12/24/13
ISC

As holiday traditions go, ISC's annual presentation of the "Science of Santa" is right up there with "It's a Wonderful Life." Right?? Well, we like it!
ISC's elves hope you're enjoying the holiday season and suggest you use this time to escape any stress by curling up with a cup of cocoa and this e-news of fun and frivolity that you can share with friends and family.

Science of Santa!

Santa

Occasionally curmudgeons not familiar with the wonders of science claim Santa is a myth because he couldn't travel fast enough to reach all the non-naughty children in one night, that his payload is too heavy, and foolish talk about there being no flying reindeer.

But even amateur biologists know there are estimated to be 3-30 million species total on earth but scientists have only identified 1.8 million species. It's clear our under-funded scientist friends simply haven't yet encountered flying reindeer to document them and describe their unique abilities!

We at ISC always encourage a healthy sense of skepticism. But science and technology also give us a sense of awe and wonder about our world and what's possible. That's something we should embrace and celebrate, not just at the holidays but year-round!

ISC's holiday tradition celebrates the work of our physicist friends at Fermilab. With "Santa at Nearly the Speed of Light," Arnold Pompos and Sharon Butler used basic math and scientific principles of light and relativity to explain how Santa does it all in one night. Enjoy! (With permission, FermiNews, 12/11/98, Vol.21, No. 23.)

A little love for the Non-Flying Reindeer...

Check out this fun blog piece, "Non-Flying Reindeer Deserve a Science Article Too" which is full of interesting facts about the animals without PR agents who don't have a song or TV show. Or visit the Itgel Foundation's Reindeer life project and their ongoing work with reindeer husbandry in Mongolia.
For more on reindeer, visit the Reindeer Blog (not all is in English) for the guide to reindeer and the people who herd them. Or, the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks where scientists study the non-red-nosed ones. And here's something new - Reindeer Cam (can't vouch for it; hope it works tonight.)

"The last kid who asked if I was Blitzen got kicked."

Credit:Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska

Gratitude to all of you...

Sincere thanks to those who've donated to ISC this year. We know you appreciate how scientific discoveries have enhanced all of our lives in countless ways and how the researchers and institutions in our area make Chicago our nation's true City of Science.

We hope you appreciate our work bringing science to you throughout the year with science author talks, presentations, panel discussions, hands-on experimenting for adults and film screenings (not to mention this cheeky newsletter ;-). Consider a tax-deductible contribution so we can continue these programs exercising our curiosity!

Teaser for a January launch....

The weather might be bad now, but spring will definitely come in (approximately) March. ISC will be ready for fans of running and math with our friends at Fleet Feet Sports. Registration for our annual Pi Day Pi K Fun Run/Walk will begin (approximately) January 15. To get you in the mood, read here about research on the "right" way to run. If you haven't run "right" and have knee trouble, you could try running backwards, believe it or not. Read here about that research. Keep your eyes on ISC for the Pi K registration announcement. It sold out very quickly last year!

Connect with ISC

Illinois Science Council programs are possible thanks to the generous contributions of supporters like you. Please make a donation today.

Select Science Sayings

Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things.
- Virgil, Roman poet

There ain't no rules around here! We're trying to accomplish something!
- Thomas Edison

The human brain is capable of only one strong emotion at a time, and if it be filled with curiosity or scientific enthusiasm, there is no room for fear.
- Arthur Conan Doyle, in "The Brown Hand"

We haven't the money, so we've got to think.
- Ernest Rutherford

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.
- Thomas Henry Huxley

Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.
- Albert Einstein.

Don't confuse hypothesis and theory. The former is a possible explanation; the latter, the correct one. The establishment of theory is the very purpose of science.
- Martin H. Fischer

I'm from Iowa, I only work in space.
- James T. Kirk

We are each entitled to our own opinion, but no one is entitled to his own facts.
- Patrick Moynihan

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.
- Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones

We know next to nothing about virtually everything. It is not necessary to know the origin of the universe; it is necessary to want to know. Civilization depends not on any particular knowledge, but on the disposition to crave knowledge.
- George F. Will

If I could remember the names of all these particles I'd be a botanist.
- Albert Einstein

Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition.
- Stephen Jay Gould

We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.
- Carl Sagan

It's going to be a bummer if Mars turns out to be like us.
- Newt Gingrich

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
- Albert Einstein

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
- Bruce Springsteen

(not science; doesn't matter :-)