Jake Barnett: Math and Science Prodigy

Below is a video of Jake Barnett in 60 Minutes. He is a Maths and Science genius and he also has Asperger’s Syndrome. I first knew of Jake Barnett through reading his mother’s book, The Spark, which is about the ups and downs that their whole family experienced mainly due to Jake’s Asperger’s. Most of his first teachers did not understand him. His family, especially his mother, fought long and hard to get the best education for Jake. Kristine (Jake’s mother) knew what Jake needed. She knew that Jake’s ceiling is much higher than what professionals have told them. Through the family’s hard work, Jake has ‘come out of his shell’.

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Anything and anyone can be used as Mirrors

Today’s Daily Prompt: You wake up one morning to a world without mirrors. How does your life — from your everyday routines to your perception of yourself — change?

Not having to look at mirrors everyday may lead many of us, including myself, to rely on other people’s accounts on our looks (‘you have toothpaste on your cheeks’). We may never be able to check for ourselves whether we really have something on our cheeks, or whether our hair looks great. It could also mean that we would stop staring at our own reflections while judging ourselves whether we measure up to society’s idea of what we should look like. Is that a good thing? How would that affect our confidence, if at all? Would we all care?

I must remind you that we never truly see with our own eyes. We see with our beliefs. Our various ideas of what we should look like are shaped by our experiences, our interactions with things and people. Also, anything and anyone can be used as mirrors. We can truly see who we are by looking at the people around us, as most of them would treat us the way we treat them.

The Science of Dr. Who

The Science of Dr. Who starring Prof. Brian Cox and Matt Smith (a.k.a. The 11th Dr.) is a scientific look at the beloved British programme. Enjoy!

 

Gigantic Graphene Model and Ice Lab: Manchester Science Festival, ’13

Last week, I managed to brave the weather to join the fun at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). One of the coolest parts of this year’s Science Festival is  Aravind Vijayaraghavan’s idea of building a huge model of graphene, with the help of museum visitors such as myself. Graphene- a material stronger than steel, more flexible than rubber and more conductive than rubber, is discovered in Manchester by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. Both scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physicsin 2010 for their discovery of the said material. Here’s how we created the gigantic model:

First, we were given a template and pieces of plastic tubes and ‘joints’:

We then assemble the parts to resemble the template:

We then gave our finished ‘bit’ of the model to the people in charge, who then gave them to the people who built the model outdoor:

I never got to see the finished product, but doing my bit was a lot of fun!

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Next up, I visited the Ice Lab exhibition, which is also in the same museum. This exhibition, which runs until 6 January 2014, shows the architecture and different research that are being conducted in Antartica. Visitors can learn about how the buildings and research facilities are made and what considerations are taken when planning and building them. It also gives the visitors the chance to experience the sounds and other sensations that one might experience in Antartica. Here are some pictures:

Iceberg Living Station:

 

Bharati Larsemann Hills:

 

If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out Ice lab and other exhibitions at the Museum of Science and Industry at Manchester! Click here to visit their website: www.mosi.org.uk

How scientifically accurate is Superman?