"You Have to Know the End of the Story": Motivations to Follow Up After Transitions of Clinical Responsibility.

PubMed

Bowen, Judith L; Ilgen, Jonathan S; Irby, David M; Ten Cate, Olle; O'Brien, Bridget C

2017-11-01

Physicians routinely transition responsibility for patient care to other physicians. When transitions of responsibility occur before the clinical outcome is known, physicians may lose opportunities to learn from the consequences of their decision making. Sometimes curiosity about patients does not end with the transition and physicians continue to follow them. This study explores physicians' motivations to follow up after transitioning responsibilities. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the authors conducted 18 semistructured interviews in 2016 with internal medicine hospitalist and resident physicians at a single tertiary care academic medical center. Constant comparative methods guided the qualitative analysis, using motivation theories as sensitizing constructs. The authors identified themes that characterized participants' motivations to follow up. Curiosity about patients' outcomes determined whether or not follow-up occurred. Insufficient curiosity about predictable clinical problems resulted in the choice to forgo follow-up. Sufficient curiosity due to clinical uncertainty, personal attachment to patients, and/or concern for patient vulnerability motivated follow-up to fulfill goals of knowledge building and professionalism. The authors interpret these findings through the lenses of expectancy-value (EVT) and self-determination (SDT) theories of motivation. Participants' curiosity about what happened to their patients motivated them to follow up. EVT may explain how participants made choices in time-pressured work settings. SDT may help interpret how follow-up fulfills needs of relatedness. These findings add to a growing body of literature endorsing learning environments that consider task-value trade-offs and support basic psychological needs of autonomy, competency, and relatedness to motivate learning.

Created Creative?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paffard, Michael

1968-01-01

The primary concern of the English teacher should be to develop the unique potential every student has for imaginative thinking and creative expression. The ability to think creatively stimulates the student's intellectual curiosity, frees him from the rigidity of social class values, religious dogma, and historical precedent, and enables him to…

Curiosity and Self-Directed Learning: The Role of Motivation in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deci, Edward L.; Ryan, Richard M.

Theoretical propositions and research findings concerning children's motivation to learn are discussed and implications for early childhood education are indicated. The discussion begins by defining and illustrating the motivational states of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. Problems of structuring interaction between…

Mathematical Critical Thinking and Curiosity Attitude in Problem Based Learning and Cognitive Conflict Strategy: A Study in Number Theory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zetriuslita; Wahyudin; Jarnawi

2017-01-01

This research aims to describe and analyze result of applying Problem-Based Learning and Cognitive Conflict Strategy (PBLCCS) in increasing students' Mathematical Critical Thinking (MCT) ability and Mathematical Curiosity Attitude (MCA). Adopting a quasi-experimental method with pretest-posttest control group design and using mixed method with…

Curiosity about people: the development of a social curiosity measure in adults.

PubMed

Renner, Britta

2006-12-01

Curiosity refers to the desire for acquiring new information. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to assess social curiosity, that is, interest in how other people think, feel, and behave. The questionnaire was administered to 312 participants. Factor analyses of the 10-item Social Curiosity Scale (SCS) yielded 2 factors: General Social Curiosity and Covert Social Curiosity. Evidence of convergent validity was provided by moderately high correlations of the SCS with other measures of curiosity and self-perceived curiosity, whereas discriminant validity was demonstrated by low correlations of the SCS with other personality traits, such as neuroticism and agreeableness. Of interest, social interaction anxiety was observed to facilitate covert social curiosity while inhibiting general social curiosity.

The Case of Curiosity and the Night Sky: Relationship between Noctcaelador and Three Forms of Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, William E.; Daughtry, Don

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between noctcaelador (psychological attachment to the night sky) and curiosity. A measure of noctcaelador and three curiosity scales (perceptual curiosity, epistemic curiosity, and curiosity as a feeling of deprivation) were administered to 233 university students. Correlations indicated…

Adult Learning in the Workplace: Emotion Work or Emotion Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.

2008-01-01

Organizational life evokes joy, hate, anger, despair, curiosity, and esteem, yet as far as management is concerned, emotions are disruptive, dysfunctional, and derailing. In spite of managerial reluctance to embrace the emotional self as a relevant aspect of the worker, emotion makes everyone human, and organizations weigh on workers' emotional…

The "Lifeblood" of Science and Its Politics: Interrogating Epistemic Curiosity as an Educational Aim

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastephanou, Marianna

2016-01-01

Social- and virtue-epistemologies connect intellectual and moral concerns in ways significant for education and its theory. For most educationists, epistemic and ethical virtues are no longer dissociated. However, many political framings or operations of epistemic virtues and vices remain neglected in educational discourses. This article…

Campuses and the Club Drug Ecstasy. Infofacts/Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Amy

2008-01-01

Although alcohol is the drug that college students use most frequently and in greatest quantity, the designer drug ecstasy has generated both curiosity and concern in recent years. This Fact Sheet offers an overview of ecstasy, possible effects of its use, and implications for institutions of higher education. Although the number of students…

Impact of Exposure to Electronic Cigarette Advertising on Susceptibility and Trial of Electronic Cigarettes and Cigarettes in US Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Villanti, Andrea C; Rath, Jessica M; Williams, Valerie F; Pearson, Jennifer L; Richardson, Amanda; Abrams, David B; Niaura, Raymond S; Vallone, Donna M

2016-05-01

This study assessed the impact of brief exposure to four electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) print advertisements (ads) on perceptions, intention, and subsequent use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes in US young adults. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a national sample of young adults from an online panel survey in 2013. Participants were randomized to ad exposure or control. Curiosity, intentions, and perceptions regarding e-cigarettes were assessed post-exposure and e-cigarette and cigarette use at 6-month follow-up. Analyses were conducted in 2014. Approximately 6% of young adults who had never used an e-cigarette at baseline tried an e-cigarette at 6-month follow-up, half of whom were current cigarette smokers at baseline. Compared to the control group, ad exposure was associated with greater curiosity to try an e-cigarette (18.3% exposed vs. 11.3% unexposed, AOR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.18, 2.26) among never e-cigarette users and greater likelihood of e-cigarette trial at follow-up (3.6% exposed vs. 1.2% unexposed, AOR = 2.85; 95% CI = 1.07, 7.61) among never users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Exploratory analyses did not find an association between ad exposure and cigarette trial or past 30-day use among never users, nor cigarette use among smokers over time. Curiosity mediated the relationship between ad exposure and e-cigarette trial among e-cigarette never users. Exposure to e-cigarette ads may enhance curiosity and limited trial of e-cigarettes in never users. Future studies are needed to examine the net effect of curiosity and trial of e-cigarettes on longer-term patterns of tobacco use. This randomized trial provides the first evidence of the effect of e-cigarette advertising on a behavioral outcome in young adults. Compared to the control group, ad exposure was associated with greater curiosity to try an e-cigarette among never e-cigarette users and greater likelihood of e-cigarette trial at follow-up in a small number of never e-cigarette users and greater likelihood of e-cigarette trial at follow-up among never users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Whakapapa, genealogy and genetics.

PubMed

Evans, Donald

2012-05-01

This paper provides part of an analysis of the use of the Maori term whakapapa in a study designed to test the compatibility and commensurability of views of members of the indigenous culture of New Zealand with other views of genetic technologies extant in the country. It is concerned with the narrow sense of whakapapa as denoting biological ancestry, leaving the wider sense of whakapapa as denoting cultural identity for discussion elsewhere. The phenomenon of genetic curiosity is employed to facilitate this comparison. Four levels of curiosity are identified, in the Maori data, which penetrate more or less deeply into the psyche of individuals, affecting their health and wellbeing. These phenomena are compared with non-Maori experiences and considerable commonalities are discovered together with a point of marked difference. The results raise important questions for the ethical application of genetic technologies. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Describing medical student curiosity across a four year curriculum: An exploratory study.

PubMed

Sternszus, Robert; Saroyan, Alenoush; Steinert, Yvonne

2017-04-01

Intellectual curiosity can be defined as a desire for knowledge that leads to exploratory behavior and consists of an inherent and stable trait (i.e. trait curiosity) and a variable context-dependent state (i.e. state curiosity). Although intellectual curiosity has been considered an important aspect of medical education and practice, its relationship to medical education has not been empirically investigated. The purpose of this exploratory study was to describe medical students' intellectual curiosity across a four-year undergraduate program. We employed a cross-sectional design in which medical students, across a four-year undergraduate program at McGill University, completed the Melbourne Curiosity Inventory as a measure of their state and trait intellectual curiosity. A Mixed Models ANOVA was used to compare students across year of training. Four hundred and two out of 751 students completed the inventory (53.5%). Trait curiosity was significantly higher than state curiosity (M = 64.5, SD = 8.5 versus M = 58.5, SD = 11.6) overall, and within each year of training. This study is the first to describe state and trait intellectual curiosity in undergraduate medical education. Findings suggest that medical students' state curiosity may not be optimally supported and highlight avenues for further research.

The Curiosity in Marketing Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Mark E.; McGinnis, John

2007-01-01

This article identifies the curiosity in marketing thinking and offers ways to teach for marketing thinking through an environment that fosters students' curiosity. The significance of curiosity in its relationship with thinking is that when curiosity is absent, so is thinking. Challenges are discussed in recognizing the fragility of curiosity…

Youth curiosity about cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars: prevalence and associations with advertising.

PubMed

Portnoy, David B; Wu, Charles C; Tworek, Cindy; Chen, Jiping; Borek, Nicolette

2014-08-01

Curiosity about cigarettes is a reliable predictor of susceptibility to smoking and established use among youth. Related research has been limited to cigarettes, and lacks national-level estimates. Factors associated with curiosity about tobacco products, such as advertising, have been postulated but rarely tested. To describe the prevalence of curiosity about cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars among youth and explore the association between curiosity and self-reported tobacco advertising exposure. Data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative survey of 24,658 students, were used. In 2013, estimates weighted to the national youth school population were calculated for curiosity about cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars among never users of any tobacco product. Associations between tobacco advertising and curiosity were explored using multivariable regressions. Curiosity about cigarettes (28.8%); cigars (19.5%); and smokeless tobacco (9.7%) was found, and many youth were curious about more than one product. Exposure to point-of-sale advertising (e.g., OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.19, 1.54 for cigarette curiosity); tobacco company communications (e.g., OR=1.70, 95% CI=1.38, 2.09 for cigarette curiosity); and tobacco products, as well as viewing tobacco use in TV/movies (e.g., OR=1.37, 95% CI=1.20, 1.58 for cigarette curiosity) were associated with curiosity about each examined tobacco product. Despite decreasing use of tobacco products, youth remain curious about them. Curiosity is associated with various forms of tobacco advertising. These findings suggest the importance of measuring curiosity as an early warning signal for potential future tobacco use and evaluating continued efforts to limit exposure to tobacco marketing among youth. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Curiosity Is Not Good--But It's Not Bad, Either

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, David

2012-01-01

Curiosity is vital quality of the creative work. However, in the classroom, educators seem to view curiosity as alternately amoral, virtuous, or dangerous. Education's stance towards curiosity is, in a word, curious. Conversely, the author says, curiosity is inherently amoral--neither good nor bad--and the subject is ripe for an exploration of the…

Alienation from the Objectives of the Patent System: How to Remedy the Situation of Biotechnology Patent.

PubMed

Jiang, Li

2018-03-12

Some fundamental biotechnologies hold unprecedented potential to eradicate many incurable diseases. However, in absence of regulations, the power of patent makes the future use of some important biotechnology in few institution's hands. The excessive patents restrict researcher access to the fundamental technologies. It generates concerns and complaints of deteriorating the public health and social welfare. Furthermore, intellectual curiosities, funding, respect among colleagues etc., rather than patents, are the real motivations driving a major ground-breaking discoveries in biotechnology. These phenomena reveal that some biotechnology patents are alienated from the purpose of patent system. Therefore, it is necessary to take some approaches to stop over-patenting these fundamental biotechnology inventions. This article proposes a model regulatory framework for controlling biotechnology patent alienating from the purpose of patent system.

I Am Curious-Grey: Information Seeking and Depression Across the Adult Lifespan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camp, Cameron J.

1986-01-01

Reviews research on curiosity in adulthood and old age, showing curiosity to have state- and trait-like qualities. Notes that curiosity does not seem to lesssen with aging, while susceptibility to boredom may decrease with aging. Views depression in opposition to curiosity. Shows depression to reduce levels of curiosity. Discusses implications for…

Curiosity Flying Over Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-06

NASA Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT Aug. 6 EDT. Curiosity and its parachute are in the small white box at center.

Do individual differences in children's curiosity relate to their inquiry-based learning?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Schijndel, Tessa J. P.; Jansen, Brenda R. J.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

2018-06-01

This study investigates how individual differences in 7- to 9-year-olds' curiosity relate to the inquiry-learning process and outcomes in environments differing in structure. The focus on curiosity as individual differences variable was motivated by the importance of curiosity in science education, and uncertainty being central to both the definition of curiosity and the inquiry-learning environment. Curiosity was assessed with the Underwater Exploration game (Jirout, J., & Klahr, D. (2012). Children's scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review, 32, 125-160. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.04.002), and inquiry-based learning with the newly developed Scientific Discovery task, which focuses on the principle of designing informative experiments. Structure of the inquiry-learning environment was manipulated by explaining this principle or not. As intelligence relates to learning and possibly curiosity, it was taken into account. Results showed that children's curiosity was positively related to their knowledge acquisition, but not to their quality of exploration. For low intelligent children, environment structure positively affected their quality of exploration, but not their knowledge acquisition. There was no interaction between curiosity and environment structure. These results support the existence of two distinct inquiry-based learning processes - the designing of experiments, on the one hand, and the reflection on performed experiments, on the other - and link children's curiosity to the latter process.

My Sky Tonight: Nurturing a Scientific Frame of Mind in Early Childhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, Jim; Manning, J.; Schultz, G. R.; Gurton, S.; Plummer, J.; Callanan, M.; Jipson, J.; Palmquist, S.

2013-06-01

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), in collaboration with a team of researchers, evaluators, and informal education institutions, has embarked on an NSF-funded project designed to build capacity in informal science education (ISE) practitioners by supporting development of their understanding of early childhood astronomy knowledge and the building of pedagogical skills and tools supportive of early childhood learning in informal settings. While preschool-aged children have long been considered too young and too cognitively immature to benefit from science learning, a growing body of recent research shows that children’s curiosity about science topics begins in the years prior to school, and that a child’s early years lay a powerful foundation for subsequent learning. Further, informal science educator and learning researchers argue that more effectively building on young children’s inherent curiosity about the natural world could lead to stronger science learning outcomes than waiting to introduce science in classroom settings. Consequently, using the domain of astronomy as a basis, the ASP and its partners are embarking on a project to: 1) advance the knowledge base concerning astronomy conceptions and curiosities of young children and how they can be built upon to position children for later learning, 2) develop interactive learning experiences to be used by ISE practitioners and families with small children to nurture children’s science curiosity and reasoning, 3) increase participation in astronomy by families in general and underserved families in particular, and 4) improve practice by engaging ISE practitioners in the research and development of effective practices, providing implementation tools and methods. The presenter will share project status as it gets underway.

Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-06

NASA Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface. The HiRISE camera captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to transmissions from the rover.

Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-06

NASA Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT Aug. 6 EDT. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box.

The effects of curiosity-evoking events on activity enjoyment.

PubMed

Isikman, Elif; MacInnis, Deborah J; Ülkümen, Gülden; Cavanaugh, Lisa A

2016-09-01

Whereas prior literature has studied the positive effects of curiosity-evoking events that are integral to focal activities, we explore whether and how a curiosity-evoking event that is incidental to a focal activity induces negative outcomes for enjoyment. Four experiments and 1 field study demonstrate that curiosity about an event that is incidental to an activity in which individuals are engaged, significantly affects enjoyment of a concurrent activity. The reason why is that curiosity diverts attention away from the concurrent activity and focuses attention on the curiosity-evoking event. Thus, curiosity regarding an incidental event decreases enjoyment of a positive focal activity but increases enjoyment of a negative focal activity. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

The good, the bad (and the ugly): The role of curiosity in subjective well-being and risky behaviors among adolescents.

PubMed

Jovanović, Veljko; Gavrilov-Jerković, Vesna

2014-02-01

Previous studies have shown that enhanced trait curiosity has positive influence on well-being. It remains an open question, however, whether curiosity has any detrimental effects on behavioral outcomes in adolescence. The main aim of this research was to investigate the role of trait curiosity in the prediction of risky behavior engagement and subjective well-being (SWB) among adolescents. A total of 371 Serbian adolescents (mean age 15.5, SD = 0.57) participated in the 5-month follow up study. The results showed that the embracing component of curiosity (but not stretching) predicted risky behavior engagement, while the stretching component of curiosity (but not embracing) predicted positive affect. In addition, neither embracing nor stretching was a significant predictor of negative affect and life satisfaction. The results of this study call into question the conceptualization of curiosity as a completely positive emotional-motivational system, and suggest that curiosity can contribute to negative outcomes in adolescence.

Assessing Weather Curiosity in University Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, A. E.

2017-12-01

This research focuses upon measuring an individual's level of trait curiosity about the weather using the Weather Curiosity Scale (WCS). The measure consists of 15 self-report items that describe weather preferences and/or behaviors that people may perform more or less frequently. The author reports on two initial studies of the WCS that have used the responses of 710 undergraduate students from a large university in the southeastern United States. In the first study, factor analysis of the 15 items indicated that the measure was unidimensional - suggesting that its items singularly assessed weather curiosity. The WCS also was internally consistent as evidenced by an acceptable Cronbach's alpha, a = .81). The second study sought to identify other personality variables that may relate with the WCS scores and thus illuminate the nature of weather curiosity. Several clusters of personality variables appear to underlie the curiosity levels people exhibited, the first of which related to perceptual curiosity (r = .59). Being curious about sights, sounds, smells, and textures generally related somewhat to curiosity about weather. Two measures of trait sensitivity to environmental stimulation, the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (r = .47) and the Orientation Sensitivity Scale of the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (r = .43), also predicted weather curiosity levels. Finally, possessing extraverted personality traits (r = .34) and an intense style of experiencing one's emotions (r = .33) related to weather curiosity. How can this measure be used in K-12 or post-secondary settings to further climate literacy? First, the WCS can identify students with natural curiosities about weather and climate so these students may be given more challenging instruction that will leverage their natural interests. Second, high-WCS students may function as weather and climate ambassadors during inquiry-based learning activities and thus help other students who are not as oriented to the atmosphere. Finally the results of this study reveal some of the underlying psychological mechanisms that are associated with weather curiosity. Building greater perceptual curiosity or increasing perceptual sensitivity and discrimination skills may make it possible to increase students' levels of weather curiosity.

Children's Question Asking and Curiosity: A Training Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jirout, Jamie; Klahr, David

2011-01-01

A primary instructional objective of most early science programs is to foster children's scientific curiosity and question-asking skills (Jirout & Klahr, 2011). However, little is known about the relationship between curiosity, question-asking behavior, and general inquiry skills. While curiosity and question asking are invariably mentioned in…

Developing Young Children's Curiosity: A Review of Research with Implications for Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradbard, Marilyn R.; Endsley, Richard C.

This review of the literature on the development of young children's curiosity is directed specifically toward teachers and other practitioners and emphasizes what socialization agents can do to influence children's curiosity. Gaps in current knowledge about children's curiosity and implications of research findings are discussed. Theoretical…

The Epistemic Value of Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, Frederick F.; Lahroodi, Reza

2008-01-01

In this essay, Frederick Schmitt and Reza Lahroodi explore the value of curiosity for inquiry and knowledge. They defend an appetitive account of curiosity, viewing curiosity as a motivationally original desire to know that arises from having one's attention drawn to the object and that in turn sustains one's attention to it. Distinguishing…

Research Says/Curiosity Is Fleeting, but Teachable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, Bryan

2014-01-01

Psychologists and researchers have long puzzled over questions regarding "curiosity" and have more or less settled on a two-pronged definition as: (1) trait curiosity (an intrinsic drive for exploration and learning); and (2) state curiosity (an interest sparked by external conditions). Many studies have shown that human beings are…

States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit

PubMed Central

Gruber, Matthias J.; Gelman, Bernard D.; Ranganath, Charan

2014-01-01

Summary People find it easier to learn about topics that interest them, but little is known about the mechanisms by which intrinsic motivational states affect learning. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how curiosity (intrinsic motivation to learn) influences memory. In both immediate and one-day delayed memory tests, participants showed improved memory for information that they were curious about, and also for incidental material learned during states of high curiosity. FMRI results revealed that activity in the midbrain and the nucleus accumbens was enhanced during states of high curiosity. Importantly, individual variability in curiosity-driven memory benefits for incidental material was supported by anticipatory activity in the midbrain and hippocampus and by functional connectivity between these regions. These findings suggest a link between the mechanisms supporting extrinsic reward motivation and intrinsic curiosity and highlight the importance of stimulating curiosity in order to create more effective learning experiences. PMID:25284006

The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity

PubMed Central

Kidd, Celeste; Hayden, Benjamin Y.

2015-01-01

SUMMARY Curiosity is a basic element of our cognition, yet its biological function, mechanisms, and neural underpinning remain poorly understood. It is nonetheless a motivator for learning, influential in decision-making, and crucial for healthy development. One factor limiting our understanding of it is the lack of a widely agreed upon delineation of what is and is not curiosity; another factor is the dearth of standardized laboratory tasks that manipulate curiosity in the lab. Despite these barriers, recent years have seen a major growth of interest in both the neuroscience and psychology of curiosity. In this Perspective, we advocate for the importance of the field, provide a selective overview of its current state, and describe tasks that are used to study curiosity and information-seeking. We propose that, rather than worry about defining curiosity, it is more helpful to consider the motivations for information-seeking behavior and to study it in its ethological context. PMID:26539887

The Psychology and Neuroscience of Curiosity.

PubMed

Kidd, Celeste; Hayden, Benjamin Y

2015-11-04

Curiosity is a basic element of our cognition, but its biological function, mechanisms, and neural underpinning remain poorly understood. It is nonetheless a motivator for learning, influential in decision-making, and crucial for healthy development. One factor limiting our understanding of it is the lack of a widely agreed upon delineation of what is and is not curiosity. Another factor is the dearth of standardized laboratory tasks that manipulate curiosity in the lab. Despite these barriers, recent years have seen a major growth of interest in both the neuroscience and psychology of curiosity. In this Perspective, we advocate for the importance of the field, provide a selective overview of its current state, and describe tasks that are used to study curiosity and information-seeking. We propose that, rather than worry about defining curiosity, it is more helpful to consider the motivations for information-seeking behavior and to study it in its ethological context. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children's Scientific Curiosity: In Search of an Operational Definition of an Elusive Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jirout, Jamie; Klahr, David

2012-01-01

Although curiosity is an undeniably important aspect of children's cognitive development, a universally accepted operational definition of children's curiosity does not exist. Almost all of the research on measuring curiosity has focused on adults, and has used predominately questionnaire-type measures that are not appropriate for young children.…

Curiositas and Studiositas: Investigating Student Curiosity and the Design Studio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Korydon

2011-01-01

Curiosity is often considered the foundation of learning. There is, however, little understanding of how (or if) pedagogy in higher education affects student curiosity, especially in the studio setting of architecture, interior design and landscape architecture. This article provides a brief cultural history of curiosity and its role in the design…

Curiosity and Pedagogy: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Experiences in the Design Studio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Korydon H.

2010-01-01

Curiosity is often considered the foundation of learning. There is, however, little understanding of how (or if) pedagogy in higher education affects student curiosity, especially in the studio setting of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture. This study used mixed-methods to investigate curiosity among design students in the…

A DEFINITION OF CURIOSITY, A FACTOR ANALYSIS STUDY.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MAW, WALLACE H.

AN INVESTIGATION WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE A DEFINITION OF CURIOSITY THAT WOULD HELP IDENTIFY PERSONALITY PATTERNS OF CHILDREN WHO ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE EITHER HIGH OR LOW IN CURIOSITY. DATA COLLECTED IN EARLIER STUDIES WERE FACTOR ANALYZED TO IDENTIFY THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL VARIABLES THAT DIFFERENTIATE CHILDREN HIGH IN CURIOSITY FROM THOSE LOW…

Science curiosity in learning environments: developing an attitudinal scale for research in schools, homes, museums, and the community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weible, Jennifer L.; Toomey Zimmerman, Heather

2016-05-01

Although curiosity is considered an integral aspect of science learning, researchers have debated how to define, measure, and support its development in individuals. Prior measures of curiosity include questionnaire type scales (primarily for adults) and behavioral measures. To address the need to measure scientific curiosity, the Science Curiosity in Learning Environments (SCILE) scale was created and validated as a 12-item scale to measure scientific curiosity in youth. The scale was developed through (a) adapting the language of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II [Kashdan, T. B., Gallagher, M. W., Silvia, P. J., Winterstein, B. P., Breen, W. E., Terhar, D., & Steger, M. F. (2009). The curiosity and exploration inventory-II: Development, factor structure, and psychometrics. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(6), 987-998] for youth and (b) crafting new items based on scientific practices drawn from U.S. science standards documents. We administered a preliminary set of 30 items to 663 youth ages 8-18 in the U.S.A. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a three-factor model: stretching, embracing, and science practices. The findings indicate that the SCILE scale is a valid measure of youth's scientific curiosity for boys and girls as well as elementary, middle school, and high school learners.

Curiosity improves coping efficacy and reduces suicidal ideation severity among military veterans at risk for suicide.

PubMed

Denneson, Lauren M; Smolenski, Derek J; Bush, Nigel E; Dobscha, Steven K

2017-03-01

Curiosity, the tendency to engage in novel and challenging opportunities, may be an important source of resilience for those at risk for suicide. We hypothesized that curiosity would have a buffering effect against risk conferred by multiple sources of distress, whereby curiosity would be associated with reduced suicidal ideation and increased coping efficacy. As part of a larger intervention trial designed to improve coping skills and reduce suicidal ideation, 117 military veterans with suicidal ideation completed measures of curiosity and distress (perceived stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances) at baseline, and completed measures of suicidal ideation and coping efficacy (to stop negative thoughts, to enlist support from friends and family) at baseline and 3-, 6-, and 12-week follow up. Growth curve models showed that curiosity moderated the association between distress and suicidal ideation at baseline and that curiosity moderated the association between distress and increased coping efficacy to stop negative thoughts over time. Findings suggest that curiosity may buffer against the effect of heightened levels of distress on suicidal ideation and help facilitate stronger gains in coping efficacy over time. Additional work should further examine the role of curiosity as a protective factor for veterans with suicidal ideation. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Do Individual Differences in Children's Curiosity Relate to Their Inquiry-Based Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Schijndel, Tessa J. P.; Jansen, Brenda R. J.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

2018-01-01

This study investigates how individual differences in 7- to 9-year-olds' curiosity relate to the inquiry-learning process and outcomes in environments differing in structure. The focus on curiosity as individual differences variable was motivated by the importance of curiosity in science education, and uncertainty being central to both the…

Science Curiosity in Learning Environments: Developing an Attitudinal Scale for Research in Schools, Homes, Museums, and the Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weible, Jennifer L.; Zimmerman, Heather Toomey

2016-01-01

Although curiosity is considered an integral aspect of science learning, researchers have debated how to define, measure, and support its development in individuals. Prior measures of curiosity include questionnaire type scales (primarily for adults) and behavioral measures. To address the need to measure scientific curiosity, the Science…

Curiosity, Interest and Engagement in Technology-Pervasive Learning Environments: A New Research Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnone, Marilyn P.; Small, Ruth V.; Chauncey, Sarah A.; McKenna, H. Patricia

2011-01-01

This paper identifies the need for developing new ways to study curiosity in the context of today's pervasive technologies and unprecedented information access. Curiosity is defined in this paper in a way which incorporates the concomitant constructs of interest and engagement. A theoretical model for curiosity, interest and engagement in new…

A Conceptualization of Entrepreneurial Curiosity and Construct Development: A Multi-Country Empirical Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeraj, Mitja; Antoncic, Bostjan

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article was to fill a gap in the literature regarding the conceptualization and measurement of entrepreneurial curiosity. Although research in other fields suggest that different types of curiosity exist, no conceptualization research has yet been done in the field of entrepreneurial curiosity. This research aimed to develop a…

Beyond the Sensible World: A Discussion of Mark Zuss' The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fellner, Gene; Pitts, Wesley; Zuss, Mark

2012-01-01

In this article, Gene Fellner reviews Mark Zuss's recently published "The practice of theoretical curiosity" (2012) and provides a synopsis of the book's structure. These two sections are followed by a metalogue in which Mark Zuss, Welsey Pitts, and Fellner discuss curiosity and the conundrum of establishing limits beyond which curiosity should…

Beyond the sensible world: a discussion of Mark Zuss' The practice of theoretical curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fellner, Gene; Pitts, Wesley; Zuss, Mark

2012-09-01

In this article, Gene Fellner reviews Mark Zuss's recently published The practice of theoretical curiosity (2012) and provides a synopsis of the book's structure. These two sections are followed by a metalogue in which Mark Zuss, Welsey Pitts, and Fellner discuss curiosity and the conundrum of establishing limits beyond which curiosity should not roam. This is a central theme of Zuss's book, and it is of particular significance today as curiosity, driven by developments in technoscience and transgenics, transforms nature and we who are part of it. Influenced by Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological lens, Zuss discusses how our knowing the world through our senses is entering an uncertain future mediated by curiosity's reach into everyday life.

On carrots and curiosity: eating fruit and vegetables is associated with greater flourishing in daily life.

PubMed

Conner, Tamlin S; Brookie, Kate L; Richardson, Aimee C; Polak, Maria A

2015-05-01

Our aim was to determine whether eating fruit and vegetables (FV) is associated with other markers of well-being beyond happiness and life satisfaction. Towards this aim, we tested whether FV consumption is associated with greater eudaemonic well-being - a state of flourishing characterized by feelings of engagement, meaning, and purpose in life. We also tested associations with two eudaemonic behaviours - curiosity and creativity. Daily diary study across 13 days (micro-longitudinal, correlational design). A sample of 405 young adults (67% women; mean age 19.9 [SD 1.6] years) completed an Internet daily diary for 13 consecutive days. Each day, participants reported on their consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets, and chips, as well as their eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, creativity, positive affect (PA), and negative affect. Between-person associations were analysed on aggregated data. Within-person associations were analysed using multilevel models controlling for weekday and weekend patterns. Fruit and vegetables consumption predicted greater eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, and creativity at the between- and within-person levels. Young adults who ate more FV reported higher average eudaemonic well-being, more intense feelings of curiosity, and greater creativity compared with young adults who ate less FV. On days when young adults ate more FV, they reported greater eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, and creativity compared with days when they ate less FV. FV consumption also predicted higher PA, which mostly did not account for the associations between FV and the other well-being variables. Few unhealthy foods (sweets, chips) were related to well-being except that consumption of sweets was associated with greater curiosity and PA at the within-person level. Lagged data analyses showed no carry-over effects of FV consumption onto next-day well-being (or vice versa). Although these patterns are strictly correlational, this study provides the first evidence that FV consumption may be related to a broader range of well-being states that signal human flourishing in early adulthood. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? There is growing evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables (FV) is related to greater happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect. These associations are not entirely explained by demographic or health variables including socio-economic status, exercise, smoking, and body mass index (BMI). Recent experimental and daily diary research suggests that FV consumption may be a causal factor in promoting states of positive well-being. Research has examined the links between FV consumption and hedonic well-being - whether people feel good (vs. bad) and satisfied-but has not addressed links between FV consumption and eudaemonic well-being- whether people feel engaged and experience their lives as meaningful and purposeful. What does this study add? It provides the first evidence that eating FV is related to greater eudaemonic well-being in a naturalistic setting. Eating FV was also related to greater self-reported curiosity and creativity. FV consumption may underlie a broad range of experiences that signal flourishing. Future randomised controlled trials of FV should include measures of eudaemonic well-being as outcome variables. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Mars Science Laboratory Planetary Protection Status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benardini, James; La Duc, Myron; Naviaux, Keith; Samuels, Jessica

With over 500 sols of surface operations, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover has trekked over 5km. A key finding along this journey thus far, is that water molecules are bound to fine-grained soil particles, accounting for about 2 percent of the particles' weight at Gale Crater where Curiosity landed. There is no concern to planetary protection as the finding resulted directly from SAM baking (100-835°C) out the soil for analysis. Over that temperature range, OH and/or H2O was released, which was bound in amorphous phases. MSL has completed an approved Post-Launch Report. The Project continues to be in compliance with planetary protection requirements as Curiosity continues its exploration and scientific discoveries there is no evidence suggesting the presence of a special region. There is no spacecraft induced special region and no currently flowing liquid. All systems of interest to planetary protection are functioning nominally. The project has submitted an extended mission request to the NASA PPO. The status of the PP activities will be reported.

Learning facts during aging: the benefits of curiosity.

PubMed

Galli, Giulia; Sirota, Miroslav; Gruber, Matthias J; Ivanof, Bianca Elena; Ganesh, Janani; Materassi, Maurizio; Thorpe, Alistair; Loaiza, Vanessa; Cappelletti, Marinella; Craik, Fergus I M

2018-05-22

Background/study context: Recent studies have shown that young adults better remember factual information they are curious about. It is not entirely clear, however, whether this effect is retained during aging. Here, the authors investigated curiosity-driven memory benefits in young and elderly individuals. In two experiments, young (age range 18-26) and older (age range 65-89) adults read trivia questions and rated their curiosity to find out the answer. They also attended to task-irrelevant faces presented between the trivia question and the answer. The authors then administered a surprise memory test to assess recall accuracy for trivia answers and recognition memory performance for the incidentally learned faces. In both young and elderly adults, recall performance was higher for answers to questions that elicited high levels of curiosity. In Experiment 1, the authors also found that faces presented in temporal proximity to curiosity-eliciting trivia questions were better recognized, indicating that the beneficial effects of curiosity extended to the encoding of task-irrelevant material. These findings show that elderly individuals benefit from the memory-enhancing effects of curiosity. This may lead to the implementation of learning strategies that target and stimulate curiosity in aging.

Male bisexual arousal: a matter of curiosity?

PubMed

Rieger, Gerulf; Rosenthal, Allen M; Cash, Brian M; Linsenmeier, Joan A W; Bailey, J Michael; Savin-Williams, Ritch C

2013-12-01

Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether bisexual-identified men are sexually aroused to both men and women. We hypothesized that a distinct characteristic, level of curiosity about sexually diverse acts, distinguishes bisexual-identified men with and without bisexual arousal. Study 1 assessed men's (n=277) sexual arousal via pupil dilation to male and female sexual stimuli. Bisexual men were, on average, higher in their sexual curiosity than other men. Despite this general difference, only bisexual-identified men with elevated sexual curiosity showed bisexual arousal. Those lower in curiosity had responses resembling those of homosexual men. Study 2 assessed men's (n=72) sexual arousal via genital responses and replicated findings of Study 1. Study 3 provided information on the validity on our measure of sexual curiosity by relating it to general curiosity and sexual sensation seeking (n=83). Based on their sexual arousal and personality, at least two groups of men identify as bisexual. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit.

PubMed

Gruber, Matthias J; Gelman, Bernard D; Ranganath, Charan

2014-10-22

People find it easier to learn about topics that interest them, but little is known about the mechanisms by which intrinsic motivational states affect learning. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how curiosity (intrinsic motivation to learn) influences memory. In both immediate and one-day-delayed memory tests, participants showed improved memory for information that they were curious about and for incidental material learned during states of high curiosity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results revealed that activity in the midbrain and the nucleus accumbens was enhanced during states of high curiosity. Importantly, individual variability in curiosity-driven memory benefits for incidental material was supported by anticipatory activity in the midbrain and hippocampus and by functional connectivity between these regions. These findings suggest a link between the mechanisms supporting extrinsic reward motivation and intrinsic curiosity and highlight the importance of stimulating curiosity to create more effective learning experiences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

A small-scaled model of NASA's Curiosity rover is seen at a public event observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

E-cigarette curiosity among U.S. middle and high school students: Findings from the 2014 national youth tobacco survey.

PubMed

Margolis, Katherine A; Nguyen, Anh B; Slavit, Wendy I; King, Brian A

2016-08-01

Curiosity is a potential risk factor for electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, which has increased considerably among US youth in recent years. We examined the relationship between curiosity about e-cigarettes and perceived harm, comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertisement exposure. Data came from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. middle and high school students. In 2014, 2.5% of middle school and 9.2% of high school students currently used cigarettes, while 3.9% of middle school and 13.4% of high school students reported current e-cigarette use. Among never e-cigarette users (n=17,286), descriptive statistics assessed curiosity about e-cigarettes by combustible tobacco use, sex, race/ethnicity, and school level. Associations between curiosity and perceived harm (absolute and comparative to cigarettes), comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertising exposure were explored using multivariate models in 2015. Among youth who never used e-cigarettes, 25.8% reported curiosity about e-cigarettes. Higher levels of perceived absolute harm and comparative harm were associated with lower levels of curiosity, while no association was observed between comparative addictiveness and curiosity. Among never combustible tobacco users, the odds of high curiosity were greater among non-Hispanic blacks (odds ratio (OR): 1.39; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.02-1.88), Hispanics (OR=1.79; 95% CI:1.48-2.16), and non-Hispanic 'Other' (OR=1.47; 95% CI:1.15-1.89) race/ethnicities than non-Hispanic whites. One-quarter of middle and high school students who have never used e-cigarettes are curious about the products, with greater curiosity among those with lower perceptions of harm from these products. These findings may help inform future strategies aimed at reducing curiosity about e-cigarettes among youth. Published by Elsevier Inc.

E-cigarette Curiosity among U.S. Middle and High School Students: Findings from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey

PubMed Central

Margolis, Katherine A.; Nguyen, Anh B.; Slavit, Wendy I.; King, Brian A.

