George’s Secret Key to the Universe Week 5

My favorite part this week was when Annie told George about the Great Red Spot! This is an amazing feature on the planet Jupiter. We all live in Missouri where we have lots of tornados, but the Great red spot is a tornado the size of TWO EARTHS and it NEVER goes away!! Can you believe that? That storm has been on Jupiter for hundreds, and maybe millions of years. What would it be like if we had storms like that on Earth? Can you imagine a storm that would cover the whole planet?!

Another part that I thought was interesting was when George talked about the protest marches his Dad made him go to. He called his Dad an eco-warrior because his Dad was trying to save the planet by stopping global warming. George thinks his Dad is weird for being an eco-warrior, but do you think Eric would think George’s Dad was weird? Would Eric want to save the Earth? Sometimes people think other people are weird, even though those people are doing the same thing they want to do, just in a different way. Do you think George’s Dad thinks Eric is weird?

Have a great week!

Jill

I really thought George and Annie were going to end up abandoned in outer space—good thing Eric came home just in time! Do you think the punishment given to Annie and George was fair? Now George is thinking of entering the science fair, and doing a presentation on the solar system—what are some unique things he might want to consider including in his project? And what about Eric’s plan to locate a new planet in case the Earth gets too hot? If you could design the perfect “replacement Earth” planet, what would you put on your planet?

Laurie Duncan

Education Director

George’s Secret Key to the Universe Week 4

Hello Everyone!

George had an amazing adventure this week riding a comet through the solar system! I wish I could do that, although I think it would be very scary too! Would you have jumped out into space with Annie? Comets are mysterious objects that come zooming in past the sun and then zoom back out to travel to the far reaches of our solar system. They are big balls of dirt and snow that melt as they get close to the sun. One comet even crashed into the planet Jupiter in 1994! There are many comets in our solar system – some of them come around quickly and others take hundreds of years. Have you ever heard of Haley’s Comet? It can be seen from Earth every 76 years – the next time will be in 2062. How old will you be that year? If you want to learn more about comets, look at the chart in chapter 11.

One planet that George saw on his amazing ride was the planet Saturn. Most people recognize Saturn because it has rings – thousands of rings. This makes Saturn look very different from the other planets in our solar system. Lots of movies and cartoons show people walking or driving on Saturn’s rings, but that would never work. The rings are made out of dust and gas and ice crystal – they are not solid!

Hope you enjoy the book!

Jill

George’s Secret Key to the Universe Week 3

This week’s chapters introduced the extreme temperatures out in space. The chart in Chapter 8 tells us that the moon gets much hotter and much colder than it ever gets here on Earth. Do you have a guess why that is? I knew that temperatures were extremely dangerous out in space, because our atmosphere here on Earth helps keep us about the same temperature all the time, but I didn’t know that it -454 degrees out in space! Do you think the astronauts are hot or cold when they go on their space walks? One other cool fact I know about temperature is that if you were to walk around on Mars, your feet would be hot, but your head would be freezing! I challenge you to find out which planet is the hottest and which one is the coldest!

In chapter 9 Cosmos mentions that Pluto is no longer a planet. You may have heard something about this in the news or at school. When I was a kid, I learned that Pluto was our 9^th planet. But over the last few years telescopes have gotten better, and now we can see that Pluto is not like the other planets. Look at the chart in Chapter 9 for more information about dwarf planets. We actually have at least 4 officially dwarf planets in our solar system now, including Pluto!

Keep Reading!

Jill

Wow—George has certainly gotten himself into trouble in these chapters! First he’s chased by the boys in his class, then he loses his house key while trying to escape, he almost gets beaten up, he’s rescued by “Astronaut Annie”….and he’s now jumped through a doorway leading to unknown territory in the Solar System! Was Annie telling the truth? Does she really go exploring the solar system on a regular basis? And what did Cosmos mean when he said “Don’t jump! It isn’t safe! Come ba-a-a-a-a-ck.”?

Laurie Duncan
Education Director

Fish Blog Installment 2

We have success! Within a week of putting the eggs in the nursery tank seven tiny fish have appeared! They are so small that they could easily be missed. They are only a couple millimeters long and mostly gray. Normally the fish develop inside the egg for a couple days then hatch and settle on the bottom where they absorb their yolk sac. A few days later they develop their air bladder and float to the top where they begin to search for food. All seven are swimming around and seem very healthy. I’m such a proud mama!

