A Visit to Endeavour

L and C needed to meet a friend near USC to go camping, so they requested that we make the drive into LA a little more exciting by stopping by the California Science Center to see the space shuttle Endeavour. We had not yet seen it, so it was all-systems-go. 

Art upon entering the Science Center.

A photo of a photo of the Endeavor making its way down the streets of LA to get to its final home. I remember when they had to cut down many trees to get it through some of the streets. There is a cool video of the move in the space shuttle exhibit.

The massive shuttle herself.

We remember this third shuttle mission. We were driving out to Berkeley to look at grad school during spring break of 1982. We left my grandma's house in Idaho in the morning, and by the time we crossed the Nevada border the shuttle had circled the earth a few times. We listened to news reports on the car radio.

This is where you could rescue the crew, if needed.

Art seen on the way out of the museum.

LA Natural History Museum

What I learned at the LA Natural History Museum today:

California teachers get in free. Not advertised... Students still have to pay. 

The plesiosaurus, a large sea reptile, had one baby at a time and it was a live birth. The baby was 40% of the mom's size at birth. This skeleton, found in Kansas, is complete with fetus. I already knew that Kansas was under water at one point. This skeleton was nearly complete, only the head and the top of the neck are fabricated.

The T rex grew rapidly and did not live particularly long. These two skeletons show a two-year-old and a juvenile, about 13-14-years old. Huge size difference.

The museum has a very cool miniature replica of downtown LA, a WPA project built between 1939 and 1940. 

We had not been to the museum for many, many years, and I enjoyed seeing how more open and bright the dinosaur exhibits are. Unfortunately, C was not feeling well, so she and B did not accompany us on this trip. However we did make a stop in Arcadia to pick up a friend of L and C's (a student at the U of O) who is home on vacation.

Measuring Solar Power

If you stop by the church office, you can now watch how much solar power our new panels are generating and how much energy we are using. Yay, sun!

* * *

Day 30 - Clutter Cleanse: Out with the old hiking boots. I do not remember when I bought them at REI, but it was well over 10 years ago, perhaps as much as 20. Trashed, unless I decide the hold on to them and take them to the NIKE Factory Store at Ontario Mills for recycling. Yup, that's what I should do. 

Mt. Wilson Observatory

While H was on his second day of SCIAC softball tournament, my friends from Friday's trip to Claremont Craft Ales and I went to Mount Wilson to tour the observatory (actually multiple observatories). A two-hour tour makes for quite a bit of information, much of which I have forgotten, although much of it was very interesting. I know H would enjoy the tour, so someday I will go back with him.

Here are two solar telescopes. You can see these from the 210 Freeway, along with all of the tv towers.

Inside the taller of the two solar telescopes. Every day for the past 100 years or so, astronomers have taken tracing paper and drawn the sun spots and tracked their cycle. For demonstration purposes, the ball shows the size of Jupiter in proportion to the sun, the white circle.

This was written on the white board in the solar telescope room...

Perhaps the most impressive part of the tour is going inside the 100-inch Hooker telescope. This telescope was the world's largest from 1917 until 1948 and was instrumental in some important discoveries.

I rather liked this photo. The mirror over the museum was cracked. If you look in the lower right part of the mirror, there is my self-portrait with my head (and camera) and legs.

The day was quite hazy, and this is an enhanced photo of the view from the 5,700 foot vantage point.

* * *

Day 28 - Clutter Cleanse: I found an old snow globe from years ago. Out!

Nano Days at the Library

I just returned from the library where my friend David (physics professor at Pomona College) was hosting Nano Days, a science event for everyone. The room was bustling with people of all ages who went from table to table where they could learn about something related to nano science. Each table was staffed by a volunteer - a teacher, a student, someone who was interested and knowledgeable about their topic.

I really enjoyed the hands-on experience, which is what makes any kind of learning much more fun and memorable.

This is not the first Nano-on-the-Road experience. You can read about Nano Days at Sycamore at my friend Judy's blog.

A full room! Fun for all ages!

These people are learning about memory wire. You can stretch out a wire spring to any distorted shape, but when you heat it up (with a hair dryer this time), it returns to its original wire shape.

We learned about incandescence - from butterfly wings to nail polish dropped on water (dip dark paper into the water under the polish and create a cool oil-slick image.

Add a few crystals to water, and they absorb it all, just the way a disposable diaper works.

Transit of Venus

I was so excited to find out that I would actually get to see the Transit of Venus yesterday.  I knew that I did not have the correct stuff to view the rare event, but, of course, Harvey Mudd College was right on it.

The college had a little party set up with a tent and refreshments, solar viewing glasses, telescopes and plenty of science nerds.  Someone was taking time lapse photos, and I believe they will appear on the HMC website in the near future.  Here is a link to some cool photos.

The easiest way to watch the transit

The transit inspired a smooch

Viewers

The telescope and camera section

My pathetic attempt at photography with a point-and-shoot

Eclipse Photos

We were at book club yesterday evening during the solar eclipse, and here are two shots of the shadowy effects on the back wall of the house through the leaves.

Vista's Science Fair - 2012

I am so glad that we are well past the days of elementary science fair projects (although I was never the parent in charge of them...)  Here is a small sampling of the projects from last night's extravaganza.

Nobel Excitement

I am following my friend's blog which just sprung up recently highlighting her current whirlwind trip to Stockholm, Sweden.  Stormy's husband, a physicist, worked in a lab in grad school with Saul Perlmutter. Saul teaches astrophysics at Cal and just won the Nobel Prize in Physics.  Each Nobel laureate is allowed to invite 14 people to the ceremonies in Stockholm, and Saul invited Shane and Stormy to join him, and they are, right now, enjoying the festivities.

Music and the Brain

Evelyn Glennie on TED

Because my yoga class has started 30 minutes earlier than usual, Lynn and I were able to catch a lecture at Pomona College called The Musician's Guide to the Brain by Lois Svard, a pianist and professor at Bucknell.

Although I am not a scientist, I am very interested in science (living with a chemist and being the mother to a neurobiologist doesn't hurt), and one of the areas I've done a little reading in is about how being a musician shapes the brain.

Dr. Svard handed out a two-sided page of references and suggested reading and two TED talks (Evelyn Glennie and Charles Limb), so now I have my reading list cut out for me!  While I have heard about plasticity and the brain, I had not heard about mirror neurons, although I had heard that if you are watching your student play their instrument, you naturally feel how they are playing.  If they aren't breathing, you don't breathe.  If they are tense in their right arm, you sense that.  That is, you sense it if you are paying attention.