Tag: science

Are We Losing The Art Of Civilized Debate?

by Kiran Jayasinghe

I remember watching news channels when I was a few years younger and always seeing both sides of a conversation. News shows would bring in both sides to talk about a topic. Today, I see one side agreeing with itself and bashing the other side instead of having an open conversation between them. Wether about politics or emotions or business, the art of civilized debate is being lost.

What is civilized debate? Some people call it polite disagreement, or polite discussion. It’s the art of being able to have a conversation where two sides disagree and are able to contemplate ideas in an environment focused on learning.

To have a civilized discussion, it is important to understand the other side first. If you don’t know what you’re arguing against, you can’t get your point effectively across and you’re not understanding where the other side is coming from. Conversations with my friends and family can sometimes turn into arguments when we don’t communicate effectively. When we finally listen to each other and consider the other side’s reasoning, we can have a more productive debate and eventually learn more.

It’s also important to keep the idea and the person voicing the idea separate. If somebody voices an opinion or thought that disagrees with yours, it doesn’t mean the person is ‘bad’. It just means that a conversation about the idea is even more important and that an opportunity to discuss the idea and why it is wrong is even more prevalent. 

In society today, wether on social media or within my friend’s conversations, I see the unwillingness to understand the other side. The only goal in a discussion today seems to prevail as the ‘right’ one or the winner. We don’t take the time to understand why the other person may be thinking this way, or what the purpose of the argument is. 

I also see when the relationship between the idea and the person is blurred. If somebody speaks about something in our society, they can’t voice an idea without being bound to it. If the idea is disagreed with or considered to be wrong, the person is punished (i.e cancel culture). I think this societal mechanism doesn’t help as much as we think it does. Punishing somebody for having a wrong opinion and not allowing them to grow from the conversation can destroy a society from the inside out. Unless, of course, it’s one of the topics that have a definitive wrong side: topics like racism or things that involve hatred of others.

As a society, our pride is our downfall. Our minds are open to the idea that we are right, and closed to the possibility that we can be wrong. Conversations are meant to stimulate productivity instead of suffocating communication. If we cannot listen to opposing views because we are so involved in being right, the discussion becomes about winning instead of learning. What would society be like if we were able to learn from civilized debate?

What is DNA? – A Word On Science

by Svara Jayasinghe

Have you ever wondered what DNA is? I was watching an episode of NOVA Wonders called “Can We Make Life?” that got me thinking about DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a molecule that contains our genetic code. The genetic code is what makes living things have certain characteristics. For an example, my skin is brown because my genetic code has instructions to make a chemical called Melanin that makes my skin brown. DNA exists in every living thing. In humans, DNA is located in the nucleus. The structure of DNA is called a double-helix that has two DNA strands that are twisted around each other. You can think of this like a twisted ladder. Each DNA strand is a row of four different chemicals called Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G). These chemicals are called nucleotides. The nucleotide “A” pairs with “T” and “C” pairs with “G”. This pattern is always the same, and does not vary. DNA is inherited by children from their parents. This is why children share traits or features, like hair color, eye color, and skin color, with their parents.

If you want to know more about DNA, you should watch the episode of NOVA Wonders: “Can We Make Life?” at:

https://www.pbs.org/video/nova-wonders-can-we-make-life-dzcxg8/

Tinker Crate Spin Art Machine

By Kiran Jayasinghe

Recently we signed up for Tinker Crate (find out more in our Tinker Crate review), and we just received June’s box! Our newest Tinker crate came with the materials and instructions to make a spin art machine. Including paint pens, paper, and instructions, the tinker crate showed us how to create spin art, while also teaching us how to build and engineer the machine.

To create the spin art machine, we used the actual box, a circle of wood, some sticky foam, resistors, a battery pack, a motor, and a breadboard. We placed the spinning motor on the bottom of the box, attached the wood circle, connected the battery to the motor, then attached a breadboard, to distribute energy and be able to create different speeds. See the video below to see how it turned out!

The fun thing about this project is that it is reusable. I used it myself several times. The project teaches you about motion and randomness. It’s definitely interesting to see how each piece comes out differently, however much you try to replicate them!

To learn more about Tinker Crate, visit www.kiwico.com/tinker.

Tinker Crate Review

By Simran, Kiran, and Svara Jayasinghe

A few months ago, we bought something called a Tinker Crate. The company that makes it, Kiwi Crate, sends you a box of materials for a science project each month. We were really excited to get our first box , because the experiments sounded like fun. The Tinker Crate is one of the items that the company sells. They also have other crates, such as Doodle Crates, Kiwi Crates, and Koala Crates. Take a look at them at  kiwico.com.