Currently they all look the same so there is no telling who the parents were. At the rate they are growing I think it will only take a couple months for them to show their phenotype. A phenotype is a term used for any characteristic or trait of the organism that can be observed. Furthermore, the phenotype is the result of the organism’s inherited genes. We have several different kinds of goldfish in our tank with different phenotypes. We have black fish with big eyes, little speckled ones with butterfly tails, and a few with big heads in all kinds of colors. In a few months we should be able to see these different characteristics in the baby fish and then we will be able to figure out which parent fish passed on their genes.

Laramie

Life Science Assistant

“Resident Fish Expert”

Tom Prater to Discuss Trek Tales

Discovery Center of Springfield invites you to an Evening Under the Stars. This special fund raising event will be held Saturday, June 13, 2009. This event will be held at Jude Ranch in Rogersville, Missouri and will include seated dinner, stargazing and Mt. Everest presentation by Dr. Tom Prater. For more information on this event contact Emily Fox at 417-862-9910 Ext. 700.

George’s Secret Key to the Universe Week 2

Hello Again!

I hope everyone is getting into the book because things are starting to get interesting. George was lucky enough to get to see the entire life cycle of a star on Cosmos. Did you know that stars are born, change over millions of years, and then die?! Not like something living of course, but they form out of clouds of gases and dust in space. Then they burn for as long as they have fuel, and then they go out – sometimes as a huge supernova explosion and sometimes just quietly shrinking as they lose energy. Even our sun, which is a small-to-medium sized star, will one day go out. Astronomers believe it was formed about 4.6 million years ago and it will eventually swell up into a red giant, then shrink and cool off until it goes out about 5 million years from now!

One of the things I thought was most interesting in this section of the book was the Oath of the Scientist in chapter 4. Reread it again quickly. Why do you think Cosmos wanted George to take this oath before he showed him the star? Do you agree with the oath? Would you have taken the oath if you were George? Should every scientist have to take this oath? Tell me what you think!

Until next week!

Jill

Laurie’s thoughts: In chapter 4, we’re introduced to Cosmos, the most powerful computer in the world. I wonder about this statement that he makes when first meeting George “I am (the most powerful computer in the world.) In the future, there will be computers more powerful than me. But there are none in the past or present.” How does Cosmos know what computers of the future will be like? How does anyone know? What do YOU think computers 50 years from now will look like? What will they be able to do?

In chapter 6, Dr. Reeper, George’s teacher, seems suspicious (not to mention VERY strict!) After confiscating George’s drawings from his universe exploration, Dr. Reeper didn’t seem too interested until George started to explain (hmmm—should he have done that? Didn’t he promise to keep Cosmos a secret?) This statement by Dr. Reeper was curious: “So it does work after all,” he half whispered to George. “And you’ve seen it. That’s amazing.” What does he know? How does he know it? Yikes! Back to the book so I can find out…..

Trek Tales with Dr. Tom Prater: Part 6

History of Trek Tales.

Hi from Lukla. A beautiful spring day for our 7 hour trek from Namche Bazaar. In the two weeks since we left Lukla the fields have turned green and the temperature has risen. We descended to 9200 ft before climbing up to the town (9800 ft) to spend our last night before flying to Kathmandu tomorrow. Tonight we'll say goodbye to our sirdar (head Sherpa) and his three assistants as well as our water boy and yak driver. We felt like we returned to civilization last night when we enjoyed a hot shower and flush toilets for the first time in too many days to count. Everyone feels a great sense of accomplishment and looks forward to the city tomorrow. It's nice to feel superhuman at this altitude with all the "extra" oxygen in the air; when we hit Kathmandu we may be unstoppable! All the physiological measurements show the wonderful effects of the decreased altitude - we can do our two minute step test without even breathing hard, dropping our oxygen saturation, or raising our pulse more than 20 points. It's my last note - hope you've been amused at our craziness! I leave Nepal at 3 pm Sat my time (2 am CST), fly thru New Dehli and Chicago, and hope to arrive Springfield at 10:30 Sunday morning. Ought to be quite chipper at work on Monday (hint-take care of me, team!) Tom

Fish Blog Installment 1

Here at the Discovery Center part of my job is to take care of all the critters in the Cruse Charitable Trust ChromoZone gallery. Every week I clean out a huge 75 gallon tank, home to a diverse population of goldfish.

