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Is there a greater chance of species to species disease transfer when different animal species (birds and bats) share the same nest hole?

Learn more…Science in Action

Noctule Bats

Learn more about the MMR Vaccination scare:

Why did it take so long for the top medical journal is the UK, the Lancet, to withdraw an article by Dr. Wakefield?  Dr Wakefield, a bowel specialist,  suggested a link between MMR Vaccination and autism.  The original study was published in the Lancet in 1998.

Top five facts about the Lancet article and the Wakefield Study:

1. the Wakefield investigation could not be repeated.  A valid science study must be able to be repeated.
2. the study involved only 12 subjects.  While this might be fine if it was an early stage investigation, twelve is too small a sample to conclude that the MMR vaccination causes autism.  Twelve as a sample size is too small to be statistically valid.
3. Eight (8) of the 12 mothers in the study suggested that Autism developed 2 weeks after their child was vaccination.  In fact the test subjects were exhibiting autism traits 24 months before the MMR vaccination was given.
4. Dr. Wakefield contacted the 12 subjects two years before he did his investigation and recruited these families to participate in his “research”.  
5. Dr. Wakefield was paid by lawyers to promote the MMR Vaccination scare.

Learn more about vaccinations:

Vaccinations are not drugs – they are real chemicals.  Vaccinations stimulate an immune response.

Vaccinations are given to people who have no symptoms of a disease.  

Eighty percent of students are not able to spot the difference between a fake news story versus credible sources.  What are the best strategies to check whether or not web content is false?  

How can you become a fact checker?

FactCheck.org

Remember to ask the following 5 questions before you assume a fact is true:

1. Who created this message and why are they sending it?

2. What techniques are being used to attract my attention? 

3. What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in the message? 

4. How might different people understand this message differently from me? 

5. What is omitted from this message?

The link to the research article describes why some compounds found in food, beet pigment and asparagus acid can cause your waste products (urine) to change colour or odour.

Learn more about science with Biographic from the California Academy of Science.

Case study #1  – Small Pox 

Case Study #2 Flue – What is the origin of outbreaks?

LIVING PLANET REPORT – 2016

Read the Full Report

Discover an invisible World – Award Winning Museum opens in 2016

Option #1:

What can we learn about the science behind profanity (shocking words?_

“One thing we know from pain experiments—where subjects put their hands into nearly-freezing water to see how long they can hold it there—is that people do better when they are told to swear. However, people who report swearing more in their normal lives show less pain alleviation when they swear with their hand in cold water. So swearing does less for people who swear more.”

OPTION #2:

Research Questions:
Can cats be left-paw or right-paw dominant?
What do the results indicate about their brains?
Most humans have a preferred hand (and foot, eye and ear), meaning that one of the pair responds more frequently than the other to stimuli. Human brains map into two hemispheres that have specialized functions with “crossed” connections. The left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere’s cortex region and vice versa.

The constants in this experiment are the cats, the environment and the tester. The cats will respond to various—tempting—articles in their vicinity, and the frequency with which they use each paw is recorded. Across activities, a general conclusion can be reached about paw preference and perhaps the similarity of a cat’s brain to that of a human.

Materials:
Group of cats.
Cat treats.
Feathers.
String.
Logbook.
Experimental Procedure
Record the gender and age for each cat.
Place a treat beneath a piece of furniture or piece of paper near the cat.
Observe which paw the cat uses to reach for the treat.
Take a short break and repeat. Do this again for a total of three times per cat.
When the cat is lying quietly, gently twist a feather approximately 12 inches from its upper body and lay the feather down.
Observe which paw the cat uses to reach for the feather.
Take a short break and repeat as above.
Likewise, with similarly reclining cat, wiggle a six-inch piece of string in front of the cat.
Observe which paw the cat uses to try and trap the string.

With nine results for each cat, calculate a percentage for the two paws and make conclusions about paw preference.
A table can record the results:

Test
Cat 1
F, 3 yrs
Cat 2
M, 5 yrs
Cat 3
M, 2 yrs
Cat 4
F, 8 yrs
Treat 1
Treat 2
Treat 3
Feather 1
Pie charts can display the percentages visually: