"Zombie Genes" that turn on after death

Thank you to Chirasree for finding this article:

Check out an article about "zombie genes," which have been discovered in various animals that have expired. These are genes that do not activate or do much of anything when the organism is alive, but instead become active after the organism dies. This may have important implications for something like organ transplants. Who would have thunk it?!

Good example of how STEM works in this day and age - Collaborations for Power Grid Security

My alma mater, UIUC, just had some $18 million dollars in grants given to it (the College of Engineering, that is) to develop the most robust platform for testing the security of the U.S. power grid. The U.S. is in the process of a long-term renovation of the decades-old power grid, which is outdated in terms of both technology and security, and developing the whole 'smart-grid' concept. This is one where engineers and power companies will have better data and faster responses to problems with the grid, where computers can automatically control where and how much power is being sent to different users on the grid based on demand and resources, better efficiency and cost control, better energy conservation, hooking up new energy sources to the grid (such as solar, wind, geothermal, bio-based sources, etc.), and increasing infrastructure to places where it does not presently exist so there can be expansions of wind farms and solar farms in the future. This is a HUGE project and will proceed for many years to come (making it a good time to be a civil, computer, environmental, or electrical engineer), but without a robust security system on the grid, it will always be vulnerable to attacks, especially via the Internet. This type of research is absolutely crucial for the U.S. future.

Plans for September 1

I am really sorry for being out, but a fever and stomach issues are forcing me to go back home. Please do the following for today:

Periods 1-2, 8-9
The quizzam is still on for tomorrow, so today be sure to get into study groups and be sure the various homework sets are making sense. Homework sets are collected tomorrow. Be sure the lab is shared with me at vondracekm@eths202.org. You can try the practice problems the substitute teacher will pass out, and these and solutions are on my school site: go to the 3 Chem-Phys site and in the Foundations folder is the file called Review Set. Other resources include reviewing sections in the textbook, trying other odd problems and checking answers in the back, and trying and checking yourself with the worked examples in every section. We are doing stuff from chapters 1 and 2 primarily.

Quizzam main topics: 

Vector addition, subtraction                 Vector multiplication

Derivatives of functions (no algebra required!), y = cxⁿ

1-D motion problems with constant acceleration and non-constant acceleration

2-D motion: relative motion, projectiles

Motion graphs        Graphing data           Standard deviation, error bars

Period 3
We will hold off on your rankings of issues until tomorrow. Today, I want you to try getting data for our speed lab. You will get the lab sheet and some additional direction from the substitute teacher. The measurements you will need to make are for a marble rolling down a ramp and onto the table-top. You will need to select 5 different distances from the end of the ramp, and then for each distance do 4 time trials; you will be using the average time for each distance you select. Be sure to start the marble at the same height on the ramp every time you let it go, because you want to have the same speed on the table every single time. Keep track of all this with a data table you and your partners decide on. Ultimately we will be making a graph to determine the speed of the marble. Remember that speed = (distance)/(time), or v = d/t. We will get into the analysis tomorrow.


Thank you everyone, and let's make the most of it until tomorrow. Happy Thursday!    :-)

Welcome Back for the 2016-17 School Year!!!

I hope you have all had a wonderful summer, with a chance to relax, re-charge, and get set for the 2016-17 school year!! I know we will have great phun as we pursue another year in physics. The 3 Chem-Phys classes will begin a focus on classical mechanics, with some number of other topics to enter into the discussion. The third period, first-year physics class will become the scientists as they help me how to figure out our world essentially from scratch! And the seniors in 4 Chem-Phys will have to put up with me a second year as we enter the crazy world of electricity and magnetism - some topics will attract attention, while others are bound to be totally repulsive to students...(that's all I got at the moment). All seniors will be busy with college apps and all that comes with that process, but hang in there, you will make it through, I promise.

