Augmented reality goes beyond Pokemon Go!

Cubelets: Small Robots Teach Big Science Lessons

Transcript:

These simple robotic cubes are the building blocks of intelligent systems

Cubelets are magnetic, electronic building blocks, each with a small computer inside, that can be connected in many different ways to move around a table, follow a hand signal, turn on a light, play sounds, or do many other creative tasks.

They were developed by Eric Schweikardt and his team at Modular Robotics, with support from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

"Cubelets come in three categories: sense, think and act. That's our working definition of a robot--any mechanical device that senses, thinks and acts," says Schweikardt.

"Cubelets are an example of a complex system. They're made of lots of little cubes--each with a different capability, such as a distance sensor cube, a drive motor cube with wheels and a battery cube. And, when you put them together, they do something greater, such as drive when they detect an object," he continues. "They're inspired by natural systems of individuals that join forces and work together, such as insect swarms or birds flying in a 'V' formation."

These 21st century building blocks are meant to help kids learn about the basics of robotics while boosting their confidence to solve problems.

"Cubelets, by Modular Robotics, make powerful ideas of computational thinking accessible in a fun and hands-on way to students of all ages," says NSF program manager Glenn Larsen. "The next generation of citizens needs to understand complex systems like our ecosystem and our economy. Cubelets lays the foundation for this understanding by putting the building blocks of complex systems in children's hands."

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent

Marsha Walton, Science Nation Producer

Secret of the Equation P=M*V (C10 Speech)

Amber Wang

Ladies and gentlemen, when talking about vulnerability, what ideas come to your mind: weakness, loser, shame or fear? I believe most people will associate the word “vulnerability” with negative meanings. We’re always shaped to be strong, especially in traditional Chinese culture. But in fact, the driving force to become truly strong lies in admitting and accepting your vulnerabilities. Are you surprised? Yet we too often lose sight of the fact that vulnerability is also the starting point of joy, belonging, creativity and love. Only when we are brave enough to face the challenges of our lives will we discover the infinite power of hope. Next, I would like to illustrate my points by telling a moved life story of Joshua Hsu.

Before Joshua was thirty-three, his life looked so perfect. He was energetic, talented in many fields, and had gotten countless first winner places since his childhood. He had graduated from National Taiwan University, College of Medicine and married his beautiful wife, Susan. Wow! It’s just like a fairy tale where the prince and the princess will be happy forever! However, in 2007, his idyllic world was dramatically turned upside down by a skiing accident which seriously damaged his spine. This rendered him physically disabled and paralyzed from his waist down. Owing to the spinal cord injury, he is even unable to control the passing of his urine and feces. The medical term for this condition is “incontinence.” It is like a walking time-bomb which bothers him so much. Besides, the nonstop nervous pain tortures him every second.

What would you do if you were him? Cry? Blame others or the circumstances for such a misfortune? Of course, he did that! But moreover, he chose another positive way to find inner peace and the strength to overcome his tragedy.
By taking off his mask, he had more opportunities to know love, compassion and blessing from others than before. From this accident, he learned to reflect on his life path, have more gratitude for his family, and strive for unity in it.

By feeling the depths of his lows, he fully appreciated the depths of his highs.
Though Joshua lost some abilities, he chose to never give up. He strengthened his upper body through weight-lifting. He trained very hard to drive by himself, be a psychiatrist and do something as possible as he can. Because of his life experience, he had more empathy to comfort and inspire his patients. Furthermore, he cooperated with the Industrial Technology Research Institute to invent devices that help the disabled to walk.
By totally accepting his vulnerability and negative emotions, he realized more about the true meaning of courage. He shared his experiences by writing a blog, being interviewed on TV and on radio programs to positively encourage more people. He enthusiastically served as the CEO of the Spinal Cord Injury Foundation to help people with the same injury go through the suffering and integrate into society more.
The accident hurt his central nervous system, but gave him chances to weave a web of more connection with this world.

Joshua’s story has greatly enlightened me; furthermore, he is a good example of being “whole-hearted” which is a term created by Brené Brown. She is a research professor of social work and a renowned speaker as well. Her 2010 talk on the power of vulnerability and 2012 talk on listening to shame are two of the most watched talks on TED.com. During her decades of research and interviews, she has found something confusing and meaningful.

When she asks people about love, belonging and connection, they often tell her about heartbreak, being excluded and disconnection instead. On the contrary, “whole-hearted” people are a special group that has a deep sense of self-worth and of course, feels very happy and satisfied. They all have something in common.
Courage – These folks have a strong sense of courage to admit they are not perfect and tell the story of who they are. They are just real and honest. No matter whether they’re scared, have made a mistake, or feel hurt, they just admit it.
Compassion – They have the compassion to be kind to themselves first. They are willing to let go of something bad but has happened and believe they are worthy of love and belonging.
Change & Connection –The hardest and most important part. Whole-hearted people learn from the greatest lessons of sorrow and vulnerability, then modify their values of life and share their experience with others.

