Hey Oh, Galileo!

This was too interesting to not post on this blog. In 1737, three fingers and a bottom tooth were removed from the corpse of Galileo. This was 95 years after his death while his body was being moved from storage to a monumental resting place (picture at left). The tooth, with two of the three fingers, were sealed in a jar and were not heard about again after 1905.

Recently, an anonymous person bought an urn at an auction. The auctioneers knew that the urn contained a tooth and some bones, but there was no description. There is, however, a description of the urn and contents written in 1905 with very good detail. This description matches the current findings perfectly. it is unknown yet whether or not they are ACTUALLY Galileo Galilei's body parts. They are determining whether or not there is enough DNA material to test the fingers against the third. The third has been under a museum's care for sometime.

Galileo, if you do not recall, was one of the first people to deny the Catholic Church's insistence that Earth was the center of the universe. Galileo had many reasons to believe that we actually circled around the sun. One of the earliest telescopes is also attributed to Galileo. There is also the matter of gravity and its affect on two objects of differing masses. You can watch a video about it here. Please ignore the ignorant comments. Sometimes YouTube scares me.

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Vervet Monkeys

These monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus) were imported to the Eastern Caribbean by Europeans who wanted them as pets. Due to their release, they are now part of the wildlife in St. Kitts and Nevis. They have many common names including savanna monkey, singe vert monkey, green monkey, and more.

They are native to Western Africa and their habitat varies widely. In the West Indies, they hang around densely populated areas and farms. They do this because of the opportunities to steal food. Many farmers' crops have been destroyed by these monkeys. Vervets, like chimpanzees and babboons, are very much omnivores. They do prefer manoges and other fruit, but a good part of their diet is insects and rodents.

They usually feed, sleep, and travel in groups. They are really small, wieghing between 9 and 17 pounds. Since the vervets are non-endangered, get high blood pressure, and more, they are commonly used for biomedical research. Being that they are not from St. Kitts and Nevis, the islands are allowed to capture and sell them to American reasearch companies for a decent bounty. They have been known to eat monkey in the West Indies in times past. It is said that the number of monkeys in St. Kitts and Nevis is double that of people... and they DO steal your beer.

Any questions?

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The Need for More

... but what? I have recently been reworking my schedules and am figuring out exactly when I need to do what to get the most out of my week. For those of you that haven't been following on Roogoodoo, I have a bit on my plate lately. I still want to provide you with all sorts of fun science tidbits, though, so I have to ask you, what would you like to see more of? I know the videos are popular, but are pretty time consuming, unless you wouldn't mind short news briefs like this one. These types of videos are much easier to make. Or do you want more space and astronomy? Are endangered species your thing? Random science news? Vote below and leave comments please! Every little bit helps the team here at Potspoon! know what you want to read. Thanks guys!

Online Surveys & Market Research

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Clearwater Challenge 3

There is an islander from Curaçao that is doing something pretty incredible. His name is Ryan de Jongh and he is an ocean or open water kayaker. His latest challenge, dubbed Clearwater Challenge 3, will take him from the island of St. Maarten to his home island of Curaçao. He plans on making this approximately 1000 mile journey (1606 km)in about 22 days.

What is the point of his incredible journey? He does it to raise awareness about the need to protect our natural resources. In his words:

Do you think this is crazy? I think destroying our planet is crazy. No Nature, no life. Think about it!
We tend to think we know a lot about nature, and we do, but in too many ways we stand aside and believe that someone, somewhere, will make it all right.

He works in conjunction with a local organization Carmabi and tries to raise money for their efforts by doing things like this. You can read about his preparations and routes on his website.


As a kayak enthusiast myself, I find this feat incredible. Even more so that he is doing this to raise awareness for a good cause.

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Oh, Fall!

While I love summer, I think autumn may arguably be my favorite season. You can wear sweaters OR shorts, the mild days are perfect for picnics, the chilly nights are great for campfires or fires of any kind, the breezes are perfect for kit flying, and the colors are spectacular. I wish it could last longer. I live in a place where summer is year round... why isn't there a place with autumn year round?

As much as I would like to fantasize about red leaves and gourd harvests being year round, there is actually a good reason for why it can't last. All those beautiful colors are caused for a very good reason. In the fall, the days get much shorter and the plants have less time to photosynthesize. This is how our plants make food for themselves and what gives them the beautiful green we are used to. The chlorophyll in the plant is what helps this photosynthesis happen. As the plants chlorophyll gets smaller, other pigments in the plants begin to show through, like the reds and yellows you see around you this time of year.

The plants are conserving energy to survive the oncoming winter and then lose their leaves. When the days get longer, the leaves come back, and are green for feeding! This is pretty impressive and makes me appreciate fall all the more.

Happy Autumn!

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Donors Choose Ending

Well, everyone, October is over and so is the Donors Choose Challenge. Unlike Sciencewomen who blew me out of the water, I made $129 from 3 donors and helped 16 students. Not too bad for a teeny blog like mine.


However, just because the challenge itself is over, doesn't mean you shouldn't consider donating. The site constantly has teachers adding projects that need help. All donations are tax deductible.

Also, every person that did donate during the challenge will receive a giving card of matching funds (courtesy of HP) to donate the same amount to any project you want! That's super giving! Thanks for your support.

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