My Science Mind

This video might be more for my students’ parents than for my students. However, I was thrilled to find it, and want to share it!

While researching biographical information on Isaac Newton, my students found conflicting dates for the scientist’s birth (December 25, 1642 and January 4, 1943). This is due to a difference in the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. At the time of Newton’s birth, England had not yet adopted the Gregorian calendar, so there is an “old” date for Newton’s birth and a “modern” date. (England changed calendars in 1752.)

Our modern western calendar seems like a fixed, unvarying system of measuring time, but it’s actually the result of lots of science and lots of tinkering. This great little video helps explain:

Some people think our calendar needs to be overhauled again. This article in Scientific American suggests the calendar could be revised to be more business-friendly.

While the miniature movie, “Dot,” is cute and engaging, the technology behind the film was developed to address serious medical needs. The CellScope’s inventor explains how the technology has been used to diagnose malaria. Malaria infects millions of people every year, killing close to a million of them. It is carried by mosquitoes. According to the World Health Organization, on the African continent, a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds.

The tiny little movie “Dot,” which is the world’s smallest stop-motion animation, is always a hit with my students when we begin to study microscopes. Here, Dot’s creators explain the process they used to make the minature film.