The Shark Survival Guide

This is the 25th year Animal Planet has hosted Shark Week, a week devoted to sharks. And to commemorate this, Lemon.ly has created an infographic all about surviving  the dreaded shark attack. Being a North Carolina native, shark attacks are more common that I am comfortable with. Many Americans come to the coast of the […]

This is the 25th year Animal Planet has hosted Shark Week, a week devoted to sharks. And to commemorate this, Lemon.ly has created an infographic all about surviving  the dreaded shark attack. Being a North Carolina native, shark attacks are more common that I am comfortable with. Many Americans come to the coast of the Carolina for our wonderful beaches, and unfortunately, many sharks have also discovered what our beaches have to offer.

I have often heard that when attacked by an animal, you increase your risk of survival by both playing dead, and fighting back. This seems to be true for sharks. If you find yourself near a shark, it is best to stay still in their blind spots. They have wide set eyes that allow them to see nearly 360 degrees, but this infographic shares an image of where their blind spots lie. It also shares that sharks are affected by magnets. Unfortunately, one must get close to the shark in order for them to be thrown off.

Share this with your students just before Labor Day weekend, especially if many of your students plan on going to the beach. Also, challenge your students to research other fearsome animals and create infographics on how to survive those attacks. Any wild animal can be dangerous, and the further one steps into their territory, the higher the chances of an attack. It is never a bad idea to share survival guides.

Blog: http://visual.ly/shark-survival-guide

Don’t Forget Ed

I just facebook’ed a link to dontforgeted.org – but 140 characters were not enough to add my 2¢ worth.  

I think that education should be among our candidates top priorities. But our problem is not education nearly as much as it is educating so many children who live in poverty.

When you compare the scores of American children from higher socio-economic backgrounds with nations that do not suffer the levels of poverty that are tolerated in the U.S., then we actually do quite well! For instance, schools in the U.S. with fewer than 10% of their students living in or near poverty scored 551 on the PISA math test, second only to Shanghai, China.

So, at the same time that I think public education in the U.S. should be a top priority, the problems of education won’t be solved by government mandates or privatization.

The welfare of all the “people” in the United States is the top concern.

That said, here’s the link – http://dontforgeted.org

Physics of Olympic Bodies

As the Olympic frenzy draws to a close, it is time to analyze the events, the records, and the athletes themselves. This infographic compares Olympians both past and present, and shares how the changes in their physical anatomy has allowed for records to be broken. Unfortunately, the benefits that they have include things like longer […]

As the Olympic frenzy draws to a close, it is time to analyze the events, the records, and the athletes themselves. This infographic compares Olympians both past and present, and shares how the changes in their physical anatomy has allowed for records to be broken. Unfortunately, the benefits that they have include things like longer than average legs, and mostly an overall height advantage, as compared to their predecessors. They are things that we can only hope to develop at age 13, but cannot change once we are adults.

Where speed is desired, being tall and slim are advantageous. Where strength is desired, being tall and large are advantageous. Challenge your students to come up with other areas where these strengths are developed. For instance, sports cars are often long and slim. Meanwhile, machinery used for lifting heavy items are often larger all around.

Use experiments to figure out why certain attributes are advantageous. Use water projectiles to figure out why being lean is advantageous. In a tub of water, it is easier to see a large object being stopped and slowed down by the water. On the other hand, use legos to hold a certain mass. Build a tall slim, and a short fat object and place similar objects on both. Which one can hold it? Why?

Blog: http://goo.gl/XfaOw

Houses that build themselves.

This is the future right here. A house that can be custom designed and build with factory-like automation in 20 hours. It’s not just the structure either, the electricity, pluming and everything you need for a suitable home will be crafted by this machine. Although it will be sad to see the day when good […]

This is the future right here. A house that can be custom designed and build with factory-like automation in 20 hours. It’s not just the structure either, the electricity, pluming and everything you need for a suitable home will be crafted by this machine. Although it will be sad to see the day when good ol’ brick houses seem like part of the archaic past, but it seems like the benefits will make it worth it.

Houses that build themselves.

Usain Bolt vs. 116 years of Olympic sprinters.