2016-01-01

Curiosity is a potential risk factor for electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, which has increased considerably among US youth in recent years. We examined the relationship between curiosity about e-cigarettes and perceived harm, comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertisement exposure. Data came from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. middle and high school students. In 2014, 2.5% of middle school and 9.2% of high school students currently used cigarettes, while 3.9% of middle school and 13.4% of high school students reported current e-cigarette use. Among never e-cigarette users (n= 17,286), descriptive statistics assessed curiosity about e-cigarettes by combustible tobacco use, sex, race/ethnicity, and school level. Associations between curiosity and perceived harm (absolute and comparative to cigarettes), comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertising exposure were explored using multivariate models in 2015. Among youth who never used e-cigarettes, 25.8% reported curiosity about e-cigarettes. Higher levels of perceived absolute harm and comparative harm were associated with lower levels of curiosity, while no association was observed between comparative addictiveness and curiosity. Among never combustible tobacco users, the odds of high curiosity were greater among non-Hispanic blacks (odds ratio (OR): 1.39; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.02–1.88), Hispanics (OR=1.79; 95%CI:1.48–2.16), and non-Hispanic ‘Other’ (OR=1.47; 95%CI:1.15–1.89) race/ethnicities than non-Hispanic whites. One-quarter of middle and high school students who have never used e-cigarettes are curious about the products, with greater curiosity among those with lower perceptions of harm from these products. These findings may help inform future strategies aimed at reducing curiosity about e-cigarettes among youth. PMID:27155440

The Ricor K508 cryocooler operational experience on Mars

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Dean L.; Lysek, Mark J.; Morookian, John Michael

The Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) landed successfully on Mars on August 5, 2012, eight months after launch. The chosen landing site of Gale Crater, located at 4.5 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude, has provided a much more benign environment than was originally planned for during the critical design and integration phases of the MSL Project when all possible landing sites were still being considered. The expected near-surface atmospheric temperatures at the Gale Crater landing site during Curiosity's primary mission (1 Martian year or 687 Earth days) are from −90°C to 0°C. However, enclosed within Curiosity's thermal control fluidmore » loops the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument is maintained at approximately +20°C. The CheMin instrument uses X-ray diffraction spectroscopy to make precise measurements of mineral constituents of Mars rocks and soil. The instrument incorporated the commercially available Ricor K508 Stirling cycle cryocooler to cool the CCD detector. After several months of brushing itself off, stretching and testing out its subsystems, Curiosity began the exploration of the Mars surface in October 2012. The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) received its first soil sample from Curiosity on October 24, and successfully analyzed its first soil sample. After a brief review of the rigorous Ricor K508 cooler qualification tests and life tests based on the original MSL environmental requirements this paper presents final pre-launch instrument integration and testing results, and details the operational data of the CheMin cryocooler, providing a snapshot of the resulting CheMin instrument analytical data.« less

Curiosity View From Below

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-17

The Curiosity engineering team created this cylindrical projection view from images taken by NASA Curiosity rover front hazard avoidance cameras underneath the rover deck on Sol 0. Pictured here are are the pigeon-toed the wheels.

Curiosity Wheel During Descent

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-07

This color thumbnail image was obtained by NASA Curiosity rover illustrating the first appearance of the left front wheel of the Curiosity rover after deployment of the suspension system as the vehicle was about to touch down on Mars.

Self-Portrait of Curiosity Stunt Double

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-11

Camera and robotic-arm maneuvers for taking a self-portrait of the NASA Curiosity rover on Mars were checked first, at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using the main test rover for the Curiosity.

Curiosity on Tilt Table with Mast Up

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-03-25

The Mast Camera Mastcam on NASA Mars rover Curiosity has two rectangular eyes near the top of the rover remote sensing mast. This image shows Curiosity on a tilt table NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Intrinsic motivation, curiosity, and learning: Theory and applications in educational technologies.

PubMed

Oudeyer, P-Y; Gottlieb, J; Lopes, M

2016-01-01

This chapter studies the bidirectional causal interactions between curiosity and learning and discusses how understanding these interactions can be leveraged in educational technology applications. First, we review recent results showing how state curiosity, and more generally the experience of novelty and surprise, can enhance learning and memory retention. Then, we discuss how psychology and neuroscience have conceptualized curiosity and intrinsic motivation, studying how the brain can be intrinsically rewarded by novelty, complexity, or other measures of information. We explain how the framework of computational reinforcement learning can be used to model such mechanisms of curiosity. Then, we discuss the learning progress (LP) hypothesis, which posits a positive feedback loop between curiosity and learning. We outline experiments with robots that show how LP-driven attention and exploration can self-organize a developmental learning curriculum scaffolding efficient acquisition of multiple skills/tasks. Finally, we discuss recent work exploiting these conceptual and computational models in educational technologies, showing in particular how intelligent tutoring systems can be designed to foster curiosity and learning. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mars Rover Curiosity in Artist Concept, Tall

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-05-26

This artist concept features NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity is being tested in preparation for launch in the fall of 2011.

Mars Rover Curiosity in Artist Concept, Wide

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-05-26

This artist concept features NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity is being tested in preparation for launch in the fall of 2011.

Curiosity Speaks Volumes

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-27

This chart shows increases in the volume of data coming back from NASA Mars Curiosity over recent sols. New capabilities of the Electra relay-radios on MRO and Curiosity have greatly increased the volume of data the rover is sending back from Mars.

Curiosity Mars Rover Drilling Into Its Second Rock

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-05

This frame from an animation from NASA Mars rover Curiosity shows the rover drilling into rock target Cumberland. The drilling was performed during the 279th Martian day, or sol, of the Curiosity work on Mars May 19, 2013.

Mast Camera View of Curiosity Deck

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-05-31

NASA Mars rover Curiosity took the images combined into this mosaic of the rover upper deck. The images were taken in March 2011. At the time, Curiosity was inside a space simulation chamber at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Held High

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-06-13

This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during testing on June 3, 2011. The turret at the end of Curiosity robotic arm holds five devices. In this view, the drill is at the six oclock position.

Social-Emotional Effects of Day Care. Final Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lippman, Marcia Z.; Grote, Barbara H.

This study compared the effects of group day care, family day care, and full parental care on such aspects of children's social-emotional adjustment as curiosity, attachment, self-concept, sex role, achievement motivation, impulse control, cooperation, and sharing. Initial differences between groups were controlled by matching on race, sex, number…

Specific and diversive curiosity in gifted elementary students.

PubMed

Johnson, L; Beer, J

1992-10-01

Twenty-nine gifted students in Grades 2 to 6 from the small school districts in north central Kansas completed the Maze test and the Which-to-Discuss test. Background information such as age, sex, grade, and marital status of parents was also collected. There were no significant differences between boys and girls or for students from divorced and nondivorced parents on either the Which-to-Discuss test (specific curiosity) or the Maze test scores (diversive curiosity). The students scored significantly higher on the former test than chance guessing which suggests the students were displaying specific curiosity. Scores of these gifted students on these two tests of curiosity were significantly and positively correlated.

Measuring epistemic curiosity and its diversive and specific components.

PubMed

Litman, Jordan A; Spielberger, Charles D

2003-02-01

A questionnaire constructed to assess epistemic curiosity (EC) and perceptual curiosity (PC) curiosity was administered to 739 undergraduates (546 women, 193 men) ranging in age from 18 to 65. The study participants also responded to the trait anxiety, anger, depression, and curiosity scales of the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI; Spielberger et al., 1979) and selected subscales of the Sensation Seeking (SSS; Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964) and Novelty Experiencing (NES; Pearson, 1970) scales. Factor analyses of the curiosity items with oblique rotation identified EC and PC factors with clear simple structure. Subsequent analyses of the EC items provided the basis for developing an EC scale, with Diversive and Specific Curiosity subscales. Moderately high correlations of the EC scale and subscales with other measures of curiosity provided strong evidence of convergent validity. Divergent validity was demonstrated by minimal correlations with trait anxiety and the sensation-seeking measures, and essentially zero correlations with the STPI trait anger and depression scales. Male participants had significantly higher scores on the EC scale and the NES External Cognition subscale (effect sizes of r =.16 and.21, respectively), indicating that they were more interested than female participants in solving problems and discovering how things work. Male participants also scored significantly higher than female participants on the SSS Thrill-and-Adventure and NES External Sensation subscales (r =.14 and.22, respectively), suggesting that they were more likely to engage in sensation-seeking activities.

Jake Matijevic Contact Target for Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-19

The drive by NASA Mars rover Curiosity during the mission 43rd Martian day ended with this rock front of the rover. The rover team has assessed it as a suitable target for the first use of Curiosity contact instruments on a rock.

Calibration Target for Curiosity Arm Camera

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-10

This view of the calibration target for the MAHLI camera aboard NASA Mars rover Curiosity combines two images taken by that camera during Sept. 9, 2012. Part of Curiosity left-front and center wheels and a patch of Martian ground are also visible.

Post-Drive View on Curiosity Sol 102

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-11-20

NASA Mars rover Curiosity drove 83 feet eastward during the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission Nov. 18, 2012. At the end of the drive, Curiosity view was toward Yellowknife Bay in the Glenelg area of Gale Crater.

Disease-protective symbiosis among fishes and other aquatic animals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Snieszko, S.F.

1962-01-01

There have been numerous observations of one species of animal removing parasites from another. These are, however, generally regarded as biological curiosities rather than as significant factors in the control of parasites or disease.

Curiosity: organic molecules on Mars? (Italian Title: Curiosity: molecole organiche su Marte?)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guaita, C.

2015-05-01

First analytical results from SAM instrument onboard of Curiosity are coherent with the presence, on Mars, of organic molecules possibly linked to bacterial metabolism. These data require also a modern revision of the debated results obtained by Viking landers.

Orbiter View of Curiosity From Nearly Straight Overhead

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-31

Details such as the shadow of the mast on NASA Mars rover Curiosity appear in an image taken Aug. 17, 2012, by the HiRISE camera on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, from more directly overhead than previous HiRISE images of Curiosity.

Response to a Mindful Self-Compassion Intervention in Teens: A Within-person Association of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Emotional Well-Being Outcomes

PubMed Central

Bluth, Karen; Eisenlohr-Moul, Tory A.

2017-01-01

As adolescence can be a stressful developmental stage, the purpose of this study was to determine if a novel mindful self-compassion program would decrease stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety and increase resilience, gratitude, and curiosity/exploration (positive risk-taking), and to ascertain if mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with these outcomes over time. Forty-seven adolescents in the southeast U.S. enrolled in an 8-week mindful self-compassion course in five cohorts. Measures were assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-week follow-up. Multilevel growth analyses revealed main effects of time on perceived stress, resilience, curiosity/exploration and gratitude. Additionally, both mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with perceived stress and depressive symptoms; mindfulness also co-varied with anxiety and self-compassion co-varied with resilience and curiosity/exploration. Implications of these findings are that this program has potential in decreasing stress and increasing resilience and positive risk-taking. Future studies with a control group need to be conducted to confirm these findings. PMID:28414965

Learning tactile skills through curious exploration

PubMed Central

Pape, Leo; Oddo, Calogero M.; Controzzi, Marco; Cipriani, Christian; Förster, Alexander; Carrozza, Maria C.; Schmidhuber, Jürgen

2012-01-01

We present curiosity-driven, autonomous acquisition of tactile exploratory skills on a biomimetic robot finger equipped with an array of microelectromechanical touch sensors. Instead of building tailored algorithms for solving a specific tactile task, we employ a more general curiosity-driven reinforcement learning approach that autonomously learns a set of motor skills in absence of an explicit teacher signal. In this approach, the acquisition of skills is driven by the information content of the sensory input signals relative to a learner that aims at representing sensory inputs using fewer and fewer computational resources. We show that, from initially random exploration of its environment, the robotic system autonomously develops a small set of basic motor skills that lead to different kinds of tactile input. Next, the system learns how to exploit the learned motor skills to solve supervised texture classification tasks. Our approach demonstrates the feasibility of autonomous acquisition of tactile skills on physical robotic platforms through curiosity-driven reinforcement learning, overcomes typical difficulties of engineered solutions for active tactile exploration and underactuated control, and provides a basis for studying developmental learning through intrinsic motivation in robots. PMID:22837748

Inlet Cover On the Curiosity Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-06-04

The drill bit of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover over one of the sample inlets on the rover's deck. The inlets lead to Curiosity's onboard laboratories. This image was taken on Sol 2068 by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22327

Curiosity Mars Rover First Image of Earth and Earth Moon

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-06

The two bodies in this portion of an evening-sky view by NASA Mars rover Curiosity are Earth and Earth moon. The rover Mast Camera Mastcam imaged them in the twilight sky of Curiosity 529th Martian day, or sol Jan. 31, 2014.

Adoptees’ Curiosity and Information Seeking about Birth Parents in Emerging Adulthood: Context, Motivation, and Behavior

PubMed Central

Wrobel, Gretchen Miller; Grotevant, Harold D.; Samek, Diana R.; Von Korff, Lynn

2013-01-01

The Adoption Communication Pathway(ACP) model was used to test the potential mediating effect of curiosity on adoption information seeking in a sample of 143 emerging adult adoptees (mean age = 25.0 years) who were adopted as infants within the United States by parents of the same race. Adoptees were interviewed about their intentions and actions taken to gather new information about their birth mothers and fathers. As expected, level of curiosity was positively associated with information seeking behavior. Moreover, level of curiosity was influenced by adoptees’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators toward information-dseeking. In fact, curiosity partially mediated the impact of internal and external barriers on information seeking about birth mothers. Curiosity fully mediated the impact of external barriers and partially mediated external facilitators on birth father information seeking. This study provides important support for the ACP, which describes context, motivation, and behavior relating to seeking new adoption-related information. PMID:24376288

Eye movements reveal epistemic curiosity in human observers.

PubMed

Baranes, Adrien; Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves; Gottlieb, Jacqueline

2015-12-01

Saccadic (rapid) eye movements are primary means by which humans and non-human primates sample visual information. However, while saccadic decisions are intensively investigated in instrumental contexts where saccades guide subsequent actions, it is largely unknown how they may be influenced by curiosity - the intrinsic desire to learn. While saccades are sensitive to visual novelty and visual surprise, no study has examined their relation to epistemic curiosity - interest in symbolic, semantic information. To investigate this question, we tracked the eye movements of human observers while they read trivia questions and, after a brief delay, were visually given the answer. We show that higher curiosity was associated with earlier anticipatory orienting of gaze toward the answer location without changes in other metrics of saccades or fixations, and that these influences were distinct from those produced by variations in confidence and surprise. Across subjects, the enhancement of anticipatory gaze was correlated with measures of trait curiosity from personality questionnaires. Finally, a machine learning algorithm could predict curiosity in a cross-subject manner, relying primarily on statistical features of the gaze position before the answer onset and independently of covariations in confidence or surprise, suggesting potential practical applications for educational technologies, recommender systems and research in cognitive sciences. With this article, we provide full access to the annotated database allowing readers to reproduce the results. Epistemic curiosity produces specific effects on oculomotor anticipation that can be used to read out curiosity states. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Weather, knowledge base and life-style

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohle, Martin

2015-04-01

Why to main-stream curiosity for earth-science topics, thus to appraise these topics as of public interest? Namely, to influence practices how humankind's activities intersect the geosphere. How to main-stream that curiosity for earth-science topics? Namely, by weaving diverse concerns into common threads drawing on a wide range of perspectives: be it beauty or particularity of ordinary or special phenomena, evaluating hazards for or from mundane environments, or connecting the scholarly investigation with concerns of citizens at large; applying for threading traditional or modern media, arts or story-telling. Three examples: First "weather"; weather is a topic of primordial interest for most people: weather impacts on humans lives, be it for settlement, for food, for mobility, for hunting, for fishing, or for battle. It is the single earth-science topic that went "prime-time" since in the early 1950-ties the broadcasting of weather forecasts started and meteorologists present their work to the public, daily. Second "knowledge base"; earth-sciences are a relevant for modern societies' economy and value setting: earth-sciences provide insights into the evolution of live-bearing planets, the functioning of Earth's systems and the impact of humankind's activities on biogeochemical systems on Earth. These insights bear on production of goods, living conditions and individual well-being. Third "life-style"; citizen's urban culture prejudice their experiential connections: earth-sciences related phenomena are witnessed rarely, even most weather phenomena. In the past, traditional rural communities mediated their rich experiences through earth-centric story-telling. In course of the global urbanisation process this culture has given place to society-centric story-telling. Only recently anthropogenic global change triggered discussions on geoengineering, hazard mitigation, demographics, which interwoven with arts, linguistics and cultural histories offer a rich narrative of humankind's intersections with the geosphere. To gain public's curiosity for earth-science topics, thus to gain attention of various social groups that all have access to a high density of information, digestible rich messages are needed: earth-science story-telling has to weaves earth-science topics into culturally rich narrations of multiple forms offering a wide range of perspectives to which people can connect.

Measuring Epistemic Curiosity in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piotrowski, Jessica Taylor; Litman, Jordan A.; Valkenburg, Patti

2014-01-01

Epistemic curiosity (EC) is the desire to obtain new knowledge capable of either producing positive experiences of intellectual interest (I-type) or of reducing undesirable conditions of informational deprivation (D-type). Although researchers acknowledge that there are individual differences in young children's epistemic curiosity, there are…

The Development of Motivational Thought in the Study of Curiosity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vidler, Derek C.

1981-01-01

Presents an overview of the development of motivational thought in the study of exploratory behavior and curiosity. Traces the way in which concepts of curiosity were considered from the perspectives of instinct and drive-reduction theories to the more recent notions of optimal stimulation. (Author)

Disentangling Curiosity: Dimensionality, Definitions, and Distinctions from Interest in Educational Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossnickle, Emily M.

2016-01-01

Curiosity has received increasing attention in the educational literature, yet empirical investigations have been limited by inconsistent conceptualizations and the use of curiosity synonymously with other constructs, particularly interest. The purpose of this review is to critically examine the dimensionality, definitions, and measures of…

Curiosity driven reinforcement learning for motion planning on humanoids

PubMed Central

Frank, Mikhail; Leitner, Jürgen; Stollenga, Marijn; Förster, Alexander; Schmidhuber, Jürgen

2014-01-01

Most previous work on artificial curiosity (AC) and intrinsic motivation focuses on basic concepts and theory. Experimental results are generally limited to toy scenarios, such as navigation in a simulated maze, or control of a simple mechanical system with one or two degrees of freedom. To study AC in a more realistic setting, we embody a curious agent in the complex iCub humanoid robot. Our novel reinforcement learning (RL) framework consists of a state-of-the-art, low-level, reactive control layer, which controls the iCub while respecting constraints, and a high-level curious agent, which explores the iCub's state-action space through information gain maximization, learning a world model from experience, controlling the actual iCub hardware in real-time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ever embodied, curious agent for real-time motion planning on a humanoid. We demonstrate that it can learn compact Markov models to represent large regions of the iCub's configuration space, and that the iCub explores intelligently, showing interest in its physical constraints as well as in objects it finds in its environment. PMID:24432001

Curiosity analyzes Martian soil samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy; Balcerak, Ernie

2012-12-01

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has conducted its first analysis of Martian soil samples using multiple instruments, the agency announced at a 3 December news briefing at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. "These results are an unprecedented look at the chemical diversity in the area," said NASA's Michael Meyer, program scientist for Curiosity.

Students' Level of Boredom, Boredom Coping Strategies, Epistemic Curiosity, and Graded Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eren, Altay; Coskun, Hamit

2016-01-01

The authors examined the relationships among students' levels of boredom, boredom coping strategies, epistemic curiosity, and graded performance regarding mathematics lessons, with the intention to explore the mediating roles of boredom coping strategies and epistemic curiosity in the relationship between the level of boredom and graded…

A Potential Way of Enquiry into Human Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Shesen; Zhang, Ganzhou; Zhai, Run

2010-01-01

A powerful search for "curiosity" or its related topics at the online American Psychological Association PsycNET database will produce comparatively disappointing meagreness of resource. This reflects our scanty knowledge in this field though curiosity is widely recognised as one of the most important factors that contribute to motivation and…

What Is a Foot under Your Feet?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuttle, Nicole; Obringer, Mary; Czajkowski, Kevin; Czerniak, Charlene M.

2014-01-01

Children are natural scientists full of curiosity. This curiosity allows them to ask questions about and to investigate their surroundings. Since science is not just a collection of facts to be learned, but rather investigations that need to be made, teachers should encourage that natural curiosity in the classroom. Luckily, the "Next…

Curiosity Successfully Drills "Duluth"

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-23

A close-up image of a 2-inch-deep hole produced using a new drilling technique for NASA's Curiosity rover. The hole is about 0.6 inches (1.6 centimeters) in diameter. This image was taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sol 2057. It has been white balanced and contrast-enhanced. Curiosity drilled this hole in a target called "Duluth" on May 20, 2018. It was the first rock sample captured by the drill since October 2016. A mechanical issue took the drill offline in December 2016. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22326

A Curious Year on Mars - Long-Term Thermal Trends for Mars Science Laboratory Rover's First Martian Year

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cucullu, Gordy C., III; Zayas, Daniel; Novak, Keith; Wu, Pat

2014-01-01

By the time of this writing, Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover, has weathered four seasons in Gale Crater, just south of and approaching the foothills of the 5-km high Aeolis Mons, known as "Mount Sharp," at 4.59 deg south latitude. The mission design included a much broader latitude range of 30 deg north to 30 deg south constraining some of the Rover environmental requirements and operations. To date, Curiosity has relayed over 150 MB of thermal telemetry. Curiosity has relayed over 150 MB of thermal telemetry through four seasons. The trends and idiosyncrasies revealed through four seasons of telemetry from Mars are discussed. The better-characterized thermal environment allows for less conservatism in operational models and increases the amount of science data collection. Examples include: the elimination of overheating concerns for some cameras and the use of the previous sol's temperature telemetry along with the conservative soak temperature curve from the winter thermal model, to produce a custom heating prescription for the upcoming weeks thus increasing operation time and reducing heating times. This paper discusses the lessons learned for Rover operation as well as general idiosyncrasies discovered about the local environment-such as the effect of orientation on subsystem temperature variation, a regular morning and afternoon wind, ground and air microclimates with distinct temperature differences from other terrain, and how the Rover affects the local environment. This paper further documents and explains some of the interesting highs and lows of the temperature telemetry data as well as offers explanations for sudden temperature changes on board the Rover.

Investigating the Relationship between Curiosity Level and Computer Self Efficacy Beliefs of Elementary Teachers Candidates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gulten, Dilek Cagirgan; Yaman, Yavuz; Deringol, Yasemin; Ozsari, Ismail

2011-01-01

Nowadays, "lifelong learning individual" concept is gaining importance in which curiosity is one important feature that an individual should have as a requirement of learning. It is known that learning will naturally occur spontaneously when curiosity instinct is awakened during any learning-teaching process. Computer self-efficacy…

The Case for Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engel, Susan

2013-01-01

When the author and her colleague asked teachers to list which qualities were most important without giving them a list to choose from, almost none mentioned curiosity. Many teachers endorse curiosity when they are asked about it, but it is not uppermost on their minds--or shaping their teaching plans. Why is this disturbing? Because research…

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Prasun Desai, acting director, Strategic Integration, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, speaks at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Jim Green, director, Planetary Division, NASA's Science Mission Directorate, speaks at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Jim Green, director, Planetary Division, NASA's Science Mission Directorate, answers a question at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Sam Scimemi, director, NASA's International Space Station Program, speaks at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Neutrality and curiosity: elements of technique.

PubMed

Nersessian, Edward; Silvan, Matthew

2007-07-01

In the past three decades, neutrality has come under increasing criticism. The idea that a psychoanalyst can leave himself out of the therapeutic exchange has come to be seen as either an impossible dream or a myth. We propose that examining neutrality through the lens of curiosity allows for a new appreciation of the ongoing and vital importance of this psychoanalytic attitude. Our hypothesis is that curiosity and neutrality are linked, and that to maintain a neutral stance, the analyst must be able to direct a relatively conflict-free curiosity toward the workings of the analysand's mind as well as his own.

Investigating the Relationship between Need for Cognition and Skill in Ethical Hackers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Le Blanc, Katya; Freeman, Sarah

As technology gets more complex and increasingly connected, there is an increasing concern with cyber security. There is also a growing demand for cyber security professionals. Unfortunately there currently are not enough skilled professionals to meet that demand. In order to prepare the next generation of cyber security professionals to meet this demand, we need to understand what characteristics make skilled cyber security professionals. For this work, we focus on professionals who take an offensive approach to cyber security, so called ethical hackers. These hackers utilize many of the same skills that the adversaries that we defend against would use,more » with the goal of identifying vulnerabilities and address them before they are exploited by adversaries. A commonly held belief among ethical hackers is that hackers must possess exceptional curiosity and problem solving skills in order to be successful. Curiosity is has been studied extensively in psychology, but there is no consensus on what it is and how to measure it. Further, many existing inventories for assessing curiosity are targeted at measuring curiosity in children. Although there isn’t an accepted standard to assess curiosity in adults, a related construct, called Need for Cognition (may capture what is meant when people speak of curiosity. The Need for Cognition scale also captures the tendency toward preferring complex problems (which correlates with good problem solving skills), which may provide insight into what make skilled hackers. In addition to the Need for Cognition, we used a structured interview to assess hacker skill. Hackers rated their own skill on a scale from one to ten on a predefined list of hacker skills. They were then asked to rate a peer who they felt was most skilled in each of the skills. They were asked to rate two peers for each skill, one that they worked with directly and one person that was the most skilled in the field (these could be known by reputation only). The hypothesis is that hackers have a higher than average (i.e., compared to non-hackers) Need for cognition and that Need for Cognition will be positively correlated with self-reported and peer reported skill. We interviewed 20 cyber security researchers who specialize in offensive approaches. Based on the responses to the hacker skill inventory, we generated a self-reported skill score for each participant. We also developed a peer-rating for each participant based on the number of times each individual that was interviewed was named as the most skilled in a particular area. The results indicate that the sample of ethical hackers has a high Need for Cognition and that Need for cognition was related to both self-reported skill and peer-reported skill. The results are discussed in the context of training and recruitment of cyber security professionals.« less

What Can the Curiosity Rover Tell Us About the Climate of Mars?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haberle, Robert M.

2013-01-01

What Can the Curiosity Rover Tell Us About the Climate of Mars? Assessing the habitability of Gale Crater is the goal of the Curiosity Rover, which has been gathering data since landing on the Red Planet last August. To meet that goal, Curiosity brought with it a suite of instruments to measure the biological potential of the landing site, the geology and chemistry of its surface, and local environmental conditions. Some of these instruments illuminate the nature of the planet fs atmosphere and climate system, both for present day conditions as well as for conditions that existed billions of years ago. For present day conditions, Curiosity has a standard meteorology package that measures pressure, temperature, winds and humidity, plus a sensor the measures the UV flux. These data confirm what we learned from previous missions namely that today Mars is a cold, dry, and barren desert-like planet. For past conditions, however, wetter and probably warmer conditions are indicated. Curiosities cameras reveal gravel beds that must have formed by flowing rivers, and sedimentary deposits of layered sand and mudstones possibly associated with lakes. An ancient aqueous environment is further supported by the presence of sulfate veins coursing through some of the rocks in Yellowknife Bay where Curiosity is planning its first drilling activity. I will discuss these results and their implications in this lecture.

The Development of New Measures of Curiosity for Children. Report No. 56.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberger, Ellen

This project has been directed towards the development of procedures for assessing children's curiosity. Better procedures are needed to reach one of the long-range goals of Center Program III: an understanding of the relationship of curiosity to academic achievement and other cognitive skills, styles and motives. This paper reviews briefly some…

Teaching with Pensive Images: Rethinking Curiosity in Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Tyson E.

2012-01-01

Often when the author is teaching philosophy of education, his students begin the process of inquiry by prefacing their questions with something along the lines of "I'm just curious, but ...." Why do teachers and students feel compelled to express their curiosity as "just" curiosity? Perhaps there is a slight embarrassment in proclaiming their…

Routes for breaching and protecting genetic privacy

PubMed Central

Erlich, Yaniv; Narayanan, Arvind

2014-01-01

We are entering an era of ubiquitous genetic information for research, clinical care and personal curiosity. Sharing these datasets is vital for progress in biomedical research. However, one growing concern is the ability to protect the genetic privacy of the data originators. Here, we present an overview of genetic privacy breaching strategies. We outline the principles of each technique, point to the underlying assumptions, and assess its technological complexity and maturation. We then review potential mitigation methods for privacy-preserving dissemination of sensitive data and highlight different cases that are relevant to genetic applications. PMID:24805122

Routes for breaching and protecting genetic privacy.

PubMed

Erlich, Yaniv; Narayanan, Arvind

2014-06-01

We are entering an era of ubiquitous genetic information for research, clinical care and personal curiosity. Sharing these data sets is vital for progress in biomedical research. However, a growing concern is the ability to protect the genetic privacy of the data originators. Here, we present an overview of genetic privacy breaching strategies. We outline the principles of each technique, indicate the underlying assumptions, and assess their technological complexity and maturation. We then review potential mitigation methods for privacy-preserving dissemination of sensitive data and highlight different cases that are relevant to genetic applications.

Curiosity Rover on Mount Sharp, Seen from Mars Orbit

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-20

The feature that appears bright blue at the center of this scene is NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp, viewed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Curiosity is approximately 10 feet long and 9 feet wide (3.0 meters by 2.8 meters). The view is a cutout from observation ESP_050897_1750 taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the orbiter on June 5, 2017. HiRISE has been imaging Curiosity about every three months, to monitor the surrounding features for changes such as dune migration or erosion. When the image was taken, Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and "Vera Rubin Ridge," a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit. The rover's surroundings include tan rocks and patches of dark sand. As in previous HiRISE color images of Curiosity since the rover was at its landing site, the rover appears bluer than it really is. HiRISE color observations are recorded in a red band, a blue-green band and an infrared band, and displayed in red, green and blue. This helps make differences in Mars surface materials apparent, but does not show natural color as seen by the human eye. Lower Mount Sharp was chosen as a destination for the Curiosity mission because the layers of the mountain offer exposures of rocks that record environmental conditions from different times in the early history of the Red Planet. Curiosity has found evidence for ancient wet environments that offered conditions favorable for microbial life, if Mars has ever hosted life. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21710

Response to a mindful self-compassion intervention in teens: A within-person association of mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotional well-being outcomes.

PubMed

Bluth, Karen; Eisenlohr-Moul, Tory A

2017-06-01

As adolescence can be a stressful developmental stage, the purpose of this study was to determine if a novel mindful self-compassion program would decrease stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety and increase resilience, gratitude, and curiosity/exploration (positive risk-taking), and to ascertain if mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with these outcomes over time. Forty-seven adolescents in the southeast U.S. enrolled in an 8-week mindful self-compassion course in five cohorts. Measures were assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-week follow-up. Multilevel growth analyses revealed main effects of time on perceived stress, resilience, curiosity/exploration and gratitude. Additionally, both mindfulness and self-compassion co-varied with perceived stress and depressive symptoms; mindfulness also co-varied with anxiety and self-compassion co-varied with resilience and curiosity/exploration. Implications of these findings are that this program has potential in decreasing stress and increasing resilience and positive risk-taking. Future studies with a control group need to be conducted to confirm these findings. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pathways from Parental Stimulation of Children's Curiosity to High School Science Course Accomplishments and Science Career Interest and Skill

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottfried, Adele Eskeles; Preston, Kathleen Suzanne Johnson; Gottfried, Allen W.; Oliver, Pamella H.; Delany, Danielle E.; Ibrahim, Sirena M.

2016-01-01

Curiosity is fundamental to scientific inquiry and pursuance. Parents are important in encouraging children's involvement in science. This longitudinal study examined pathways from parental stimulation of children's curiosity per se to their science acquisition (SA). A latent variable of SA was indicated by the inter-related variables of high…

The Effect of Teaching Strategies and Curiosity on Students' Achievement in Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurning, Busmin; Siregar, Aguslani

2017-01-01

The objectives of this study were to find out whether 1) students' achievement in reading comprehension taught by using INSERT strategy was higher than those taught by using SQ3R strategy, 2) Students' achievement in reading comprehension having high curiosity was higher than those having low curiosity, 3) there was an interaction between teaching…

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Jason Townsend, NASA's Deputy Social Media Manager, asks a question on behalf of a NASA Twitter follower at a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully placed the one-ton Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, about 1 mile from the center of its 12-mile-long target area. Within the first eight months of a planned 23-months primary mission, Curiosity met its major science objective of finding evidence of a past environment well-suited to support microbial life. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curious creatures: a multi-taxa investigation of responses to novelty in a zoo environment.

PubMed

Hall, Belinda A; Melfi, Vicky; Burns, Alicia; McGill, David M; Doyle, Rebecca E

2018-01-01

The personality trait of curiosity has been shown to increase welfare in humans. If this positive welfare effect is also true for non-humans, animals with high levels of curiosity may be able to cope better with stressful situations than their conspecifics. Before discoveries can be made regarding the effect of curiosity on an animal's ability to cope in their environment, a way of measuring curiosity across species in different environments must be created to standardise testing. To determine the suitability of novel objects in testing curiosity, species from different evolutionary backgrounds with sufficient sample sizes were chosen. Barbary sheep ( Ammotragus lervia) n  = 12, little penguins ( Eudyptula minor) n  = 10, ringtail lemurs ( Lemur catta) n  = 8 , red tailed black cockatoos ( Calyptorhynchus banksia) n  = 7, Indian star tortoises ( Geochelone elegans) n  = 5 and red kangaroos ( Macropus rufus) n  = 5 were presented with a stationary object, a moving object and a mirror. Having objects with different characteristics increased the likelihood individuals would find at least one motivating. Conspecifics were all assessed simultaneously for time to first orientate towards object (s), latency to make contact (s), frequency of interactions, and total duration of interaction (s). Differences in curiosity were recorded in four of the six species; the Barbary sheep and red tailed black cockatoos did not interact with the novel objects suggesting either a low level of curiosity or that the objects were not motivating for these animals. Variation in curiosity was seen between and within species in terms of which objects they interacted with and how long they spent with the objects. This was determined by the speed in which they interacted, and the duration of interest. By using the measure of curiosity towards novel objects with varying characteristics across a range of zoo species, we can see evidence of evolutionary, husbandry and individual influences on their response. Further work to obtain data on multiple captive populations of a single species using a standardised method could uncover factors that nurture the development of curiosity. In doing so, it would be possible to isolate and modify sub-optimal husbandry practices to improve welfare in the zoo environment.

Curious creatures: a multi-taxa investigation of responses to novelty in a zoo environment

PubMed Central

Melfi, Vicky; Burns, Alicia; McGill, David M.; Doyle, Rebecca E.

2018-01-01

The personality trait of curiosity has been shown to increase welfare in humans. If this positive welfare effect is also true for non-humans, animals with high levels of curiosity may be able to cope better with stressful situations than their conspecifics. Before discoveries can be made regarding the effect of curiosity on an animal’s ability to cope in their environment, a way of measuring curiosity across species in different environments must be created to standardise testing. To determine the suitability of novel objects in testing curiosity, species from different evolutionary backgrounds with sufficient sample sizes were chosen. Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) n = 12, little penguins (Eudyptula minor) n = 10, ringtail lemurs (Lemur catta) n = 8, red tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksia) n = 7, Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans) n = 5 and red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) n = 5 were presented with a stationary object, a moving object and a mirror. Having objects with different characteristics increased the likelihood individuals would find at least one motivating. Conspecifics were all assessed simultaneously for time to first orientate towards object (s), latency to make contact (s), frequency of interactions, and total duration of interaction (s). Differences in curiosity were recorded in four of the six species; the Barbary sheep and red tailed black cockatoos did not interact with the novel objects suggesting either a low level of curiosity or that the objects were not motivating for these animals. Variation in curiosity was seen between and within species in terms of which objects they interacted with and how long they spent with the objects. This was determined by the speed in which they interacted, and the duration of interest. By using the measure of curiosity towards novel objects with varying characteristics across a range of zoo species, we can see evidence of evolutionary, husbandry and individual influences on their response. Further work to obtain data on multiple captive populations of a single species using a standardised method could uncover factors that nurture the development of curiosity. In doing so, it would be possible to isolate and modify sub-optimal husbandry practices to improve welfare in the zoo environment. PMID:29568703

Twelve Months in Two Minutes Curiositys First Year on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-01

A series of 548 images shows the view from a fisheye camera on the front of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity from the day the rover landed in August 2012 through July 2013. The camera is the rover's front Hazard-Avoidance Camera. The scenes include Curiosity collecting its first scoops of Martian soil and collecting a drilled sample form inside a Martian rock.

Adoptees' Curiosity and Information-Seeking about Birth Parents in Emerging Adulthood: Context, Motivation, and Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wrobel, Gretchen Miller; Grotevant, Harold D.; Samek, Diana R.; Von Korff, Lynn

2013-01-01

The Adoption Curiosity Pathway (ACP) model was used to test the potential mediating effect of curiosity on adoption information-seeking in a sample of 143 emerging adult adoptees (mean age = 25.0 years) who were adopted as infants within the United States by parents of the same race. Adoptees were interviewed about their intentions and actions…

The Pedagogy of the Heart and the Mind--Cultivating Curiosity and a Love of Learning, Part 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carmichael, Patricia

2009-01-01

The cultivation of curiosity and interest in children for their own pleasure and for their place in the world around them is a significant factor in each student's well-being as well as the future of society. Many educators think that schools no longer provide a curriculum that develops curiosity, creativity, and personal interests in young…

The impact of curiosity on learning during a school field trip to the zoo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlin, Kerry Ann

1999-11-01

This study was designed to examine (a) differences in cognitive learning as a result of a zoo field trip, (b) if the trip to the zoo had an impact on epistemic curiosity, (c) the role epistemic curiosity plays in learning, (d) the effect of gender, race, prior knowledge and prior visitation to the zoo on learning and epistemic curiosity, (e) participants' affect for the zoo animals, and (f) if prior visitation to the zoo contributes to prior knowledge. Ninety-six fourth and fifth grade children completed curiosity, cognitive, and affective written tests before and after a field trip to the Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida. The data showed that students were very curious about zoo animals. Dependent T-tests indicated no significant difference between pretest and posttest curiosity levels. The trip did not influence participants' curiosity levels. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the dependent variable, curiosity, and the independent variables, gender, race, prior knowledge, and prior visitation. No significant differences were found. Dependent T-tests indicated no significant difference between pretest and posttest cognitive scores. The field trip to the zoo did not cause an increase in participants' knowledge. However, participants did learn on the trip. After the field trip, participants identified more animals displayed by the zoo than they did before. Also, more animals were identified by species and genus names after the trip than before. These differences were significant (alpha = .05). Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the dependent variable, posttest cognitive performance, and the independent variables, curiosity, gender, race, prior knowledge, and prior visitation. A significant difference was found for prior knowledge (alpha = .05). No significant differences were found for the other independent variables. Chi-square tests of significance indicated significant differences (alpha = .05) in preferences for types of animals and preference for animals by gender. Significant differences (alpha = .05) were also found between the reasons why animals were preferred. Differences occurred between animals that were liked and disliked, between genders, and between the pretest and the posttest.