So ladies and gentlemen, as a science teacher, here is an equation I would like to teach you when facing the challenges. P=M*V Taking motions and efforts to make changes is no doubt necessary. But the multiple effect of vulnerability is even more. The dark does not destroy the light, but defines it instead. Embracing vulnerability fully brings a purpose and meaning to life. Vulnerability isn’t a curse but a gift for us to have more capacity for empathy and awareness of being worthy.

The Discovery Files: Babble On

Research from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut shows that what spurs early language development isn't so much the quantity of words a baby hears as the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions






Audio Transcript:

Whooo's my little baaaybeeee?

(Sound effect: baby talk)

Whooo's my little baaaybeeee?

(Sound effect: baby coo)

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

(Sound effect: sound under: parent interacting with child)

If you're not around kids a lot, the strange way of speaking to infants known as 'parentese' may sound funny, or overly cute. But researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut say, "hold on, baby" that speech pattern might well be beneficial for baby's current and future language skills.

(Sound effect: baby sounds)

The team outfitted one-year olds with tiny vests that contained audio recorders to collect the sounds around them, including interactions with family members. The team analyzed over 4,000 intervals of recorded speech, noting among other things, whether or not the adult used parentese, or baby talk.

A year later, parents filled out a questionnaire measuring how many words their children knew. On average, infants who heard the most baby talk knew 433 words, those who heard the least, 169.

The findings reveal that what spurs early language development isn't so much the quantity of words parents use, as the style of speech. The study also showed parentese works best one-on-one. Speak slowly and emphasize important words. Your goal is to get the baby to babble back.

(Sound effect: baby babble sound)

This would probably work on your husband too.

"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

The Discovery Files：Tomato Tweak

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have found a way to allow commercial tomato growers to coax their plants into producing more fruit without sacrificing the unique and necessary bushy shape of the plants.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions






Audio Transcript:

Yield--for tomatoes.

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

1908: New York State's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Botanist George Shull (shool), discovers that cross-breeding genetically distinct plants produces offspring more robust than either inbred parent. A phenomenon called 'hybrid vigor,' that's been used to improve agricultural productivity for over a century--even though scientists couldn't agree on exactly how or why it worked.

Fast-forward to Cold Spring Harbor today, where researchers have found a way to coax tomato plants into producing more fruit, while still keeping a compact, bushy plant shape that allows mechanical harvesters to reap the crop.

Previously, the team had ID'ed a rare example of hybrid vigor involving a change in the gene that makes florigen, a hormone in charge of flowering and flower production. Now, they've found that the genetic change lowers the amount of florigen in tomato plants causing the plants to postpone the moment when they stop producing flowers. Result: Super-productive plants!

The researchers predict it may be possible to tweak florigen levels to get even higher yields--not just in tomatoes, but in other flowering plants as well.

The next time you enjoy a B.L.T.[1], think of the researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Lab, a group of 'budding geniuses.'

"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

-----------------
Note:

[1]B.L.T.
Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato the name of a sandwich that contains these foods.

How to be an evaluator for a speech?

An evaluation workshop in HOPAX by Caroline.
You not only improve your English speaking ability but also your evaluation skill when you join Tsoying Toastmasters!

How to get better at speaking English?

How to get better at speaking English?
Join Tsoying Toastmasters and practice the three easy ways taught in the video below!

"Say it with a Song" and "DO You Hear the People Sing?"-- October Reading, 2013

From http://magazines.toastmasters.org/publication/?i=171821, Page 20-21.

Say It with a Song
A different way to grab your audience’s attention.

As Toastmasters, we a constantly on the lookout for new speech ideas. Songs can be an excellent source of material for speeches because of their storytelling nature, short duration and infectious melodies. Because of these properties, almost any song can be used to create or enhance a speech in interesting ways.



The short duration of a song cries out for a speech to convey the details of the song’s story. I once wrote a speech based on the song “Saint John” by Cold War Kids. The song tells the story of a man on death row hoping for a pardon from the governor. He ended up on death row after throwing a brick at a drunk college kid who was part of a group that was harassing his sister. The framework for a speech was already in place in the song.

