Friday, May 22, 2009

Dinosaur Escaped Downtown!

May 22, 8:00 a.m.

As the sun came up this morning over downtown Birmingham, it revealed that strange things had happened at McWane last night. Dinosaur tracks were discovered on the corner of 19th Street and 2nd Ave North. McWane Science Center Security Guard Tony Akins discovered tracks coming out of the museum onto 19th Street. “I was making my rounds, when I noticed the rather large, green footprints coming out of the door.” Despite the evidence that a dinosaur escaped from the museum last night, it was located back on the 2nd floor inside the Alabama Dinosaur exhibit when officials checked this morning.

Tim Ritchie, McWane Science Center President and CEO said, “We have no explanation for where the tracks came from, but we suspect it might have something to do with the opening of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in the IMAX® Dome Theater today.” McWane Science Center is asking media to alert the public about this strange occurrence. The center is requesting that the public come see Night at the Museum in the IMAX® (May 22 – June 23) and keep an eye on the exhibits in McWane’s museum this summer! McWane is also inviting the public to spend a night in the museum and find out what happens when the lights go out on May 30 & June 6.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Peering into the Universe

By Ben Moon, Space and Technology Director

The universe is well…huge. Mind bogglingly huge. So huge, it’s hard to grasp really how big it is. Let me try to put it into perspective.

Our sun is a medium sized star and it’s 93 million miles away. One million Earths could fit inside the sun. A medium sized star. Sunlight takes 8 minutes to get here.

The next closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, which is 4.2 light years away. That means it takes light from that star 4.2 years to reach us. If you owned a Millennium Falcon from Star Wars and engaged your light speed drive, it would take you over 4 years to reach Proxima Centauri!

That’s just the closest star. We live in a galaxy called the The Milky Way, and the next closest major galaxy, M31 a.k.a. the Andromeda Galaxy, is over 2 million light years away. That Millennium Falcon of yours traveling at the speed of light would take over 2 million years to reach the Andromeda Galaxy. To say that it’s REALLY far away would be supreme understatement.

That’s just the closest major galaxy. Currently the furthest known galaxy from us is on the other side of the known universe at 12.88 billion light years away. That means that it takes light from that galaxy 12.88 BILLION years to get here. Don’t forget, light is fast. Really fast. Like, 670,616,629 miles per hour fast.

So if there is intelligent life on other planets in other star systems, they won’t be traveling to good ol’ Earth any time soon, unless they’ve found a way to bend time and space in such a way as to teleport here. The “light-speed road” is a theoretically long and lonely one that they’d most likely not take. Nor would we.

So for now, we must be content with exploring our solar system and gazing through our light-gathering telescopes. Speaking of, astronauts just launched last week in what could be the last Space Shuttle mission ever. They went to repair the Hubble Space Telescope to extend its life for at least 5 more years. This may seem sad as Hubble has given us so many beautiful images and wonderful data over the years, but there are new telescopes being built and put into space which will continue Hubble’s trend of capturing our imaginations. You can find Hubble’s final farewell image from its decommissioned Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) here.
Here are a few of the new space telescopes that have recently launched or are planned for launch in the next 5 years:

The Kepler Telescope was successfully launched on March 6th this year on its mission to search out Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer or WISE will take nearly 1,500,000 pictures covering the entire sky as it orbits the earth from pole to pole after it launches in November this year.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide after it launches in 2014. The Herschel and Planck spacecrafts, which are European Space Agency missions with significant participation from NASA, hitched a ride together on an Ariane 5 rocket May 14th this year and will begin their separate, but ambitious missions to attempt to unveil the secrets of the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the universe.

Friday, May 15, 2009

WOW: All About Eels!

By Adele Fowler, World of Water Aquarist

Welcome back to the World of Water! Let’s head over to the Gulf Tank and answer a few questions about one of our most interesting animals: Buddy the eel! Buddy, a green moray eel, may look vicious and intimidating, but it is mostly just for show. He’s actually very tame, and loves having his back scratched!

Moray eels are remarkable animals and are not as dangerous as many people believe. In fact, in ancient times, eels were held in high regard. Julius Caesar once had six thousand morays on display at a party! Wealthy politicians used to decorate their pet eels with jewels. Their savage reputation may very likely come from one particular legend of a wealthy Roman who used to feed disobedient employees to his pet moray eels. In the present day, there have been very few instances where divers have been bitten, and in those cases, it was an accidental bite from human-initiated interaction. Morays are very shy and secretive, and would much rather flee than fight.

Another common misunderstanding is that the moray eel’s bite is poisonous. While they are not poisonous, morays can inflict a nasty bite, since their sharp teeth are covered with bacteria that may infect the wound. The only way that we could be poisoned by a moray eel is if we ate one. Eels, along with certain fish, can cause a bacterial infection known as ciguatera poisoning. Remember, Buddy doesn’t want to eat you and you don’t want to eat Buddy!

Moray eels are fish, and are found in the family Muraenidae, which is the family of “true eels.” There are 200 species in this family, and the average length of a moray eel is around five feet. The largest moray eel (the Giant Moray) can reach a length of up to 10 feet and weigh over 80 pounds! They are found in all tropical seas, and live in crevices in reefs, where they lie in wait for their prey, which consist of animals such as other fish, squid, octopuses, clams, and crustaceans. Their jaws and teeth are even specially adapted to eat these types of animals.

