Lead Contamination of Water

Lead pipes in Rome

Lead is harmful to humans. In recent years, the water supplies of some American cities has been found to have high concentrations of lead. Flint, Michigan made the news when it was discovered that the water wasn't properly treated. Lead from aging service lines began leaching into the Flint water supply after the city tapped into the Flint River as its main water source.

The problem of lead contamination is not a new problem. The water systems of ancient Rome used lead pipes. These pipes disintegrated, leaving lead residue in the soil. Researchers can use these lead trails to figure out the urban expansion around 33 BC.

Here is a report:

Just as modern cities struggle with lead pollution, so may have ancient Rome. And muddy waters preserved the city’s legacy of lead pipes, a new study suggests.

Researchers examined lead levels in dirt drilled from two Roman harbor sites, Ostia and Portus, on the Tiber River. The samples spanned 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1000. Up until around 200 B.C., harbor waters were pristine, but then contamination started to creep in.

The most likely source of lead would have been runoff from pipes in the city’s water system. The timing supports the idea that before aqueducts went in around 300 B.C., Rome’s water system initially employed terra-cotta or wooden pipes that were replaced with lead ones at least a century later. The researchers also link the ups and downs of lead levels to the expansion of the pipe system around 33 B.C. and periods of neglect beginning around A.D. 250.

Read more here.

Asteroid Florence to Pass Earth

An asteroid named Florence will fly past Earth on Sept. 1. Florence measures 2.7 miles (4.4 kilometers) across, and is the largest object to give our planet a close shave since NASA began tracking these types of near-Earth asteroids.

Florence will pass Earth at a safe distance of 4.4 million miles (7 million kilometers). That is about 18 times the average distance from Earth to the moon, or 18 X 238,857 miles. Watch the video simulation of the track of this asteroid here.

Many asteroids have a moon and even satellites. The dog-bone shaped asteroid Kleopatra has two moons. These moons were named Alexhelios and Cleoselene in 2011. this year.

Related reading: The 7 Strangest Asteroids in the Universe

Francis S. Collins

Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. In August 2009, he became the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Under his direction the the Human Genome Project (HGP) was completed in April 2003.This was an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes of members of Homo sapiens. With this data, scientists are now able to read the complete genetic blueprint for humans.

Collins is a Christian. Here are two excerpts from his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

“Will we turn our backs on science because it is perceived as a threat to God, abandoning all the promise of advancing our understanding of nature and applying that to the alleviation of suffering and the betterment of humankind? Alternatively, will we turn our backs on faith, concluding that science has rendered the spiritual life no longer necessary, and that traditional religious symbols can now be replaced by engravings of the double helix on our alters?
Both of these choices are profoundly dangerous. Both deny truth. Both will diminish the nobility of humankind. Both will be devastating to our future. And both are unnecessary. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate and beautiful - and it cannot be at war with itself. Only we imperfect humans can start such battles. And only we can end them."

"The comparison of chimp and human sequences, interesting as it is, does not tell us what it means to be human. In my views, DNA sequence alone, even if accompanied by a vast trove of data on biological function, will never explain certain special human attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal search for God. Freeing God from the burden of special acts of creation does not remove Him as the source of the things that make humanity special, and of the universe itself. It merely shows us something of how He operates."

Related reading: Timeline of Human Genome Project Developments; Fact Sheets - National Human Genome Research Institute

Get Acquainted with Some Christians in STEM

Carver became one of the most prominent scientists of his time, as well as a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute. He found over 300 uses of the peanut, including dyes, shampoo, shoe polish, plastics and gasoline. In 1920, Carver delivered a speech before the Peanut Growers Association, attesting to the wide potential of peanuts. The following year, he testified before Congress in support of a tariff on imported peanuts. With the help of Carver's testimony, Congress passed the tariff in 1922.

Read articles about famous Christians in STEM. These articles were written by Wesleyan Middle School students. Some of this information may be helpful to you in preparing the slide presentation.

Hildegard of Bingen was the most significant woman in science in the 11th century. She was centuries ahead of her time. She excelled in science, medicine, Christian theology and music. She is sometimes called the “Sibyl of the Rhine.” She was born in Germany in 1098 and died in 1179.

Ms. Linsley's great grandparents: The Rev and Mrs. Williams at home in Redlands, California in 1915 with their children. All were born in India during the missionary service of Rev. Williams. From left to right: Robert, Henry, Paul, Alice and Roger. Alice Williams Linsley is Ms. Linsley's paternal grandmother. She taught Philosophy at Redlands College (now Redlands University).

Honoring Lab Mice

Learn more about molecular genetics at the Genetics Literacy Project.

Is this the best statue ever? Russian scientists built this 6-foot tall monument to honor lab mice used for DNA research. The statue is in the city of Novosibirsk in Siberia.

Related reading: Genetics: A Few Basics; Haplogroups of Interest to Biblical Anthropologists; Gregor Mendel: The Father of Genetics; The Sub-Saharan Genetic Ancestry of Modern Jews; DNA Confirms Mixed Ancestry of Jews; Ashkenazi Jewish Women Descended Mostly from Italian Converts; Y-Chromosome Profile of 64% of European Men

Check Your Knowledge of a Solar Eclipse

Today the moon will align with the sun and cast a shadow on Earth. Read more here.

Women Pioneers in Technology

Credit: Geena Davis Institute

25 Archaeological Finds

Archaeology is one of the branches of science that we investigate in this course. This News Science pictorial shows 25 of the more mysterious discoveries, including the Nazca lines, the round boulders of Costa Rica, and the 2000-year Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears.

Check out these fascinating finds and consider what their use might have been.

