photography – Page 36

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June 9, 2012June 9, 2012

Happy Birthday to Donald, the Mathmagical Duck

On this day back in 1934, the world was introduced for the first time to Donald Fauntleroy Duck, when he made his first appearance in the cartoon “The Wise Little Hen”. The excitable, short-tempered but lovable duck went on to become one of the world’s favourite cartoon characters, and the de facto mascot for The Walt Disney Company.

So what does this have to do with science, you may ask? Well, Donald Duck often appeared in cartoons touching on traditionally non-cartoony subjects like politics, religion and, yes, science and mathematics.

mathmagic donald — Donald Duck is no stranger to the magical world of mathematics
(© All Rights Reserved)

In the 1959 cartoon “Donald in Mathmagic Land“, Donald accidentally stumbles into a magical land of mathematics – a land where trees have square roots, streams are filled with numbers, and a geometric bird recites the digits of Pi.

In the cartoon, Donald is shown that mathematics is not just for eggheads (his original opinion) and that it’s actually useful and even exciting. He meets, and plays some music with, Pythagoras and his secret band of Pythagorians, where he discovers that mathematics form the basis of musical scales. From Pythagoras he also receives a pentagram, through which he goes on to learn about the golden section and the golden rectangle, and how these appear in architecture (the Parthenon, etc) and art, such as the Mona Lisa.

Donald discovers that the golden section also shows itself in the human body and in nature, in flowers, plants and shells. He learns that mathematics even applies to sports and games, such as chess, baseball, basketball and billiards.

A cool bit of intertextuality in the cartoon comes through the inclusion of some themes from “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll, who was himself also a mathematician.

In this cartoon Donald Duck, and with him millions of children, are introduced to the wonders of mathematics in a fun and humorous way, and the cartoon closes with the wonderful Galileo quote:
“Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe”.

Here’s to you, Donald – Happy Birthday, you grumpy old duck!

June 8, 2012June 8, 2012

World Oceans Day

It’s World Oceans Day, our annual opportunity to honor the great oceans linking us all, to celebrate what the ocean provides humanity, and also to appreciate its intrinsic value.

The theme for World Oceans Day 2012 is Youth: the Next Wave for Change, which firstly acknowledges the role the youth plays in the future of the ocean, and secondly reiterates the importance of everyone playing their part in securing the future of the world’s oceans for our youth.

One of the initiatives undertaken as part of this day is “Wear Blue, Tell Two“, an information sharing initiative where everyone is urged to dress in blue and to share with those around us two facts about the protection of the world’s oceans.

So, to do my bit (yes, I’m wearing blue jeans and a blue sweater, I promise!) herewith my two messages about our oceans:

1) The havoc caused by climate change
The ocean absorbs the majority of the heat added to the earth through climate change, resulting in a warmer ocean, which negatively impacts on the coral ecosystem and affects the life cycles of many fish species. This warmer water also decreases upwelling, which means that less nutrients reach the surface water, harming many marine ecosystems. Furthermore, the Poles are melting at an alarming rate, affecting polar marine environments and causing the ocean levels to rise, resulting in the loss of critical coastal habitats. It is also estimated that 10% of the global human population lives below 10m above sea level, which means about 700 million people are directly threatened by a significantly rising sea level. Not a pretty picture… And we haven’t even touched on the impact of the chemical changes in the oceans as a result of increased atmospheric greenhouse gases, or the changes in the ocean currents and the effects this is having on the earth’s climate.
(Source: Five Effects of Climate Change on the Ocean, http://www.conservation.org)

2) What we can do to help
Despite the doom and gloom of my first message, all is not irretrievably lost. Each of us can contribute our little bit to help the environment. By merely living more socially responsibly (recycling, reusing, limiting our carbon footprint) we can help slow global warming, which directly impacts on the wellbeing of our oceans. And there are numerous local and international initiatives we can get involved in. For example:

Conservation International runs an initiative called “Save a Mile” where you can make a donation to support initiatives focused on ocean conservation
The World Oceans Day website hosts the “Blue Planeteer” awareness drive, where you can volunteer to perform simple online tasks, such as tweeting about World Oceans Day or emailing a blog.

These are just two small online examples – if you live near the sea your local aquarium or nature centre may well have their own initiatives going, so ask around and get involved.

So spread the word on World Ocean Day – wear blue and tell two!

June 7, 2012

Celebrating Edison’s light bulb

On this day, 120 years ago in 1892, Thomas Edison was granted a number of patents relating to electric lighting, including a “System of Electric Lighting”, an “Incandescent Electric Lamp”, a “System of Electrical Distribution” and an “Electric-Lighting System”. His initial design of the incandescent light bulb dates back even earlier, to 1879.

