just checking out how to podcast.
Got an mp3 file here - boring as hell.
Think I need to give this more work.
Back to the drawing board
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Newton's Dark Secrets
Came across a wonderful video today called Newton's Dark Secrets. You can view it here, and you can download it also, although you will need to download their video-player to view it.
The video makes the point that Newton wasn't quite the rational hero of science which text-books make him out to be.
However it does seem to offer a fairly comprehensive overview of his life, including a nice description of how Newton came up with Calculus.
Guillaume Martin called in to the school today to say hello. He's doing astrophysics with philosophy of science, which sounds wonderful. This is in Edinburgh.
As far as I know, Ireland is one of the very few countries in the western world which doesn't have a History of Science, Philosophy of Science or Sociology of Science department in any of our colleges or universities.
And now with our obsession of all things monetary it's unlikely that any will be created, at least in the near future.
Queens do have a History of Science department, led by Professor Peter Bowler, which has led to some pretty interesting findings in their specialist area, the history of evolution. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do.
In case there's anyone out there who clings to the traditional notion that philosophy has nothing to do with science, here's are two wonderful cartoons from youtube which suggest otherwise.
Dr quantum's double-slit experiment here, and Mr Hell's science here
They're both about five minutes long.
(I need to figure out how to embed video links - I'll put it on my 'to do' list)
Enjoy!
The video makes the point that Newton wasn't quite the rational hero of science which text-books make him out to be.
However it does seem to offer a fairly comprehensive overview of his life, including a nice description of how Newton came up with Calculus.
Guillaume Martin called in to the school today to say hello. He's doing astrophysics with philosophy of science, which sounds wonderful. This is in Edinburgh.
As far as I know, Ireland is one of the very few countries in the western world which doesn't have a History of Science, Philosophy of Science or Sociology of Science department in any of our colleges or universities.
And now with our obsession of all things monetary it's unlikely that any will be created, at least in the near future.
Queens do have a History of Science department, led by Professor Peter Bowler, which has led to some pretty interesting findings in their specialist area, the history of evolution. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do.
In case there's anyone out there who clings to the traditional notion that philosophy has nothing to do with science, here's are two wonderful cartoons from youtube which suggest otherwise.
Dr quantum's double-slit experiment here, and Mr Hell's science here
They're both about five minutes long.
(I need to figure out how to embed video links - I'll put it on my 'to do' list)
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Teaching 'bout evolution of the eye
Was at a very interesting lecture at the ISTA AGM in UCC over the weekend, where Dr Jeremy Pritchard gave a lecture entitled 'The evolution of evolution'. He spoke about how the eye was a difficult subject for Darwin to explain.
While the audience was mostly Biology teachers, I got to thinking about how I could introduce evolution into my own teaching.
We do a little bit on short-sightedness and long-sightedness in the Leaving Cert Physics course (under the heading of Lenses), and this would be an ideal spot to open up a discussion.
Dissecting a cow's eye used to be allowed, but no longer is, but there is a link to a nice video of it, plus some other useful links here although it can take a while to download.
There is also a movie clip of how the eye itself could have evolved here, and an animated version here
Every so often I notice that the school library receives a copy of a journal/magazine entitled (I think) creation science, or something similar. I must look into it to see why we get this.
The Applied Maths class and the religion class got together a couple of weeks ago to discuss/debate many of the issues that bring Science and Religion together and also which bring them into conflict. I went very well, hopefully we can build upon it and do something similar in the future.
While the audience was mostly Biology teachers, I got to thinking about how I could introduce evolution into my own teaching.
We do a little bit on short-sightedness and long-sightedness in the Leaving Cert Physics course (under the heading of Lenses), and this would be an ideal spot to open up a discussion.
Dissecting a cow's eye used to be allowed, but no longer is, but there is a link to a nice video of it, plus some other useful links here although it can take a while to download.
There is also a movie clip of how the eye itself could have evolved here, and an animated version here
Every so often I notice that the school library receives a copy of a journal/magazine entitled (I think) creation science, or something similar. I must look into it to see why we get this.
The Applied Maths class and the religion class got together a couple of weeks ago to discuss/debate many of the issues that bring Science and Religion together and also which bring them into conflict. I went very well, hopefully we can build upon it and do something similar in the future.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
video.stumbleupon.com
I came across this site quite some time ago, but it must have been in its early stages because I didn't appreciate its potential at the time.
www.video.stumbleupon.com is an ideal starting point for videos on any given category, and it cross-references all the major video sites, such as google, youtube, metacafe etc.
I have just spent the last 6 hours browsing through its science category. Very impressive. It offers a lot of potential for science teachers, and indeed teachers in general.
I have just spent the entire evening browsing through the science/tech category and it is indeed very impressive.
There is usually a reference somewhere along the bottom to the original video, and sometimes a direct link to it.
these videos can then be saved for you within the site itself (assuming you have registered), or can simply be added to your favourites folder.
Alternatively you can download them directly to your desktop with a suitable video downloader program. This may mean that you have to view them within youtube or videogoogle because many of the video downloader programs recognise these but not the stumbleupon.com site.
As with my last post, this may offer a possible alternative to the mainstream video sites which are banned in schools, although there's no guarantee that this site won't itself be banned.
Anyway . . .
On a more immediate front, young Harper in form 5 has been bugging me about why light can travel through glass, but not concrete, and because there aren't enough people who ask questions in this world I need to put some resources together, if only to point him in the right direction.
It's late.
Maybe I'll do it tomorrow . . .
www.video.stumbleupon.com is an ideal starting point for videos on any given category, and it cross-references all the major video sites, such as google, youtube, metacafe etc.
I have just spent the last 6 hours browsing through its science category. Very impressive. It offers a lot of potential for science teachers, and indeed teachers in general.
I have just spent the entire evening browsing through the science/tech category and it is indeed very impressive.
There is usually a reference somewhere along the bottom to the original video, and sometimes a direct link to it.
these videos can then be saved for you within the site itself (assuming you have registered), or can simply be added to your favourites folder.
Alternatively you can download them directly to your desktop with a suitable video downloader program. This may mean that you have to view them within youtube or videogoogle because many of the video downloader programs recognise these but not the stumbleupon.com site.
As with my last post, this may offer a possible alternative to the mainstream video sites which are banned in schools, although there's no guarantee that this site won't itself be banned.
Anyway . . .
On a more immediate front, young Harper in form 5 has been bugging me about why light can travel through glass, but not concrete, and because there aren't enough people who ask questions in this world I need to put some resources together, if only to point him in the right direction.
It's late.
Maybe I'll do it tomorrow . . .
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
vidipedia as alternative to banned youtube and googlevideo?
Have been locked out from my website for the last two months and it has been extremely frustrating. Was told the problem was at my end so ended up reformatting hard-drive with all the problems that brought with it, only to find that problem still remained.
Was eventually told last night that the problem was with "ownership issues" and apparently everything is sorted now.
Anyways,
found vidipedia last night and got to thinking that this might be a very nice way of watching video-clips which are currently on googlevideo and youtube, but which are banned in schools.
You can download youtube videos directly, and with a small bit of trickery you can download from googlevideo also, then just upload on to vidipidia. Too easy to be true?
I'll check back in a week or so and if everything is still there, I might make a start. I also need to check that this site is not banned, but I wouldn't think so.
Was eventually told last night that the problem was with "ownership issues" and apparently everything is sorted now.
Anyways,
found vidipedia last night and got to thinking that this might be a very nice way of watching video-clips which are currently on googlevideo and youtube, but which are banned in schools.
You can download youtube videos directly, and with a small bit of trickery you can download from googlevideo also, then just upload on to vidipidia. Too easy to be true?
I'll check back in a week or so and if everything is still there, I might make a start. I also need to check that this site is not banned, but I wouldn't think so.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Nuclear Radiation Misconceptions
Let's get straight to it:
Myth 1.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Reality
Approximately 50 emergency workers died as a result of radiation poisoning (known as ARS - Aqute Radiation Syndrome).
A total of 134 emergency workers were diagnosed with ARS.
Among the general population exposed to the radioactive fallout, the radiation doses were relatively low, and ARS and associatied fatalities did not occur.
The possible increase in cancer mortality due to this radiation exposure may be up to . . . four thousand fatal cancers . . .
However a website based on this report does mention that there could be perhaps another 5,000 fatalaties in surrounding regions.
The italicised section is taken from a report entitled Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Aspects, which can be found here
This involved the input of many of all the relevant United Nations organisations, along with others such as the World Health Organisation.
The report does state however that the latent period for many cancers - apart from thyroid cancer and leukemia - is ofter of the order of 10 to 15 years or lmore, therefore there may be some increase in these in the future, but as of yet (data seems to have been collected up until 2002) there is no noticeable increase in other cancers.
