Living in Space

by Joan Marie Galat 

Photo credit: NASA

Astronauts have been living over our heads—in outer space—on a continuous basis since 2000. It takes three astronauts to run the International Space Station (ISS) but up to ten may be on board at one time. The entire structure is as big as a football field but the living area is only about the size of a five-bedroom house. Giant solar panels power the station. Some of the electricity is used to split water into gas to generate oxygen for the astronauts. The ISS orbits the Earth at a speed of 28,500 kilometres per hour. That’s eight kilometres a second—25 times faster than the speed of sound! 

I wanted to know what it’s like to live on the ISS, and made plans to write a book on the topic. As part of my research, I visited NASA facilities and watched a SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket launch. The result is the middle grade novel Mortimer: Rat Race to Space (DCB 2022). Written for ages 9-12, it tells the story of a journal-keeping lab rat who sets out to collect scientific evidence that will prove his species is the one that should colonize Mars. Mortimer records video for his future YouTube channel, but not everything goes as planned. He is forced to face new truths about dreams, friendships, and choosing the right thing to do. You can read an excerpt on Amazon.ca or Amazon.com. 

I collected much more information than I could use, including these facts: 

- Astronauts can’t be too tall or short. If you want to be an astronaut, try to grow taller than 62 inches but stay below 75 inches. 

- American astronauts must have 20/20 vision, even if that means wearing glasses, contacts, or undergoing eye surgery. 

- In the USA, jet pilots with at least 1000 hours of flying time, and teachers who have taught K-12, can apply to be astronauts. 

- Astronauts practice everything they’ll do in space on Earth. This includes how to fix malfunctioning equipment, use cameras, conduct experiments, make a meal, stow equipment, and even store trash. 

- Every astronaut has a university education and experience in engineering, biological science, physical science, or math. 

- Astronauts find out what it’s like to be weightless before they go into space. They practice floating inside a high flying plane known as the vomit comet. The plane flies to an altitude of 24,000 feet then climbs at a 45 degree angle to reach 34,000 feet. It then enters a controlled free fall which involves traveling to 24,000 feet in a gradual curve, following a 30-degree descent. This gives about 20 seconds of being weightless. The sensation of weightlessness makes a lot of people feel nauseous. Passengers in the vomit comet also feel 1.8 times heavier when the plane reaches its lowest point. 

- You can experience a few seconds of being weightless when you go down a sudden drop on a rollercoaster or other amusement park ride. 

If you’d like to see the International Space Station pass by at night, visit the Resources page of my website to access information on alerts for your area. If you’re an educator interested in a STEM or STEAM-themed presentation based on Mortimer: Rat Race to Space, contact me to ask about my virtual session—A Rat, A Rocket, and Science. As well as fun science, it includes literacy-building discussion on research, misinformation, and writing.

STEAM Benefits of Stop Motion Animation

by Joan Marie Galat  

I wasn’t looking for a new hobby when I discovered how fun it is to play with stop motion animation. Inspired by a friend’s video of a jigsaw puzzle completing itself, I decided to learn more about the technique of moving static objects in small increments and photographing each change. Playing back a series of frames makes objects appear to move, and you have animation.

Stop motion is a useful STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) building activity for the learners in your life, and intriguing because you can make anything appear to move! It’s easy to get started using free phone apps, such as iMotion. Common props include clay figures, Lego, and paper cut-outs. You can also alter images in increments on a whiteboard and photograph each change through the app. I like the challenge of using household objects. This no-shopping route is pandemic-friendly. You can take part without leaving home and spend as much time as like honing your skills. One of my first attempts was to make one of my books climb a flight of stairs.

    

 Next, I used letter tiles to announce a new book.

 

Then I tried to get fancy.

   

As well as encouraging creative expression, stop motion is an effective tool for illustrating science, as it requires breaking concepts into parts. Suppose you decide to demonstrate planet movement in our solar system. Your process would include arranging the planets in order, setting scaled distances to the Sun, and demonstrating speed of movement.

As you experiment, practical math themes arise. How can you best sequence images to tell a story? What happens if you move an object in smaller or larger increments? How do images present if you speed or slow your number of frames per second?