While inventions relating to the incandescent lamp had been suggested before Edison, his concept improved on previous attempts through the combination of three factors: a more effective and longer lasting filament, a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve, and a design that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.

An incandescent bulb works by heating a filament to a high enough temperature that it starts glowing. This is done by passing an electrical current through the filament. To keep the filament from oxidizing and “burning out”, it is isolated in an enclosure (the glass bulb) that either contains an inert gas, or is evacuated to create a vacuum.

The invention of the incandescent light bulb fundamentally changed the world, providing convenient and affordable lighting to the masses. While it has since been surpassed by newer and more efficient lighting technologies like compact fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), it still holds a place of prominence and importance within modern society.

June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

Transit of Venus – Italian style

As mentioned earlier, we had an overcast, rainy, blustery day here in New Zealand, with the sun hidden behind thick clouds the entire day. As a result the Transit of Venus sadly passed by without a single sighting.

Well, what can you do? So we decided to opt for the next best thing, and created our own version of the event…

pizza — The Transit of Venus – Italian style.
(© All Rights Reserved)

June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

The birth of the modern day washing detergent

So… What should today be celebrated for?

Apparently it’s Drive-In Movie Day in the US, celebrating the first drive-in movie theater opening in Camden New Jersey in 1933. Today is also the commemoration of D-Day, 1944, when Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France. Hmmm, well yes.

Perhaps most significantly, today is the Transit of Venus – a once in a lifetime (ok, twice-in-125-years, to be exact) event when Venus will be seen passing in orbit between the earth and the sun. Next time this will happen will be 2117, so it’s a pretty big deal, but unfortunately things are looking heavily overcast here in NZ, so I’m not holding my breath.

No, instead of drive-in movies, invading troops or passing planets, today I’m celebrating fresh, clean and stain-free clothes! Because today in 1907, Persil was introduced by Henkel & Cie as the first commercially available “self-activated” washing powder in the world. The term self-activated refers to the fact that it combined bleach and soap in a single powder.

washing line — Never take your clean, bright, stain-free washing for granted again – it took some clever chemistry more than 100 years ago to make it happen!
(© All Rights Reserved)

Interestingly, the name Persil comes from a combination of the two main chemical components in the detergent, namely sodium perborate (a bleaching agent) and silicate (a washing agent).

Before Persil came up with this innovative combination of bleach and soap, washing powder was really nothing more than crushed soap, which cleaned clothes but had little stain-removal effect. The sodium perborate in the new product oxygenated to form small bubbles that permeated the washing, and bleached out stains, replacing the earlier-used method of laying clothes out in the sun to bleach.

So not only did it save time, but also a lot of effort, making laundry day much less of a chore. And that must be worth celebrating!

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persil)

June 5, 2012June 6, 2012

World Environment Day

Today we celebrate World Environment Day, a global event initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote awareness regarding global environmental issues, and to create positive environmental action. Its a day for all people to join hands and start taking action to ensure a cleaner, greener, brighter future.

The 2012 theme for World Environment Day is Green Economy: Does it include you? In the first place, this is meant to raise general awareness of the concept of the “green economy”, and secondly to promote personal involvement in activities supporting a greener future. Simply stated, the green economy is one “whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services” (UNEP, 2012).

At a macro level, the green economy is about a move to more sustainable energy sources such as solar, water and wind energy, about infrastructure development promoting green buildings and clean transportation, about water and waste management, about big business investing in more sustainable business practices, and about sustainable job creation and poverty reduction.

While these are all critically important initiatives that need to be promoted and supported, it really does start with each of us, at an individual level, investing in a more environmentally aware lifestyle. Recycling household waste, doing your own composting, growing your own (organic) fruit and veges, conserving water and electricity, minimising waste, buying used products & buying bulk – these are all ways in which we can do our bit for a greener, healthier planet.

A green future — The green economy is all about preserving our natural heritage for future generations.
(© All Rights Reserved)

For more ideas on living responsibly, this How to be Green Guide is a nice place to start.

Enjoy the world, responsibly!

June 4, 2012June 6, 2012

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

Today is International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression – a stark reminder and acknowledgement of the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse.

child_violence — (© All Rights Reserved)

This day also celebrates the millions of individuals and organisations around the world, working to protect, preserve and promote the rights of children.

The ”Say Yes for Children” campaign, endorsed by almost 100 million people (from Nelson Mandela and Bill Gates to everyday people across the globe), identifies 10 positive actions to be taken to improve the lives of children:

1. Leave No Child Out
All forms of discrimination and exclusion against children must end.

2. Put Children First
It is the responsibility of everyone – governments, individuals, non-governmental organisations, religious groups, the private sector and children and adolescents themselves – to ensure that children’s rights are respected.

