Happy Birthday to Us... Almost

By Claire Eamer

Last week, I was delving around in old Sci/Why blog posts, looking for a dinosaur photo to illustrate L. E. Carmichael's post on the enormous Tyrannosaurus rex unearthed in southern Saskatchewan, Move Over SUE, There's a New T. rex in Town. A few years ago, I had visited the fossil's home museum in Eastend, a small town set among the low, rolling hills of southwestern Saskatchewan's shortgrass prairie. I knew I had written a blog post about it, but I couldn't remember when.

Well, I found it. And it was longer ago than I realized. In fact, that post, Seeing the Real McCoy... er, McDino, appeared in Sci/Why's first summer, 2011. I also realized we're about to have a birthday. Sci/Why was launched in April 2011. We're about to turn eight years old! There should be cake, shouldn't there?

Not many blogs will show you this, but Sci/Why will. That is dinosaur poo!
Specifically, it's fossilized T.rex poo -- a coprolite, in polite company -- and it's the
first T.rex coprolite ever found. Here it rests safe in a display case at the museum
in Eastend, Saskatchewan. Claire Eamer photo 

The website intro (just over there on the right and up a bit) credits me with the idea for Sci/Why, but the truth is, it started because I'm lazy. A handful of us kids' science writers were at a conference when one of us said, "I think someone should set up a blog about Canadian science writing for kids." Because, you see, there's a lot of it, and it's actually very good. But a blog sounded like a lot of work -- and I'm definitely not in favour of a lot of work -- so I said, as quickly as possible, "Group blog. It should be a group blog!" (You see what I did there, eh? It's the Tom Sawyer you-will-love-painting-this-fence-for-me thing.)

And we did. And it's still going. What you are reading right now is Sci/Why blog post #436. As I write this, our all-time total page views number 436,724.

Want a few more stats? Of course you do!

Our most popular column ever, which also came out that first summer, is How big can an earthquake be? by Craig Saunders. So far it has garnered 40,586 page views, and it's in the top five columns almost every week -- especially if there are earthquakes in the news.

Another biggie from that first year is Joan Marie Galat's post, Why constellations and astronomy are important, from October 20, 2011. It has received 19,885 page views (as of this moment), and it too shows up regularly in the top five.

Both those posts address topics that turn up again and again in the news and in the school curriculum. But Shar Levine's piece on the Eleanor of Aquitaine Sundial is a bit more off the beaten track. Still, it has earned 9,393 page views and counting. And Helaine Becker's rant about American children's publishers shying away from the topic of evolution, A Call to Arms -- and Flippers, Too, has almost as many page views. In fairness, Helaine in full rant is always entertaining.

The big hitters in the page-view stats are the older columns, since they've had time to be discovered again and again. But some of our more recent posts are doing very well indeed. Adrienne Montgomerie's Iceman CSI: Tales from a 5300-year-old man, which dates from October 2016, has more than 2000 page views. So do several of Jan Thornhill's immaculately researched and beautifully illustrated posts. Check out her Colourful Wood: Spalting Fungi from last year to see what I mean.

Over the past eight years, we've had writers come and go as their interests and time constraints changed. Usually there are about eight or nine regular contributors, and a few more people who send in a blog post when they have time. We try to update the blog every Friday -- but we remind ourselves that the world won't end because we've missed a Friday. This should be fun -- for us and for you. We hope it is and continues to be. Happy Blog Birthday to all of us!

Yours fondly, Claire (and the rest of the Sci/Why crew)

BREAKING NEWS

June 30, 2016 -- Author and speaker Shar Levine, a founding member of Sci/Why, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. The appointment, announced today, is for "her contributions to making science easier for children to understand through her hands-on workshops and for her work to involve parents, teachers and librarians in science education."

The Vancouver-based author, known as The Science Lady, said she is still numb with the news. "It's a win for all science writers," In particular, she said, she shares the honour with her long-time writing partner, Leslie Johnstone.

The Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!! (Well, several winners, actually.)

By Claire Eamer

Every now and then, we have to boast about the amazing awesomeness of the Sci/Why crew. After all, somebody's gotta do it. Why not one of us?

So - without further ado - let me announce that my colleague, L.E. Carmichael has won this year's Lane Anderson Award for the best Canadian youth science book published in 2014. Ta da! She earned the award with her book Fuzzy Forensics: DNA Fingerprinting Gets Wild.

