Working Memory for the Star Wars fan

Some things we remember, but some things we don't.

From a list of words, people are more likely to remember the first few words ( known as the primacy effect) and the last few words (known as the recency effect) than the words in the middle. What might a 3-year-old remember from the plot of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope?

• Are the primacy and recency effects evident in her account?
• Which effects her account more (primacy or recency)?
• Why might she remember the name of the cute droid that can't talk, but not the name of "the shiny one?"
• Why does she recall certain events, but not others?

If you can't answer these questions because you don't remember the plot to the movie, please watch it again because, "it's an exciting movie."

A belated Happy Holidays and some snowflake science

I had planned for this blog to end in December along with the end of the semester. However, since my loyal fans (alright so just one person - you know who you are) have insisted that I continue, I thought I would wish everyone a belated Happy Holidays and give you some seasonal science.

While we all commiserate (or celebrate) about the ridiculous winter that the upper east coast has been having, I thought it might be nice to learn about the snow that we have not been having this year.

The rainbow effect seen in this snowflake is created by the refraction of light. When light moves through the crystalized water, the angle at which the different wavelengths (colors) are traveling changes, causing us to see different colors in different places.

Snowflakes can form at as high as 37 degrees fahrenheit. A snowflake forms when water vapor sublimes directly into a solid crystal around a particle in the air. As the first crystal begins to fall it hits more water vapor, causing those molecules to freeze onto it.

The plates that form around these crystals tend to make hexagonal shapes because of the shape of water molecules (classic Mikey Mouse - looking H2O).

Different shaped flakes form in different conditions. Temperature and humidity are some variables that affect what a snowflake will look like. Slight changes in temperature might cause the water molecules to form a hexagonal plate or, possibly, to then produce branches.

Generally, more secondary branches (branches coming off of branches) or thinner branches indicates that a snowflake has formed faster. We might see these flakes when there is a higher humidity ie. lots of water vapor in the air.


Fun snowflake science and craft links:

• Make snowflakes using borax and pipe cleaners.
• Check out "The Science of Snowflakes" to learn more about how snowflakes form, who's studying them, and how such detailed photos of them have been taken.
• Save a Snowflake - I love this project idea by Popular Science. I believe the suggestion is to put superglue on microscope slides and leave them outside in the snow for a few minutes, so that some flakes get caught on them. 
• See more photos of snowflakes.
• Check out NASA's History of Winter web page and read about/ join their Global Snowflake Network