In the Mobius Strip of Life, A Little Twist is Needed

 

     This is Math Month with 14 brilliant kindergarteners. We've gone from Fibonacci Numbers to Golden Spirals to Mobius Strips. The kids watched the following jaw-dropping, 3-minute video linking a Mobius Strip to the music of J. S. Bach:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHQ2ybTejU

     They watched the Jos Leys video transfixed. I heard more than one soft "Whoa!"

      The kids then drew on and cut their pre-made Mobius strips in half length-wise to learn more about the amazing looping properties of the Mobius strip. Then I created one more extra-long Mobius strip, expecting to cut one-third of the way into the strip creating one long loop intersecting with a shorter loop.

     I got two disconnected loops of green construction paper.

     Hysterical laughter ensued as Ms. Steph had forgotten to twist the loop. 

     It was GREAT!

     It looped perfectly into a discussion of scientists making mistakes and to the wonderful book I am reading (thanks, Jan!): Brilliant Blunders by Mario Livio (2013).

 

     

     

      In the preface, Livio starts by noting his standard answer to what his book was about: "It is about blunders, and it is not an autobiography." So far, it is a finely-woven quintuple helix of the biggest mistakes of Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Fred Hoyle, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Fred Hoyle. Rosalind Franklin (see October 29, 2013 Partial Ellipsis of the Sun blog post here:  Rosalind Franklin: DNA Photograph 51) and her contribution to the discovery of the DNA double helix (not triple helix as Pauling hypothesized) are discussed in great detail. There are photos, letters, journal notes, and diagrams detailing the errors of these scientists. One reviewer wrote, "Even Einstein was no Einstein sometimes."  

      The word "blunder" according to Merriam Webster is from the  Middle English blundren, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse blunda to shut one's eyes, doze, Norwegian dialect blundra.Here's hoping that you will open your eyes to the beauty of these holiday Mobius strips:

and to this very creative person, Jos Baldwin, who blended (and surely blundered along the way) to this creation of 36 Mobius strips creating a Chambered Nautilus:

 

 

 

There are more photographs of this Mobius Nautilus here: Mobius Nautilus

      My world is looping back on itself as I remember the thrill of reading a first-year (ok, we called it freshman) English book that connected with my Geology 101 textbook. A chambered nautilus made of Mobius strips? W h o a . . .
 

     Wishing you all a good holiday (whichever you celebrate--or not) and winter filled with colossal mistakes, many children, and much laughter. . .and, perhaps, a Mobius tree:

 

 

 I look forward to our loopy conversation. (Sorry about the lack of an umlaut over the "o" in Mobius; I know you'll pronounce it Mer-bius not Moh-bius. . .)

Posting on a Monday this week, back to Tuesday next week,
Word Woman (Scientific Steph)

    

Franklin, my dear, we DO give a damn!

                

                  "Franklin, my dear, we DO give a damn!"

     Rosalind Franklin's First Photograph of DNA structure

 

  

           Rosalind Franklin's extraordinary 1953 photograph of the DNA double helix was the impetus for Watson and Crick realizing the helix supports were on the outside of the structure with the phosphate "rungs" pointing inward. Until then, both Watson and Crick, Linus Pauling, and other researchers hypothesized the phosphates were on the outside. Franklin's research and extraordinary photograph 51 (shown below)

 were pivotal in understanding the double helix model. Yet, Rosalind Franklin received no credit for her pioneering work in x-ray crystallography of the DNA, or for the amazing photograph. Watson and Crick both later wrote that her photograph was "key" to their understanding of the structure of DNA. PBS has chronicled her story in a documentary entitled "Secret of Photograph 51:"

                                http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/

            And Brenda Maddox has also written Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA.

            My Halloween costume will be of Rosalind Franklin, complete with photo 51 emblazoned on a t-shirt, microscope, a DNA model, and a lab coat.

          I decided this was a wise choice after making DNA models with the kindergarteners on Friday. They asked me more than once "Was she a girl?" Yes, Rosalind Franklin was a girl/woman who, sadly, died at age 37 of complications from ovarian cancer. She did not receive credit for her amazing x-ray crystallography work on the DNA helix. Most (but not all) people I have shared her story with over the past week or so were completely unaware of her contributions.

           The kids and I also worked together on one giant table making a very long double helix. I (oh so subtly) mentioned that working on scientific discoveries and models together is the way to go.

          To you, Rosalind Franklin, thank you for your extraordinary x-ray crystallography, your methodical, detailed research, and for Photograph 51.  

           Frankly/Franklin, my dear, we DO give a damn!

 I would enjoy hearing your thoughts about Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958).

Fifty-one-derfully,

Word Woman (aka Scientific Steph)

P.S. My trusty canine pup is considering accompanying me as Helix, the Dog. :-)