3. Care for Every Child
Ensure all children the best possible start in life.

4. Fight HIV/AIDS
Protect children and adolescents and their families.

5. Stop Harming and Exploiting Children
Violence and abuse must be stopped now. And the sexual and economic exploitation of children must end.

6. Listen to Children
Respect the rights of children and young people to express themselves and to participate in making the decisions that affect them.

7. Educate Every Child
Every child – all girls and boys – must be allowed to learn.

8. Protect Children from War
No child should experience the horrors of armed conflict.

9. Protect the Earth for Children
Safeguard the environment at global, national and local levels.

10. Fight Poverty
Invest in Children Invest in services that benefit the poorest children and their families, such as basic health care and primary education. Make the well-being of children a priority objective of debt relief programmes, development assistance and government spending.

[Quoted from the Unicef Say Yes for Children website.]

June 3, 2012June 6, 2012

Repeat Day Repeat

Today is Repeat Day. Today is Repeat Day. Yes, indeed, the 3rd of June is Repeat Day.

At the risk of repeating myself, I just wanted to let you know that today is Repeat Day.

So here’s hoping you have a happy Repeat Day! Repeat Day! Repeat Day!

campbells — 21st Century Campbell’s. Amazing to think, almost half a century after Andy Warhol did his original Campbell’s Soup Series, that Campbell’s Soup is still around, and the logo still looks exactly the same!
(© All Rights Reserved)

June 3, 2012June 6, 2012

Repeat Day

Today is Repeat Day. Today is Repeat Day. Yes, indeed, the 3rd of June is Repeat Day.

The joy of this day is that it gives you an opportunity to do things over and over without feeling guilty about it. You don’t have to stop after enjoying one piece of chocolate – you can do it all over again and have another! And those kisses for your loved ones? Repeat them – you know you want to!

Watties soupcans — What? Watties? Warhol? Finding inspiration in Andy Warhol’s classic repetitive pop art from the early 60’s.
(© All Rights Reserved)

Truth by repetition

Now the question is – is today really Repeat Day? One of the frustrating things about the Internet is that unproven, unsubstantiated statements are quickly accepted and repeated as “fact”. And as soon as enough sources have picked up on the statement, they start referencing each other, and this process of circular repetition makes it extremely difficult to determine the validity of a statement of fact.

To make matters worse, countless examples exist of sloppy journalism where journalists report on “facts” without proper research, through fear of missing a scoop. This allows Internet rumors to cross over to the traditional media, further aggravating the situation.

Truth through repetition is one of the big problems facing branches of science like Medicine, where literally millions of sites exist containing symptoms and cures for various ailments, and it is almost impossible to know which ones are based on scientific fact, and which are merely repeating unsubstantiated facts found on other sites.

As far as Repeat Day is concerned – try Googling it, and you’ll find dozens of sites referring to June 3 as Repeat Day, but I haven’t been able to find a single official source supporting the fact, so for all I know it’s just another “Internet Truth” started by a blogger somewhere in cyberspace. But luckily it can’t hurt to celebrate a day where you get to do fun things over and over again!

So here’s hoping you have a happy Repeat Day! Repeat Day! Repeat Day!

June 2, 2012June 6, 2012

It’s Drawing Day – time to get creative

Happy Drawing Day, everyone! (Or perhaps I should say Happy Pencil Day – there seems to be some disagreement on the correct title of this day.)

To participate is easy – simply grab a pencil and start drawing, and most importantly, share your artwork with as many as possible. And don’t fret if you think you’re not artistic – this day is not so much about great art as it is about nurturing your creative side, and about sharing.

You can share your doodles with friends, or you can even go global and upload your drawings on the Drawing Day website.

Come on, drop that daily chore, and get drawing – it’s good for your soul.

By the way (this is Sciencelens, after all), did you know that the “lead” inside a pencil that makes it write is not lead at all, but a mix of graphite (a type of carbon), clay, wax, and chemicals? Coloured pencils work the same, except that they have colour pigment added to the mix instead of graphite.

Pencils are manufactured by mixing ground graphite (or colour pigment), clay and water, and squeezing out this mixture into long spaghetti-like strings. These are cut into pencil lengths, baked, and then covered with a wax coating to make them write smoothly.

So how do they get them inside the wood? The wood around a pencil may look solid, making it appear as though a hole was drilled through the wood to insert the graphite, but that sounds like some extreme manufacturing. In fact, most wooden pencils are made from blocks of wood cut into slats. Grooves, half as deep as the graphite string, are cut into the slats, and the graphite strings are placed in these grooves. Another grooved slat is glued on top of the first, encasing the graphite in the wood. The slats are then cut into individual pencils, sanded and painted to give it the appearance of a solid structure.

Pencils are sharpened to reveal the graphite inside, and when you write, fiction causes a small amount of the graphite from the core of the pencil to be deposited on the paper, creating your images or words.