The Geologic Exploration of the Bagnold Dune Field at Gale Crater by the Curiosity Rover.

PubMed

Chojnacki, Matthew; Fenton, Lori K

2017-11-01

The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity engaged in a monthlong campaign investigating the Bagnold dune field in Gale crater. What represents the first in situ investigation of a dune field on another planet has resulted in a number of discoveries. Collectively, the Curiosity rover team has compiled the most comprehensive survey of any extraterrestrial aeolian system visited to date with results that yield important insights into a number of processes, including sediment transport, bed form morphology and structure, chemical and physical composition of aeolian sand, and wind regime characteristics. These findings and more are provided in detail by the JGR-Planets Special Issue Curiosity's Bagnold Dunes Campaign, Phase I.

Curiosity and reward: Valence predicts choice and information prediction errors enhance learning.

PubMed

Marvin, Caroline B; Shohamy, Daphna

2016-03-01

Curiosity drives many of our daily pursuits and interactions; yet, we know surprisingly little about how it works. Here, we harness an idea implied in many conceptualizations of curiosity: that information has value in and of itself. Reframing curiosity as the motivation to obtain reward-where the reward is information-allows one to leverage major advances in theoretical and computational mechanisms of reward-motivated learning. We provide new evidence supporting 2 predictions that emerge from this framework. First, we find an asymmetric effect of positive versus negative information, with positive information enhancing both curiosity and long-term memory for information. Second, we find that it is not the absolute value of information that drives learning but, rather, the gap between the reward expected and reward received, an "information prediction error." These results support the idea that information functions as a reward, much like money or food, guiding choices and driving learning in systematic ways. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Curiosity is Ready for Clay (Highlighted)

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-22

This mosaic taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover looks uphill at Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has been climbing. Highlighted in white is an area with clay-bearing rocks that scientists are eager to explore; it could shed additional light on the role of water in creating Mount Sharp. The mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It was taken on Sol 1931 back in January. Mount Sharp stands in the middle of Gale Crater, which is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. This mound, which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014, likely formed in the presence of water at various points of time in Mars ancient history. That makes it an ideal place to study how water influenced the habitability of Mars billions of years ago. The scene has been white-balanced so the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22312

Curiosity is Ready for Clay

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-22

This mosaic taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover looks uphill at Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has been climbing. Spanning the center of the image is an area with clay-bearing rocks that scientists are eager to explore; it could shed additional light on the role of water in creating Mount Sharp. The mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It was taken on Sol 1931 back in January. Mount Sharp stands in the middle of Gale Crater, which is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. This mound, which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014, likely formed in the presence of water at various points of time in Mars ancient history. That makes it an ideal place to study how water influenced the habitability of Mars billions of years ago. The scene has been white-balanced so the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22313

Science and Scientific Curiosity in Pre-school—The teacher's point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spektor-Levy, Ornit; Kesner Baruch, Yael; Mevarech, Zemira

2013-09-01

Nowadays, early science education is well-accepted by researchers, education professionals and policy makers. Overall, teachers' attitudes and conceptions toward the science subject domain and science education influence their ways of teaching and engagement. However, there is a lack of research regarding factors that affect this engagement in pre-school years. The main assumption of this study is that teachers' attitudes regarding science in pre-school can shape children's engagement in science and develop their scientific curiosity. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to investigate the attitudes of pre-school teachers toward engaging in science and to explore their views about the nature of curiosity: who is a curious child and how can a child's natural curiosity be fostered? An extensive survey was conducted among 146 pre-school teachers by employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Results indicate that most of the participants believe that scientific education should begin in early childhood; very young children can investigate and take part in a process of inquiry; and scientific activities in pre-school can influence children's long-term attitudes toward science. Despite these views, most participants felt they did not possess sufficient scientific knowledge. Furthermore, participants expressed diverse opinions when asked to identify what constitutes curiosity, how the curious child can be identified and how a child's curiosity can be fostered. The research findings carry significant implications regarding how to implement scientific activities in pre-school, and how to encourage pre-school teachers to engage children in scientific activities in a way that will nurture their natural curiosity.

The Development of the Chemin Mineralogy Instrument and Its Deployment on Mars (and Latest Results from the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blake, David F.

2014-01-01

The CheMin instrument (short for "Chemistry and Mineralogy") on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is one of two "laboratory quality" instruments on board the Curiosity rover that is exploring Gale crater, Mars. CheMin is an X-ray diffractometer that has for the first time returned definitive and fully quantitative mineral identifications of Mars soil and drilled rock. I will describe CheMin's 23-year development from an idea to a spacecraft qualified instrument, and report on some of the discoveries that Curiosity has made since its entry, descent and landing on Aug. 6, 2012, including the discovery and characterization of the first habitable environment on Mars.

Curiosity Rover Martian Mission, Exaggerated Cross Section

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-13

This graphic depicts aspects of the driving distance, elevation, geological units and time intervals of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission, as of late 2016. The vertical dimension is exaggerated 14-fold compared with the horizontal dimension, for presentation-screen proportions. As of early December 2016, Curiosity had driven 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing on the floor of Gale Crater near the base of Mount Sharp. It had climbed 541 feet (165 meters) in elevation. Elevation values shown on the vertical scale of this chart denote meters below an established zero-elevation level on Mars, which lacks a planetary "sea level." Because Curiosity is below the zero elevation, the numbers are negative. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21145

Bringing a Chemical Laboratory Named Sam to Mars on the 2011 Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahaffy, P. R.; Bleacher, L.; Jones, A.; Conrad, P. G.; Cabane, M.; Webster, C. R.; Atreya, S. A.; Manning, H.

2010-01-01

An important goal of upcoming missions to Mars is to understand if life could have developed there. The task of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments [1] and the other Curiosity investigations [2] is to move us steadily toward that goal with an assessment of the habitability of our neighboring planet through a series of chemical and geological measurements. SAM is designed to search for organic compounds and inorganic volatiles and measure isotope ratios. Other instruments on Curiosity will provide elemental analysis and identify minerals. SAM will analyze both atmospheric samples and gases evolved from powdered rocks that may have formed billions of years ago with Curiosity providing access to interesting sites scouted by orbiting cameras and spectrometers.

The effect of nitrazepam on depression and curiosity in behavioral tests in mice: The role of potassium channels.

PubMed

Nikoui, Vahid; Ostadhadi, Sattar; Azhand, Pardis; Zolfaghari, Samira; Amiri, Shayan; Foroohandeh, Mehrdad; Motevalian, Manijeh; Sharifi, Ali Mohammad; Bakhtiarian, Azam

2016-11-15

Evidence show that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors are involved in depression, so the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nitrazepam as agonist of GABA A receptors on depression and curiosity in male mice and the role of potassium channel in antidepressant-like response. For this purpose, we studied the antidepressant-like properties of fluoxetine, nitrazepam, glibenclamide, and cromakalim by both forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). Animals were injected by various doses of nitrazepam (0.05, 0.1, and 0.5mg/kg). Nitrazepam at dose of 0.5mg/kg significantly decreased the immobility time compared to control group in both FST and TST. Fluoxetine also showed such a response. Co-administration of nitrazepam (0.05mg/kg) with glibenclamide in TST (1mg/kg) and in FST (0.3, 1mg/kg) also showed antidepressant-like response. Beside, cromakalim (0.1mg/kg) could reverse the antidepressant-like effect of nitrazepam (0.5mg/kg) in both FST and TST, while cromakalim and glibenclamide alone could not change the immobility time compared to control group (P>0.05). The hole-board test revealed that nitrazepam at doses of 0.5 and 0.1mg/kg could increase the activity of the animal's head-dipping and boost the curiosity and exploration behavior of mice. The results of this study revealed that nitrazepam may possess antidepressant-like properties and this effect is dependent to potassium channels in both FST and TST. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Some personality characteristics of air traffic control specialist trainees : interactions of personality and aptitude test scores with FAA Academy success and career expectations.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1991-05-01

The State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI) is a self-report inventory which measures anxiety, curiosity, and anger (Spielberger, 1979). The three 'trait' scale scores are determined by the frequency of each emotion as stable personality constructs....

Mount Sharp 'Photobombs' Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-01-31

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle on Vera Rubin Ridge, which it's been investigating for the past several months. Directly behind the rover is the start of a clay-rich slope scientists are eager to begin exploring. In the coming week, Curiosity will begin to climb this slope. North is on the left and west is on the right, with Gale Crater's rim on the horizon of both edges. Poking up just behind Curiosity's mast is Mount Sharp, photobombing the robot's selfie. Curiosity landed on Mars five years ago with the intention of studying lower Mount Sharp, where it will remain for all of its time on Mars. The mountain's base provides access to layers formed over millions of years. These layers formed in the presence of water -- likely due to a lake or lakes that sat at the bottom of the mountain, which sits inside of Gale Crater. This mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI). They were all taken on Jan. 23, 2018, during Sol 1943. The view does not include the rover's arm nor the MAHLI camera itself, except in the miniature scene reflected upside down in the parabolic mirror at the top of the mast. That mirror is part of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. MAHLI appears in the center of the mirror. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. A full-resolution image is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22207

Curiosity Search: Producing Generalists by Encouraging Individuals to Continually Explore and Acquire Skills throughout Their Lifetime.

PubMed

Stanton, Christopher; Clune, Jeff

2016-01-01

Natural animals are renowned for their ability to acquire a diverse and general skill set over the course of their lifetime. However, research in artificial intelligence has yet to produce agents that acquire all or even most of the available skills in non-trivial environments. One candidate algorithm for encouraging the production of such individuals is Novelty Search, which pressures organisms to exhibit different behaviors from other individuals. However, we hypothesized that Novelty Search would produce sub-populations of specialists, in which each individual possesses a subset of skills, but no one organism acquires all or most of the skills. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm called Curiosity Search, which is designed to produce individuals that acquire as many skills as possible during their lifetime. We show that in a multiple-skill maze environment, Curiosity Search does produce individuals that explore their entire domain, while a traditional implementation of Novelty Search produces specialists. However, we reveal that when modified to encourage intra-life behavioral diversity, Novelty Search can produce organisms that explore almost as much of their environment as Curiosity Search, although Curiosity Search retains a significant performance edge. Finally, we show that Curiosity Search is a useful helper objective when combined with Novelty Search, producing individuals that acquire significantly more skills than either algorithm alone.

Curiosity Search: Producing Generalists by Encouraging Individuals to Continually Explore and Acquire Skills throughout Their Lifetime

PubMed Central

Clune, Jeff

2016-01-01

Natural animals are renowned for their ability to acquire a diverse and general skill set over the course of their lifetime. However, research in artificial intelligence has yet to produce agents that acquire all or even most of the available skills in non-trivial environments. One candidate algorithm for encouraging the production of such individuals is Novelty Search, which pressures organisms to exhibit different behaviors from other individuals. However, we hypothesized that Novelty Search would produce sub-populations of specialists, in which each individual possesses a subset of skills, but no one organism acquires all or most of the skills. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm called Curiosity Search, which is designed to produce individuals that acquire as many skills as possible during their lifetime. We show that in a multiple-skill maze environment, Curiosity Search does produce individuals that explore their entire domain, while a traditional implementation of Novelty Search produces specialists. However, we reveal that when modified to encourage intra-life behavioral diversity, Novelty Search can produce organisms that explore almost as much of their environment as Curiosity Search, although Curiosity Search retains a significant performance edge. Finally, we show that Curiosity Search is a useful helper objective when combined with Novelty Search, producing individuals that acquire significantly more skills than either algorithm alone. PMID:27589267

Test Rover at JPL During Preparation for Mars Rover Low-Angle Selfie

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

This view of a test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, results from advance testing of arm positions and camera pointings for taking a low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. This rehearsal in California led to a dramatic Aug. 5, 2015, selfie of Curiosity, online at PIA19807. Curiosity's arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera took 92 of component images that were assembled into that mosaic. The rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This practice version was taken at JPL's Mars Yard in July 2013, using the Vehicle System Test Bed (VSTB) rover, which has a test copy of MAHLI on its robotic arm. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810

Curiosity, forbidden knowledge, and the reformation of natural philosophy in early modern England.

PubMed

Harrison, P

2001-06-01

From the patristic period to the beginning of the seventeenth century curiosity was regarded as an intellectual vice. Curious individuals were considered to be proud and "puffed up," and the objects of their investigations were deemed illicit, dispute engendering, unknowable, or useless. Seventeenth-century projects for the advancement of learning had to distance themselves from curiosity and its dubious fruits or, alternatively, enhance the moral status of the curious sensibility. Francis Bacon's proposals for the instauration of knowledge were an integral part of a process by which curiosity underwent a remarkable transformation from vice to virtue over the course of the seventeenth century. The changing fortunes of this human propensity highlight the morally charged nature of early modern debates over the status of natural philosophy and the particular virtues required of its practitioners. The rehabilitation of curiosity was a crucial element in the objectification of scientific knowledge and led to a gradual shift of focus away from the moral qualities of investigators and the propriety of particular objects of knowledge to specific procedures and methods.

Overview of DAN/MSL water and chlorine measurements acquired in Gale area for four years of surface observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litvak, Maxim

2017-04-01

During more than 4 years MSL Curiosity rover (landed in Gale crater in August 2012) is traveling toward sedimentary layered mound deposited with phyllosilicates and hematite hydrated minerals. Curiosity already traversed more than 14 km and identified lacustrine deposits left from ancient lakes filled Gale area in early history of Mars. Along the traverse the Curiosity rover discovered unique signatures regarding how the Mars environment changed from ancient warm and wet conditions and probably habitable environment to the modern cold and dry climate. We have summarized numerous measurements from the Dynamic Albedo of Neutron (DAN) instrument on Curiosity rover to overview variations of subsurface bound water distribution from the wet to the dry locations, compared it with other MSL measurements and with possible distribution of hydrated minerals and sequence of geological units travelled by Curiosity. We have also performed joint analysis of water and chlorine distributions and compared bulk (down to 0.5 m depth) equivalent chlorine concentrations measured by DAN throughout the Gale area and APXS observations of corresponding local surface targets and drill fines.

Preliminary Geological Map of the Peace Vallis Fan Integrated with In Situ Mosaics From the Curiosity Rover, Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sumner, D. Y.; Palucis, M.; Dietrich, B.; Calef, F.; Stack, K. M.; Ehlmann, B.; Bridges, J.; Dromart, J.; Eigenbrode, J.; Farmer, J.;

Medical ethicists, human curiosities, and the new media midway.

PubMed

Miles, Steven H

2004-01-01

Medical ethicists have assumed a role in justifying public voyeurism of human "curiosities." This role has precedent in how scientists and natural philosophers once legitimized the marketing of museums of "human curiosities." At the beginning of the twentieth century, physicians dissociated themselves from entrepreneurial displays of persons with anomalies, and such commercial exhibits went into decline. Today, news media, principally on television, promote news features about persons that closely resemble the nineteenth century exhibits of human curiosities. Reporters solicit medical ethicists for soundbites to affirm the newsworthiness and propriety of public voyeurism of these medical stories. Ethicists' soundbites are usually ambiguous or self-evident and rarely enable viewers to morally engage the issues. The precedent of early twentieth century physicians disengaging from such exploitive public shows is a useful example for medical ethics.

First Pressure Readings on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-21

This graph shows readings for atmospheric pressure at the landing site of NASA Curiosity rover. The data were obtained by Curiosity Rover Environmental Monitoring Station from Aug. 15 to Aug. 18, 2012.

Accurate Pointing by Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-12

NASA Curiosity Mars rover targeted the laser of the ChemCam instrument with remarkable accuracy for assessing the composition of the wall of a drilled hole and tailings that resulted from the drilling.

Investigating Curiosity Drill Area

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-02-09

NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera Mastcam to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called John Klein, where the rover ultimately performed its first sample drilling.

Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI): Inital Observations and Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edgett, K. S.; Yingst, R. A.; Minitti, M. E.; Robinson, M. L.; Kennedy, M. R.; Lipkaman, L. J.; Jensen, E. H.; Anderson, R. C.; Bean, K. M.; Beegle, L. W.;

Mars Curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Parents and children, such as Myron and Trey (age 3) Cummings, enjoyed exploring Mars using an interactive touch table (top right photo). Midway through the day of activities, visitors in the Science on a Sphere auditorium also enjoyed a presentation on Mars and the Curiosity mission by Dr. Steven Williams, a NASA expert on Mars.

Mars Curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Parents and children, such as Myron and Trey (age 3) Cummings, enjoyed exploring Mars using an interactive touch table. Midway through the day of activities, visitors in the Science on a Sphere auditorium also enjoyed a presentation on Mars and the Curiosity mission by Dr. Steven Williams, a NASA expert on Mars.

Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell with Curiosity Inside

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-10-05

At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, and the spacecraft descent stage have been enclosed inside the spacecraft aeroshell.

Staking out Curiosity Landing Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-09

The geological context for the landing site of NASA Curiosity rover is visible in this image mosaic obtained by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment HiRISE camera on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Psychological and Organizational Variables Associated with Workplace Learning in Small and Medium Manufacturing Businesses in Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moon, Se-Yeon; Na, Seung-Il

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between workplace learning and psychological variables, such as learning competency, motivation, curiosity, self-esteem and locus of control, and organizational variables, such as centralization of power, formality, merit system and communication. The studied population consisted entirely…

Lowering SAM Instrument into Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-18

In this photograph, technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., position NASA Sample Analysis at Mars SAM above the mission Mars rover, Curiosity, for installing the instrument.

Installing SAM Instrument into Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-18

In this photograph, technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., position NASA Sample Analysis at Mars SAM above the mission Mars rover, Curiosity, for installing the instrument.

Curiosity Traverse into Different Terrain

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-01-15

This image maps the traverse of NASA Mars rover Curiosity from Bradbury Landing to Yellowknife Bay, with an inset documenting a change in the ground thermal properties with arrival at a different type of terrain.

Checking Contact Points for Curiosity Drill

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-05

This image demonstrates how engineers place the drill carried by NASA Mars rover Curiosity onto rock targets. They first set down the drill two stabilizing prongs near the target, as shown by the dashed line.

New Waypoint, Science Team Newcomers for Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-03-11

This map shows the route driven by NASA Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in early March 2016, approaching a geological waypoint called Naukluft Plateau.

Position of Curiosity for Drilling at Cumberland

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-05

This image produced from software used for planning drives of NASA Mars rover Curiosity depicts the location and size of the rover when it was driven into position for drilling into rock target Cumberland.

Top of Mars Rover Curiosity Remote Sensing Mast

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-06

The remote sensing mast on NASA Mars rover Curiosity holds two science instruments for studying the rover surroundings and two stereo navigation cameras for use in driving the rover and planning rover activities.

Curiosity Quad

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-09

This image shows the quadrangle where NASA Curiosity rover landed, within the expansive Gale Crater. The mission science team has divided the landing region into several square quadrangles, or quads, of interest about 1-mile 1.3-kilometers wide.

Connecting Curiosity Neck

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-23

In the clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, engineers gather around the base of Curiosity neck the Mast as they slowly lower it into place for attachment to the rover body the Wet Electronics Box, or WEB.

Social curiosity and gossip: related but different drives of social functioning.

PubMed

Hartung, Freda-Marie; Renner, Britta

2013-01-01

The present online-questionnaire study examined two fundamental social behaviors, social curiosity and gossip, and their interrelations in an English (n = 218) and a German sample (n = 152). Analyses showed that both samples believed that they are less gossipy but more curious than their peers. Multidimensional SEM of self and trait conceptions indicated that social curiosity and gossip are related constructs but with different patterns of social functions. Gossip appears to serve predominantly entertainment purposes whereas social curiosity appears to be more driven by a general interest in gathering information about how other people feel, think, and behave and the need to belong. Relationships to other personality traits (N, E, O) provided additional evidence for divergent validity. The needs for gathering and disseminating social information might represent two interlinked but different drives of cultural learning.

Martian Terrain Near Curiosity Precipice Target

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-06

This view from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on the mast of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows rocky ground within view while the rover was working at an intended drilling site called "Precipice" on lower Mount Sharp. The right-eye camera of the stereo Navcam took this image on Dec. 2, 2016, during the 1,537th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. On the previous sol, an attempt to collect a rock-powder sample with the rover's drill ended before drilling began. This led to several days of diagnostic work while the rover remained in place, during which it continued to use cameras and a spectrometer on its mast, plus environmental monitoring instruments. In this view, hardware visible at lower right includes the sundial-theme calibration target for Curiosity's Mast Camera. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21140

Social Curiosity and Gossip: Related but Different Drives of Social Functioning

PubMed Central

Hartung, Freda-Marie; Renner, Britta

2013-01-01

The present online-questionnaire study examined two fundamental social behaviors, social curiosity and gossip, and their interrelations in an English (n = 218) and a German sample (n = 152). Analyses showed that both samples believed that they are less gossipy but more curious than their peers. Multidimensional SEM of self and trait conceptions indicated that social curiosity and gossip are related constructs but with different patterns of social functions. Gossip appears to serve predominantly entertainment purposes whereas social curiosity appears to be more driven by a general interest in gathering information about how other people feel, think, and behave and the need to belong. Relationships to other personality traits (N, E, O) provided additional evidence for divergent validity. The needs for gathering and disseminating social information might represent two interlinked but different drives of cultural learning. PMID:23936130

Looking Up at Mars Rover Curiosity in Buckskin Selfie

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called "Buckskin" on lower Mount Sharp. The selfie combines several component images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. This view is a portion of a larger panorama available at PIA19807. A close look reveals a small rock stuck onto Curiosity's left middle wheel (on the right in this head-on view). The rock had been seen previously during periodic monitoring of wheel condition about three weeks earlier, in the MAHLI raw image at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=1046MH0002640000400290E01_DXXX&s=1046. MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This yielded a view that includes the rover's "belly," as in a partial self-portrait (/catalog/PIA16137) taken about five weeks after Curiosity's August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater. The selfie at Buckskin does not include the rover's robotic arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "John Klein" (PIA16937), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Mojave" (PIA19142). MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19808

Stealth life detection instruments aboard Curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levin, Gilbert V.

2012-10-01

NASA has often stated (e.g. MSL Science Corner1) that it's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), "Curiosity," Mission to Mars carries no life detection experiments. This is in keeping with NASA's 36-year explicit ban on such, imposed immediately after the 1976 Viking Mission to Mars. The space agency attributes the ban to the "ambiguity" of that Mission's Labeled Release (LR) life detection experiment, fearing an adverse effect on the space program should a similar "inconclusive" result come from a new robotic quest. Yet, despite the NASA ban, this author, the Viking LR Experimenter, contends there are "stealth life detection instruments" aboard Curiosity. These are life detection instruments in the sense that they can free the Viking LR from the pall of ambiguity that has held it prisoner so long. Curiosity's stealth instruments are those seeking organic compounds, and the mission's high-resolution camera system. Results from any or all of these devices, coupled with the Viking LR data, can confirm the LR's life detection claim. In one possible scenario, Curiosity can, of itself, completely corroborate the finding of life on Mars. MSL has just successfully landed on Mars. Hopefully, its stealth confirmations of life will be reported shortly.

The effectiveness of Family Science and Technology Workshops on parental involvement, student achievement, and student curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosten, Lora Bechard

The literature suggests that parental involvement in schools results in positive changes in students and that schools need to provide opportunities for parents to share in the learning process. Workshops are an effective method of engaging parents in the education of their children. This dissertation studies the effects of voluntary Family Science and Technology Workshops on elementary children's science interest and achievement, as well as on parents' collaboration in their child's education. The study involved 35 second and third-grade students and their parents who volunteered to participate. The parental volunteers were randomly assigned to either the control group (children attending the workshops without a parent) or the treatment group (children attending the workshops with a parent). The study was conducted in the Fall of 1995 over a four-week period. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine the effects of the workshops on children's science achievement and science curiosity, as well as on parents' involvement with their child's education. The study revealed that there was no significant statistical difference at the.05 level between the treatment/control groups in children's science achievement or science curiosity, or in parent's involvement with their children's education. However, the study did focus parental attention on effective education and points the way to more extensive research in this critical learning area. This dual study, that is, the effects of teaching basic technology to young students with the support of their parents, reflects the focus of the Salve Regina University Ph.D. program in which technology is examined in its effects on humans. In essence, this program investigates what it means to be human in an age of advanced technology.

Using exercise training to understand control of skeletal muscle metabolism.

PubMed

Gibala, Martin J

2017-01-01

Bengt Saltin believed that exercise was the unsurpassed tool to study human integrative physiology. He demonstrated this over the course of his career by employing physical training as a model to advance our understanding of skeletal muscle metabolic control and the impact of physical activity on performance and health. Bengt was also a pioneer in advocating the concept of exercise is medicine. His scientific curiosity was perhaps exceeded only by his generosity.

Curiosity Heat Shield in Detail

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-08

This color full-resolution image showing the heat shield of NASA Curiosity rover was obtained during descent to the surface of Mars. This image shows the inside surface of the heat shield, with its protective multi-layered insulation.

Confidence Hills Drill Powder in Scoop

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-04

This image from NASA Curiosity rover shows a sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover drill from the Confidence Hills target -- the first rock drilled after Curiosity reached the base of Mount Sharp in September 2014.

Cumberland Target Drilled by Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-05-20

NASA Mars rover Curiosity drilled into this rock target, Cumberland, during the 279th Martian day, or sol, of the rover work on Mars May 19, 2013 and collected a powdered sample of material from the rock interior.

View of Yellowknife Bay Formation, with Drilling Sites

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-09

This mosaic of images from NASA Curiosity shows geological members of the Yellowknife Bay formation, and the sites where Curiosity drilled into the lowest-lying member, called Sheepbed, at targets John Klein and Cumberland.

Hello, MAHLI

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-12

This image shows the Mars Hand Lens Imager MAHLI on NASA Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background. The image was taken by Curiosity Mast Camera on the 32nd Martian day, or sol, of operations on the surface.

Curiosity Robotic Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-06

This engineering drawing shows the location of the arm on NASA Curiosity rover, in addition to the arm turret, which holds two instruments and three tools. The arm places and holds turret-mounted tools on rock and soil targets.

Location of DAN on Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-21

This image of NASA Curiosity rover shows the location of the two components of the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument. The neutron generator is mounted on the right hip and the detectors are on the opposite hip.

Curiosity at Center of Attention During Test

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-29

Technicians and engineers in clean-room garb monitor the first drive test of NASA Curiosity rover, on July 23, 2010. Technicians and engineers conducted the drive test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Curiosity Rover Stereo

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

This stereo image of NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rovert was taken May 26, 2011, in Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Camera Test on Curiosity During Flight to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-05-07

An in-flight camera check produced this out-of-focus image when NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft turned on illumination sources that are part of the Curiosity rover Mars Hand Lens Imager MAHLI instrument.

Fundamental studies concerning planetary quarantine in space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koike, J.; Hori, T.; Katahira, Y.; Koike, K. A.; Tanaka, K.; Kobayashi, K.; Kawasaki, Y.

If there is a possibility that the organisms carried from Earth to space can live for a significant period on planets, the contamination of planets should be prevented for the purpose of future life-detection experiments. In connection with quarantine for interplanetary missions, we have examined the survivabilities of terrestrial microorganisms under simulated space conditions /1-8/. In this study, examined the survivabilities of terrestrial organisms under simulated Mars conditions. The Mars conditions were simulated by ultraviolet (UV) and proton irradiation under low temperature, high vacuum, and simulated gaseous conditions. After exposure to the simulated Mars condition, the survivabilities of the organisms were examined. The spores of Bacillus subtilis andAspergillus niger , some anaerobic bacterias and algaes, showed considerably high survivabilities even after UV and proton irradiation corresponding to 200 years on Mars. This subject is not restricted to academic curiosity but concerns problems involving the contamination of Mars with terrestrial organisms carried by space-probes.

A Growing Disconnection From Nature Is Evident in Cultural Products.

PubMed

Kesebir, Selin; Kesebir, Pelin

2017-03-01

Human connection with nature is widely believed to be in decline even though empirical evidence is scarce on the magnitude and historical pattern of the change. Studying works of popular culture in English throughout the 20th century and later, we have documented a cultural shift away from nature that begins in the 1950s. Since then, references to nature have been decreasing steadily in fiction books, song lyrics, and film storylines, whereas references to the human-made environment have not. The observed temporal pattern is consistent with the explanatory role of increased virtual and indoors recreation options (e.g., television, video games) in the disconnect from nature, and it is inconsistent with a pure urbanization account. These findings are cause for concern, not only because they imply foregone physical and psychological benefits from engagement with nature, but also because cultural products are agents of socialization that can evoke curiosity, respect, and concern for the natural world.

Integrated Results from Analysis of the Rocknest Aeolian Deposit by the Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leshin, L. A.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Blake, D. F.; Edgett, K. S.; Gellert, R.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Malin, M. C.; Wiens, R. C.; Treiman, A. H.; Ming, D. W.;

Calcium Sulfate Characterized by ChemCam/Curiosity at Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nachon, M.; Clegg, S. N.; Mangold, N.; Schroeder, S.; Kah, L. C.; Dromart, G.; Ollila, A.; Johnson, J. R.; Oehler, D. Z.; Bridges, J. C.;

Energy Transformation Topic: Correlation between Pre-Classroom Reading Activity and Students’ Curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muttaqiin, A.; Sopandi, W.

2017-09-01

This research aimed to analyze the correlation between pre-classroom reading activity and students’ curiosity to science. 31 participants were selected randomly from one of the junior high schools in Cimahi. Spearman’s correlation was chosen since the data from two variables were not normally distributed. The result shows that there was a weak correlation between reading before learning and students’ curiosity in the classroom and it was not significant. Several factors influence this result, one of them was students’ reluctant in daily reading to science content.

The State of Federal Research Funding in Genetics as Reflected by Members of the Genetics Society of America.

PubMed

Rine, Jasper; Fagen, Adam P

2015-08-01

Scientific progress runs on the intellect, curiosity, and passion of its practitioners fueled by the research dollars of its sponsors. The concern over research funding in biology in general and genetics in particular led us to survey the membership of the Genetics Society of America for information about the federal support of genetics at the level of individual principal investigators. The results paint a mosaic of circumstances-some good, others not so good-that describes some of our present challenges with sufficient detail to suggest useful steps that could address the challenges. Copyright © 2015 by the Genetics Society of America.

The State of Federal Research Funding in Genetics as Reflected by Members of the Genetics Society of America

PubMed Central

Rine, Jasper; Fagen, Adam P.

2015-01-01

Scientific progress runs on the intellect, curiosity, and passion of its practitioners fueled by the research dollars of its sponsors. The concern over research funding in biology in general and genetics in particular led us to survey the membership of the Genetics Society of America for information about the federal support of genetics at the level of individual principal investigators. The results paint a mosaic of circumstances—some good, others not so good—that describes some of our present challenges with sufficient detail to suggest useful steps that could address the challenges. PMID:26178966

Holography - Application To Art: Curatorial Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinsmore, Sydney

1987-06-01

An exploration of the need to define a specific and critical language to describe the art of holography. Within any discussion of art, critical analysis must maintain an objective openess, particularily when the discourse concerns new media. To apply technological invention to art, new media is often without precedent on which to base criticism and bias. For this reason, holography falls prey to comparative rhetoric and established evaluation of other forms of imaging,as photography emulated the compositional romanticism of painting initially. Isolated and often misunderstood within the context of history, new media vascillates between legitimacy and curiosity in an attempt to create specific parameters to identify perceptual transition.

Testing Precision of Movement of Curiosity Robotic Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-22

A NASA Mars Science Laboratory test rover called the Vehicle System Test Bed, or VSTB, at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA serves as the closest double for Curiosity in evaluations of the mission hardware and software.

Comparing Cumberland With Other Samples Analyzed by Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-12-16

This graphic offers comparisons between the amount of an organic chemical named chlorobenzene detected in the Cumberland rock sample and amounts of it in samples from three other Martian surface targets analyzed by NASA Curiosity Mars rover.

Portrait of APXS on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-12

This image shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer APXS on NASA Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background. This image let researchers know that the APXS instrument had not become caked with dust during Curiosity landing.

Curiosity Landscape Portrait in Context

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-07

This picture from NASA Curiosity rover puts a color view obtained by the rover in the context of a computer simulation derived from images acquired from orbiting spacecraft. The view looks north, showing the distant ridge of Gale Crater.

Curiosity ChemCam Analyzes Rocks, Soils and Dust

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-08

This diagram shows how materials analyzed by the ChemCam instrument on NASA Curiosity Mars rover during the first 100 Martian days of the mission differed with regard to hydrogen content horizontal axis and alkali vertical axis.

Mast Camera and Its Calibration Target on Curiosity Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-18

This set of images illustrates the twin cameras of the Mastcam instrument on NASA Curiosity Mars rover upper left, the Mastcam calibration target lower center, and the locations of the cameras and target on the rover.

Cumberland Target for Drilling by Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-05-09

Cumberland has been selected as the second target for drilling by NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The rover has the capability to collect powdered material from inside the target rock and analyze that powder with laboratory instruments.

Cumberland Selected as Curiosity Second Drilling Target

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-05-09

This map shows the location of Cumberland, the second rock-drilling target for NASA Mars rover Curiosity, in relation to the rover first drilling target, John Klein, within the southwestern lobe of a shallow depression called Yellowknife Bay.

Mountain Winds at Gale Crater

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-11-15

This graphic shows the pattern of winds predicted to be swirling around and inside Gale Crater, where NASA Curiosity rover landed on Mars. Modeling the winds gives scientists a context for the data from Curiosity Rover Environmental Monitoring Station

Flexing Curiosity's Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-06

This engineering drawing shows the arm on NASA's Curiosity's rover in its "ready-for-action" position, or "ready out" as engineers say, in addition to the position it assumes to drop off samples. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16147

Seasonal Cycles in Curiosity First Two Martian Years

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-05-11

By monitoring weather throughout two Martian years since landing in Gale Crater in 2012, NASA Curiosity Mars rover has documented seasonal patterns such as shown in these graphs of temperature, water-vapor content and air pressure.

Curiosity First Rock Star, Up-Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-17

This close-up image shows the first target NASA Curiosity rover aims to zap with its Chemistry and Camera ChemCam instrument. The instrument will analyze that spark with a telescope and identify the chemical elements in the target.

Signature of Hematite in Confidence Hills Martian Rock

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-04

This side-by-side comparison shows the X-ray diffraction patterns of two different samples collected from rocks on Mars by NASA Curiosity rover. The images present data obtained by Curiosity Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument CheMin.

Mars Descent Imager for Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-19

A pocketknife provides scale for this image of the Mars Descent Imager camera; the camera will fly on the Curiosity rover of NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., supplied the camera for the mission.

Curiosity First Scoop of Mars, in Vibration Movie

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-10-08

This image from a video shows the first Martian material collected by the scoop on the robotic arm of NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The material vibrated inside the scoop after it was lifted from the ground.

Compassion and Curiosity - TCGA

Cancer.gov

William Kim, M.D., is motivated by two things: compassion and curiosity. Dr. Kim has taken these dual motivations and created a career in which he cares directly for patients and spearheads research that may lead to improved treatment options.

Bright Days Ahead for Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-03-18

This image shows preparation for March 2011 testing of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, in a space-simulation chamber; the rover will go through operational sequences in environmental conditions similar to what it will experience on Mars.

Curiosity Leaves Its Mark

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-29

This image shows a close-up of track marks from the first test drive of NASA Curiosity rover. The rover arm is visible in the foreground. A close inspection of the tracks reveals a unique, repeating pattern: Morse code for JPL.

Watching Test Drives in California for Rover Mission to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-05-11

Michael Malin, left, principal investigator for three science cameras on NASA Curiosity Mars rover, comments to a news reporter during tests with Curiosity mobility-test stand-in, Scarecrow, on Dumont Dunes in California Mojave Desert.

Dreaming on Mars: How Curiosity Performs Actuator Warm-Up While Sleeping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Gene Y.; Donaldson, James A.

2013-01-01

Before the Curiosity rover can perform its science activities for the day, such as driving, moving its robotic arm, or drilling, it first has to ensure that its actuators are within their allowable flight temperatures (AFTs). When the rover is awake, flight software uses heaters to warm up and maintain thermal zones at operational temperatures. However, Curiosity spends about 70% of its time sleeping, with the flight computer off, in order to conserve energy. Dream Mode is a special behavior that allows the rover to execute warm-up activities while sleeping. Using Dream Mode, actuators can be warmed up to their AFTs before the flight computer wakes up and uses them - saving power and improving operational efficiency. This paper describes the motivation behind Dream Mode, how it was implemented and tested on Curiosity, and the challenges and lessons learned along the way.

Curiosity and time: from not knowing to almost knowing.