Engineering comes into play as creators brainstorm approaches and solutions. Like engineers, animators must revise and try again before sharing results. Animating science and engineering concepts puts art into learning, keeping students interested. It’s easy to work literacy skills in too, as you storyboard your ideas. Stop motion endeavors build technological expertise, encouraging students to experience media from a creator’s perspective. This encourages critical thinking, when consuming media. How did they do that? How can I find out? 

Stop motion was used to make Isle of Dogs, Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Lego Movie, Shaun the Sheep, and many other films. You can find plenty of examples on YouTube including a few on my channel, such as Alien Telescope Invasion.

   

For more ideas on how to get creative using engineering, check out Solve This! Wild and Wacky Challenges for the Genius Engineer in You (National Geographic Kids).

Panel discussion at When Words Collide

 Wow! We just finished a terrific panel discussion at a virtual convention. Several writers from Sci/Why were attending When Words Collide, a literary festival that has gone all-online for this year's event. We held a panel discussion on Sunday August 16 with the title Writing Science Books for Youth.

If you've come to our website to learn more about writing, put a comment after this post or another recent post and one of us will be able to get back to you.

Check out our pages of resources! We have a list of science books written by our authors, who are all Canadian. And on the sidebar at right is a box celebrating that we were short-listed for the People's Choice Award. Clicking on that box will take you to the blog for Science Borealis which can connect you to other science websites.

Meet Comet NEOWISE!

by Joan Marie Galat

A comet, often called a dirty snowball, is a frozen collection of rock, dust, and gases that orbits the Sun. When a comet approaches the Sun, heat causes the comet's shape to change. Frozen gases thaw, creating a tail that can stretch millions of kilometres into space. Now the comet looks like another one of its nicknames—a long-haired star!

    Night sky observers have been aware of comets for a very long time. Chinese astronomers kept records that show Halley’s Comet was observed in 240 B.C. Scientists are very interested in studying comets because they formed at the same time as our solar system. Their research may help scientists understand how the building blocks of life reached Earth.

    An exciting new comet was discovered on March 27, 2020. Visible with the naked eye from a dark location, the new comet, named NEOWISE, is five kilometres (three miles) wide, with a tail stretching hundreds to thousands of kilometres. Its name comes from the initials of NASA’s satellite observatory: the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Though billions of comets exist, Comet NEOWISE is one of only 3,655 identified comets.

 

Observe NEOWISE

In the northern hemisphere, NEOWISE is visible in the northwest sky after sunset. You can find it in the vicinity of the Big Dipper. I was able to spot it with binoculars, which made it appear like a great, pale smudge across the sky. A telescope brings it into better focus, as seen in this photo taken near Cold Lake, Alberta, by Shaula Corr of aurorasbycorr.com(Visit Shaula's website to view more comet images. You can even order a framed print.)

    NASA offers tips on how to view NEOWISE, which will appear higher in the sky into August. Look soon because the comet is already dimming as it travels to the outer region of the solar system. Once it is out of sight, NEOWISE will not reappear for another 6800 years.

 

Quick Facts about Comets 

- Comets have egg-shaped orbits. 

- When a comet travels far enough away from the Sun, its tail will disappear.

 

- A comet that gets too close to a planet or the Sun may crash into it! 

 

-The center of a comet, called its nucleus, can be the size of a small town. When a comet gets close to the Sun, its head will grow larger than most planets.

 

- Meteor showers, which can last from hours to days, occur when Earth passes through a part of the sky where a comet left behind dust particles. That’s why meteor showers are visible around the same dates every year. 

 

Discover More about Space

I had the pleasure of writing about comets in my most recent book:  (National Geographic Kids). To discover how to go "dot-to-dot in the-sky" to use the constellations as a map to find comets and other night sky objects, see these titles in my You will also find tips for spotting meteors. Next time you see one, think of the comets that have passed through our part of the universe. Space is an amazing place!

Joan Marie Galat is the author of more than 20 books for children and adults. Many of her titles focus on astronomy, space, and other STEM/STEAM topics.

Getting the Science Right

By Joan Marie Galat

How far will an author go to get her facts straight? In my case, it was a nearly-4000-kilometre round trip from my home in Alberta to Laramie, Wyoming. The program, called Launch Pad Astronomy, is a week-long workshop designed specifically for science-writing authors. It was established to make sure writers present science accurately when creating stories or writing nonfiction.