In the Tinker Crate, there are instructions and the material needed for the main science experiment. The Crate also has a magazine inside. The magazine includes several additional experimental ideas, and materials for two of these other experiments are included in the box as well.

In June, the experiment was to build a bottle rocket. We built the rocket, made a launch mixture, and launched the rocket! The bottle rocket used a small chemical reaction to fly upwards.

It took a few tries to launch the rocket properly, and to get the hang of launching it. Our tips: Hold the rocket tightly against the cork on the launcher so that none of the gas inside the rocket can escape. Make sure that the launcher is on the ground before you let go of the rocket. Otherwise, the launcher will get ejected out of the rocket, instead of the rocket flying off the launcher. Once the launcher is firmly on the ground, let go of the rocket. Try adding extra water and more launch mixture to the rocket for a better blast off.

We can’t wait to see what comes in the Tinker Crate next month!

March for Science

By Kiran, Simran, and Svara Jayasinghe

On Saturday, April 22, thousands of people gathered to march for science in downtown San Diego. Among them were three girls, their Mom and Dad. That group, was our family.  We drove from our house to the Mission Valley mall and then took the Metro train to downtown and walked about two blocks to the place where the march started.

Several individuals made speeches before the march started. Scientists from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography spoke about their reasearch on measurements of carbon dioxide in the air, and their work on seeing how much the ocean is warming because of increased carbon dioxide levels. Three middle schoolers presented their award winning science fair projects to the crowd. One girl talked about permeable concrete to help water drainage, and another on preventing water evaporation from storage reservoirs. After the speeches, we marched from the Civic Center to the Waterfront Park near the Maritime Museum.

The march took about an hour. They estimated that about 15,000 people participated in the march. It was loud because people were chanting various slogans. There were a sea of signs, and we had a lot of fun reading them. It was really exciting to be around so many people interested in science. When we finally reached the waterfront park, we listened to several additional speakers who talked about the importance of science and its impact on society. One of the speakers was my dad’s student, Sharon Patray, from the university where he works.  She talked about her life experiences as a refugee, and as a marine and how science has helped her succeed in life.  She said that she will be starting her Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.  Overall, it was an inspiring experience and we learned that science has an impact on almost everything!

The Muscular System – Science

By Simran Jayasinghe

muscular_systemThe Muscular System is made up of muscles. There are two main types of muscles, voluntary muscles, and involuntarily muscles. There are also Skeletal muscles, Smooth muscles, and Cardiac muscles. Smooth Muscles are like the muscled that line the inside of your stomach. Cardiac and Smooth muscles are involuntary. Involuntary means that do things without you having to think about it. Voluntary means you need to think about it to do it. Skeletal Muscles are voluntary because you think before you move and your brain has to tell your muscles to move. Bones and muscles have to work together to allow you to move.

The Skeletal System – Science

By Simran Jayasinghe

skeletal_systemThe skeletal system is made out of our bones and our cartilage. Cartilage is tissue that’s flexible, like the cartilage in our noses. Some main type of bones are ribs, femurs, pelvis, and fibula. The place where two or more bones meet are called joints. Some types of joints are pivot joints, gliding joints, hinge joints and ball-and-socket joints. Your knee is a ball-and-socket joint. A pivot joint, for example, is found in the neck. If we didn’t have bones, we would be a lump of cartilage, skin, and organs. Bones are what make up our structure and shape. Our bones also allow us to move. If we didn’t have bones, we would have to stay still our whole lives! That would be pretty boring! They also protect some of your organs.Your ribs, for example, protects your lungs and heart. Strings of tissues that hold our bones together are called ligaments. Ligaments also help to keep us moving.

Personalized Medicine

By Kiran Jayasinghe

Before releasing a drug to the world, scientists test a group of people. If the drug or medicine works on more than fifty percent of the people, they usually release it to the rest of the world.

But why doesn’t it work on everyone?

Scientists think that certain drugs work only on some people because they have similar genomes (a genome is a complete set of DNA – your genes), while others don’t. They think that if they looked at a person’s genome and prescribed medications according to the person’s genes, the medicine would work better. This method of practicing medicine is called “personalized medicine”.

Personalized medicine is a treatment that is, based on your genome, made to work better for you. Scientists can read a person’s genome almost overnight, and once they do, they can learn what type of genes they have, and what type of medicine will work better for them.

For instance, let’s say somebody has cancer. Some cancer drugs don’t work on all patients. In those situations, the doctor can sequence the patient’s genome, and figure out exactly what type of cancer the patient has and what exact type of medicine will work with the cancer.

Scientists think that personalized medicine will significantly change the way doctors treat patients in the next few years.