The song has a tragic element to it, which is amplified by its mournful chorus. I only needed to add some additional details to the story to transform the song into a speech. I also took the opportunity to try and emulate the singer who sang with a drawl, which added to the entertainment value of the speech. But, perhaps the most powerful aspect of the speech was the chorus line I sang to my audience as a break between the different parts of the story.

A Chorus Line
Choruses are meant to be catchy, with interesting rhythms and melodies. In fact, when most people think of a song, it’s typically a chorus line that first comes to mind. For good or bad, depending on your taste and the length of time you are forced to listen to it, the chorus line may be the only part of the song you actually remember.

Try using a chorus line to your advantage by singing it as part of your speech. In addition to the rhythm and melody, just the fact that you’re singing it will grab your audience’s attention. By doing so, you will also inject into the speech whatever emotional tone or attitude the chorus projects. In my speech, a chorus line provided smooth transitions between each part of the story. Singing adds emotional impact in a way that simply telling a story cannot do.



Imagine a humorous speech in which the speaker describes a situation that made him want to appear to be cool, but things didn’t work out as intended. Now imagine the speaker singing a chorus line from the song “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers during certain parts of his or her speech. The singing catches the audience’s attention and also injects some humor into the speech.

Using Soundtracks
Soundtracks are another source for speech ideas. [A soundtrack can be recorded music synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game. Soundtracks are sometimes released commercially as soundtrack albums.] Soundtrack speeches use songs that remind the speaker of a specific time in his life. Typically these memories focus on childhood, a particular person or a romantic relationship. Soundtracks may be the most common types of songs that speakers incorporate into speeches.

If you have been a Toastmaster for a long time, you have probably heard someone give a soundtrack speech, or you may have given one yourself. This type of speech can work to your advantage because it will hold your audience’s attention. Additionally, hearing a song’s chorus may trigger feelings of nostalgia in audience members who recognize them.

Creative Use of Song Titles
Those looking for a challenge might consider a list of song titles by their favorite artist and write a speech that incorporates those titles directly into the speech narrative. In these cases the speaker doesn’t sing. The titles are simply used as phrases in the sentences of the speech. For example, a speech about an old car might incorporate titles of some Beatles songs:



My wife keeps threatening to have my ’67 Camaro towed out to the junkyard because she is tired of it taking up space in the garage. She affectionately refers to it as the “yellow submarine” because she feels in her words that “it should be rusting on the bottom of the ocean.” I told her I wasn’t getting rid of it because I know that “with a little help from my friends” I will get that car up and running as good as new.



Once the audience picks up on what the speaker is doing, they will appreciate the difficulty of the speaker’s challenge.

Tunes for Table Topics
Another use for a song is creating Table Topics questions. This is especially useful when you learn just before a meeting that the scheduled Table Topicsmaster can’t make the meeting and someone else needs to fill that role. People have songs they enjoy listening to, so it’s easy to recall a favorite. Try using it to craft part of a spur-of- the moment question. Here are some examples:

• Huey Lewis and the News sang about the heart of rock ‘n’ roll. What is the heart of rock ‘n’ roll, and is it still beating?
• Ozzy Osbourne went off the rails on a crazy train. When do you board your crazy train, and what makes it go off the rails?
• Steppen-wolf was born to be wild. What were you born to be?

These examples don’t require the responder to actually know the song, and you can use them to spur ideas for a vast amount of topics in a short time.

The next time you’re seeking inspiration for a speech topic, think about some of your favorite songs. It’s likely that you can transform one of them into an entertaining speech, or use a chorus to spice up a speech you’re working on.

The Song-Title Technique

To inject humor into a speech— especially one about a dry topic— I sometimes use a technique that involves grouping song titles into themes. It can work with any well-known musician or group that has recorded a large number of songs.

Let’s say you’re going to make a training presentation. You have to teach a group of people something really complicated—a computer program, details of complex new legislation, medical procedures, whatever. You might begin by saying:

It may sound strange, but I feel the Beatles are here with us today— because they recorded some songs on how you may feel about learning [the topic of your talk]. The top three titles are:

• "The Long And Winding Road"
• "It's All Too Much"
• "Help!

Fortunately, they also recorded some songs about how I feel. The top three are:

• "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
• "Ask Me Why"
• "We Can Work It Out"

This is a condensed version of Malcolm Kushner’s article “Want To Be Funny? You Can’t Go Wrong If You Name That Song,” which was published in the March 2007 Toastmaster magazine.

--------------

Do You Hear the People Sing



Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?

Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your
chance?
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of France!

