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January 16, 2008-
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ANTARCTIC FAREWELL
Only two Webcasts remain in this month's Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists. On Friday, January 18, we meet with South Pole Telescope staff to learn how this powerful telescope collects data from the distant universe. Our final Antarctic voyage occurs Friday, January 25, when we talk with David Ainley and other penguin researchers concluding their field season at the Adelie breeding colonies. For an up-to-the-minute schedule, as well as archives of our previous polar Webcasts, go to www.exploratorium.edu/poles. Be sure to check back in May, when Ice Stories heads north to cover scientists working in the Arctic.
IMAGES OF EMOTION
In the late 1960s, acclaimed psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman undertook a now famous study of human facial expressions. In order to determine whether emotional expressions were biologically determined, and therefore common to all people, or learned behavior that varied from culture to culture, Ekman and his team traveled to the remote highlands of New Guinea. Their research among an isolated South Fore community strongly suggested that emotional facial expressions are indeed biologically determined, as Darwin had predicted. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of this influential discovery, we present The Search for Universals in Human Emotion: Photographs from the New Guinea Expedition. The exhibition opens Tuesday, January 22, and will be on display in the Mind area through Sunday, April 27.
FUEL CELL CARS FOR KIDS
Design and build your own environmentally friendly vehicle. The Fuel Cell X7 provides step-by-step instructions for assembling a model car that runs on hydrogen gas using a reversible fuel cell. The fuel cell first separates water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, then uses these gases to produce electricity—that powers the motor and sends your car racing across the floor or table. The only by-product is clean water! In addition to detailed instructions, the full-color, 16-page manual provides the science behind fuel cells and other alternative energy sources. Intended for ages 10 and up, this award-winning science kit is available in the Exploratorium Store and online at store.exploratorium.edu. Don't forget: Members get free online ground shipping and 20% off purchases.
DID YOU KNOW?
… that many polar fishes, such as the Antarctic cod or naked dragonfish, ward off frigid temperatures with their own form of antifreeze? These hardy dwellers of the icy deep produce antifreeze proteins, also known as ice-structuring proteins (ISPs), which keep their bodily fluids from crystallizing. ISPs are also found in certain plants and insects—and in low-fat ice cream (they improve the texture). Their ice-inhibiting qualities could eventually help us in a number of ways, from extending the life of frozen food to better preserving organs for transplant.
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