Part mystery and part scientific guidebook, Fuzzy Forensics tells the story of cutting-edge science put to work to solve a wildlife crime, how the science works, and why wildlife crime is important. It's both fascinating and fun.



Pretty impressive, eh? But that's not the end of our amazing accomplishments.

In September, Sci/Why blogger and Science Lady, Shar Levine, was presented with a 2015 Alumni Honour Award by her alma mater, the University of Alberta, for her work in advocating for children's science literacy.

Shar's writing partner, Leslie Johnstone, is no slouch either. While Shar was being honoured at the University of Alberta, Leslie was named one of the 100 leaders in education in British Columbia by the University of British Columbia. Besides writing dozens of entertaining science books for kids, in partnership with Shar, Leslie has taught science at Point Grey Secondary School in Vancouver since 1988 and is currently acting vice principal and head of the science department there.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Firing the Confetti Cannons!

by L. E. Carmichael

Several members of the Sci-Why blogging team are celebrating big news, so we thought we'd bring the celebration to you. Join us as we pour umbrella drinks and dance in a rain of glitter!

L. E. Carmichael's book FUZZY FORENSICS: DNA FINGERPRINTING GETS WILD has been shortlisted for the 2014 Lane Anderson Award, along with Daniel Loxton's PLESIOSAUR PERIL and Maria Birmingham's TASTES LIKE MUSIC; 17 QUIRKS OF THE BRAIN AND BODY. The winner will be announced later in September.

Joan Marie Galat's book BRANCHING OUT: HOW TREES ARE PART OF OUR WORLD just won the 2015 Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Award. Check out the trailer for the book here. Joan's next book, DARK MATTERS; NATURE'S REACTION TO LIGHT POLLUTION is coming out next year, but she's already talking it up on CBC.

Paula Johanson put her research skills to work writing KING KWONG, a biography of Canadian hockey player Larry Kwong. She found hockey statistics available online for every professional league in North America! King Kwong was reviewed on page 3 of the Vancouver Sun by Stephen Hume. As he says in his August 5 column: B.C. writer and self-described lifelong hockey fan Paula Johanson reminds us of the ephemeral nature of sports history in King Kwong, her marvellous little biography of the whirlwind on skates who blew out of the dusty interior 75 years ago.

Shar Levine will receive an Alumni Honour Award from the University of Alberta Alumni Association for her contributions to children's literature and science education. There will be a free ceremony with reception to follow at 7 pm, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave), Edmonton Alberta. For info and tickets, click here.

Five Rivers launched Marie Powell's young adult historical fantasy HAWK at When Words Collide in August. The first review is 5-star, calling it "a spell-binding, riveting YA historical fiction alive with character, conflict and action. Definitely a blow-your-mind debut novel."

Jan Thornhill's latest book KYLE GOES ALONE has just been released! Kyle has to go. There’s just one problem: as a young three-toed sloth, he lives high in the rainforest canopy with his mom, and it’s a LONG way down to the forest floor. Like other sloths, Kyle only goes down to the ground once a week when he has to do his “business.” And he’s never made the journey by himself before.

Kyle’s mom says he’s old enough to go alone, but Kyle isn’t sure he’s ready. It’s so far! And won’t it be lonely? Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much time to decide. Check it out!

Ancient Fish Farming in Hawaii

By Shar Levine

What do science writers do when they go on vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii? If you are Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone, you look for science at the beach.  At 'Anaeho'omalu Bay, or "A" Bay as the locals call it, the pair spent an afternoon at the anchialine ponds located between the Marriot Hotel and the beach.

Anchialine ponds are only found on two of the Hawaiian islands, Hawaii and Maui. These small inland ponds are found close to the ocean but are not connected to the surface of the sea. Salt water from the ocean seeps through the ground where it is mixed with fresh water flowing from the mountains. The pond is less salty than the ocean, but more salty than fresh water from a stream. The mixture of the two creates a unique "brackish" water for the fish living in the pond.

Anchialine Ponds, with "A" Bay in background

Hiding in the algae and water plants along the sides of the pond you can see shrimp, crabs, mollusks and tiny fish.  Much to the delight of tourists, an eel will sometimes poke its head out from the lava rocks in the waters just below the bridge connecting the pond to the beach. In the deeper section of the pond, large fish including amberjack and barracuda patrol the waters. The salinity of the pond varies with the depth and temperature of the water. Creatures who live in these waters are different from their relatives who live in the ocean and scientists are interested in studying how the fish have adapted to survive in this environment.