Here's to a great year!! Never hesitate to come chat with me about anything, as I want each and every one of you to learn a lot and have a great time doing so. Thank you!  :-)

Hand written notes generally better for learning than typing on a computer

I've posted on this before, but it is important as ETHS and many other districts continue on the 1-to-1 technology path. Sometimes 'old school' is better than using technology for everything. For instance, more and moer studies are reaching the same conclusion that taking notes the old fashioned way, by writing, is better for learning for most people than typing notes out on your computer. There are several reasons for this, but it can generally be summed up that the more senses and the more time we can give our brains to process information, the better - the more synapses are created, making for better conceptual understanding and memory. Check out a Scientific American article on this topic.

How elite sprinters go so fast

A second article relevant to the Olympics is how elite sprinters go so much faster than the average human. Check out the article and video at Scientific American, where measurements are made on a world class sprinter. It turns out the hit the ground much harder than the average person (and think about the 3rd law - if you hit something harder, it will hit you harder, and provide a larger acceleration). Cool!

Physical exercise benefits cognition

In the spirit of the Olympics, a long-term study shows a significant cognitive benefit to those people who exercise regularly and maintain good physical fitness. Check out a summary article in Scientific American. The researchers admit that why this is true is not well understood, but some hypotheses are that the increased blood flow during exercise, which includes more oxygen to the brain, is a benefit to the brain and its cognitive power. A second possible reason is that during exercise, cells produce more mitochondria, which, if you remember your biology, is the energy plant of a cell. So even brain cells have more energy to use due to exercise. A third possibility is that increased heart rates increase neurogenesis, or the growth of more brain cells.

Wolfram Language Online

Check out Wolfram Language, which is a powerful, but 'simplified' way of programming. There is an online interactive book that will allow you to learn this way of programming, with numerous examples and exercises to try as you go. This looks very promising as I skim through it, so it may be the way to go if you want to learn a programming language...may be the easiest language yet, so let's find out!

Also can check out:
The Wolfram Programming Lab where you can open a notebook online, for free, and try Wolfram Language.
Mathematica Online if you want to check out what numerous colleges use for STEM coursework, research, and so on.

Israel showing how to do desalination on a massive scale

Just a few years ago, Israel was in its worst drought in some 900 years. Out of necessity, investments were made in desalination plants. Now, Israel has more clean, potable water than it needs! One 'trick' to get around bacteria that ere clogging the filter pores that captured larger salt molecules as water molecules passed through was to add in natural lava pieces that filter out bacteria prior to getting to the salt filters. Human ingenuity in action, as well as making use of natural solutions to modern problems. Check out an article here.

The hope for a new particle fizzles with more data

Out at CERN, the highest energy machine in human history (yes, it unfortunately outdoes what we had at Fermilab by several times now), a hope for a new, unpredicted particle seen in some of the data last year, has statistically gone away as new data runs have been added. This is a good example of how science works, where one does not just take some new little spike in a data set as a new discovery and, in this case, a sign for new physics beyond the Standard Model (which is the theory that explains and describes what we know about particles, matter, and forces).

Each branch of science has standards that must be met before one can claim a discovery, and in particle physics it is a '5-sigma rule' where there must be, effectively, small enough uncertainties that will allow a 1 in 3.5 million chance that the discovery is something other than what we think it is, i.e. a miniscule chance that the data are showing a fluke. I know about this firsthand when, back in grad school and on an experiment searching for the top quark, we had a mass peak but, due to the statistics of the data set, we only were in the 2 sigma or so range that this was the top quark. We felt pretty confident that it really was, since there were multiple checks and re-checks of the detector, software, and data quality, but we could not claim discovery - we instead published a paper on the 'evidence for the top quark.' It took another year of millions more collisions before we reached the 5-sigma standard, and then claimed discovery. I am glad to see these scientists are doing things the right way, and upon further review and new data, found out the peak seen earlier is apparently a statistical fluctuation.

See a Scientific American article here.