Whether you are reading a book or watching a movie, television show, or other media, it is not hard to get caught up in the story and assume it reflects genuine scientific principles. Launch Pad helps writers avoid presenting or creating misconceptions. Here are a few examples of how science can crop up in creative writing, followed by an explanation of why the scientific reference just won’t work. You will see how easy it is for even a well-intentioned writer to misstep.

• It was 6 am, too early for the courier to arrive with the first copies of Joan’s new middle-grade (and up) book: Dark Matters-Nature’s Reaction to Light Pollution. She took one last glance at the rising Full Moon and turned inside.
  SCIENCE FAIL: The Full Moon only rises at sunset.


• It had been dark for several hours. The courier was lost. His GPS battery was dead and his charger not working since it fell into a milkshake. Pulling over, he looked for the brightest star in the sky, certain the North Star would guide him home.
  SCIENCE FAIL: The North Star is not the brightest star in the sky.


• The courier remembered he needed to call his mother for her birthday. His cell phone was dead and the charger — well, you don’t want to know. Not wanting to admit his shortcomings, he decided upon an excuse. He would say he burned his hand when picking up a meteorite that had landed when he was searching for the North Star.

  

  Meteorite
  Photo credit: NASA/SETI/P. Jenniskens

  
  SCIENCE FAIL: It’s not common to find meteorites within seconds of them landing on the ground. Little is known about the immediate temperature of new meteorites, however scientists generally believe small rocks from space will be cool or only slightly warm upon striking the Earth.

Other common misconceptions abound about why seasons occur, the strength of gravity on the Moon, the direction a comet's tail will face, and other topics. The Smithsonian’s “Science Done Wrong” offers additional compelling examples.

Next time you read a book or watch a movie, consider whether the science is accurate and conduct a bit of research of your own to find out what is fact and what is fiction. If you’re a fellow author, consider applying to attend Launch Pad Astronomy. It is an experience you won’t want to miss.


Joan Marie Galat is the author of more than a dozen books, including the Dot to Dot in the Sky astronomy and mythology series. Science talks have taken her from the Arctic Circle to South Korea. Check out her book trailers and speaker demo.

I Blame Dr. Suzuki, or, Why I Write about Science

By Gillian O'Reilly

How did a history and art history graduate end up writing about science? I blame it on Dr. David Suzuki. Specifically, I blame it on a 30-year-old episode of the radio program Quirks and Quarks, which Suzuki hosted, and on a talk he gave to a group of booksellers some 25 years ago. In both cases, the stories he told lodged themselves in a corner of my mind and slowly, slowly pushed science to the forefront of my interests.

The Quirks and Quarks episode was a presentation of ordinary citizens grappling with a new aspect of science in an extraordinarily thoughtful way. It showed a community somewhere in New England faced with a proposal for a laboratory examining recombinant DNA. Back then, for the ordinary layperson, recombinant DNA was the stuff of science fiction or nightmares or both. As I recall, Quirks and Quarks broadcast parts of the public hearings over at least two episodes, devoting hours to the topic with very little editorial comment. We simply heard ordinary people informing themselves, working through questions and coming up with their conclusions. The lab was allowed.

When David Suzuki spoke to the booksellers a few years later, he began by discussing the all-too-common idea that science doesn’t have anything to do with one’s day-to-day life. Intellectually, I agreed with Suzuki that this idea was wrong, but, frankly, science didn’t seem to have much to do with my day-to-day life either.

Suzuki pointed out that, when he was a child, he wasn’t allowed to go to the movies or the swimming pool because of polio scares. As someone who had measles before there was a vaccine and who had seen the results of childhood polio in 1980s Africa, his statement hit home for me. He detailed other ways that science had changed his and everyone’s lives, but what I remember was the vaccines – the very ordinary way that children’s lives have been changed in ways today’s kids can scarcely imagine.

Over the years, I have recalled and reflected on the stories Suzuki told, as I gradually became more interested in writing about STEM topics. These two episodes showed both the ways in which ordinary people’s lives can be affected by science and the way ordinary laypeople can grasp and make intelligent decisions about science.

So I write about STEM subjects, not just for the budding scientist, but for the kids who will grow up to be historians or artists or school principals or lawmakers – all of whom will need to understand and make intelligent decisions about the wonderful science around us.

Gillian O’Reilly is the co-author with Cora Lee of The Great Number Rumble, Revised and Updated: A Story of Math in Surprising Places (Annick Press, 2016), illustrated by Lil Crump.

