Houston, We Have A Shareef

I'm in Houston, and I'll be reporting live from another one of my favorite events - NASA social! As usual, I'll be tweeting from @ShareefJackson using the #NASASocial hashtag - check it out!  I'll bring the latest news even though I'm surrounded by the wonders of Whataburgers and various BBQ places. I even drove past a place named Hot Biscuit ... hmmm ...

This time, I'll get to speak with the crew of Expedition 36, who will be heading up the International Space Station in May of 2013 via the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Image above: Pictured on the front row are Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov (left) and Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin. Pictured from the left (back row) are Flight Engineers Alexander Misurkin, Chris Cassidy, Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg. Photo credit: NASA

I'll also get a behind the scenes view of Johnson Space Center, including Mission Control and the Robonaut lab. There are autonomous robots that help NASA with many tasks, including one on the space station itself!

Mission Control is where they coordinate flights once they have been launched, and of course we all know "Houston, We Have A Problem"

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest updates!

STEMnasium: A Great Way to Teach Kids Science

Jon Skief founded the Harambee Charter School in West Philly in 1973. The school has been providing a quality science based education for children for 40 years, and recently received national attention 6 year old Zora Ball. She became one of the youngest people to develop a mobile gaming app.

Tairq Al-Nasir, head of the STEMnasium Learning Academy, adds the following stats:

In 2011, Philadelphia regional companies had 64,000 STEM-related and finance job openings, but area colleges graduated just 6,000 people with those degrees, according to Campus Philly. Al-Nasier widens the numbers even more.

“Every year, there’s a demand for 120,000 jobs for people with computer science backgrounds,” Al-Nasir said. “We’re only graduating nationally, 40,000. There are 80,000 students missing. Why is it missing? It’s missing because we haven’t rethought the STEM initiative.”

Check out the video that shows the program in action. If you can't see the video below, please click here.

Source: Harambee Institute of Science and Technology via Technically Philly

Planets All Up In Your Face at Franklin Institute

I attended an astronomy event entitled "Night Skies" at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, which is our local science museum. It awesome! The highlight was being able to see Jupiter with its 4 moons, the Orion Nebula (where stars are currently forming), and a close up of our moon. As an extra bonus, it was freezing outside and the wait was around 20 minutes. Gotta do what you gotta do to be a science enthusiasts.

To help add a little tech to the experience, I used an free Android app called Google Sky Map. When using the app, you hold your phone or tablet towards the sky and see where stars, planets, and constellations are. The icons for Jupiter and the moon lined up perfectly with my visual from the telescope. For additional creepiness factor, if you hold the tablet down you can see the parts of the galaxy on the other side of the earth!

I was able to access the planetarium and watch the premiere of "To Space and Back", which was hosted by Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts. The film shows how space technology affects our everyday lives. Since the planetarium screen literally surrounds the entire room (think of it as an IMAX movie screen wrapped around the ceiling), it was truly enthralling.

If you're in Philly, check out this event which occurs every second Thursday. If you're not in Philly, check in with your local science museum or university to see if they host any astronomy events.

Full Size James Webb Space Telescope at SXSW

I didn't get a chance to attend the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference, but NASA went all out by providing a life size model of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This telescope will eventually replace the aging Hubble telescope in the latter half of this decade, and will bring us even more cool pictures of our universe!  Four stories tall and the size of a tennis court - check it out! 

As big as a tennis court and as tall as a four-story building, a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope model was on display from March 8-10 at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to Hubble and the largest space telescope to ever be built.

Image Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

Let The Earth Glide Beneath You

I've been privileged enough to see astronaut Don Petit speak in person about life on the Internal Space Station.  Check out this great short film by Christoph Malin that really gives a sense of what it feels like to have the Earth below your feet.

If you can't see the video below, please click here.

Source: Christoph Malin, via Slate

Forbidden Tech #4 - Power Wheels

I had the Big Wheel ...

Couldn't get the Power Wheels ...

Forbidden Tech is my video series where I talk about pieces of technology that I was not allowed to have as a kid, scarring me forever. Check out the earlier Forbidden Tech videos here.

I wanted Power Wheels so bad! I could traverse the terrain of my neighborhood fairly easily with my Big Wheel, but I wasn't rocking in style. Funny thing is, I don't remember seeing many kids in my neighborhood with Power Wheels at all, but that commercial (Pow-pow-power wheels) was the best branding of that time. The song is still stuck in my head.

How do Power Wheels work? A simple rechargeable 12V battery provides power to turn the wheels when a kid presses on the accelerator. Yeah, I definitely wasn't getting one of those.

Check out my video on this - if you can't see it, click here.

International Women's Day: Math is For All

Today is International Women's Day, and we should all celebrate the wonderful women that have made impacts in our lives. Google has an amazing doodle on its homepage to serve as a great launching point.  But y'all know that I'm all about the math and science, and making sure that everyone gets into it. 

