Microbeads in Cosmetics: The New Water pollution.
That $20 avocado and mango facial scrub with microbeads are a danger to the ocean, life and human. Most beauty product that exfoliate have little tiny round balls of plastic called microbeads. These beads wash down the drain after bathing and are NOT removed from waste water at the local treatment plant. The beads eventually enter the rivers and ocean on our planet. Sometime these beads are mistaken as food by fish and other wildlife.

You can read about it here: Toxic Timebomb: Here's the science that explains why microbeads are a disaster

Of course, This is not the only place microbeads show up. Try your toothpaste...

Why dentists are speaking out about the plastic beads in your toothpaste

Environmental Science: Flint's Water Crisis

Flint's Water Crisis OR How public decisions affect you!

Flint's water has been toxic for some time now due to a budget decision made over a year ago. You can see the CNN story here:

How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan

You may find the NPR stories helpful as well. Give them a listen if you want.

High Lead Levels in Michigan Kids After City Switches Water Source

and this one:

Who's to Blame for Flint's Water Problem

Science and Society: Top Paying 2015 Degrees

 

What is the difference between 4.0 GPA Valedictorian Childhood Education major and a 3.0 GPA Chemical Engineering major?  About $37,000 dollars for a starting salary.

Seriously, the average engineering graduates has a starting salary around $65,000 a year in 2015.  While majors in Child Care, Early Education, and Social Work average about $30,000 a Year.  Don't believe me check this out: Forbes - The 10 Bachelor's Degrees with the highest and Lowest Salary Potential

It's been this way for the past 40 years!

You can take all the easy courses just like everyone else, or you can take the road less travel, and reach the peak!

Environmental Science: Giant Microbes

I had mentioned I gave several viruses to my children in class the other day.  These cute plush viruses are 100,000 to 1,000,000 the actual size of the original viruses in the world today.  These toys are made by Drew Oliver of the Giant Microbes Company.  Drew Oliver also make plush toys of tissues cell: Skin cell, Nerve cell, Brain cell, Kidney cell, and other.

Environmental Science: Gun Control

I'm terrify when my 17 year old daugther gets behind the wheel of a car. How could any parent think letting a nine year old handle an uzi would be a great idea. I'm truly dumbfounded. You can see the story here:Shooting by 9-Year Old Stirs Debate Over Guns

Meteorology and Psychology: Female Named Hurricane Kill more people than Male Named Hurricanes

Recent research seems to indicate hurricanes with female names kill more people than hurricanes with male. This is not due to the name, but the perception of people. People perceive female named hurricanes as less dangerous than their male counterparts. Ironically, it is the people with the greatest gender bias that tend to be killed in such hurricanes. So, you could say Mother Nature make the human population less gender bias by removing the worst offenders. You can read and listen to the story here: Americans less fearful of Storms Named After Women

Life Sciences - Ebola will kill us ALL!

Not Really!  Ebola is much harder to contract than most flu virus, but that doesn't stop people from panic.  You and read about Ebola at NPR and listen to the dread factor story here:  The Dread Factor: Why Ebola and "Contagion" Scare Us So Much

For all you hard core gamers out there bent on world destruction have you tried the game Plague by Ndemic Creations?  Plague is an realistic simulation of how diseases spread and humans react on a global scale.

Environmental Science: Environment and the Economy

Monterey Bay in California has bounce back over the last 50 year with an explosion of wildlife, and with it so has the economy of the surrounding communities. Once fertile grounds for hunting, fishing and whaling until depleted, Monterey Bay, California is making a comeback. An economy based on the diverse wildlife is starting to take shape. You can read or listen to the story here: Monterey Bay An "Ocean Buffet Open for Business" This Spring

Environment Science: Toilet to Tap

The city of Wichita Falls, Texas is so short of water they will now get 50% of their drinking water directly from wastewater.  Sometimes called Toilet to Tap, the wastewater is treated, sanitized and mixed with the city drinking water supply.