Moray eels have long, thin teeth, and the larger teeth are hinged to permit the smooth passage of prey into the stomach. The teeth also point backwards, so that when a moray catches its prey, it makes it more difficult for the animal to escape. They even have a SECOND set of jaws in the throat to aid in swallowing prey! These are known as pharyngeal jaws, and morays are the only type of animal that use them to actively capture and restrain prey. When feeding, morays launch these jaws into the mouth, where they are able to grab struggling prey and transport it into the throat and down to the rest of the digestive system. Eels are known as ambush predators- instead of actively searching for their prey, they lie in wait until a potential food item comes along, and then attack. Since eels can not see or hear very well, they rely mainly on their highly developed sense of smell to detect prey.

Our eel, Buddy, is almost 6 feet long and weighs about 65 pounds. We estimate him to be about 12 years old. Buddy may appear green, but believe or not, his skin is actually blue! Eels secrete a thick mucus over their skin, and the color of the mucus that is secreted over Buddy’s skin is yellow. And since yellow and blue mixed together make the color green, this is what gives Buddy his color! Buddy is nocturnal, meaning that he is most active at night, so you can normally find him napping during the day in the tank. The only time he will really come out during the day is at feeding time –he is trained to hand feed at the top of the tank. And everything that Buddy eats is carefully recorded.

If you have visited Buddy in the World of Water, something that you may have noticed is that he constantly opens and closes his mouth. While it may seem that he is being aggressive, it is actually his way of breathing! When he opens his mouth, he is actually passing water (and oxygen) over his gills. The water exits through two vent-like openings at the back of the head.

Next time you visit the World of Water, take a look at the Gulf Tank and try to spot Buddy. He is fed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 1:30, so come by and watch! The World of Water’s next blog, in honor of the new Shark and Ray Touch Tank, will be all about stingrays!

Contributor Profile:
Loretta and Adele's backgrounds are in the life sciences. They both love their jobs as well as all animals. Adele grew up here in Birmingham and is into yoga and gourmet cooking. Loretta grew up in Florida and just had her first child!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Wish for Fish

Make a donation today and help stock McWane Science Center’s all-new Shark & Ray Touch Tank, coming this July to our World of Water! An experience like no other in Alabama, our Shark & Ray Touch Tank promises hands-on interaction with sharks, rays and even guitarfish that will fascinate you and your family.

Ways to give the gift of fish:
1. Give on Facebook! http://apps.facebook.com/causes/283015
2. Give at our ticketing counter at McWane Science Center!
3. Give on our website! http://www.mcwane.org/pages/wishforfish

Thanks for your support, and may the fish be with you! :D

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Science of Golf

by Bob Levine, Exhibits Project ManagerOn May 23rd, little learners will be able to try their hand at our newest exhibit, Itty Bitty Mini Golf. In this pint-sized mini-golf course, our smallest visitors can practice their putting and learn their ABC’s on gigantic letters and numbers. While fun is the name of the game, there’s science behind every stroke…after all, this is the McWane Science Center.

Have you ever really thought about the physics of striking a golf ball? What seems like the simplest action in the world, hitting a ball towards a hole, is actually a complex chain reaction rife with scientific principles.

First, the eyes and brain perform intricate calculations as they size up the situation. How far is the hole? At what angle should I strike the ball? What is the grade of the putting surface? How hard should I hit the ball? All of these questions are estimated based on past experience, muscle memory, instinctive knowledge, and good, old-fashioned guesswork. The brain comes up with its best estimate and sends nerve impulses down the spinal cord and into the limbs.

In order for the limbs to function properly, the muscles must contract and extend, joints must twist and turn, oxygenated blood must pump through arteries, veins, and capillaries, and tendons and ligaments must stretch and bend. All of this requires energy which comes in the form of calories from the carbohydrates, protein, and fats contained in your food (hopefully from a healthy meal in our Smart Café!). Your body burns the appropriate amount of energy to perform the physical action dictated by your brain and, hopefully, your body responds in kind.

Energy in the form of force is transferred from the body’s core, into the arms, and down the shaft of the golf club into the club head. This force generates an impact with the golf ball. Newton’s first law of motion states that a body persists in a state of rest unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. In this case, the force of the club head impact serves as the external unbalanced force. Since a force is now acting on the ball, the ball responds to Newton’s second law of motion by accelerating relative to its mass.

The ball will continue to roll at a steady velocity forever if no other forces act upon it…but of course, this is never the case on Earth. In our mini-golf example, a number of forces will eventually stop the ball from moving. First, gravity is always acting on the ball, pulling straight down towards the Earth’s core. Second, the friction of the turf is always slowing the ball’s velocity as it travels. Third, the mini-golf holes are enclosed by barriers and the ball, if struck hard enough, will eventually ricochet off a wall which will change the ball’s vector. Of course, if you’re lucky and/or good, the forces you impart on the ball will keep it rolling until it comes to its final resting place at the bottom of the hole you were initially aiming for.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg! Every action we take, no matter how minor it seems, is brimming with science. Think about the physics, chemistry, and biology inherent in every step we take…every word we speak…everything we do! The world is full of scientific principles and the only way to truly understand them is to explore and learn!
Contributor Profile:
Bob Levine is the Exhibit Project Manager at McWane. He is an avid reader, history and film buff, mediocre guitarist, and die-hard Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots fan. He lives with his beautiful wife, newborn baby girl and their two rambunctious dogs, Abigail and Quincy.