All posts tagged: learn

Let’s learn about radiocarbon dating

Let’s learn about radiocarbon dating

Published by skeptic

atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. carbon: A chemical element that is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules. (in climate studies) The term carbon sometimes will be used almost interchangeably with carbon dioxide to connote the potential impacts that some action, product, policy or process may have on long-term atmospheric warming. carbon dating: Short for radioactive-carbon dating or carbon-14 dating. A way to measure the age of organic materials — ones containing carbon. Carbon-14, a weakly radioactive isotope, forms in Earth’s upper atmosphere as cosmic rays hit nitrogen atoms. This carbon joins with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, which living organisms take up and incorporate in their tissues. When …

Things Millennials Learned From Boomers That They Secretly Appreciate

Things Millennials Learned From Boomers That They Secretly Appreciate

Published by skeptic

Every generation is influenced by the one that came before them. We establish perspectives and values that draw on what we’ve learned from the past, deciding what we want to release and what we want to hold onto. While younger generations tend to drag boomers for being out of touch, there are several things millennials learned from boomers that they secretly appreciate.   The cultural conversation focuses more on the distance between millennials and the boomers they were raised by than on what they have in common. While millennials have paved their way in the world by doing things differently than their parents, they owe pivotal parts of their identity to what boomers taught them. Here are 12 things millennials learned from boomers that they secretly appreciate: 1.Embracing a strong work ethic. Prostock-studio | Shutterstock One thing millennials learned from boomers that they secretly appreciate is their dedicated work ethic. Millennials entered the workforce as the Great Recession took hold from 2007 to 2009, the most prolonged recession since World War II. During that era of …

What schools can and can’t learn from the world of startups

What schools can and can’t learn from the world of startups

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Startups are lauded for bringing ideas into the real world, being responsive to customers and adapting quickly – qualities that senior cabinet office minister Pat McFadden recently called on Whitehall to embrace. But schools operate in a very different context from startups. Teachers have limited time and resources, meaning that any new approaches must be thoroughly considered and effective. The time pupils spend at school is scarce too, so the stakes are high. One way to strike the balance is with the deceptively simple model of ‘test and learn’. At its heart lies a willingness to trial new ideas, gather evidence, and rapidly iterate to improve outcomes. This agile approach is often contrasted with the perceived single-mindedness of institutions in the public sector. The major challenges facing schools – the retention and recruitment of teachers, the increasing complexity of leadership, and disparities in pupil outcomes – demand evidence-based solutions. This is why many schools, academy trusts, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and teacher-training providers like ourselves at the National …

English children lag behind in geometry – parents can help them learn through play

English children lag behind in geometry – parents can help them learn through play

Published by skeptic

Geometry is an important branch of mathematics, which we use to understand the properties of 2D and 3D space such as distance, shape, size and position. We use geometry every day: cutting paper to wrap a present, calculating the area of a room to tile a floor, and interpreting pie charts and bar graphs at work. Even noticing when a picture on the wall is askew draws on our geometrical understanding. But although children in England excel in mathematics compared to many countries, their scores in geometry are significantly below their overall mathematics scores. This pattern has held consistently for children in both year five (ages nine and ten) and year nine (ages 13-14) since 2015. The solution might lie in improving children’s spatial skills: something that could be done through activities as simple and fun as playing with jigsaws, toy cars or construction sets. Spatial thinking is the ability to understand the spatial properties of objects, such as their size and location, and to visualise objects and problems. Try, for instance, to picture a …

Let’s learn about the International Space Station

Let’s learn about the International Space Station

Published by skeptic

astronaut: Someone trained to travel into space for research and exploration. current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction. (in electricity) The flow of electricity or the amount of charge moving through some material over a particular period of time. DNA: (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long, double-stranded and spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions. It is built on a backbone of phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon atoms. In all living things, from plants and animals to microbes, these instructions tell cells which molecules to make. football field: The field on which athletes play American football. Owing to its size and familiarity, many people use this field as a measure of how big something is. A regulation field (including its end zones) runs 360 feet (almost 110 meters) long and 160 feet (almost 49 meters) wide. International Space Station: An artificial satellite that orbits Earth. Run by the United States and Russia, this station provides a research laboratory from which scientists can conduct experiments …

