This morning, Twitter led me to a great website filled with science news for kids.  Check it out at  http://sciencenewsforkids.com/.

The Society for Science and the public, who sponsors the site, is having a contest for kids in grades 6-12 where they can enter their own podcast talking about what they’ve learned about science from the website.  Go here for more details.

It sounds like a great way to keep your kids reading about science this summer!

Whale hunting  has been in the new a lot recently, but it now appears that the biggest threat to these intelligent, majestic animals is no longer whalers’ harpoons.

I read this morning in the Star Tribune that “Sperm whales, feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth’s oceans, have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals.”  Most of these contaminants have been introduced into the ocean by humans of course.  The article goes on to talk about how our food supply is being threatened by our poisoned oceans and that seafood is a primary source of protein for over 1 billion people.  Do you eat fish?

Apparently, high concentrations of these poisons collect in these whales because they are at the top of the food chain.  That means they eat fish and squid that have eaten smaller animals, which have eaten yet smaller animals and plants and so on.  Humans are also at the top of the food chain, and although we don’t only eat contaminated fish, we eat many other plants and animals that are exposed to heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides.  Both whales and humans nurse their young, passing contaminants from mother to baby.  (That beautiful piece of wild salmon may not be as pristine as you’ve convinced yourself that it is.  Like it or not, our bodies are full of toxins too.)

What’s happening to the whales is happening to us.  The difference is that the whales are not the ones polluting the world.

Look at the Gulf.  Looks at our sick oceans.  Go read “The Lorax.”

We have to save the whales to save ourselves.

We spent last week in Iowa at a family reunion at lake Okoboji, a deep, clear, gorgeous lake near the Minnesota border.  My great grandparents had a cottage there, and every year my mom’s side of the family returns to spend a week swimming, fishing, going to the lakeside amusement park and just hanging out.

Gull Point is a pretty piece of land with a sandy beach and sandbar that juts out into the lake and is one of our favorite destinations. Each year we spend an afternoon or two there, swimming, skipping rocks and digging our toes into the sand.  We didn’t see many gulls this year, but there was a pretty white pelican hanging out nearby.  Little did I know that water birds carry a tiny parasite that infects snails in the water.  The parasite’s larvae are then released and swim around looking for a suitable mammalian host to burrow into and continue their life cycle.

Ignorant of the tiny bugs digging into our skin, we frolicked in the water for hours.

Humans are not a good host for these parasites and they soon die, leaving their buggy corpses under our skin.  Some people don’t have much of a reaction, but others have immunes systems that kick into high gear, rejecting the dead parasites with an inflammatory response in the the form of big, itchy, awful bumps.

My son is definitely allergic.  The CDC website has more information on Swimmer’s Itch, or Cercarial Dermatitis, which can also be found in many Minnesota lakes.  Generally, it doesn’t need much treatment except Hydrocortisone cream or Calamine lotion.  My daughter and I have a few itchy bumps, but nothing major.  My son, on the other hand is on oral prednisone too calm his allergic reaction.  Needless to say, it has been a long, long week.

According to the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service, you can do the following things to reduce your chances of getting severe swimmer’s itch:

• Dry off as soon as you leave the water. Rub skin briskly to remove water drops before they evaporate. Be sure to dry underneath waistbands and around leg openings. Encourage children to dry off thoroughly each time they leave the water.
• Shower with soap and fresh water or change into dry clothes as soon as possible.
• Don’t wade or play in shallow water. Swimming from a raft or pontoon minimizes your exposure.
• Don’t feed geese and ducks near your beach. Waterfowl are an important adult host for the parasites.

You can also go to http://checkmylake.com to search for specific lakes to see if they’re safe for your family to swim in.  I wish I would have checked!

I don’t usually buy farm-raised fish.  Too many articles I’ve read tell me that the fish are polluted with chemicals and that fish-farming pollutes the environment.  So, I dutifully check my Seafood Watch card and spend a little more on wild, sustainable, healthy fish.

When our Twin Cities blogging group, the Blog Pantry, met at Local D’Lish a few weeks ago, my eyes were instantly drawn to a fish tank set up at the back of the grocery store.  The owner, Ann, told me they were setting up a small-scale aquaponics system that would use water from the fish tank to fertilize vegetables and herbs they were planning to grow in the store.  I had seen a larger-scale version of the same thing on Will Allen‘s amazing 3-acre urban farm in the middle of downtown Milwaukee in the film “FRESH.”

Apparently, this type of closed loop, recycling system allows people to grow crops using less water while raising cleaner fish for food.  Systems like these may revolutionize the way people farm in the future.

According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor,

“Recirculating aquaculture systems, or RAS, are closed-loop production systems that continuously filter and recycle water, enabling large-scale fish farming that requires a small amount of water and releases little or no pollution.

About 99.75 percent of the water in each unit is continuously cleaned and returned to the fish tanks. Manure filtered from the water during the recycling process is used as fertilizer on nearby farm fields. The nutrient-rich water can also be used to feed vegetables and herbs in large-scale aquaponics systems, which in turn filter the water for reuse.

One of RAS’s biggest benefits is its small “water footprint,” which opens the door to commercial fish production in areas with limited water resources. (The technology is proven for both fresh- and saltwater systems.)

