Evolution in 51 seconds

This video summarizes evolution in quite a different way. Let´s see what you have to say about it.

Homer Simpson has a rather similar version.

Human Evolution

This is a video of human evolution narrated by Dr. Carl Sagan, an expert on Science and Space. This is just hypothetical, not proven fact. It lasts more than 7 minutes but addresses one aspect of speciation which is good to know before our test. Here is a similar video but with a different script !!!

First Departmental exam

We will have our first departmental exam this Friday May 29 at 11:30 at MEU007.

Be sure to come ahead of time (around 10:00 am) just in case there is a traffic jam, protests in Monterrey, etc.

For those of you who are taking it for the first time in the program, this link that can give you a general idea. Check section 1.

I just found these two links about the universe and then a multiple choice quiz about it. I think it is for native university students majoring in science or astronomy. Questions are difficult because they do not have text to check it out. I took it and got 4/10 just by chance :-(

Finally, Prof. Gilberto Berríos designed this multiple choice quiz on line for 112 and it could be helpful. Write your name so he knows who is taking it. It is good practice for departmental exams in 112 but since there is no sample for 113, this is the best I can offer. It is timed to 70 minutes, so be prepared to spend some time in front of your computer if you decide to take it.

DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR ENGLISH-ENGLISH DICTIONARIES

Hawkins on life in the universe

Prof. Steven Hawkins is a British theoretical physicist who has worked extensively in cosmology and quantum gravity. Even if he is disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), he remains quite active in the study of the cosmos.

Read here about his thoughts on life in our universe. How about your own thoughts? Are we the only ones "alive" in the universe ... is there intelligent life somewhere else?

Video of recent studies in that area from Nasa´s jet propulsion laboratory (it starts with a BP ad, be patient).

Another video from Hawkins and the universe.

Arianna went overboard and enthusiastically recommended all of these links to a series of videos about Stephen Hawking and the universe: “Seeing Is Believing” Video number 1; number 2; number 3; number 4; number 5. I hope you have time someday to watch them all ;-)

How life began

There are many videos on the origin of life but not many are worth watching. This one by Dr. Susan Fisher from the Ohio State University is not too long, too short, vague or biased. Well, that´s how I feel. How about you?



Here is another on Panspermia, but it is 9 minutes long!!!
Here are links from Wikipedia in Spanish and English, in case you want some background information on the subject; this experiment simulates hypothetical conditions present on the early Earth and tested for the occurrence of chemical evolution.

Through the never

We analyzed the song "Through the never" in class last Tuesday and I still wonder if the heavy rock band Metallica read any of our articles to get inspired for this song, ha, ha. Do you think they did some research before they wrote it at least?

Here is the song, anyway, and the lyrics in case you want to listen to it. This is the direct link in case of problems. The song is about 4 minutes long and it really starts in the 40th second. One likes it after listening to it around 10 times (I honestly like it a lot !!!). Are there any other songs about the universe? Have you heard any? I can think of a couple, but they are not as good as Metallica´s (in every sense).





I get this embeddable codes from Radioblogclub but they have a limited number of songs.

Adriana Gil mentioned a video about Bob Marley last week. You can watch it here

Alberto recommended Monty Python`s Galaxy song

Carla suggests one on taking care of Earth.

More on Olber´s paradox

According to James Schombert from the Department of Physics of the University of Oregon, the oldest and most basic cosmological observation is the darkness of the night sky, known as Olber's paradox.


It concerns the fact that the night sky should not appear dark in a very large (or infinite), ageless Universe. It should glow with the brightness of a stellar surface.

The paradox cannot be resolved by assuming that parts of the Universe are filled with absorbing dust or dark matter because eventually that material would heat up and emit its own light. The resolution of Olber's paradox is found in the combined observation that 1) the speed of light is finite (although a very high velocity) and 2) the Universe has a finite age, i.e. we only see the light from parts of the Universe less than 15 billion light years away.

Has this made sense to you? Are you more puzzled now or is it clearer?

Rafael just recommended this site where there is more info. on Olber´s paradox. It is really good as it has a reading with its narration. Very useful for language learning. Good find, Rafael, thanks for sharing!!! Vanessa also recommended this reading.

USB needs your participation and VOTE

On May 21st you have the opportunity to vote for the Board of Directors of USB who will guide our university for the next 4 years. Participate and get involved. Your future and that of USB depends on all of us.

Visit the Commision´s page and check if you can vote. It will be next Thursday in Artevisión, Edf. Comunicaciones, Planta Baja from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

There are 16 candidates for four positions. If you have questions, let me know and send me an email to bleiva@usb.ve

If you have relatives, friends, neighbors or anyone who is studying or graduated from USB (undergraduate or graduate degrees), pass this information to them and convince them to vote too. If do not fulfill the required amount of votes, other people will decide for us.

