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Nov 22

2007

0

Biology, History, Humor, Movies, Science

Allosaurus dinosaur fingers theropod Tyrannosaurus

How Many Dino Fingers Do You See?

My son Alton is interested in dinosaurs, so he is starting to collect various dinosaur toys. Needless to say, as far as accurate representations go, most of them are far from being museum-quality models. But as a father I am fine with that; after all, they are toys.

However, there is one pet peeve that I just can’t leave alone and that is the gross misidentification of the large theropods. Never mind that there are several dozen kinds of them and that they lived in different times across a span of 150 million years, the most popular one has got to be Tyrannosaurus.

Now, out of my son’s dinosaur toy collection, he has five large theropods and they are all pretty much unidentified save one. That one is the one from Toy Story and his name is Rex. And, of course, he is supposed to be Tyrannosaurus rex. But is he really?

No, he is not. Rex is not a Tyrannosaurus rex because each of his hands has three fingers. Tyrannosaurus had only two fingers on each hand.

So I decided to play a game with Alton called Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus? Now, I realize that Allosaurus lived in the Late Jurassic (about 150 million years ago) and that Tyrannosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago) and was heavier, but they are both roughly the same size and body type.

Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus?
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Three fingers. Allosaurus.

Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus?
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Three fingers. Allosaurus (even though his name is Rex).

Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus?
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Two fingers. Tyrannosaurus.

Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus?
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Two fingers, again. Tyrannosaurus.

Tyrannosaurus or Allosaurus?
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Three fingers. Another Allosaurus.

If you are interested in additional information about dinosaurs, the Natural History Museum in London has a wonderful dinosaur website.

Oct 14

2007

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Anatomy & Physiology, Art, Biology, Chemistry, History, Physics, Science

Aeneid Alfred Nobel chemistry Erik Lindberg Latin medicine physics physiology prize Sweden Vergil

Nobel Prize 2007

"Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."

“Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”

The 2007 Nobel Prize awards for chemistry, physiology or medicine, and physics were recently announced as they are every year at around this time.

As I mentioned in last year’s post, the Nobel Prize awards were established in 1895 according to the will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel and endowed by his estate. Other than the three natural science awards, Alfred also wanted awards for literature and peace. All five Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901. In 1968, Sweden’s central bank established and endowed the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their 300th anniversary. This prize for economics in honor of Alfred Nobel was first awarded the following year.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences grants the prizes for chemistry and physics (and economics), while the Karolinska Institute grants the prize for physiology or medicine.

The Nobel Prize awards are presented in Stockholm, Sweden (except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo, Norway) every year on December 10, which is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

The Nobel Prize science medals were designed by Swedish engraver Erik Lindberg in 1902. The Latin inscription on the medals is

Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes

and can be translated as And all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair. The inscription is from Book 6, line 663 of Vergil’s Aeneid:

And poets, of whom the true-inspired song deserved Apollo’s name;
and all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair;
(translation by Theodore C. Williams)

For the chemistry and physics medals, Erik Lindberg chose to show Nature being unveiled by the Genius of Science. For the medal for physiology or medicine, Erik chose to show the Genius of Medicine gathering water to quench the thirst of a sick child.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Chemistry: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is awarded to Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society scientist Gerhard Ertl for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physiology or Medicine: Genius of Medicine quenching the thirst of the Ill

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientist Mario Capecchi, Cardiff University scientist Sir Martin Evans, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientist Oliver Smithies for their discoveries of the principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physics: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to both Université Paris-Sud in Orsay professor Albert Fert and Jülich Research Center scientist Peter Grünberg for their discovery of giant magnetoresistance.

Jul 13

2007

0

History, Map, Science

Canyon Lake Gorge flood fossils geology limestone Texas

Canyon Lake Gorge

We took a day trip to Canyon Lake Gorge in Comal County.

It is a gorge that was formed in 2002 when the Guadalupe River flooded and spilled over the Canyon Lake reservoir dam and carved through the Glen Rose limestone bedrock. The gorge is around 1.6 km long and 15 m deep. It exposes rock strata that are about 100 million years old. Some fossils present are bivalves (Arctica sp.), gastropods (Tylostoma sp.), urchins (Heteraster sp.), and forams (Orbitolina texana). Also present are dinosaur tracks of acrocanthosaurus and its sauropod prey.