Do Kids Know That Word?

Choosing Age-appropriate Vocabulary in Science Communication

by Adrienne Montgomerie

Choosing words for kids' science materials can be tricky. Kids who are into science know a lot of vocabulary that isn’t in the curriculum. On the other hand, there’s no knowing whether any of the terminology taught in school is remembered. Heck, adults don’t remember most of the terms they were tested on in school.

But we have to start somewhere. And the easiest place to start is with the school curriculum.

Word lists such as the Children’s Writers Word Handbook, Dolche, and Modingler examine the number of times a child will be exposed to a given word at a given age. These systems survey literature that kids that age typically read. For my science vocabulary list, I took a much more restricted view, and examined only the elementary and high school curriculum expectations from the various ministries of education across Canada (as it became available and continues to change). The list records in which grade kids are exposed to various scientific terms. Of course, we can’t account for how often kids will see these terms, or for the impact of really keen or even disinterested science teaching, but the curriculum expectations provide a sort of baseline.

Why does this help? Because we can have a reasonable expectation that teens will recognize the term adaptation, because it is addressed in three grades by the time they are 15. And we can know to take extra care to explain the term heat sink because most teachers won’t cover that until Grade 10, when kids are about 14 years old, and they’ll learn about it only that one time. But even though climate is never presented as a key term, we might well expect people of all ages to have a sense of how the term is used, even if they can’t define it. Climate is used when discussing habitats in Grade 2 (ON), adaptations in Grade 3 (ON), and climate change in Grade 10 (ON), and we hear it in the news frequently.

Two other insights come out of this list:

1. The spread of topics addressed across the country. Geology is a topic examined almost exclusively in British Columbia (in general science courses), for example. That should inform writers to always explain subduction zone and other seismological terms.
2. The level of understanding the audience might have. To wit, a subject studied at Grade 11 will likely be understood at a more detailed and sophisticated level than a subject that was studied at Grade 3, even if we exclude the factor of how long there has been to forget.

Writers need to do some extrapolation from the lists that I have been compiling. Because I culled the stated vocabulary from the curriculum expectations, there are other, collateral terms, that writers could reasonably assume teachers are using. For example, characteristics must be talked about when discussing rocks in Grade 2 (BC) or classifications in Grade 6 (ON). The term chlorophyll is never listed in the expectations, but teachers might be assumed to talk about it when discussing chloroplasts in Grades 6, 8, and 11 (ON). Where it seemed reasonable, I included these terms and marked their grade level in brackets.

Field testing with your audience is a most useful test, and this vocabulary list will set you off on the right track.

How do you vet the vocabulary in your writing? Leave a comment below, join the discussion on Facebook, or Twitter @scieditor .

Adrienne Montgomerie is a science and education editor who helps publishers and businesses develop training resources. She believes we can make even the most complex ideas and procedures easy for learners to take in, maybe even to master.

Deck the Halls With Boughs of Ilex!

Winter can get really cold in Canada!

By Claire Eamer (and the Sci/Why crew)

‘Tis the season to be jolly…. And to take a little time to relax, and maybe dip into a favourite book or website. We thought - as a present from us to you - that we’d tell you about a few of our favourites. And since we’re all science geeks here at Sci/Why, there’s plenty of science involved.

(Speaking of science, did you know that there are about 600 species of the genus Ilex? That’s holly, for those of you who are still decking your halls.)

So, here we go!

From the excellent science book writer and this year's Lane Anderson Award winner, L. E. Carmichael:

Here's a link to my favourite science story of the year – about a cure for a kind of blindness.

I discovered this treatment to cure a form of congenital blindness while researching GENE THERAPY in 2012, and it became the first chapter of the book. At that time, it had only been tested on dogs and a small group of patients, including a young boy named Corey Haas. Now the therapy is about to be approved, offering hope to all the people who suffer from the condition.

(Claire speaking: Actually, Lindsey liked this story so much that she wrote a blog post about it.)

From Margriet Ruurs, who sends in Sci/Why posts from the far corners of the world:

I love YOU ARE STARDUST by Elin Kelsey because of the gentle voice in which this story is told (in the ebook). It is the story of evolution, of how we all came to be here on this planet. There are lots of activities on Elin's site linked to the book. 

(Claire speaking: I love this book too – and the illustrations are beautiful. It really does work for readers of any age, from toddler to senior.)