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

Translation Comparison

Mandarin Version



Taiwanese Version



--------------

Notes:
• infectious / ɪnˈfekʃəs; ɪnˋfɛkʃəs/ adj
quickly influencing others; likely to spread to others
• harass / ˈhrəs; US həˈras; həˋras/ v
trouble and annoy (sb) continually
• mournful /ˈmɔːnfəl US ˈmɔːrn-/ adj
very sad
• emulate / ˈemjuleɪt; ˋɛmjəˏlet/ v ~ sb (at sth)
try to do as well as or better than sb
• drawl [drɔːl] n.
a slow speech pattern with prolonged vowels
• synchronize / ˈsɪŋkrənaɪz; ˋsɪŋkrəˏnaɪz/ v ~ (sth) (with sth)
(cause sth to) operate, move, turn, etc at the same time, speed, etc
• incorporate / ɪnˈkɔːpəreɪt; ɪnˋkɔrpəret/ v ~ sth (in/into sth)
make sth part of a whole; include
• nostalgia / nɔˈstaldʒə; nɑˋstaldʒə/ n
a feeling that a time in the past was good
• tow / təu; to/ v
pull (sth) along with a rope, chain, etc
• rust v /rʌst/
to become covered with reddish-brown substance that forms on iron or steel when it gets wet
• get rid of
remove, extinguish, eliminate
• spur-of-the-moment adj. spur / spɜː(r); spə/ n
on a sudden impulse, without previous planning
• legislation /ˌledʒɪˈsleɪʃən/ n
a law or set of laws
• crusade / kruːˈseɪd; kruˋsed/ n
any struggle or campaign for sth believed to be good, or against sth believed to be bad
• barricade /ˈbærɪkeɪd, ˌbærɪˈkeɪd/ n
a temporary wall or fence across a road, door etc that prevents people from going through
• martyr /ˈmɑːtə US ˈmɑːrtər/ n
someone who dies for their religious or political beliefs and is admired by people for this

Mount St. Helens: Rising From the Ashes

Life erupts once again from the once lifeless mountain

When Mount St. Helens blew its top in 1980, it wasn't a surprise that it happened, but even today the extent of the damage is hard to fathom. The eruption knocked down 100-foot trees like matchsticks and killed just about everything in its path. There have been several smaller eruptions since then, but nothing like what happened in 1980.

Evolutionary biologist and ecologist John Bishop knows Mount St. Helens well; he has been working on the mountain for 20 years. "It began with the largest landslide in recorded history that uncorked an explosion that was directed horizontally and leveled the forest 13 miles out," recalls Bishop. "It was just a barren landscape, gray-and-pumice-colored, covered with rocks."

Today, dead tree trunks still litter the landscape. But, if you take a closer look, you'll see another kind of eruption; an eruption of life on the mountainside. For Bishop, it's a blessing. "It's a rare opportunity for scientists to get to study a devastated area and how it comes back from scratch in such detail," he says.

With help from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Bishop is documenting the return of living things to the once lifeless mountain. "Up until the last 10 years, the landscape has been completely dominated by lupins," says Bishop. He says these flowering lupin plants are able to create new soil from volcanic ash. That new soil has created a habitat for the Sitka willow. But, Bishop says there is a problem. "One of the things we've realized about these willows is that they're not getting big. And that's important because they create habitat for birds and mammals."

The culprits are small invasive weevils that are on the attack. They've taken up residence inside the willows' stems, stunting the plants' growth or killing them. Bishop says there is a lesson in all of this. "Seemingly insignificant organisms, like insects that consume plants, play an extraordinarily important role in the sorting out process of deciding, essentially, which plants are going to stay in the landscape and which ones are going to disappear."

Bishop points out that the imbalance between plants and insects on Mount St. Helens should be expected in rudimentary systems and will cause instability until a more complex community of plant and animal species is sustainable, or until the day Mount St. Helens itself changes the equation once again.

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Jon Baime, Science Nation Producer

Dragonflies: The Flying Aces of the Insect World

Transcript

Miles O’Brien: This dragonfly is grabbing the meal on the go.

Stacey Combes: This attempt is so fast that unless we film it in high-speed we can’t see whether it caught the prey. But when it gets back to its perch, if we see it chewing we know that it was successful.

Miles O’Brien: With support from the National Science Fundation, Harvard university biomechanist Stacey Combes, wants to understand how dragonflies pull off these complicated aerial feats; hunting, and even reproducing in midair. She and her team set up their lab near a pond outside Boston, right in the heart of dragonfly country.

Student: All right, I got one. I lost it.

Miles O’Brien: Clearly it's not easy to catch a dragonfly.

Student: I got one.

Miles O’Brien: Check out this frog. In this specially built netted enclosure, Combes’ team set up eight high-speed cameras. Then they release a dragonfly and some tasty fruit fly prey to watch what happens next.