Incidentally, how do iodine tablets work in the event of a nuclear accident?
The tablets saturate the thyroid gland with stable iodine in order to prevent it from accumulating any radioactive iodine that may have been released into the environment.
Taken from The Department of Health and Children website here
Myth 2.
Children who were born in this area suffered terrible deformities as a result of the radiation fallout having been passed on through genes. This also applies to children who were born to survivors of the atomic bombs which were dropped in Japan in WWII.
Reality
There has been a modest but steady increase in reported congenital malformations in both 'contaminated' and 'uncontaminated' areas of Belarus since 1986. This does not appear to be radiation-related and may be the result of increased registration.
Again, this is taken from the report mentioned above.
For information on the Atomic Bomb Survivor Research Program see the FAQ here.
Question 7 in particular is relevant:
What health effects have been seen among the children born to atomic-bomb survivors?
This was one of the earliest concerns in the aftermath of the bombings. Efforts to detect genetic effects were begun in the late 1940s and continue to this day. Thus far, no evidence of genetic effects has been found.
Relevant sources of information
Chernobyl forum FAQ here. This is a fairly user-friendly access point.
There is a nice link here to a CNN news report video clip on the results of the forum (2:30, 17 MB).
Click here for a video (4:30, 30 MB) on how animals were affected.
Now one option on reading this is to question the source of the information, and in this age one is right to be cynical. However if we refuse to accept the word of the organisations involved in this report, where else can we turn?
There are two more issues which haven't been dealt with here
1. What do the people who were evacuated actually do when they get moved?
2. You can't really evacuate the population of an island.
To be continued . . .
Myth 1.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Reality
Approximately 50 emergency workers died as a result of radiation poisoning (known as ARS - Aqute Radiation Syndrome).
A total of 134 emergency workers were diagnosed with ARS.
Approximaely 4,000 children contacted thyroid cancer, and nine children died as a result.
Children are the most susceptable to thyroid cancer because of their large take-up of milk, which contains concentrated radiation, but also because their cells reproduce more rapidly and are therefore more sensitive to radiation poisoning.
Among the general population exposed to the radioactive fallout, the radiation doses were relatively low, and ARS and associatied fatalities did not occur.
The possible increase in cancer mortality due to this radiation exposure may be up to . . . four thousand fatal cancers . . .
However a website based on this report does mention that there could be perhaps another 5,000 fatalaties in surrounding regions.
The italicised section is taken from a report entitled Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Aspects, which can be found here
This involved the input of many of all the relevant United Nations organisations, along with others such as the World Health Organisation.
The report does state however that the latent period for many cancers - apart from thyroid cancer and leukemia - is ofter of the order of 10 to 15 years or lmore, therefore there may be some increase in these in the future, but as of yet (data seems to have been collected up until 2002) there is no noticeable increase in other cancers.
Incidentally, how do iodine tablets work in the event of a nuclear accident?
The tablets saturate the thyroid gland with stable iodine in order to prevent it from accumulating any radioactive iodine that may have been released into the environment.
Taken from The Department of Health and Children website here
Myth 2.
Children who were born in this area suffered terrible deformities as a result of the radiation fallout having been passed on through genes. This also applies to children who were born to survivors of the atomic bombs which were dropped in Japan in WWII.
Reality
There has been a modest but steady increase in reported congenital malformations in both 'contaminated' and 'uncontaminated' areas of Belarus since 1986. This does not appear to be radiation-related and may be the result of increased registration.
Again, this is taken from the report mentioned above.
For information on the Atomic Bomb Survivor Research Program see the FAQ here.
Question 7 in particular is relevant:
What health effects have been seen among the children born to atomic-bomb survivors?
This was one of the earliest concerns in the aftermath of the bombings. Efforts to detect genetic effects were begun in the late 1940s and continue to this day. Thus far, no evidence of genetic effects has been found.
Relevant sources of information
Chernobyl forum FAQ here. This is a fairly user-friendly access point.
There is a nice link here to a CNN news report video clip on the results of the forum (2:30, 17 MB).
Click here for a video (4:30, 30 MB) on how animals were affected.
Now one option on reading this is to question the source of the information, and in this age one is right to be cynical. However if we refuse to accept the word of the organisations involved in this report, where else can we turn?
There are two more issues which haven't been dealt with here
1. What do the people who were evacuated actually do when they get moved?
2. You can't really evacuate the population of an island.
To be continued . . .
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