Let’s learn about octopuses

Let’s learn about octopuses

Published by skeptic

alien: A non-native organism. (in astronomy) Life on or from a distant world. brain waves: Electrical signals produced through the coordinated activity of billions of nerve cells in the brain of an animal. When charted, the signal typically looks wavy or spiky. cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell. cephalopods: Ocean-dwelling animals that include squid and octopuses. eel: A fish with a snake-like body and no scales. Many migrate from freshwater to salt water when it’s time to spawn. Note: Electric eels are not true eels but a type of knifefish. navigate: To find one’s way through a landscape using visual cues, sensory information (like scents), magnetic information (like an internal compass) or other techniques. octopus: (pl. octopi …

How to catch a supernova explosion before it happens – and what we can learn from it

How to catch a supernova explosion before it happens – and what we can learn from it

Published by skeptic

Stars are born, live and die in spectacular ways, with their deaths marked by one of the biggest known explosions in the Universe. Like a campfire needs wood to keep burning, a star relies on nuclear fusion — primarily using hydrogen as fuel — to generate energy and counteract the crushing force of its own gravity. But when the fuel runs out, the outward pressure vanishes, and the star collapses under its own weight, falling at nearly the speed of light, crashing into the core and rebounding outward. Within seconds, the star is violently blown apart, hurling stellar debris into space at speeds thousands of times faster than the most powerful rocket ever built. This is a supernova explosion. Astronomers aim to understand what types of stars produce different kinds of explosions. Do more massive stars result in brighter explosions? What happens if a star is surrounded by dust and gas when it explodes? While we have simulations modelling a star’s death, they are difficult to validate. Observing a star’s behaviour in real-time before the …

Let’s learn about supernovas

Let’s learn about supernovas

Published by skeptic

astronomer: A scientist who works in the field of research that deals with celestial objects, space and the physical universe. black hole: A region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation (including light) can escape. cloud: A plume of molecules or particles, such as water droplets, that move under the action of an outside force, such as wind, radiation or water currents. (in atmospheric science) A mass of airborne water droplets and ice crystals that travel as a plume, usually high in Earth’s atmosphere. Its movement is driven by winds. core: Something — usually round-shaped — in the center of an object. element: A building block of some larger structure. (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium. fuel: Any material that will release energy during a controlled chemical or nuclear reaction. Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and petroleum) are a common type that liberate their energy through chemical reactions that …

Let’s learn about ancient pyramids

Let’s learn about ancient pyramids

Published by skeptic

When you think of ancient pyramids, your mind probably goes to Egypt. Ancient Egyptians built these monuments as tombs for their kings, starting around 2700 B.C. Perhaps the most famous of these are the three Pyramids of Giza near Cairo. But people all over the globe have built pyramids throughout history. And some were just as magnificent as ancient Egypt’s. People in the Kingdom of Kush, in what is now Sudan, built pyramids between about 700 B.C. and 300 B.C. These Nubian pyramids were generally smaller and pointier than those in Egypt. But like those in Egypt, these structures were used as royal tombs. See all the entries from our Let’s Learn About series The Great Pyramid of Cholula, meanwhile, dwarfs even the Great Pyramid of Giza — the largest of the Giza trio. In the modern Mexican state of Puebla, it stands some 450 meters (nearly 1,500 feet) wide. (The Great Pyramid of Giza is about 230 meters, or 750 feet, wide.) In fact, the Great Pyramid of Cholula is several mud pyramids stacked …

People with psychopathic traits fail to learn from painful outcomes

People with psychopathic traits fail to learn from painful outcomes

Published by José

A recent study published in Communications Psychology reveals that individuals with higher psychopathic traits show reduced sensitivity to pain, which affects their ability to learn from painful consequences. The researchers found that people with elevated psychopathic traits tend to revert quickly to initial beliefs after experiencing pain. This new insight could help us understand why individuals with these traits often struggle to adapt their behavior despite negative consequences. People with psychopathic traits frequently ignore the negative consequences of their actions, likely due to differences in how they process punishment. Past studies have indicated that psychopathy is associated with both an insensitivity to punishment and an excessive drive toward reward, but this study aimed to explore the computational learning processes specifically related to pain. Pain can serve as a powerful teaching signal, so understanding how reduced pain sensitivity influences learning in people with psychopathic traits could shed light on the mechanisms behind their often harmful decision-making. “One of the hallmarks of psychopathy is aggressive, exploitative behavior with little regard for the wellbeing of others,” said study …