Stacey Combes: They’ll go up in midair, catch the prey with their hands, or with their feet turn upside down and glide back to stick. And the whole capture will take maybe a second, or a second and a half. This one’s missing about half of its left front wing and yet it still does an amazing job catching the fruit fly in midair.

Student: It only takes about half a second for this to happen.

Stacey Combes: They caught, you know, about 90 or 95 percent of the prey that we gave them. And interestingly, they’re one of the most ancient groups of insects. They’ve had a long time to evolve their skills as predators.

Miles O’Brien: About 300 million years. These four-winged insects predate dinosaurs. They can fly straight up, straight down, hover like helicopters, and disappear in a blur. And their eyesight?

Amber DesLauriers: Almost its whole head is eye.They can see pretty much all the way around their head, except right behind them.

Miles O’Brien: Dragonflies mate and lay eggs in flight.

Stacy Combes: Do you see her like just dipping in the water?

Student: She’s trying to lay eggs; the male’s trying to mate with her.

Miles O’Brien: Combes says engineers are looking to the dragonfly for inspiration in small scale aircraft design.

Stacy Combes: There's a lot of interest in building, you know, robotic, smaller robotic devices.

Miles O’Brien: And she says better understanding of dragonflies could lead to more effective mosquito control strategies.

Stacy Combes: They may consume 30 mosquitoes a day. They could even consume hundreds a day.

Miles O’Brien: And that’s an idea that could really take flight.

Miles O’Brien: For Science Nation, I’m Miles O’Brien.

Discovery Files: Slow V. Go!

Slow V.[1] Go!

Michigan State University researchers show that more adaptable bacteria that are oriented toward long-term improvement prevailed over competitors that held short term advantages.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions

Audio Transcript:

Take Your Time -- It's Evolution.

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

An evolutionary study of generations of bacteria reads a lot like the fable, 'the tortoise and the hare.'[2] Led by the University of Michigan, it showed that if you're a bacteria, sometimes it's better to be a slow, adaptable tortoise than a fitness-oriented hare.

In the fable, the hare is all like full of himself and instantly gets way out front. So far ahead, he figures he can take a nap. By the time he wakes up, the tortoise is plodding across the finish line.

How does that relate to bacteria? The MSU study recorded evolutionary change over an unprecedented 52,000 generations of bacteria grown over 25 years. The team was able to clone two distinct lineages from a population of frozen E. coli[3]. Welcome to bacterial family feud! And here we go!

One lineage makes a mutational move early in the game that gets them ahead initially, but closes off certain routes for later improvement and eventually winds up extinct. The other lineage is less fit early on, but over the course of several evolutionary moves, produces more beneficial mutations, overcoming its short-term disadvantage. By maintaining greater potential for further adaptation, the tortoises prevail.

Turtle power!

"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
------------
Notes:
[1] Slow V.
“Slo-V” is a slow flying model aircraft. For more information, please visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParkZone_Slo-V

[2] the tortoise and the hare
it is a fable attributed to Aesop. The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise and is challenged by him to a race. The hare takes a nap midway through the course. When he awakes, he finds that the tortoise has won the competition.

[3] E. coli / Escherichia coli
A bacterium commonly found in the intestines of humans and other animals, where it usually causes no harm. Some strains can cause severe food poisoning, esp. in old people and children. 大腸桿菌

Curiosity Has Landed on Mars

Transcript:

Things are looking good. Coming up on entry.

Vehicle reports entry interface.

We're beginning to feel the atmosphere as we go in here. Alright, it is reporting that

we are seeing G's on the order of 11 or 12 Earth G's.

Bank reversal 2 is starting (cheering). We are now getting telemetry from Odyssey.

We should have parachute deploy around Mach 1.7.

Parachute has deployed (cheering).

We are decelerating.

Heat shield has separated, we are locked on the ground.

We're down to 90 meters per second at an altitude of 6.5 kilometer descending.

Standing by for backshell separation.

We are in powered flight (cheering).

We're at an altitude of 1 km descending.

Standing by for sky crane. Sky crane has started

Signal from Odyssey remains strong.

Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars (loud, sustained cheering).

We got thumbnails (cheering).

What's Up for August 2012?

Transcript:

What's Up for August? View Mars as the rover Curiosity lands on its surface this month.

Hello and welcome. I'm Jane Houston Jones at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. Pacific time NASA's Mars rover named Curiosity will touch down in Gale Crater. The best time to view Mars this month is right after sunset. Saturn, Mars and the bright star Spica [1] form a trio almost all month long. Look low in the west, 30 degrees above the horizon. You should be able to see the difference in color between the three. Saturn appears golden. Spica is blue-white. And Mars is rusty red.

