisphere had been growing bigger and brighter.
Neptune is on a tilt, so it receives varying amounts of the sun's heat.
Neptune is a frigid ball of gas, hydrogen, helium and methane. Even at a chill season, Neptune's temperature get's to about -320 degrees Fahrenheit.
Each season on Neptune lasts about 41 years, and following Neptune scientist's have found out Uranus also undergoes seasonal changes.

The Big Bang Theory

Many people believe the universe had no beginning or end, but in reality the universe was forced to take on the properties of a finite phenomenon, possessing a history and a beginning.  About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe, known as the Big Bang. The Big Bang was an event in which energy and matter came together, and filled all of space with particles of the universe. It's considered an explosion within itself, rather than particles getting spewed among space, they came together.

The Big Bang Theory came from Edwin Hubble, who said the universe is constantly expanding. He discovered that a galaxies velocity is proportional to its distance, and that the universe is twice as far away from us, and twice as fast. In 1964, two astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, in an attempt to detect microwaves from outer space. The Hubble telescope, named after the father of the Big Bang Theory, has provided information on what elements were used in the following creation.

The Big Bang Theory provides more and more information on how the universe originated everyday, and it's very important to keep trying to find out more about the Big Bang because of it's substantial importance in science.

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm

An Inconstant North Star

1) The star isn't as reliable because it changes it's brightness, and because of the earth's rotation, it moves some every year, making it at random every time.
It can be easily confused w/ other stars, because it's slightly dim.
People often use it for navigation, but contrary to poplar belief, it's a terrible way to navigate.

2) The magnitude scale is a scale that states a star's brightness from 1 - 6.
1 being the brightest, 6 being the dimmest.
Basically it shows you brightness and difference in luminosity.

Science Article [Second]

Study Characterizes Epigenetic Signatures of Autism in Brain Tissue

JAMA/Archive Journals

Archives of General Psychiatry

November 7, 2011

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111107162734.htm

Autism is a serious illness with a various amount of causes and origins. It's dysfunction with the cerebral cortex and other regions of the brain disrupt and make the cognitive and behavioral actions "misbehave". This might be a little esoteric (difficult to grasp, understand)The neurons in the brain are send to the nerve cells and received in different ways than other within the body. Hennady P. Shulha examined certain parts of the brain tissue of 16+ individuals diagnosed with autism. She has discovered that "histones" are small proteins that attach to DNA that control gene expression and activity. She conducted a series of experiments but less than 10 percent, of the affected genes were affected by the DNA mutations. Docter Shulha continues her research in DNA mutation, and on the study of autism, to help get to the bottom of the real reason for autism.

Science Article

Can Metals Remember Their Shape at Nanoscale, Too?

Daniel Mutter and Peter Nielaba 

University of Constance

November 7, 2011
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111108104623.htm

Scientists are realizing that Metal alloys are more intelligent than they think. They have realized that the Metal alloys can change back to their original state by remembering it. Authors have determined the absolute values of temperatures at which shape memory nanospheres start changing, back to their original state.  To date, this topic has been highly experimented with all types of metals such as nickel and titanium. Thanks to computer simulation, authors were able to get a glimpse of the transformation process of the material during the transition. When the temp increased, the object shifted from a lower to higher line of Symantec, which differs upon it's interior. Most of the work done, was used for things such as braces, stents or oil temperature-regulating devices. The search and experiments being done can only lead to bigger, and greater things, as long as their kef (state of drowsiness) doesn't get to them!

Week 4-5

I find this certain topic interesting because I've always been interested in mythology type science. Things that were told to be myths but proven to be real. I've never really liked PBS except for the cartoons (HA), but when an interesting video comes on I'll be sure to watch it. PBS's videos are very informative and teaches about all aspects and subjects as life; art, science, music, history, pretty much anything. It definitely makes a difference in not only my life but too anyone who watches PBS. Their videos aren't 5 minute little spurts on the subject, the videos are very well detailed and informative about the subject.
Even though the videos are great they don't mention every SINGLE thing. I'm sure there's things they left out, but to learn more about it you can research it, read a book about it, watch a different documentary on it. There's lots of possible options you can do to get more insight on it. I'm not completely sure if there is a Wikipedia page on it or not. If there is I can definitely go there for research, but if there isn't someone can create one so more people can find information on it!
Science affects every single person, science lives inside us (literally). There's things constantly happening inside us, outside of us, and all around us. Any person would be a fool not to be interested in science, not this particular topic but any science related topic. It doesn't matter if their young or old, we all share the same interests. I'll defiantly be sharing my knowledge with the world on letting people know about the facts and details of the story I watched.
Honestly, I don't know what the author left out because well, I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic. I'm sure he could have added some fun facts about it to appeal all viewers, but that's just my opinion.



http://video.pbs.org/video/1204753806/