This summer has been full with sports, swimming, bike rides, learning, sleepovers, birthday parties, and mostly more swimming.  Alison is swimming and playing in the deep end.  Andrew has surpassed my mid-90s record by doing 5 front flips and 3 backflips underwater.

We began our new study of physics theory.  Tomorrow we’re going to make our own simple hanging scales.  We’re also studying India and Afghanistan from 1850-1900.   Those Afghans warriors were badass, and they’ve passed that trait onto the current generation.  Tomorrow we’re also going to the library so Andrew can practice some of those research and writing skills.  He’s going to look up some information on the trained Indian elephants and write a short report.  He hasn’t done a lot of that kind of thing in the past.  Finally, there has been ots of reading.  They’ve completed all the hours for the library’s reading club, which puts them in the drawing for a guitar or an art set.

I’ve been reading some too:

Yo! by Julia Alvarez 4*

Yolanda Garcia wrote a book about her family, causing them all to be mad that she invaded their privacy. In response, this book is about Yolanda, written from the point of view of various eople in her life. Sometimes she’s wonderful or weird, misguided or silly, generous or serious. I wish Yolanda was a real person because I would love to be her friend.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 2.5*

It was a quick, easy read.  I had a hard time putting it down.  That’s the best I can say about this book.  Like eating a plateful of cookies, it was fun, but didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.  Glenda, I guess I agree with what you said about it last time I mentioned Twilight.  Bella, the one we’re supposed to identify with, did not resonate with me.  Even if I looked back to my dumb teenage self who made stupid decisions and went out with bad boys, I felt little sympathy for her.  Edward, who we’re supposed to fall in love with, I found to be selfish and creepy.  I could look beyond that if it was well written, but I won’t say more because I feel like a jerk criticizing someone for their writing when I am well aware of my own weaknesses in that area.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik 3.5*

This title of this book makes it a little embarrassing to carry around in public.  The five housewives of Freesia Court discover each other one night and start a snowball fight. This leads to a book club and a lifetime of friendship. The friends have family picnics and spirited discussions, and they’re also there for each other through divorces, tragedies, adoption, deep secrets revealed and much more. It was on like watching a Lifetime movie of the week, but it was one of the better ones.

I’m reading “Memoirs of a Geisha” now.  The six chapters I’ve read have been wonderfully sad.

Future dark belt.

Last night we babysat  Billy and Joey while my brother and sis-in-law went out for their 3rd anniversary.   It was a good  reminder of how physically tiring toddlers are.  We had lots of fun though.  I think Joey and I formed a special bond we didn’t have before.

Because he wasn’t loud enough already. 

El escinco, también llamado pez de las arenas, es un lagarto de cortas patas, a medio camino evolutivo entre lagartos y serpientes. Lo más característico de estos lagartos es que pueden bucear por la arena. Se sumergen en ella y nadan como los peces. Nadar por la arena no parece fácil, la arena es muy diferente al agua. ¿Cómo lo hacen? Las imágenes por rayos X permiten descubrirlo. Pliegan sus cortos brazos y piernas sobre su cuerpo, para que no molesten, y se mueven ondulando el cuerpo como una serpiente. Ryan D. Maladen et al. han desarrollado modelos biomecánicos por ordenador que permiten comprender los detalles de este peculiar modo de locomoción. Nos lo cuentan en Ryan D. Maladen, Yang Ding, Chen Li, Daniel I. Goldman, “Undulatory Swimming in Sand: Subsurface Locomotion of the Sandfish Lizard,” Science 325: 314-318, 17 July 2009.

Los investigadores han logrado predecir la velocidad de “buceo” del escinco (Scincus scincus) gracias a estimar la resistencia “aerodinámica” de este animal a través de la arena. El modelo efectivo es muy similar al que se desarrollaría si este animal buceara en un líquido a bajo número de Reynolds, en el que las fuerzas de fricción (resistencia) del medio son independientes de la velocidad de locomoción. Los autores creen que la evolución ha dotado a estos escíncidos de un mecanismo de locomoción que no hace diferencias entre un medio granular (arena del desierto) y un medio líquido.

