Academy of Science and Technology Blog Carnival 3

What a treat, we’re hosting the third edition of the Academy of Science and Technology Blog Carnival today.

Before starting, let’s take a moment and revisit Academy of Science and Technology 1. In the Garden Science – The Great Sunflower Project post at the Homeschooled Year blog, we found out about how to get involved in an interesting project to study bees in urban settings. The project coordinators supply a free package of sunflower seeds of a specific variety. You plant them, grow the flowers and then watch the bees. We got our free package of sunflowers in the mail on Saturday and we are excited to start them. Hopefully the seeds will grow in our oven-like climate and we will get to see some bees.

Biology

If you are interested in learning more about bees,  GrrlScientist has an essay filled with pictures and valuable reference books, discussing the natural history and economic importance of Bombus species — the bumble bees — and what you can do to help keep them happily living in your garden.  These fascinating and helpful insects provide a great educational experience for children and adults alike. Let's Give Three Bronx Cheers for Bumblebees! posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Who doesn’t enjoy fireflies (also known as lightning bugs)? DNLee continues the insect-watching theme by letting us know that “everyone from everywhere is asked to keep an eye out for fireflies in their neighborhoods.”  Firefly Watching Time again posted at Urban Science Adventures! ©. This blog introduces youth (and their educators) to environmental science activities with particular attention to urban ecology.

(Birds like sunflowers too.)

Grrl Scientist contributed a photoessay which details the recent news that scientists discovered 56 new species of jumping spider, amphibians, and reptiles in a previously unexplored region of the “lost world” of Papua New Guinea. Lots of cool pictures, including a neat one of a green spider, at 56 New Animal Species Discovered on Remote Lost World: Papua New Guinea posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).

Two of the submissions to the carnival related to dead birds. Go figure.

Dead Bird 1.
GrrlScientist says, “What value do Natural History Museums have for modern DNA research?” This story reads like a mystery. Where did the bird come from? How did it get to the museum? The post also provides some insight from GrrlScientist’s “research into the evolution and biogeography of the lories, which are parrots native to the Islands of the South Pacific Ocean.” This post includes images (all of lovely, live birds) at REPRISE: Dead Birds Do Tell Tales posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).

Dead Bird 2.
Kim says,  “Although dissection seems to have a bad reputation with some parents, I am very glad that my kids got to participate in the dissection of a red-tailed hawk. I included pictures from my cell phone.” Kim presents Dissection Class--Pictures Included posted at Kim's Play Place. Note: As the title suggests, this post contains images of a dead bird being dissected.

Math
Zome tools are popular. If you are looking for something to build, Kris explains “We finally put together the hyperdo (short for hyper dodecahedron).” See the results at Hyperdo Kit from Zome posted at At Home Science.

Jeff Cook at Only I’ve Blog says, “I’ve broken down numbers in my day for something to do, finding correlations here and there just to make time go by, making coincidences where there were no coincidences before.” Check his post 2113, “it’s about constants and number fascination.”

General Education
Educatorblog presents Unite Social Justice, Digital Storytelling, and Content with Google Earth Outreach posted at An (aspiring) Educator's Blog.

PicktheBrain presents 5 Fascinating Video Lectures from Academic Earth posted at Universities and Colleges.
“The recently launched AcademicEarth.org is a video site that features full length lectures by professors at prestigious universities. Like rival video site BigThink, it shares the goal of spreading ideas and intellect around the web.”

Thanks to everyone who submitted relevant posts. Kris made this nifty link if anyone wants to use it with their posts.