PubMed

Noordewier, Marret K; van Dijk, Eric

2017-04-01

How does it feel to be curious? We reasoned that there are two sides to curiosity: not knowing something (i.e. information-gap) and almost knowing something (i.e. anticipation of resolution). In three experiments, we showed that time affects the relative impact of these two components: When people did not expect to close their information-gap soon (long time-to-resolution) not knowing affected the subjective experience of curiosity more strongly than when they expected to close their information-gap quickly (short time-to-resolution). As such, people experienced less positive affect, more discomfort, and more annoyance with lack of information in a long than a short time-to-resolution situation. Moreover, when time in the long time-to-resolution setting passed, the anticipation of the resolution became stronger, positive affect increased, and discomfort and annoyance with lack of information decreased. Time is thus a key factor in the experience of curiosity.

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Martian Sand Dune

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-29

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at "Namib Dune," where the rover's activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis. The scene combines 57 images taken on Jan. 19, 2016, during the 1,228th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The camera used for this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Namib Dune is part of the dark-sand "Bagnold Dune Field" along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit have shown that dunes in the Bagnold field move as much as about 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year. The location of Namib Dune is show on a map of Curiosity's route at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=7640. The relationship of Bagnold Dune Field to the lower portion of Mount Sharp is shown in a map at PIA16064. The view does not include the rover's arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites, including "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Buckskin" (PIA19807). For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. Other Curiosity self-portraits are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20316

Stop the Pay, Stop the Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardiner, Steve

2014-01-01

While it may seem almost intuitive that offering rewards to students will yield better results, that is not how it works; the result often is the opposite. The paradox of rewards is that their effect often has a limited impact on students, who then will lose curiosity; it also makes them feel as if they are being controlled--a negative motivating…

Enhancing Competence and Autonomy in Computer-Based Instruction Using a Skill-Challenge Balancing Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jieun; Ryu, Hokyoung; Katuk, Norliza; Wang, Ruili; Choi, Gyunghyun

2014-01-01

The present study aims to show if a skill-challenge balancing (SCB) instruction strategy can assist learners to motivationally engage in computer-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory (self-control, curiosity, focus of attention, and intrinsic interest) was applied to an account of the optimal learning experience in SCB-based learning…

All Work and No Play Makes for a Dull Museum Visitor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grenier, Robin S.

2010-01-01

Play, along with curiosity, confidence, challenge, control, and communication, is one of six components of an intrinsically motivated museum experience (Perry, 1993). The potential of play in museums is centered in its ability to promote situations where a person is not only motivated to learn, but is propelled into the learning process, and finds…

From Asian curiosity to eruptive American pest: Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) and prospects for biological control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The kudzu bug or bean plataspid, Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius), is native to Asia where it appears to be widely distributed (although the taxonomy is not entirely clear), but is infrequently a pest of legumes. This bug appeared in 2009 in the southeastern United States, where it is closely associa...

Holt's Theories in the 1970s Ironically Become Predictions for the Next Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costley, Kevin C.

2011-01-01

John Holt was a revolutionary educational, published theorist of the 1970s and dared to report candidly his observations of public school classrooms. He found classrooms far too rigid, impersonal, and teacher-controlled. Children's thinking did not reach higher levels of critical thinking. Curiosity and creativity was stifled and stamped out. He…

Motivations, concerns and preferences of personal genome sequencing research participants: Baseline findings from the HealthSeq project

PubMed Central

Sanderson, Saskia C; Linderman, Michael D; Suckiel, Sabrina A; Diaz, George A; Zinberg, Randi E; Ferryman, Kadija; Wasserstein, Melissa; Kasarskis, Andrew; Schadt, Eric E

2016-01-01

Whole exome/genome sequencing (WES/WGS) is increasingly offered to ostensibly healthy individuals. Understanding the motivations and concerns of research participants seeking out personal WGS and their preferences regarding return-of-results and data sharing will help optimize protocols for WES/WGS. Baseline interviews including both qualitative and quantitative components were conducted with research participants (n=35) in the HealthSeq project, a longitudinal cohort study of individuals receiving personal WGS results. Data sharing preferences were recorded during informed consent. In the qualitative interview component, the dominant motivations that emerged were obtaining personal disease risk information, satisfying curiosity, contributing to research, self-exploration and interest in ancestry, and the dominant concern was the potential psychological impact of the results. In the quantitative component, 57% endorsed concerns about privacy. Most wanted to receive all personal WGS results (94%) and their raw data (89%); a third (37%) consented to having their data shared to the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP). Early adopters of personal WGS in the HealthSeq project express a variety of health- and non-health-related motivations. Almost all want all available findings, while also expressing concerns about the psychological impact and privacy of their results. PMID:26036856

A View From Below the Rover Deck

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-17

The Curiosity engineering team created this cylindrical projection view from images taken by NASA Curiosity rover rear hazard avoidance cameras underneath the rover deck on Sol 0. Pictured here are the pigeon-toed wheels in their stowed position from

Geological Diversity at Curiosity Landing Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-07-16

The area where NASA Curiosity rover will land on Aug. 5 PDT Aug. 6 EDT has a geological diversity that scientists are eager to investigate, as seen in this false-color map based on data from NASA Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Fish-eye View of NASA Curiosity Rover and its Powered Descent Vehicle

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-23

An engineer says goodbye to the Curiosity rover and its powered descent vehicle in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Spacecraft Assembly Facility shortly before the spacecraft was readied for shipment to Kennedy Space Center for launch.

Location of John Klein Drill Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-12

This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT Aug. 6, 2012 EDT and the location where Curiosity collected its first drilled sample at the John Klein rock.

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Windjana Drilling Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-06-23

NASA Curiosity Mars rover used the MAHLI camera at the end of its arm in April and May 2014 to take dozens of component images combined into this self-portrait where the rover drilled into a sandstone target called Windjana.

Drill Bit Tip on Mars Rover Curiosity, Head-on View

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-02-04

This head-on view shows the tip of the drill bit on NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The view merges two exposures taken by the remote micro-imager in the rover ChemCam instrument at different focus settings.

Curiosity Rover Self Portrait at John Klein Drilling Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-02-07

The rover is positioned at a patch of flat outcrop called John Klein, which was selected as the site for the first rock-drilling activities by NASA Curiosity. This self-portrait was acquired to document the drilling site.

Curiosity Rock-Contact Science Begins

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-24

This image shows the robotic arm of NASA Mars rover Curiosity with the first rock touched by an instrument on the arm. The rover placed the APXS instrument onto the rock to assess what chemical elements were present in the rock.

Curiosity Brushwork on Martian Bonanza King Target

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-18

NASA Curiosity Mars rover used the Dust Removal Tool on its robotic arm to brush aside reddish, more-oxidized dust, revealing a gray patch of less-oxidized rock material at a target called Bonanza King, visible from the rover Mastcam.

Curiosity New Home

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-08

These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover head or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground.

Methane Measurements by NASA Curiosity in Mars Gale Crater

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-12-16

This graphic shows tenfold spiking in the abundance of methane in the Martian atmosphere surrounding NASA Curiosity Mars rover, as detected by a series of measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer instrument in the rover laboratory suite.

JPL-20170801-MSLf-0001-Rover POV Five Years of Curiosity on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-08-02

Five years of images from the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity's Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) were used to create this time-lapse movie. An inset map shows the rover's location in Mars' Gale Crater.

Curiosity Mars Rover Flexes its Robotic Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-09-16

Test operators in a clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory monitor some of the first motions by the robotic arm on the Mars rover Curiosity after installation in August 2010. The arm is shown in a partially extended position.

Scooped Material on Rover Observation Tray

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-10-25

Sample material from the fourth scoop of Martian soil collected by NASA Mars rover Curiosity is on the rover observation tray in this image taken during the mission 78th Martian sol, Oct. 24, 2012 by Curiosity left Navigation Camera.

Curiosity First Radiation Measurements on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-08

Like a human working in a radiation environment, NASA Curiosity rover carries its own version of a dosimeter to measure radiation from outer space and the sun. This graphic shows the flux of radiation detected the rover Radiation Assessment Detector.

Close Look at Curiosity First Drive

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-29

A test operator in clean-room garb observes rolling of the wheels during the first drive test of NASA Curiosity rover, on July 23, 2010. Technicians and engineers conducted the drive test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Color Camera for Curiosity Robotic Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-11-16

The Mars Hand Lens Imager MAHLI camera will fly on NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission, launching in late 2011. This photo of the camera was taken before MAHLI November 2010 installation onto the robotic arm of the mission Mars rover, Curiosity.

Exposed by Rocket Engine Blasts

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-12

This color image from NASA Curiosity rover shows an area excavated by the blast of the Mars Science Laboratory descent stage rocket engines. This is part of a larger, high-resolution color mosaic made from images obtained by Curiosity Mast Camera.

Curiosity First Rock Star

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-17

This mosaic image shows the first target NASA Curiosity rover aims to zap ChemCam instrument. ChemCam will be firing a laser at this rock, provisionally named N165, and analyzing the glowing, ionized gas, called plasma, that the laser excites.

Dust Detection by Curiosity ChemCam

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-08

The ChemCam instrument on NASA Curiosity Mars rover fired its laser 50 times at its onboard graphite target showing spectral measurements from the first shot, which hit dust on the target, compared to spectral measurements of from the 50th shot.

Curiosity Sky Crane Maneuver, Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-10-03

This artist concept shows the sky crane maneuver during the descent of NASA Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. The sheer size of the rover over one ton, or 900 kilograms would preclude it from taking advantage of an airbag-assisted landing.

A Set of Blast Marks in Color, Left Side

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-09

This cut-out from a color panorama image taken by NASA Curiosity rover shows the effects of the descent stage rocket engines blasting the ground. It comes from the left side of the thumbnail panorama obtained by Curiosity Mast Camera.

Curiosity Conducting Mini-Drill Test at Mojave

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-01-14

This view NASA Curiosity Mars Rover shows the rover drill in position for a mini-drill test to assess whether a rock target called Mojave is appropriate for full-depth drilling to collect a sample. It was taken on Jan. 13, 2015.

Curiosity Drill in Place for Load Testing Before Drilling

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-01-28

The percussion drill in the turret of tools at the end of the robotic arm of NASA Mars rover Curiosity has been positioned in contact with the rock surface in this image from the rover front Hazard-Avoidance Camera Hazcam.

Weather Sensors from Spain on Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-11-30

Sensors on two finger-like mini-booms extending horizontally from the mast of NASA Mars rover Curiosity will monitor wind speed, wind direction and air temperature; image taken during installation of the instrument inside a clean room at NASA JPL.

Arm and Mast of NASA Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-06

The arm and the remote sensing mast of the Mars rover Curiosity each carry science instruments and other tools for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission. This image shows the arm on the left and the mast just right of center.

Image Relayed by MAVEN Mars Orbiter from Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-10

The first demonstration of NASA MAVEN Mars orbiter capability to relay data from a Mars surface mission, on Nov. 6, 2014, included this image, taken Oct. 23, 2014, by Curiosity Navigation Camera, showing part of Pahrump Hills outcrop.

Preparing for Solar and Thermal Testing of Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-03-18

This image shows preparation for March 2011 testing of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, in a space-simulation chamber; the rover will go through operational sequences in environmental conditions similar to what it will experience on Mars.

Full-Circle Vista from Naukluft Plateau on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-04-27

This mid-afternoon, 360-degree panorama was acquired by NASA Curiosity Mars rover on April 4, 2016, as part of long-term campaign to document the context and details of the geology and landforms along Curiosity traverse inside Gale Crater.

Variation in Water Content in Martian Subsurface Along Curiosity Traverse

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-18

This set of graphs shows variation in the amount and the depth of water detected beneath NASA Mars rover Curiosity by use of the rover Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons DAN instrument at different points the rover has driven.

Exploration of Mars with the ChemCam LIBS Instrument and the Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newsom, Horton E.

2016-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012, and has been exploring the planet ever since. Dr. Horton E. Newsom will discuss the MSL's design and main goal, which is to characterize past environments that may have been conducive to the evolution and sustainability of life. He will also discuss Curiosity's science payload, and remote sensing, analytical capabilities, and direct discoveries of the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which is the first Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) to operate on another planetary surface and determine the chemistry of the rocks and soils.

Curiosity on the Naukluft Plateau

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-06-22

This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows the Curiosity rover currently located on the Naukluft Plateau just north of the Bagnold Dune field. Its position was captured by HiRISE on 25 March 2016 (MSL Sol 1291. Views from the surface at this location are available here and here.) The rover is within sandstone outcrops informally named the "Stimson Formation." There are no obvious rover tracks in the HiRISE views indicating that this bedrock contains little dust that otherwise could be disturbed by the rover wheels as has been seen earlier in Curiosity's traverse. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20738

Mid-2017 Map of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-07-11

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in July 2017, and its planned path to additional geological layers of lower Mount Sharp. The blue star near top center marks "Bradbury Landing," the site where Curiosity arrived on Mars on Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time). Blue triangles mark waypoints investigated by Curiosity on the floor of Gale Crater and, starting with "Pahrump Hills," on Mount Sharp. The Sol 1750 label identifies the rover's location on July 9, 2017, the 1,750th Martian day, or sol, since the landing. In July 2017, the mission is examining "Vera Rubin Ridge" from the downhill side of the ridge. Spectrometry observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have detected hematite, an iron-oxide mineral, in the ridge. Curiosity's planned route continues to the top of the ridge and then to geological units where clay minerals and sulfate minerals have been detected from orbit. The base image for the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. North is up. "Bagnold Dunes" form a band of dark, wind-blown material at the foot of Mount Sharp. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21720

Testing New Techniques for Mars Rover Rock-Drilling

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-23

In the summer and fall of 2017, the team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover conducted tests in the "Mars Yard" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, to develop techniques that Curiosity might be able to use to resume drilling into rocks on Mars. JPL robotics engineer Vladimir Arutyunov, in this June 29, 2017, photo, checks the test rover's drill bit at its contact point with a rock. Note that the stabilizer post visible to the right of the bit is not in contact with the rock, unlike the positioning used and photographed by Curiosity when drilling into rocks on Mars in 2013 to 2016. In late 2016, after Curiosity's drill had collected sample material from 15 Martian rocks, the drill's feed mechanism ceased working reliably. That motorized mechanism moved the bit forward or back with relation to the stabilizer posts on either side of the bit. In normal drilling by Curiosity, the stabilizers were positioned on the target rock first, and then the feed mechanism extended the rotation-percussion bit into the rock. In the alternative technique seen here, called "feed-extended drilling," the test rover's stabilizers are not used to touch the rock. The bit is advanced into the rock by motion of the robotic arm rather than the drill's feed mechanism. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22061

Glimpse of Bagnold Dunes Edging Mount Sharp

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-16

The dark band in the lower portion of this Martian scene is part of the "Bagnold Dunes" dune field lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater. The view combines multiple images taken with the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Sept. 25, 2015, during the 1,115th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The images are from Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens. The view is toward south-southeast. Curiosity will visit examples of the Bagnold Dunes on the rover's route to higher layers of Mount Sharp. The informal name for the dune field is a tribute to British military engineer Ralph Bagnold (1896-1990), a pioneer in the study of how winds move sand particles of dunes on Earth. The dune field is evident as a dark band in orbital images of the area inside Gale Crater where Curiosity has been active since landing in 2012, such as a traverse map at PIA20162. Dunes are larger than wind-blown ripples of sand or dust that Curiosity and other rovers have visited previously. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19929

KSC-2011-7879

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-22

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is host to a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) science briefing as part of preflight activities for the MSL mission. From left, NASA Public Affairs Officer Guy Webster moderates the conference featuring Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program; John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.; Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations on Curiosity, Malin Space Science Systems; Roger Wiens, principal investigator for Chemistry and Camera investigation on Curiosity, Los Alamos National Laboratory; David Blake, NASA principal investigator for Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation on Curiosity, NASA Ames Research Center; and Paul Mahaffy, NASA principal investigator for Sample Analysis at Mars investigation on Curiosity, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2011-7878

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-22

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is host to a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) science briefing as part of preflight activities for the MSL mission. From left, NASA Public Affairs Officer Guy Webster moderates the conference featuring Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program; John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.; Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations on Curiosity, Malin Space Science Systems; Roger Wiens, principal investigator for Chemistry and Camera investigation on Curiosity, Los Alamos National Laboratory; David Blake, NASA principal investigator for Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation on Curiosity, NASA Ames Research Center; and Paul Mahaffy, NASA principal investigator for Sample Analysis at Mars investigation on Curiosity, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Curiosity First 16 Rock or Soil Sampling Sites on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-03

This graphic maps locations of the sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected its first 18 rock or soil samples for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the drilled holes where 14 rock-powder samples were acquired. Curiosity scooped two soil samples at each of the other two sites: Rocknest and Gobabeb. The diameter of each drill hole is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters), slightly smaller than a U.S. dime. The images used here are raw color, as recorded by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera. Notice the differences in color of the material at different drilling sites. For the map, north is toward upper left corner. The scale bar represents 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). The base map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The latest sample site included is "Quela,"where Curiosity drilled into bedrock of the Murray formation on Sept. 18, 2016, during the 1,464th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Curiosity landed in August 2012 on the plain (named Aeolis Palus) near Mount Sharp (or Aeolis Mons). More drilling samples collected by MSL are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20845

How Systems Engineering and Risk Management Defend Against Murphy's Law and Human Error

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bay, Michael; Connley, Warren

2004-01-01

Systems Engineering and Risk Management processes can work synergistically to defend against the causes of many mission ending failures. Defending against mission ending failures is facilitated by fostering a team that has a healthy respect for Murphy's Law and a team with a of curiosity for how things work, how they can fail, and what they need to know. This curiosity is channeled into making the unknowns known or what is uncertain more certain. Efforts to assure mission success require the expenditure of energy in the following areas: 1. Understanding what defines Mission Success as guided by the customer's needs, objectives and constraints. 2. Understanding how the system is supposed to work and how the system is to be produced, fueled by the curiosity of how the system should work and how it should be produced. 3. Understanding how the system can fail and how the system might not be produced on time and within cost, fueled by the curiosity of how the system might fail and how production might be difficult. 4. Understanding what we need to know and what we need learn for proper completion of the above three items, fueled by the curiosity of what we might not know in order to make the best decisions.

The analysis of student’s critical thinking ability on discovery learning by using hand on activity based on the curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulistiani, E.; Waluya, S. B.; Masrukan

2018-03-01

This study aims to determine (1) the effectiveness of Discovery Learning model by using Hand on Activity toward critical thinking abilities, and (2) to describe students’ critical thinking abilities in Discovery Learning by Hand on Activity based on curiosity. This study is mixed method research with concurrent embedded design. Sample of this study are students of VII A and VII B of SMP Daarul Qur’an Ungaran. While the subject in this study is based on the curiosity of the students groups are classified Epistemic Curiosity (EC) and Perceptual Curiosity (PC). The results showed that the learning of Discovery Learning by using Hand on Activity is effective toward mathematics critical thinking abilities. Students of the EC type are able to complete six indicators of mathematics critical thinking abilities, although there are still two indicators that the result is less than the maximum. While students of PC type have not fully been able to complete the indicator of mathematics critical thinking abilities. They are only strong on indicators formulating questions, while on the other five indicators they are still weak. The critical thinking abilities of EC’s students is better than the critical thinking abilities of the PC’s students.

Curiosity Uses X-ray Instrument Data for Proximity Placement

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-23

NASA Mars rover Curiosity used a new technique, with added autonomy for the rover, in placement of the tool-bearing turret on its robotic arm. The technique is used to assess how close the instrument is to a soil or rock surface.

Creativity, Curiosity, Exploded Chickens.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seal, David O.

1995-01-01

A discussion of creativity and curiosity, particularly in the context of college instruction, examines two psychological models of creativity, the cognitive approach of Howard Gardner and one aligned with depth psychology (James Hillman). Commonalities are noted: preference for mess over management and for boundaries transgressed rather than…

Curiosity Launch Vehicle, Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-10-03

This artist concept is of the Atlas V541 launch vehicle that will carry NASA Curiosity rover on its way to Mars. The Atlas V 541 vehicle was selected as it has the right liftoff capability for heavy weight requirements of the rover and its spacecraft.

First Color Landscape Image of Mars from Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-07

This view of the landscape to the north of NASA Mars rover Curiosity acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on the afternoon of the first day of landing. In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater.

Russian Hydrogen-Checking Instrument on Curiosity Fires 2 Millionth Pulse

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-29

Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons DAN, measures the flow of neutrons with different energy levels returning from the ground, and their delay times, as an indication of the amount and depth of hydrogen in the ground beneath the NASA rover, Curiosity.

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity at JPL, Side View

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-06

The rover for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission, named Curiosity, is about 3 meters 10 feet long, not counting the additional length that the rover arm can be extended forward. The front of the rover is on the left in this side view.

Curiosity ChemCam Removes Dust

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-08

This pair of images taken a few minutes apart show how laser firing by NASA Mars rover Curiosity removes dust from the surface of a rock. The images were taken by the remote micro-imager camera in the laser-firing Chemistry and Camera ChemCam.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

John Grant, geologist and long-term planner, Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory, discusses what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers during a “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Curiosity: The Next Mars Rover Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-05-19

This artist concept features NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars past or present ability to sustain microbial life. The rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover arm.

Test Rover Aids Preparations in California for Curiosity Rover on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-05-11

NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission team members ran mobility tests on the test rover called Scarecrow on sand dunes near Death Valley, Ca. in early May 2012 in preparation for operating the Curiosity rover, currently en route to Mars.

Curiosity predicts smoking experimentation independent of susceptibility in a US national sample.

PubMed

Nodora, Jesse; Hartman, Sheri J; Strong, David R; Messer, Karen; Vera, Lisa E; White, Martha M; Portnoy, David B; Choiniere, Conrad J; Vullo, Genevieve C; Pierce, John P

2014-12-01

To improve smoking prevention efforts, better methods for identifying at-risk youth are needed. The widely used measure of susceptibility to smoking identifies at-risk adolescents; however, it correctly identifies only about one third of future smokers. Adding curiosity about smoking to this susceptibility index may allow us to identify a greater proportion of future smokers while they are still pre-teens. We use longitudinal data from a recent national study on parenting to prevent problem behaviors. Only oldest children between 10 and 13years of age were eligible. Participants were identified by RDD survey and followed for 6years. All baseline never smokers with at least one follow-up assessment were included (n=878). The association of curiosity about smoking with future smoking behavior was assessed. Then, curiosity was added to form an enhanced susceptibility index and sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value were calculated. Among committed never smokers at baseline, those who were 'definitely not curious' were less likely to progress toward smoking than both those who were 'probably not curious' (ORadj=1.89; 95% CI=1.03-3.47) or 'probably/definitely curious' (ORadj=2.88; 95% CI=1.11-7.45). Incorporating curiosity into the susceptibility index increased the proportion identified as at-risk to smoke from 25.1% to 46.9%. The sensitivity (true positives) for this enhanced susceptibility index for both experimentation and established smoking increased from 37-40% to over 50%, although the positive predictive value did not improve. The addition of curiosity significantly improves the identification and classification of which adolescents will experiment with smoking or become established smokers. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ever-Use and Curiosity About Cigarettes, Cigars, Smokeless Tobacco, and Electronic Cigarettes Among US Middle and High School Students, 2012-2014.

PubMed

Persoskie, Alexander; Donaldson, Elisabeth A; King, Brian A

2016-09-22

Among young people, curiosity about tobacco products is a primary reason for tobacco experimentation and is a risk factor for future use. We examined whether curiosity about and ever-use of tobacco products among US middle and high school students changed from 2012 to 2014. Data came from the 2012 and 2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys, nationally representative surveys of US students in grades 6 through 12. For cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes (2014 only), students were classified as ever-users or never-users of each product. Among never-users, curiosity about using each product was assessed by asking participants if they had "definitely," "probably," "probably not," or "definitely not" been curious about using the product. From 2012 to 2014, there were declines in ever-use of cigarettes (26% to 22%; P = .005) and cigars (21% to 18%; P = .003) overall and among students who were Hispanic (cigarettes, P = .001; cigars, P = .001) or black (cigarettes, P = .004; cigars, P = .01). The proportion of never-users reporting they were "definitely not" curious increased for cigarettes (51% to 54%; P = .01) and cigars (60% to 63%; P = .03). Ever-use and curiosity about smokeless tobacco did not change significantly from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, the proportion of young people who were "definitely" or "probably" curious never-users of each product was as follows: cigarettes, 11.4%; e-cigarettes, 10.8%; cigars, 10.3%; and smokeless tobacco, 4.4%. The proportion of US students who are never users and are not curious about cigarettes and cigars increased. However, many young people remain curious about tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Understanding factors driving curiosity can inform tobacco use prevention for youth.

Break in Raised Tread on Curiosity Wheel

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-03-21

Two of the raised treads, called grousers, on the left middle wheel of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover broke during the first quarter of 2017, including the one seen partially detached at the top of the wheel in this image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the rover's arm. This image was taken on March 19, 2017, as part of a set used by rover team members to inspect the condition of the rover's six wheels during the 1,641st Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. Holes and tears in the wheels worsened significantly during 2013 as Curiosity was crossing terrain studded with sharp rocks on the route from near its 2012 landing site to the base of Mount Sharp. Team members have used MAHLI systematically since then to watch for when any of the zig-zag shaped grousers begin to break. The last prior set of wheel-inspection images from before Sol 1641 was taken on Jan. 27, 2017, (Sol 1591) and revealed no broken grousers. Longevity testing with identical aluminum wheels on Earth indicates that when three grousers on a given wheel have broken, that wheel has reached about 60 percent of its useful life. Curiosity has driven well over 60 percent of the amount needed for reaching all the geological layers planned as the mission's science destinations, so the start of seeing broken grousers is not expected to affect the mission's operations. Curiosity's six aluminum wheels are about 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. Each of the six wheels has its own drive motor, and the four corner wheels also have steering motors. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21486

A Research Preparatory Program for First-Year College Students: Student Selection and Preparation Lead to Persistence in Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baiduc, Rachael R.; Drane, Denise; Beitel, Greg J.; Flores, Luke C.

2017-01-01

Undergraduate research experiences may increase persistence in STEM majors. We describe a research program that targets first-year students selected for their curiosity and attitudes towards science. We explain the implementation of the program over 3 years and present evaluation data using a group of matched controls. Participants and controls…

Full Curiosity Traverse Passes One-Mile Mark

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-02

The total distance driven by NASA Mars rover Curiosity passed the one-mile mark a few days before the first anniversary of the rover landing on Mars. The mapped area is within Gale Crater, and north of Mount Sharp, in the middle of the crater.

Lincoln Penny on Mars in Camera Calibration Target

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-09-10

The penny in this image is part of a camera calibration target on NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The MAHLI camera on the rover took this image of the MAHLI calibration target during the 34th Martian day of Curiosity work on Mars, Sept. 9, 2012.

Preparatory Test for First Rock Drilling by Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-02-04

The bit in the rotary-percussion drill of NASA Mars rover Curiosity left its mark in a target patch of rock called John Klein during a test on Feb. 2, 2013, in preparation for the first drilling of a rock by the rover.

IDEA: La Curiosidad Se Manifesta en "El Cuaderno de las Preguntas" (IDEA: Curiosity Rears Its Head in "The Question Notebook").

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Modern, Nancy Wheaton

1996-01-01

Through the use of a question notebook, students can practice grammar and develop their vocabulary. This class activity also helps students to begin to write and express their own curiosity. (Author/CK)

Contact Instrument Calibration Targets on Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-07

Two instruments at the end of the robotic arm on NASA Mars rover Curiosity will use calibration targets attached to a shoulder joint of the arm. The penny is a size reference giving the public a familiar object for perceiving size on Mars easily.

Target for 100,000th Laser Shot by Curiosity on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-05

Since landing on Mars in August 2012, NASA Curiosity Mars rover has fired the laser on its Chemistry and Camera ChemCam instrument more than 100,000 times at rock and soil targets up to about 23 feet 7 meters away.

Mars Rock Rocknest 3 Imaged by Curiosity ChemCam

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-11-26

This view of a rock called Rocknest 3 combines two images taken by the Chemistry and Camera ChemCam instrument on the NASA Mars rover Curiosity and indicates five spots where ChemCam had hit the rock with laser pulses to check its composition.

NASA Curiosity Rover in Profile

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-12-09

About the size of a small SUV, NASA Curiosity rover is well equipped for a tour of Gale Crater on Mars. This impressive rover has six-wheel drive and the ability to turn in place a full 360 degrees, as well as the agility to climb steep hills.

Hole at Telegraph Peak Drilled by Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-02-25

This hole, with a diameter slightly smaller than a U.S. dime, was drilled by NASA Curiosity Mars rover into a rock target called Telegraph Peak. The rock is located within the basal layer of Mount Sharp. The hole was drilled on Feb. 24, 2015.

Celebrate Mathematical Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redford, Christine

2011-01-01

Children's mathematical questions are often based in real-world experiences, as they instinctively make connections to the world around them. In teaching math methods courses, this author recently started to emphasize the importance of fostering curiosity in, and activating the thinking of, the students. In this article, she describes how to tap…

Developing Critical Curiosity in Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Shelby; Seider, Scott

2017-01-01

Critical consciousness refers to the ways in which individuals come to understand and challenge oppressive social forces. Philosopher-educator Paulo Freire argued that critical curiosity--an eagerness to learn more about and develop a deep understanding of issues of social justice--serves as an important catalyst to critical consciousness…

Teaching Inquiry with a Lens toward Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von Renesse, Christine; Ecke, Volker

2017-01-01

This paper links educational psychology research about curiosity to teacher moves that are effective in an inquiry-based mathematics classroom. Three vignettes will show explicit teacher moves (staging disagreement, intriguing anecdotes, and creating a safe space) for different audiences (math majors, mathematics for liberal arts students, and…

Making Students More Curious

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willingham, Daniel

2014-01-01

A connection between creativity and curiosity may seem self evident, and, indeed, psychologists and philosophers have long held that creativity and curiosity are related. It seems logical enough. One can imagine that the typical individual is satisfied by the usual solution to a problem or the usual way to conceptualize a situation, but the…

Drill Bit Tip on Mars Rover Curiosity, Side View

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-02-04

The shape of the tip of the bit in the drill of NASA Mars rover Curiosity is apparent in this view recorded by the remote micro-imager in the rover ChemCam instrument on Mars. Jan. 29, 2012; the bit is about 0.6 inch 1.6 centimeters wide.

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Expedition 35/36 NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, left on screen, is seen on a live feed from the International Space Station as they participate in a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Children's Need to Know: Curiosity in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engel, Susan

2011-01-01

In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between…

Curiosity Rover's First Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-06

Expedition 35/36 NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, right on screen, is seen on a live feed from the International Space Station as they participate in a public event at NASA Headquarters observing the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity and Its Role in Cross-Cultural Knowledge Creation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikhaylov, Natalie S.

2016-01-01

This paper explores the role of curiosity in promoting cross-cultural knowledge creation and competence development. It is based on a study with four international higher educational institutions, all of which offer management and business education for local and international students. The reality of multicultural and intercultural relationships…

Questions, Curiosity and the Inquiry Cycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casey, Leo

2014-01-01

This article discusses the conceptual relationship between questions, curiosity and learning as inquiry elaborated in the work of Chip Bruce and others as the Inquiry Cycle. The Inquiry Cycle describes learning in terms of a continuous dynamic of ask, investigate, create, discuss and reflect. Of these elements "ask" has a privileged…

Drawing on Curiosity: Between Two Worlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wigglesworth, Ron

2017-01-01

This narrative of my research on drawing shares my experience of relearning drawing by hand and how the act of drawing can stimulate curiosity. This article examines its potential to enhance learning/observation in science. It describes a kinaesthetic drawing methodology and addresses pedagogical solutions for overcoming a student's declaration…

Curioser and Curioser: New Concepts in the Rapidly Changing Landscape of Educational Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Frances C.

1999-01-01

The new "Handbook" assumes that society is changing rapidly and educational administration must change with it. This article critiques chapters on four concepts: ideology, the new consumerism, social capital, and the new institutionalism. Consumerism is pure 19th-century liberalism/individualism; social capital theory and…

Typical intellectual engagement and cognition in old age.

PubMed

Dellenbach, Myriam; Zimprich, Daniel

2008-03-01

Typical Intellectual Engagement (TIE) comprises the preference to engage in cognitively demanding activities and has been proposed as a potential explanatory variable of individual differences in cognitive abilities. Little is known, however, about the factorial structure of TIE, its relations to socio-demographic variables, and its influence on intellectual functioning in old age. In the present study, data of 364 adults (65-81 years) from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging (ZULU) were used to investigate the factorial structure of TIE and to examine the hypothesis that TIE is associated more strongly with crystallized intelligence than with fluid intelligence in old age. A measurement model of a second order factor based on a structure of four correlated first order factors (Reading, Problem Solving, Abstract Thinking, and Intellectual Curiosity) evinced an excellent fit. After controlling for age, sex, and formal education, TIE was more strongly associated with crystallized intelligence than with fluid intelligence, comparable to results in younger persons. More detailed analyses showed that this association is mostly defined via Reading and Intellectual Curiosity.

Proceedings of Selected Research and Development Presentations at the 1995 National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Sponsored by the Research and Theory Division (17th, Anaheim, CA, 1995).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simonson, Michael R., Ed.; Anderson, Mary Lagomarcino, Ed.

1995-01-01

This Proceedings volume contains 67 papers. Subjects addressed include: learner curiosity; interpretation construction design; cognitive task analysis; constructivist learning materials and instructional design; learning from video; copyright knowledge levels of media directors; instructional theory for learner control; teacher planning and…

White House Science Fair

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-22

Planetary Society Executive Director and “Bill Nye the Science Guy” host Bill Nye, right, photographs himself with NASA Mars Curiosity Landing mission controller, Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi, during the White House Science Fair held at the White House, April 22, 2013. The science fair celebrated student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Brushed Vein in 'Rona' on 'Vera Rubin Ridge'

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-08

A mineral vein with bright and dark portions dominates this image of a Martian rock target called "Rona," which is near the southern, upper edge of "Vera Rubin Ridge" on Mount Sharp. The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this image on Jan. 17, 2018, during the 1,937th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The grayer area in the center is roughly 2 inches by 3 inches (about 5 by 8 centimeters). That area, including a portion of the vein, was brushed with the Curiosity's wire-bristled Dust Removal Tool before the image was taken. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22214

Mars Weather-Station Tools on Rover Mast

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-04-13

The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover includes temperature and humidity sensors mounted on the rover's mast. One of the REMS booms extends to the left from the mast in this view. Spain provided REMS to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project. The monitoring station has provided information about air pressure, relative humidity, air temperature, ground temperature, wind and ultraviolet radiation in all Martian seasons and at all times of day or night. This view is a detail from a January 2015 Curiosity self-portrait. The self-portrait, at PIA19142, was assembled from images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19164

Thirst for Knowledge: The Effects of Curiosity and Interest on Memory in Younger and Older Adults

PubMed Central

McGillivray, Shannon; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.

2015-01-01

Given age-related memory impairments, one’s level of curiosity or interest could enhance memory for certain information. In the current study, younger and older adults read trivia questions, rated how curious they were to learn each answer, provided confidence and interest ratings, and judgments of learning (JOL) after learning the answer. No age-related differences in memory were found. Analyses indicated that curiosity and interest contributed to the formation of JOLs. Additionally, interest had a unique increasing relationship with older, but not younger, adults’ memory performance after a week. The results suggest that subjective interest may serve to enhance older adults’ memory. PMID:26479013

Thirst for knowledge: The effects of curiosity and interest on memory in younger and older adults.

PubMed

McGillivray, Shannon; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D

2015-12-01

Given age-related memory impairments, one's level of curiosity or interest could enhance memory for certain information. In the current study, younger and older adults read trivia questions, rated how curious they were to learn each answer, provided confidence and interest ratings, and judgments of learning after learning the answer. No age-related differences in memory were found. Analyses indicated that curiosity and interest contributed to the formation of judgments of learning. Additionally, interest had a unique increasing relationship with older, but not younger, adults' memory performance after a one-week delay. The results suggest that subjective interest may serve to enhance older adults' memory. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The Geologic Exploration of the Bagnold Dune Field at Gale Crater by the Curiosity Rover

PubMed Central

Chojnacki, Matthew; Fenton, Lori K.

2018-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity engaged in a monthlong campaign investigating the Bagnold dune field in Gale crater. What represents the first in situ investigation of a dune field on another planet has resulted in a number of discoveries. Collectively, the Curiosity rover team has compiled the most comprehensive survey of any extraterrestrial aeolian system visited to date with results that yield important insights into a number of processes, including sediment transport, bed form morphology and structure, chemical and physical composition of aeolian sand, and wind regime characteristics. These findings and more are provided in detail by the JGR-Planets Special Issue Curiosity’s Bagnold Dunes Campaign, Phase I. PMID:29564198

Curiosity Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelsen, Jane; DeLorenzo, Chip

2010-01-01

Have you ever found yourself lecturing a child, with the best of intentions, in an attempt to help him or her learn a lesson or process a situation in a manner that you feel will be productive? Curiosity questions, which the authors also call What and How questions, help children process an experience, event, or natural consequence so that they…

Appreciation of Authenticity Promotes Curiosity: Implications for Object-Based Learning in Museums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunce, Louise

2016-01-01

Museum professionals suppose that interacting with authentic objects promotes curiosity and engagement, but this has not been tested. In this research, children and adults visiting the Oxford University Museum of Natural History were shown a taxidermied rabbit or rabbit skeleton. They were asked "Is it real?," "Why?" and were…

Pre-Schoolers' Verbal and Behavioral Responses as Indicators of Attitudes and Scientific Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baruch, Yael Kesner; Spektor-Levy, Ornit; Mashal, Nira

2016-01-01

Today, early science education is a well-accepted view. Enhancing children's curiosity about the natural world and fostering positive attitudes toward science are primary goals of science education. However, questions remain regarding the appropriate ways to identify, nurture, and study these emotional states in pre-schoolers. This study examines…

Curiosity + Kindergarten = Future Scientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flannagan, Jenny Sue; Rockenbaugh, Liesl

2010-01-01

Carefully crafted experiences in the early childhood classroom can create learning opportunities for children that allow one curiosity to lead to another. Learning how to find out answers to fascinating questions is what science is all about. In fact, it can be as simple as learning how an ordinary egg can be changed. For the past year, the…

The WWW Cabinet of Curiosities: A Serendipitous Research Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Josie

2012-01-01

This paper proposes that the WWW is able to be fruitfully understood as a research tool when we utilise the metaphor of the cabinet of curiosities, the wunderkammer. It unpeels some of the research attributes of the metaphor as it reveals the multiplicity of connectivity on the web that provides serendipitous interactions between unexpected…

Making Curiosity Accessible: Lynne Cutler--Oakland Public Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Library Journal, 2004

2004-01-01

Lynne Cutler's driving force is the intense curiosity that led her to audit 24 additional courses while studying librarianship. It is what drives her to make Oakland Public Library's services available to those with disabilities, so that everyone can have "access to all the things in life I treasure, like books, words, music, art,…

Curiosity: A Prerequisite for the Attainment of Formal Operations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Vincent J.