Now that the Olympics are over we can really reflect back on what we accomplished athletically this summer, and I’m talking as humans. Turns out the fastest human is still Usain Bolt. Take a look at this video and see how he fares against all t…

Now that the Olympics are over we can really reflect back on what we accomplished athletically this summer, and I’m talking as humans. Turns out the fastest human is still Usain Bolt. Take a look at this video and see how he fares against all the Olympic sprinters of the past.

Usain Bolt vs. 116 years of Olympics sprinters\

100 Years of Automotive Evolution

This infographic compares two vehicles, one made over 100 years ago, and one being made this year. It shares basic information about each, to show how far we have come. It shares that we now have safety features, entertainment features, and features beyond having to walk everywhere. This infographic, found on visual.ly, does a great […]

This infographic compares two vehicles, one made over 100 years ago, and one being made this year. It shares basic information about each, to show how far we have come. It shares that we now have safety features, entertainment features, and features beyond having to walk everywhere.

This infographic, found on visual.ly, does a great job of explaining simple information in a visually stimulating, and organized way. It uses a road to separate subjects, and gives headers for every section. It would be a great example to show your students how to make a simple infographic.

It would also be a great introduction into technology involving engines. How was the first engine created? What advances had to occur in order for it to be successful? Who else was working on an engine for a car, and what were their ideas? Dozens of people were working on this technology, trying to be the first and the best. It wasn’t just a single person who had an accident in a lab and invented the vehicle. Continue to track other innovations that led to today’s engine, and engines of the future. This will allow students to create a more simple knowledge base to build on.

Blog: http://visual.ly/100-years-automotive-evolution

When Dogs go Beyond Pets

About 50 years ago, a dog was named spot or fido, slept outside in a dog house, ate scraps, and ran around a fenced in backyard. Now they have names like Zoe (my dogs name), live inside, go on errands with us, eat special diets, and go to daycare. How did this change? Dogs do […]

About 50 years ago, a dog was named spot or fido, slept outside in a dog house, ate scraps, and ran around a fenced in backyard. Now they have names like Zoe (my dogs name), live inside, go on errands with us, eat special diets, and go to daycare. How did this change?

Dogs do a lot more than just keep us company. According to this infographic, found on GOOD.is, owning a dog lowers blood pressure and increases happiness. They also increase the likelihood that a child will participate in sports. They even have jobs. They assist people with disabilities, they become a good set of ears to a child struggling to read, and they even save lives. Dogs have become a very important part of our daily lives.

How have your students lives been affected by a pet? How many of your students live in a home with a pet? What are their favorite activities with their pets? Have the pets helped them to become more active? How are the pets like a sibling? Do their parents dress their pet up, give them gifts, or have them on special medicines? Have a fun conversation about dogs and share some stories about the important part dogs have played in rescuing people, finding bombs, and giving someone a normal life.

Blog: http://goo.gl/NkRhw

We Want to be Together

I’m getting old and starting to reconsider some of the positions and issues I’ve tried to champion over the years.

Celebrating Engineers

I was reminded of this last night, while Michael Coghlan, from Adelaide (where it was the next morning) was interviewing me for their Design for Flexibility project. At the end of the interview, he asked if I had seen the landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars and the reactions in the control room at JPL. I said that I had and then went off on this old-man reminiscence about “back before satellites, when we hadn’t even seen the Earth from outer space, and now we carry around in our pockets, blah blah blah.”

Then he said, but did you see the excitement, hear the yells of triumph, the hugging and hi-five’ing — and I realized that I had missed his point entirely. These really smart people had worked for months, together, breathing the same air, experiencing the same thrills and let-downs, listening the the vibrations of their actual voices. Not only would these engineers have been unable to celebrate their accomplishment in such a way and with such zeal if they had all been working remotely and virtually, but they may not even have wanted to.

Many of us become excited and energized by the magic of technology — and rightly so. But we must be careful that living and working through networks should never be our preference. It should be the alternative that enables us to bridge gaps, to accomplish things that we never could before.

We should cherish and celebrate the electricity of eye contact, the warm affirmation of a smile and the agreement, even if to disagree, that a handshake acknowledges.