Cool!  Maybe someday, we’ll all have little kitchen gardens hooked up to fish tanks!

In the meantime, I look forward to a future where I can buy farm-raised fish with a clean conscience.

It’s been raining for about two weeks straight in Minnesota and my kids are climbing the walls.  Yesterday, they built an amazing fort and played in it for an hour before they came to me asking what they could do next.

This easy experiment kept them busy for a little while.

Take a plastic comb and comb your hair a number of times, or rub it on some tissue paper.  Tiny charged particles called electrons will collect on the  comb and give it a negative charge.

Now, run a very thin stream of water from a faucet and hold the comb next to it without actually touching the water.  What happens?

The stream of water is positively charged and is attracted to the opposite (negative) charge of the comb, pulling and bending the stream of water toward the comb.

Pretty cool.

Many more experiments to follow in the next few months!  We’re planning a summer of science between our many sporting activities, so get those science notebooks ready and follow along with us!

Last year, the New York Times reported on a study involving texting and driving that concluded that truck drivers (professional drivers, not teenagers) who text while driving are 23 times as likely to be involved in a collision while texting.  “In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices — enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.”  You don’t have to be a physicist to understand why that’s really, really scary.

When Motorola offered to provide me with their latest hands-free device to try out ,I almost said no.   The H17txt with MotoSpeak™ reads your texts to you over Bluetooth and lets you customize automated responses, so you can put your cell down and stay focused on the road.  I never text and drive and rarely talk on my cell phone in the car.

But, many, many people do.  It occurred to me that if the handless device works well, the review might encourage people who do text and drive to purchase a device that helps them keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.  So, I decided to say yes and give the  H17txt with MotoSpeak™ to a friend who is a salesperson and spends many hours on the road for his job.  I’ll pass his review along to you.

June is National Safe Driving Month, and Motorola’s “Get Smarter”™ cars will be making a stop in Minneapolis to make sure consumers are driving responsibly and staying legal this summer. Starting June 1st follow Motorola on Twitter and Facebook for a chance to win an H17txt with MotoSpeak™ and a free ride in Motorola’s “Get Smarter”™ car on June 18^th and 19^th.   To learn more about what Motorola is doing to prevent distracted driving please see their press release here.

I’ll let you know how the handless device works for my friend!

I just got this email from the Science Museum of Minnesota and thought I’d share it with you.  It sounds like a great way to spend Father’s Day!

Father’s Day – Sunday, June 20, 2010 – 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
at the Science Museum of Minnesota

Make: Day at the Science Museum is this Father’s Day—Sunday, June 20, 2010. Mark your calendars for the chance to meet with an astounding group of local engineers, artists, tinkerers, and inventors. They’ve been hard at work, and now they want to share their DIY creations with you.

Presentations to see, hear, and interact with include:

• A 3D Printer that makes plastic models from computer designs right before your eyes
• A potential Guinness World Record-breaking attempt using kinetic gadgets
• Musical performances by experimental musicians using custom-built instruments
• A bicycle ride across a suspended cable
• Plus a whole lot more!

You’ll have the opportunity to meet with the makers, ask them about their inventions, and learn about ways that you can get involved with local making communities. Presentations will be located throughout the museum’s exhibit galleries. The event is included with regular museum admission.

Dads get in free to Make: Day!
Make: Day is a great way to celebrate Father’s Day with the whole family. With all the amazing DIY presentations, there’s sure to be something for everyone. And don’t forget to take advantage of the incredible opportunity for dads to get in free with the Make: Day Father’s Day coupon. Just print it out and present it at the box office along with any full-price ticket purchase. The free admission is good for any exhibit combination, including the Omnitheater and The Dead Sea Scrolls. So bring your DIY (or not-so-DIY) dad down and see what’s being made!

I first posted this experiment on May 5, certain that the spill would soon be contained.  Now we know it’s worse than we imagined and no immediate solution is in sight.  If your kids don’t understand why it’s so hard to help the birds, have them try this project.

Drill, Baby, Drill. I Cry because tar balls soil white sand.

Drill, Baby, Drill.  I Cry for brown pelicans, drowning in oil.

Drill, Baby, Drill. I Cry for the fisherman, losing all hope.

Drill, Baby, Drill.  I Cry for the Loons that soon will head South.

I Cry for the turtles.

I Cry for the birds.

I Cry for the fish and the crabs and the snails.

Drill, Baby, Drill.

I Cry for us all and our insatiable need.

For large automobiles and huge houses and things.

I Cry for the world we’ve so casually wrecked.

Cry, Baby, Cry.

My son insisted on bring his GPS to soccer last night to look for geocaches in the park.  I grudgingly agreed, thinking it would be easier for me to sit by the playground.

We followed him to the woods on the edge of the manicured fields where we discovered a world of damselflies and caterpillars hiding in the weeds.  He searched for the cache deeper in the trees while my four-year old pointed out beetles and found one “pink” damselfly among the hundreds of blue ones.

I love it when my kids lead me to places I never would have even thought to look.

My posts will be spotty over the next few weeks as we finish the school year and ease into summer.