More Cambridge Science Festival suggestions

                          

Mark your calendars for this year's Cambridge Science Festival  2014 which is   Friday, April 18, to Sunday April 27.    This is only a selected list of what you'll find there, many being physics-related.  Check out their website to find out about ALL their offerings.  It's a great activity for the whole family!  And it's free, except where noted.  For example, for some Science Museum events you need to pay museum admission.  Ask at your library if passes are available for that day.  You can book up to two weeks in advance (earlier is recommended).

For easier reading of this list, every other event is in bold face.
    

MY CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2014 RECOMMENDATIONS

Friday, April 18

SoundScience Fun!        5:30pm - 6:15pm    &    6:30pm - 7:15pm   Museum of Science, Science Live! Stage

Are you curious about sound and music?   We welcome all ages to learn, sing, move and explore the science of sound in this lively, interactive performance.   The performance invites audience participation in multiple ways: audience members are invited to sing along to songs including "I'm a Body Symphony," "Wonderful Things About Strings" and "No Matter How you Twist it, It's Still a Horn." Audience members participate through demos, question and answer, sing-alongs and "move-alongs" that help demonstrate the science of sound.   Cost:   Free with museum admission

Saturday, April 19

           

SCIENCE CARNIVAL  &  ROBOT ZOO        12 noon – 4:00 p.m.  (see separate posting)

Boston Marathon Activities                 9:00am - 5:00pm   Museum of Science

Cost:     Included with Museum Admission

Amazing Nano Brothers Juggling Show           12 noon - 12:20pm & 2 pm - 2:20pm   Museum of Science, Cahners Theater, Blue Wing Level 1

Sunday, April 20

The Science of Baseball              7:00pm - 9:30pm               Fenway Park

How does a curveball curve?   Does a fastball actually rise?    Who is Carmine and what the heck is sabermetrics?    Learn about the Science of Baseball while enjoying the Red Sox vs. Orioles game at Fenway.   Order your tickets through www.redsox.com/sciencefestival, and a portion of the proceeds will go to support the Cambridge Science Festival!    Everyone wins!!

Cost:   Free with ticket to Red Sox game, purchase at www.redsox.com/sciencefestival

Monday, April 21

Cambridge-Boston Bridge Tours            10:00am - 1:00pm

Starts in front of Museum of Science.   Tour of Boston's bridges along the Fort Point Channel, surface tour of the Central Artery Tunnel along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and tour of Zakim Bridge & Park given by bridge experts from the Boston Society of Civil Engineers (BSCES).

The BSCES runs tours like this  all year long  for students to help them recognize how  their classes relate to the real world and to help them gain appreciation for their infra-structure. Visit www.engineeryourfuture.org for info on the whole outreach program.

Tuesday, April 22

SciEx: Extreme Science Original Video Contest                 7:00pm - 9:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

Ever seen a short science video as exciting as an extreme sports video? Now’s your chance! Join MIT graduate students and choose your favorite original extreme science video. Popcorn included!

                                                

Biotechnology & Compliance Laboratory Tours & Open House   1:30pm - 3:30pm Biotechnology & Compliance Laboratory, Saville Hall, 24 Saville Ave,    Quincy College 

Wondering about an entry-level career in Massachusetts' booming biomanufacturing industry, but don't know where to start?     Get an insider's view of Quincy College's new $3 million state-of-the-art Biotechnology and Compliance Laboratory from Bruce Van Dyke, Chair of Biotechnology & Compliance, and see demos of cutting edge technology.

Wednesday, April 23

 

Across MIT                 MIT Campus, Cambridge                   9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Take a journey across MIT to discover current research, student projects, collections and more...Such as:  MIT Museum  - Solar car shop tour – Science trivia challenge – etc.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Slide Rules            1:00pm - 2:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

The Science of Archery               1:00pm - 4:00pm

Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St, Cambridge

Thursday, April 24

Bright Horizons Early Education & Preschool “Science Rocks”  open house                       10 am - 12 noon

Dive Into Oceanography             10:00am - 4:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

Friday, April 25

The Science of Jello

11:00am - 12:00pm,    1:00pm - 2:00pm,    & 3:00pm - 4:00pm       (3 sessions)

MassBio, 300 Technology Square, 8th Floor, Cambridge

Hello Holography!                        11:00am - 1:00pm    &    2:00pm - 4:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge              

Students experiment with light and perception to investigate the basic principles behind real-world holography. Through a series of demonstrations and hands-on activities, students will learn how holograms are made and viewed. The properties and behavior of light waves will also be discussed, from reflection to diffraction and interference. This workshop includes a guided tour of the Museum's holography gallery.     Note: Limited to 25 participants per session.    Ages 12+

Cost: $10 per participant, includes Museum admission. Pre-registration and advance payment required at: http://bit.ly/CSF2014

MIT Museum Revealed:   Shining a Light on Holography   3:00pm - 4:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

The MIT Museum invites you to explore our exhibit halls with a special Cambridge Science Festival guide!   Seth Riskin, Manager of Holography and Spatial Imaging, offers new perspectives on the Museum’s popular holography collection.
Note:  Limited to 25 participants - teens and adults only. Tickets available one half-hour before tour start on a first-come, first-served basis.   Cost: Free with Museum admission

Sidewalk Astronomy                   8:00pm - 10:00pm

Deguglielmo Plaza in front of 27 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge

Saturday, April 26

 

SciFest Block Party             12:00pm - 4:00pm            Tyler Street, Somerville

Selected list:

Brooklyn Boulders (BKB)   is a 40,000 sq. ft. rock climbing and fitness facility that offers a new type of community space that blends state-of-the-art climbing terrain with art, culture, music, and entrepreneurship. Tours available every half hour starting at 12:00pm. Half-price admission for climbing all day. All BKBS guests must sign a waiver to gain entry into the facility. To avoid a line, we ask that all guests fill out our waiver ahead of time online here.
AirCraft Aerial Arts is Greater Boston’s home for aerial arts and circus fitness. AirCraft offers classes and private training on aerial silks, trapeze, lyra/hoop, corde lisse, hammock and more, as well as classes in flexibility and conditioning. Beginners and experienced aerialists welcome! AirCraft Aerial Arts demonstrations and workshops are repeated at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm.