1982-01-01

Research on Piaget's four stages of cognitive development has shown that although nearly everyone passes through sensorimotor, preoperational, and concrete operational stages, most do not reach the stage of formal operations. Those people who do attain formal operations seem to have a curiosity factor not operative in those who don't. (Author/BRR)

Reasons for Electronic Cigarette Experimentation and Discontinuation Among Adolescents and Young Adults.

PubMed

Kong, Grace; Morean, Meghan E; Cavallo, Dana A; Camenga, Deepa R; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra

2015-07-01

Understanding why young people try and stop electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is critical to inform e-cigarette regulatory efforts. We conducted 18 focus groups (N = 127) in 1 middle school (MS), 2 high schools (HSs), and 2 colleges in Connecticut to assess themes related to e-cigarette experimentation and discontinuation. We then conducted surveys to evaluate these identified themes in 2 MSs, 4 HSs, and 1 college (N = 1,175) to explore whether reasons for e-cigarette experimentation and/or discontinuation differed by school level or cigarette smoking status. From the focus groups, we identified experimentation themes (i.e., curiosity, flavors, family/peer influence, easy access, and perceptions of e-cigarettes as "cool" and as a healthier/better alternative to cigarettes) and discontinuation themes (i.e., health concerns, loss of interest, high cost, bad taste, and view of e-cigarettes as less satisfying than cigarettes). The survey data showed that the top reasons for experimentation were curiosity (54.4%), appealing flavors (43.8%), and peer influences (31.6%), and the top reasons for discontinuation were responses related to losing interest (23.6%), perceiving e-cigarettes as "uncool" (16.3%), and health concerns (12.1%). Cigarette smokers tried e-cigarettes because of the perceptions that they can be used anywhere and to quit smoking and discontinued because they were not as satisfying as cigarettes. School level differences were detected. E-cigarette prevention efforts toward youth should include limiting e-cigarette flavors, communicating messages emphasizing the health risks of use, and changing social norms surrounding the use of e-cigarettes. The results should be interpreted in light of the limitations of this study. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Garden City Vein Complex on Lower Mount Sharp, Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-11

Prominent mineral veins at the "Garden City" site examined by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover vary in thickness and brightness, as seen in this image from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The image covers and area roughly 2 feet (60 centimeters) across. Types of vein material evident in the area include: 1) thin, dark-toned fracture filling material; 2) thick, dark-toned vein material in large fractures; 3) light-toned vein material, which was deposited last. Figure 1 includes annotations identifying each of those three major kinds and a scale bar indicating 10 centimeters (3.9 inches). Researchers used the Mastcam and other instruments on Curiosity in March and April 2015 to study the structure and composition of mineral veins at Garden City, for information about fluids that deposited minerals in fractured rock there. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19922

Making milestones on the journey to Mars on This Week @NASA – August 7, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-07

NASA’s Curiosity rover celebrated the 3-year anniversary of its landing on Mars recently. Since landing, Curiosity has driven nearly seven miles to its current location at Mount Sharp, and found evidence of past conditions suitable for microbial life. To mark the anniversary, NASA is unveiling two new online tools that will bring the Mars experience to a new generation of explorers. “Mars Trek” is a free, web-based application that uses more than 40 years of Mars exploration data, to provide high-quality imagery of the planet’s features. "Experience Curiosity" is a 3-D simulation program that also uses real data, to take viewers along with Curiosity during the rover’s expeditions on the Martian surface. Since NASA’s robotic explorers became the first to study the Red Planet, advances in technology have enabled Mars exploration missions to continue making important scientific discoveries and pave the way for humans to reach Mars in the 2030s. Also, Newman visits composites tech facility, Future ISS crews, CubeSat Launch Initiative and Look, up in the sky!

Relay Support for the Mars Science Laboratory Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Charles D. Jr,; Bell, David J.; Gladden, Roy E.; Ilott, Peter A.; Jedrey, Thomas C.; Johnston, M. Daniel; Maxwell, Jennifer L.; Mendoza, Ricardo; McSmith, Gaylon W.; Potts, Christopher L.;

Findings from a participatory evaluation of a smart home application for older adults.

PubMed

Demiris, George; Oliver, Debra Parker; Dickey, Geraldine; Skubic, Marjorie; Rantz, Marilyn

2008-01-01

The aim of this paper is to present a participatory evaluation of an actual "smart home" project implemented in an independent retirement facility. Using the participatory evaluation process, residents guided the research team through development and implementation of the initial phase of a smart home project designed to assist residents to remain functionally independent and age in place. We recruited nine residents who provided permission to install the technology in their apartments. We conducted a total of 75 interviews and three observational sessions. Residents expressed overall positive perceptions of the sensor technologies and did not feel that these interfered with their daily activities. The process of adoption and acceptance of the sensors included three phases, familiarization, adjustment and curiosity, and full integration. Residents did not express privacy concerns. They provided detailed feedback and suggestions that were integrated into the redesign of the system. They also reported a sense of control resulting from their active involvement in the evaluation process. Observational sessions confirmed that the sensors were not noticeable and residents did not change their routines. The participatory evaluation approach not only empowers end-users but it also allows for the implementation of smart home systems that address residents' needs.

A Thematic Analysis of Career Adaptability in Retirees Who Return to Work.

PubMed

Luke, Jennifer; McIlveen, Peter; Perera, Harsha N

2016-01-01

Retirement can no longer be conceptualized as disengagement, as the end of a person's career, as it is in the life-span, life-space theory. Increasingly, retirees are returning to work, in paid, and unpaid positions, in a part-time or full-time capacity, as an act of re-engagement. Vocational psychology theories are yet to adequately conceptualize the phenomenon of retirees' re-engagement in work. The research reported in this paper is the first attempt to understand re-engagement through the theoretical lens of career construction theory (CCT) and its central construct, career adaptability. The study involved intensive interviews with 22 retirees between the ages of 56 and 78 years (M = 68.24), who had retired no less than 1 year prior to the study. Participants were engaged in a discussion about their reasons for returning to the world of work. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts extracted evidence of the four career adaptability resources: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. In addition, the influence of family and making a contribution were discerned as important themes. These findings are the first evidence that the CCT and career adaptability provide a new conceptual lens to theorize and conduct research into the phenomenon of retirement.

E-cigarette openness, curiosity, harm perceptions and advertising exposure among U.S. middle and high school students.

PubMed

Margolis, Katherine A; Donaldson, Elisabeth A; Portnoy, David B; Robinson, Joelle; Neff, Linda J; Jamal, Ahmed

2018-07-01

Understanding factors associated with youth e-cigarette openness and curiosity are important for assessing probability of future use. We examined how e-cigarette harm perceptions and advertising exposure are associated with openness and curiosity among tobacco naive youth. Findings from the 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) were analyzed. The 2015 NYTS is a nationally representative survey of 17,711 U.S. middle and high school students. We calculated weighted prevalence estimates of never users of tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars/cigarillos/little cigars, waterpipe/hookah, smokeless tobacco, bidis, pipes, dissolvables, e-cigarettes) who were open to or curious about e-cigarette use, by demographics. Weighted regression models examined how e-cigarette harm perceptions and advertising exposure were associated with openness using e-cigarettes and curiosity about trying e-cigarettes. Among respondents who never used tobacco products, 23.8% were open to using e-cigarettes and 25.4% were curious. Respondents that perceived e-cigarettes cause a lot of harm had lower odds of both openness (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.07, 0.15) and curiosity about e-cigarettes (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.07, 0.13) compared to those with lower harm perception. Respondents who reported high exposure to e-cigarette advertising in stores had greater odds of being open to e-cigarette use (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.44) and highly curious (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.53) compared to those not highly exposed. These findings demonstrate that youth exposed to e-cigarette advertising are open and curious to e-cigarette use. These findings could help public health practitioners better understand the interplay of advertising exposure and harm perceptions with curiosity and openness to e-cigarette use in a rapidly changing marketplace. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Ever-Use and Curiosity About Cigarettes, Cigars, Smokeless Tobacco, and Electronic Cigarettes Among US Middle and High School Students, 2012–2014

PubMed Central

Donaldson, Elisabeth A.; King, Brian A.

2016-01-01

Introduction Among young people, curiosity about tobacco products is a primary reason for tobacco experimentation and is a risk factor for future use. We examined whether curiosity about and ever-use of tobacco products among US middle and high school students changed from 2012 to 2014. Methods Data came from the 2012 and 2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys, nationally representative surveys of US students in grades 6 through 12. For cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes (2014 only), students were classified as ever-users or never-users of each product. Among never-users, curiosity about using each product was assessed by asking participants if they had “definitely,” “probably,” “probably not,” or “definitely not” been curious about using the product. Results From 2012 to 2014, there were declines in ever-use of cigarettes (26% to 22%; P = .005) and cigars (21% to 18%; P = .003) overall and among students who were Hispanic (cigarettes, P = .001; cigars, P = .001) or black (cigarettes, P = .004; cigars, P = .01). The proportion of never-users reporting they were “definitely not” curious increased for cigarettes (51% to 54%; P = .01) and cigars (60% to 63%; P = .03). Ever-use and curiosity about smokeless tobacco did not change significantly from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, the proportion of young people who were “definitely” or “probably” curious never-users of each product was as follows: cigarettes, 11.4%; e-cigarettes, 10.8%; cigars, 10.3%; and smokeless tobacco, 4.4%. Conclusion The proportion of US students who are never users and are not curious about cigarettes and cigars increased. However, many young people remain curious about tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Understanding factors driving curiosity can inform tobacco use prevention for youth. PMID:27657506

View From Camera Not Used During Curiosity's First Six Months on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

This view of Curiosity's left-front and left-center wheels and of marks made by wheels on the ground in the "Yellowknife Bay" area comes from one of six cameras used on Mars for the first time more than six months after the rover landed. The left Navigation Camera (Navcam) linked to Curiosity's B-side computer took this image during the 223rd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (March 22, 2013). The wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter. Curiosity carries a pair of main computers, redundant to each other, in order to have a backup available if one fails. Each of the computers, A-side and B-side, also has other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer. Curiosity operated on its A-side from before the August 2012 landing until Feb. 28, when engineers commanded a switch to the B-side in response to a memory glitch on the A-side. One set of activities after switching to the B-side computer has been to check the six engineering cameras that are hard-linked to that computer. The rover's science instruments, including five science cameras, can each be operated by either the A-side or B-side computer, whichever is active. However, each of Curiosity's 12 engineering cameras is linked to just one of the computers. The engineering cameras are the Navigation Camera (Navcam), the Front Hazard-Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) and Rear Hazard-Avoidance Camera (Rear Hazcam). Each of those three named cameras has four cameras as part of it: two stereo pairs of cameras, with one pair linked to each computer. Only the pairs linked to the active computer can be used, and the A-side computer was active from before landing, in August, until Feb. 28. All six of the B-side engineering cameras have been used during March 2013 and checked out OK. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Ground Truth Mineralogy vs. Orbital Observations at the Bagnold Dune Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Achilles, C. N.; Downs, R. T.; Ming, D. W.; Rampe, E. B.; Morris, R. V.; Treiman, A. H.; Morrison, S. M.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Bristow, T. F.

2017-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, is analyzing rock and sediments in Gale crater to provide in situ sedimentological, geochemical, and mineralogical assessments of the crater's geologic history. Curiosity's recent traverse through an active, basaltic eolian deposit, informally named the Bagnold Dunes, provided the opportunity for a multi-instrument investigation of the dune field.

How Do College/University Teacher Misbehaviors Influence Student Cognitive Learning, Academic Self-Efficacy, Motivation, and Curiosity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banfield, Sara R.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between teacher misbehaviors and a variety of outcome variables, including cognitive learning, motivation, curiosity, and academic self-efficacy. Research has yet to directly address how teacher misbehaviors affect cognitive learning. It is important to assess actual learning as opposed…

Ten Steps for Conceptualizing and Conducting Qualitative Research Studies in a Pragmatically Curious Manner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chenail, Ronald J.

2011-01-01

In a world of methodological pluralism and mixed-methods, qualitative researchers can take a pathway of pragmatic curiosity by exploring their research interests and the possible design and methodology choices to create studies that not only allow them to pursue their investigative curiosities, but also result in coherent and effective systems of…

"It's a Mystery!": A Case Study of Implementing Forensic Science in Preschool as Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howitt, Christine; Upson, Emily; Lewis, Simon

2011-01-01

Children have immense curiosity, a thirst for knowledge and a questioning attitude. They are innate scientists. The challenge for early childhood educators is to fuel this curiosity through the provision of appropriate learning experiences and an engaging environment within early learning centres. This paper presents a detailed case study of how a…

The Curiosity Mars Rover's Fault Protection Engine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benowitz, Ed

2014-01-01

The Curiosity Rover, currently operating on Mars, contains flight software onboard to autonomously handle aspects of system fault protection. Over 1000 monitors and 39 responses are present in the flight software. Orchestrating these behaviors is the flight software's fault protection engine. In this paper, we discuss the engine's design, responsibilities, and present some lessons learned for future missions.

Intellectual Curiosity in Action: A Framework to Assess First-Year Seminars in Liberal Arts Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolb, Kenneth H.; Longest, Kyle C.; Barnett, Jenna C.

2014-01-01

Fostering students' intellectual curiosity is a common goal of first-year seminar programs--especially in liberal arts settings. The authors propose an alternative method to assess this ambiguous, value-laden concept. Relying on data gathered from pre- and posttest in-depth interviews of 34 students enrolled in first-year seminars, they construct…

Positive Affect Relevant to Epistemic Curiosity to Reflect Continuance Intention to Join a Hands-On Making Contest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Jon-Chao; Hwang, Ming-Yueh; Szeto, Elson; Tai, Kai-Hsin; Tsai, Chi-Ruei

2016-01-01

Hands-on making (e.g., "Maker") has become prevalent in current educational settings. To understand the role that students' epistemic curiosity plays in hands-on making contests, this study explored its correlation to students' positive affect and continuance intention to participate in a hands-on making contest called…

Tracking Invasive Birds: A Programme for Implementing Dynamic Open Inquiry Learning and Conservation Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zion, Michal; Spektor-Levy, Ornit; Orchan, Yotam; Shwartz, Assaf; Sadeh, Irit; Kark, Salit

2011-01-01

Among potential topics in the new science of biodiversity, understanding the characteristics and impact of invasive birds is an attractive subject to include as part of junior high school biology studies. Birds are aesthetic and raise curiosity. Curiosity about birds, combined with field observations, can stimulate students to ask authentic…

Mars Rock Analysis Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-12

David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation at NASA's Ames Research Center in Calif., speaks at a news conference presenting findings of the Curiosity rover's analysis of the first sample of rock powder collected on Mars, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 in Washington. The rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Effects of Outdoor School Ground Lessons on Students' Science Process Skills and Scientific Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ting, Kan Lin; Siew, Nyet Moi

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of outdoor school ground lessons on Year Five students' science process skills and scientific curiosity. A quasi-experimental design was employed in this study. The participants in the study were divided into two groups, one subjected to the experimental treatment, defined as…

Curiosity: How to Boldly Go...

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pyrzak, Guy

2013-01-01

Operating a one-ton rover on the surface of Mars requires more than just a joystick and an experiment. With 10 science instruments, 17 cameras, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and lasers, Curiosity is the largest and most complex rover NASA has sent to Mars. Combined with a 1 way light time of 4 to 20 minutes and a distributed international science and engineering team, it takes a lot of work to operate this mega-rover. The Mars Science Lab's operations team has developed an organization and process that maximizes science return and safety of the spacecraft. These are the voyages of the rover Curiosity, its 2 year mission, to determine the habitability of Gale Crater, to understand the role of water, to study the climate and geology of Mars.

Percussive Drill Test at JPL

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-17

This video clip shows a test of a new percussive drilling technique at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. On May 19, NASA's Curiosity rover is scheduled to test percussive drilling on Mars for the first time since December 2016. The video clip was shot on March 28, 2018. It has been sped up by 50 times. Curiosity's drill was designed to pulverize rocks samples into powder, which can then be deposited into two chemistry laboratories carried inside of the rover. Curiosity's science team is eager to the rover using percussive drilling again; it will approach a clay-enriched area later this year that could shed new light on the history of water in Gale Crater. An animation is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22324

Diagenetic Features Analyzed by ChemCam/Curiosity at Pahrump Hills, Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nachon, M.; Mangold, N.; Cousin, A.; Forni, O.; Anderson, R. B.; Blank, J. G.; Calef, F.; Clegg, S.; Fabre, C.; Fisk, M.;

The Work Preference Inventory: assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations.

PubMed

Amabile, T M; Hill, K G; Hennessey, B A; Tighe, E M

1994-05-01

The Work Preference Inventory (WPI) is designed to assess individual differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations. Both the college student and the working adult versions aim to capture the major elements of intrinsic motivation (self-determination, competence, task involvement, curiosity, enjoyment, and interest) and extrinsic motivation (concerns with competition, evaluation, recognition, money or other tangible incentives, and constraint by others). The instrument is scored on two primary scales, each subdivided into 2 secondary scales. The WPI has meaningful factor structures, adequate internal consistency, good short-term test-retest reliability, and good longer term stability. Moreover, WPI scores are related in meaningful ways to other questionnaire and behavioral measures of motivation, as well as personality characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors.

Curiosity First 14 Rock or Soil Sampling Sites on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-06-13

This graphic maps locations of the first 14 sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected rock or soil samples for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the drilled holes where 12 rock-powder samples were acquired. At the other two sites -- Rocknest and Gobabeb -- Curiosity scooped soil samples. The diameter of each drill hole is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters), slightly smaller than a U.S. dime. The images used here are raw color, as recorded by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera. Notice the differences in color of the material at different drilling sites. The latest sample site included is "Oudam," where Curiosity drilled into mudstone of the "Murray formation" on June 4, during the 1,361th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Curiosity landed in August 2012 on the plain (named Aeolis Palus) near Mount Sharp (or Aeolis Mons). Dates when the first 11 drilled-rock samples were collected are: "John Klein" on Feb. 8, 2013 (Sol 182); "Cumberland" on May 19, 2013 (Sol 279); "Windjana" on May 5, 2014 (Sol 621); "Confidence Hills" on Sept. 24, 2014 (Sol 759); "Mojave" on Jan. 29, 2015 (Sol 882); "Telegraph Peak" on Feb. 24, 2015 (Sol 908); "Buckskin" on July 30, 2015 (Sol 1060); "Big Sky" on Sept. 29, 2015 (Sol 1119); "Greenhorn" on Oct. 18, 2015 (Sol 1137); "Lubango" on April 23, 2016 (Sol 1320); and "Okoruso" on May 5, 2016 (Sol 1332). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20748

Dementia communication using empathic curiosity.

PubMed

McEvoy, Phil; Eden, John; Plant, Rachel

Communication skills training materials in dementia care usually focus on reminiscence. This is important because talking about past events can help people with dementia to retain their sense of self. This article examines the use of an alternative set of communication skills known as empathic curiosity, which may help to promote meaningful communication in the here and now with people who are living with dementia.

Mars curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Among other attractions, 3-D images from Mars provided 'Wow!' glimpses of the Red Planet. In addition to the Mars activities, visitors were able to tour other space-related exhibits at the center.

STEM Focused High School and University Partnership: Alternative Solution for Senioritis Issue and Creating Students' STEM Curiosity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Icel, Mustafa; Davis, Matthew

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the high school-college partnership reflects on "senioritis" and students' STEM curiosity. The term "senioritis" described in this paper refers to high school senior students who have completed most of their graduation requirement courses in their third year of studies. During the…

Teachers Helping Parents To Raise the Level of Curiosity in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Methlyn

This paper presents methods by which teachers can show parents how to use opportunities they have in everyday life to peak the interest and curiosity of their children. It establishes steps to build a workshop for teachers and day care providers, sharing tips and advice and displaying books and materials which parents can use in their homes. After…

The Methods Applied by Pre-School Teachers to Raise the Curiosity of Children and Their Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buyuktaskapu Soydan, Sema; Erbay, Filiz

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine the strategies used by pre-school teachers in order to raise curiosity in children. Based on this aim, sample is composed of 52 pre-school teachers working in kindergartens affiliated to Ministry of National Education. Study data were collected via qualitative research methods. Research data were gathered…

The Impact of Curiosity and External Regulation on Intrinsic Motivation: An Empirical Study in Hong Kong Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hon-keung, Yau; Man-shan, Kan; Lai-fong, Cheng Alison

2012-01-01

The purposes of this paper are to identify: (1) the factors affecting the intrinsic motivation of university students in Hong Kong; and (2) gender differences in the perception of intrinsic motivation in Hong Kong higher education environment. The factors of curiosity and external regulation with intrinsic motivation are taken into investigation…

You Can't Start Young Enough: Even a Kindergartner Can Be a Scientist!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Terrence E., Jr.

2011-01-01

From the time they are born, children have a natural curiosity toward the world around them. Even though they can't speak, one can still observe that they are skilled at discovery. Science fair projects can nurture this natural curiosity and give elementary students the opportunity to explore their interests in a rewarding way. Participation in a…

Cultivating Curiosity: Integrating Hybrid Teaching in Courses in Human Behavior in the Social Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez-Keyes, Elizabeth; Schneider, Dana A.

2013-01-01

This study illustrates an experience of implementing a hybrid model for teaching human behavior in the social environment in an urban university setting. Developing a hybrid model in a BSW program arose out of a desire to reach students in a different way. Designed to promote curiosity and active learning, this particular hybrid model has students…

Adult Life Stage and Crisis as Predictors of Curiosity and Authenticity: Testing Inferences from Erikson's Lifespan Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Oliver C.; Demetre, James D.; Litman, Jordan A.

2017-01-01

During periods of developmental crisis, individuals experience uncomfortable internal incongruence and are motivated to reduce this through forms of exploration of self, other and world. Based on this, we inferred that being in a crisis would relate positively to curiosity and negatively to a felt sense of authenticity. A quasi-experimental design…

An Innovative Methodology for Capturing Young Children's Curiosity, Imagination and Voices Using a Free App: Our Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canning, Natalie; Payler, Jane; Horsley, Karen; Gomez, Chris

2017-01-01

This study explores children's narratives of their curiosity and imagination through innovative use of an information technology app--Our Story. Novel use of the app allowed children to express and record their opinions they considered significant to them. The research captured children's approaches to everyday situations through their play.…

Potential Cement Phases in Sedimentary Rocks Drilled by Curiosity at Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rampe, E. B.; Morris, R. V.; Bish, D. L.; Chipera, S. J.; Ming, D. W.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Bristow, T. F.; Cavanagh, P.; Farmer, J. D.;

Hole at Buckskin Drilled Days Before Landing Anniversary

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-05

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover drilled this hole to collect sample material from a rock target called "Buckskin" on July 30, 2015, during the 1060th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The diameter is slightly smaller than a U.S. dime. Curiosity landed on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, Universal Time (evening of Aug. 5, PDT). The rover took this image with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera, which is mounted on the same robotic arm as the sample-collecting drill. Rock powder from the collected sample was subsequently delivered to a laboratory inside the rover for analysis. The rover's drill did not experience any sign during this sample collection of an intermittent short-circuiting issue that was detected earlier in 2015. The Buckskin target is in an area near "Marias Pass" on lower Mount Sharp where Curiosity had detected unusually high levels of silica and hydrogen. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19804

Martian Surface Mineralogy from Rovers with Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Richard V.

2016-01-01

Beginning in 2004, NASA has landed three well-instrumented rovers on the equatorial martian surface. The Spirit rover landed in Gusev crater in early January, 2004, and the Opportunity rover landed on the opposite side of Mars at Meridian Planum 21 days later. The Curiosity rover landed in Gale crater to the west of Gusev crater in August, 2012. Both Opportunity and Curiosity are currently operational. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity carried Mossbauer spectrometers to determine the oxidation state of iron and its mineralogical composition. The Curiosity rover has an X-ray diffraction instrument for identification and quantification of crystalline materials including clay minerals. Instrument suites on all three rovers are capable of distinguishing primary rock-forming minerals like olivine, pyroxene and magnetite and products of aqueous alteration in including amorphous iron oxides, hematite, goethite, sulfates, and clay minerals. The oxidation state of iron ranges from that typical for unweathered rocks and soils to nearly completely oxidized (weathered) rocks and soils as products of aqueous and acid-sulfate alteration. The in situ rover mineralogy also serves as ground-truth for orbital observations, and orbital mineralogical inferences are used for evaluating and planning rover exploration.

Nuanced aesthetic emotions: emotion differentiation is related to knowledge of the arts and curiosity.

PubMed

Fayn, Kirill; Silvia, Paul J; Erbas, Yasemin; Tiliopoulos, Niko; Kuppens, Peter

2018-05-01

The ability to distinguish between emotions is considered indicative of well-being, but does emotion differentiation (ED) in an aesthetic context also reflect deeper and more knowledgeable aesthetic experiences? Here we examine whether positive and negative ED in response to artistic stimuli reflects higher fluency in an aesthetic domain. Particularly, we test whether knowledge of the arts and curiosity are associated with more fine-grained positive and negative aesthetic experiences. A sample of 214 people rated their positive and negative feelings in response to various artworks including positive and negative themes. Positive ED was associated with the embracing sub-trait of curiosity that reflects engagement and enjoyment of novelty and complexity, but was unrelated to artistic knowledge and perceived comprehension. Negative ED was associated with higher curiosity and particularly more knowledge of the arts. This relationship was mediated by appraised comprehension suggesting that deeper engagement with art, by those with more art knowledge, is associated with more fine-grained emotional experiences. This finding extends ED beyond well-being research and suggests that more nuanced emotional experiences are more likely for those with expertise in the arts and motivation for exploration.

Curiosity Low-Angle Self-Portrait at Buckskin Drilling Site on Mount Sharp

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle above the "Buckskin" rock target, where the mission collected its seventh drilled sample. The site is in the "Marias Pass" area of lower Mount Sharp. The scene combines dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The 92 component images are among MAHLI Sol 1065 raw images at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1065&camera=MAHLI. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. Curiosity drilled the hole at Buckskin during Sol 1060 (July 30, 2015). Two patches of pale, powdered rock material pulled from Buckskin are visible in this scene, in front of the rover. The patch closer to the rover is where the sample-handling mechanism on Curiosity's robotic arm dumped collected material that did not pass through a sieve in the mechanism. Sieved sample material was delivered to laboratory instruments inside the rover. The patch farther in front of the rover, roughly triangular in shape, shows where fresh tailings spread downhill from the drilling process. The drilled hole, 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter, is at the upper point of the tailings. The rover is facing northeast, looking out over the plains from the crest of a 20-foot (6-meter) hill that it climbed to reach the Marias Pass area. The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater's northern rim dominates the horizon on the left and right of the mosaic. A portion of this selfie cropped tighter around the rover is at PIA19808. Another version of the wide view, presented in a projection that shows the horizon as a circle, is at PIA19806. MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This yielded a view that includes the rover's "belly," as in a partial self-portrait (PIA16137) taken about five weeks after Curiosity's August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater. Before sending Curiosity the arm-positioning commands for this Buckskin belly panorama, the team previewed the low-angle sequence of camera pointings on a test rover in California. A mosaic from that test is at PIA19810. This selfie at Buckskin does not include the rover's robotic arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. Shadows from the rest of the arm and the turret of tools at the end of the arm are visible on the ground. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "John Klein" (PIA16937), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Mojave" (PIA19142). MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19807

Substance use among Palestinian youth in the West Bank, Palestine: a qualitative investigation.

PubMed

Massad, Salwa G; Shaheen, Mohammed; Karam, Rita; Brown, Ryan; Glick, Peter; Linnemay, Sebastian; Khammash, Umaiyeh

2016-08-17

Youth health risk behaviors, including substance use (psychoactive substances including alcohol and illicit drugs), have been the subject of relatively limited study to date in Middle Eastern countries. This study provides insights into the perceived prevalence and patterns of alcohol and drug use among Palestinian youth. The study was based on ten focus groups and 17 individual interviews with youth aged 16-24 years (n = 83), collected as part of the formative phase of a cross-sectional, population representative study of risk taking behaviors among Palestinian youth in the West Bank in 2012. Qualitative analysis was used to code detailed notes of focus groups and interviews. Most participants reported that substance use exists, even in socially conservative communities. Almost all participants agreed that alcohol consumption is common and that alcohol is easily available. The top alcoholic drinks referred to by the study participants were vodka, whisky, beer, and wine. Most participants claimed that they drink alcohol to cope with stress, for fun, out of curiosity, to challenge society, and due to the influence of the media. Participants were familiar with illicit drugs and knew of youth who engaged in drug use: marijuana, cocaine, and heroin were mentioned most frequently. Study participants believed that youth use drugs as a result of stress, the Israeli occupation, inadequate parental control, lack of awareness, unhappiness, curiosity, and for entertainment. Many participants were unaware of any local institutions to support youth with substance use problems. Others expressed their distrust of any such institution as they assumed them to be inefficient, profit-driven, and posing the risk of potential breaches of confidentiality. Although this study uses a purposive sample, the results suggest that substance use exists among Palestinian youth. Risk behaviors are a concern given inadequate youth-friendly counseling services and the strong cultural constraints on open discussion or education about the impact of high risk behaviors. These barriers to treatment and counseling can exacerbate the health and social consequences of alcohol abuse and illicit drug use.

Marias Pass, Contact Zone of Two Martian Rock Units

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-17

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the "Marias Pass" area where a lower and older geological unit of mudstone -- the pale zone in the center of the image -- lies in contact with an overlying geological unit of sandstone. Just before Curiosity reached Marias Pass, the rover's laser-firing Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument examined a rock found to be rich in silica, a mineral-forming chemical. This scene combines several images taken on May 22, 2015, during the 992nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/?IDNumber=pia20174

Farewell to Murray Buttes Image 3

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-09

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows finely layered rocks within the "Murray Buttes" region on lower Mount Sharp. The buttes and mesas rising above the surface in this area are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. Curiosity closely examined that layer -- called the "Stimson formation" -- during the first half of 2016, while crossing a feature called "Naukluft Plateau" between two exposures of the Murray formation. The layering within the sandstone is called "cross-bedding" and indicates that the sandstone was deposited by wind as migrating sand dunes. The image was taken on Sept. 8, 2016, during the 1454th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21043

Farewell to Murray Buttes Image 2

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-09

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows sloping buttes and layered outcrops within the "Murray Buttes" region on lower Mount Sharp. The buttes and mesas rising above the surface are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. Curiosity closely examined that layer -- called the "Stimson formation" -- during the first half of 2016, while crossing a feature called "Naukluft Plateau" between two exposures of the Murray formation. The layering within the sandstone is called "cross-bedding" and indicates that the sandstone was deposited by wind as migrating sand dunes. The image was taken on Sept. 8, 2016, during the 1454th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21042

Farewell to Murray Buttes Image 4

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-09

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows an outcrop with finely layered rocks within the "Murray Buttes" region on lower Mount Sharp. The buttes and mesas rising above the surface in this area are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. Curiosity closely examined that layer -- called the "Stimson formation" -- during the first half of 2016, while crossing a feature called "Naukluft Plateau" between two exposures of the Murray formation. The layering within the sandstone is called "cross-bedding" and indicates that the sandstone was deposited by wind as migrating sand dunes. The image was taken on Sept. 8, 2016, during the 1454th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21044

Farewell to Murray Buttes Image 5

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-09

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a hillside outcrop with layered rocks within the "Murray Buttes" region on lower Mount Sharp. The buttes and mesas rising above the surface in this area are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. Curiosity closely examined that layer -- called the "Stimson formation" -- during the first half of 2016, while crossing a feature called "Naukluft Plateau" between two exposures of the Murray formation. The layering within the sandstone is called "cross-bedding" and indicates that the sandstone was deposited by wind as migrating sand dunes. The image was taken on Sept. 8, 2016, during the 1454th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21045

Curiosity Destinations for Second Extended Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-03

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in September 2016 at "Murray Buttes," and the path planned for reaching destinations at "Hematite Unit" and "Clay Unit" on lower Mount Sharp. Blue triangles mark waypoints investigated by Curiosity during the rover's two-year prime mission and first two-year extended mission. The Hematite Unit and Clay Unit are key destinations for the second two-year extension, through September 2018. The base image for the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. North is up. Bagnold Dunes form a band of dark, wind-blown material at the foot of Mount Sharp. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20846

Culture Wars: Air Force Culture and Civil-Military Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

vulnerable to charges of defining away the problem of civilian control.”25 In contrast with these normative visions, Michael Desch offers a deductive model...instigating new concepts and capabili- ties that challenge the form and preferences of its institution.”69 Mike Worden notes a similar vulnerability for any...tribal loyalty to Tactical Air Command ( TAC ).48 Instead, Warden’s intellectual curiosity and apprecia- tion of military history compelled him to look

[Simón de Tovar (1528-1596): family networks, American nature and trade in curiosities in 16th century Seville].

PubMed

López Pérez, Miguel; Rey Bueno, Mar

2006-01-01

The central character of this work is Simón de Tovar, a citizen of late 16th century Seville, who was an outstanding collector of American plants. Beyond the traditional historiography of early modern Spanish botany, Tovar's activities have been set in the context of an expanding trade in marvels and curiosities.

Development and Use of the SCI Inventory to Measure Upper Elementary School Children's Scientific Curiosity and Interests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Rayman Paul

Reported is a study to develop and test an instrument designed to measure the scientific curiosity and science interests of elementary school students. The inventory was administered to 545 students, grades six through nine, in Columbus, Ohio and 1,050 students, grades six and eight, in Portland, Oregon. Total test-retest reliability of the major…

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Guest attending the National Geographic “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, look at full scale models of the Spirit/Opportunity, left, and Curiosity, Mars rovers, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Guest listened to a panel of distinguished space scientists and Mars experts involved in current Mars exploration that shared what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Murray Buttes.

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-03

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Quela" drilling location in the "Murray Buttes" area on lower Mount Sharp. Key features on the skyline of this panorama are the dark mesa called "M12" to the left of the rover's mast and pale, upper Mount Sharp to the right of the mast. The top of M12 stands about 23 feet (7 meters) above the base of the sloping piles of rocks just behind Curiosity. The scene combines approximately 60 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Most of the component images were taken on Sept. 17, 2016, during the 1,463rd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. Two component images of the drill-hole area in front of the rover were taken on Sol 1466 (Sept. 20) to show the hole created by collecting a drilled sample at Quela on Sol 1464 (Sept. 18). The skyline sweeps from west on the left to south-southwest on the right, with the rover's mast at northeast. The rover's location when it recorded this scene was where it ended a drive on Sol 1455, mapped at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=8029. The view does not include the rover's arm nor the MAHLI camera itself, except in the miniature scene reflected upside down in the parabolic mirror at the top of the mast. That mirror is part of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. MAHLI appears in the center of the mirror. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at other sample-collection sites, including "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "Windjana" (PIA18390"), "Buckskin" (PIA19808) and "Gobabeb" (PIA20316). For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20844

Looking Toward Curiosity Study Areas, Spring 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-05-08

This detailed panorama from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a view toward two areas on lower Mount Sharp chosen for close-up inspection: "Mount Shields" and "Logan Pass." The scene is a mosaic of images taken with Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens, on April 16, 2015, during the 957th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars, before that sol's drive. The view spans from southwest, at left, to west-northwest. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. By 10 sols later, Curiosity had driven about 328 meters (1,076 feet) from the location where it made this observation to an outcrop at the base of "Mount Shields." A 5-meter scale bar has been superimposed near the center of this scene beside the outcrop that the rover then examined in detail. (Five meters is 16.4 feet.) This study location was chosen on the basis of Mount Shields displaying a feature that geologists recognized from images like this as likely to be a site where an ancient valley was incised into bedrock, then refilled with other sediment. After a few sols examining the outcrop at the base of Mount Shields, Curiosity resumed driving toward a study area at Logan Pass, near the 5-meter scale bar in the left half of this scene. That location was selected earlier, on the basis of images from orbit indicating contact there between two different geological units. The rover's route from Mount Shields to Logan Pass runs behind "Jocko Butte" from the viewpoint where this panorama was taken. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19398

Mars Science Laboratory Cruise Propulsion Maneuvering Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, Raymond S.; Mizukami, Masahi; Barber, Todd J.

2013-01-01

Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" is NASA's most recent mission to Mars, launched in November 2011, and landed in August 2012. It is a subcompact car-sized nuclear powered rover designed for a long duration mission, with an extensive suite of science instruments. Entry, descent and landing used a unique "skycrane" concept. This report describes the propulsive maneuvering operations during cruise from Earth to Mars, to control attitudes and to target the vehicle for entry. The propulsion subsystem, mission operations, and flight performance are discussed. All trajectory control maneuvers were well within accuracy requirements, and all turns and spin corrections were nominal.