I never knew goldfish could be so interesting; watching their behavior over this past year has sparked my curious mind. A couple months ago I noticed the fish chasing each other around for hours and some of the poor fish suffered for it, losing eyes and fins. Finally we had to separate them according to “bully” and “nonbully.” But I immediately go to the question of why? Why would they chase each other and why do some chase and some run? Well, come to find out it’s goldfish mating season and they all want to make babies like there’s no tomorrow.

After some research I decided I needed to set the mood so the goldfish could make the next generation. First things first, I put a divider in the tank and put males on one side and females on the other. The biggest difference between the two genders is the presence of little white bumps called tubercles found on the males’ gills and fins. The females do not have these bumps and additionally will have swollen abdomens. After all that tension had built up I let them chase freely. Typically, the male will chase the female around for several hours, nudging her abdomen until she squirts out her eggs. Normally she will lay her eggs on plants, but in this tank I constructed a “spawning mop” made of yarn to encourage the fish to lay their eggs on it so I could remove the eggs easily. A single female can lie up to a thousand eggs and will release them in batches, the first being the most fertile. Then the happy males will spray their sperm called milt on the eggs to fertilize them. The eggs must be removed soon after or else the fish will make a snack out of their progeny.

As an amateur fish breeder (in other words...first timer) this process has been very much a trial and error experience. I started out with putting 3 males and 2 fertile looking females in a smaller tank, but I think the new environment discouraged the fish from mating. After a disappointing week I decided to put all the fish back in the big tank with the spawning mop. The next day (Sunday, May 31) I found itty bitty eggs clinging to the yarn! So I pulled out the spawning mop and placed it in the smaller tank for some incubation time. The eggs look very clear which is a good sign of future survival. The eggs will hatch in approximately three days. So if all goes according to plan I’ll have some fish babies by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

Laramie

George’s Secret Key to the Universe Week 1

Welcome to our summer reading adventure in celebration of International Year of Astronomy! Join educator Jill Hodge and Director of Education, Laurie Duncan as they read George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. We will read three chapters each week, so be sure to log on every week to share your favorite parts and ask questions. Be sure to visit the links in the text for extra information!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Jill and I am the astronomy educator at the Discovery Center. I am really excited to talk with you about my favorite moments in George’s adventures, and to hear your ideas about the science in the book. In fact, did anyone try the experiment with the ruler and the water that Eric shows George in chapter 2? Did it work? George’s parents believe that science is bad, and that our scientific inventions only hurt us and our planet. But, Eric thinks science is wonderful and helpful. What do you think?

My favorite part so far was when George used Galileo’s telescope to look at the moon. I have a new telescope and my favorite thing to look at is the moon. I hope you noticed the cool scientific facts in the special box in chapter 3! Did you know that we always see the same side of the moon? Because of its synchronous rotation, we never get to see the far side of the moon, so NASA sent astronauts to take the picture you see here. The far side has many more craters than the side we see. Be sure to come to one of our star parties this year to get a chance to look at the moon through a telescope!

Keep Reading!

Jill

I too welcome you to our very first book blog! My name is Laurie, and I’m the Education Director at the Discovery Center. I’ll be asking you questions about the characters, the plot, new vocabulary, and how the story connects to your personal experiences. Here are three questions to think about:

1. “George….always liked to know why.” What are some of your favorite “why” questions to ask?

2. In chapter 1, George chooses to disobey his parents’ rule to never ever go Next Door. Do you agree or disagree with his decision? Have you ever had a time when you disobeyed something your parents told you to never ever do? What happened?

3. “Science is…about gaining knowledge through experience…” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not?

Trek Tales with Dr. Tom Prater: Part 5

History of Trek Tales.

Awoke to several inches of new snow this morning and hiked through heavy snow for several hours. As the bad weather is expected to last several days, the climbing teams have pulled people off Everest for rest and recuperation and may try to summit this weekend. After two days of trekking, we've descended to 14,600 ft and... we found OXYGEN!! What a difference - it's easy to climb stairs again. Tomorrow night we stay in the monastery at Tengboche, then two more nights out before the flight back to Kathmandu. Everyone is ready for a real bed and decent shower, not to mention some plumbing! Our group has tolerated the altitude and hiking well. Lots of card games and discussions have made up for the lack of TV. Still having fun!! Tom