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A place to share questions and comments about Science at ATA. In our monthly SINS (Science In the News) Students review a piece of media (newspaper, magazine, radio, T.V., Internet). Then share and discuss. Brief Synopses of our Labs will also be posted here. Feel free to comment! :-)
6 comments:
An interesting article called “Physicists Say New World Cup Soccer Ball Design Has Big Impact” on National Geographic by Rose Eveleth on May 29, 2014 explained the influentiality of the construction of the 2014 World Cup soccer ball. Ever since the 2006 World Cup, Adidas has designed a ball that differed from the traditional 32-panel black and white one. The Adidas Teamgeist ball, made of only fourteen panels, was used in the 2006 World Cup and was designed to eliminate excess panels and reduce drag. In the later world cups, 2010, and 2014, the Jabulani Ball, and the Brazuca had even less panels. However, the eight sided Jabulani had some problems; because of the orientation of the panels, the ball would spin differently depending on the direction it was hit. That is why this year, in the World Cup in Brazil, a new ball has been designed with small nubs, to avoid the previously problematic “knuckling effect”. These nubs provide a smooth airflow around the ball from almost any angle.
The revolutionary Brazuca will provide a stable, reliable ball that will make the world cup a fairer, less sporadic competition. The World Cup is such a global event, and since we only have the pleasure of it every four years, we should capitalize on consistency of play.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140529-world-cup-soccer-brazuca-physics-jabulani-sports/
Science In the News
By Jshauna Tilton
In the article “Talking to your car is often distracting”, published on 10/7/14, at sciencedaily.com, written by “universities, journals, and other organizations”,
the University of Utah conducted a study. It was sponsored by the American Automobile Association, and determined whether it was distracting to speak to “hands-free, voice controlled, automobile infotainment systems” while driving. Researchers hooked up monitors watching the road and the person while they were using a hands-free device, a tester took the data and made sure everyone stayed safe.
Overall, they found that it was extremely distracting. The distraction level of asking the car to turn up the heat or put on the air conditioning was at 1.88, while the distraction level of operating siri was 4.14. This was a major increase, which just goes to show just how distracting hands-free systems really are.
This article is important for everyone who drives because if things are distracting you while you drive, it can cause safety hazards for people, animals, and other things around you.
In recent years a new phenomena has arisen around the polar ice caps. As first written in a Discover Magazine article by Carl Engelking on 10/1/14(Antarctic Ice Melt is Changing Earth’s Gravity), reportedly, the Antarctic ice sheets have lost so much ice to climate change that the gravity around the area has begun to dip. This was decided from data from the European Space agency. Using satellites that can measure the Earth’s gravity they successfully that there is a change in gravity in the area. While it is a small fluctuation, it is further proof that climate change is, well changing our climate.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/10/01/antarctic-ice-melt-changing-earths-gravity/
In Alla Y Karpova’s article, “Strategic or random? How the brain chooses” on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute website, she describes that rats can temporarily disconnect their memory and decision making centers. Rats were put in a game against a computer where they had to repeatedly go into two rooms, one of which had food in it. When they could find the pattern, they followed it, but when the computer was too complex, the brain went into random mode. The condition of a brain in random mode was similar to the human mental condition, learned helplessness, which means that humans could be able to enter this state, this information could also help find a cure for this condition. Random decisions can be helpful if an animal has to move chaotically to escape a predator, or if it has to explore a new place. They sometimes were stuck in this state, but this could be corrected with the chemical norephedrine.
http://www.hhmi.org/news/strategic-or-random-how-brain-chooses
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