Characterizing Young Adults' Susceptibility to Waterpipe Tobacco Use and Their Reactions to Messages About Product Harms and Addictiveness.

PubMed

Lipkus, Isaac M; Mays, Darren; P Tercyak, Kenneth

2017-10-01

There is very little insight into the psychosocial characteristics of young adults susceptible to waterpipe tobacco use and their reactions to messages about harms of waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS). We investigated how young adults who were or were not susceptible to WTS differed on various characteristics and their reactions to messages about WTS harms. Young adults ages 18 to 30 who had never used waterpipe tobacco were recruited through an online crowdsourcing site. Participants were stratified on susceptibility status (susceptible or not) and randomized to receive messages about harms and addictiveness of WTS or a control condition that received no messages. Participants' perceptions of risk and worry, their attitudes toward, and willingness/curiosity to try WTS were assessed. Compared to nonsusceptible participants, susceptible participants perceived themselves to be at lower risk and worried less about harms and addictiveness of WTS, had more positive attitudes toward use, and expressed a greater willingness and curiosity to try it. Among susceptible participants, messages decreased willingness/curiosity to try WTS; messages had no effect on nonsusceptible participants. The message effects among susceptible participants were explained by more negative attitudes and less ambivalence toward WTS. Susceptible young adults' psychosocial characteristics place them at high risk for future uptake of WTS. Brief public health messages about harm and addiction may deter susceptible young adults' willingness to try WTS and prevent WTS initiation and progression. Findings suggest that in order to curb the initiation of WTS among susceptible young adults, interventions should target risk appraisals and attitudes toward WTS. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Leibniz on the unicorn and various other curiosities.

PubMed

Ariew, R

1998-11-01

I discuss some of Leibniz's pronouncements about fringe phenomena--various monsters; talking dogs; genies and prophets; unicorns, glossopetrae, and other games of nature--in order to understand better Leibniz's views on science and the role these curiosities play in his plans for scientific academies and societies. However, given that Leibniz's sincerity has been called into question in twentieth-century secondary literature, I begin with a few historiographical remarks so as to situate these pronouncements within the Leibnizian corpus. What emerges is an image of Leibniz as a sober, cautious interpreter, a skeptic one might say but one who is prepared to concede the possibility of many strange phenomena. Leibniz expects these fringe phenomena to take their place among the natural curiosities catalogued as part of a hoped for empirical database intended as means toward the perfection of the sciences.

Using Outcrop Exposures on the Road to Yellowknife Bay to Build a Stratigraphic Column, Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stack, K. M.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Sumner, D.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Milliken, R. E.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Gupta, S.; Williams, R. M. E.; Kah, L. C.; Lewis, K. W.

2013-01-01

Since landing in Gale Crater on August 5, 2012, the Curiosity rover has driven 450 m east, descending approximately 15 m in elevation from the Bradbury landing site to Yellowknife Bay. Outcrop exposure along this drive has been discontinuous, but isolated outcrops may represent windows into underlying inplace stratigraphy. This study presents an inventory of outcrops targeted by Curiosity (Figs. 1-2), grouped by lithological properties observed in Mastcam and Navcam imagery. Outcrop locations are placed in a stratigraphic context using orbital imagery and first principles of stratigraphy. The stratigraphic models presented here represent an essential first step in understanding the relative age relationships of lithological units encountered at the Curiosity landing site. Such observations will provide crucial context for assessing habitability potential of ancient Gale crater environments and organic matter preservation.

Secrets of Hidden Valley on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-08

An image taken at the Hidden Valley site, en-route to Mount Sharp, by NASA Curiosity rover. A variety of mudstone strata in the area indicate a lakebed deposit, with river- and stream-related deposits nearby. Decoding the history of how these sedimentary rocks were formed, and during what period of time, was a key component in the confirming of the role of water and sedimentation in the formation of the floor of Gale Crater and Mount Sharp. This image was taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Curiosity on the 703rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19840

Sand Moving Under Curiosity, One Day to Next

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-02-27

This image from an animation shows wind blowing sand underneath NASA Curiosity Mars rover on a non-driving day for the rover. Each image was taken just after sundown by the rover's downward-looking Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The area of ground shown in the images spans about 3 feet (about 1 meter) left-to-right. The first image was taken on Jan. 23, 2017, during the 1,587th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. Figure 1 above is the image with a scale bar in centimeters. The second was taken on Jan. 24, 2017 (Sol 1588). The day-apart images by MARDI were taken as a part of investigation of wind's effects during Martian summer, the windiest time of year in Gale Crater. An animation is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21143

Vice President Pence Tours Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-28

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, his wife Karen, and their daughter Charlotte are shown how to send a command to the Curiosity rover on Mars by Mars Curiosity Mission ACE Walt Hoffman during a tour of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Saturday, April 28, 2018 in Pasadena, California. Hoffman asked Charlotte Pence if she would do the honors of sending the command to the rover. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Ames Celebrates Curiosity Rover's Landing on Mars (Reporter Package)

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-08

Nearly 7,000 people came to NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to watch the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity land on Mars. A full day's worth of activities and discussions with local Mars experts informed attendees about the contributions NASA Ames made to the mission. The highlight of the event was the live NASA TV broadcast of MSL's entry, descent and landing on the Martian surface.

Curiosity Trek

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-10

The Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, continues its exciting traverse of Mars. In an image acquired in September, it was exploring the boundary between two rock units: the light-toned Murray Formation and the overlying and darker-toned Stimson unit. We can clearly see the rover in a complex terrain marked by tonally varied rocks, which on the surface, can correspond to the contact between rock units and dark sand. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20211

JPL-20180130-MSLf-0001-Curiosity at Martian Scenic Overlook

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-01-30

Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada gives a descriptive tour of the Mars rover's view in Gale Crater. The white-balanced scene looks back over the journey so far. The view from "Vera Rubin Ridge" looks back over buttes, dunes and other features along the route. To aid geologists, colors in the image are white balanced so rocks appear the same color as the same rocks would on Earth.

Evidence for a Global Martian Soil Composition Extends to Gale Crater

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yen, A. S.; Gellert, R.; Clark, B. C.; Ming, D. W.; King, P. L.; Schmidt, M. E.; Leshin, L.; Morris, R. V.; Squyres, S. W.; Campbell, J. L.

2013-01-01

The eolian bedform within Gale Crater referred to as "Rocknest" was investigated by the science instruments of the Curiosity Mars rover. Physical, chemical and mineralogical results are consistent with data collected from soils at other landing sites, suggesting a globally-similar composition. Results from the Curiosity payload from Rocknest should be considered relevant beyond a single, localized region with Gale Crater, providing key insights into planetary scale processes.

Virtues in participatory design: cooperation, curiosity, creativity, empowerment and reflexivity.

PubMed

Steen, Marc

2013-09-01

In this essay several virtues are discussed that are needed in people who work in participatory design (PD). The term PD is used here to refer specifically to an approach in designing information systems with its roots in Scandinavia in the 1970s and 1980s. Through the lens of virtue ethics and based on key texts in PD, the virtues of cooperation, curiosity, creativity, empowerment and reflexivity are discussed. Cooperation helps people in PD projects to engage in cooperative curiosity and cooperative creativity. Curiosity helps them to empathize with others and their experiences, and to engage in joint learning. Creativity helps them to envision, try out and materialize ideas, and to jointly create new products and services. Empowerment helps them to share power and to enable other people to flourish. Moreover, reflexivity helps them to perceive and to modify their own thoughts, feelings and actions. In the spirit of virtue ethics-which focuses on specific people in concrete situations-several examples from one PD project are provided. Virtue ethics is likely to appeal to people in PD projects because it is practice-oriented, provides room for exploration and experimentation, and promotes professional and personal development. In closing, some ideas for practical application, for education and for further research are discussed.

Curiosity rover LEGO® version could land soon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2012-09-01

Now that NASA's Curiosity rover has landed on Mars, a smaller LEGO® plastic brick construction version could be landing in toy stores. Less than 2 weeks after Curiosity set down on 5 August, a LEGO® set concept model designed by a mechanical and aerospace engineer who worked on the real rover garnered its 10,000th supporter on the Web site of CUUSOO, a Japanese partner of the LEGO® group. That milestone triggered a company review that began in September 2012 to test the model's “playability, safety, and ft with the LEGO® brand,” according to a congratulatory statement from the company to designer Stephen Pakbaz. Pakbaz told Eos that he has been an avid LEGO® and space exploration fan for most of his life. “For me, creating a LEGO® model of Curiosity using my firsthand knowledge of the rover was inevitable. What I enjoyed most was being able to faithfully replicate and subsequently demonstrate the rocker-bogie suspension system to friends, family, and coworkers,” he noted, referring to the suspension system that allows the rover to climb over obstacles while keeping its wheels on the ground. Pakbaz, who is currently with Orbital Sciences Corporation, was involved with aspects of the rover while working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 2007 to 2011 as a mechanical engineer.

The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II: Development, Factor Structure, and Psychometrics

PubMed Central

Kashdan, Todd B.; Gallagher, Matthew W.; Silvia, Paul J.; Winterstein, Beate P.; Breen, William E.; Terhar, Daniel; Steger, Michael F.

2009-01-01

Given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model—motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II. PMID:20160913

Curiosity ChemCam Finds High-Silica Mars Rocks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frydenvang, Jens

A team of scientists, including one from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has found much higher concentrations of silica at some sites the Curiosity rover has investigated in the past seven months than anywhere else it has visited since landing on Mars 40 months ago. The first discovery was as Curiosity approached the area “Marias Pass,” where a lower geological unit contacts an overlying one. ChemCam, the rover’s laser-firing instrument for checking rock composition from a distance, detected bountiful silica in some targets the rover passed along the way to the contact zone. The ChemCam instrument was developed at Los Alamosmore » in partnership with the French IRAP laboratory in Toulouse and the French Space Agency. “The high silica was a surprise,” said Jens Frydenvang of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Copenhagen, also a Curiosity science team member. “While we’re still working with multiple hypotheses on how the silica got so enriched, these hypotheses all require considerable water activity, and on Earth high silica deposits are often associated with environments that provide excellent support for microbial life. Because of this, the science team agreed to make a rare backtrack to investigate it more.”« less

Curiosity Overview of a Two-Year Odyssey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Michael A.; Vasavada, Ashwin R.

2014-11-01

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring the floor of Gale Crater for well over a Mars year and has now entered its extended mission. Major milestones have been met and exceeded, especially having addressed its prime scientific objective through exploring Yellowknife Bay, an ancient fluvial environment in Gale Crater, and determining that it could have supported microbial life. The mission has accomplished many first-time planetary activities, such as measurements new to planetary science (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction), measurements of the high-energy radiation flux at the surface, radiogenic and cosmogenic isotope age dating of rocks, and detection of martian organic carbon. In addition, many measurements have provided a significant refinement to those of previous missions such as atmospheric isotopic measurements relevant to atmospheric loss, methane content of the atmosphere, and the daily and seasonal change in atmospheric temperature and pressure. Curiosity has left its landing ellipse and is progressing toward the base of Mt. Sharp. The rover has had the opportunity to make additional measurements of fluvial sediments, including extensive remote and contact measurements, and analysis of a drilled samples. A summary of two Earth years of major findings of Curiosity, their implications, and more recent results (potentially including comet Siding Spring) will be presented at the meeting.

Curiosity ChemCam Finds High-Silica Mars Rocks

ScienceCinema

Frydenvang, Jens

2018-01-16

A team of scientists, including one from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has found much higher concentrations of silica at some sites the Curiosity rover has investigated in the past seven months than anywhere else it has visited since landing on Mars 40 months ago. The first discovery was as Curiosity approached the area “Marias Pass,” where a lower geological unit contacts an overlying one. ChemCam, the rover’s laser-firing instrument for checking rock composition from a distance, detected bountiful silica in some targets the rover passed along the way to the contact zone. The ChemCam instrument was developed at Los Alamos in partnership with the French IRAP laboratory in Toulouse and the French Space Agency. “The high silica was a surprise,” said Jens Frydenvang of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Copenhagen, also a Curiosity science team member. “While we’re still working with multiple hypotheses on how the silica got so enriched, these hypotheses all require considerable water activity, and on Earth high silica deposits are often associated with environments that provide excellent support for microbial life. Because of this, the science team agreed to make a rare backtrack to investigate it more.”

Textures Where Curiosity Rover Studied a Martian Dune

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-04

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows two scales of ripples, plus other textures, in an area where the mission examined a linear-shaped dune in the Bagnold dune field on lower Mount Sharp. The scene is an excerpt from a 360-degree panorama acquired on March 24 and March 25, 2017, (PST) during the 1,647th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars, at a location called "Ogunquit Beach." Crests of the longer ripples visible in the dark sand of the dune are several feet (a few meters) apart. This medium-scale feature in active sand dunes on Mars was one of Curiosity's findings at the crescent-shaped dunes that the rover examined in late 2015 and early 2016. Ripples that scale are not seen on Earth's sand dunes. Overlaid on those ripples are much smaller ripples, with crests about ten times closer together. Textures of the local bedrock in the foreground -- part of the Murray formation that originated as lakebed sediments -- and of gravel-covered ground (at right) are also visible. The image has been white-balanced so that the colors of the colors of the rock and sand materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11242

Elements of museum mobile augmented reality for engaging hearing impaired visitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, Esraa Jaffar; Bakar, Juliana Aida Abu; Zulkifli, Abdul Nasir

2017-10-01

Nowadays, designers are more concern with the issue of engagement and informal learning at museum and gallery sites. This has made studies to focus more on the use of Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) at museum and gallery sites. However, most of the MAR applications for museum visitors are largely tailored to normal hearing visitors while the hearing-impaired (HI) visitors are not supported. The hearing impaired (HI) community account for over 5% of the world's populace which is about 360 million people. Thus, this paper explores the design elements of mobile augmented reality for engaging hearing impaired visitors at the museum site. The findings of this paper argues that there are eleven major elements of engagement of MAR needed for the design of an efficient museum MAR app for hearing impaired visitors. These eleven elements include Aesthetics, Curiosity, Usability, Interaction, Motivation, Satisfaction, Self-Efficacy, Perceived Control, Enjoyment, Focused Attention and Interest. This study pointed out that for an efficient and engaged MAR app for the HI community especially HI visitors to museum sites, these eleven elements are critical. This finding will help MAR designers and developers on how to design an efficient and engaged MAR app for the HI community at large and museum HI visitors specifically.

“It’s a Different Condom, Let’s See How It Works”: Young Men’s Reactions to and Experiences of Female Condom Use During an Intervention Trial in South Africa

PubMed Central

Masvawure, Tsitsi B.; Mantell, Joanne E.; Mabude, Zonke; Ngoloyi, Claudia; Milford, Cecilia; Beksinska, Mags; Smit, Jennifer A.

2013-01-01

Although male partner cooperation is often essential for successful use of the female condom, only a few studies have directly assessed men’s experiences of using the device. We examined barriers to and facilitators of female condom use via qualitative in-depth interviews with 38 young men (18 to 28 years) in South Africa whose partners, all university students, were enrolled in a female condom intervention trial. In all, 21 men used the female condom; the remaining 17 did not attempt use. The main facilitators to female condom use were convenience of use for men, curiosity to see how female condoms compared to male condoms, enhanced sexual sensation, and perceptions of better safety and comfort of the device compared to male condoms. The main barriers were men’s limited familiarity with the device, insertion difficulties, and men’s concerns about loss of control over sexual encounters. We recommend that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and condom promotion programs around the world target men directly for education on female condoms and that they also work with couples jointly around issues of safer-sex communication and negotiation. PMID:24053638

A Thematic Analysis of Career Adaptability in Retirees Who Return to Work

PubMed Central

Luke, Jennifer; McIlveen, Peter; Perera, Harsha N.

2016-01-01

Retirement can no longer be conceptualized as disengagement, as the end of a person’s career, as it is in the life-span, life-space theory. Increasingly, retirees are returning to work, in paid, and unpaid positions, in a part-time or full-time capacity, as an act of re-engagement. Vocational psychology theories are yet to adequately conceptualize the phenomenon of retirees’ re-engagement in work. The research reported in this paper is the first attempt to understand re-engagement through the theoretical lens of career construction theory (CCT) and its central construct, career adaptability. The study involved intensive interviews with 22 retirees between the ages of 56 and 78 years (M = 68.24), who had retired no less than 1 year prior to the study. Participants were engaged in a discussion about their reasons for returning to the world of work. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts extracted evidence of the four career adaptability resources: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. In addition, the influence of family and making a contribution were discerned as important themes. These findings are the first evidence that the CCT and career adaptability provide a new conceptual lens to theorize and conduct research into the phenomenon of retirement. PMID:26925014

Alteration Effects at Gale and Gusev Craters

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-17

This graph shows the ratio of concentrations of several elements in four different pairs of targets examined by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments on NASA Mars rovers Curiosity and Spirit. For each pair of targets, one shows evidence of mineral alteration and the other is an unaltered counterpart. The first three pairs (with ratios shown by green, blue and red lines) are targets in Gale Crater analyzed by Curiosity's APXS. The fourth pair (with ratio shown by the black line) is in Gusev Crater and was analyzed by Spirit's APXS. Similar profiles are observed, suggesting the possibility of related formation processes. As with examples of silica enrichment found by Curiosity, the origin of high-silica nodular deposits found by Spirit also remains unresolved: Either acidic weathering or silica addition could be responsible. It is clear, however, that liquid water was involved in either alteration scenario. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20276

KSC-2011-7880

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-22

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., demonstrates the operation of MSL's rover, Curiosity, during a science briefing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, part of preflight activities for the MSL mission. Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations on Curiosity from Malin Space Science Systems, looks on at right. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Slip Face on Downwind Side of Namib Sand Dune on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-04

This view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the downwind side of "Namib Dune," which stands about 13 feet (4 meters) high. The site is part of Bagnold Dunes, a band of dark sand dunes along the northwestern flank of Mars' Mount Sharp. The component images stitched together into this scene were taken with Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on Dec. 17, 2015, during the 1,196th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. In late 2015 and early 2016, Curiosity is conducting the first up-close studies ever made of active sand dunes anywhere but on Earth. Under the influence of Martian wind, the Bagnold Dunes are migrating up to about one yard or meter per Earth year. The view spans from westward on the left to east-southeastward on the right. It is presented as a cylindrical perspective projection. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20281

Downwind Side of Namib Sand Dune on Mars, Stereo

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-04

This stereo view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the downwind side of "Namib Dune," which stands about 13 feet (4 meters) high. The image appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. The site is part of Bagnold Dunes, a band of dark sand dunes along the northwestern flank of Mars' Mount Sharp. The component images stitched together into this scene were taken with Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on Dec. 17, 2015, during the 1,196th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. In late 2015 and early 2016, Curiosity is conducting the first up-close studies ever made of active sand dunes anywhere but on Earth. Under the influence of Martian wind, the Bagnold Dunes are migrating up to about one yard or meter per Earth year. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20282

The Unparalleled Systems Engineering of MSL's Backup Entry, Descent, and Landing System: Second Chance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roumeliotis, Chris; Grinblat, Jonathan; Reeves, Glenn

2013-01-01

Second Chance (SECC) was a bare bones version of Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Entry Descent & Landing (EDL) flight software that ran on Curiosity's backup computer, which could have taken over swiftly in the event of a reset of Curiosity's prime computer, in order to land her safely on Mars. Without SECC, a reset of Curiosity's prime computer would have lead to catastrophic mission failure. Even though a reset of the prime computer never occurred, SECC had the important responsibility as EDL's guardian angel, and this responsibility would not have seen such success without unparalleled systems engineering. This paper will focus on the systems engineering behind SECC: Covering a brief overview of SECC's design, the intense schedule to use SECC as a backup system, the verification and validation of the system's "Do No Harm" mandate, the system's overall functional performance, and finally, its use on the fateful day of August 5th, 2012.

Mineralogical Changes in a Predominantly Fluviolacustrine Succession at Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rampe, E. B.; Ming, D. W.; Grotzinger. J. P.; Bristow, T. F.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Chipera, S. J.; Gellert, R.; Morris, R. V.; Morrison, S. M.

2017-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed in Gale crater in August 2012 to investigate the strata of lower Aeolis Mons (i.e., Mount Sharp) and characterize their depositional and diagenetic environments. Visible/short-wave infrared spectra from orbit of these strata show variations in phyllosilicate, sulfate, and Fe-oxide minerals, suggesting these units record environmental changes that occurred during the early Hesperian. Curiosity has traversed over 15 km and has climbed through Approx. 200 m of stratigraphic section, made up of predominantly fluviolacustrine (i.e., the Bradbury group and the Murray formation) and aeolian (i.e., the Stimson formation) units. Multiple geochemical and mineralogical instruments are onboard Curiosity to study these ancient rocks, including the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument, which is an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

Landing spacecraft on Mars and other planets: An opportunity to apply introductory physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Withers, Paul

2013-08-01

The Curiosity rover safely landed on Mars after "seven minutes of terror" passing through the Martian atmosphere. In order to land safely, Curiosity had to decelerate from speeds of several kilometers per second and reach zero speed exactly upon touching down on the surface. This was accomplished by a combination of atmospheric drag on the enclosed spacecraft during the initial hypersonic entry, deployment of a large parachute, and retrorockets. Here, we use the familiar concepts of introductory physics to explain why all three of these factors were necessary to ensure a safe landing. In particular, we analyze the initial deceleration of a spacecraft at high altitudes, its impact speed if a parachute is not used, its impact speed if a parachute is used, and the duration of its descent on a parachute, using examples from Curiosity and other missions.

When curiosity breeds intimacy: Taking advantage of intimacy opportunities and transforming boring conversations

PubMed Central

Kashdan, Todd B.; McKnight, Patrick E.; Fincham, Frank D.; Rose, Paul

2012-01-01

Curious people seek knowledge and new experiences. In three studies, we examined whether, when, and how curiosity contributes to positive social outcomes between unacquainted strangers. Study 1 showed that curious people expect to generate closeness during intimate conversations but not during small-talk; less curious people anticipated poor outcomes in both situations. We hypothesized that curious people underestimate their ability to bond with unacquainted strangers during mundane conversations. Studies 2 and 3 showed that curious people felt close to partners during intimate and small-talk conversations; less curious people only felt close when the situation offered relationship-building exercises. Surprise at the pleasure felt during this novel, uncertain situation partially mediated the benefits linked to curiosity. We found evidence of slight asymmetry between self and partner reactions. Results could not be attributed to physical attraction or positive affect. Collectively, results suggest that positive social interactions benefits from an open and curious mindset. PMID:22092143

Search for organic matter at Mars with combined measurements of the SAM and ChemCam instruments onboard the Curiosity rover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dequaire, T.; Meslin, P. Y.; Rapin, W.; Jaber, M.; Maurice, S.; Gasnault, O.; Forni, O.; Coll, P.; Szopa, C.

2015-10-01

Since 2012, he Curiosity rover on Mars seeks clues of habitability in Gale crater. One of these clues is the presence of organic matter. For the moment,only a few traces of organic matter was recently found with the SAM experiment. We propose here to evaluate the capabilities for the ChemCam experiment to detect organic molecules from its elemental analysis of the Mars regolith or rocks. The first results obtained in laboratory with the ChemCam spare model and different samples show that it is possible to detect organic signatures with LIBS,focusing on atomic carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen peaks,and on a C-N molecular peak when the samples areenriched in organic molecules(100-10 wt%). We currently work with Mars representative samples to determine the instrument detection limitfor organics, in order to determine if it can be used to guide Curiosity towards interesting outcrops.

Round-Horizon Version of Curiosity Low-Angle Selfie at Buckskin

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

This version of a self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a drilling site called "Buckskin" on lower Mount Sharp is presented as a stereographic projection, which shows the horizon as a circle. It is a mosaic assembled from the same set of 92 component raw images used for the flatter-horizon version at PIA19807. The component images were taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. Curiosity drilled the hole at Buckskin during Sol 1060 (July 30, 2015). Two patches of pale, powdered rock material pulled from inside Buckskin are visible in this scene, in front of the rover. The patch closer to the rover is where the sample-handling mechanism on Curiosity's robotic arm dumped collected material that did not pass through a sieve in the mechanism. Sieved sample material was delivered to laboratory instruments inside the rover. The patch farther in front of the rover, roughly triangular in shape, shows where fresh tailings spread downhill from the drilling process. The drilled hole, 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter, is at the upper point of the tailings. The rover is facing northeast, looking out over the plains from the crest of a 20-foot (6-meter) hill that it climbed to reach the "Marias Pass" area. The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater's northern rim dominates most of the rest of the horizon.the horizon on the left and right of the mosaic. MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. The assembled mosaic does not include the rover's arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. Shadows from the rest of the arm and the turret of tools at the end of the arm are visible on the ground. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19806

Color Variations on Mount Sharp, Mars White Balanced

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-13

The foreground of this scene from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows purple-hued rocks near the rover's late-2016 location on lower Mount Sharp. The scene's middle distance includes higher layers that are future destinations for the mission. Variations in color of the rocks hint at the diversity of their composition on lower Mount Sharp. The purple tone of the foreground rocks has been seen in other rocks where Curiosity's Chemical and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument has detected hematite. Winds and windblown sand in this part of Curiosity's traverse and in this season tend to keep rocks relatively free of dust, which otherwise can cloak rocks' color. The three frames combined into this mosaic were acquired by the Mastcam's right-eye camera on Nov. 10, 2016, during the 1,516th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Sunlight on Mars is tinged by the dusty atmosphere and this adjustment helps geologists recognize color patterns they are familiar with on Earth. The view spans about 15 compass degrees, with the left edge toward southeast. The rover's planned direction of travel from its location when this scene was recorded is generally southeastward. The orange-looking rocks just above the purplish foreground ones are in the upper portion of the Murray formation, which is the basal section of Mount Sharp, extending up to a ridge-forming layer called the Hematite Unit. Beyond that is the Clay Unit, which is relatively flat and hard to see from this viewpoint. The next rounded hills are the Sulfate Unit, Curiosity's highest planned destination. The most distant slopes in the scene are higher levels of Mount Sharp, beyond where Curiosity will drive. Figure 1 is a version of the same scene with annotations added as reference points for distance, size and relative elevation. The annotations are triangles with text telling the distance (in kilometers) to the point in the image marked by the triangle, the point's elevation (in meters) relative to the rover's location, and the size (in meters) of an object as big as the triangle at that distance. An annotated figure is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21256

White House Science Fair

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-04-22

Director of Strategic Communications and Senior Science and Technology Policy Analyst, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, Rick Weiss, left, “Big Bang Theory” co-creator Bill Prady, center, and NASA Mars Curiosity Landing mission controller, Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi talk during the White House Science Fair held at the White House, April 22, 2013. The science fair celebrated student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

ChemCam for Mars Science Laboratory rover, undergoing pre-flight testing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2011-10-20

Los Alamos National Laboratory and partners developed a laser instrument, ChemCam, that will ride on the elevated mast of the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. The system allows Curiosity to "zap" rocks from a distance, reading their chemical composition through spectroscopic analysis. In this video, laboratory shaker-table testing of the instrument ensures that all of its components are solidly attached and resistant to damage from the rigors of launch, travel and landing.

ChemCam for Mars Science Laboratory rover, undergoing pre-flight testing

ScienceCinema

None

2018-06-06

Los Alamos National Laboratory and partners developed a laser instrument, ChemCam, that will ride on the elevated mast of the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. The system allows Curiosity to "zap" rocks from a distance, reading their chemical composition through spectroscopic analysis. In this video, laboratory shaker-table testing of the instrument ensures that all of its components are solidly attached and resistant to damage from the rigors of launch, travel and landing.

Fluvial sediments, concretions, evaporates at Hanksville, Utah: An analogue field study for Gale crater, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orgel, C.; Battler, M.; Foing, B. H.; Van't Woud, H.; Maiwald, V.; Cross, M.; Ono, A.

2013-09-01

On 6th August 2012, Curiosity landed in Gale crater, Mars. Initial measurements and pictures showed sedimentary rocks that had been deposited by fluvial activity, e.g., alluvial fan and stream deposits. Such deposits are common in desert environments on Earth. The goal of the ILEWG EuroMoonMars project (February 23rd-March 9th,2013)was to conduct field studies in order to identify and study environments that are analogous to those that Curiosity has studied and will study at Gale crater. Several field campaigns (EuroGeoMars2009 and DOMMEX/ILEWG EuroMoonMars from November 2009 to March 2010) had been conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) [3] near Hanksville, Utah, in the vicinity of the San Rafael swell. The aim of the ILEWG EuroMoonMars 2013 project was to identify terrestrial analog sites for Curiosity exploration. The stratigraphy of the area consists of Jurassic and Cretaceous strat a[5] of which the Summerville Formation, the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, and the Dakota Sandstone were studied. Widespread inverted channels on Mars have been identified through orbiter imagery data [6], e.g., at Gale crater. Concretions also appear to be common on Mars and have been found by the Opportunity rover at Meridiani Planum [4] and the Curiosity rover at Yellowknife Bay (Fig. 1).

Curiosity's Autonomous Surface Safing Behavior Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neilson, Tracy A.; Manning, Robert M.

2013-01-01

The safing routines on all robotic deep-space vehicles are designed to put the vehicle in a power and thermally safe configuration, enabling communication with the mission operators on Earth. Achieving this goal is made a little more difficult on Curiosity because the power requirements for the core avionics and the telecommunication equipment exceed the capability of the single power source, the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. This drove the system design to create an operational mode, called "sleep mode", where the vehicle turns off most of the loads in order to charge the two Li-ion batteries. The system must keep the vehicle safe from over-heat and under-heat conditions, battery cell failures, under-voltage conditions, and clock failures, both while the computer is running and while the system is sleeping. The other goal of a safing routine is to communicate. On most spacecraft, this simply involves turning on the receiver and transmitter continuously. For Curiosity, Earth is above the horizon only a part of the day for direct communication to the Earth, and the orbiter overpass opportunities only occur a few times a day. The design must robustly place the Rover in a communicable condition at the correct time. This paper discusses Curiosity's autonomous safing behavior and describes how the vehicle remains power and thermally safe while sleeping, as well as a description of how the Rover communicates with the orbiters and Earth at specific times.

Curiosity's ChemCam Checks 'Christmas Cove' Colors

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-01

The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover examined a freshly brushed area on target rock "Christmas Cove" and found spectral evidence of hematite, an iron-oxide mineral. ChemCam sometimes zaps rocks with a laser, but can also be used, as in this case, in a "passive" mode. In this type of investigation, the instrument's telescope delivers to spectrometers the sunlight reflected from a small target point. The upper-left inset of this graphic is an image from ChemCam's Remote Micro-Imager with five labeled points that the instrument analyzed. The image covers an area about 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide, and the bright lines are fractures in the rock filled with calcium sulfate minerals. The five charted lines of the graphic correspond to those five points and show the spectrometer measurements of brightness at thousands of different wavelengths, from 400 nanometers (at the violet end of the visible-light spectrum) to 840 nanometers (in near-infrared). Sections of the spectrum measurements that are helpful for identifying hematite are annotated. These include a dip around 535 nanometers, the green-light portion of the spectrum at which fine-grained hematite tends to absorb more light and reflect less compared to other parts of the spectrum. That same green-absorbing characteristic of the hematite makes it appear purplish when imaged through special filters of Curiosity's Mast Camera and even in usual color images. The spectra also show maximum reflectance values near 750 nanometers, followed by a steep decrease in the spectral slope toward 840 nanometers, both of which are consistent with hematite. This ChemCam examination of Christmas Cove was part of an experiment to determine whether the rock had evidence of hematite under a tan coating of dust. The target area was brushed with Curiosity's Dust Removal Tool prior to these ChemCam passive observations on Sept. 17, 2017, during the 1,819th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22068

Healthy subjects volunteering for Phase I studies: influence of curiosity, exploratory tendencies and perceived self-efficacy.

PubMed

Almeida, L; Kashdan, T B; Coelho, R; Albino-Teixeira, A; Soares-da-Silva, P

2008-03-01

To test the hypothesis that trait-curiosity and perceived self-efficacy influence the willingness of healthy subjects to volunteer for participation in Phase I studies. A group of healthy subjects who had never participated in clinical studies ("index group") were invited to participate in a Phase I study. They were assessed with regard to trait curiosity (Curiosity and Exploration Inventory; CEI-T) and perceived self-efficacy (Self-Efficacy Scale; SES) and subjects who accepted the invitation to participate were compared with those who refused and with a group of healthy subjects who had previously participated in clinical studies ("validation group"). A significant positive correlation was found between the willingness to participate and the CEI-T total score (R=0.28; p<0.01), exploratory tendencies (R=0.34; p<0.001), SES total score (R=0.30, p<0.01), initiative and persistence (R=0.29, p<0.01), planning/goal setting (R=0.19, p<0.05) and social self-efficacy (R=0.29; p<0.01). The "index group" subjects who accepted the invitation to participate showed significantly greater CEI-T exploratory tendencies (Z=-3.334, p = 0.001, Mann-Whitney test) and total scores (Z=-2.703, p<0.01) and greater SES total score (Z=-3.131, p<0.01), initiative and persistence (Z=-3.065, p<0.01), planning/goal setting (Z=-2.173, p<0.05) and social self-efficacy (Z=-2.954, p<0.01) than subjects who refused. No differences were found between the subjects in the "index group" who accepted the invitation and subjects in the "validation group". Using a logistic regression model, both CEI-T exploratory tendencies and SES initiative/persistence were significant predictors of participation. Subjects higher in curiosity/exploration and in perceived initiative/persistence are more willing to volunteer for Phase I studies. The impact of these self-selection biases on Phase I study results is unknown but deserves further evaluation.

Curiosity Rock or Soil Sampling Sites on Mars, Through November 2016

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-13

nal Caption Released with Image: This graphic maps locations of the sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected its first 19 rock or soil samples for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the drilled holes where 15 rock-powder samples were acquired. Curiosity scooped two soil samples at each of the other two sites: Rocknest and Gobabeb. The diameter of each drill hole is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters), slightly smaller than a U.S. dime. The images used here are raw color, as recorded by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera. Notice the differences in color of the material at different drilling sites. For the map, north is toward the upper left corner. The scale bar represents 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). The base map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The latest sample site included is "Sebina,"where Curiosity drilled into bedrock of the Murray formation on Oct. 20, 2016, during the 1,495th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Curiosity landed in August 2012 on the plain (named Aeolis Palus) near Mount Sharp (or Aeolis Mons). The drilling dates for the first 13 rock samples collected are, by location: "John Klein" on Feb. 8, 2013 (Sol 182); "Cumberland" on May 19, 2013 (Sol 279); "Windjana" on May 5, 2014 (Sol 621); "Confidence Hills" on Sept. 24, 2014 (Sol 759); "Mojave" on Jan. 29, 2015 (Sol 882); "Telegraph Peak" on Feb. 24, 2015 (Sol 908); "Buckskin" on July 30, 2015 (Sol 1060); "Big Sky" on Sept. 29, 2015 (Sol 1119); "Greenhorn" on Oct. 18, 2015 (Sol 1137); "Lubango" on April 23, 2016 (Sol 1320); "Okoruso" on May 5, 2016 (Sol 1332); "Oudam" on June 4, 2016 (Sol 1361); "Quela" on Sept. 18, 2016 (Sol 1464). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21254

Mars Rover Step Toward Possible Resumption of Drilling

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-23

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover conducted a test on Oct. 17, 2017, as part of the rover team's development of a new way to use the rover's drill. This image from Curiosity's front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) shows the drill's bit touching the ground during an assessment of measurements by a sensor on the rover's robotic arm. Curiosity used its drill to acquire sample material from Martian rocks 15 times from 2013 to 2016. In December 2016, the drill's feed mechanism stopped working reliably. During the test shown in this image, the rover touched the drill bit to the ground for the first time in 10 months. The image has been adjusted to brighten shaded areas so that the bit is more evident. The date was the 1,848th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars In drill use prior to December 2016, two contact posts -- the stabilizers on either side of the bit -- were placed on the target rock while the bit was in a withdrawn position. Then the motorized feed mechanism within the drill extended the bit forward, and the bit's rotation and percussion actions penetrated the rock. A promising alternative now under development and testing -- called feed-extended drilling -- uses motion of the robotic arm to directly advance the extended bit into a rock. In this image, the bit is touching the ground but the stabilizers are not. In the Sol 1848 activity, Curiosity pressed the drill bit downward, and then applied smaller sideways forces while taking measurements with a force/torque sensor on the arm. The objective was to gain understanding about how readings from the sensor can be used during drilling to adjust for any sideways pressure that might risk the bit becoming stuck in a rock. While rover-team engineers are working on an alternative drilling method, the mission continues to examine sites on Mount Sharp, Mars, with other tools. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22063

Calcium Sulfate Characterized by Chemcam/Curiousity at Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nachon, M.; Clegg, S. M.; Mangold, N.; Schroeder, S.; Kah, L. C.; Dromart, G.; Ollila, A.; Johnson, J. R; Oehler, D. Z.; Bridges, J. C.;

Mars curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Among other things, students from Gulfport High School, who field a team each year in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, offered young visitors a firsthand look at how robots work Hundreds of persons visited the INFINITY facility during the day, including media representatives from surrounding communities.

Looking Towards Curiosity's Canyon Path: a 4 km Sequence of Gully, Debris Deposits, and Fan/Deltas Which are Bordered by a Sloping Bedform-Capped Plain and Crossed by Lake Shorelines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dietrich, W. E.; Palucis, M. C.; Parker, T.; Rubin, D.; dePablo, M. A.; Oehler, D. Z.; Bridges, N. T.

2014-01-01

The Curiosity Rover is headed towards layered outcrops that appear to be rich in phyllosilicates and sulphates with the expectation of an eventual ascent up Mt. Sharp. One likely will take the rover up a well-defined canyon. Inspection of CTX and HiRISE imagery and topography (5 m contour intervals) reveal a rich geomorphic sequence that may be encountered during the journey.