Well, everyone except "math is tough" Barbie:

I ran into that video while reading about the stereotype of gender issues between men and women. I've often heard that men are better at math, and it becomes a bit of a self fufilling prophecy when I hear some of the women that I tutor repeat this myth. What boggles the mind is that some of these women repeat it even when they are damned good at math.

An interesting piece of data that comes out of the story is that we focus so much on tests, even though tests don't necessarily reflect classroom performance. We all know that women are beginning to dominate college, and I remember my advanced math and science classes in high school containing men and women. Despite that, repeatedly hearing "women can't do math or science" does have an effect, and at times can be a self fulfilling prophecy. I've tutored women that are stellar in math, yet still believe that they are not.   

Also, there's this:

Math aptitude (even measured at the levels of outstanding instead of average performance) doesn’t explain sex disparities in science careers (most of which, incidentally, only require you to be pretty good at math, as opposed to wildly genius at it). In any case, scoring high in math is only loosely related to who opts for a scientific career, especially for girls. Many high scoring girls don’t go into science, and many poor scoring boys do.

This is key - you only need to be proficient at math and problem solving to be successful in a technical career. You don't need to be AMAZING at it unless you want to be a theorist or go for the PhD.

Let's celebrate International Women's Day by making sure that math and science reflect the diversity of the world!

The Intersection of Science, Race & Media

A few of us got together in a Google+ hangout to talk about the intersection between science, race & media. We filmed the video below as a response to a Loop21 Twitter chat on race & media in which there was very little discussion about science.  

The group features Dr. Caleph B. Wilson, Dr. Danielle N. Lee, journalist Jamila Bey, and myself. Unofficially known as the Dark Sci, we plan on pushing the conversation forward regarding the communication of science to a broader audience.

If you can't see the video below, please click here.

Crappy Wireless Internet? Bring Your Own

Starbucks. Amtrak. Barnes & Noble.  All of these place offer the promise of free WiFi so that customers can freely browse questionable internet sites at their leisure. However, what always happens? The signal is crappy! Too many people are on it! It's too slooowwwww.

One way to get around this is to carry around your own WiFi signal. Most cell phone and tablet devices such as the Apple iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1") pictured above contain an option that allows the device to broadcast its own WiFi signal. Confusingly, this can be called different things - Apple calls it Personal Hotspot, Verizon calls it Mobile Hotspot, and Windows Phone calls it Internet Sharing. 

This may be an additional charge to enable mobile WiFi - AT&T charges me an extra $20/mo for my iPhone to share a WiFi signal. The price is worth it when I'm stuck somewhere with a crappy WiFi signal and I need to get work done. However, it WILL eat up your battery and drive up your data usage and potentially cost even more, especially if you're connecting using your laptop and visiting data heavy sites such as YouTube and Netflix. I've definitely been hit up with a bill that was significantly higher than I was used to because I didn't watch my data consumption.

BrothaTech also has a great piece on mobile hotspots last year - check that out by clicking here.

Photos of Successful SpaceX Dragon - ISS Docking

The SpaceX Dragon launch on Friday had a few issues - namely, the solar panels that power the spacecraft did not deploy as planned due to an oxidizer tank malfunction. After the geniuses at NASA and Space X banged their heads together, they were able to get back on track and dock with the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday morning.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who's currently on the ISS, has posted some amazing pics of the Dragon spacecraft on his Google+ account - check them out!

SpaceX Dragon Launch Friday Morning

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is set to launch at 10:10am on the second of 12 missions to resupply the International Space Station. If successful, this trip will mark another step toward private industry proving that they can handle trips into space.  Eventually, manned space travel will return to the US for the first time since the shuttle program was disbanded.

I wasn't able to make the trip down to Kennedy Space Center to witness the launch in person, but I'll be following the #NASASocial hashtag. You should too! I've embedded some of my favorite tweets below.

Russian Boom Bap: Details on the Meteor

Details on the Feb 15th meteor that exploded above Chelyabinsk in Russia are in. Why didn't we see it? It flew in from the direction of the sun, where our telescopes couldn't  see it until it was too late.  The meteor lasted about 30 seconds within our atmosphere before it exploded with the force of about 20 nuclear bombs.  

 Check out the video below from ScienceCasts for more details. If you can't see the video below, please click here.

The Universe: Bigger and Deffer

One of my favorite YouTube series, Minute Physics, just released a fascinating video on the size of the universe.  It boils down to this: we can observe a certain amount of the universe from Earth. When we observe stuff  that's really far away, the light takes so long to travel to our eyes that by the time we see it, it's already moved far, far away.  Earth within this huge observable universe (95 billion light years) is about the same scale as a teeny tiny virus is within our solar system. We are a TINY part of the universe.

