SUMMARY: Just how small are atoms? And what’s inside them? Just how small are atoms? And what’s inside them? The answers turn out to be astounding, even for those who think they know. This fast-paced video animation uses spectacular metaphors (imagine a blueberry the size of a football stadium!) to give a visceral sense of the building blocks that make our world. ... Read more
SUMMARY: Can folding a piece of paper 45 times get you to the moon? This is a fun little video that asks the simple question: Can folding a piece of paper 45 times get you to the moon? By showing you the answer to that question, this video demonstrates the astonishing potential of exponential growth. ... Read more
SUMMARY: A new scientific paper uses a unique methodology to addresses this timeless question Parasaurolophus walkeri, a hadrosauroid.Image: Steveoc 86 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.) I ran across an interesting little video by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) describing a newly-published piece of research into the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs. This paper reports on their findings whether the non-avian dinosaurs were experiencing a long-term population decline before the asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous... Read more
SUMMARY: A glimpse at Cal Academy’s butterfly collection and a discussion about why these butterfly collections are important to science Do you like butterflies and moths? I certainly do. When I was a graduate student, part of my graduate training was invested in studying moths. So captivated by moths and butterflies was I that I seriously considered devoting my professional career to studying them. But butterflies and moths — the lepidopterans — are more than just pretty insects that pollinate... Read more
SUMMARY: This video presents an animated exploration of the famous and fascinating Fermi Paradox Given the vast number of planets in the universe, many much older than Earth, why haven’t we yet seen obvious signs of alien life? The potential answers to this question are numerous and intriguing, alarming and hopeful. This video presents an animated exploration of the famous and fascinating Fermi Paradox, originally posed in 1950 by physicist Enrico Fermi, which basically states: ... Read more
SUMMARY: In this video, we go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Big Bone Room at the American Museum of Natural History to look at sauropod bones Wouldn’t you love to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Big Bone Room at the American Museum of Natural History? In this video, Paleontology Collections Manager Carl Mehling shows us a few fossil treasures, such as the bony beak of a triceratops, the original model of T. rex, which was used to... Read more
SUMMARY: An interesting group participation project for the Manchester Science Festival: growing sunflowers! Screengrab. Today’s video is a good beginning for a Monday morning in spring. It tells you a little about Fibonacci numbers in nature, a subject that Alan Turing was studying before he died. This video also tells you about an interesting “citizen science project” being held by the upcoming Manchester Science Festival that you can participate in: growing sunflowers! ... Read more
SUMMARY: This video tells the story of one fish, found on a bed of ice in a local supermarket, from its beginning as a microscopic planktonic larva This is an interesting video, telling the beginnings of life for one fish, found on a bed of ice in a local supermarket, as a microscopic planktonic larva. Today’s science video relies on new videography techniques that allow us to film microscopic creatures and to learn about and experience their world. Marine biologist... Read more
SUMMARY: Today’s science video is special: it’s the first time ever that the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has been etched onto a diamond Today’s science video is special: it’s the first time ever that the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has been etched onto a diamond. This was done to celebrate her diamond jubilee, which is an international celebration ongoing through 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. In this... Read more
SUMMARY: Riding a solid rocket booster up and then down again during a launch of the space shuttle. screengrab. Here’s a fun little video from NASA: an HD video that shows a stunning view from a solid rocket booster attached to the space shuttle, pushing it up into orbit, and then not attached to the space shuttle, whilst the booster is plunging back to Earth. ... Read more
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