CrossWired Science

During one of our summer science classes we practiced balancing with the kids. It was so fun! . Try this: (1) Spin around six times with your arms held out; (2) find a rigid, narrow strip of material to stand on; and (3) place your feet on it with the toe-end of one foot touching the heel-end of your other foot. Keep your arms spread outward like you’re about to fly away with the butterflies. Now, repeat this a few times. . How can you improve your balance? Try imagining ther...e is a vertical center line between your head and your feet. After you’ve spun around, try moving your hands when you balance. Now, increase the difficulty! Once you’ve spun around, stand on one leg or place your hands on the top of your head. . Simple balance training can do a lot to help keep us active and on our feet. An article by Harvard health notes that proprioceptive exercise, another term for balance training, has been shown to reduce ankle-re-injury and reduce the risk of ligament problems in athletes. . Proprioception is how we sense our body’s position in space. We use proprioception to walk through a dark room or to distinguish the brake from the accelerator. Although proprioception is largely an unconscious activity, we use it every single day. . Throw some proprioceptive exercise into your routine. It will help you maintain and strength essential muscles that you use all the time without even thinking. It could even prevent an injury! . . . Reference: The benefits of balance training. Harvard Health Publishing. March 2007. Accessed Oct. 4, 2020. https://www.health.harvard.edu//The_benefits_of_balance_tr See more

Are you studying Fluid Dynamics with CrossWired Science? For one of your U-choose assignments, learn about a tiny (2cm) prosthetic developed by engineers from Caltech and Stanford University! . This clever device enables jellyfish to swim faster and more efficiently that they normally do. . Jellyfish use a pulsing motion to propel themselves forward. The new prosthetic uses electrical impulses to regulateand speed upthat pulsing, similar to the way a cardiac pacemaker regul...ates heart rate. Researchers experimenting with these prosthetics hope that jellyfish equipped with sensors could be used to record information for undersea exploration! . A U-choose assignment based on this topic for a high schooler might include: Explain two challenges a scientist would need to overcome to deploy these devices on wild jellyfish. Describe three unknowns about the ocean you think a jellyfish could elucidate if it were equipped with a prosthetic. Describe five applications--in addition to helping a jellyfish swim--of a prosthetic device. How would a device like this be used to help other soft-bodied animals be more hydrodynamic? How could a device like this be used to compensate for lack of mobility experienced by some injured animals? . . . Original publication: Perkins, Robert. "Bionic Jellyfish Swim Faster and More Efficiently." Caltech - News. Accessed Sept. 18. 2020. https://www.caltech.edu//bionic-jellyfish-swim-faster-and- See more

Do you have any future engineers or space explorers in your homeschool crew? Watch this week at NASA and spark extra interest in them for research and discovery! . This week's briefing includes the Aug. 2 SpaceX Endeavour Crew Dragon spacecraft splashdown, clearance for the Lucy mission to proceed with assembly for its 2021 launch, and the celebration of the life of Mike Freilich, former director of the agency's Earth Science Division.

In honor of World Teachers' Day, take a moment to celebrate the educators in your life!

"Often, we blame luck for our setbacks. We say, 'well, that's the way the ball bounces' and let it go at that. But stop and think. Balls don't bounce in certain ways for uncertain reasons. The bounce of a ball is determined by three things: the ball, the way it is thrown, and the surface it strikes. Definite physical laws explain the bounce of a ball, not luck." . The 'that's the way the ball bounces' approach teaches us nothing. We're no better prepared to avoid a duplicati...on of the mistake the next time we face a similar situation." . "Instead of blaming luck, research those setbacks. If you lose, learn. . David J. Schwartz. The Magic of Thinking Big. Ch. 11: How to turn defeat into victory. See more

Observations of seismic waves have indicated that Earth's inner core is solid, has a radius of about 760 miles, and is surrounded by a liquid outer core. . The conventional story has the inner core of Earth beginning to form about a billion years ago as a molten ball of metal. As the earth cooled, the nickel-iron core at the center rapidly solidified (froze) and grew outward until it roughly became the size it is today. However, when the previously unaccounted for ‘nucleation energy barrier’ (NEB) is applied to conventional models of the formation of Earth's inner core, it turns out that Earth's core should not even exist! Click the photo and read all about it @crosswiredscikids

If you’re planning to visit San Diego, be sure to drop the Lake Poway recreation area into your bucket list!

Due to reduced oxygen levels and typically colder temperatures, high altitude environments can be quite challenging, but God blessed His creatures and our bodies with an ability to adapt. Click the photo to read about a couple examples of this @crosswiredscikids!

Happy Father's day!

Another excellent read from Randy Guliuzza --> https://www.icr.org//selfish-gene-metaphor-misleads-evolu/ . If you are teaching a high-schooler, an in-depth read of Guliuzza's articles will be a great addition to their science curriculum. . Guliuzza is the national representative for ICR and holds a B.S. in Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and an M.D. from the University of Minnesota. He speaks and writes from the biblical perspective that... creation is God's workmanship and people are created in the image of God. Many of Guliuzza's articles emphasize the fact that livings things are intelligently designed. . In the "'Selfish Gene' Metaphor Misleads Evolutionists" (link above), Guliuzza analyzes the ongoing challenges of Dawkins' "selfish gene metaphor". He also explains how the "selfish gene metaphor" highlights many inconsistencies in evolutionary theory. . . . See more

Probably the most abundant enzyme on earth is RubisCo, officially, Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. . Some scientists say that RubisCO works slowly because it incorporates just three molecules of carbon dioxide per second. They say that this means RubisCo is inefficient. But is this an accurate conclusion? Click the photo and find out @crosswiredscikids . .... . See more

Find the unique ways your children see the world and help them see it in their work

Check out these dancing Canadian coins! Notice how they seem to like each other... huh? These dimes are actually ferromagnetic. Beneath the board is a neodymium magnet directing their movements. Cool +

SLIME TIME! Have you ever made slime with polyvinyl alcohol? . In this experiment, polyvinyl alcohol (a polymer), reacts with borax to form a crosslinked polymer network. . You can get materials for this experiment in kits from toy stores, or the final product can be purchased as Gak.... . Read about the science of polyvinyl alcohol slime and instructions on how to make it @crosswiredscience -->https://www.instagram.com/p/B_59Hcep1Cm/ . . . See more