Types of fish found at "A" Bay pond

The ancient Hawaiians used these ponds as an early form of fish farming. There was very little work for the people to do. Small fish would enter the pond through a gated channel from the ocean to an outer pond. From there, the fish would thrive on algae and plants growing in the waters. The fish soon became too big to leave the pond through the gate. When the fish were adults,  they could easily be caught in a net and served for dinner.

The ponds form their own ecosystems. Here's how the food chain works:

Soapberries

By Shar Levine

As part of the research for my new book, I happened to virtually meet Dr. Nancy Turner, a world-renowned ethnobotanist who teaches at the University of Victoria. Dr. Turner literally wrote the book on the Ethnobotany of the Aboriginal Peoples of British Columbia.

If you were ever lost in the woods in B.C. or stuck on a deserted island in the Pacific Northwest, you would want Dr. Turner by your side. She would be able to find enough foraged foods to keep you fed until help arrived. Not only would she be able to identify non-poisonous mushrooms for a meal, but she could also prepare a unique dessert --- soapberry whip, known by some as Indian Ice Cream.

Despite its common name, the treat does not contain cream, and it is not frozen. The dish is made using soapberries, a plant in the oleaster family. The soapberry or soopalallie (Shepherdia canadensis) is not like your usual blueberry, strawberry or raspberry. According to Turner, “It has a distinctive bitter flavour due to the presence of low levels of saponins.” Saponins are natural detergents. As a result, when the juice of the berry is whipped, it will foam, so it looks like beaten egg whites or whipped cream with an orangey-pink tinge.

Soapberries can be difficult to pick or harvest, and the best way to gather the fruit is to “beat around the bush.” No, really, put a cloth below the plant and tap the branches sharply. The ripe berries will fall off the branches and onto the cloth.

Once you have gathered about ¼ cup of ripe berries, put them in a very clean bowl. If there is any grease in the bowl, the berries will not whip. Crush the berries and then add cold water, at little at a time, beating the liquid with an old-fashioned rotary whisk or electric mixer until it is stiff and forms peaks. You will probably need about a cup (250 mL) of water, added slowly, to make a bowl of soapberry whip. The dessert will be quite tart, and Dr. Turner recommends using apple juice instead of water, or adding in sugar or other sweeteners after the mixture starts to stiffen.

Turner says, “Don’t be confused by the name. There is another dish that some people call ‘Eskimo’ ice cream made by warming fat then whipping it by hand with snow and berries as it cools into a soft mixture.” 

If you would like to try to make this treat, look for a shrub that is about 1-2 metres (3-6 feet) tall, with a grayish bark and small, oval, green leaves. The berries are found in clusters and will be orange or reddish and translucent when ripe. The leaves and stems are covered with brown scales. Male and female flowers grow on different bushes, so only the female bushes will produce berries. The plant grows in many places across Canada, but does not flourish in really wet areas. Before picking this fruit, make sure it is a soapberry and not any other berry that might be harmful.

This versatile berry is high in vitamin C and has been used by indigenous people to treat high blood pressure, flu and tuberculosis. Smearing the berries on acne and other skin conditions, as well as using the fruit as a skin cleanser, are among the other uses for soapberries. The roots, stems and bark of the plant were also used for other medicinal purposes.

Berries can be preserved using traditional jam recipes, or made into a puree to be used in drinks. They can also be dried and made into cakes for use in recipes throughout the year. If you are interested, here is a paper by Dr. Turner and Carla M. Burton, called “Soapberry: Unique Northwestern Foaming Fruit.”

Genetics 101: Cross talk

By guest blogger Leslie Johnstone

What do you get when you cross a horse with a donkey? It depends!

A mule, like this one, results from crossing a horse and a donkey.

When a male donkey is crossed with a female horse, the resulting offspring is a mule. If a male horse is crossed with a female donkey, then the baby is called a hinny. Hinnies are much less common and tend to be smaller than mules and look more like horses.

Horses are half of the equation that makes a mule or a hinny.

