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curiosity
There may be no better way to engage kids of all ages in learning about science than with a Lego-based DNA molecule, robot or rocket.
We've scoured the internet for the best, quirkiest, most innovative examples of science-inspired Lego creations. We're featuring some of our favorites here, along with an explanation of the science behind them, including a space shuttle, MRI machine, particle collider and mushroom cloud.
If you have a favorite we've missed, let us know in the comments.
Above:
Curiosity's pimped out with six-wheel drive, a rocker-bogie suspension drive, a high-tech pair of "eyes" -- its Mast Camera -- and a ChemCam laser that can vaporize and analyze rocks from about 30 feet away. It can crawl over roadblocks 29 inches high and can get up to whopping speeds of about one-twentieth of a mile per hour. But, it'll spend most of its 23-month excursion cruising along at about two hundredths of a mile per hour, when it's not drilling or examining interesting rocks, that is.
Scientists hope Curiosity will gather evidence of how Mars morphed from a possibly wet, life-friendly place to a dry, cold inhospitable planet.
"If we have a detailed record of that whole evolution, that would be a huge success," Vasavada said.
Images: 1) Tim Goddard / Flickr. 2) Artist's concept of Curiosity rover, NASA / JPL-Caltech.
Curiosity
Chemist Tim Goddard built this Lego model of the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight and the last Shuttle mission. The model was displayed at the National Space Center in the U.K. NASA launched the nearly 2,000-pound Curiosity rover on Nov. 26, 2011 to scour the red planet for evidence that it can, or did, support life. "We're not looking for life per se. We're one step before that," said deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of the Mars Science Laboratory. Evidence of water in lakes and rivers suggests Mars may have been "a friendly place for life," he said. With Curiosity, scientists will be looking for water and phosphorus, an element found in cells. They'll also be able to examine Martian hazards, like cosmic rays, solar particles and ultraviolet radiation, which may have killed past life or could be dangerous to humans when we visit the planet. On on Aug. 6, the self-steering rover will parachute down to Gate Crater, which is "like the layers in the Grand Canyon, a sequence of rocks laid out before you that traverse a lot of geologic history,” planetary scientist John Mustard of Brown University, a 20-year veteran of Mars missions, told Wired Science in July. “Layer by layer, Curiosity’s going to climb from the bottom and up through Martian time.”
Curiosity's pimped out with six-wheel drive, a rocker-bogie suspension drive, a high-tech pair of "eyes" -- its Mast Camera -- and a ChemCam laser that can vaporize and analyze rocks from about 30 feet away. It can crawl over roadblocks 29 inches high and can get up to whopping speeds of about one-twentieth of a mile per hour. But, it'll spend most of its 23-month excursion cruising along at about two hundredths of a mile per hour, when it's not drilling or examining interesting rocks, that is.
Scientists hope Curiosity will gather evidence of how Mars morphed from a possibly wet, life-friendly place to a dry, cold inhospitable planet.
"If we have a detailed record of that whole evolution, that would be a huge success," Vasavada said.
Images: 1) Tim Goddard / Flickr. 2) Artist's concept of Curiosity rover, NASA / JPL-Caltech.