Sometimes, it's not so cold. This is Canadian shirt-sleeve weather.

From Helen Mason, a recent and welcome addition to the Sci/Why ranks:

Here's my current favourite – an interview with a rock-snot scientist who wasn’t allowed to talk about his work until recently. 

Not only am I happy about Canadian scientists being unleashed, I'm looking forward to learning more about rock snot. A scientist who understands how such a term would interest listeners must have some interesting things to say.

Jan Thornhill couldn’t stop at one favourite. She gave us two:

If Children lose contact with nature they won’t fight for it - an article in the Guardian by George Monbiot about "the collapse of children’s engagement with nature.”

And I loved the mesmerizing video of this amazing deep sea jellyfish.

Joan Marie Galat loves astronomy, so her favourite is not really a big surprise:

Here's my contribution. It was a thrill to see the world's first close-up views of Pluto this year, thanks to the New Horizons spacecraft. Its pictures provide sharp views of breath-taking mountains, icy plains, and impact craters.

Paula Johanson didn’t stop at two favourites. Or three. She has four!

While I've been writing an introduction to the Paleolithic Revolution, it's been fun to find archaeology stories in the news. There was the hiker who found a Viking sword by a path in Norway. And it was fun to go to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre’s website.

But for interesting images of hominid bones, my favourite resource is Morpho Source. MorphoSource is a project-based data archive where researchers store and organize, share, and distribute their own 3-D images of hominid fossil bones. Anyone can register and download 3-D images to use in their own studies. The website is designed to be self-explanatory, but young students will need assistance browsing the archive

And last, but definitely not least, my favourite of the day is the fossil bird found on a beach about five miles from my new home in Sooke, British Columbia.

And sometimes (and some places), it's not cold at all, even at Christmas.

Claire here again. I'm back! And not to be outdone, I have four favourites to offer too.

For an ever-changing set of science stories from around the world – and some wonderful photos and photo collections, try the Science and Environment pages of the BBC.

And for another take on the day’s science stories (also with some great pictures), but with a Canadian perspective, go to CBC Technology & Science pages.

The host of CBC Radio’s great science magazine, Quirks and Quarks, Bob McDonald, writes a weekly blog about a science issue or story that caught his eye – and he’s great at explaining things in a way that all of us can understand.

Finally, if you’re as fascinated as I am by the unseen, unsuspected microscopic world around us, go to Nikon’s Small World and see the beauty, adventure, and high drama visible only through a light microscope.

Now grab a Christmas cookie and hot chocolate, relax, and have a science-y good time.

Falalala la lala la LAAAA!

All photos by Claire Eamer

Happy Book Birthday!

Post by Helaine Becker

It's a Big Bang Book Bash! I'm delighted to announce the publication of my newest book, Everything Space! (National Geographic Kids). Readers ages 8+ will get blasted into space, where we explore planets, stars, and beyond. This fun book will pull you in like gravity, if I do say so myself. It's full of jaw-dropping facts, first-hand reports from space explorers, detailed maps and fascinating infographics. It also has more than 100 stunning pictures.

The Dalai Lama and Science

By Pippa Wysong

Much of October 2014 was suffused with a sense of unreality because of the unusual trip that was to happen near the end of the month. Hubby and I were to travel to Alabama where Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama was scheduled to appear. We would attend several events, meet the organizers and even get a chance to meet His Holiness in person.

During my career as a science writer, I’ve had the privilege to meet some extraordinary people. But there was something different about the chance to meet the Dalai Lama, even if it was for just a five-second grasping of hands with no real chance to talk one-on-one. This is someone who is truly a global figure, whose name and influence cross all cultures and sectors of society. A true thought-leader.

It all seemed bigger than life, and in fact the opportunity somehow felt surreal. I didn’t tell anyone that I was going or, until now, that I had gone. The invitation to these events came through a colleague of my husband’s who became personally acquainted with His Holiness while trying to start up a hospital in India.

Symposium poster. Photo by P. Wysong.

Knowing almost nothing about the history of the 14th Dalai Lama nor of his brand of Buddhism, the Gelug school, I felt unprepared and scrambled to read about him.

I learned several intriguing things. One is that the Dalai Lama is actually a science geek and has an insatiable thirst to learn about areas relating to cosmology, physics, neurology, genetics, and more. In fact, he regularly invites small groups of top scientists to visit his home in Dharamsala in northern India to discuss recent scientific findings and trends. Plus, he makes sure that the education monks get has strong science content.

