Got Science?

I was just watching Bill Nye on the news, talking about the Gulf oil spill, and he started talking about how we need more of America's youth to go into concrete science, rather than economics or banking or whatnot. And so, I decided that now is a good time to truly discuss what the question box is about, as its purpose, I feel, is beginning to drown amongst the goodie bags, extra credit, and other frilly stuff.

The Question Box wasn't meant as a way for me to get rid of all of my Halloween candy, even if that's what it seems. Nor was it meant as a quick and easy way to boost your grades. It isn't even about the ultra-cool bulletin board that is now wallpapered in pictures and articles. It's about getting you interested in science, and hopefully swaying some of you to pursue science careers in the future. Science isn't boring, even if you fall asleep in science class. It's the field of curiosity, where you think of questions- and try to answer them. It's the field of creation, where our techno-people think of neat gadgets like the iPhone for the rest of us to enjoy. It's the field of solutions, where our greatest minds try to solve the problems of today, like BP's oil spill. I'm not saying that you have to become a scientist or engineer, but that it's not as boring as you think. In fact, here's how E. Robert Schulman put the purpose of science in his comical How to Write a Scientific Paper:

The purpose of science is to get paid for doing fun stuff if you're not a good enough programmer to write computer games for a living (Schulman et al. 1991).

While it's meant to be a joke, that's what scientists do: they research "stuff" that they want to find out, and they get paid for doing it. Just watch the Discovery Channel. Those people are getting paid for living an adventure! No one is more fun, or funny than the Myth Busters and all they do all day is experiment. Having someone pay you to sit around and ask questions is a wonderful career. Want to know why clouds break up? Or why people have a tendency to eat the ears off of marshmallow peeps first? Scientists are the ones who get paid to find the answer: they research the topic, come up with a guess to the answer, and try out their guess in a made up scenario, an experiment. Then, they try to figure out what just happened and whether or not they were right. But you don't need me to tell you this, this is what every science teacher is telling you! Hypothesis: I think people like to eat the ears of marshmallow peeps. Observation: watching people vote on my marshmallow peep poll. Data: The results of my poll (scroll down to see). Conclusion: it's either always or never, but rarely in between. This is what science teachers are constantly telling you, but it's simpler than they make it seem (sorry Sunnyd). This big vocabulary, observation, analysis, etc. is scaring people away from science, if you ask me. And that's what the question box is about: going back to the root of science so that we don't forget the essence of it. It's here to remind you that science is an explanation for simple things in life, facts about our world. And when we put facts together, we come up with all sorts of interesting stuff: the same concept of "convection" that makes the Earth's surface move makes our jello turn solid and makes heating up a house with an oven highly ineffective (Trust me, don't try it. It could cause your oven to break, like ours did). The same concept of gravity that makes the moon go 'round our heads makes apples fall to the ground. And when we try to use these concepts for ourselves, we make life easier: a fan helps cool your jello dessert in time for dinner, a fireplace heats up your house quickly and effectively (relatively speaking), gravity makes bungee jumping all the more thrilling... This is what science is about. And it is ultra-important to your life, my life, and the development of mankind.

That's also why you should do your science homework. :)

Tired out, are you? I'll keep the answer to this week's question brief, because I need to do my homework and I'm sure you do too. We need to sit upright on roller coasters because of G-forces. If we don't, all these G-forces won't be distributed evenly and parts of us would feel heavier than others. I'll come back to this topic later (hopefully) because I need to do more reading. Here are some links about roller coasters:http://www.rollercoasterking.com/thrill-experience/http://www.themeparkinsider.com/safety/http://fun.familyeducation.com/summer/safety/35168.htmlhttp://cec.chebucto.org/Co-Phys.html  And thanks to njguy for the neat video. I don't think I'll ever go on Kingda Ka- way too scary for me.

By the way, if you'd like to comment on anything, feel free to do so.