La Simon2009 Planchart, Escalona, Colmenares, Puig
La Simon4x4 Ferrer, Yaber, Graciano, Teppa
La Simon en positivo López, Gonzatti, Martinez
El equipo de la inclusión Greaves, Stephani, González
Productividad Académica Nuñez, Delgado

Activities Thursday May 14 for Tuesday 19

At the 9:30 class, readings from the guide were assigned for next Tuesday. Absent students will have the following texts: Rosana and Ma. José pages 20-21 (group 1); Antonio and Nathalia pages 32-33 (group 2), Gabriela page 40 (group 3); Isaac page 41 (group 4); and Kevin and Edgard Alfonzo page 42 (group 5); . Read your texts, get main ideas, check vocabulary and be prepared to discuss it and present it to the class next Tuesday.

All will read the text for the first unit of the lab: The Red Shift, pages 4-7 from mid section of guide.

At the 11:30 class, the following absent students will read:
Susana, Alberto and Roberto pages 20-21 (group 1); Walter and Estefanía pages 32-33 (group 2); Adriana Gordon and Edilmar page 40 (group 3); Edgard Cedeño, Jacinto and Rosa Ma. page 41 (group 4); Alfredo, Manuel and William page 42 (group 5)

All will read the text for the first unit of the lab: The Red Shift, pages 4-7 from mid section of guide.

Victor Goncalves and María José Tirado will take the First Quiz on Tuesday at 1:30 in my office. I guess Nathalia Hernández, Marian Yegres and Clara Braña dropped out from my sections.

Good luck in your Math and Physics exams ;-)

Quasars, blazars, black holes ????????

This is a comment I found in one online article about the universe. If your online skills are really good, you should be able to track it. Anyone up to the challenge?

petrocrab wrote:

"Interesting that quasars and blazars likely are the same phenomenon. I remember when quasars were first discovered (yes, I am a living fossil). They were the farthest observable objects in the known universe; thus, they were ranked among the oldest cosmic features.
If quasars and blazars really are the same, I wonder if that might be a clue about the way in which the universe is formed. It seems to me that blazars and quasars may be evidence of a continuum of mini-big bangs, in an open-ended time line.
Maybe there was no single Big Bang. Maybe the Cosmic Party has always been going on, and maybe it always will. "

There is new information coming up everyday about the universe. Amazing!!! A couple of months ago there was this article in the front page of Yahoo about some physicists in Switzerland who are trying to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang.

Susana recommended this video (you need a really really fast connection, though, and it lasts 7:44 min.) She also mentioned this interactive page on black holes (let´s see if you can find one mentioned in our quiz).

Cesar just shared this 23 second video about a quasar. I wonder what happened in second number 12 ... And Edgard this one about an exploding star.

Estefanía has suggested this video about truths and lies about Black Holes and José Mauricio this one of a new black hole.

Another quiz about the universe!!!

Here is another 10 question quiz. I got 6/10 but guessed well a couple.

Chun mentioned this link on a Hubble picture.

The longest-running Hubble Space Telescope camera has snapped the remains of a giant red star (above), NASA announced on Monday May 11, 2009.

What the heck is absolute zero?

This concept has been mentioned in some of our readings. Do you have a clear idea of what it is? Let´s see if this video can help us understand it better. MIT physicist Daniel Kleppner explains how matter changes as it is reduced in temperature and nears -459.67 degrees F, or absolute zero. Here is more information on the subject (interesting site, by the way) .

Lookback time

The cartoon reads:
"The universe is an illusion ... the starlight we see tonight actually started its journey millions of years ago ... for all we know, the universe could have ended and we´re still waiting for confirmation"

Ohio State University has a course on Star, Galaxies and the Universe where you will find key notions of the study of the universe. It is not long and it summarizes concepts we have read about so far.

Look at what it says about Lookback time:

We observe the Universe using light, but light moves at a finite speed: It takes time for light to reach you from a distant source. Example: we see the Sun as it was ~8.5 minutes ago due to the time it takes light to travel 1AU. At cosmic distances, the effect is even more pronounced:

The deeper we look into the Universe, the further we are actually looking back in cosmic time to when the Universe was younger and smaller.
This fact allows us to reconstruct the past expansion history of the Universe, provided, as always, that we can measure distances accurately.
This is a startling fact: cosmic lookback time means that we can actually observe the Big Bang unfolding from the past to the present!

Classmates recommended this video about Black Holes, this reading on the end of cosmology, and the best images taken from the Hubble space satellite (did you know there is a sombrero galaxy?). Enjoy!

Recommended by William Vegas

William has suggested a series of 15 videos about the universe, this being the first one. Anything worth mentioning?

What is your space I.Q.? ... and departmentals

How much do you know about space science? Would you like to take a test?

Find out more in this link.
How many did you get right?

Was there something you learned that was really interesting? Share it with us, please, we would love to know!

The first departmental exam will be on Friday week 6 at 11:30 and the second on Friday week 11 at 11:30.

Arianna recommended this video on the size of the universe and Alejandro N. a link on why we call our galaxy the Milky Way. I hope you find them interesting.

NO CLASS next Tuesday May 5th

I hope you read this post in time. I have to cancel our Tuesday class. We will decide next Thursday whether we should have the quiz or not that day. In this link you will find more information about the quiz, the type of questions, etc. Sorry for the late announcement. Best ;-)