When two different species of animal, such as horses and donkeys, are bred, the offspring are called hybrids. Both donkeys and hinnies are hybrids. Donkeys have 62 chromosomes in their cells, but horses have 64. Mules and hinnies both have 63 chromosomes, being  a blend of both parents.

Mules and hinnies can't be successfully bred to other mules and hinnies, but there have been some cases of female mules giving birth to babies sired by horses or by donkeys.

The other half of the equation is a donkey, like this one.

Mules are usually very smart, strong animals and are used as pets, for transportation, and for farming. They have harder hooves and stronger coats than either of their parents. Mules and hinnies are also generally longer living than their parents and more resistant to diseases.

Leslie Johnstone and her writing partner, Shar Levine, are co-authors of dozens of fun practical-science books for kids. Leslie took the photos appearing with this post.

Sci/Why Bloggers and Friends Win National Awards

By Claire Eamer. Photos by Juanita Bawagan.

The Canadian Science Writers' Association (CSWA) handed out its top awards at its recent annual meeting in Toronto, and Sci/Why folk were front and centre.

Vancouver-based Sci/Why blogger Shar Levine and her writing partner, Leslie Johnstone, won the Association's Science in Society Youth Book Award for Dirty Science: 25 Experiments with Soil, published by Scholastic. You can peek inside the book here.

Shar Levine (l) and Leslie Johnstone receive their award from CSWA president Stephen Strauss.

Victoria freelance writer Jude Isabella won the coveted Science Journalism award for her story "The Secret Lives of Bears" published in British Columbia Magazine's Fall/Winter 2013 issue. Jude, former editor of YesMag, the late lamented Canadian children's science magazine, was part of the group that launched Sci/Why. You can read her prize-winning article here and you can even see the scientists at work in this short video.

Jude Isabella thanks the CSWA, while Association president Stephen Strauss looks on.

Winning Authors, Touring Authors, Teaching Authors... We've got 'em all!

By Claire Eamer

It's the season, apparently, when Sci/Why authors come out of hibernation and flaunt their accomplishments. I did a quick whip-round of the Sci/Why bloggers and friends of Sci/Why, and discovered a flurry of activity. Here are the highlights.

First of all - we have a winner! Sci/Why blogger Shar Levine and her writing partner, Leslie Johnstone, have won the Canadian Science Writers' Association's 2013 Science in Society Youth Book Award for their down-and-dirty science activity book, Dirty Science: 25 Experiments with Soil. We are all, needless to say, very proud of them.

The 2014 roster of authors touring during TD Canadian Children's Book Week, May 3-10, includes a couple of Sci/Why bloggers. Helaine Becker will be touring in Manitoba, telling kids all about Zoobots and entertaining them with her Ode to Underwear. Claire Eamer will be visiting schools and libraries in Nunavut and talking about her book Before the World Was Ready: Stories of Daring Genius in Science.

Sci/Why blogger Marie Powell recently placed runner-up in the 2014 City of Regina Writing Awards. She'll lead a Channelling Creativity workshop on Tuesday, May 7, at Regina's Central Library. You can also catch her every second Thursday and third Wednesday at the Prince of Wales branch library, leading her ongoing Write for the Heart programs.

Blogger Jan Thornhill has been busy too. Her new book, Winter's Coming: A Story of Seasonal Change, is about to go to press. It's a companion volume for Is This Panama?: A Migration Story. And Jan has discovered a passion for fungi - to the point where she has launched a fungi blog called Weird and Wonderful Wild Mushrooms.

Our travelling-est blogger, Margriet Ruurs, has taken time off book writing to go touring the world over the past few months. You can find her adventures at her Globetrotting Grandparents blog. Recent entries include history in Holland, Turkish Delight in Istanbul, and the amazing archaeological sites of Petra, Jordan.

Paula Johanson, who's happiest in a kayak, has still managed the time to produce a couple of new books: one on Love Poetry, and another, called What is Energy? and due out in August. You can follow Paula's kayak adventures at the Kayak Yak blog.

Sci/Why's first Blog Boss, L.E. Carmichael has a couple of new books out for older kids who are dealing with health issues, either their own or someone else's: Living With Scoliosis and Living With Obesity.

Our Alberta blogger and astronomy enthusiast, Joan Marie Galat, will be leading a writing workshop at the Calgary Young Writers' Conference on April 26.