¿Aplicaciones? Los autores no se mojan al respecto, pero a mí se me antoja que robots tipo submarino para estudiar la dinámica de las arenas, dunas, playas, etc. podrían ser desarrollados gracias a estos análisis biomecánicos. Quien sabe lo que nos depara el futuro.

Frikis al tanto. Los aficionados a la película Dune, del genial David Lynch, lamentarán que la locomoción de los gusanos de arena en la película no sea físicamente realista. Frank Herbert los denominó Geonemotodium arraknis, también conocidos como Shai-Hulud o Shaihuludata gigantica. Si Lynch hubiera conocido este reciente estudio científico, seguramente sus gusanos de arena presentarían una locomoción más realista.

Any fan of the film The Hunt for Red October will remember a discussion about the ‘Caterpillar Drive’ or Magneto Hydrodynamic Drive (MHD).  It’s sort of a jet engine for the water which electrifies the water (creating ions) and pushes them along using magnets.

You can build a simple MHD using nothing more than a battery, some wire, warm water, salt and pepper.  Here is a video of one I built.

SAFETY:  The bubbles coming off the water are hydrogen and oxygen gas.  Use in a well ventilated area, away from sparks.

Here is another one:

Here’s a recent caricature that I illustrated for a co-worker who’s celebrating her retirement from the American Physical Society where I work as the art director.

Judy rides off to retirement

It turns out that Bill Gates is a fan of Richard Feynman. So he bought the rights to the Feynman Messenger Lectures and made them available to us at Project Tuva.

References:
CERN Bulletin
Slashdot

I missed this video when it when viral but I think it has now become my intro to projectile motion for the AP students next year. Is it real? How can we tell?

Bill Gates‘e karşı özel bir nefretim yoktur, ama Microsoft‘tan çoğu kişi gibi ben de hazzetmiyorum. Ama şu son yaptığı şeyden dolayı Bill Gates‘e karşı çok güzel duygular beslemeye başladım diyebilirim. Sevgili Bill abimiz üstat Richard Feynman‘ın Cornell Üniversitesi‘nde verdiği The Character of Physical Law konferans serisinin haklarını BBC‘den satın almış. Ve bunla yetinmeyip Project Tuva altında bu konferansın 7 bölümünü de ücretsiz yayınlamış. Tüm bölümlere buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Bu konferanslar daha sonraları The Character of Physical Law adı altında bir kitapta da toplanmıştı. Aynı kitap Tübitak Yayınları tarafından Fizik Yasaları Üzerine ismiyle de Türkçe yayımlandı. Konferans genel olarak fizik yasalarının ne olduğundan, özelliklerinden bahsediyor. Çok güzel örneklerle dolu olan bu konferans tipik Feynman stilini gösteriyor bize. En karmaşık konular için basit, açıklayıcı ve etkili örnekler, Feynman tarzı espriler ve harika üslubu… Ben videoları ilk kez görüyorum. O yüzden gerçekten helal olsun diyorum Bill Gates‘e ve Project Tuva ekibine… Tübitak‘tan çıkan kitabı daha yeni bitirmiştim. Bunun üzerine okuduğum konuşmanın orjinal halini izleyebilmek harika oldu doğrusu.

Konferans bölümlerini izlemeye başlamadan önce Project Tuva olayının düzgün çalışabilmesi için Silverlight isimli küçük bir uygulama indirmeniz gerekiyor. Ondan sonra kullandığınız web tarayacısında her şey düzgün çalışabiliyor. Yalnız kullanılan işletim sisteminin Windows olması gerekiyor diyorlar. Ancak Linux kullanıp da sorunsuz açabilenler olmuş. Linux kullanıcıları da bir deneyebilirler yani.

