Science Fun

Long long ago, back in the early days of our country, we did not have the convenience of the modern marvel we call the Telephone. Also, there was no internet, television, radio or other means of mass communications that we enjoy today.

Instead, there were smoke signals! No, not quite that far back, but on this day in 1851, the Telegraph was first used to dispatch train schedules. When you wanted to call grandma, you would head on down to the telegraph office and have a telegram sent. Morse code was language of the telegraph. Dits (dots) and dahs (dashes) made up this unique language that worked for many years to provide communications, and is still in use today, although mostly for fun by the amateur radio community.

SOS – the common mayday call for help is sent as …—… or di di di dah dah dah di di di

Cloaca is our word for the week from the big book of science terms.  It is the common posterior chamber of most vertebrates into which the digestive, urinary, and reproductive tracts all enter;  a cloaca is found in most reptiles, birds, and amphibians; many fishes; and to a reduced degree, marsupial mammals.  Placental mammals, however, havea separate opening and urinogenial opening.  The cloaca forms a chamber in which products can be stored before being dispensed from the body via muscular opening, cloacal aperture.

Word for the week is an occosional posting on Science Fun.  Words are chosen by opening the big book of science to any page at random and pointing to the page - whatever word is pointed at, it comes the word of the week.

It was asked in one of my comments why I have so many subjects on this blog. The blog is about the sciences and not any one in particular. While I have a focus on space and weather as these are my favorites and ones that I have the most familiarity with, I do include subjects from the other science categories.

What is science? The definition for the term science, as found on the internet at dictionary.reference.com is: (1) a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: mathematical science; (2) systematical knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation or experimentation; (3) systemized knowledge in general; (4) any branch of natural or physical science; (5) knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study; (6) a particular branch of knowledge; (7) skill, especially reflecting a precise application of facts or principles; proficiency.

Our word for the week is Mycorrhiza! The word means a mutually beneficial association occuring between plant roots and a soil fungus. Mycorrhizal roots take up nutrients more efficiently than non-mycorrhizal roots, and the fungus benefits by obtaining carbohydrates from the tree.

An electrophic mycorrhiza occurs on many tree species, which usually grow much better, most noticiably in the seedling stage, as a result. Typically the roots become repeatedly branched and coral-like, penetrated by hyphae of a surrounding fungal mycelium. In an electrophic mycorrhiza, the growth of the fungus is mainly inside the root, as in orchids. Such plants do not usually grow properly, and may not even germinate unless the appropriate fungus is present.

We hoped you enjoyed this short Biology lesson brought to you by ‘Word of the Week’, a random finger pointing to a word in the Big Dictionary of Science.

Nuclear weapon detonated on this day in history. Hiroshima was devastated by an Atomic Bomb. At 8:15 a.m., the U. S. Army Air Corps Super fortress Enola Gay drops and atomic bomb, code named “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Seventy thousand people are killed almost instantaneously, and as many more will die from the after affects of the world’s first nuclear bombing.

The atom bomb had been developed by the United States, prompted by fears that Hitler had been working on such a device. Though the dropping of the bomb, and another three days later on Nagasaki, brought about the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. (This historical event from the archives of the History Channel)

Native Americans of the northern and eastern part of the United States tracked the seasons by giving a unique name to each of the full moons. This name was for the entire month that the full moon occurred in. The name of the full moon and variations of its name was used by the Algonquin Indian tribes from New England to Lake Superior.

The fish, Sturgeon, is a large fish that is found in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. The Algonquin Indians caught the fish at this time of year, thus they named the full moon August as the Full Sturgeon Moon. August was also known as the Green Corn Moon, which was when the corn tasseled and the Indians were able to identify this during the growing season for the corn. Thunder and lightning were abundant with summer storms in August, thus another name the Lightning Moon for the summer thunderstorms. Other names given to the moon in August are the Red Moon and the Dog Moon.

The Full Moon for August is just around the corner as it will occur on August 5th at 20:55. The Last Quarter is on August 13th at 14:55 and the New Moon will happen on August 20th at 6:02. August 27th at 7:42 is the time of the First Quarter. All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.