Sci/Why friend (she came up with the name!) Pippa Wysong can be found on Saturday, May 10, at her Quarantine Tent vaccine education event at the University of Toronto campus. It's part of the national event, Science Rendezvous. Here's a short video of the 2013 Tent event.

Finally, Sci/Why blogger Judy Wearing informs us that she's in the first year of a second (second!!) PhD in education, writing papers about critical thinking in science education and the relationship between fear and learning. She also says she'll have some book news to announce, but it's still a Big Hairy Secret. Keep an eye on Sci/Why, where all will be revealed... unveiled... whatever... soon!

Sci/Why Parteeee!

By Claire Eamer

We usually celebrate science on this blog, but this week we decided to celebrate ourselves. Just a little bit.

Here, in their own words, are a few highlights from some of the Sci/Why bloggers and our fellow Canadian kids’ science writers over the last few months.

Helaine Becker:

• My newest picture book, Little Jack Horner, Live from the Corner (Scholastic Canada), illustrated by the incredible Mike Boldt, came out in January. A sequel is in the works.
  
• The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea (Kids Can Press) won the Outstanding Youth Book Award from the Canadian Science Writers’ Association and was longlisted for Information Book of the Year by the Vancouver Children's Roundtable.
• Alphabest (Kids Can Press) has been shortlisted for Best Book Illustration for Dave Whamond’s glorious and hilarious artwork by the National (US) Cartoonists Society.
• I’ll be presenting at the Kids Can Press 40th Anniversary party to be held on May 16th at the Forest of Reading Celebrations at Toronto's Harbourfront. Watch for wild squirrels and rampaging turtles at this not-to-be-missed partay!
• Last but not least, the TV show I write, Dr. Greenie’s Mad Lab, has been renewed for a fourth season. I’ll be writing that this summer. You can see the trailer here.

Paula Johanson:
I've just defended my Master's thesis. While completing my MA, I also wrote four books:

• Lady Gaga: A Biography, for Greenwood/ABC-Clio
• Fish: From The Catch To Your Table, for Rosen
• Money-Making Opportunities For Teens Who Like Pets And Animals, for Rosen
• Love Poetry: How Do I Love Thee, for Enslow.

Marie Powell: 

• I was runner-up in the 2012 Lush Triumphant Literary Awards with my short story "Grid Lines," and the story was published in subTerrain magazine, Issue #63 (Winter).
• My YA fantasy novel Hawk won a fully-funded Creator-in-Residence mentorship from CANSCAIP in January. 
• I  also wrote six juvenile beginning readers for Red Line, which are scheduled for publication in September.

Lindsey Carmichael:

ABDO Publishing released two of my books this January:

• Hybrid and Electric Vehicles 
• The Scientific Method in the Real World

Adrienne Mason:

• I have a book out this year: Planet Ark: Protecting Earth's Biodiversity by Kids Can Press. 

Shar Levine:
I’ve been collecting award nominations this year (but no wins, I’m afraid), including:

• The NSERC award for Science Promotion for the creation of Celebrate Science ( joint nomination with Jo-Anne Naslund)
• The University of Alberta Alumni Honor Award, the Queen's Jubilee Medal ( joint nomination with Leslie Johnstone)
• The Lieutenant Governor’s Award-BC-Community Involvement for science promotion (joint nomination with Leslie Johnstone)
• The Knight Science Journalism Fellowship - Food Boot Camp

Kari-Lynn Winters: 

• My book Buzz About Bees will be on the shelves in May. The publisher is Fitzhenry and Whiteside. This science book looks at the ways bees are disappearing worldwide and some of the things kids can do to advocate on behalf of the bees.

Claire Eamer: 

• The World in Your Lunch Box: The Wacky History and Weird Science of Everyday Foods (Annick Press) was named 2013 Eureka! Silver Honor Book earlier this year. It has been shortlisted for the Outstanding Youth Book Award from the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, the AAAS/Subaru Science Books & Film Book Award, and the the 2013-2014 Hackmatack awards, as well as being longlisted for Information Book of the Year by the Vancouver Children's Roundtable. 
• Lizards in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them (Annick Press) is a finalist in both the Red Maple Awards in Ontario and the Rocky Mountain Book Awards in Alberta.

Hockey Science

Today's post is just for kids.
It's the playoffs for Lord Stanley's cup and even though my hockey team was knocked out in the first round, it doesn't mean I've given up on the game.