Related reading: Who Laid the Foundations of Science?; African Stone, Shell and Egg Technologies; Africa is Archaeologically Rich; 4000-Year Bethlehem Tomb Found; Boat Petroglyphs in Egypt's Central Desert

Virtual View of the Solar Eclipse

One week from today, on Monday, August 21st, people in the United States will be able to view the great solar eclipse of 2017!

Watch this to see how the solar eclipse will look from anywhere in the United States. This is the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States mainland since 1979.

A total solar eclipse provides scientists the opportunity to look at the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, which will appear as rays of white light surrounding the moon. They will gather data about the sun's corona, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and the solar wind.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking all or a portion of the Sun. A solar eclipse can be total or partial. Students can view a total eclipse of the Sun on Monday, August 21 if you go to the part of North Carolina shown on this map:

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You must be in the path shown between 2:00 and 2:30 pm in order to see the total eclipse of the Sun! This is a narrow path of only 43.6 miles in North Carolina. Hopefully, the weather will be clear.

Residents of Columbia, South Carolina will be able to view a total solar eclipse about 3:10 pm.

Please wear protective eye gear while viewing the eclipse. Wearing eye protection permits your pupils to dilate. Do not remove the eye protection until you are under cover and do not look directly at the sun after removing the glasses.

Related reading: Eclipses: Do you know the difference?; The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017; Science You Can Do During the 2017 Solar Eclipse; Studying Solar Winds During Eclipses

Dinosaur Mummy Found in Alberta

An 18-foot dinosaur with fossilized skin and intact internal organs was found in 2011 in the oil sands of northern Alberta. This dinosaur mummy was a land-dwelling nodosaur and the best-preserved specimen of its kind.

It was found by accident by miners working in the area. It was painstakingly removed to be shipped to Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum where preservationist Mark Mitchell worked more than 7,000 hours over five years to expose the fossil’s skin and bone. 

This area was once under the sea and is rich in fossils. The body of the nodosaur ended up at the bottom of an ancient sea where minerals gradually turned the body into a fossil. 

The fossil was photographed for the June 2017 issue of National Geographic. The nodosaur was
a plant-eating creature with armored skin. Two 20-inch-long spikes on its shoulders rose like horns and were used for protection against potential predators. It was 18 feet long and weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. Mitchell's reconstruction reveals that the specimen had countershading that acted as camouflage that helped it hide from huge predators.

Related reading: The Amazing Nodosaur Found by Miners

Saros Cycles and Ecplises

Solar and lunar eclipses occur in cycles known as the Saros. The sarosis a period of approximately 223 synodic months (approximately 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours), that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. A series of eclipses that are separated by one saros is called a saros series. It is believed that the Greek word saros comes from the Babylonian word "sāru" which refers to the number 3600.

Abraham's Nilotic ancestors were experts at predicting eclipses because they had been observing patterns in the heavens and keeping records of astronomical events for thousands of years.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had already established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius that becomes visible to the naked eye once every 1,461 years. Apparently, Nilotes had been tracking this star and connecting it to seasonal changes and agriculture for thousands of years. This is verified by the Priest Manetho who reported in his history (241 BC) that Nilotic Africans had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato, who studied in Egypt for 13 years, claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

Priest-astronomer Taitai, 18th Dynasty ~1380 B.C. 

Berlin, Neues Museum, Ägyptische Sammlungen

Temple architecture of ancient Egypt provides evidence that Egyptians observed solar eclipses over 4,500 years ago. The Zodiac of the Dendera Temple shows two disks in the constellation of Pisces. One is the moon and the other disk contains the Wadjet or Eye of Horus decorated with the markings of the eyes of a hawk, the totem of Horus. When the right eye is shown it indicates a solar eclipse. David Smith explains that "a nearly total solar eclipse occurred on a date corresponding very closely to the actual depiction of the positions of the planets in the constellations and the position of the disk containing the Wadjet eye in 51 B.C."

An ancient Egyptian story tells of Horus losing an eye in his fight with Set and it is possible that this story is based on an astronomical event. It suggests observation of a solar eclipse.

References:

Smith, David G., Total solar eclipses in Ancient Egypt – a new interpretation of some New Kingdom texts.

Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity. Brown University Press, p. 195.

World War I Artifacts Found in Palestine

The discovery of artifacts in the "Holy Land" is of interest to biblical archaeologists and biblical anthropologists. This is especially true for artifacts of great antiquity, but sometimes artifacts are found from more recent times. Artifacts from World War I were found near the ancient fortress of Antipatris built by Herod the Great in honor of his father, Antipater.

Credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority

Volunteer archaeologists found rifle cartridges, shrapnel from artillery shells and even an insignia from the British forces' unit.

The artifacts were discovered while archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and student volunteers were helping conduct excavations in advance of paving a road between two areas near Rosh Ha'Ayin. A student discovered one of the rifle cartridges, an artifact of the 1918 Battle of Megiddo fought by Turkish and British forces.

At the time of this battle the land was called Palestine, not Israel. Many Palestinians were Christians living under the Islamic rule of the Ottoman Turks.

The artifacts were uncovered in part of Migdal Tzedek National Park. In addition to the fortress of Antipatris, the region holds ruins from a Medieval crusader castle.


Related reading: World War I Battle Artifacts Unearthed in Israel; Ottoman Era Fisherman's House Unearthed in Ashkelon; The Plight of Palestinian Christians

WASP 121b

A huge alien planet has a stratrosphere, according to a new study co-authored by Mark Marley, of NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. 

Marley said in a statement: "This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system — a warm stratosphere — also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres."

"We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system," Marley added.

WASP-121b lies very close to its host star, completing one orbit every 1.3 days, and is extremely hot. 

Read about it here.