If you can't see the video below, click here.

Also, you know what Bigger and Deffer is right? B.A.D.? As in I'm Bad? Maybe this video below will remind you - if you can't see it, click here.

Google Glass: Augment My Reality, Four Eyes

My favorite part of any movie that features a robot is when they show the robot's point of view. They usually show menus popping up with give further information on what the robot is seeing - someone's emotional state, directions to someone's place, etc.  The cool kids call it "augmented reality".

Google is stepping to the arena with Google Glass, which will be released later this year for consumers. It's essentially a pair of glasses that allow you to access the internet, take photos, and record video with your voice. Joshua Topolsky gives a preview of the device on The Verge. It looks great, but pricey - Google is only promising it will be "under $1500". Yeah ... hopefully it's not $1499. If you can't see the video below, please click here.

Google is expanding on a concept that has existed with other pieces of tech that I've tried. The iPhone Yelp app had an awkward mode where you hold up the camera and restaurants with Yelp reviews instantly appear, along with reviews and distances. If you can't see the video below, please click here.

My Nintendo 3DS came with cards that, when viewed through the 3DS camera, came to life and flew around on whatever background the camera was focusing on. If you can't see the video below, please click here.

I'm definitely looking forward to the release of Google Glass later this year.  I'm saving up now!

Shareef Does Like It ... Rock The Space Station

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I spent Wednesday in downtown DC at the latest NASA Social event. The main part of the event was televised, and I've embedded the video below. It includes a Q&A session with astronaut Don Petit dealing with the process of turning urine into drinkable water (or "yesterday's coffee into today's coffee" as he put it".  The coolest part has to be when we were able to speak directly to astronauts, including social media maven Chris Hadfield, that are currently in orbit inside of the International Space Station. Skip to 1:29:00 to see yours truly asking a question about engineering safety to Dr. Tara Ruttley!

If you can't see the video below, please click here

I live tweeted the event and the details of the lectures - please see below!.

They're Trusting Me With the International Space Station

The International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-134 crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 11:55 p.m. (EDT) on May 29, 2011. Endeavour spent 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes attached to the orbiting laboratory. Source: NASA

I'm currently on an Amtrak train headed for DC for my first NASA social meeting at NASA headquarters. I'm joining a bunch of fellow space enthusiasts meeting with astronaut Don Petit and joining a Q&A with NASA astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield aboard the space station. Finally, we'll speak with the Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate and experts discussing science aboard the orbiting laboratory.

I'll be tweeting like a mad man so make sure to follow me there - @ShareefJackson! I promise, I won't cause a software glitch with the space station!

Charging Your Devices in the Car

Must drive, must charge. Check out the video!

If you can't see it, click here.

About That Meteor ...

While the rest of the world was worried about an asteroid that had no chance of colliding with the Earth, a meteor actually entered the atmosphere above Russia.  Thank god it did not impact the ground, but the sonic boom still did plenty of damage. Most of the damage was due to shattered glass that injured over a thousand people. Since light travels much faster than sound (think about thunder and lightning), people saw the meteor streaking through the air and were shocked when the massive sonic boom came later, shattering windows and causing alarms to trip. That's what we know.

But before we knew this, we had no idea if there would be more injuries, or even fatalities.  Yet people still flooded social networks with their "cool" and "amazing" photos and memes. I won't link to any here.

I am strongly against posting images of something that we don't yet know the outcome of.  I noticed the same thing - people posting images of things with offensive captions and memes - even dwhen we knew of massive fatalities. This occurred during other natural disasters such as  the Haiti earthquake, the Indian Ocean tusnami, Hurricane Katrina.

I realize that we are living in a real time news world, but I think we should at least give some time when the damage assessments are out before pictures are shared.

For further reading, New Scientist has a great post on the basics of asteroids, meteroids, meteors, and meteorites.

Obama Hanging Out, Talking Science of the Union

President Obama highlighted science in this week's State of the Union, and he also answered questions during a Google+ hangout today. Talk about taking science and technology to a new level!

One part of his speech caught my attention:

"Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s; developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries ten times more powerful.  Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation.  Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race."  

The height of the Space Race was the goal to land a man on the moon in the 60s. That's five decades ago! It's a shame that we haven't reached that level of R&D. It doesn't necessarily have to be for one solid goal as it was for the space race, but we do need to invest in our own infrastructure to build the next generation of scientists   This covers everything from schools to neighborhoods to making college affordable.

Obama also referenced this during his Google+ hangout when he was asked if his daughters take interest in science. He spoke about how they need the encouragement from the system - parents, schools, other students - so that they know that they can achieve. Increased levels of investment can make sure that this will happen.

And of course, the President is doing this while talking live ... over the interwebs ... to regular citizens ... tech overload.