science page

Here’s a Lancet article about stroke in young people, and covid. And here’s discussion of a paediatric case. Here’s a research article on paediatric mortality with covid-19. Given how long children and young people would have to live with potentially life changing conditions, I was relieved that they are less likely - as far as we currently know - to die or suffer serious effects than adults. It’s not wrong to state that the risks to children are much lower, because they are. But ‘lower’ is not zero, and doesn’t mean that precautions shouldn’t be taken wherever possible. But even if they are a lot less likely, the chances of children dying or having serious problems due to covid-19 are not zero. WE know covid-19 is having a wide range of effects on the human body, some of which potentially cause lasting damage or symptoms - though we are still learning exactly what is going on, and why.  I felt short of breath for ages after I had covid-19, and I have no idea if there will be longterm effects on my body from this virus. Which means in a pandemic, when millions, potentially billions, of kids encounter the virus, some of them will get very sick, and some will die. It’s a function of the numbers at play here - even though most kids face mild disease, some do not. And as cases climb, we’re going to see more young lives tragically affected by something that may have been preventable. There’s a lot of talk about balancing the harm caused to growing children through lack of socialisation, lack of education etc vs. the risks of the virus - and I won’t go into that here. Every government is trying to balance the needs of kids with the risks - though sending kids back to school is often influenced by governments’ needs to get their parents back in the workforce, so it’d be disingenuous to suggest governments only think about childrens’ benefits. However, even if some risks are being taken (like sending kids to school or nursery), that doesn’t mean families and people as a whole can’t take other precautions to try to decrease transmission. We can’t guarantee we won’t catch this virus. But please, take all reasonable precautions, even if you are young. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Follow guidance for what to do if you have the symptoms of coronavirus.  Socially distance - avoid physical contact and sharing space with people who are not in your household, and teach your kids good basic hygeine - as best as you can depending on their age.

@dxmedstudent thank you very much for the links. Rebloging for new information.

Nope.

when your teacher is trying to teach you how to cast fireball

+3 to Intellect

If anybody’s wondering what’s happening here, this clip made it onto Outrageous Acts of Science, and they explained that this teacher was demonstrating the Leidenfrost effect, which is basically when you place a droplet of a liquid on a surface that’s far hotter than its boiling point. The part of the drop touching the hot surface turns into vapor and forms a cushion that the rest of the drop rests on top of, which causes it to skid across the floor so quickly. The substance the teacher uses in the video is liquid methane. But methane has a really low boiling point. Like, about −160 °C low. So once it touches the comparatively hot floor, the Leidenfrost effect comes into play, and it slides across the floor. The issue is though, methane is colorless, so you can’t normally see it. Thankfully (in this demonstration), methane is also very flammable, so he sets it on fire before dumping it onto the floor so you can see it as it moves. Definitely a cooler demonstration of the Leidenfrost effect than dropping a little water in a hot pan. Or hotter, if you like puns.

THANKS FOR EXPLANATION SCIENTIFIC SIDE OF TUMBLR

may our education be stronger than fake news

Amen.

“Everyone who has ever touched or consumed this chemical has died”

Most people, technically.

Facts: everyone who has consumed this chemical has or will die at some point

this morning NASA abandoned their mars rover Opportunity (aka Oppy) because it (she) got hit by a storm on Mars and it knocked her camera and wheels out and her last words to the team were “my battery is low and it is getting cold”. I know she’s a machine but I’m devastated. Oppy is the one who discovered water on Mars. RIP oppy ily space baby

oh my gosh… sometimes I recognize that Humanity kind of sucks… But I live for content and feelings like this. Thank you, NASA.

I hope God is merciful enough to let this rover into heaven.

I never understood why it’s an F if he gets more than half out of 100? Unless it’s more than 100. If you get more than half the answers right how is it an F?

You must not be from America. Here, grading is fucked up.

Average American Grading Scale: A+- 97-100 A - 94-96 A- - 90-93 B- 80-89 C- 70-79 D- 60-69 F- 59 and under

And in some places in America it goes by a 7 point scale, so it’d be A - 100-93 B - 92-85 C - 84-78 D - 77-70 F - 69 and below

Now you understand why American kid’s feel like there’s no point to school. If you have a 100 question text, and get 79 of them correct, that’s a C. That mean’s your Average Intelligence on this particular subject. And it get’s even worse when you have only like… a 10 question quiz. If you get two wrong? that’s a B. 80 fucking %. Now tell me again why American school’s are easier? 

No wait but whats the grading system in other countries?

#is that true? Yep I was shocked when I heard this in a different post but a Google search pulls up a ton of sites backing this up. Shit son I woulda passed College Algebra with an A in the UK. And I spent the end of the semester in perpetual fear that I would fail and have to retake the class.

And basically as an American you’re expected to get 80 or higher. Technically 70s are considered ‘average’ but there is such a level of pressure to get a B or higher, that Cs have become equal to Ds. Basically anything under 60 you might as well gotten a 0, and anything between 60-80 is considered practically failing. So basically schools have to be designed to make sure majority of students are getting 80s or higher on specific topics, which means you’re spending all your time going over a few choice facts a billion times and there is very little room to teach anything else. Which explains why American schools are of such low quality. The insane demand on the students ends up wrecking their education. Not only do you not have time to teach them anything, but they end up hating learning. Even outside of school your life is dedicated to memorizing these few dumb facts because your homework ends up taking hours of your time. A teacher from one subject says they expect you to spend 2 hours every night on their homework. And if you’re studying 5 subjects and they all demand that 2 hours? Good fucking luck, because if you don’t have straight all 80s or higher you’re not getting into a good college and college degrees have somehow become the minimum requirement for getting jobs.

I spent most of my junior year of high school in a state of constant panic that I was going to get a C in Honors Physics much less fail the class. If I got a C on my report card, I was grounded until the next one. I lost count of the times I’d wake up at five in the morning to take the early bus to go in for zero hour before school actually started for the day

File this under the exact reason so many Americans detest going to school.

This. All of this. Now add to that a set of parents who look at an all A+ report card (save for one subject) and ALL they can focus on is how *horrible* it is that you’re “slipping” in Biology for having an A-. #true story

Where do I find a group of people who are also disappointed in everyone around them not taking Covid seriously