Category Archives: Areas of Interaction
Walking the Amazon
This is some project.
Earlier this year, Ed Stafford and Luke Collyer from the UK started an epic journey – to walk the full length of the Amazon from the source in Peru to the mouth in Brazil. This has never been done before and will cover 4,000 miles and take about 18 months. Their aim is to raise money and awareness for a load of charities, as well as serving as a spotlight on issues related to environmental and social change in the Amazon region.
Recently, Luke left the expedition after 90 days – so if you’re up to it, head on over to the website and apply for the position of Ed’s new partner!
The team are posting regular videos of their progress to the website, which can also be found on GoogleVideo:
edited to correct Luke Collyer’s name.
NewScientist reports on Prius with noise-machine.
I’m not sure if my sarcasm gene is on overdrive today or what, but this seems to me like biggest bit of non-news that NewScientist’s video channel has produced.
“Fake engine noise makes electric cars safer”
The main point seems to be to protect blind people and the terminally stupid (or i-Pod wearing) from being hit by quiet hybrid cars as they cross the street.
See how Mad Mike would solve the problem after the jump:
Javanese White Rhino Filmed!
Yay!
Ujung Kulon national park – a reserve on the western tip of Java, home to a lot of protected wildlife and just a few hours from Bandung – has some young white rhinos! Thought to be on the verge of extinction, they are a sign of hope for the future.
My favourite part was the camera-smackdown at the end.
And whiie we’re on the subject of hope in the Indonesian environment, here’s news of a great success in re-introducing native species to cleared land, up in Borneo.
It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Just to balance it with a bit of doom and gloom:
This recent story tells of the clearance of tropical forests to make way for palm oil. Boo!
And this one investigates the effects of Indonesia’s paper industry.
How can we make positive changes in our lives to create real, measurable improvements in the local and global environment?
Virtual Echocardiography
This resource from Toronto General Hospital’s Perioperative Interactive Education unit gives a good view of two sections through the heart, with ECG loops to match the image. Good for seeing the normal function of cardiac valves.
Updated and includes guide sheets, quizzes and a range of languages.
The Transport System
These links are for the Further Human Physiology unit.
Here’s the powerpoint:
Download here: transport-system.ppt
And here’s the Click4Biology link
Medmovie.com has a large collection of animations which are great for this unit. We can’t link to them directly, but it’s worth having a look around.
The Cardiac Cycle:
Hyper Heart animation and graphs from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Biointeractive from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Control of the Heart Beat:
A few good links to try from Washburn Rural High School
And don’t forget the Medmovie resource…
Atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease:
Medmovie has good animations for atherosclerosis, heart attacks and heart bypass surgery. There aren’t many that are better…
Production of Tissue Fluid and Lymph:
Hydrostatic and osmotic pressure (fluid exchange) from McGraw Hill
Capillary exchange from coolschool.ca (they have other good resources, too)
Bonus features:
For a good (tricky) prac, here’s a virtual EKG package from skillstat.com
And here’s a decent heart structure tutorial from Gateway Community College
Medmovie.com – brilliant medical animations
Medmovie is a commercial website, though they have many animations available in their media library samples and interactives, including heart beats, heart attacks, atherosclerosis and more (I can’t link directly to each one – you have to go to the main page first)
They look fantastic – some are .swf and others are .mov, though all the samples can be saved easily in Firefox.
Children’s Hospital Boston – Great Flash apps for students
Thanks to Rod Murphy for this one.
eSchool News featured CHB’s site as site of the week and it’s well deserved. There are some great animations here, including a nice neurons and synapses animation, some stem cell resources, cancer information and a chance to have a go at
making an EM image.
Go have a look!
Obama vs Clinton – Who will be better for Science? (via NewScientist)
This is from the NewScientist channel and is an interesting conversation starter. Last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Boston, representatives from Clinton and Obama’s teams were on hand to outline their positions on Science and Technology.
What kind of impact on voting do scientific policies really have in the US elections?
Is Science one of those promises that is all too easy to forget about once the candidate is in place?
What could the UK do to boost its Science departments and improve the quality of graduates (and retain a skilled scientific workforce)?
The idea of Science Debate 2008 is an interesting one – but will they be bothered to turn up?
–
Here are the candidates’ Sci-Tech policies:
Obama: energy and environment, technology, higher education, healthcare.
Clinton: energy and environment, innovation, education, healthcare.
McCain: energy and environment, education, healthcare. *
* it’s interesting to see that McCain has no section on his site relating to science and technology, nor did he send anyone to the AAAS meeting.
It all reminds me a bit of the South Park episodes where the military and FBI were deriding the professors by sneering “Mister Scientist” at them at every given opportunity.
There’s a funny South Park style Mac vs PC ad after the jump:
i-Biology 