A local group formed the Gorge Preservation Society to develop long-term plans in partnership with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Public access to the gorge is restricted to guided tours during a three-hour hike along a designated route, so we just looked around and had a lovely picnic in the nearby park.

The photo below was taken in the Guadalupe River basin on Scarbourough. The view is looking west towards the South Access Road and the gorge beyond.
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The photo below was taken on the South Access Road. The view is looking west inside the gorge and towards the Canyon Lake reservoir beyond.
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The photo below was also taken on the South Access Road looking west inside the gorge. Notice the transformation of the Guadalupe River basin landscape into a steep bedrock limestone canyon. During the 2002 flood, sediment-loaded water moved massive boulders and sculpted the gorge walls into several channels, terraces, pools, waterfalls, and teardrop-shaped islands.
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The photo below was taken on the Corps of Engineers Road looking south. The gorge is to the left of the photograph and travels east for about 1.6 km towards the South Access Road. The Canyon Lake reservoir is to the right of the photograph.
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The photo below was also taken on the Corps of Engineers Road but looking east into the gorge. It was here where the Guadalupe River floodwaters went over the Canyon Lake reservoir spillway and carved out the gorge.
IMG_1112
The photo below was taken on the Corps of Engineers Road looking north towards North Park Road. The Canyon Lake reservoir is to the left and the gorge is behind the viewer.
IMG_1116
The photo below was taken on the Corps of Engineers Road looking west towards the South Access Road and the Canyon Lake reservoir dam beyond. North Park Road is on top of the dam. The gorge is to the left of and beyond the photograph.
IMG_1122

Jul 07

2007

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Education, History, Technology, Video

Did You Know? 2.0 Karl Fisch school Scott McLeod teaching vision XPLANE

Did You Know? 2.0

Here is the official update to the original “Shift Happens” video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, which includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions, and a fresh design from XPLANE.

The video resulted from a presentation given at a faculty meeting for the beginning of the school year at Arapahoe High School in Colorado. Such faculty meetings are usually where updates are given on what’s new with technology and what teachers need to know to get the year started. This presentation was different from the usual topics in that it focused on a vision of where educators should be headed with teaching.

Mar 18

2007

0

Computers, Education, History, Technology, Video

Kevin Kelly Machine Is Us/ing Us Michael Wesch Tim Berners-Lee Tim O'Reilly We Are The Web web 2.0 Wired

Web 2.0 Welcome To The Machine

Oldest Website

Oldest Website was Tim Berners-Lee’s Website at CERN

It’s been about 17 years since Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web while working at CERN and about 12 years since Marc Andreessen developed Netscape Navigator.

The Web has, for the most part, followed the path of every other breakthrough in communications technology: copy the conventions of the previous leading technology before exploring the innovations that make the new one unique, e.g., early radio programs sounded like people reading aloud from books and early television programs looked like theater plays. Early websites looked like pages out of a notebook or a magazine. Usually, we had to wait until the new technology reached a stage where it gained enough infrastructure in order to enjoy its full potential.

Hopefully, the Web has reached that stage in its development, a stage that Tim O’Reilly calls Web 2.0. Instead of passively reading someone else’s notebook or magazine, a Web 2.0 site may allow us to interact and collaborate with each other and create content in a virtual community.

Michael Wesch's video The Machine Is Us/ing Us

Michael Wesch’s video The Machine Is Us/ing Us

Kansas State University professor Michael Wesch created a video for his students that illustrates these Web 2.0 ideas using the very tools that he talks about. Towards the end of the video, Professor Wesch raises some important thoughts about how advances in technology might effect us as we rethink such concepts as identity, ethics, privacy, and copyright.

Incidentally, the article that briefly shows up in Dr. Wesch’s video is by editor and writer Kevin Kelly and is about the development of a global brain. The article is We Are The Web and appeared in Wired magazine.