http://erc.nd.edu/blogs/tloughran/files/2009/04/loughranforumiiflickr.jpg

BobPanoffatNDPhysics, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. Bob Panoff of Shodor and the National Computational Science Institute visited ND last week. He gave talks to the Computer Science and Physics departments, and discussed ways that NDeRC might collaborate with NCSI in presenting workshops for K-12 teachers to introduce them to computational science and modeling. We’ve worked with …

Continue reading »

“This is a test of dial2do a new phone service where you can call and have your message transcribe email to you texted to you or in this case you send directly to your blog.” Not bad for a first try. Dial2Do is a free service which does much of what jott.com used to do …

Continue reading »

downsized_0212091507.jpg, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. This closeup of a Nanosurf STM. Notice the tip up against the gold surface. This image was taken of a Nanosurf STM, used by a high school researcher from Saint Joseph’s High School. Having spent no small amount of time learning to use the instrument, this student is searching for …

Continue reading »

VoiceThread is another technology for gathering user-generated content: this time, user comment on a variety of images arranged sequentially. Here I’ve imported some Forum II images from Flickr and added a few comments on some of them, which you can access by clicking on my profile image whenever it shows up to the left or …

Continue reading »

I’ve been a Google Earth user almost since its inception. Another time, I’ll say more about how I’ve used it in a classroom setting. But it is worth posting, for anyone who will take the time to read, that Earth 5.0 is out, and is wonderfully upgraded. Click on the Earth 5.0-generated image below to …

Continue reading »

You know you want one of these. Add your own text, or import it from your last blog entry as I just did, at http://www.wordle.net/create Have fun!

VickiFrohne’sBfield, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. A detector can be a pretty simple thing: in this case, a white plate with iron filings sprinked across it amount to a detector of the magnetic field associated with the bar magnet placed under the plate. Participants at Science Alive! 2009 could explore this and related magnetic phenomena at …

Continue reading »

MVI_3621, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. This is another short clip of a cosmic ray detector on display at Science Alive!. It is interesting the see the same phenomena in so very different a medium: here, electons in scintillating material are excited by passing cosmic rays, and then fall back down to lower energy states, emitting …

Continue reading »

MVI_3624, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. Lots of wonderful things happen at Science Alive!, the award-winning annual event held at the Saint Joseph County Public Library. A few highlights from the event are captured here. In this video, cosmic rays leave vapor trails as they ionize ethanol in this supersaturated cloud chamber. For whatever reason, the …

Continue reading »