On the 21st the moon joins the lineup.

On the night of the 5th, Mars sets a few hours after sunset everywhere in the U.S.
You can find a Mars viewing party on this night by checking with your local planetarium, science center or astronomy club. If you get a chance to view Mars through a telescope on that night, you might be able to see the dark Martian feature called Syrtis Major [2] near the center of the planet.

Although you can't see Gale Crater, Curiosity's landing site, through the telescope, it's near the limb to the east of Syrtis Major that night.

On the opposite limb is the rover Opportunity, who's been exploring Mars since 2004.
The most popular meteor shower of the year, the Perseids [3], peaks on a summer weekend Saturday night through Sunday morning, August 11th and 12th.

The constellation Perseus [4] rises in the northeast soon after sunset. Just follow the Milky Way from the south to the north to find it.

You'll see dozens of fast, bright meteors, some leaving persistent trains or smoky trails.

You can find information about Curiosity's landing at www.nasa.gov/mars and jpl.nasa.gov/mars. And look for MarsCuriosity on Twitter and Facebook.

You can learn about all of NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov.

That's all for this month. I'm Jane Houston Jones.

-----------------
Notes:

[1] Spica 角宿一

[2] Syrtis Major
It is a "dark spot" located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars. For more information, visit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrtis_Major_Planum

[3] Perseids 英仙座流星雨

[4] Perseus 英仙座

The Discovery Files: Sleep Study

Want to nail that tune that you've practiced and practiced? Maybe take a nap with the same melody playing during your sleep, provocative Northwestern University research suggests.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions

Audio Transcript:

To sleep--perchance to learn

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

A Northwestern University study has participants sleeping during class. Specifically, testing the effects of brain stimulation during sleep on skill enhancement. Participants were given two simple random melodies to learn to play on a key press. After working on the task, they were allowed a 90-minute nap. As subjects entered the stage of sleep associated with cementing memories the "slow wave"[1] stage, researchers played one of the tunes in their ears, but not the other. Could these external cues enhance learning? The researchers say, 'yes' noting that afterward, when asked to recall the tunes, participants made fewer errors in the sequence that was presented during sleep.

Does this mean you could, say, learn a new language while you sleep? Not really. The findings show you must study and learn the language first. But stimulation during sleep does seem to provide enhanced memory of a skill you have already recently learned. So you may be able to reinforce those language skills.

The team is thinking about ways their findings could apply to other types of learning as well, such as different types of motor skills, habits and behaviors.

Seems like the only skill I've improved on while sleeping is sleeping itself.

"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

-----------------
Notes:

[1] slow wave
Sleep is divided into two types: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). NREM is further divided into four stages. Stage 3 and stage 4 are similar and both fall into the category of slow wave sleep. They are deep sleep stages.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rapid_eye_movement_sleep

Word of the Day, “Boy"

By Henry Hsu

This word is simple and easy. The definition of boy in the dictionary says:
a boy is a young male human, a child or a youth.

Actually boy is a profound and difficult if we use it as a compound word. Now I arrange some of them in sequence from simple to difficult to introduce and to see how much do you know about the boy.

Boy! Isn’t it hot!

1. Atta boy, used as an exclamation or interjection means excellent, marvelous, fabulous, etc. Usually being spoken from the senior to the junior, for example, Nina! When you found your son has done something great in school, never forget to praise him by saying “Atta boy”!

2. Soldier boy, it means when young men grow up to 20 years old or more, they need to serve in the army for a period of times for their country. When in serving, we call them “soldier boy” in Taiwanese we say: 阿兵哥. For example, soldier boys are usually released from barracks at weekend.

3. The boys in blue, I have 3 explanations for you to guess which is correct,
A. The boys wearing in blue clothes.
B. The boys suffering from melancholia.
C. The police. Usually used in the US, the people in blue uniform execute the enforcement power. (The same meaning as cop or the police.)

4. Boy wonder, this phrase has two meanings: one is a child prodigy or a child with high talent. The other is a promising young man who is very successful in every walk of life. For example, Jim is a boy wonder in our club, he is good at calligraphy.

5. Boy racer, something bad or illegal or speeding and joyriding on the street at night or midnight, especially endangering the public securities. For instance, it would be dangerous when you meet boy racers at night. You’d better keep them away.

6. Teddy boy (teddy bear, bower boy, wide boy), it refers to a noisy violent person who causes trouble by fighting, threatening, extorting, bully etc. Synonyms are hooligan, rascal and gangster. For example, a teddy boy broke the window of my car I could do nothing but accepted bad luck without complaint.

