| VOLUME 19 2009/10 |
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ROBOTICS - ENGINEERING MARVELS |
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Robots are regularly used for hazardous, super-heavy and difficult tasks in space exploration, manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment, and medicine. Honda Motor Company’s humanoid robot, ASIMO, can walk, run, recognize people, and identify sounds and voices. Robot-assisted surgery is less painful, recovery is quicker and hospital stays are shorter. Spirit and Opportunity are NASA’s robotic rovers whose job is to map the Martian terrain and search for evidence of water. Robots have been part of the work force for fifty years. RT 17:00. |
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LAKE NAKURU - FLAMINGOS & FRIENDS |
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The lesser flamingo flourishes at one particular lake tucked away in the middle of Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya, Africa. Along the edges of the soda (sodium carbonate) lake are blooms of blue-green algae, their primary food source. It is the photosynthetic pigments or carotinoids in the algae that give these graceful birds their pink color. This colorful issue explores the dynamic relationship between flora and fauna in this unique environment. RT 18:00 |
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ASTEROID, THE THREAT... & KING PLANET, JUPITER |
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Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt. Every so often, asteroids collide and tumble towards the Sun. If they pass Mars, they can be drawn towards Earth, sometimes colliding. Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid impact may have been the cause of the climate change that killed the dinosaurs. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is a ball of gas with no solid surface. Regal Jupiter is orbited by more than 60 moons of which four are large enough to be small planets. RT 20:00 |
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GLASS - 21st CENTURY TECHNOLOGY |
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Telecommunication systems - semiconductors and optical fibers - require speed, accuracy and high quality. Glass is the key. Newly developed glass is both durable and scratch resistant. It is also used for terrestrial and extra-terrestrial telescopes. For example, The Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile uses four individual mirrors, each over eight meters in diameter, to see the details of our galaxy and beyond. RT 12:00
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SKYSCRAPER - REACHING THE SKIES |
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Architects and construction engineers are building taller, larger and smarter by inventing new materials that are lightweight, robust and sturdy. The 21st century skyscraper is being tailored to the demands of location-specific environments/ecosystems and to anticipate extreme weather. This issue centers on the construction of the Burj Dubai – the tallest man-made structure in the world. The 162 floors of the Burj Dubai soar to 818 meters. RT @ 15:00 |
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IWILDEBEESTS - THE JOURNEY TO SURVIVE
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Chancing a crocodile-filled river crossing and open range lion attacks in search of food and water sources are normal aspects of the largest wildlife migration on earth. Travelling across 2900 kilometers of East African terrain, wildebeests (a.k.a. ‘gnu’) and other ungulates perpetually search for the best grasslands and safe watering holes. Students will learn about the lifecycle of this dynamic migratory mammal. RT @ 12:00 |
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SATURN, LORD OF THE RINGS... & OUTER GAS GIANTS, URANUS & NEPTUNE |
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Second largest of the gas planets, Saturn rules a dazzling domain. Its famous rings are billions of moon-lets that range from the size of tanks to grains of dust. The planet is so light it would float in water, and its largest moon, Titan, is bigger than Mercury. Uranus is twice as far from the Sun as Saturn, while Neptune is so distant it takes 165 years to orbit the Sun. Uranus rotates on its side, possibly knocked over in a collision. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, is the coldest place in our Solar System. RT 20:00
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