Dan Shechtman Wins 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Israel Celebrates Its10th Nobel Laureate

In 1982, Dan Shechtman discovered the impossible, till then, quasiperiodic crystal structure characterized by a fivefold symmetry in contrast to the then prevailing classical crystallographic restriction theorem stating that a crystal can possess only two, three, four, and six-fold rotational symmetries. For this discovery Dan Shechtman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: In Which Temperature Do Crystals Grow Best?
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Junior High School
Year: 2000
Description: Crystals were grown in same size beakers and other conditions maintained the same for all experimental groups besides the temperature of the crystal growth environment (hot, cold, room temperature); after three days crystal growth was compared, graphed and tabulated.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/KaitlynS.html

Steve Jobs, father of the Macintosh PC, iPhone and iPad died this day (October 5, 2011)

Apple Remembering Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine if dangers of using a cell phone in a public place are similar to second-hand smoke.
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Equipment: spectrum analyzer, microwave signal generator, different cell phones
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: In this experiment was determined how much cell phone signals change over distance; results were graphed and tabulated; usage conclusions and recommendations were made for different mobile phones.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/petel3o/public_html/

Dan David, founder of the Dan David Prize, died today (6 September 2011)

The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of $1 million each awarded by the Dan David Foundation and Tel Aviv University to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the fields of science, technology, culture or social welfare. There are three prize categories - past, present and future. Prize laureates donate 10 percent of their prize money to outstanding doctoral students and researchers in their own field from around the world.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: AMPK and Cisplatin Resistance
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: High School, Grades 11-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: Grand Prize Winner, Google Global Science Fair 2011
Affiliation: Google Global Science Fair
Year: 2011
Techniques Used: Flow Cytometry, Microscopy, Western Blotting
Description: Ovarian cancer cells tend sometimes to develop resistance to the drug cisplatin used for chemotherapy. This invetigation provides proof that the enzyme AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) plays a role in the development of resistance to cisplatin.
Link: https://sites.google.com/site/ampkandcisplatinresistance/home

Japan 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami

The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami was caused by a 9.0-magnitude undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred 11 March, 2011. The epicenter was approximately 72 kilometers (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku.

The earthquake triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 29.6 m (97 ft) that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The Japanese National Police Agency has officially confirmed 11,362 deaths, 2,872 injured, and 16,290 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami caused extensive and severe structural damage in Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.

Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure. On 18 March, Yukiya Amano—the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency—described the crisis as "extremely serious." Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6 mi) radius of the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated. - Wikipedia

 

Yellowstone, the world's first national park, was established this day in 1872

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Model a geyser and determine the effect that depth has on timing of geyser eruption.
Subject: Geology
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 6-8
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: The mechanism consists of a boiling flask and a plastic container connected vertically by glass tubing. The flask is heated and after the geyser erupts it will reset itself by sucking the cool water from the plastic container, placed above, back into the flask, and the process starts again. Length of glass tubing is changed and the time between eruptions is recorded.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Geo_p040.shtml

 

Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was revealed to the world in 1997

Dolly (1996 – 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born on 5 July 1996 and she lived until the age of six. She has been called "the world's most famous sheep" by sources including BBC News and Scientific American. On 14 February 2003, Dolly was euthanised because she had a progressive lung disease and severe arthritis.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Welcome to the fascinatingworld of cloning
Subject: Biotechnology / Genetic Engineering
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair ($400)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: Clonings history, cloning techniques, benefits and negative sides. Biographies of three important scientists who contributed to the field.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/shah7a2/
 

Space Shuttle Columbia was lost, on this day, in 2003

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission.

The loss of Columbia was a result of damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam insulation the size of a small briefcase broke off the Space Shuttle external tank (the main propellant tank) under the aerodynamic forces of launch. The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the Shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS), which protects it from heat generated with the atmosphere during re-entry. While Columbia was still in orbit, some engineers suspected damage, but NASA managers limited the investigation, on the grounds that little could be done even if problems were found.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Is there life in outer space?
Subject: Space Exploration
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: life in space; the search for life in space; the debate on the existence of extra-terrestrial life; Panspermia (the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, and may be distributed to habitable bodies, in microbial form, by comets, meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids.).

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/back7n2/

 

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States, graduated on this day in 1849

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821 – 1910), born in Bristol, England, was the first female doctor in the United States. She was the first openly identified woman to graduate from medical school, a pioneer in educating women in medicine in the United States, and was prominent in the emerging women's rights movement.

She attended Geneva Medical College in New York. She was accepted there — supposedly because the faculty put it to a student vote, and the students thought her application was a hoax — and braved the prejudice of some of the professors and students to complete her training and graduated, on 23 January 1849.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Age and Gender on Human Blood Pressure
Subject: Medicine / human anatomy
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2002
Description: Subjects of different age and gender were tested for blood pressure; results tabulated, graphed and compared.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2002/KendraC.html