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Upcoming Themes for ODYSSEY TM
2009-2010 School Year| September | Techno Travel: Getting Around the Future Will there ever be hovering cars that lift us off to school and work? Or are we permanently grounded as energy issues dominate transportation? How close are we to hydrogen-powered cars? Automobiles are "smart," but how smart will they get? A look at Segway and other innovative ways to get around. Commercial rides to space. New Space Shuttle on the drawing board. Progress in teleportation. | | October | Our Story: A Cast of Humans The various fossil species of humans have tongue-twisting names like Australopithecus Africanus. But when did early humans gain language themselves? With more than 20 species and still counting, understanding the origin of humans can be confusing. This issue will look at the earliest species to contemporary homo sapiens and at scientists' amazing odyssey to discover who we are and where we came from. | Nov/Dec
| Einstein: The "E" Factor If science had a saint or all-time superstar, it would be Albert Einstein. This issue will take a fresh look at the man of reason and logic, the pacifist, the musician, his miracle year (1905), the power of the equation; Einstein's brain; Einstein's dream: a "theory of everything." | | January | Art in Science...Science in ArtScience is rarely linked to art, although no other discipline, except art, offers so much inherent or natural beauty. With today's imaging techniques, light microscopy can turn a honeybee's eye or a lobster egg into a magnificent "bioscape". And everything from the chemistry of paints and pigments to the mathematics of a pleasing painting composition involves science. This issue will blend art and science logically and aesthetically. | | February | It's Just Money! The Science of Spending The new "paper" money, digital money, filthy lucre, foiling counterfeiters, risk-taking, the Stock Market. what is a Ponzi scheme? "Don't leave home without it". | | March | Bloody Good Science!
What is blood anyway? What does it do and what can go wrong with it? What do blood tests tell us about our health? How do we keep our blood supply safe? What is the fake stuff used in movies?
| | April | Fly Me to the Moons A look at the latest information on the moon s of the solar system (including our own), with emphasis on the Cassini mission's images of Enceladus and Titan. An interview with Carolyn Porco, leader of the imaging science team for the Cassini mission and imaging advisor for the new Star Trek film. | | May/June | Wild Horses A look at the journey of the horse (55,000 years ago to the present). Genus Equus (modern horses, zebras, asses, donkeys). Are horses native to North America? Social live of wild horses, the diminishing "range", horse "gathers"-- humane or not? To own a horse. | | Jul/Aug | That Rocks! A look inside Earth for naturally formed mineral and petrified matter. How it got there. How we find and retrieve it. Marble, gemstones, soapstone and more. |
2010-2011 School Year| September | Am I a Borg Yet? A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, an organism that combines natural and artificial systems. People who have an insulin pump, glucose monitor, artificial heart, pacemaker, or a neural network-controlled prosthesis are part borg. This issue will look at high-tech's role in improving life for many of us. | | October | The Magic Half How methods of magic work in the brain. How to make anything disappear. The covert manipulation of attention and awareness, neural adaptation, illusions, afterimages, optical illusions, cognitive illusions, inattention blindness. | | Nov/Dec | On Ice! Everything that's cool about ice. how does a Zamboni work? How are crops protected with ice? ice in first-aid, icing on airplane wings. Why is ice always 32 degrees F? ice ages, ice fishing, the greenland ice sheet and more. |
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