Particle Detectors: How we figure out what the universe if made of!

 A good Science News article about particle detectors, which allow us to figure out what we are all made of! There are hundreds of particles, most of which are combinations of the six quarks! We'll get into this a bit in classes!! Here is the CDF detector from Fermilab; in an earlier life, I helped build, maintain and run this thing. I'm still impressed these most complicated machines and experiments even work! If you are interested in some of the most fundamental questions humans can ask in science, check out particle physics and the Standard Model. 

Wanting to learn to Code and do Computational Research? Give NetLogo a try

 NetLogo is an agent-based programming language developed at Northwestern University, near Chicago and also my high school. This is meant to be an educational language, relatively easy to learn and free for anyone (you can download NetLogo, or you can run on a Web-based platform if you have something like a Chromebook). 

There is a large library of existing models in a variety of disciplines, ranging from physics, biology and chemistry to social science, political and financial applications. This video begins to explain what agent-based refers to, and how a NetLogo program operates in concept. Check it out!

Public Science - The Zooniverse

You may have heard of public science, or maybe not. In most fields of science, there are datasets that are SO LARGE that there are not enough actual scientists in those fields to look at it all. And there are some things that people are still better at seeing and identifying or classifying from a dataset than computers are. How do scientists handle the analysis of such large datasets? 

Bring in the global public! 

Some non-professionals are even getting their names on published papers for their contributions to new discoveries, such as new exoplanets.

Check out the Zooniverse website - there are over 80 big data projects that you can participate in, no experience required. Check out all the options, in dozens of different fields! 

See the 2021 Project Descriptions of the Top 40 STS Finalists

 Check out the Top 40 Finalists of the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search. This booklet has descriptions of these top projects. Enjoy, get ideas of your own to research, and be inspired at what teens are capable of when they are passionate about science research!! 

Find links to a number of years worth of Science Talent Search Semifinalist project titles and Finalist project descriptions on this Student Resources Page. 

UNESCO Science Report 2021

 Here's some motivation for tomorrow's scientists, engineers, and researchers in whatever technical field you are interested in. Most of the big global problems we face will require STEM to help find viable solutions. Get a sense of where the world is in the short video below, coming from UNESCO, the UN branch for science and education. There is a great need for more research and work into sustainability topics that matter for literally billions of people, but so much effort and resources (both human and financial) goes into things like artificial intelligence and robotics, sustainability and other global issues are often forgotten, and little funding exists for them. This is especially true in poorer countries, of course, but those are often the same countries that suffer from poverty and lack of STEM talent or resources. 

The full Report is here. It will take a minute to download, it is over 750 pages long, but check it out by sections that interest you. 

Climate Modeling for Students: EdGCM

A former professional level climate modeling package has been turned into an educational modeling example and option to do climate modeling research for students. Called the Educational Global Climate  Model, EdGCM, it is a user-friendly, open-source program students can use and work with. We recently had a student figure out how to run the program, and this is a sample video presentation of what he did. 

For computer savvy students wanting to pursue climate science and modeling, where they can control and change numerous environmental parameters and then run simulations to determine predicted outcomes from the science mathematical models within EdGCM, they can actually do the research! 

Science History - The 'creation' of the western science spirit

 Check out this truly interesting article outlining the start of the modern science approach, coming from Greece some 2500 years ago. Anaxagoras, whom I cannot recall ever reading about, came to Athens, Greece, and may have interacted with Socrates, who of course had the pupil Plato and then Aristotle, to develop the philosophical foundation of Western society. Anaxagoras was a prominent figure in having an off-shoot or purely philosophical reasoning to natural philosophy, which is a term that lasted millennia until we changed it to science! 

Let's appreciate the geniuses from SO long ago. I wonder how many of our names will still be remembered in the year 4521! That's wild to think about!