You can read and listen to the full story here: Drought-Stricken Texas Town Turns To Toilets For Water
There are many cites that have already made this same move: Los Angeles, El Paso, San Diego ,and Singapore. As water becomes more scares more large cities are looking for ways to quench their thirsty citizens.
You may Read that story here: As "Yuck Factor" Subsides, Treat Wastewater Flows From Taps

Environmental Science: Global Warming - 15 Years to turn it all around

The latest U.N. climate change report says that if the world doesn't do some really tough, expensive things over the next 15 years, the costs of climate change may spiral out of control. Some of those things involve technology that isn't available yet, such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

You can read and listen to the full story at Marketplace.org : Global Warming: 15 Years to Change Things...

Environmental Science: Who says Population laws don't work?

Samples from the Greenland ice sheet suggest the U.S. Clean Air Act had a clear effect on conditions in the earth’s atmosphere. Pictured is ice core drilling at Summit, Greenland, in 2007. (Photo : Joel Savarino / Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment)

Samples from the Greenland ice sheet suggest the US Clean Air Act had a clear effect on conditions in the Earth's atmosphere.

You can read the full story here: Greenland Ice Cores show Impact of US Clean Air Act on Climate

Environmental Science: When is water safe to drink?

Even Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virgina won't drink the water.  it's been over a month since the Chemical spill in West Virgina made the watershed contaminated.  Rendering the water unfit for human consumption: Drinking, Bathing, and Washing.  After week, no one is willing to say the water is now safe for use.  Even EPA is unclear.  Read the story here: Sen. Rockefeller Responds to Water Safety Concerns

Or you can listen to the story through the same link. 

Environmental Science: Chemical Spill in West Virgina

The chemical is called 4-methylcyclohexane methanol. The spills has forced a ban on using water in a large portion of West Virgina including the capitol. You can read or listen to the NPR story here: West Virgina Governor Declares Emergency After Chemical Spill

Who would have thought that?

Maybe all that talk about conservation might have been on to something. The average amount of electricity used by Americans has dropped to levels not seen since 2001! All those energy effienct appliance and light bulbs seem to be working. You can read the whole story here: Home Electricity Use In US Falling To 2001 Levels

Sinkhole in Louisana

Watch this amazing sinkhole in action! A sinkhole forms when a cavern or space below ground collapses. The material above falls under gravity to fill the empty space below. Sometimes sinkholes can be caused by erosion, overpumping of water, loss of the water table, oil drilling and some natural causes as well.

This sink in Bayou Corne may have been due to a collapse of an underground salt dome.

May May read more about the sinkhole and the possibles causes here:

LA TIMES: Louisiana sinkhole video: Watch grove of trees disappear below ground

Louisiana sues Texas Brine for damage caused by Bayou Corne sinkhole

LA TIMES: When the ground drops: Sinkholes

Astronomy and Meteorology: All Alone in the Night

An Awesome view of Earth from the ISS (International Space Station)
ALL ALONE IN THE NIGHT

Computer Science: Testing your graphics card

Probably the most demanding task a home computer preforms is rendering 3D games. In some case the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) can outperform the CPU on the motherboard.

Here is a list of Link to some Graphics Card Benchmark programs.

Benchmark test using DirectX11
Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark
Futuremark 3DMark 11

Benchmark test using DirectX10
Futuremark 3D Vantage

Benchmark test for DirectX9
(Dude! If you are still using DirectX9 for your gaming needs go back to playing Farmville or Freecell on your computer)
Futuremark 3DMark06

Benchmark Stress Test
(This test has temperature data as well)
3DGeeks' FurMark

Physics: Dics Brakes and Work done by Friction

In the following video we see the kinetic energy of a rotating tire (or moving car) converted into heat. As the brake is applied, the friction in the systems does work to slow the wheel down. The energy from the work done by friction manifest itself as heat. The disc brake become hot enough to glow brightly. Here are some sample videos.

Physics and Math: Vectors, Direct X11 and Tessellation

It take million of calculation to make a modern video game look good. In some cases the GPU (graphics processing unit) preformance puts the CPU (central processing unit) to shame.

 Check out the stats of a Mid range graphics card.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti

So what does all that graphics power get you? Try running these in full screen mode.

 

Physics: Nonnewtonian Fluids

An Explanation of Non-Newtonian fluids.

And this one because I think it's fun!