The Challenges in Applying Magnetroesistive Sensors on the 'Curiosity' Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Michael R.

2013-01-01

Magnetoresistive Sensors were selected for use on the motor encoders throughout the Curiosity Rover for motor position feedback devices. The Rover contains 28 acuators with a corresponding number of encoder assemblies. The environment on Mars provides opportunities for challenges to any hardware design. The encoder assemblies presented several barriers that had to be vaulted in order to say the rover was ready to fly. The environment and encoder specific design features provided challenges that had to be solved in time to fly.

A Motor Drive Electronics Assembly for Mars Curiosity Rover: An Example of Assembly Qualification for Extreme Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kolawa, Elizabeth; Chen, Yuan; Mojarradi, Mohammad M.; Weber, Carissa Tudryn; Hunter, Don J.

2013-01-01

This paper describes the technology development and infusion of a motor drive electronics assembly for Mars Curiosity Rover under space extreme environments. The technology evaluation and qualification as well as space qualification of the assembly are detailed and summarized. Because of the uncertainty of the technologies operating under the extreme space environments and that a high level reliability was required for this assembly application, both component and assembly board level qualifications were performed.

Characterization of Aerodynamic Interactions with the Mars Science Laboratory Reaction Control System Using Computation and Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoenenberger, Mark; VanNorman, John; Rhode, Matthew; Paulson, John

2013-01-01

On August 5 , 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry capsule successfully entered Mars' atmosphere and landed the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater. The capsule used a reaction control system (RCS) consisting of four pairs of hydrazine thrusters to fly a guided entry. The RCS provided bank control to fly along a flight path commanded by an onboard computer and also damped unwanted rates due to atmospheric disturbances and any dynamic instabilities of the capsule. A preliminary assessment of the MSL's flight data from entry showed that the capsule flew much as predicted. This paper will describe how the MSL aerodynamics team used engineering analyses, computational codes and wind tunnel testing in concert to develop the RCS system and certify it for flight. Over the course of MSL's development, the RCS configuration underwent a number of design iterations to accommodate mechanical constraints, aeroheating concerns and excessive aero/RCS interactions. A brief overview of the MSL RCS configuration design evolution is provided. Then, a brief description is presented of how the computational predictions of RCS jet interactions were validated. The primary work to certify that the RCS interactions were acceptable for flight was centered on validating computational predictions at hypersonic speeds. A comparison of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions to wind tunnel force and moment data gathered in the NASA Langley 31-Inch Mach 10 Tunnel was the lynch pin to validating the CFD codes used to predict aero/RCS interactions. Using the CFD predictions and experimental data, an interaction model was developed for Monte Carlo analyses using 6-degree-of-freedom trajectory simulation. The interaction model used in the flight simulation is presented.

Mineral Trends in Early Hesperian Lacustrine Mudstone at Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rampe, E. B.; Ming, D. W.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Morris, R. V.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Bristow, T. F.; Morrison, S. M.; Yen, A. S.; Chipera, S. J.;

The Curiosity Effect

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Kimberly Ennico

2017-01-01

This conference aims to improve how we learn through integrative project and discovery-based methods. My talk highlights areas in my experience as a scientist, and most recently working for our national space agency, NASA, where we work in teams with a "discovery-based" mindset. When you demonstrate broad curiosity, you become open to different viewpoints and ways to approach and manage situations. Sometimes working only from "what you have been trained to do" or "what you know" is not enough, especially when the rules may be changing. Increasing our openness in our learning, and sharing what we know, can lead to a more diverse and innovative community, solving problems in new ways, overcoming resistance to new ideas, and hopefully creating a dynamic and faring-forward society. Let us not kill curiosity, at any age, in any situation. Let us remind ourselves, at any time, in any circumstance, to continue to learn, to mentor, to stimulate, to engage and reconnect with that "open sense of possibility."

Strata at Base of Mount Sharp

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-08

A view from the Kimberly formation on Mars taken by NASA Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating the ancient depression that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed. The colors are adjusted so that rocks look approximately as they would if they were on Earth, to help geologists interpret the rocks. This "white balancing" to adjust for the lighting on Mars overly compensates for the absence of blue on Mars, making the sky appear light blue and sometimes giving dark, black rocks a blue cast. This image was taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Curiosity on the 580th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19839

New Rock-Drilling Method in 'Mars Yard' Test

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-23

This photo taken in the "Mars Yard" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, on Aug. 1, 2017, shows a step in development of possible alternative techniques that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover might be able to use to resume drilling into rocks on Mars. In late 2016, after Curiosity's drill had collected sample material from 15 Martian rocks in four years, the drill's feed mechanism ceased working reliably. That motorized mechanism moved the bit forward or back with relation to stabilizer posts on either side of the bit. In normal drilling by Curiosity, the stabilizers were positioned on the target rock first, and then the feed mechanism extended the rotation-percussion bit into the rock. In the alternative technique seen here, called "feed-extended drilling," the test rover's stabilizers are not used to touch the rock. The bit is advanced into the rock by motion of the robotic arm rather than the drill's feed mechanism. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22062

Night Close-up of Mineral Veins at Garden City, Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-04-01

This view from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is a close-up of a two-tone mineral vein at a site called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp. The area shown is roughly one inch (2.5 centimeters) wide. The image was taken at night, using illumination from MAHLI's light-emitting diodes, during the 935th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (March 25, 2015). The vein includes both light-toned and dark-toned materials. The whiter material appears to have ripped up and incorporated portions of both the darker vein material (black arrows in Figure 1) and a third material (white arrow in Figure 1). The Curiosity mission's examination of material in these veins may provide clues about multiple episodes of fluids moving through fractured rock at this site. The fluid movement through fractures occurred later than wet environmental conditions in which the host rock formed, before it hardened and cracked. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19162

First Drilled Sample on Mars Since 2016

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-23

NASA's Curiosity rover successfully drilled a hole 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) deep in a target called "Duluth" on May 20, 2018. The hole is about .6 inches (1.6 centimeters) across. It was the first rock sample captured by the drill since October 2016. A mechanical issue took the drill offline in December 2016. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, had to innovate a new way for the rover to drill in order to restore this ability. The new technique, called Feed Extended Drilling (FED) keeps the drill's bit extended out past two stabilizer posts that were originally used to steady the drill against Martian rocks. It lets Curiosity drill using the force of its robotic arm, a little more like a human would while drilling into a wall at home. This image was taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sol 2057. It has been white balanced and contrast-enhanced. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22325

The Search for Ammonia in Martian Soils with Curiosity's SAM Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, James J.; Archer, P. D.; Brinckerhoff, W. B.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Franz, H. B.; Freissinet, C.; Glavin, D. P.; Mahaffy, P. R.; McKay, C. P.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.;

The Importance and Justifications for Astronomy Teaching: A Look at the Researches on the Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soler, D. R.; Leite, C.

2013-08-01

Many researchers in Astronomy Teaching often refer to Astronomy as an object of great curiosity. In this paper, we will present a survey concerning the importance and justifications researchers have given to Astronomy Teaching. In a universe of 180 papers about Astronomy Teaching, found in periodicals from the areas of Science, Physics and Astronomy Teaching in the last decade, in 29 of them, discussions about the importance or justifications to Astronomy Teaching were found. As the main result of this work, all the elements related to the importance and the justification for the Astronomy Teaching were organized and grouped in four categories of analysis, which indicate the nature of the justifications presented by the authors: Awakening of feelings and curiosities; Socio-historic-cultural relevance; World view and awareness expansion and Interdisciplinarity. In each category, related elements were grouped. By doing so, we could produce an articulation among the elements taken from different papers, matching them in a way that enabled us to obtain new inferences not individually present in any of the papers. Furthermore, when all the research was analyzed, it was also revealed that there were no papers that aimed at the investigation of the importance and justifications for Astronomy Teaching. It was still noticed that, in general, when researchers invoke the interdisciplinary character of Astronomy, they make it superficially. Since the researches do not show how they get the idea presented to the justifications for teaching Astronomy, some questions could have surfaced, such as: would it be possible to exist a kind of “common sense” for teaching and disseminating Astronomy that would make researchers understand Astronomy as a differential science? Would the "born interest" in Astronomy - pointed by some people - be something real? Does Astronomy really differ from other sciences?

KSC-2011-7961

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-26

CAPE CANAVERAL – Launch controllers oversee the countdown in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) before the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on an Atlas V rocket. MSL lifted off at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26, beginning a 9-month interplanetary cruise to Mars. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2011-7965

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-26

CAPE CANAVERAL – Launch controllers oversee the countdown in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) before the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on an Atlas V rocket. MSL lifted off at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26, beginning a 9-month interplanetary cruise to Mars. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2011-7959

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-26

CAPE CANAVERAL – Launch controllers oversee the countdown in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) before the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on an Atlas V rocket. MSL lifted off at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26, beginning a 9-month interplanetary cruise to Mars. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2011-7960

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-26

CAPE CANAVERAL – Launch controllers oversee the countdown in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) before the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on an Atlas V rocket. MSL lifted off at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26, beginning a 9-month interplanetary cruise to Mars. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Volatiles and Isotopes and the Exploration of Ancient and Modern Martian Habitability with the Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mhaffy, P. R.

2015-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory Mission was designed to pave the way for the study of life beyond Earth through a search for a habitable environment in a carefully selected landing site on Mars. Its ongoing exploration of Gale Crater with the Curiosity Rover has provided a rich data set that revealed such an environment in an ancient lakebed [1]. Volatile and isotope measurements of both the atmosphere and solids contribute to our growing understanding of both modern and ancient environments.

Evidence for Acid-Sulfate Alteration in the Pahrump Hills Region, Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rampe, E. B.; Ming, D. W.; Blake, D. F.; Morris, R. V.; Bish, D. L.; Bristow, T. F.; Crisp, J. A.; Morookian, J. M.; Vaniman. D. T.; Chipera, S. J.;

The Amorphous Component in Martian Basaltic Soil in Global Perspective from MSL and MER Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, R. V.; Ming, D. W.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Bish, D. L.; Chipera, S. J.; Downs, R. T.; Gellert, R.; Treiman, A. H.; Yen, A. S.;

NASA Mars Science Laboratory Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, Tim

2017-01-01

Since August 2012, the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity has been operating on the Martian surface. The primary goal of the MSL mission is to assess whether Mars ever had an environment suitable for life. MSL Science Team member Dr. Tim Olson will provide an overview of the rover's capabilities and the major findings from the mission so far. He will also share some of his experiences of what it is like to operate Curiosity's science cameras and explore Mars as part of a large team of scientists and engineers.

Achieving online consent to participation in large-scale gene-environment studies: a tangible destination.

PubMed

Wood, Fiona; Kowalczuk, Jenny; Elwyn, Glyn; Mitchell, Clive; Gallacher, John

2011-08-01

Population based genetics studies are dependent on large numbers of individuals in the pursuit of small effect sizes. Recruiting and consenting a large number of participants is both costly and time consuming. We explored whether an online consent process for large-scale genetics studies is acceptable for prospective participants using an example online genetics study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 42 members of the public stratified by age group, gender and newspaper readership (a measure of social status). Respondents were asked to use a website designed to recruit for a large-scale genetic study. After using the website a semi-structured interview was conducted to explore opinions and any issues they would have. Responses were analysed using thematic content analysis. The majority of respondents said they would take part in the research (32/42). Those who said they would decline to participate saw fewer benefits from the research, wanted more information and expressed a greater number of concerns about the study. Younger respondents had concerns over time commitment. Middle aged respondents were concerned about privacy and security. Older respondents were more altruistic in their motivation to participate. Common themes included trust in the authenticity of the website, security of personal data, curiosity about their own genetic profile, operational concerns and a desire for more information about the research. Online consent to large-scale genetic studies is likely to be acceptable to the public. The online consent process must establish trust quickly and effectively by asserting authenticity and credentials, and provide access to a range of information to suit different information preferences.

Illness representations, knowledge and motivation to perform presymptomatic testing for late-onset genetic diseases.

PubMed

Leite, Ângela; Dinis, Maria Alzira P; Sequeiros, Jorge; Paúl, Constança

2017-02-01

This study addresses the relation between illness representations, knowledge and motivation to perform the presymptomatic testing (PST) of subjects at-risk for Familial Amyloydotic Polyneuropathy (FAP), Huntington's disease (HD) and Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), compared with subjects at-risk for Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH). The sample comprised a clinical group of 213 subjects at genetic risk for FAP, HD and MJD, and a comparison group of 31 subjects at genetic risk for HH, that answered three open-ended questions relating illness representations, knowledge about the disease, and motivation to perform PST. People at-risk for FAP, HD and MJD use more metaphors, make more references to the family, are more concerned with the future and feel more out of curiosity and to learn, than for HH. These subjects at-risk correspond to the profile of somatic individual or personhood, wherein the unsubjectivation of the disease can function as a coping mechanism.

Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brutsaert, Wilfried

2005-08-01

Water in its different forms has always been a source of wonder, curiosity and practical concern for humans everywhere. Hydrology - An Introduction presents a coherent introduction to the fundamental principles of hydrology, based on the course that Wilfried Brutsaert has taught at Cornell University for the last thirty years. Hydrologic phenomena are dealt with at spatial and temporal scales at which they occur in nature. The physics and mathematics necessary to describe these phenomena are introduced and developed, and readers will require a working knowledge of calculus and basic fluid mechanics. The book will be invaluable as a textbook for entry-level courses in hydrology directed at advanced seniors and graduate students in physical science and engineering. In addition, the book will be more broadly of interest to professional scientists and engineers in hydrology, environmental science, meteorology, agronomy, geology, climatology, oceanology, glaciology and other earth sciences. Emphasis on fundamentals Clarification of the underlying physical processes Applications of fluid mechanics in the natural environment

Photographic Holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benton, Stephen A.

1983-10-01

During this Symposium, we will be discussing technology in the service of a central human need: the need for an interesting life. This need embraces entertainment, as well as education, enlightenment, and adaptation to the sweeping changes in which our technology is itself imbedded. And while our theme centers on optics, that is only one of the many media technologies that are overlapping more widely in order to meet changing social needs. This Symposium has sprung from a sense of shared curiosities and concerns with those technologies, and grown to a gradual recognition of a substantial underlying domain of common professional interests. We are grateful that the SPIE has been able to respond to Chris Outwater's proposal, and to offer a forum for this experiment in drawing together an unorthodox range of interests within a technical context. We hope that the program will help illuminate a fascinating intersection of technical competences and human needs.

From Concept-to-Flight: An Active Active Fluid Loop Based Thermal Control System for Mars Science Laboratory Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birur, Gajanana C.; Bhandari, Pradeep; Bame, David; Karlmann, Paul; Mastropietro, A. J.; Liu, Yuanming; Miller, Jennifer; Pauken, Michael; Lyra, Jacqueline

2012-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which was launched on November 26, 2011, incorporates a novel active thermal control system to keep the sensitive electronics and science instruments at safe operating and survival temperatures. While the diurnal temperature variations on the Mars surface range from -120 C to +30 C, the sensitive equipment are kept within -40 C to +50 C. The active thermal control system is based on a single-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop (MPFL) system which removes or recovers excess waste heat and manages it to maintain the sensitive equipment inside the rover at safe temperatures. This paper will describe the entire process of developing this active thermal control system for the MSL rover from concept to flight implementation. The development of the rover thermal control system during its architecture, design, fabrication, integration, testing, and launch is described.

Curiosity at Gale Crater's Hematite Ridge: High Mn and P Near the Ridge Show Chemical Evidence for Generation by an Oxidation Front

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiens, R. C.; Meslin, P. Y.; Lanza, N.; Frydenvang, J.; Mangold, N.; Johnson, J. R.; Fraeman, A. A.; Horgan, B.; Bedford, C.; Blaney, D. L.; Bridges, J.; Cousin, A.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Forni, O.; Gasda, P. J.; Gasnault, O.; Gellert, R.; Johnstone, S.; Lamm, S. N.; Lasue, J.; Le Mouelic, S.; Maurice, S.; Newsom, H. E.; Ollila, A.; Payre, V.; Rapin, W.; Salvatore, M. R.; Schwenzer, S. P.; Thomas, N. H.; Vasavada, A. R.

2017-12-01

After traversing >17 km, the Curiosity rover has reached Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR), formerly known as the Hematite Ridge. Situated 200 m above the base of Gale crater on the slope of Mt. Sharp, VRR was one of the original objectives of the mission. VRR stretches 6.5 km NE-SW with a vertical height of 30 m (to -4200 m), it is the largest surface feature encountered by Curiosity to date. Orbital observation by CRISM of relatively strong hematite signal along the ridge gave it its original name. Some hematite spectral signatures along the ridge have been observed by Curiosity from long distance by Mastcam and ChemCam passive spectra. Curiosity started observing local enrichments of hematite in Murray lacustrine sediments near Bagnold Dunes, which may or may not be related to the hematite observed on the ridge top. The presence of hematite-like spectral signatures became variable as the rover approached below the ridge. Chemistry and ridge imaging: Magnesium, Mn, and P have shown strong increases in dark surface features in some regions below the ridge. Manganese oxide abundances have risen to >10 wt. % in some dark nodules and laminae. Iron, Mg, and P appear correlated in high-P observations, with the highest values associated with vein-related inclusions. Another class of dark features shows high Fe without high Mn or P. ChemCam high-resolution imaging from within 100 m of the base of the ridge shows regions of both finely laminated parallel strata and low-angle cross stratification along with vertical fractures surrounded by alteration halos; these are comparable to Murray stratigraphy. Given that the exposed surface of the Murray formation is the result of significant erosional deflation, the ridge must be more erosionally resistant than the surrounding material. The observation of high-oxidation-potential element enrichments below VRR argues for an oxidation front in which the local sediments were enriched in oxidized iron (hematite) and manganese. In this presentation we will report on the latest geochemical trends leading up to and on VRR, comparing chemical and morphological observations to observed mineralogy.

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Big Sky Drilling Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-13

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Big Sky" site, where its drill collected the mission's fifth taste of Mount Sharp. The scene combines dozens of images taken during the 1,126th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work during Mars (Oct. 6, 2015, PDT), by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The rock drilled at this site is sandstone in the Stimson geological unit inside Gale Crater. The location is on cross-bedded sandstone in which the cross bedding is more evident in views from when the rover was approaching the area, such as PIA19818. The view is centered toward the west-northwest. It does not include the rover's robotic arm, though the shadow of the arm is visible on the ground. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "John Klein" (PIA16937) and "Windjana" (PIA18390). This portrait of the rover was designed to show the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument atop the rover appearing level. This causes the horizon to appear to tilt toward the left, but in reality it is fairly flat. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. The drilled hole in the rock, appearing grey near the lower left corner of the image, is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19920

Curiosity at Vera Rubin Ridge: Testable Hypotheses, First Results, and Implications for Habitability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraeman, A.; Bedford, C.; Bridges, J.; Edgar, L. A.; Hardgrove, C.; Horgan, B. H. N.; Gabriel, T. S. J.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Gupta, S.; Johnson, J. R.; Rampe, E. B.; Morris, R. V.; Salvatore, M. R.; Schwenzer, S. P.; Stack, K.; Pinet, P. C.; Rubin, D. M.; Weitz, C. M.; Wellington, D. F.; Wiens, R. C.; Williams, A. J.; Vasavada, A. R.

2017-12-01

As of sol 1756, Curiosity was 250 meters from ascending Vera Rubin Ridge, a unique geomorphic feature preserved in the lower foothills of Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mt. Sharp) that is distinguishable from orbit. Vera Rubin Ridge (previously termed the Hematite Ridge) is characterized by a higher thermal inertia than the surrounding terrain, is comparatively resistant to erosion, and is capped with a hematite-bearing layer that is visible in 18 m/pixel CRISM data. A key hypothesis associated with this unit is that it represents a redox interface where ferrous iron oxidized and precipitated either as hematite or another ferric precursor. The Curiosity integrated payload is being used to determine the depositional environment(s), stratigraphic context and geochemical conditions associated with this interface, all of which will provide key insights into its past habitability potential and the relative timing of processes. Specifically, analysis of Curiosity data will address four major questions related to the history and evolution of ridge-forming strata: (1) What is the stratigraphic relationship between the units in the ridge and the Mt. Sharp group (see Grotzinger et al., 2015)? (2) What primary and secondary geologic processes deposited and modified the ridge units over time? (3) What is the nature and timing of the hematite precipitation environment, and how does it relate to similar oxidized phases in the Murray formation? (4) What are the implications for habitability and the preservation of organic molecules? Initial results of a systematic imaging campaign along the contact between the lower portion or the ridge and the Murray formation has revealed dm-scale cross bedding within the ridge stratigraphy, which provide clues about the depositional environments; these can be compared to suites of sedimentary structures within the adjacent Murray formation. Long distance ChemCam passive and Mastcam multispectral data show that hematite and likely other ferric phases are present in the upper ridge, consistent with orbital data. Curiosity will continue to take systematic observations that draw upon testable hypotheses about the ridge environments as the rover ascends Vera Rubin Ridge.

SHARAD soundings and surface roughness at past, present, and proposed landing sites on Mars: Reflections at Phoenix may be attributable to deep ground ice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putzig, Nathaniel E.; Phillips, Roger J.; Campbell, Bruce A.; Mellon, Michael T.; Holt, John W.; Brothers, T. Charles

2014-08-01

We use the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to search for subsurface interfaces and characterize surface roughness at the landing sites of Viking Landers 1 and 2, Mars Pathfinder, the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Phoenix Mars lander, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, and three other sites proposed for Curiosity. Only at the Phoenix site do we find clear evidence of subsurface radar returns, mapping out an interface that may be the base of ground ice at depths of ~15-66 m across 2900 km2 in the depression where the lander resides. At the Opportunity, Spirit, and candidate Curiosity sites, images and altimetry show layered materials tens to hundreds of meters thick extending tens to hundreds of kilometers laterally. These scales are well within SHARAD's resolution limits, so the lack of detections is attributable either to low density contrasts in layers of similar composition and internal structure or to signal attenuation within the shallowest layers. At each site, we use the radar return power to estimate surface roughness at scales of 10-100 m, a measure that is important for assessing physical properties, landing safety, and site trafficability. The strongest returns are found at the Opportunity site, indicating that Meridiani Planum is exceptionally smooth. Returns of moderate strength at the Spirit site reflect roughness more typical of Mars. Gale crater, Curiosity's ultimate destination, is the smoothest of the four proposed sites we examined, with Holden crater, Eberswalde crater, and Mawrth Vallis exhibiting progressively greater roughness.

Terrain physical properties derived from orbital data and the first 360 sols of Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover observations in Gale Crater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arvidson, R. E.; Bellutta, P.; Calef, F.; Fraeman, A. A.; Garvin, J. B.; Gasnault, O.; Grant, J. A.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Hamilton, V. E.; Heverly, M.; Iagnemma, K. A.; Johnson, J. R.; Lanza, N.; Le Mouélic, S.; Mangold, N.; Ming, D. W.; Mehta, M.; Morris, R. V.; Newsom, H. E.; Rennó, N.; Rubin, D.; Schieber, J.; Sletten, R.; Stein, N. T.; Thuillier, F.; Vasavada, A. R.; Vizcaino, J.; Wiens, R. C.

2014-06-01

Physical properties of terrains encountered by the Curiosity rover during the first 360 sols of operations have been inferred from analysis of the scour zones produced by Sky Crane Landing System engine plumes, wheel touch down dynamics, pits produced by Chemical Camera (ChemCam) laser shots, rover wheel traverses over rocks, the extent of sinkage into soils, and the magnitude and sign of rover-based slippage during drives. Results have been integrated with morphologic, mineralogic, and thermophysical properties derived from orbital data, and Curiosity-based measurements, to understand the nature and origin of physical properties of traversed terrains. The hummocky plains (HP) landing site and traverse locations consist of moderately to well-consolidated bedrock of alluvial origin variably covered by slightly cohesive, hard-packed basaltic sand and dust, with both embedded and surface-strewn rock clasts. Rock clasts have been added through local bedrock weathering and impact ejecta emplacement and form a pavement-like surface in which only small clasts (<5 to 10 cm wide) have been pressed into the soil during wheel passages. The bedded fractured (BF) unit, site of Curiosity's first drilling activity, exposes several alluvial-lacustrine bedrock units with little to no soil cover and varying degrees of lithification. Small wheel sinkage values (<1 cm) for both HP and BF surfaces demonstrate that compaction resistance countering driven-wheel thrust has been minimal and that rover slippage while traversing across horizontal surfaces or going uphill, and skid going downhill, have been dominated by terrain tilts and wheel-surface material shear modulus values.

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Okoruso Drill Hole

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-06-13

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at a drilled sample site called "Okoruso," on the "Naukluft Plateau" of lower Mount Sharp. The scene combines multiple images taken with the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on May 11, 2016, during the 1,338th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. In front of the rover is the hole, surrounded by grayish drill cuttings, created by using Curiosity's drill to collect sample rock powder at Okoruo, plus a patch of powder dumped onto the ground after delivery of a portion to the rover's internal Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) laboratory instrument. The rover team compared the rock powder from drilling at Okoruso to material from the nearby "Lubango" drilling site, which is visible behind the rover, just to the left of the mast. The Lubango site was selected within a pale zone, or "halo," beside a fracture in the area's sandstone bedrock. Okoruso is in less-altered bedrock farther from any fractures. Note that the Okoruso drill cuttings appear darker than the Lubango drill cuttings. The Lubango sample was found to be enriched in silica and sulfates, relative to Okoruso. To the left of the rover, in this scene, several broken rocks reveal grayish interiors. Here, Curiosity was driven over the rocks in a fracture-associated halo, so that freshly exposed surfaces could be examined with MAHLI, Mast Camera (Mastcam) and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instruments. An upper portion of Mount Sharp is prominent on the horizon. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20602

Development Instrument’s Learning of Physics Through Scientific Inquiry Model Based Batak Culture to Improve Science Process Skill and Student’s Curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasution, Derlina; Syahreni Harahap, Putri; Harahap, Marabangun

2018-03-01

This research aims to: (1) developed a instrument’s learning (lesson plan, worksheet, student’s book, teacher’s guide book, and instrument test) of physics learning through scientific inquiry learning model based Batak culture to achieve skills improvement process of science students and the students’ curiosity; (2) describe the quality of the result of develop instrument’s learning in high school using scientific inquiry learning model based Batak culture (lesson plan, worksheet, student’s book, teacher’s guide book, and instrument test) to achieve the science process skill improvement of students and the student curiosity. This research is research development. This research developed a instrument’s learning of physics by using a development model that is adapted from the development model Thiagarajan, Semmel, and Semmel. The stages are traversed until retrieved a valid physics instrument’s learning, practical, and effective includes :(1) definition phase, (2) the planning phase, and (3) stages of development. Test performed include expert test/validation testing experts, small groups, and test classes is limited. Test classes are limited to do in SMAN 1 Padang Bolak alternating on a class X MIA. This research resulted in: 1) the learning of physics static fluid material specially for high school grade 10th consisted of (lesson plan, worksheet, student’s book, teacher’s guide book, and instrument test) and quality worthy of use in the learning process; 2) each component of the instrument’s learning meet the criteria have valid learning, practical, and effective way to reach the science process skill improvement and curiosity in students.

Effect of the Presence of Chlorates and Perchlorates on the Pyrolysis of Organic Compounds: Implications for Measurements Done with the SAM Experiment Onboard the Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Millan, M.; Szopa, C.; Buch, A.; Belmahdi, I.; Coll, P.; Glavin, D. P.; Freissinet, C.; Archer, P. D., Jr.; Sutter, B.; Summons, R. E.;

Association between the older adults' social relationships and functional status in Japan.

PubMed

Watanabe, Kumi; Tanaka, Emiko; Watanabe, Taeko; Chen, Wencan; Wu, Bailiang; Ito, Sumio; Okumura, Rika; Anme, Tokie

2017-10-01

Previous studies have shown that social relationships positively contribute to the functioning of older adults. However, the particular aspects of social relationships that are most predictive remain unknown. Consequently, the current study aimed to clarify what elements of social relationships impacted the maintenance of functioning among older adults. The present study used baseline data collected in 2011, and follow-up surveys were carried out 3 years later. Participants included individuals aged 65 years or older who lived in a suburban community in Japan. A total of 434 participants met inclusion criteria for the study and were included in analysis. The Index of Social Interaction measure consists of five subscales (independence, social curiosity, interaction, participation and feeling of safety), and was used to assess the multiple elements of social relationships. After controlling for age, sex, disease status and mobility in 2011, the results showed that the social curiosity subscale was significantly associated with functional status after 3 years (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.02-1.63). Other Index of Social Interaction subscales were non-significant. The current study suggests that interaction with environment and multifaceted social relationships have the strongest impact on functional ability for older adults in Japan. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1522-1526. © 2016 Japan Geriatrics Society.

DECOY: Documenting Experiences with Cigarettes and Other Tobacco in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Berg, Carla J.; Haardörfer, Regine; Lewis, Michael; Getachew, Betelihem; Lloyd, Steven A.; Thomas, Sarah Fretti; Lanier, Angela; Trepanier, Kelleigh; Johnston, Teresa; Grimsley, Linda; Foster, Bruce; Benson, Stephanie; Smith, Alicia; Barr, Dana Boyd; Windle, Michael

2016-01-01

Objectives We examined psychographic characteristics associated with tobacco use among Project DECOY participants. Methods Project DECOY is a 2-year longitudinal mixed-methods study examining risk for tobacco use among 3418 young adults across 7 Georgia colleges/universities. Baseline measures included sociodemographics, tobacco use, and psychographics using the Values, Attitudes, and Lifestyle Scale. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to identify correlates of tobacco use. Results Past 30-day use prevalence was: 13.3% cigarettes; 11.3% little cigars/cigarillos (LCCs); 3.6% smokeless tobacco; 10.9% e-cigarettes; and 12.2% hookah. Controlling for sociodemographics, correlates of cigarette use included greater novelty seeking (p < .001) and intellectual curiosity (p = .010) and less interest in tangible creation (p = .002) and social conservatism (p < .001). Correlates of LCC use included greater novelty seeking (p < .001) and greater fashion orientation (p = .007). Correlates of smokeless tobacco use included greater novelty seeking (p = .006) and less intellectual curiosity (p < .001). Correlates of e-cigarette use included greater novelty seeking (p < .001) and less social conservatism (p = .002). Correlates of hookah use included greater novelty seeking (p < .001), fashion orientation (p = .044), and self-focused thinking (p = .002), and less social conservatism (p < .001). Conclusions Psychographic characteristics distinguish users of different tobacco products. PMID:27103410

Materials characterization activities for %E2%80%9CTake Our Sons&Daughters to Work Day%E2%80%9D 2013.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mowry, Curtis Dale; Pimentel, Adam S.; Sparks, Elizabeth Schares

We created interactive demonstration activities for Take Our Daughters&Sons to Work Day (TODSTWD) 2013 in order to promote general interest in chemistry and also generate awareness of the type of work our laboratories can perform. %E2%80%9CCurious about Mars Rover Curiosity?%E2%80%9D performed an elemental analysis on rocks brought to our lab using the same technique utilized on the planet Mars by the NASA robotic explorer Curiosity. %E2%80%9CFood is Chemistry?%E2%80%9D utilized a mass spectrometer to measure, in seconds, each participant's breath in order to identify the food item consumed for the activity. A total of over 130 children participated in these activitiesmore » over a 3 hour block, and feedback was positive. This document reports the materials (including handouts), experimental procedures, and lessons learned so that future demonstrations can benefit from the baseline work performed. We also present example results used to prepare the Food activity and example results collected during the Curiosity demo.« less

Rover Track in Sand Sheet Near Martian Sand Dune

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-10

The rippled surface of the first Martian sand dune ever studied up close fills this view of "High Dune" from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity rover. This site is part of the "Bagnold Dunes" field along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. The dunes are active, migrating up to about one yard or meter per year. The component images of this mosaic view were taken on Nov. 27, 2015, during the 1,176th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. The annotated version includes superimposed scale bars of 30 centimeters (1 foot) in the foreground and 100 centimeters (3.3 feet) in the middle distance. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20169

High Dune is First Martian Dune Studied up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-10

The rippled surface of the first Martian sand dune ever studied up close fills this view of "High Dune" from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity rover. This site is part of the "Bagnold Dunes" field along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. The dunes are active, migrating up to about one yard or meter per year. The component images of this mosaic view were taken on Nov. 27, 2015, during the 1,176th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. The annotated version includes superimposed scale bars of 30 centimeters (1 foot) in the foreground and 100 centimeters (3.3 feet) in the middle distance. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20168

[The art cabinet and its current significance. Museum establishment of natural history in early modern times].

PubMed

Felfe, Robert

2008-01-01

For some time a hightened interest in so-called "curiosity cabinets" of the 16th to 18th century has surfaced in the historical sciences as well as in exhibitions with popular appeal, the arts and literature. Johann Laurentius Bausch was among those who assembled such a collection of natural history objects and artefacts. His curiosity cabinet was closely connected to his far more famous library and in his last will Bausch attempted to safeguard the coherence of the two. Against this background the article accentuates some of the aspects of his work from a perspective of a history of collections. One focus will thereby be on the practice of collecting as seemingly contradictory, being characterised on the one hand by the preservation of ancient knowledge as well as by scientific research based on specific objects. Another focus will be on curiosity cabinets as important platforms of exchange and means of social advancement. For the Academia Naturae Curiosorum exhibition objects and their publication were an important device of achieving recognition and protection from the Emperor's Court.

How Evolution May Work Through Curiosity-Driven Developmental Process.

PubMed

Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves; Smith, Linda B

2016-04-01

Infants' own activities create and actively select their learning experiences. Here we review recent models of embodied information seeking and curiosity-driven learning and show that these mechanisms have deep implications for development and evolution. We discuss how these mechanisms yield self-organized epigenesis with emergent ordered behavioral and cognitive developmental stages. We describe a robotic experiment that explored the hypothesis that progress in learning, in and for itself, generates intrinsic rewards: The robot learners probabilistically selected experiences according to their potential for reducing uncertainty. In these experiments, curiosity-driven learning led the robot learner to successively discover object affordances and vocal interaction with its peers. We explain how a learning curriculum adapted to the current constraints of the learning system automatically formed, constraining learning and shaping the developmental trajectory. The observed trajectories in the robot experiment share many properties with those in infant development, including a mixture of regularities and diversities in the developmental patterns. Finally, we argue that such emergent developmental structures can guide and constrain evolution, in particular with regard to the origins of language. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Viruses in the 21st Century: From the Curiosity-Driven Discovery of Giant Viruses to New Concepts and Definition of Life.

PubMed

Forterre, Patrick

2017-08-15

The curiosity-driven discovery of giant DNA viruses infecting amoebas has triggered an intense debate about the origin, nature, and definition of viruses. This discovery was delayed by the current paradigm confusing viruses with small virions. Several new definitions and concepts have been proposed either to reconcile the unique features of giant viruses with previous paradigms or to propose a completely new vision of the living world. I briefly review here how several other lines of research in virology converged during the last 2 decades with the discovery of giant viruses to change our traditional perception of the viral world. This story emphasizes the power of multidisciplinary curiosity-driven research, from the hospital to the field and the laboratory. Notably, some philosophers have now also joined biologists in their quest to make sense of the abundance and diversity of viruses and related capsidless mobile elements in the biosphere. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

When curiosity breeds intimacy: taking advantage of intimacy opportunities and transforming boring conversations.

PubMed

Kashdan, Todd B; McKnight, Patrick E; Fincham, Frank D; Rose, Paul

2011-12-01

Curious people seek knowledge and new experiences. In 3 studies, we examined whether, when, and how curiosity contributes to positive social outcomes between unacquainted strangers. Study 1 (98 college students) showed that curious people expect to generate closeness during intimate conversations but not during small talk; less curious people anticipated poor outcomes in both situations. We hypothesized that curious people underestimate their ability to bond with unacquainted strangers during mundane conversations. Studies 2 (90 college students) and 3 (106 college students) showed that curious people felt close to partners during intimate and small-talk conversations; less curious people only felt close when the situation offered relationship-building exercises. Surprise at the pleasure felt during this novel, uncertain situation partially mediated the benefits linked to curiosity. We found evidence of slight asymmetry between self and partner reactions. Results could not be attributed to physical attraction or positive affect. Collectively, results suggest that positive social interactions benefit from an open and curious mind-set. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of Personality © 2011, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

APXS of First Rocks Encountered by Curiosity in Gale Crater: Geochemical Diversity and Volatile Element (K and ZN) Enrichment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmidt, M. E.; King, P. L.; Gellert, R.; Elliott, B.; Thompson, L.; Berger, J.; Bridges, J.; Campbell, J. L; Grotzinger, J.; Hurowitz, J.;

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

Dawn Sumner, geologist, University of California, Davis speaks at a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

NASA chief scientist, Dr. Waleed Abdalati, speaks at a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Investigation: Overview of Results from the First 120 Sols on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahaffy, P. R.; Cabane, M.; Webster, C. R.; Archer, P. D.; Atreya, S. K.; Benna, M.; Brinckerhoff, W. B.; Brunner, A. E.; Buch, A.; Coll, P.;

Nitrogen on Mars: Insights from Curiosity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, J. C.; Sutter, B.; Jackson, W. A.; Navarro-Gonzalez, Rafael; McKay, Chrisopher P.; Ming, W.; Archer, P. Douglas; Glavin, D. P.; Fairen, A. G.; Mahaffy, Paul R.

2017-01-01

Recent detection of nitrate on Mars indicates that nitrogen fixation processes occurred in early martian history. Data collected by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity Rover can be integrated with Mars analog work in order to better understand the fixation and mobility of nitrogen on Mars, and thus its availability to putative biology. In particular, the relationship between nitrate and other soluble salts may help reveal the timing of nitrogen fixation and post-depositional behavior of nitrate on Mars. In addition, in situ measurements of nitrogen abundance and isotopic composition may be used to model atmospheric conditions on early Mars.

