Science Wednesdays: The Private Life of Deer

white-tailed deer

From coast to coast, some 30 million white-tailed deer make their home in the United States. Deer are the most highly studied mammals in the world, but does the typical homeowner with deer in the yard know how long deer can live? When they sleep? How many babies a doe can have each year?

Enter the hidden world of white-tailed deer outfitted with night-vision cameras and GPS tracking equipment to see them not as common backyard creatures, but as intelligent, affectionate family members.

Question Your World: How Far Does Our Solar System Stretch?

Voyager

Our lovely and comfortable home here on Earth is a long way away from the end of our solar system. Here on Earth concepts of boundaries involve rivers, lakes, mountains, human imposed borders, and so on. However, this is not how the limits of our solar system are established. There is not one point that defines the end, but there is definitely an end and it’s really far from here. Listen to the latest Question Your World Radio Report from the Science Museum of Virginia to learn more.

Join Team Wood Thrush at Explore the Outdoors this Sunday!

Save the Wood Thrush

Join Team Wood Thrush from Lucille M. Brown Middle School at our Explore the Outdoors Event, Sunday, April 28th from 1:00 until 5:00. These passionate young bird lovers will be at the Community Idea Stations and adjacent Huguenot Park sharing their love of the great outdoors. They will be teaching us how to recognize and "sing" bird calls and talking with us about what is needed to save this endangered neo-tropical bird. Watch this Science Matters video about Team Wood Thrush last year to learn more.

Question Your World: Why Do We Like the Music We Like?

music headphones

Think about all the music you’ve ever listened to. Everything from Beethoven’s 5th to “Call Me Maybe” are processed through the brain, but what about them allows the brain to say yay or nay? Listen to the latest Question Your World Radio Report from the Science Museum of Virginia to learn more.

Explore the Surprising Power of Science

Nanotechnology

“This is so cool!” is becoming a favorite phrase of teenagers in science classrooms all over Virginia. Innovative teachers are encouraging their students to touch, manipulate and experience the surprising power of science. And guess what? These students are deciding that science is cool. Recently, I met with two high school Chemistry teachers and talked with them about why they teach Nanoscience in their classrooms. Why they feel it is important to explore Nanotechnology and how this experience might help their students in the 21st Century workforce. Watch this Science Matters video featuring the MathScience Innovation Center's Nanofellows to learn more.

NASA Plans to Capture Asteroid to Study and Find Ways to Deflect

Asteroid Retrieval System

The President’s 2014 budget recommendations for NASA last week included money to capture and explore an asteroid in a mission that could someday help protect the earth from impact. Charles Fishburne of WCVE Public Radio talks with Dr. Michael Gazarik, Associate Director of the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate, about the purpose of the mission that may someday tame an asteroid headed towards earth. 

Challenge Yourself! Explore Something New in the Great Outdoors

archery

Interested in challenging yourself and learning a new skill as you explore the great outdoors? Then I have a gem of a place to share with you. Rockwood Nature Center, the only Nature Center operated by Chesterfield County Parks & Recreation, is nestled in the forest of Rockwood Park and is a great place for young and old to make new discoveries. Within the park of 161 acres, you’ll find 5.5 miles of hiking trails, various sports facilities, an arboretum, an archery range and Rockwood Nature Center. Watch this Science Matters video for a “sneak peek” into the Nature Center and what’s happening on the archery range.

Citizen Science: Cicada Watch

periodical cicada

Anyone can take part in a citizen science project that will contribute to our knowledge of periodical cicadas by submitting observations of cicada sightings to the Magicicada Mapping Project, sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Equipped with accurate maps of periodical cicada emergences, scientists are better able to unlock the mysteries of the cicada.

Question Your World: How Will We Fuel Long Term Space Exploration?

Plutonium 238

The Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was one of the most sophisticated scientific experiments of all time. This trip involved over 5 million lbs. of fuel for the round trip to our closest celestial neighbor. That worked well for getting us to the moon and back, but how much fuel could we possibly produce and carry on board for a trip to the distant reaches of our solar system? Listen to the latest Question Your World Radio Report from the Science Museum of Virginia to learn more about renewed production of a different fuel source - Plutonium 238.

Science Wednesdays: The Mystery of Eels

Nature: The Mystery of Eels

Though much of the natural world is discovered and understood, a few great mysteries remain. Consider the eel — snakelike and slimy, with a row of jagged teeth. Yet aside from these fearsome qualities, we know little about its life. Where it goes, what it does and how it dies, nobody knows.