Konferansın 7 adet başlığı şu şekilde:

Lecture 1: Law of Gravitation – An Example of Physical Law

Lecture 2: The Relation of Mathematics and physics theory

Lecture 3: The Great Conservation Principles

Lecture 4: Symmetry in Physical Law

Lecture 5: The Distinction of Past and Future

Lecture 6: Probability and Uncertainty – The Quantum Mechanical View of Nature

Lecture 7: Seeking New Laws

Yukarıdaki – büyütmek için tıklayabilirsiniz – resimde de görülüyor zaten, Microsoft bu Project Tuva ile tüm konuşmaları bize yarı interaktif bir ortamda sunuyor. Videonun hemen altında tüm konuşmanın alt yazısı yer alıyor. Sol üst köşedeki butonla not alabiliyoruz videoyu izlerken. Sağ üst köşedeyse o an anlatılan konuyla ilgili dipnotların ayrıntılı bilgilerinin yer aldığı linklere ulaşabiliyoruz. Konuşma sırasında üstat Feynman Kepler Kanunları‘ndan bahsediyorsa üst sağda bununla alakalı linkler çıkıyor. En alttaki bardaysa konuşmanın hangi dakikaları arasında hangi konuların anlatıldığı görülebiliyor. Güzel bir iş çıkarmışlar. Umarım üstadın Auckland konferanslarını da eklerler. Thanks Bill…

Do you remember learning Newton’s third law in a science or physics theory class?  Don’t worry, we didn’t think so!  This is the law that states “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Well, in a nutshell, Newton’s third law explains ground reaction force.  When we run, jump, throw something, etc., we push against the ground to get power, and the ground returns the exertion of the force to help us get that power.  If this doesn’t make sense at first, imagine trying to throw a ball while treading water in a deep pool.  Clearly, without a stable surface to push against with the legs, a person in a pool could not propel the ball the distance he could if he were standing on firm ground.  In a pool, the legs and torso can do relatively little to help, so the shoulder, elbow and wrist joint must produce the majority of the force necessary to throw the ball.

If muscles in the hips and legs, particularly the gluteus medius, are weak or injured, then the scenario on land is not much better than that in water!  When we push against the ground and the ground returns the exertion, the joints of our bodies must transmit this force in the best anatomical and most efficient way possible.  In other words, all the muscles of the body must be recruited at the right time to accomplish the task at hand.  Muscles must “fire” sequentially to prepare the body to hit the ball, leap the hurdle or perform the double back flip with a twist.  Thus, if any muscle along the kinetic chain is weak, underused or injured, then the transmission of forces will be inefficient and faulty, and other body parts must take on more work to make up for the “weak link.”

Using the tennis serve as our example (see chart below) 54% of the ball’s speed should come from the trunk and back, hips and legs.  Fifty four percent!  This means that before the shoulder even becomes involved in the serve, the body from the shoulders down generates more than half of the power that gives the ball its speed.  Of course the remaining power comes from the upper body:  the shoulder joint is responsible for 21% of the power, the elbow, 15% and the wrist, 10%.

If the gluteus medius is weak, the torso, back, shoulder, elbow and wrist compensate for the lack of power by taking on more of the force.  As discussed in a previous blog, the gluteus medius is a key stabilizer of the hip, especially when the weight is on one leg.  When “winding up” for the serve, the body’s weight is on the same leg as the serving arm.  The muscles are loaded with power and funneled into an explosive serve.  A weak gluteus medius results in decreased power and INCREASED potential for injuries.  In fact, research shows a weak gluteus medius contributes to shoulder and elbow injuries not only in tennis but in baseball, swimming and golf as well.

What can you do?  Well, strengthen your gluteus medius of course!  In our previous blog, we listed all the Pilates exercises that are great for doing just this, “Side Leg Lift Series,” “Side Lying Scissors,” “Side Lying Clam and Book,” etc.  But, unfortunately, if the firing pattern for hip abduction is faulty, the TFL (tensor fasciae latae) fires BEFORE the gluteus medius.  Ideally, the gluteus medius fires before the TFL, but the reverse is true for many people.  No matter how fabulous a Pilates instructor you are, teaching someone NOT to use a muscle is far more challenging then teaching them to use one!

This is where ActivCore is absolutely ideal!  Because the Redcord system allows for the off-weighting of clients, chronic “misfiring” during hip abduction can be remedied without complex imagery, vocabulary or body awareness.  The reduced load enables the client to perform hip abduction with the proper sequencing of muscle firing. Pictures 1 and 2 below shows the regular Side Lying Abduction exercise and pictures 3 and 4  shows the same exercise off-weighted. For more information on ActivCore or the Redcord system, please visit their respective websites at www.activcore.com and www.redcord.com.  If you would like to enroll in the teacher training for ActivCore, please visit our teacher training page for upcoming training dates!