7. Boys’ town, it is a building in which many juvenile delinquents such as bully boys are kept to reform or to re-educate. (The same as reform school, reformatory, or youth detention center.)

8. Backroom boy, a man who does important work or has good idea to carry out a significant plan or project but is not seen or known about by the public. They are anonymous. (Also called think-tank, a group of intelligent elites or heroes behind the curtain.)

9. Blue-eyed boy, this means the man or boy in a group who is most praised and favored by his superiors or someone in authority. Therefore he receives a better treatment than others.(The same as fair-haired boy.) For example, Ching-Yang is always a blue-eyed boy in his superior’s eyes.

10. Boy night out, it refers to a gathering or a party held at night which is particular for male only, females are not allowed to attend. Any volunteer want to make a sentence with boy night out or girl night out? (Stag party or hen party)

11. One boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy. This phrase is from Chinese slang. Any one wants to make a wild guess what it means? This phrase means one monk carries a bucket of water with his hand to drink, two boys on their shoulders, 3 boys none of them is willing to carry so no water to drink.

Leaf-cutter Ants

Farmers, pharmacists and energy experts!
Leaf-cutter ants put on quite a show.



In established colonies, millions of "workers" cut and carry sections of leaves larger than their own bodies as part of a well choreographed, highly functioning society.

"Anyone who has ever come across a trail of ants cutting leaves and watched that trail run through the forest can recognize how charismatic, and what kind of large impact they have on the tropical ecosystems in which they occur," says bacteriologist Cameron Currie.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Currie and his team study ants and their complex, productive societies to help address some of human society's most pressing challenges, such as better drugs and cleaner energy.

But for Currie, the research is more than just finding solutions to problems. "My doctoral work on leaf-cutting ants was not from an 'Oh, we can discover enzymes for bio-energy,' or 'Oh, we can discover antibiotics for medicinal use.' It was from a fascination with understanding the interaction of organisms in the natural world," says Currie from his lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For example, these ants may have been the planet's first farmers. The insects chew up the leaves they cut and integrate them into a fungus garden, which then becomes both their food and their living space. This "mutualism" between the ants and the fungus was discovered in the late 1800s.

In the wild, primarily in Central and South America, large colonies may have as many as five to 10 million workers, with up to seven different castes, or job categories. Different-sized animals do different tasks. The queen, far larger than the others, may lay 50 million eggs over a lifetime. Soldiers protect the nest; workers gather leaf material. "Minima" or smaller workers are specialized for moving around in the small spaces of the fungus garden.

"This includes elaborate behaviors for tending their food crop. So, they actually groom it, and clean it, and prune it," explains Currie.

There is also a specialized group of ants that are the trash workers, who carry the old garden material and put it in specialized refuse dumps.

A third "player" is also crucial in this symbiotic city.

Bacteria found on the bodies of the ants produce antibiotics that help maintain the health of the fungus garden. "Our current evidence indicates that the ants have been dealing with diseases in their fungus gardens for millions of years," says Currie.

Over the years, these bacteria appear to have evolved new antibiotics to keep the gardens healthy. This co-evolution could help researchers create new antibiotics for humans.

Energy experts

Leaf-cutter ants are also adept teachers in energy research. The Currie Lab works with a wide range of experts at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), a multi-institutional partnership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working to create fuel from the non-edible parts of plants, known as cellulosic ethanol.

"Our understanding of the process of breaking down that plant material to produce digestible nutrients for the ants is very limited," says Currie.

Figuring out how the ants do it could lead to cleaner replacements for petroleum.

"We hope to both reduce society's dependence on fossil fuels and generate those fuels from a feedstock that isn't part of the food chain," explains Tim Donohue, professor of bacteriology and director of GLBRC. "We think biofuels have a clear position in replacing the fossil fuels that go into the automotive and aviation sector, and we hope that we'll be able to generate fuels that are efficient, cost effective, [and] equally important, sustainable, from an economic and environmental perspective."

GLBRC is supported by the office of science in the U.S. Department of Energy. Donohue says the success of this renewable energy work could also provide farmers and foresters with a second revenue stream from their agricultural products; essentially another income from what is now a waste product.

Still fun to watch!

The nonstop work of these social insects can be mesmerizing to just about anyone who observes them. There's a display of a live leaf-cutter community in the lobby of the Microbial Sciences Building on the Madison campus, and an Ant Cam.

"The display is really a great thing for education," says Joseph Moeller, a lab technician in the Currie Lab. "We have lots of people of all ages, always interested in the types of things these leaf-cutter ants can do, and interested in how we travel down to Panama and Costa Rica to collect these ants to come back and study them."

