Hmmm...It appears as if Sen. McCain's pick for veep may be a creationist. This link, http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/2006/10/27/intelligent_design_and_the_ala/, was received from Jason Grill (who we saw last night at the Obama watch party at O'Dowd's in Zona Rosa). Check it out, and please post your comments here. We'd like to hear what you have to say.

HMS Beagle Science Blog: Home Laboratories Under Attack?

HMS Beagle Science Blog: Home Laboratories Under Attack?

Here's a link to the Beagle website's pdf that concerns the care and feeding of a home laboratory. Please understand that this is an on-going publishing project and that the document at the end of this link is subject to regular and frequent updating: http://www.hms-beagle.com/PDFs/HomeLaboratory3.pdf

Home Laboratories Under Attack?

That's right, it seems home laboratories may be coming under attack, at least in some parts of the US, and we don't mean underground, clandestine meth labs. We mean legitimate, amateur, home experimentor's laboratories. Here's the text from a recent post on the Make Magazine blog (http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/08/home_science_under_attack.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890):

"The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that Victor Deeb, a retired chemist who lives in Marlboro, has finally been allowed to return to his Fremont Street home, after Massachusetts authorities spent three days ransacking his basement lab and making off with its contents.
Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He's not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks. Deeb fell afoul of the Massachusetts authorities for ... doing experiments.
Authorities concede that the chemicals found in Deeb's basement lab were no more hazardous than typical household cleaning products. Despite that, authorities confiscated "all potentially hazardous chemicals" (which is to say the chemicals in Deeb's lab) from his home, and called in a hazardous waste cleanup company to test the chemicals and clean up the lab.
Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for Marlboro, stated, "I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation."
Allow me to translate Ms. Wilderman's words into plain English: "Mr. Deeb hasn't actually violated any law or regulation that I can find, but I don't like what he's doing because I'm ignorant and irrationally afraid of chemicals, so I'll abuse my power to steal his property and shut him down."
In effect, the Massachusetts authorities have invaded Deeb's lab, apparently without a warrant, and stolen his property. Deeb, presumably under at least the implied threat of further action, has not objected to the warrantless search and the confiscation of his property. Or perhaps he's just biding his time. It appears that Deeb has grounds for a nice juicy lawsuit here.
There's a lesson here for all of us who do science at home, whether we're home schoolers or DIY science enthusiasts. The government is not our friend. Massachusetts is the prototypical nanny state, of course, but the other 49 aren't far behind. Any of us could one day find the police at the door, demanding to search our home labs. If that day comes, I will demand a warrant and waste no time getting my attorney on the phone.
There's a word for what just happened in Massachusetts. Tyranny. And it's something none of us should tolerate."

As you know H.M.S. Beagle is all about home laboratories and giving support and encouragement to parents and students who want to explore the sciences at home. Please post your thoughts and opinions. We think that we should be encouraging our law makers to take the same stand on the support and encouragement of home laboratories. Stop and think for a moment of all of the home schoolers, to mention one important group, who have set up and performed experiments at home for their children. We recently tutored a home-schooled high school student in chemistry. We helped with the "book" part of the lesons and his parents did all the "lab" part at home.

New Chemicals for Experimenters

At The Beagle we're always getting in new products and we add new chemicals to our BenchMark branded chemicals nearly every week. These new chemicals are added, in part, to meet a demand we have from our customers and in part to make available new chemicals for experimenters. This week have added these new chemicals:

Sodium Polyacrylate ("Water Lock"), 40 grams

Stevia Leaves Extract, 85% Sweet Powder, 15 grams

Potassium Hydroxide, 5% w/v Solution (for mushroom identification), 25 mL

Iron (II) Sulfate, 10% w/v (Ferrous Sulfate) Solution (for mushroom identification), 25 mL

Cotton Blue, 5 grams

Aniline Blue, 5 grams

Sodium Polyacrylate ("Water Lock") is most often used in classrooms to show how a small amount of a solid can absorb relatively enormous volumes of water and still remain as a solid. This is the material used in disposable diapers, a soil additive to lock in water and prevent its rapid evaporation from flower pots, and as a culture medium (mixed with other chemicals) for soilless growing of plants.

Stevia Leaves Extract is a substance derived from Stevia rebaudiana an annual plant that has a sweet constituent in its leaves and stems that is being studied as a replacement for sucrose (cane sugar) as well as for synthetic sweetners such as aspertame.

Potassium Hydroxide, 5% w/v Solution and Iron (II) Sulfate, 10% w/v (Ferrous Sulfate) Solution are both used by professional and amateur mushroom hunters to identify certain types and species of mushrooms. When a drop or two of either of these solutions is placed on selected parts of a mushroom color changes occur that are indicative of different types of mushrooms.

Cotton Blue and Aniline Blue are both biological stains and by adding these two products to our line we now have a fairly extensive range of such dyes in both the dry from and as solutions.

A word about our chemical products' purity: The BenckMark brand chemicals are usually repackaged from A.C.S. Reagent grade chemicals. In addition, the solutions we package are made from reagent grade chemicals and totally deionized water. However, some of our chemicals are repackaged from technical grade bulk. In particular our Potassium Nitrate (Saltpeter) is a technical grade material. From time to time our customers have commented on the differences in performance between our products and a supposedly identical product from a different supplier. Recently one of our customers who recycles gold and platinum told us a tale of how his partner had switched from our Zinc, Powder to another brand when precipitating platinum. He said the process bubbled up and produced a froth with unusual foreign substances in it and the entire batch was ruined. While we don't usually guarantee any given chemical we sell for a particular use, we can advise our customers on the suitability of most of our chemicals for a particular use.

