Watching Emily’s videos, I can’t help concluding that the study of architecture and the forces that hold buildings up (and knock them down) could only be better understood by climbing them.

Watch out for the Hunchback, Emily! It’s like any other field of science—getting up close and personal with the plant cell, the chemical element or the roman viaduct can only increase our understanding of how the structure is built and how it functions.

Of course, Emily uses software and computer models to get close to the structures she studies, but I am reminded of a BBC-produced documentary series of recent years.

Climbing Great Buildings features Dr. Jonathan Foyle climbing some of the masterpieces of British Architecture. It’s an enjoyable watch if you’re interested in architecture but also just to marvel at the sheer bravery of those involved. I can say with certainty that you’d never get me up there!

Emily’s videos and Climbing Great Buildings remind us to take a different view of our work. It’s amazing what we could find out. That being said, this particular scientist is keeping his feet firmly on the ground!

Unlike Steffie, I fall within the 99% of people who don’t have synethesia. All in all, it seems like an entirely friendly condition to have. As Steffie seems to suggest, there is no negative side to the condition, and I imagine she sees the world in a much more colourful way than the rest of us.

This is from us to you, Eoin! Although I don’t have synethesia, I’ve always thought of numbers in different ways. I imagine it’s just a mathematical thing, but I think of some numbers as being “friendlier” than others. Geeky I know, but hear me out.

For example, eight is a great number. First of all its shape; so curvy and continuous. What’s not to like? Then there is the fact that it’s an even number so it can be evenly divided. Four, of course, is also even but has a much less pleasing shape—all angular and awkward.

Judy Lee’s videos demonstrate that some people have all the luck! Imagine being able to design toys and games and playgrounds. As a biased scientist, I have to say: Not bad for an Engineer!

One wonders whether Judy could also use her talents to design toys and playgrounds for animals, as well as humans? According to a University of Tennessee psychologist, lots of animals play—not just the ‘usual suspects’ of cats, dogs, and monkeys. Polly wants a basket. (Leonid Mamchenkov)

Gordon Burghardt looked at the behavior of baby and juvenile reptiles for many years and never noticed much ”playtime,” until he saw Pigface, a Nile softshell turtle at the National Zoo in Washington DC. Burghardt realized that reptiles play too when he spotted Pigface (interesting name, I know!) batting around a basketball.

Writing last October’s issue of “The Scientist,” Burghardt defined his five criteria for play in any species but sums it up as follows: “Play is repeated behavior that is incompletely functional in the context or at the age in which it is performed and is initiated voluntarily when the animal or person is in a relaxed or low-stress setting.”

Speaking of gliding… new research out of Virginia Tech has looked at the dynamics of gliding reptiles and flying snakes!

The work, presented at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting held last week focused on five related species of tree-dwelling snakes found in South and Southeast Asia.

The snakes can “fly” by flinging themselves off their tree-top perches and gliding to another tree or to the ground.

The researchers looked at Chrysopelea paradisi and recorded their gliding patterns on camera after the snakes launched themselves off a branch at the top of a 15-meter tower.

The Henry Brooks Adams quote that “a teacher affects eternity” is certainly true in Stephon Alexander’s case. I really enjoyed his films and they reinforced my view that teachers can have a huge and profound effect on people’s lives.

H.B. Adams was right. We have all gone through some sort of educational system and along the way most of us have met bad teachers and average teachers and hopefully some good and great teachers. That is so important; especially for subjects such as the sciences. These are subjects in which sometimes dry and (dare I say it) boring topics need to be communicated to students. It can often be a struggle just to teach the information. But to excite and enthuse students about these subjects is the sign of a great teacher.

Throwing a ball up in the air (as one of Stephon’s teachers does in “A Real-Life Superhero”) is a deceptively simple act, but it may be all that is required to get the ball rolling on many scientific careers.

[Eoin’s own blog has been nominated for an Eircom Spider award. To vote for him, please click here. He’ll appreciate your support.]

I have to admit, I didn’t have a clue what a wug was. Someone gave me a general psychology book some time ago (I don’t know why, I’m not a psychologist), so I did a quick bit of research and it turns out that a wug is a very interesting creature indeed. When shown a picture of a wug (like the one Jean showed us), small children involved in the experiment are told “This is a wug.” Next, the children are shown two such creatures and asked “what do you see?” Wug is the loneliest number that you’ve ever heard. (The Wug and Wug Test ©Jean Berko Gleason 2006. All rights reserved. For individual & family use only)

Interestingly, a lot of the very young children say that they see two “wugs,” thus demonstrating that they can use grammatical rules (such as plurals) which they could not possibly have learned yet. Wugs are great!

All this talk of language made me think of a recent scientific paper in which Catherine Snow of Harvard suggested that in order for science to be taught better, we should first teach children “academic language.” This language, from my point of view, is the language of cramming as much information into as few words as possible.

I’m not sure if this is the best way to go about teaching science or any other subject for that matter. Sometimes, it is best to expound on a topic and embellish concrete scientific facts with a beautiful turn of phrase or a nicely constructed simile. We shouldn’t get too bogged down in the “language” of science; the important thing is to get the message across. However, if we try and teach science in an “academic language” we may end up sucking all the fun out of it. And the wugs would not like that!

Watching Mollie’s video it’s difficult not to be swept up in her enthusiasm for science and for her own research. Indeed, she’s one of the best “Cheerleaders for Science” that I’ve ever seen. Although we’re familiar with the concept of cheerleading in this part of the world (Ireland), it’s predominantly just from American movies and TV programmes. The fact is, we don’t have many cheerleaders in Ireland, and we play some very different sorts of sports.

A portrait of the hurler as a young man. For this, my first guest post for “Secret Life,” I thought I’d introduce you to an Irish sport which many will not have seen before. It’s calling hurling and it is the fastest field sport in the world.

Hurling is not unlike field hockey, except it is played on a much larger scale, at a faster speed and with the added factor of allowing high balls. The game is played on a field 137-145 metres long and 80-90 metres wide, and the object is to propel a small leather ball (or sliothar) into or over a goal erected at either end of the field. The players use a hurley (a c.1 metre long wooden stick) to hit the ball and a sliothar, well struck, will reach speeds of up to about 100 mph. This year, over 80,000 people packed into Croke Park in Dublin to watch the culmination of the hurling year, when Tipperary took on Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Final.