Plant A Sunflower & Help The Bees!

Most of us don't really consider how interconnected life is. Take the bee, for example. Most people don't think of bees as a particularly important part of our world. In fact, many of us probably consider the bee to be a nuisance...an insect to be avoided. If anything, we thank the bee for providing the world with honey. Of course, bee keepers and farmers know that bees are far more valuable to our world.

Consider this: it is estimated that appoximately one-third of the U.S. food supply - including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even almonds - depends on pollination from bees. Like ice cream? Did you know that about 40% of Haagen-Dazs' 60 flavors - such as strawberry, toasted pecan and banana split rely on the bee. Without bees, much of the food that we enjoy would very nearly disappear from the our local grocery store.

That being said, you may understand why beekeepers, farmers, scientists became very concerned when entire colonies or hives of bees began disappearing in late 2004. Beekeepers from around the world reported waking up to empty hives. The bees...gone! The phenomenon has come to be know as Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. Some researchers estimate that CCD accounted for the lost of 30% of the United States' managed bee colonies in 2007 and has wiped out more than half since first appearing in 2004.

So why are the bees disappearing? That, my friends, is the million dollar question. Researchers and agricultural experts are puzzled. Theories range from global warming to new diseases to the varroa mite, which feeds on honeybees.

In July 2007, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its CCD Action Plan. The plan outlines a strategy for addressing CCD. The four main components of the plan are:

1. survey and data collection;
2. analysis of samples;
3. hypothesis-driven research; and,
4. mitigation and preventative action.

Want to get involved in helping to understand CCD. Well, Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at San Francisco State University, has launched The Great Sunflower Project. It's a community science project which has a goal to look at the health of local bees and how one of their main activities, pollination, is being affected. The project is sending packets of sunflower seeds to people around the country. You plant the seeds in your garden (home, community, or school) and collect data on how many bees visit the flowers. That's a very simplified explanation of the project. You can get more information at the site. This is what I like about the project: It allows you and your children to learn a great deal about science (not to mention mathematics, social studies, language arts, etc) while participating in the creation of knowledge that is valuable to our world. Isn't that the goal of education?

Other Resources:
American Beekeepers Federation
National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) Article: Bee's Needs
USDA: Agricultural Research Service Video on CCD

Happy Pi Day!

That's right! Today, March 14 or 3.14 is Pi Day. A celebration of that mathematical constant that everybody loves...π...Pi! In addition to Pi Day, some also celebrate the Pi minute...March 14 at 1:59 PM (3.14159) and the Pi second...March 14 at 1:59:26 PM (3.1415926). The first Pi Day celebration, created by the Price of Pi Larry Shaw, was held at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1988. At the celebration, the Exploratorium staff and other participants marched around in a circle and then concluded the ceremony by munching on fruit pies (the Exploratorium now includes pizza pies in the celebration).

Interesting Pi Day facts:

• In addition to Pi Day, March 14th is also the birthday of Albert Einstein.
  
• Pi Day is celebrated in the online community, Second Life.
• Pi Approximation Day is also celebrated on: July 22 (22/7), November 10 (usually the 314th day of the year), December 21 at 1:13 PM (usually the 355 day of the year at 1:13 PM for the Chinese approximation 355/113)
• March 14, 1916 (3/14/16 in American date format) is the closest approximation of pi in the last century.
• The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.

In addition to Pi Day, there is also Mole Day, Towel Day and Square Root Days. All of these can be found on the Science Stuff Calendar (you can subscribe through Google Calendar). I hope you and your children have a wonderful Pi Day!

Introducing The WorldWide Telescope

For many teachers, the solar system is a challenging and often confusing topic to teach to students. It is often difficult for students to visualize the orbits and revolutions of celestial bodies or wrap their minds around the idea of a red dwarfs, nebulae, black holes, or the immense dimensions of our universe. Well, never fear. Help is on the way. In a presentation at this year's TechFest, Microsoft Research introduced the world to the WorldWide Telescope (WWT)!

The World Wide Telescope is a web application that merges high resolution images from some of the world's major telescopes (including radio and orbital telesopes). With the help of a mouse, users can explore the mysteries of the known universe from their desktop. The technology lets people pan across the universe, zero in on the Big Dipper, zoom in on Mars, or race back in time to the emergence of the first galaxies. You can also use the WWT to call up data or stories related to the objects you are viewing online.

In a world where students confuse rotation for revolution or misunderstand the reasons for the seasons, the WWT promises to be a useful tool for the classroom. According to astronomer and science educator, Roy Gould:

"This new resource will change the way we do astronomy...the way we teach astronomy....and, most importantly, I think it's going to change the way we see ourselves in the universe."

Microsoft has created a website for the poject (www.worldwidetelescope.org), but the free technology won't be available until sometime this spring. However, if you would like to learn more about the WWT, click on the video at the top of this entry to watch Roy Gould and Microsoft's Curtis Wong present a sneak preview of the technology.