Jason Grill and Evolution

A notice from state representative Jason Grill was received via e-mail today. In it he states he is hosting a town hall-style meeting at Park University this coming Wednesday July 16th. It is to be at 7:00 pm at Park University's McCoy Meetin' House (8700 Northwest River Park Drive, Parkville, MO 64152). I will try to be there.

Earlier this year, the actor Ben Stein presented a screening of his anti-science movie Expelled to the state's governor and some state legislators, mostly Republicans, in the capitol building. Stein's purpose was to boost his view that evolution should not be taught in the state's schools. By Stein's own admission, he doesn't fully understand evolution. I hope to convince Rep. Grill that events such as these are real threats and that he needs to display a stiff backbone when challenged by some Republicans' desires to officially water down the teaching of science in Missouri schools and insert the teaching of supernaturalism. Specifically, he needs to be encouraged to stand up against those in the House who want to bring in the teaching of creationism/intelligent design instead of the scientific theory of natural selection. I have specifically offered to assist him and his staff in preparing for the expected onslaught against reason and logic by the superstitious.

To help you understand the issue, it is always a good idea to understand the scientific side. There are so many misconceptions out there that they can be likened to a whack-a-mole game. As soon as one is hammered down another pops up elsewhere. A customer came in the Beagle yesterday and saw an Astronomy magazine cover about the Big Bang. He turned around and said, "the Big Bang, huh?, That's about evolution right?" I informed him that the Big Bang theory had nothing to do with evolution and quickly explained how the former was a theory about how the early universe formed and the later was about how life on earth has changed over time and that neither theory was about how life on earth began.

On our website you can find the paper "Some facts about evolution" that may be useful to those wanting to learn more on the subject.

Digging for Fossil Leaves

One of our activities this month at the Beagle is a fossil dig, in conjunction with Scott Hageman and Brian Hoffman from the science faculty of Park University and a local paleontologist. Over the coming weeks, we will be digging for fossil plants from the Pennsylvanian era (approximately 280-325 million years ago), in a bluff behind the University, just a few minutes from downtown Parkville.

There are more than a dozen species of plants to be located in the limestone, sandstone, and mudstone layers which sit on the hill behind the Park campus. As part of a river delta or floodplain 300 million years old, clumps of vegetation were washed toward an inland sea by ancient rivers, and some of the decaying plant matter was preserved through fossilization. There is also a chance, although quite remote, of a fossilized trackways, the footprints of tiny early reptiles (or possibly amphibians) preserved in the neighboring sandstone layers. More likely are fossils from insects which lived during this time, particularly wings and occasionally complete bodies of cockroaches.

The majority of the fossils, though, are from a variety of species of ferns and trees which grew in the swampy expanses and shallow seas of the central United States (of course, the land masses were gradually shifting and changing, with seas rising and falling, during this period). If you'd like to see some of the fossils you will be looking for, you can find examples of them (in this case, from a site devoted to fossils in West Virginia) here.

If you are a Beagle Science Club member and would like to participate, there are - as of this writing - spaces available for the Wednesday, June 25 and Wednesday July 2 sessions. The dig will last from 9am to noon each day. Parents are strongly encouraged to accompany their children. To make reservations, please contact the Beagle on 816-587-9998.

Additionally, if you're considering coming along, here are somethings that you should know:

• The hill is in shade in the morning, but the sun rises over the trees by late in the morning - wear sunscreen!


• Our friends, the ticks, are particularly bountiful this year - wear insect repellent (and check yourself out afterwards)!

Here's the full list of materials you might want to bring:

• Insect repellent and sunscreen.


• Hats, gloves, and boots: the site is muddy, and you will be digging in mud to get to the fossil-bearing layers.


• Water or something to drink.


• A notebook and pen.


• A rock hammer (optional).


• A chisel or large flat-head screwdriver (to pry layers apart).


• A small garden shovel or trowel.


• Tissue paper or paper towels to wrap specimens.


• Small sacks or a box to carry your finds.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello, and welcome to the blog of HMS Beagle, your store for science adventure, located in Parkville, Missouri. You can visit our website here, or come and see us in person if you happen to be in the area.

We are a store devoted to science education and advocacy, located just northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri off MO-9; 15-20 minutes north of Overland Park (I-635 to MO-9); 20 minutes east of Leavenworth (MO-45 to MO-9); 15-20 minutes northeast of the Kansas Speedway and The Legends (I-435 to MO-45 to M)-9); 15-20 minutes south of Kansas City International Airport (I-29 to MO-45 to MO-9); 30-45 minutes south of St. Joseph (I-29 to MO-45 to MO-8); 4½ hours west of St. Louis (I-70 to I-435 to MO-210 to MO-9); and 3½ hours east of Wichita (KS Turnpike to I435 to MO-45 to MO-9). We stock a wide variety of educational, investigational and entertaining items related to science.

In coming entries, we will have a variety of comments and discussions of science including issues of the day, events in history of scientific importance, as well as updates on what is going on in the store, and new events and special activities that are coming up.

Thanks for stopping in, keep reading and post your comments!