My writing partner, Leslie Johnstone and I have a new book on Hockey Science, soon to be published by Scholastic Canada.  The book has 25 really cool experiments but some activities which we thought we terrific were cut by the editor.  We aren't complaining, but this was one activity which we really liked. So- rather than lose an experiment, we thought we would share it with you. 

The image above is the cover for the book. Great job by a fabulous illustrator.


Tasty Ratios
You may not have thought about this, but hockey involves a great deal of math. Anytime you quote a player’s statistics or recite win/loss percentages you are using math. Here’s a tasty way to think about advantages when a team is short a player.

NOTE: If you have a food allergy check with a parent before using any of the ingredients

You Will Need

4 pieces of round pita bread or small round tortillas
Peanut butter or almond butter (do not use if you have nut allergies)
Honey
Butter knife

What To Do

1 Spread peanut butter or almond butter over the pita or tortilla and drizzle a bit of honey over it.
2.  Use a knife to divide two of the pitas into 3 equal sections. Cut the pita and set aside 4 of the 6 sections.
3.  Use a knife to divide the other two pitas into 4 equal sections. Cut the pita and set aside 5  of the 8 sections. Which gave you the greatest servings of pita- the one cut into thirds or the one cut into fourths?
4.  Eat the pita hockey snacks.

What Happened?

You have two pies. Someone offers you 4/3 of the pies or 5/4 of the pies. Which offer would you choose to receive the greatest serving of the pies? You discovered that 4/3 is greater than 5/4. But what does that mean for hockey? Consider power plays: If a team is playing 4 against 3, it means they have a greater advantage than if they were playing 5 against 4.

Did You Know?

You also created a great science snack. The pita provided a carbohydrate and the peanut butter gave you a protein. 

 Your body needs carbohydrates and proteins after a strenuous workout. In fact, nutritionists recommend that you have some kind of carbohydrate such as fruit, or juice shortly after exercising. This gives you more energy and helps to restore your levels of glycogen, the chemical your body makes to store carbohydrates for later use. Proteins from foods such as nuts, meat or milk give your muscles the amino acids they need to not only recover from the workout but also to rebuild.  It is recommended that you consume both carbohydrates and protein within 30 minutes of a strenuous workout. If you wait longer than that period of time your body will take in or absorb less glycogen.

science eBooks

Two years ago I wrote a piece for the Vancouver Sun about ebooks. The text of the piece follows below. The article motivated me to take my own advice and this week our first enhanced eBook- Bathtub Science- comes out with HarperCollins. This book represents a major change in the way that we, as authors, communicate science information. The parents and teachers who have seen the rough cuts love the idea. It makes science exciting and for those who feel intimidated by instructions (and yes, there are many out there who don't try hands-on science activities for this reason), the enhanced eBook is the perfect solution for science scaredy cats.

As science writers we ought to be leading the way in innovative and effective communication of information. How can we best spark a child's interest in science and how can we stay relevant? I have been told by teachers that there isn't a need to buy science books because everything is on the internet for free. Changing that attitude is something that we as science writers must actively address.

RE: "It's far too soon to terminate books" Ceri Radford, Vancouver Sun, (Vancouver, BC, Canadas -Page -A17, June 11, 2009)

Ceri Radford's article, "It's far too soon to terminate books", was in the same self-righteous tone as those prognosticators in the early 1900's who said that cars would never replace horses, or those who claimed that if man was meant to fly, God would have given him wings.

Wake up. Already some of the major North American publishers at Book Expo America (BEA) seem to be abandoning books in print form. At the annual show last week in New York, I was given large format postcards at the Harper Collins booth. Each card had the image of a book cover, and on the back was the book identification number (ISBN), information about the book, the author, the publication date, and a free download of the book when I went to the publisher's web site and put in the 16 digit PIN number. The book was then downloaded into my computer, in my choice of formatting, and I had access to their new front list of books.

Next year at BEA the majority of publishers say they will be giving out their new releases in this manner.

Why is this good thing? Frankly, digital books are better for the environment. Let's start with how a book is made. Trees are cut down; they are then turned into paper pulp, which means chemicals are spilled into our waterways killing fish. The pulp is turned into paper, shipped
off on trucks, processed, printed and shipped off again to a warehouse, which then sends off the books. There is a very large carbon footprint in this process, while downloading a book into a computer requires no gas, little energy and no pollution. There is never extra stock to be warehoused, and there is no waste. Publishers who are worried about their profits love
digital books because, let's face it, they cost very little to produce, nothing to ship or store, and there are no returns.