Via PZ Myers, comes a long and recommendable argument by Sean Carroll on the philosophy of science and how scientific understanding of the world thus far precludes any room for miracles (thus making the religion and science incompatible).  Excerpted from the much longer article with interesting things on the philosophy of science which I recommend reading in full, here is his ending discussion of the possibility of the thesis that there are supernatural causes passing into science as a plausible explanation:

Could science, through its strategy of judging hypotheses on the basis of comparison with empirical data, ever move beyond naturalism to conclude that some sort of supernatural influence was a necessary feature of explaining what happens in the world? Sure; why not? If supernatural phenomena really did exist, and really did influence things that happened in the world, science would do its best to figure that out.

It’s true that, given the current state of data and scientific theorizing, the vast preponderance of evidence comes down in favor of understanding the world on purely natural terms. But that’s not to say that the situation could not, at least in principle, change. Science adapts to reality, however it presents itself. At the dawn of the 20th century, it would have been hard to find a more firmly accepted pillar of physics theory than the principle of determinism: the future can, in principle, be predicted from the present state. The experiments that led us to invent quantum mechanics changed all that. Moving from a theory in which the present uniquely determines the future to one where predictions are necessarily probabilistic in nature is an incredible seismic shift in our deep picture of reality. But science made the switch with impressive rapidity, because that’s what the data demanded. Some stubborn folk tried to recover determinism at a deeper level by inventing more clever theories — which is exactly what they should have done. But (to make a complicated story simple) they didn’t succeed, and scientists learned to deal.

It’s not hard to imagine a similar hypothetical scenario playing itself out for the case of supernatural influences. Scientists do experiments that reveal anomalies that can’t be explained by current theories. (These could be subtle things at a microscopic level, or relatively blatant manifestations of angels with wings and flaming swords.) They struggle to come up with new theories that fit the data within the reigning naturalist paradigm, but they don’t succeed. Eventually, they agree that the most compelling and economical theory is one with two parts: a natural part, based on unyielding rules, with a certain well-defined range of applicability, and a supernatural one, for which no rules can be found.

Of course, that phase of understanding might be a temporary one, depending on the future progress of theory and experiment. That’s perfectly okay; scientific understanding is necessarily tentative. In the mid-19th century, before belief in atoms had caught on among physicists, the laws of thermodynamics were thought to be separate, autonomous rules, in addition to the crisp Newtonian laws governing particles. Eventually, through Maxwell and Boltzmann and the other pioneers of kinetic theory, we learned better, and figured out how thermodynamic behavior could be subsumed into the Newtonian paradigm through statistical mechanics. One of the nice things about science is that it’s hard to predict its future course. Likewise, the need for a supernatural component in the best scientific understanding of the universe might evaporate — or it might not. Science doesn’t assume things from the start; it tries to deal with reality as it presents itself, however that may be.

This is where talk of “methodological naturalism” goes astray. Paul Kurtz defines it as the idea that “all hypotheses and events are to be explained and tested by reference to natural causes and events.” That “explained and tested” is an innocent-looking mistake. Science tests things empirically, which is to say by reference to observable events; but it doesn’t have to explain things as by reference to natural causes and events. Science explains what it sees the best way it can — why would it do otherwise? The important thing is to account for the data in the simplest and most useful way possible.

There’s no obstacle in principle to imagining that the normal progress of science could one day conclude that the invocation of a supernatural component was the best way of understanding the universe. Indeed, this scenario is basically the hope of most proponents of Intelligent Design. The point is not that this couldn’t possibly happen — it’s that it hasn’t happened in our actual world. In the real world, by far the most compelling theoretical framework consistent with the data is one in which everything that happens is perfectly accounted for by natural phenomena. No virgin human births, no coming back after being dead for three days, no afterlife in Heaven, no supernatural tinkering with the course of evolution. You can define “religion” however you like, but you can’t deny the power of science to reach far-reaching conclusions about how reality works.

Thanks to Bill Gates, everyone can now take free physics theory lessons at:

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/index.html