Unfold the Universe July 13, 2022

Wow- just wow. TODAY the first images from the James Webb telescope were revealed. Talk about the wonder of science. Check out my childhood crush, Carl Sagan narrating this trailer from beyond the grave to explain the most powerful telescope, a real life time machine that will show us the most crisp images of galaxies not even dreamed of in Star Trek. The origami telescope which folds up to open its cameras was launched into space serving as the Christmas star for the universe. (The telescope was launched Dec 25, 2021). Nasa uses infrared cameras that can penetrate the wavelengths of light and see through the gases of these galaxies that have traveled 300 million light years away.

“That was always out there,”

Jane Rigby, NASA NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center OPERATIONAL MANAGER

Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NIRCam

“It’s our world”

Neil degrasse tyson

Expand your mind with a GOOD book — My top science picks! September 12, 2012

One of my students today told me that one of her favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird was banned at YOKA.  Well, she was wrong about that, she probably just saw a wonderful display of important books put together by our amazing  librarian, Ms. Duff,  that at one time or another were banned in the United States.  This book is probably one of my all time favorite novels and was the one and only book written by the reclusive Harper Lee.  It opens a whole world of important topics like Justice, Racism, Mob Mentality, coming of age along with a whole host of other ideas.

I think that reading a variety of books including fiction, non-fiction will give you an idea on something you find amazing and for me one thing I think is so cool is SCIENCE.  Here are a few books I have read that make me think about science in a way no classes or school work ever did.  When you read a book, it is just you and the author having a conversation.  I have really gotten into reading books on tape, listening to them while I am in the car or on my headphones while I multi-task like walking my two crazy dogs (for another post) or take a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains.

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Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite books, I love to read and not just about science.  The Hunger Games Series was a current obsession even though I kind of I just hate President Snow and the Capital people.  Tell me what you are hooked on.

The Poetry of Science September 5, 2012

Today, it was announced that Los Angeles will be looking for its own poet laureate for our fair city.  Click on the link to see how to get involved.  Anyone can be nominated, you can even nominate yourself so dust off those old haiku’s or give us your vote for someone who will celebrate literacy, beauty and the power of word imagery.  But SCIENCE is the poetry of reality.  There is real beauty and order in science.  To quote one great poet on the subject…..

“Science and poetry go hand in hand in this respect at least‐‐‐they transform and illuminate the common, the near at hand. They show us the divine underfoot….The poets know that beauty and mystery lurk everywhere, and they bring the fact home to our emotions, while science brings it home to our understanding.”

‐‐‐John Burroughs

I love the following clip because it is not only beautiful but it will give you a tour guide  of all the most important scientist of the past 25 years.

Cosmic Question- What are we made of? August 25, 2012

One of the reasons I love science is that it answers all the big questions that often seem that are the same ones we all struggle to understand?  Where does life come from and where did the universe come from.  Where have we been and where are we going?    One of the major ROCK STARS of science right now is  Neil DeGrasse Tyson and he often tweets the great questions of the day include taking on the most explosive topic, CREATIONISM which I may or may not introduce to you at a later time.  One of my recent favorites is “if aliens did visit us, I’d be embarrassed to tell them we still dig up fossil fuels from the ground as a source of energy.”  He begs the question to think BIGGER, to think SMARTER. You too can follow him on twitter  @neiltyson.  To find out more about this cool cat who is the ultimate SCIENCE teacher, visit his web site http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/  or just start typing Neil into your google search and it probably will pop up as one of your first choices.

He is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. Since 2006 he has hosted the educational science television show NOVA scienceNOW on PBS and has been a frequent guest onThe Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy!. It was announced on August 5, 2011, that Tyson will be hosting a new sequel toCarl Sagan‘s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage television series.^{[2]     >>>>>>> source: Wikipedia} 

Who is Carl Sagan? August 21, 2012

Well, I am glad you asked.  One of my students recently reminded me that I must be older than I think I really am when she did not know who the Beatles were.  I mean I was actually a child of the 70’s.   I thought about the fact that despite the fact that you can practically find anything out about on any subject as long as you have an internet connection, and some cultural icons have no meaning if they are not reintroduced to the next generation.

This video clip is kind of mind-blowing, it really gives you an idea of why Carl Sagan was such a science icon, he really thought about the big questions of what is the universe and who are we.   Also, who doesn’t love a cool synthesized voice set to corny music?

Some things are timeless, like the Beatles,  I will post my favorite Beatles songs later…  But Carl Sagan and the great science fiction book CONTACT which became a cult film and precursor of all the ideas we have about Aliens and extraterrestrials. He was involved in all the U.S. Space missions as an advisor NASA from the very beginning.

Welcome to Ms. Geshke’s Science Hub

I invite you to explore the wonderful world of science.  Learning to use the scientific method will serve you throughout your life.  One of the most famous astronomers and writer of one of the all time classic science fiction novel, Contact, Carl Sagan said that science is a way of thinking.   The first step in the scientific method is to ask questions.  What great advice that is.  Being curious is the reason inventions have brought us from the stone age when tools were no more than a simple hand made ax.  So be curious, try to figure out how things work and then set out on your own experiments to understand your hunch.

Try to remember that sense of wonder.  What does it take to make you think, Wow…. I wonder what that is all about.  It could be anything from nature, to video games, to the human body, to outer space,  cooking, even blowing things up.  So come in, the water is fine, well at least I think it is.  I will get back to you on that after I check it out and you can do that though SCIENCE.