What a Professor Should Look Like

LOVE YOU! The iconic Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)

The Ideal Female Professor? Image by Pamela L. Gay

 How interesting is this? When you type the word "professor" into Google and search for images, the picture of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones is the first image to appear. If you search for "female professor," the digital image of a lady avatar is the first one displayed. I recently read a blog posting where a real-life professor discusses appropriate attire for those who teach on the collegiate level. Are tie-dye t-shirts acceptable? Do students show more respect for teachers who dress nice? The comments varied, but the overall opinion is that yes, dressing up does make a difference in student perception and attitude. There may even be some differences in expectations between male and female professors. For example, on the campus where I teach, the instructors in the nursing department are usually dressed quite nice. If you stroll down the halls of the science building, several of the male biology and chemistry professors will probably be wearing t-shirts. Is it subject matter, clothing, or gender that dictates more respect from students? In any given universe, I would also have to happily concede that Indiana Jones (looks, dress, and subject matter) is THE ideal male professor. The female image is a little more  distressing to me, since it is not of a real person. Her appearance is flawless (albeit fake,) and her subject matter is quite impressive; the equations on her imaginary chalk board are (apparently) the formulations for maintaining a star in hydrostatic equilibrium. Astrophysics is certainly an obtainable subject, but the avatar image is, sadly, another reflection of our women-should-be-Barbie-dolls culture.

Skyrim - Current Most Awesome Video Game Available

Arkansas Aurora

Photo taken near Ozark, Arkansas, on October 24, 2011 
by Brian Emfinger.

The southern states had quite a surprise this week when a coronal mass ejection from the sun lit up the northern night sky with a brilliant red aurora. On October 24, Brian Emfinger, a resident of Arkansas, saw the alert posted by Spaceweather.com and hurried outside with his camera to catch this image. "I ran out into the field and within a few minutes the aurora went crazy!" he said. 

 More photos of the aurora seen in other states can be found at the Spaceweather website.

Design an Experiment to Fly on The ISS!

Here's a fantastic opportunity for 14-to18-year-olds to try their skills at designing a space experiment. The competition, hosted by Lenovo, Space Adventures, NASA, ESA, and JAXA, will be from October 4th until December 7, 2011. The winners may get to fly to Japan to watch the rocket launch their experiment to space. Other prizes include a flight aboard a zero-g airplane that simulates weightlessness, and a brand new Lenova IdeaPad U300s.  Watch the video above for more information, and read the frequently asked questions here: Space Lab FAQs

Saturn's Shadows

Image, taken in August 2011, courtesy of the Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA and NASA

This stunning view of Saturn could not be seen from Earth. It is an image captured by the cameras aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The sun is located to the upper right, out of view, and the vertical bar to the right is Saturn's very thin rings. As the sunlight pours through the rings, shadows fall on the southern part of the planet. Just beautiful!

The Redwoods

Growing is Forever from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

 You can smell a Redwood forest before you see it. It is a wonderful woodsy smell. I drove up to Muir Woods with my cousin Beth and my friend Liz a couple of years ago, and we could detect that wonderful scent in the car at least a mile before we actually reached our destination.
 The Redwoods are magical, awe-inspiring relics of a lost world. It seemed as though a dinosaur could burst through the woods at any moment and it wouldn't be a surprise.
  Please enjoy the video created by Jesse Rosten, another fan of the Redwoods.

Please Say "Yes," Mr. Lucas

Image courtesy of R. Hurt (SSC), JPL-Caltech, NASA

"Which sun is your favorite? The little red one or the big orange one?" We'd probably all have an answer to this question if we lived on the planet called "Kepler 16b," the first-ever confirmed planet to orbit two stars at once. This discovery has generated considerable interest among science fiction fans and Star Wars fans in particular. While astronomers are informally referring to the planet as "Tatooine" after the well-known (fictional) double-starred planet where Luke and Anakin Skywalker were raised, I am only guessing that copyright laws are preventing the discoverers from officially naming it after George Lucas' imaginary planet. (If they ask for your permission, Mr. Lucas, please say "yes!")
   The planet resides in the constellation Cygnus, about 200 light years from Earth. Evidence indicates that it is too cold to harbor life as we know it. Dr. Laurance Doyle, who is heading the team of astronomers who made the discovery at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA, has reported that amateur astronomers in Northern Asia will be able to find Kepler 16b as it transits across the big sun on June 28 next year. After that, it will be another 30 years before anyone on Earth can get a clear view of the double-starred planet.