For Currie, who has had his share of bites from angry "soldiers" over the years, the discoveries never get old.

"Working on leaf-cutter ants, doing field work is a major passion," he says. "The connection of seeing your study organism in the field, what it is doing, watching the ants carry leaves, it's captivating, and very exciting seeing the ants in their ecosystem, and their role and their function."

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Marsha Walton, Science Nation Producer

The Discovery Files: Past Restored?

Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions

Audio Transcript:

Carbon Blueprint.

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

(Sound effect: wetlands) America's wetlands--ecological treasure troves of biodiversity. Keys to carbon storage, water purification, erosion control and fish production. During the last century, over half the wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia have disappeared at the hands of humans. A study out of UC-Berkeley shows that often the only way to restore wetlands to their original quality is not to destroy them in the first place.

But what about the long-established practice of "wetland restoration?" You know, destroy a natural wetland area through land development, and build a new man-made wetland to take its place. Sounds like a fair trade-off. But the authors of this study show that there may be some serious flaws in that logic.

They say a restored wetland may look natural, but it can take hundreds of years before it accumulates the plant varieties and carbon resources of the original it was meant to replace. On average, a restored wetland is 25 percent less productive than a natural one and in colder climes, as much as 50 percent less even after more than 50 years.

(Sound effect: wetlands) The theory that we can create wetland ecosystems as effectively as nature--may be "all wet."[1]

The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

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Notes:

[1] all wet
Completely wrong, mistaken.

5 Presentation Lessons From The King’s Speech

5 Presentation Lessons From The King's Speech

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE

The Discovery Files: Convincing Evidence

Want to convince someone to do something? A University of Michigan study examines how various speech characteristics influence people's decisions to participate in telephone surveys. But its findings have implications for many other situations, from closing sales to swaying voters to getting spouses to see things your way.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions

Audio Transcript:

It's Not Always What You Say, It's How You Say It.

I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

From convincing your spouse to closing a sale, researchers at the University of Michigan have identified some speech characteristics that may help your success ratio.

The team broke down 1,380 phone calls made by 100 male and female interviewers trying to convince people to participate in a telephone survey. Here are the findings -- which may not always work, but could give you a better overall chance.

Speed: Interviewers who spoke moderately fast (about 3½ words per second or the pace I'm speaking now) had better luck; any faster and you come off as untrustworthy; slower and you seem unsure, not too bright.

Liveliness:The team found that too many inflections make you sound fake or like you're trying too hard.

Pitch: Depends on if you're a man or a woman. Men with higher-pitched voices fared worse than men with deep voices. With women, pitch was not a factor.

The last characteristic was pauses. The least successful interviewers had no pauses and came off sounding scripted. Pausing a lot did better but tended to make the speaker sound uninformed. The right amount of pauses seems to be about 4 or 5 per minute.

Now using these guidelines get out there and talk someone into something. Some "convincing" evidence.

The Discovery Files: Power Grab

Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems.

Credit: NSF/Karson Productions

Audio Transcript:

(Sound effect: Electronic sucking sound)Power Grab[1]. (Sound effect: theme music) I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.

Shhhh. Can you hear it? Do you feel it all around you? Probably not, but it's there, (Sound effect: light hum and buzz of many radio, telephone, and electrical sources fades in) ambient energy. You know, the electromagnetic energy emitted by cell phone and radio and TV towers even satellite systems. It's just coursing through the air.

Researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a way to harvest and store ambient energy. In order to be able to pick from the many frequency ranges, the team used an ultra-wideband antenna that can get everything from FM radio to radar signals. Their scavenging devices capture, then convert the power from AC to DC, and store it in capacitors or batteries.

(Sound effect: hair dryer)Now you're not gonna exactly going to be running your hairdryer with ambient power just yet. More likely small electronic devices like sensors and microprocessors.

The team is using inkjet printers to "print" sensors, antennas and energy-capture capabilities on paper or flexible polymer material. Imagine wireless, self-powered sensors in airport security for detection, monitoring temperature and humidity throughout your home, in buildings and bridges to warn of structural problems, even as inexpensive food-spoilage detectors and (Sound effect: beeping from medial machine) wearable bio-monitors that observe patient medical issues.

All powered with energy harvested in an electromagnetic field. Sort of a high-tech dream-catcher[2].

The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

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Notes:

[1] power grab
The original meaning means the attempt or action of acquiring or accomplishing something that was previously unattainable but is now possible through newly acquired power. However, here the word "power" indicates electrical energy.

[2] dream-catcher
A Native American craftwork consisting of a small hoop covered with string, yarn, or horsehair mesh and decorated with feathers and beads and believed to give its owner good dreams.