Senor Parrot's Perch

Courtesy of NASA

Space never ceases to provide us wonders. You’ve heard that there is water on Mars. Did you know about the water on the Moon? Live Science has an interesting article, Controversial New Idea Surfaces on Origin of Moon’s Water By Clara Moskowitz, Staff Writer about the source of the water recently found all over on the moon’s surface.

Some astronomers think that hydrogen ions from solar wind are reacting with oxygen in the lunar soils to produce water. Other astronomers think that the water came from meteors crashing into the Moons surface. One of the astronomers discussed in the article highlighted by Live Science believes that the water in the lunar core is slowly seeping out to the surface. Some scientists think that more than one theory explains why water is on the moon.

Photo courtesy of NASA

How did scientists discover that there was water in the lunar core? They found it trapped inside volcanic rock which reached the surface by flowing from the Moon’s core and down the side of a volcano, or maybe shooting through the air to some distant location. These rocks were brought back to earth by astronauts in the Apollo Space Program.

Friday, October 9, NASA is crashing some rockets into the Moon just to stir things up and break through the surface, hoping to generate a lot more data about what the moon is made of. I’m taking bets they find green cheese. That’s also the source of the water. I’m from Wisconsin. We believe in cheese.

All of the discussion about the source of water on the moon made me think of all the scientific knowledge that is used for learning about space and places like the Moon. There is chemistry, geology, physics and engineering. These are the tools of discovery and invention in our modern times.

Many students are scared off by the complicated appearance of science, but science and math need to be learned like a language. Once the language of science is learned a doorway into a universe of wonders is opened. And it isn’t too early to begin. In fact, the earlier our children are exposed to science, the better.

Jack and the Night Visitors by Pat Schories is single-handed proof that a picture is worth 1,ooo words. This wordless book for young children, preschool through early grades, tells the story of Jack and his boy and their visitation by alien robots late one night. The drawings are amazingly expressive and full of fun and humor. It’s wordless, so there’s nothing to read, but there are endless details to the story to point to and talk about. Older kids will be fascinated by how small changes in the details of the drawings of the robots alter their expressions from joy to fear. Expect lots of cute robot pictures after reading this one with your child.

Wakened by a light from outside, Jack and his boy rush to the window to find a small spaceship landing on the roof. Out spill dozens of tiny robots eager to explore the boy’s room. It’s a frolicking party until the boy decides to keep one of the robots for himself.

It’s wordless, so there’s nothing to read, but there are endless details to the story to point to and talk about. Older kids will be fascinated by how small changes in the details of the drawings of the robots alter their expressions from joy to fear. It’s safe to say you should expect lots of cute robots in your kid’s pictures after they’ve read this book.

Pat Schories is the illustrator to the children’s favorite Bisquit series, which is authored by Alyssa Capucilli. Other Jack books by Schories include Breakfast for Jack, Jack and the Missing Piece, and Jack Wants a Snack.

Jack and the Night Visitors illustrations from Pat Schories’ Website.

Well, maybe here’s a career for a video gamer with good eye-thumb coordination – RoboSurgeon! At HeraldTribune.com there’s a fascinating article titled For Human Hearts, Renovation by Robot on heart surgery using a robot with tiny arms and hands that wield the sutures and tiny scalpels to make the cuts.

Because of it’s size and dexterity it can operate inside of a human through a much smaller opening. The surgeon twists and fiddles with small controllers attached to the mini surgical samurai to direct its slicing and sewing inside the patient, hence the critical need for that eye-thumb brain connection. The surgeon and spectators watch the entire procedure from the inside the patient via the video delivered by the robot’s miniature camera eye. The manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, names this robot the da Vinci Si HD System.

Here’s a promo video from their site. The surgeon’s control of the robot is very cool.

There are not many surgeons qualified to operate using a robotic surgeon. There are many others who feel that there are too many risks associated with the procedures at this time. However there are some great advantages. For starters, these robotic mini-surgeons eliminate the need to saw the patient’s sternum in two, and also the subsequent pulling apart of the rib cage in order to make enough room for your surgeon’s hands, which you can imagine, must be at least as big as catcher’s mitts. Then, there is the reduced chance of infection because the surgical area is so much smaller and there is less exposure to airborne microbes. A team of additional medical personnel stand by to immediately pursue traditional surgery should something occur that requires their intervention.

The surgery isn’t perfect and some doctors qualified to perform the surgery won’t do so because of the risks and drawbacks, such as lengthier surgeries and longer time under anesthesia.

I remember when my father underwent a quadruple bypass (when he was my age). His recovery was agony, in part because of the pain of recovery from having his sternum separated. Then, he was limited in what he could lift in order not to put additional pressure on it. I don’t believe that he would have been a candidate, though, because his liver was sufficiently impaired that the anesthesia was a big concern, since it would tax his liver. (Your liver cleans stuff out of your blood, like anesthetic drugs, alcohol, and other goodies.)

So, the upshot is, go ahead, get that kid of yours an Xbox and save a life. That mind-boggling waste of time today may be saving skill of tomorrow. Think of it, your child may someday to become the virtual pilot of a mini anti-cancer submarine swimming through a patient’s veins, zapping cancer cells before they zap another healthy cell. Then, you’ll be proud to proclaim, “It was the video game console we bought him when he was just 8-years old. He almost didn’t graduate from high school, but look at him today!”

Probably most folks have heard that there is a new Pooh out. If not, here’s an article from the Associated Press. Christopher Robin returns to the 100 Acre Wood, along with a fastidious otter named Lottie. The author is David Benedictus and the illustrator is Mark Burgess. Picking up where the creator A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard left off, an older Christopher Robin returns to his friends.

The new addition, titled Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, and set to release Monday, October 5, follows The House at Pooh Corner by 81 years.

For my self, I didn’t read it until I was in college. My best friend had a Latin teacher who constantly quoted from Pooh. He was a well respected scholar, so I took it as a highly positive recommendation. Pooh was a fantastic book, or books, as it turned out, and really shouldn’t be relegated to childhood.

So now, how does messing with this sort of classic play? I’m not so much in favor of this sort of thing. I wonder if it isn’t sort of a poor conjuring trick. New author David Benedictus, whose had a long association with adapting Pooh to alternative print and soundtracks doesn’t think one should take this all that seriously, and I suppose he’s right. He says

“If I did it badly, it wouldn’t be like I’d destroyed the originals,” said Benedictus, a novelist and playwright who was responsible for the audio adaptations of several Pooh stories. “I hoped I could do it well. But no, I don’t think I felt a weighty responsibility � that would have been a bit pompous.”

What do you think about this? Me? I’m a bit bugged by this, but I’ll give it a try next week. I’m due for a return trip to the bookstore.