GeekMom Will Be at Maker Faire This Weekend!
GeekMom, along with GeekDad, will be at Maker Faire in San Mateo, California, this Saturday and Sunday! If you plan to attend, please stop by our booth in the Expo Hall and say hi.
Continue ReadingCategory: Experiments
Prepare For Robot Overlords
Never mind zombies, robots are the ones out to get us.
Continue ReadingApril Was Extra Geeky for the DC Area!
I’m guessing when you think of the Nation’s Capital, it’s likely your thoughts steer more towards politics and government, rather than science and engineering. Living in the DC area has always proved to be full of interesting places to visit and sights to see. I will admit that I take for granted the attractions of the […]
Continue ReadingGoogle’s Erez Lieberman Aiden – How the Human Genome Folds
What do Ramen noodles, knots, and genome globules have in common? If you’re researcher Erez Lieberman Aiden, these are models for his groundbreaking research on 3-D mapping the human genome. At the end of the day, he shares advice and wisdom with aspiring young scientists. His connections to TED and Google lend a “cool” factor […]
Continue ReadingTry to Catch the Lyrids Tonight!
If you see a shooting star, do you stop and make a wish? No? You should, it’s fun! OK, OK … so a shooting star isn’t really a “star,” nor is it “shooting.” It is a meteorite burning up upon re-entry into the Earth atmosphere. (I suppose that’s not as romantic a description as a shooting […]
Continue ReadingHorrible Histories Evolution Tune
Charles Darwin is even more fascinating when horribilized by Horrible Histories. Such delightful horribleness started back in 1993 with author Terry Deary whose books got kids interested in the past via gory details and humorous asides, then spun off into several TV series and sites packed with online games. After writing so much about mayhem and […]
Continue ReadingHelp Make a Young Maker’s Dream Come True
“Don’t be bored… Make Something!” This is Joey Hudy’s mantra. Joey first came to my (and most of the rest of the world’s) attention when he and President Obama shot a marshmallow cannon in the White House during the 2012 White House Science Fair. I even reported on a video about the incident shortly after […]
Continue ReadingTED-ED – TED Releases Cool Education Talks Aimed at Teens
TED Talks are great learning tools. Famous for high quality presenters talking about the world’s biggest ideas, TED Talks inspire everyone–even children. Now there is a whole series of TED videos created especially for young people. The new TED initiative is called TED-Ed and promises to include teacher tools in a new website, coming in […]
Continue ReadingIs a Massive Solar Flare Headed towards Earth?
Last night between 7 pm and 8 pm EST, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported an X5 solar flare, one of the biggest of this incredibly active solar cycle. Solar flares are generally followed by coronal mass ejections (CME) that create a solar wind pushing ionized particles away from the sun where they can be caught by […]
Continue ReadingYouTube is the New Substitute Teacher
School, like most of everyday life, is at times boring and occasionally a waste of time. We can place blame for that squarely upon the education system and teachers, or share it with parents if we’d like to keep diplomacy in the PTA. But although it’s true that the adults who shape and deliver education […]
Continue ReadingMathematical Precision of Pasta
When mixing flour, egg, salt and water to make pasta, I’d guess the only math you consider is how many minutes you have left before the kids will be begging for dinner. I’d guess that you never really contemplated the mathematical beauty of that rigatoni or cavatappi that you are eating. Thats not the way […]
Continue ReadingMeet some of NASA’s Finest Engineers (they are moms too!)
If you only watch the news you might think that the astronauts are the only members of the NASA manned space program, but you would be wrong. I’m guessing that since you are reading this blog you are aware that there is a lot of science and engineering that goes on behind the scenes in […]
Continue Reading2012 White House Science Fair
Nothing like flying marshmallows to keep the secret service busy protecting President Barak Obama. Tuesday was the second annual White House Science Fair. The president seemed to have a blast playing with science yesterday, he even caused a little bit of innocent trouble with 14 year old Maker Faire veteran, Joey Hudy of Phoenix, AZ, […]
Continue ReadingGeeking Out with the Disney Dream, Part 4: Disney Biometrics
With this next part, some of you Geek Moms might say, “Wow that’s really cool!” and some of you might say, “Wow, that’s really creepy!” It’s no secret that cruise lines offer comprehensive portraiture services on board. And it’s also no secret that on a cruise your party will be pulled aside all over the […]
Continue ReadingThe USDA’s New Plant Hardiness Zone Map – Evidence of Climate Change?
Just in time for you to order your plants and seeds for this growing season! This month the U.S. Department of Agriculture publicized their new plant hardiness zone map. This is the first update to the map since 1990, but thanks to incredible technological advances in weather measurements since then, users can expect a much […]
Continue ReadingNASA Day of Rememberance
Established in 2004, the last Thursday of January every year we remember all of the men and women who have given their lives as NASA astronauts as part of the NASA Day of Remembrance. Since Alan Shepard took his first flight into the blackness of space in 1961 during the Mercury program, 17 brave souls […]
Continue ReadingGoogle Science Fair 2012… What is your question?
Its time for the second annual Google Science Fair. Last year over 10,000 students submitted 7,500 entries from 90 countries from around the globe. The 2011 winner, American Shree Bose, discovered a way to prevent cancer cells from becoming resistant to the chemotherapy drug, cisplatin. With such amazing entries last year everyone is waiting in excited anticipation […]
Continue ReadingBookmark This For 2012 Fun
January 13: Friday the 13th The upcoming year offers us three chances to enjoy Friday the 13th. What a great reason to read a scary book and show a scary movie. It’s also a perfect opportunity to make some creepy foods that normally only show up at Halloween parties. We suggest meatball mice, breadstick fingers, […]
Continue ReadingGeek Celebrates Hanukkah With Science: Day Eight
It’s been another wonderful science-driven holiday season! We’ve experimented with balloons that blast-off, nearly unsinkable dinghies, delicious math candies, stackable liquids, desiccated dancers, split light, and put a minature Jaques Cousteau in a bottle. Tonight we’re going to give Hanukkah a fine send-off with another trick of the light. I got the idea for […]
Continue ReadingGeek Celebrates Hanukkah With Science: Day Seven
Of all the science experiments we’ve done for Hanukkah this year, and last year, this one is probably the easiest to set up and demonstrate. It also turns into a very satisfying toy. The Cartesian Diver (named after René Descartes) is not only easy to build and fun to play with, it also opens the […]
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