The Blue Moon welcomes the New Year

There she is, Miss Blue Moon, high in the AZ sky...

Welcoming 2010.

Happy New Year!

To the Science Center

Off to see the Lego exhibit...

It's a bit of a walk from the parking garage.

Here the nose sneezes out the balls that were placed inside the nostrils.

There were round tables set up for Lego constructions. These pieces were geared toward medieval creations. This one is Snowden's.

This one is Grasshopper's.

The chest of a taller than life size dude/guard. These were worth seeing.

Science Friday with Ira Flatow

I am a NPR devote and that includes listening to Science Friday with Ira Flatow.

Today, Ira broadcast/taped right in my backyard, ASU.
Right from the music room at Gammage.

Guests from the first hour.

Ira Flatow behind his two computers.

Ariel Anbar and Ira at the end of the second hour.

It was totally exciting, this rare opportunity. I am known for sitting in the car and listen to Ira while the rest of the moms chat.

The young alchemist

The mother in me is always looking at possible ways for the girls to be entertained.

One day, I suggested to Snowden that she gather things from the yard and pretend she was an alchemist... something of an era she was studying in school.

She took to it with gusto. I get to smell the potions she creates, and my skin serves as the test area too. As you see above, this is serious business for that creative mind.

The full Moon of Dec. 12th is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year

See here.

The candy hunt

On October 31st the little children and Gilligan go out hunting for candy.

Some friendly ghosts.

Gilligan leads the way.

The organist's spooky music rang through the air.

A carved pumpkin.

Venus and the crescent moon in the sky.

Fruit under the microscope

Plants will do intricate things to ensure survival.  Take a look at this amazing video and see how.

Life's Miracles

A human egg has been filmed in close-up emerging from the ovary for the first time, captured by chance during a routine operation. Human eggs are produced by follicles, fluid-filled sacs on the side of the ovary, which, around the time of ovulation, produce a reddish protrusion seen in the pictures.
The egg comes from the end of this, surrounded by a jelly-like substance containing cells.
The egg itself is only the size of a full-stop, and the whole ovary, which contains many immature eggs, just a couple of inches long.

Watch out, you might get hit by a meteor

It reminds me of the movie "Lilo and Stitch" where the aliens describe the earth as a planet that faces extinction whenever it is hit my a meteor. This National Geographic story tells describes what happened in Peru when a thing fell out of the sky.

The Story of Lucy and more

Drag your kids to a science fair at the School of Earth and Space Exploration and you might learn about Lucy the hominid. If you believe in the theory of evolution this fits right in. I watched the college student give a short lecture about the differences in the skeleton of a chimp, a woman, and a replica of Lucy's. She definitely looked more like a human. We played with moon sand and panned for gems.

The fair

Gems

Moon sand

Lucy

Math and Science

Education is a fascinating endeavour to be involved in. Learning for me is like water. I succumb to less than optimal mental/emotional states if I am not permitted to let my mind entertain questions and pursue trains of thought as they come alive in my head. Education becomes the perfect realm to let loose. I become better prepared to guide my daughters in their journey to brilliance... Yes, I expect brilliance.... Just today I learned that females are considered a minority when taking photography class in high school.

Yesterday I heard a strong proponent for math and science improvement in public education and how the students of today are the work force of tomorrow. Today, I smiled as the art teacher didn't see the value of math and science. As a parent, for now, I will focus on exposing the young ones to many different subjects, while I also am vigilant of specific talents that can be nurtured.

A learning mind is a happy mind. :-)

The cow didn't jump over the moon...

The moon hid behind the earth's shadow in last night's lunar eclipse. The alarm clock sounded at 2:30 am and the gang stepped outside for a sight not to take place again for 7 years.

Space Exploration in a day trip

The Challenger Space Center

A model of Atlantis

The ceiling of the rotunda

Wall art

A visit to the Challenger Space Center has been on a To Do list for a while. It's turns out that we were able to join some friends who like to explore their area as much as we do, and all we had to do is follow a map and drive. Once there, we joined a tour already in progress. The young ones learned about Christa McCullough, the teacher who never made it to space because Challenger blew apart soon after lift off. I remember that day still. We also learned that NASA produces a patch for every shuttle flight. Actually, I think it's every flight, period i.e. the Apollo missions and others I would know if I were a true space freak.

How to teach Thee?

Science: Bean sprouts and green hair.