He has said that if an explanation of the natural world in the Buddhist texts is proven to be incorrect through scientific evidence -- then those sections of the Buddhist texts should be updated to stay current and accurate. In one place, he phrases this as, “...in the Buddhist investigation of reality, at least in principle, empirical evidence should triumph over scriptural authority, no matter how deeply venerated a scripture may be.”

He is co-founder of the Mind and Life Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring relationships between modern sciences, philosophy, the humanities and social sciences. A goal is to explore the effects of contemplative-based practices (such as meditation) on the brain and human biology and behaviour.

This brings us to Alabama, where the University of Alabama (UAB) hosted a public panel discussion, in honour of the Dalai Lama’s visit, on the theme of neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to adapt and change.

Dialogue on Neuroplasticity and Health took place at the Jemison Concert Hall. The participants were top neuroscientists Edward Taub, PhD; Michael Merzenich, PhD; and Toronto-based psychiatrist Dr. Norman Doidge.

The Dalai Lama, centre, with scientists. Photo by P. Wysong.

Dr. Taub is a behavioural neuroscientist at UAB, known for making vital breakthroughs in the understanding of the brain and neuroplasticity. He developed CI Therapy, now used on stroke survivors. Dr. Merzenich taught neuroscience at the University of California San Francisco and developed various therapies that affect behaviour, memory, and learning ability. Dr. Doidge authored the bestseller The Brain That Changes Itself. His Holiness periodically interjected with questions and comments.

Public dialogues with leading scientists is not an uncommon thing for the Dalai Lama to do, and through these efforts he is contributing to science literacy – and showing that spirituality and science can be complementary.

Why does a spiritual leader lean so heavily towards the sciences? Because science helps explain how the world around us works, who we are, what we are, and what our relationship is to the world. It also provides tools we can use to help make ourselves and the world a better place.

The Dalai Lama’s key message is about compassion. How can we learn to treat each other better? How can we push aside traits that make us angry, distrustful, or violent? How can we create a society that is peaceful, with people respecting and appreciating the differences in others, and avoid conflict?

One tool that could be added to efforts in these directions is neuroplasticity. Studies show that by doing certain types of brain training, people who suffer debilitating, periodic depression can become less depressed – and even reduce their need for medication. Through meditation, or other techniques that train the brain and alter neuro-wiring, people who were once quick to anger can learn to handle difficult situations more calmly and rationally. Numerous examples of using neuroplasticity are described in Doidge’s book.

As a spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama is keen on areas of science that can help people become happier. And there is no contradiction with the Gelug school going in this direction. The Gelug school is more philosophical than theistic – a specific god isn’t worshipped. Followers learn to find inner peace and enlightenment largely using meditation and teachings of ethics, mixed with its version of spirituality.

Regardless of religion, spirituality, or a lack of either, what everyone has in common is that we want to live peacefully with those around us, ideally in a compassionate society. And the Dalai Lama has embraced science to help in this quest.

Are Canadians interested in science? You tell us!

By Claire Eamer

A couple of weeks ago, Rick Mercer delivered one of his trademark rants in support of science - pure science, whether or not it confers immediate economic benefit. He criticized the federal government for its lack of respect and support for science and said that Canadians are “as passionate and curious as anyone else” when it comes to science.

Now, as a science communicator - both to kids and to adults - that is my experience too. I've talked to kids, teachers, librarians, parents, and passing adults from Vancouver Island to Nunavut in the past few years. Almost all were enthusiastic about science, curious about how things work, fascinated by the natural world, and delighted to learn new things. (The exceptions were two kids from a religious fundamentalist family and one grown-up radio interviewer - but you can't please everyone, I guess.)

But this, it appears, is not everyone's experience.

Canadian geneticist David Kent, currently at the University of Cambridge in the UK, wrote a blog post politely and articulately disagreeing with Rick Mercer. That triggered an online storm of the best possible kind - some people agreeing with Kent and others disagreeing.

Besides the stream of comments attached to Kent's post - all polite and passionate (including, I hope, my own) - the discussion has continued on other blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds.

One of the commenters, science communicator Kevin Mogk, felt strongly enough about the discussion to repost his own comments, inviting more discussion. Another referred to his own earlier post with concerns similar to Kent's. 

