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Science is Fun Fridays!

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  Boston University is a major hub for this rapidly growing field in biomedical engineering. Faculty there build molecular and photonic tools to study the brain; investigate the quantitative neurophysiology underlying brain and nervous system function; develop computational models that guide our understanding of brain function; work to understand and treat neurological disorders; and advance methods by which we can help repair the brain and restore neurological function. The Neurophotonics Center is driven by advances in optical methods, allowing for visualization of intracellular organelles and protein assemblies as well as noninvasive macroscopic investigation of cortical activity. Director David Boas, PhD, runs the Bio Optical and Acoustic Spectroscopy Lab. "Our technologies are used for measuring brain function and physiology on microscopic to macroscopic length scales and are applied in species ranging from mice to humans." The most prominent new technology is wearable f...
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Happy SKAlidaze!

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  Save Ferris!! They opened the show with a Kinks cover, but they have a couple seasonal songs of their own as well. But it wasn't all Christmas! Good times.
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Hump Day History

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  While the laureates were already revealed in  October , the actual ceremony is held today, including the very first, in 1901. So today's bits of history include a few mentions of past winners of the Peace Prize, including The Red Cross (1917), Woodrow Wilson (1920), and American diplomat Ralph Bunche (1950). But I wanted to look at 1903, when Marie and Pierre Curie won the Physics Prize for their work with radium.  I recently saw a post that mentioned her journals, which will remain radioactive for another 1,500 years. Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867, the daughter of a Physics teacher.  In 1891, she went to study in Paris.  She received a degree in physical sciences (1893) and mathematics (1894) before she met Pierre.  They were married in 1895. As a subject for her doctoral thesis, she began studying uranium.  She coined the term radioactivity, describing the phenomenon of radiation caused by atomic decay. Together, she and...
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Book Club - December

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  My agenda! I'm midway through Here One Moment.   I'm not exactly loving it, but I'm curious enough to keep going. I found The Absinthe Forger at the library -  A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World's Most Dangerous Spirit.  Sounds intriguing! And then, since the library did not have Book 3 of the Millennium Trilogy, I bought a copy from the second-hand store.  I'll see if I can donate it when I'm done. So what are you reading?
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Best Dressed - Week of December 8

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  Princess Catherine Zoe Saldana Ncuti Gatwa Chloe Grace Moretz Jennifer Lawrence Ariana DeBose Melissa McCarthy Toni Collette Sydney Sweeney
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Science is Fun Fridays!

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  China's "Great Green Wall" initiative is an effort to slow land degradation and climate change by planting trees and restoring grasslands. From 2001 to 2020, "they have actively restored thriving ecosystems, especially in the Loess Plateau.  This has also reactivated the water cycle." Evaporation removes water from surfaces and soils, while transpiration removes water that plants have absorbed from the soil.  Together, this is called evapotranspiration, and this fluctuates with plant cover, as well as water availability and solar energy. Increasing evapotranspiration, in turn, increases precipitation. These changes led to less fresh water in the eastern monsoon region, and increased water availability in the Tibetan Plateau. China's restoration accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area from 2000-2017.
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My Shots - Not Lost, Exploring

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 This is the very hot source of Paradise Valley Spring.  It appears to have dissolved a bit of the rock around it, here's from the other side. There was a pool set up but another couple was hanging out, so we decided to head back towards Kyle Hot Springs, where we enjoyed a lovely soak. But there were several people here too, so we decided to move along.  We chatted with a couple who had the "I'm not lost, I'm exploring" sticker that we identify STRONGLY with. Camping at Rye Patch.
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