Millipede's Shadow Jogging. #millipede #shadow #jogging Https://www.instagram.com/p/B1honV7h3Ih/?igshid=z0ing5x4qv21

Feel the Groovy Love - 50% OFF "Fly With Me" Single Box! Give your STEM Friends a groovy heads up: 1.) ❤ this post 2.) TAG a #STEMist. 3.) SHARE this post and the groovy love! Go to "Single Boxes" on our website, click the "Fly With Me" groovy box then USE CODE: FLY50 at checkout and take flight... Hands-on Next Generation Science Standards, project-based learning. #STEMists do the "E" in #STEM! Engineering Design Challenge in every groovy box! #NationOfMakers #STEMforKids #STEMEducation #STEMEd #ProjectBasedLearning #PBLChat #PBL #scichat #scied #sciafterschool #engineeringeducation #STEMtastic #unschooling #ElemEd #EdChat #STEMChat #homeschoolscience #instascience #STEMChallenge #NGSS #MakerEd #MakerSpace #EngineeringDesignProcess #GroovyLabInABox #GroovyLab #futureengineer #futurescientist

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 Celebrating the Higgs boson and field surrounding you, me, the entire universe! Congratulations to François Englert and Peter W. Higgs (of Univ. of Edinburgh!) "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider" Music & editing by melodysheep@musicalscience symphonyofscience.com youtube.com/melodysheep http://bit.ly/15YVceW

🍂 Crisp cool weather, spice-scented rooms, and fun fall-related #STEMactivities are a sure sign of #autumn. Here's a Lesson in The #MetricSystem 📐 On The Groovy Blog: https://www.groovylabinabox.com/5-groovy-fall-related-stem-projects/ 🍂 #autumnvibes #pumpkin #autumncolors #pumpkinspice #autumnleaves #autumncolors #pumpkins #pumpkinspice #pumpkinpatch https://www.instagram.com/p/B2w61iJhrNC/?igshid=efoa3x4wymzg

A hypothesized mechanism for the origin of life, an event called abiogenesis.  In this version, called RNA world, small molecules called nucleotides formed in the waters of the early Earth during the Hadean Eon, and polymerized on the surface of clay minerals.  These simple chains of RNA could replicate themselves in solution, but only slowly and inaccurately.  An RNA molecule developed which would fold into a structure that catalyzed RNA polymerization; a ribozyme.  The first ribozymes would replicate their sister strands, and produce copies of themselves and other RNA molecules. 

     In the same environment, long chains of carbon molecules called phospholipids were formed.  These molecules have two parts, the tail, which is hydrophobic, and the head, which is hydrophillic.  Because of these properties phospholipids will stick together and form micelles and vesicles in water.  Vesicles can absorb RNA nucleotides, concentrating them and creating a space where they can replicate, mutate and evolve.  At some point a ribozyme became enclosed within a vesicle, starting a chain reaction that evolved into the multitude of biological forms that we see today.

   Because this event occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago, theories about how and where it happened are highly speculative.  Possible environments for abiogensis include hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, hyper saline bubbles of water trapped in ice, radioactive lakes or lagoons on earths surface, and even in space or on another planet, brought to earth through a panspermia event.  We have very little molecular evidence of the first cells, but ribozymes and catalytic RNA molecules are embedded in the DNA replication machinery of all life.  Because evidence of this event has almost certainly been lost to time, the true mechanisms of the origin of life may remain a mystery to science.

Scientists in Switzerland use sound waves to levitate, manipulate matter. http://bit.ly/15z86Ro As anyone with a subwoofer and a teenager knows, sound waves exert pressure. When those waves are bounced between carefully aligned surfaces, they can create what is known as a standing wave, in which the total pressure from the original wave and its reflection cancel each other out. Objects placed at spots along the wave with the lowest amplitude, known as node points, tend to stay put. Being able to manipulated matter without touching it promises a wealth of applications, from material sciences to biology. For instance nucleic acids can be introduced into cells – a process known as DNA transfection – without fear of contamination."You can basically play with cells in a droplet," says Foresti While commuting via acoustically levitated skateboards may be far off in the future, Foresti says that he hopes that other researchers will soon find novel uses for his method. Video: Acoustophoretic Waltz Sodium and water dance a Waltz. http://bit.ly/14uqRsq Courtesy: Dr. Daniele Foresti http://bit.ly/15z96VB Meet our heros: http://bit.ly/15z9inT

HAPPY #PALINDROME WEEK! The next 10 days are #palindromes, meaning the date reads the same backward as forward. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2QcPnPhK94/?igshid=1nnnlp5vj9b0m

View launch WEBCAST: Countdown to First Virginia Coast Launch of LADEE to the Moon Webcast: http://bit.ly/1dDZEpv NASA is making final preparations to launch a Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Follow LADEE's latest news at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility: http://1.usa.gov/1dDZQVG

Scientists have started to study how dogs take emotional cues from human voices. According to the head researcher: "We’d put an experienced dog up in the scanner, and he’d be up there sitting still. Then we’d bring into the room a less experienced dog. And he’d get so jealous! He just wanted to be on the scanner bed like the other dog. It became the place of happiness."

Photos Courtesy of Borbala Ferenczy and Eniko Kubinyi

Diagram adapted from “Voice-Sensitive Regions in the Dog and Human Brain Are Revealed by Comparative fMRI" by Attila Andics et al.

#STEMists https://www.instagram.com/p/B46PbYEIIWg/?igshid=ffv23iv2ufgj