Rocket Day                        10:00am - 4:00pm          Danehy Park, Cambridge

“The Science of Laughter”    ImprovBoston's Family Show             6:00pm - 7:30pm  

40 Prospect Street, Cambridge

Cost:    Tickets available at improvboston.com and at the door | The Family Show often sells out--advanced purchase recommended.

Sunday, April 27
    laser beams

Topics in Optics                   10:00am - 1:00pm

MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

Wish upon a Stellated Dodecahedron                       2:30pm - 3:30pm

Cambridge Public Library, Community Room, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

Cost:   $2,   pre-register at: http://csfdodecahedron.eventbrite.com/

"SILA"      a play about environmental issues in the North, Baffin Bay
by Chantal Bilodeau, director Megan Sandberg-Zakian        April 24 - May 25
World Premiere      Produced by Underground Railway Theater
A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT project

Doppler Effect and Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Here is an article I just found concerning the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.  Science is helping to determine the approximate location of where the plane has likely crashed:  the Doppler effect.  What I understand about the Doppler effect is as follows.  When someone is speaking to you and facing in your direction, the sound waves go toward you, therefore it's easy to hear the speaker.  When someone is facing away from you,  the sound waves are not going toward you, and their words will not sound as clear and distinct.  The article explains the Doppler effect further in terms of compression of sound waves or lack of compression.

Read here to learn how communication between the airplane and a communications satellite has provided information related to the Doppler effect.

Doppler effect analysis helped narrow Malaysian jetliner search            By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and KELVIN CHAN

Mar 25th 2014       5:42PM 

[In this Monday, March 24, 2014 photo, a crew member on board an RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft looks at a radar screen whilst searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean. After 17 days of desperation and doubt over the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, Malaysian officials on Monday said  an analysis of satellite data points to a "heartbreaking" conclusion: Flight 370 met its end in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean, and none of those aboard survived. (AP Photo/Richard Wainwright, Pool) ]

HONG KONG (AP) - Investigators are closer to solving an international aviation mystery thanks to a British communications satellite and classroom physics.

An analysis of faint signals sent from  Malaysia Airlines Flight 370  to an Inmarsat satellite led officials to conclude the plane crashed in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean. More precise information about the plane's position when it sent the last signals is helping authorities refine the search being undertaken  by planes and ships  in seas 2,500 kilometers  (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia. Investigators had little to examine otherwise because other communications were lost early in the flight of March 8.

THE TIMING

Even with other communications shut down, the plane sent an automatic signal --- a "ping" or a "handshake" --- every hour to an Inmarsat satellite.   Flight 370 completed six pings, and the time each took to be sent by the plane and received by the satellite showed the plane's range from the satellite, according to the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch. This initial analysis showed the last ping came from a position along one of two vast arcs north and south from the Malaysian Peninsula.

DOPPLER EFFECT

Think of a horn being honked in a passing car. To an observer, the sound is high pitched as the car approaches and is lower after the car passes. On approach, each successive sound wave is sent from a slightly closer position to the observer. The sound waves get compressed, resulting in a higher frequency. The opposite happens as the car moves away. It's called the Doppler effect for Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who put forward the theory in 1842.

The same effect applies to the pings, which would arrive to the satellite at a higher frequency if the plane was moving toward the satellite and decrease in frequency when moving away.

For the analysis that led to Monday's conclusion that the plane had crashed, Inmarsat studied the satellite communications made while the plane was on the ground at Kuala Lumpur airport and early in its flight.

It considered aircraft performance, the satellite's fixed location and other known factors.   By knowing how the Doppler effect would apply to the satellite communications, Inmarsat could calculate the possible positions, direction of travel and speed of the plane.

The company then compared its predictions to six other  Boeing 777  aircraft that flew the same day, and found good agreement, according to Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.   Inmarsat did not respond to repeated requests for comment   from The Associated Press.

"By analyzing that, you can determine speed and direction,"  said Joseph Bermudez Jr.,  chief analytics officer and co-founder of  AllSource Analysis,  a commercial satellite intelligence firm.  And by determining the area from which the last signal was sent, then estimating fuel left, it "could give you  an approximate area of where the aircraft impacted."

MORE ANALYSIS

Inmarsat sent its data to investigators days after the plane went missing.   But it continued to run its own analysis to see if it could wring out any more clues.

The company's engineers were dealing with a "totally new area," Chris McLaughlin, senior vice president of external affairs at Inmarsat, told the BBC. "This really was a bit of a shot in the dark." However, the latest information could only go so far in pinpointing the jet's location.

"We can't help you with any closer data," he said.

Gregory D. Durgin, a professor who teaches satellite communications at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that because Inmarsat was using a different kind of satellite in a novel way, he expects it would locate the   last ping from the Malaysia Airlines plane within "around 100 miles (161 kilometers) of precision."

THE COMPANY

Inmarsat Plc started out in 1979 as an intergovernmental organization with the aim of helping ships communicate while at sea. It became a private company in 1999 and listed its shares in London in 2005. Customers now include governments, airlines, broadcast media, oil and gas companies, aid agencies as well as merchant shipping. They use hand-held satellite phones, laptop size Internet devices and antennas linked to the company's 10 satellites to communicate.