A number of people referenced the Council of Canadian Academies' report, issued in August 2014, on the state of science culture in Canada. Among its findings: "Canadians have positive attitudes towards science and technology and low levels of reservations about science compared with citizens of other countries."

The Canadian science blog and blog aggregator, Science Borealis, recently published a careful and detailed set of counter-arguments to Kent's post.

Theresa Liao, science communicator at the University of British Columbia and a friend of David Kent, posted her own response on her blog, Science, I Choose You!

Among the evidence cited for Canadians' interest in and enthusiasm for science are the excellent books, blogs and articles being produced by Canadian science writers for a Canadian and international audience, including:

• nominees and winners of the Canadian Science in Society Book Awards  and the Lane Anderson Awards
• the Canadian science bloggers listed and featured on the website of the Canadian Science Writers' Association and the Science Borealis blog
• the substantial audiences attracted by CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks and CBC Television's The Nature of Things
• the crowds of kids and adults who fill science centres, science museums, and open science days at universities and research centres

So, who is right? Or are we all right, to some degree? What do we - all of us - need to do to make sure that Canadians have access to scientific information in a form that makes it useful to them? And how can we ensure that kids who are passionate about science (and that's most of them, in my experience) don't lose that passion as they get older, whether or not they become scientists themselves?

If you read this far, you care - and you have an opinion. Please share!






 

Marvelous Meteors: A new meteor shower this May

By Marie Powell

(Updated May 24)

A brand new meteor shower occurred in the early morning hours Friday May 23 to Saturday May 24 called the Camelopardalids.

A meteor shower happens when particles from space -- meteors -- pass into the Earth's atmosphere at the same time, or when the Earth passes through a debris trail left behind by a comet. Some people call them "shooting stars." There are several meteor showers every year, like the Perseids pictured here.  This meteor shower is predicted to occur again in August.

Another meteor shower expected to occur on October 21 this year is the Orionids. These small chunks of ice, rock, and minerals were left behind by Haley's Comet. We'll see them again on October 21 this year, according to predictions.

Other meteor showers occur regularly, and some can be predicted at certain times of the year. For example, the Lyrids are formed by debris from Comet Thatcher and can be seen in late April. The intensity or brightness and length of meteor showers vary. Websites like Spacedex offer a list of meteor shower predictions to help flag these dates.

Scientists had predicted the new Camelopardalids meteor shower on May 23-24 would be as strong as the Perseids. The radiant or the point from which it radiates is large, so scientists anticipated it would be a strong and bright meteor shower. It's caused by debris from comet 209P/LINEAR located between the constellations of Ursa Major and Cassiopeia, and it's named after the constellation Camelopardalis (the giraffe). Because it had never been seen before, it was difficult to predict exactly when it would appear or how bright it would be, but NASA set up a live feed to view the shower.

As it turned out, the meteor shower disappointed most viewers.  One reported seeing about 10 meteors throughout the night. Here is a round-up of links (and I will add more over the weekend):

"Camelopardalids Meteor Shower Skimpy but Sweet" by Bob King: http://www.universetoday.com/112120/camelopardalid-meteor-shower-skimpy-but-sweet/

Images of the meteor shower:  http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/arx/meteors_052414_fast.gif

NASA's webcast replay:  http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html 

Twitter followers reported being disappointed, but as one said, it was better to be informed of the event in advance:  https://twitter.com/hashtag/camelopardalids?src=hash

Here are some general links about meteor showers and predictions for the Camelopardalids:

Spacedex's list of predicted dates: http://www.spacedex.com

CBC meteor shower calendar: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/meteor-shower-calendar-1.1311681

NASA's live feed:

https://www.slooh.com 

NASA's prediction for the Camelopardalids: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/may-camelopardalids.html#.U39cbV6ntfM

NASA's tips on meteor showers: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/aquarids_2012_prt.htm

International Meteor Organization: http://www.imo.net

IMO's prediction for the Camelopardalids: http://www.imo.net/camelopardalids2014

CBC article with links: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/new-meteor-shower-the-camelopardalids-expected-tonight-1.2650775

Marie Powell is the author of 15 books for children, including Dragonflies are Amazing (Scholastic Canada) and a six-book Word Families series (Amicus Publishing). Her second six-book series is expected this fall, along with two middle-grade books of Canadian history.