The bottom line here really is the "bottom line". Digital books make more sense financially. Just as homes are not built the way they used to be because labour and material cost prohibit this kind of construction, so it will be with printed books. As for school books, I hate to agree with Governor Schwarzenegger, but he is right. California ought to move its science and math
textbooks to digital books. Yes, it is going to save the state an estimated 30 million dollars, but that's missing the bigger picture. In B.C., one Grade 9 science text is available on CD, while the Grade 10 text is available online.

Science changes every day but science texts are only updated maybe every 15 years. Having the latest information available to students will mean that children aren't learning outdated science.
So will digital readers supplant paper? Yes. For those of us who like to read in bed without waking the person next to us, a backlit Kindle is great. I don't have to wear my glasses because I can make the font bigger. It always remembers what page I'm on. It weighs less than the 10 books I take along on holidays.

And as an author of children's books, I think that digital books will be good for my work.

Eleanor of Aquitaine Sundial

When I speak to schools and libraries, I try to find a way to show how science can relate to a child's life. But tying science to history and making it interesting is more difficult than it seems. Thanks to my writing partner, Leslie Johnstone, I have the perfect way to capture a child's imagination.

Look at the picture on the left. Is this science or history?

Usually kids guess that this is the "One Ring" from Lord of the Rings as it has markings on the inside and outside of the piece. But the writing isn't Elfish.

On the outer rim of the ring are the letters " J F M A M J J A S O N D" and on the inside of the ring are the numbers 1 through 11. There is a brass ring that rotates around the centre of the ring and in the middle of this ring is a round hole. Engraved inside the ring are words, "Carpe Diem" or "seize the day."

So other than a really cool piece of jewelery and very nice birthday present from my best friend, what does this pendant have to do with science and history?

You are looking at a replica of the Eleanor of Aquitaine sundial, based on the one the queen gave to her husband, Henry II of England in about 1152. Right about now kids yawn.

Most children have never heard of Eleanor, Henry and know nothing about the Aquitaine. However, ask a child if they have ever heard of Robin Hood and most hands go up. Ask them if they know which king went to the crusades with Robin Hood most know the name of Richard the Lionhearted. And generally kids will have heard of his evil brother, King John. Now you have their attention. Let's not get into the fact that Robin Hood as portrayed in movies and books, was fictional.

When Eleanor married Henry, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women of her time. Marrying Eleanor was a pretty smart move for Henry as he now had access to money, lands and political influence. Eleanor like throwing lavish parties and wanted Henry to be back in time for dinner. Now frankly telling your husband he needed to be back at the castle no later than 5 pm had no real meaning as well, wrist watches would not be invented for another 500 or so years.

To solve this problem, Eleanor had a beautiful sundial made for her husband. This way he could always tell what time it was. Henry also commissioned an even fancier one for his wife made from gold and set with diamonds. And how did this romantic gesture work out? Sadly, there wasn't a "happily ever after" ending. Henry imprisoned Eleanor in a castle and went off to hunt and party to his hearts content, never having to see what time it was on his sundial watch.

Now the science. Turn the dial so that the hole aligns with the month. Turn the hole towards the sun so that a ray of the sun shines through the hole. Where the ray lands will tell you the hour.

Did you know?
When asked most people will say that "A.M." means "after midnight". In fact a.m. and p.m. mean "Ante Meridian- Latin - before midday" and "Post Meridian- Latin "after midday".

rotifers

A rotifer needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
Perhaps Gloria Steinem was thinking of the microscopic creature Bdelloid rotifer when she popularized the famous feminist's catch phrase of the 70's about a woman's necessity for a man. In the rotifer's case- sisters are really doing it for themselves. You see this animal is only female and she never has sex. Never. ...for tens of millions of years. It's not that she has a headache; it's just that she doesn't need to have sex in order to have daughters. And how do we know this? This fascinating scientific tidbit was explained to me by Dr. David Mark Welch, a scientist who has been studying this organism for years.
I had an opportunity to visit Dr. Welsh in his lab located in the Josephine Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Peering through a microscope it was easy to see these transparent creatures swimming happily in a dish. The rotifer doesn't look like much. There's a mouth end, a tail end and a balloon -shaped part in between. The inner workings of this very simple creature contain all the stuff necessary to create more of the same.
But the asexual breeding is not the really cool thing about the rotifer. Although this animal lives in water it can also completely dry out and become a speck of dust. At the first drop of moisture, it rehydrates and comes back to life. This means that anywhere the wind blows, you will find one of these things hitching a ride.
Welch has done extensive work with Bdelloid rotifers and has learned that no matter what you do to these girls, nothing seems to harm them. He's blasted them with radiation, heated them to extreme temperatures and has even frozen them solid. After this punishment he added water and poof, they came back to life, no worse for the wear. His research has found that something in the DNA of the creature seems to be able to fix or mend any chromosomes damaged during the experiment.
And it turns out that rotifers have a best before date stamped on their life. They only live four weeks. But the interesting thing about those four weeks is that they are cumulative. That is to say, if you dehydrated and froze a two week old animal, kept if frozen for 6 months, then rehydrated it, the rotifer would live for only another two weeks.
Probably the most astonishing fact I learned from Dr. Welch was that NASA has to clean all probes sent into space to prevent dried rotifers from interplanetary exploration. The idea of sending something from Earth that could hatch in moisture in other places is probably not a good idea. Certainly the space agency is doing its best not to introduce alien life onto other planets. Mind you, popular music tells us, "Mars Needs Women", and the Bdelloid rotifer might just be the perfect fix.

Logan Science Journalism Fellowship - With Video!

The Science Journalism A-Team

More Fun Than You Ever Had In School

Shar Levine

Logan Science Journalism Fellowship - With Pictures!

A beautiful misty morning.

Adult female sea urchin - yellow at the bottom of the beaker are the eggs. To sex the urchins, hold the urchin in your hand, spiny side up and look for large gonopores on the top.  Draw a syringe with a needle and inject KCl into each of the 5 corners of the pentagon-shaped mouth. Shake the urchin and turn upside down into a sea-water filled beaker.

Eggs from the male are collected by using a syringe to suck up white, gooey material from the top of the creature.

Way cool microscope that takes time-lapse photography of fertilization of sea urchin eggs.

For more info, check out this cool blog.

Shar Levine

Logan Science Journalism Fellowship

An Introduction

Although I live on the west coast of British Columbia, I find myself writing this from the east coast of the United States.  Fog horns echo into the night as a thick blanket settles on the waters surrounding Woods Hole. For the next 10 days I will be attending the Logan Science Journalism Fellowship offered by the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) located in Woods Hole, Mass. The MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in North America. To quote the introductory video, "MBL is to marine biologists what Paris is to artists." More than 50 Nobel Laureates have studied, researched or have taught at this facility.  There's more to MBL than the obvious interest in things in the water.  The facility conducts research on ecosystems, and cell biology as it relates to humans. They also use sea creatures to conduct studies on biomedical, biological and ecological issues.  If that weren't ambitious enough, they are the brains behind the Encyclopedia of Life project.  The aim of this web site is to create a page for all 1.8 million species that live on our planet.  Ooops make that 1,800,002 million as more species are discovered each day.

MBL has selected 15 journalists from around the world who will be working with scientists on two programs. One group has headed out into the marshlands on Cape Cod to study the effects of pollution on the ecology and the environment. I was delighted not to join them as they headed off into the wilderness, sleeping bags and packed dinners in hand.  Instead I had a leisurely stroll down the campus to the lab where I was allowed to play with really cool microscopes. This week I will be studying sea urchins and seeing how the cells of these simple creatures related to humans. 

The course is a boot camp in basic biomedical research.  It would be an understatement to say that the material is heavy. We are looking at genomes and molecular genetics as they relate to humans and diseases.  So why sea urchins?  To quote from the course material, "a model organism is a species that has been widely studied usually because it is easy to maintain and breed in a laboratory setting and has particular experimental advantages." This means that the creature is cheap, simple to use, and  no one feels too bad about poking sea urchins with needles. So bright and early tomorrow I am off to fertilize sea urchin eggs and watch them grow. At each stage we will be taking photomicrographs (pictures taken of the images seen in a microscope). I will be using special stains that show different parts of the cells, which is a thrill because normally I only get to use ink or food coloring.  It's nice to play in an adult lab.

Will post photos as the day progresses.

Shar Levine