Discolored Fracture Zones in Martian Sandstone

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-17

This view from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows an example of discoloration closely linked to fractures in the Stimson formation sandstone on lower Mount Sharp. The pattern is evident along two perpendicular fractures. Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) acquired the component images of this mosaic on Aug. 23, 2015, during the 1.083rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The location is along the rover's path between "Marias Pass" and "Bridger Basin." In this region, the rover has found fracture zones to be associated with rock compositions enriched in silica, relative to surrounding bedrock. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20268

A simple magic cup to inject excitement and curiosity in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amir, Nazir

2018-05-01

This article highlights a simple demonstration kit that can be easily fabricated in Design & Technology (D&T) workshops to inject excitement and curiosity into students’ learning of physics concepts such as density and optics. Using an ice cream cup from a fast food restaurant and a transparent circular acrylic piece, students can be guided to make a ‘magic’ cup, while at the same time get inquisitive about the physics behind the magic. The project highlights a way of linking physics to D&T in a feasible manner which can motivate and engage students.

Investigation of Martian Aqueous Processes Using Multiple Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) Datasets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yen, A. S.; Ming, D. W.; Gellert, R.; Vaniman, D.; Clark, B.; Morris, R. V.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.; Arvidson, R. E.

2014-01-01

The APXS instruments flown on the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity were based on the same fundamental design. The calibration effort of the MSL APXS used the same reference standards analyzed in the MER calibration which ensures that data produced by all three instruments provide the same compositional results for the same sample. This cross-calibration effort is unprecedented and allows direct comparisons and contrasts of samples analyzed at Gusev Crater by Spirit, Meridiani Planum by Opportunity, and Gale Crater by Curiosity.

Full-Circle Vista With a Linear Shaped Martian Sand Dune

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-02-27

The left side of this 360-degree panorama from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the long rows of ripples on a linear shaped dune in the Bagnold Dune Field on the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. The view is a mosaic of images taken with Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on Feb. 5, 2017, during the 1,601st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The view is centered toward west-southwest, with east-southeast on either end. A capped mound called "Ireson Hill" is on the right. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21268

Fear based Education or Curiosity based Education as an Example of Earthquake and Natural Disaster Education: Results of Statistical Study in Primary Schools in Istanbul-Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozcep, T.; Ozcep, F.

2012-04-01

Natural disaster reduction focuses on the urgent need for prevention activities to reduce loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure and environment, and the social and economic disruption caused by natural hazards. One of the most important factors in reduction of the potential damage of earthquakes is trained manpower. To understanding the causes of earthquakes and other natural phenomena (landslides, avalanches, floods, volcanoes, etc.) is one of the pre-conditions to show a conscious behavior. The aim of the study is to analysis and to investigate, how earthquakes and other natural phenomena are perceived by the students and the possible consequences of this perception, and their effects of reducing earthquake damage. One of the crucial questions is that is our education system fear or curiosity based education system? Effects of the damages due to earthquakes have led to look like a fear subject. In fact, due to the results of the effects, the earthquakes are perceived scary phenomena. In the first stage of the project, the learning (or perception) levels of earthquakes and other natural disasters for the students of primary school are investigated with a survey. Aim of this survey study of earthquakes and other natural phenomena is that have the students fear based or curiosity based approaching to the earthquakes and other natural events. In the second stage of the project, the path obtained by the survey are evaluated with the statistical point of approach. A questionnaire associated with earthquakes and natural disasters are applied to primary school students (that total number of them is approximately 700 pupils) to measure the curiosity and/or fear levels. The questionnaire consists of 17 questions related to natural disasters. The questions are: "What is the Earthquake ?", "What is power behind earthquake?", "What is the mental response during the earthquake ?", "Did we take lesson from earthquake's results ?", "Are you afraid of earthquake ?", "Could earthquake be predicted ?", "Does earthquake kill people or buildings ?", "What is fault?", "Who is earthquake scientist?", "Are the Moon, Sun and other planets caused the earthquake?", "Does the weather conditions trigger the earthquake?", "What is the cause of tsunami?", "What is cause of the flood?", " What is the cause of volcanic eruption?", "What is cause of the landslide?", "What is the cause of disasters?", "What is your feeling about the earthquake; curiosity or fear?". Answers of these questions are evaluated. In the result, the primary school students think that earthquakes and other events are both religious and scientific origin. As example; the answers of "What is your feeling about the earthquake; corusity or fear?" question are replied 81 % Fear and %19 Curiosity.

Confirmation and investigation of higher science curiosity in Juarez Middle School students compared to their peers in El Paso, Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carmona Miranda, Karla

In the last 20 years attitudes towards science and science classes in K-12 education have been an important topic of investigation due to the decreasing number of students choosing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related careers, and the increasing need for STEM prepared workers to cover the job demands of the future. The purpose of this study is to confirm a previously measured difference in scientific curiosity between middle school students in El Paso and in Ciudad Juarez, and to collect additional data that might tell us what the possible factors or reasons for this difference are. Our sample consists of 156 middle school students from Juarez public schools, and 448 middle school students from El Paso public middle schools. The Children's Science Curiosity Scale of Harty & Beall (1984) will be used to measure the curiosity level. Additionally, the students will be asked to respond to "Why do you like or dislike science?" Our results show that those obtained by Ortiz (2006) in a similar study persist but with a reduction of standard deviations. The percentage of students that state that they do not like science in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso are 9% and 14%, respectively. The most common reason to like science among students in Ciudad Juarez was related to the topics covered in class, and among students in El Paso was related to the experiments and hands-on activities done in class. After analyzing contingency tables with chi-squared tests and calculating the respective contingency coefficients, it is safe to say that even though relationships between the reasons to like or dislike science and country exist, these relationships are not strong. Other results, limitations, and future research also are discussed.

The Bagnold Dunes in Southern Summer: Active Sediment Transport on Mars Observed by the Curiosity rover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, M. M.; Lapotre, M. G. A.; Bridges, N. T.; Minitti, M. E.; Newman, C. E.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Vasavada, A. R.; Edgett, K. S.; Lewis, K. W.

2017-12-01

Since its landing at Gale crater five years ago, the Curiosity rover has provided us with unparalleled data to study active surface processes on Mars. Repeat imaging campaigns (i.e. "change-detection campaigns") conducted with the rover's cameras have allowed us to study Martian atmosphere-surface interactions and characterize wind-driven sediment transport from ground-truth observations. Utilizing the rover's periodic stops to image identical patches of ground over multiple sols, these change-detection campaigns have revealed sediment motion over a wide range of grain sizes. These results have been corroborated in images taken by the rover's hand lens imager (MAHLI), which have captured sand transport occurring on the scale of minutes. Of particular interest are images collected during Curiosity's traverse across the Bagnold Dune Field, the first dune field observed to be active in situ on another planet. Curiosity carried out the first phase of the Bagnold Dunes campaign (between Ls 72º and 109º) along the northern edge of the dune field at the base of Aeolis Mons, where change-detection images showed very limited sediment motion. More recently, a second phase of the campaign was conducted along the southern edge of the dune field between Ls 312º to 345º; here, images captured extensive wind-driven sand motion. Observations from multiple cameras show ripples migrating to the southwest, in agreement with predicted net transport within the dune field. Together with change-detection observations conducted outside of the dune field, the data show that ubiquitous Martian landscapes are seasonally active within Gale crater, with the bulk of the sediment flux occurring during southern summer.

Curiosity: the Mars Science Laboratory Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cook, Richard A.

2012-01-01

The Curiosity rover landed successfully in Gale Crater, Mars on August 5, 2012. This event was a dramatic high point in the decade long effort to design, build, test and fly the most sophisticated scientific vehicle ever sent to Mars. The real achievements of the mission have only just begun, however, as Curiosity is now searching for signs that Mars once possessed habitable environments. The Mars Science Laboratory Project has been one of the most ambitious and challenging planetary projects that NASA has undertaken. It started in the successful aftermath of the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover project and was designed to take significant steps forward in both engineering and scientific capabilities. This included a new landing system capable of emplacing a large mobile vehicle over a wide range of potential landing sites, advanced sample acquisition and handling capabilities that can retrieve samples from both rocks and soil, and a high reliability avionics suite that is designed to permit long duration surface operations. It also includes a set of ten sophisticated scientific instruments that will investigate both the geological context of the landing site plus analyze samples to understand the chemical & organic composition of rocks & soil found there. The Gale Crater site has been specifically selected as a promising location where ancient habitable environments may have existed and for which evidence may be preserved. Curiosity will spend a minimum of one Mars year (about two Earth years) looking for this evidence. This paper will report on the progress of the mission over the first few months of surface operations, plus look retrospectively at lessons learned during both the development and cruise operations phase of the mission..

Rover Panorama of Entrance to Murray Buttes on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-08-19

This 360-degree panorama was acquired by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover as the rover neared features called "Murray Buttes" on lower Mount Sharp. The view combines more than 130 images taken on Aug. 5, 2016, during the afternoon of the mission's 1,421st sol, or Martian day, by Mastcam's left-eye camera. This date also was the fourth anniversary of Curiosity's landing. The dark, flat-topped mesa seen to the left of Curiosity's robotic arm is about 300 feet (about 90 meters) from the rover's position. It stands about 50 feet (about 15 meters) high. The horizontal ledge near the top of the mesa is about 200 feet (about 60 meters) across. An upper portion of Mount Sharp appears on the distant horizon to the left of this mesa. The relatively flat foreground is part of a geological layer called the Murray formation, which formed from lakebed mud deposits. The buttes and mesas rising above this surface are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. Curiosity closely examined that layer -- the Stimson formation -- during the first half of 2016 while crossing a feature called "Naukluft Plateau" between two exposures of the Murray formation. The buttes and mesas of Murray Buttes are capped by material that is relatively resistant to erosion, just as is the case with many similarly shaped buttes and mesas on Earth. The informal naming honors Bruce Murray (1931-2013), a Caltech planetary scientist and director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20765

Veiny Garden City Site and Surroundings on Mount Sharp, Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-11

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a site with a network of prominent mineral veins below a cap rock ridge on lower Mount Sharp. Researchers used the rover in March 2015 to examine the structure and composition of the crisscrossing veins at the "Garden City" site in the center of this scene. For geologists, the vein complex offers a three-dimensional exposure of mineralized fractures in a geological setting called the Pahrump section of the Lower Murray Formation. Curiosity spent several months examining sites in the Pahrump section below this site, before arriving at Garden City. Mineral veins such as these form where fluids move through fractured rocks, depositing minerals in the fractures and affecting chemistry of the surrounding rock. In this case, the veins have been more resistant to erosion than the surrounding host rock. The component images of this mosaic view were taken by the left-eye camera of Mastcam on March 27, 2015, during the 938th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. For scale, the cap rock scarp is about 3 feet (1 meter) tall. Figure 1 includes scale bars of 1 meter (3.3 feet) vertically and 2 meters (6.7 feet) horizontally. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19921

Curiosity Rover View of Alluring Martian Geology Ahead

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-05

A southward-looking panorama combining images from both cameras of the Mast Camera Mastcam instrument on NASA Curiosity Mars Rover shows diverse geological textures on Mount Sharp. A southward-looking panorama combining images from both cameras of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows diverse geological textures on Mount Sharp. Three years after landing on Mars, the mission is investigating this layered mountain for evidence about changes in Martian environmental conditions, from an ancient time when conditions were favorable for microbial life to the much-drier present. Gravel and sand ripples fill the foreground, typical of terrains that Curiosity traversed to reach Mount Sharp from its landing site. Outcrops in the midfield are of two types: dust-covered, smooth bedrock that forms the base of the mountain, and sandstone ridges that shed boulders as they erode. Rounded buttes in the distance contain sulfate minerals, perhaps indicating a change in the availability of water when they formed. Some of the layering patterns on higher levels of Mount Sharp in the background are tilted at different angles than others, evidence of complicated relationships still to be deciphered. The scene spans from southeastward at left to southwestward at right. The component images were taken on April 10 and 11, 2015, the 952nd and 953rd Martian days (or sols) since the rover's landing on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, UTC (Aug. 5, PDT). Images in the central part of the panorama are from Mastcam's right-eye camera, which is equipped with a 100-millimeter-focal-length telephoto lens. Images used in outer portions, including the most distant portions of the mountain in the scene, were taken with Mastcam's left-eye camera, using a wider-angle, 34-millimeter lens. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19803

Hardening Doppler Global Velocimetry Systems for Large Wind Tunnel Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyers, James F.; Lee, Joseph W.; Fletcher, Mark T.; South, Bruce W.

2004-01-01

The development of Doppler Global Velocimetry from a laboratory curiosity to a wind tunnel instrumentation system is discussed. This development includes system advancements from a single velocity component to simultaneous three components, and from a steady state to instantaneous measurement. Improvements to system control and stability are discussed along with solutions to real world problems encountered in the wind tunnel. This on-going development program follows the cyclic evolution of understanding the physics of the technology, development of solutions, laboratory and wind tunnel testing, and reevaluation of the physics based on the test results.

Fluorine conformational effects in organocatalysis: an emerging strategy for molecular design.

PubMed

Zimmer, Lucie E; Sparr, Christof; Gilmour, Ryan

2011-12-09

Molecular design strategies that profit from the intrinsic stereoelectronic and electrostatic effects of fluorinated organic molecules have mainly been restricted to bio-organic chemistry. Indeed, many fluorine conformational effects remain academic curiosities with no immediate application. However, the renaissance of organocatalysis offers the possibility to exploit many of these well-described phenomena for molecular preorganization. In this minireview, we highlight examples of catalyst refinement by introduction of an aliphatic C-F bond which functions as a chemically inert steering group for conformational control. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Silica in Opal at Buckskin and Greenhorn on Mount Sharp

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-17

This graph presents information from the NASA Curiosity Mars rover's onboard analysis of rock powder drilled from the "Buckskin" and "Greenhorn" target locations on lower Mount Sharp. Buckskin, in the "Marias Pass" area, and Greenhorn, in the "Bridger Basin" area, both contain high concentrations of silica. X-ray diffraction analysis of powered samples inside Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument revealed that each of them contains silica in the form of noncrystalline opal. The broad hump in the two X-ray diffraction patterns is diagnostic of opaline silica. Some of the silica in Buckskin is in the form of tridymite. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20273

An aesthetic approach to the teaching of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zubrowski, Bernard

The role of aesthetic curiosity in the manipulation of materials is often ignored or considered irrelevant in most science curricula. Contemporary practice in curriculum design emphasizes an approach that views science and art as separate types of explorations. Some historians of technology and science suggest that basic discoveries arise out of an aesthetic curiosity fostered by play with materials or ideas. Experience with certain familiar materials of aesthetic interest suggest that children will sustain play for long periods and easily mix metaphors of art and science in developing an understanding of the phenomena that are a part of the experience. Several examples are given of how this might be accomplished.

Destination Mars Grand Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-18

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, left and Erisa Hines of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, try out Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset during a preview of the new Destination: Mars experience at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Destination: Mars gives guests an opportunity to “visit” several sites on Mars using real imagery from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover. Based on OnSight, a tool created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the experience brings guests together with a holographic version of Aldrin and Curiosity rover driver Hines as they are guided to Mars using Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset. Photo credit: NASA/Charles Babir

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project scientist, Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., holds up a model of the MSL, or Curiosity, at a press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The MSL is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

John Grant, geologist, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, speaks at a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

LANL Researcher Roger Wiens Discusses ChemCam

ScienceCinema

Wiens, Roger

2018-01-16

Discussion of the ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity Rover that occurred during the NASA press conference prior to launch of the Mars Science Laboratory. The ChemCam instrument was developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the French Space Institute. Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher Roger Wiens discusses the instrument on this video. ChemCam uses a laser to "zap" features of the Martian landscape and then uses a spectrometer to gather information about the composition of the sample. ChemCam will help the Curiosity Rover determine whether Mars is or was habitable. The Rover is expected to touch down on the Red Planet on August 5, 2012.

Mineralogy and Elemental Composition of Wind Drift Soil at Rocknest, Gale Crater

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blake, D. F.; Bish, D. L.; Morris, R. V.; Downs, R. T.; Trieman, A. H.; Morrison, S. M.; Chipera, S. J.; Ming, D. W.; Yen, A. S.; Vaniman, D. T.;

Reflections on curiosity.

PubMed

van Bemmel, J H

2008-01-01

The purpose of this article is to show that curiosity is the driving force behind all scientific endeavors. The second purpose is to show that all science is constrained on its underlying assumptions. Three examples are used to illustrate the above theses: one from cosmology, the second from biomedical research, and the third from the formalization of human reasoning in a computer. The three examples are supported by quotes from Albert Einstein. Research in cosmology shows that the horizon of our knowledge is continuously expanding but that major scientific questions remain to be solved. The second example from biomedicine explains that the more we discover of the details of living phenomena, the more complex they appear to be. The example involving human reasoning makes clear that the brain is still largely unknown territory. Like Einstein, who said he held 'humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind', I have a deep admiration for the Architect who reveals himself in the details that we are privileged to study in our research. As Albert Einstein said: The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Clathrate hydrates as possible source of episodic methane releases on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karatekin, Özgür; Gloesener, Elodie; Temel, Orkun

2017-04-01

Methane has been shown to vary with location and time in the Martian atmosphere, with abundances of up to tens of parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv). Since methane is short-lived on geological time scales, its presence implies the existence of an active, current source of methane that is yet to be understood. In this study we investigate the destabilization of subsurface reservoirs of clathrate hydrates as a possible geological source of methane. Clathrate hydrates are crystalline compounds constituted by cages of hydrogen-bonded water molecules, inside of which guest gas molecules are trapped. We show the present-day maps of methane clathrate stability zones, in particular in the vicinity of Gale Crater where the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite on the Curiosity rover has made in situ measurements of atmospheric methane, during more than 3 years. Curiosity has observed spikes of elevated methane levels of 7 ppbv on four sequential observations over a 2-month period. The possibility of episodic releases consistent with curiosity observations from a subsurface clathrate source, is investigated using a gas transport through porous Martian regolith considering different depths of reservoirs. Transport of the released methane spike into the atmosphere is simulated using the PlanetWRF model.

Mars Rover Mastcam View of Possible Mud Cracks

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-17

This view of a Martian rock slab called "Old Soaker," which has a network of cracks that may have originated in drying mud, comes from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The location is within an exposure of Murray formation mudstone on lower Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. Mud cracks would be evidence of a time more than 3 billion years ago when dry intervals interrupted wetter periods that supported lakes in the area. Curiosity has found evidence of ancient lakes in older, lower-lying rock layers and also in younger mudstone that is above Old Soaker. Several images from Mastcam's left-eye camera are combined into this mosaic view. They were taken on Dec. 20, 2016, during the 1,555th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The Old Soaker slab is about 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. Figure 1 includes a scale bar of 30 centimeters (12 inches). The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21262

Mineralogy of an active eolian sediment from the Namib dune, Gale crater, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achilles, C. N.; Downs, R. T.; Ming, D. W.; Rampe, E. B.; Morris, R. V.; Treiman, A. H.; Morrison, S. M.; Blake, D. F.; Vaniman, D. T.; Ewing, R. C.; Chipera, S. J.; Yen, A. S.; Bristow, T. F.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Gellert, R.; Hazen, R. M.; Fendrich, K. V.; Craig, P. I.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Des Marais, D. J.; Farmer, J. D.; Sarrazin, P. C.; Morookian, J. M.

2017-11-01

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is using a comprehensive scientific payload to explore rocks and soils in Gale crater, Mars. Recent investigations of the Bagnold Dune Field provided the first in situ assessment of an active dune on Mars. The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument on Curiosity performed quantitative mineralogical analyses of the <150 μm size fraction of the Namib dune at a location called Gobabeb. Gobabeb is dominated by basaltic minerals. Plagioclase, Fo56 olivine, and two Ca-Mg-Fe pyroxenes account for the majority of crystalline phases along with minor magnetite, quartz, hematite, and anhydrite. In addition to the crystalline phases, a minimum 42 wt % of the Gobabeb sample is X-ray amorphous. Mineralogical analysis of the Gobabeb data set provides insights into the origin(s) and geologic history of the dune material and offers an important opportunity for ground truth of orbital observations. CheMin's analysis of the mineralogy and phase chemistry of modern and ancient Gale crater dune fields, together with other measurements by Curiosity's science payload, provides new insights into present and past eolian processes on Mars.

The river and the sea: fieldwork in human ecology and ethnobiology.

PubMed

Begossi, Alpina

2014-10-02

This article is a commentary on the experiences that motivated my decision to become a human ecologist and ethnobiologist. These experiences include the pleasure of studying and of having the sense of being within nature, as well as the curiosity towards understanding the world and minds of local people. In particular, such understanding could be driven by addressing the challenging questions that originate in the interactions of such individuals with their natural surroundings. I have been particularly interested in the sea and the riverine forests that are inhabited by coastal or riverine small-scale fishers. Sharing the distinctive world of these fishers enjoyably incited my curiosity and challenged me to understand why fishers and their families 'do as they do' for their livelihoods including their beliefs. This challenge involved understanding the rationality (or the arguments or views) that underlies the decisions these individuals make in their interaction with nature. This curiosity was fundamental to my career choice, as were a number of reading interests. These reading interests included political economy and philosophy; evolution and sociobiology; evolutionary, human, and cultural ecology; cultural transmission; fisheries; local knowledge; ecological economics; and, naturally, ethnobiology.

Continued Development of in Situ Geochronology for Planetary Using KArLE (Potassium-Argon Laser Experiment)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Devismes, D.; Cohen, B. A.

2016-01-01

Geochronology is a fundamental measurement for planetary samples, providing the ability to establish an absolute chronology for geological events, including crystallization history, magmatic evolution, and alteration events, and providing global and solar system context for such events. The capability for in situ geochronology will open up the ability for geochronology to be accomplished as part of lander or rover complement, on multiple samples rather than just those returned. An in situ geochronology package can also complement sample return missions by identifying the most interesting rocks to cache or return to Earth. The K-Ar radiometric dating approach to in situ dating has been validated by the Curiosity rover on Mars as well as several laboratories on Earth. Several independent projects developing in situ rock dating for planetary samples, based on the K-Ar method, are giving promising results. Among them, the Potassium (K)-Argon Laser Experiment (KArLE) at MSFC is based on techniques already in use for in planetary exploration, specifically, Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS, used on the Curiosity Chemcam), mass spectroscopy (used on multiple planetary missions, including Curiosity, ExoMars, and Rosetta), and optical imaging (used on most missions).

Mars Science Laboratory's rover, Curiosity: Ongoing investigations into the habitability of Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Michael; Vasavada, Ashwin

2015-11-01

NASA’s Curiosity rover has the objective to determine whether Mars was habitable. The rover’s science team has achieved that and more, including two major firsts in planetary science. First, Gale Crater was determined to once have an aqueous environment and able to support microbial life, evidenced by conglomerates and the detailed analyses of the drill samples [1]. Second, the age dating of rock on another planet - radiogenic and cosmogenic noble gases in a mudstone yielded a K-Ar age of 4.21 ± 0.35 Ga while 3He, 21Ne, and 36Ar yielded surface exposure ages of 78 ± 30 Ma [2], suggesting the potential to find rocks whose organic content has not yet been destroyed by cosmic rays. Indeed, organic compounds have been found in samples from the Sheepbed mudstone [3]. Reports of plumes of methane in the martian atmosphere have defied explanation to date. Curiosity measured a constant background level of atmospheric methane with a mean value of 0.69 ± 0.25 ppbv, consistent with methane released from the degradation of interplanetary dust and meteorites. However, in four consecutive measurements spanning two months, the rover measured a ten-fold increase (7.2 ± 2.1 ppbv), suggesting that methane was actively added from an unknown source [3]. Periodic measurements will continue, perhaps revealing the possible sources of high methane, whether biological or abiological. Enhancing our concept of Mars’ capability to support life, the Curiosity rover has detected nitrogen-bearing compounds of 110-300 ppm of nitrate in scooped sand, and 70-1,100 ppm of nitrate in drilled mudstone. Discovery of martian nitrogen has important implications for a nitrogen cycle at some point in martian history [4]. More recent exploration has focused on the investigation of a mudstone-sandstone geologic contact, high Si and H abundances, and organics. These and the latest results from Curiosity will be discussed, exploring the transition of Mars from a habitable world to the desert planet it is today. [1] Grotzinger, et al. Science 343: 388 (2014), [2] Farley, et al. Science 343: 389 (2014), [3] Feissinet et al. JGR, 120: 495-514 (2015), [3] Webster, et al., Science, 347: 415-427 (2015), [4] Stern, et al., PNAS 112: 4245-4250 (2015).

Curiosity Finds Hydrogen-Rich Area of Mars Subsurface

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

Curiosity's Russian-made instrument for checking hydration levels in the ground beneath the rover detected an unusually high amount at a site near "Marias Pass," prompting repeated passes over the area to map the hydrogen amounts. The instrument is named Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons, or DAN. It detects hydrogen by the effect of hydrogen atoms on neutrons entering the ground either from cosmic rays and Curiosity's power source (DAN's passive mode) or from the instrument's neutron pulse generator (DAN's active mode). DAN recognizes which neutrons have bounced off hydrogen from their rerduced energy level. This map, covering an area about 130 feet (40 meters) across, shows results from DAN's multiple traverses over the area, with color coding for levels of hydrogen detected. The red coding indicates amounts of hydrogen three to four times as high as the amounts detected anywhere previously along Curiosity's traverse of about 6.9 miles (11.1 kilometers) since landing in August 2012. The inset map at lower right shows the full traverse through Sol 1051 (July 21, 2015), with names assigned to rectangles within Gale Crater for geological mapping purposes. The vertical bar at left indicates the color coding according to counts per second in DAN's passive mode. The hydrogen detected by DAN is interpreted as water molecules or hydroxyl ions bound within minerals or water absorbed onto minerals in the rocks and soil, to a depth of about 3 feet (1 meter) beneath the rover. The amount of hydrogen is often expressed as "water equivalent hydrogen" based on two hydrogen atoms per molecule of water. In the same area where DAN detected an unusually high amount of hydration, Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument detected an unusually high amount of silica in several rock targets. The DAN and ChemCam findings led to the rover's science team choosing a rock target called "Buckskin" for collection of a drilled sample to be analyzed by the rover's internal laboratory instruments. Russia's Space Research Institute developed DAN in close cooperation with the N.L. Dukhov All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics, Moscow, and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna. The neutron generator development was supervised by the late technical designer German A. Smirnov of the All-Russia Institute of Automatics. Moscow. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19809

In Situ Analysis of Mars Soil and Rocks Sample with the Sam Gcms Instrumentation Onboard Curiosity : Interpretation and Comparison of Measurements Done during the First Martian Year of Curiosity on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szopa, C.; Coll, P. J.; Cabane, M.; Buch, A.; Coscia, D.; Millan, M.; Francois, P.; Belmahadi, I.; Teinturier, S.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.; Glavin, D. P.; Freissinet, C.; Steele, A.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Mahaffy, P. R.

2014-12-01

The characterisation of the chemical and mineralogical composition of solid surface samples collected with the Curiosity rover is a primary objective of the SAM experiment. These data should provide essential clues on the past habitability of Gale crater. Amongst the SAM suite of instruments [1], SAM-GC (Gas Chromatograph) is devoted to identify and quantify volatiles evolved from the thermal (heating up to about 900°C)/chemical (derivatization procedure) treatment of any soil sample collected by the Curiosity rover. With the aim to search for potential organic molecules outgassed from the samples, SAM-GC analytical channels composed of thermal-desorption injector, and a MXT-CLP or a MXT-Q chromatographic column was chosen to achieve all the measurements done up today, with the aim to separate of a wide range of volatile inorganic and organic molecules. Four solid samples have been analyzed with GCMS, one sand sample collected at the Rocknest site, two rock samples (John Klein and Cumberland respectively) collected at the Yellowknife Bay site using the Curiosity driller, and one rock sample collected at the Kimberly site. All the measurements were successful and they produced complex chromatograms with both detectors used for SAM GC, i.e. a thermal conductivity detector and the SAM quandrupole mass spectrometer. Their interpretation already revealed the presence of an oxychlorine phase present in the sample which is at the origin of chlorohydrocarbons clearly identified [2] but this represents only a fraction of the GCMS signal recorded [3,4]. This work presents a systematic comparison of the GCMS measurements done for the different samples collected, supported by reference data obtained in laboratory with different spare models of the gas chromatograph, with the aim to bring new elements of interpretation of the SAM measurements. References: [1] Mahaffy, P. et al. (2012) Space Sci Rev, 170, 401-478. [2] Glavin, D. et al. (2013), JGR. [3] Leshin L. et al. (2013), Science, [4] Ming D. et al. (2013), Science, 32, 64-67. Acknowledgements: SAM-GC team acknowledges support from the French Space Agency (CNES), French National Programme of Planetology (PNP), National French Council (CNRS), Pierre Simon Laplace Institute, Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) and ESEP Labex, and the great MSL team

Post-Flight EDL Entry Guidance Performance of the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mendeck, Gavin F.; McGrew, Lynn Craig

2013-01-01

The 2011 Mars Science Laboratory was the first Mars guided entry which safely delivered the rover to a landing within a touchdown ellipse of 19.1 km x 6.9 km. The Entry Terminal Point Controller guidance algorithm is derived from the final phase Apollo Command Module guidance and, like Apollo, modulates the bank angle to control the range flown. The guided entry performed as designed without any significant exceptions. The Curiosity rover was delivered about 2.2 km from the expected touchdown. This miss distance is attributed to little time to correct the downrange drift from the final bank reversal and a suspected tailwind during heading alignment. The successful guided entry for the Mars Science Laboratory lays the foundation for future Mars missions to improve upon.

Radiological Control Center (RADCC) Renaming Ceremony

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-03-31

A Mars Science Laboratory cap is displayed in the Randall E. Scott Radiological Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The facility was recently named in honor of Randy Scott, a professional health physicist of more than 40 years. He served as the Florida spaceport's Radiation Protection Officer for 14 years until his death June 17, 2016. Launched Nov. 26, 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory with the Curiosity lander was powered by a radioisotope thermalelectric generator. Located in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building, the Randall E. Scott Radiological Control Center is staffed by technical and radiological experts from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing and the state of Florida. The group performs data collection and assessment functions supporting launch site and field data collection activities during launces involving plutonium-powered spacecraft such as the Mars Science Laboratory.

Boundary-Layer Control: In Memory of Bill Reynolds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, John

2004-11-01

Professor Bill Reynolds (1933-2004) inspired many students and colleagues with his never-ending curiosity and thought-provoking ideas. Bill's relentless energy, together with his hallmark can-do character and do-it-yourself attitude, led to many seminal contributions to mechanical engineering in general, and fluid mechanics in particular. He has left a lasting impact on many of us, especially for those who had the privilege of working closely with him. Some of my current work on boundary-layer control, the use of neural networks in particular, were inspired by many discussions with Bill. He was among the first to see the potential of control-theoretic approaches for flow control, which has become the main thrust of my current research. Without his continued encouragement, I would not have been deeply involved in this line of research; and perhaps, we would not have seen the current flurry of research activities in applying modern control theories to flow control. In memory of Bill Reynolds, who himself has contributed much to flow control, an analysis of boundary-layer control from a linear system perspective will be presented.

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

Michael Watkins (right), mission manager and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) engineer, Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, Calif., speaks at a press conference, as Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program lead scientist looks on, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The MSL, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

The Combustion Experiment on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite on the Curiosity Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, J. C.; Malespin, C. A.; Eigenbrode, J.; Graham, H. V.; Archer, P. D.; Brunner, A.; Freissinet, C.; Franz, H. B.; Fuentes, J.; Glavin, D. P.;

LANL Researcher Roger Wiens Discusses ChemCam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiens, Roger

2012-02-15

Discussion of the ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity Rover that occurred during the NASA press conference prior to launch of the Mars Science Laboratory. The ChemCam instrument was developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the French Space Institute. Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher Roger Wiens discusses the instrument on this video. ChemCam uses a laser to "zap" features of the Martian landscape and then uses a spectrometer to gather information about the composition of the sample. ChemCam will help the Curiosity Rover determine whether Mars is or was habitable. The Rover is expected to touch down on the Redmore » Planet on August 5, 2012.« less

Curiosity heads to active Martian dunes on This Week @NASA – November 20, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-20

NASA’s Curiosity rover is making an unscheduled stop on its way up Mount Sharp on Mars, for a close-up look at a collection of actively moving sand dunes. Images from orbit indicate that the Bagnold Dunes are migrating as much as about 3 feet per Earth year, and includes one particular dune that is about two-stories high and as broad as a football field. Researchers plan to have the rover take samples for analysis. No active dunes have ever been visited anywhere else in the solar system besides Earth. Also, Orion cone panels welded, Launch approaches for Cygnus, Student CubeSat onboard Cygnus, New crew access tower components and more!

Curiosity Arm Holding Steady, Sol 915

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-03-06

This image from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the position in which the rover held its arm for several days after a transient short circuit triggered onboard fault-protection programming to halt arm activities on Feb. 27, 2015, the 911th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The rover team chose to hold the arm in the same position for several days of tests to diagnose the underlying cause of the Sol 911 event. Observations with instruments on the rover's mast continued during this period. The Navcam took this image on March 4, 2015, during Sol 915. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19147

Curiosity Drill After Drilling at Telegraph Peak

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-03-06

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the rover's drill just after finishing a drilling operation at a target rock called "Telegraph Peak" on Feb. 24, 2015, the 908th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. Three sols later, a fault-protection action by the rover halted a process of transferring sample powder that was collected during this drilling. The image is in raw color, as recorded directly by the camera, and has not been white-balanced. The fault-protection event, triggered by an irregularity in electrical current, led to engineering tests in subsequent days to diagnose the underlying cause. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19145

Explaining energy votes in the Ninety-Fourth Congress

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lopreato, S.C.; Smoller, F.

1978-06-01

Currently the United States is undergoing an energy crisis which many observers feel signals the eclispse of this nation's ability to meet its exponentially increasing demand for energy. The absence of an explicit, comprehensive plan to deal with this problem has caused many Americans concern and has stimulated the curiosity of various students of Congress. Emotions are heightened when an administration's comparatively mild energy plan is introduced in the Congress only to emergy almost a year later a skeleton of its original self, devoid of its most potential features. This study investigates why members of Congress vote the way theymore » do on energy legislation. The roll-call votes in the House of Representatives from the Ninety-fourth Congress are examined. Five factors are described namely: regionalism, state interests, the nature of individual constituencies, party, and ideology; influence voting in the House from these the variables tested in this analysis are drawn. The research design used is then detailed and, finally, results are presented and discussed.« less

Dilong: food for thought and medicine.

PubMed

Cooper, Edwin L; Hirabayashi, Kyle; Balamurugan, Mariappan

2012-10-01

dì lóng, Japanese: Mimizu, Korean: Jireongi, Spanish: Lombriz de tierra, French: Ver de terre, German: Regenwurm, Italian: Lombrico, Swedish: Daggmask, Portuguese: Minhoca). They have long been used as a food source as well as treatments of various ailments. Many alternative and traditional disciplines of medicine, such as those in China, Japan, and Korea, developed medicinal uses of dilong from an initial utilization as nutrition. Increased curiosity in the potential medicinal properties of dilong has come to fruition through bioprospecting and evidence based research. This increased questioning and searching spawned first from a growing knowledge base about the earthworm's innate immune system. Their importance in understanding the evolution of the innate immune system has long been overlooked because of the ecological importance in soil preservation, earthworm immune systems, being full of leukocytes and humoral products, offer significant advantages when used as medicines. Earthworms offer an unanticipated slew of potential health benefits without common drawbacks that come with other biological, alternative forms of medicine such as cost, ethical and pathological concerns of animal testing.

The role of culture in breast health practices among Chinese-Australian women.

PubMed

Kwok, Cannas; Sullivan, Gerard; Cant, Rosemary

2006-12-01

Exploring how cultural meanings of the breast impact on perceived images of breast cancer and breast health practices. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 Chinese-Australian women in their native language (Cantonese). The findings revealed that the meanings of the breast are constructed within the women's social and cultural context where breasts are associated with sex; and talking about, being concerned with or expressing curiosity about breasts is considered inappropriate. These views have a significant impact on (1) the way the informants viewed breast cancer; (2) perceptions of breast health practices; and (3) the explanations of breast cancer and associated risk perception. Understanding the nature of culturally-based barriers to utilization of breast cancer screening is the first step to discovering solutions for making screening tests more acceptable to women from other cultures. This study provides insight about obstacles for breast health promotion practices and for developing culturally appropriate health education programs and counselling strategies.

The evolution of humor from male aggression.

PubMed

Shuster, Sam

2012-01-01

The response to seeing a man riding a unicycle was reported to be consistently related to the viewer's sex and stage of physical development. To see if this observation was universal, observations of responses were collected from 23 male and 9 female unicyclists aged 15-69 years, with 2-40 years cycling experience across four continents. With two exceptions among men, the findings were the same as those originally reported: children showed interest and curiosity, young girls showed little interest, while adult women showed a kindly, concerned, praising response. By contrast, boys showed physical aggression, which became more verbal, merging in the later teens to the snide, aggressive, stereotyped humorous response shown by adult males, which became less frequent in elderly men. The universality of the response across different individuals, environments, and dates of observation suggests an endogenous mechanism, and the association with masculine development relates this to androgen. The theoretical consequences are discussed. It is concluded that humor develops from aggression in males and is evolutionarily related to sexual selection.

Emergent evolutionism, determinism and unpredictability.

PubMed

Sartenaer, Olivier

2015-06-01

The fact that there exist in nature thoroughly deterministic systems whose future behavior cannot be predicted, no matter how advanced or fined-tune our cognitive and technical abilities turn out to be, has been well established over the last decades or so, essentially in the light of two different theoretical frameworks, namely chaos theory and (some deterministic interpretation of) quantum mechanics. The prime objective of this paper is to show that there actually exists an alternative strategy to ground the divorce between determinism and predictability, a way that is older than-and conceptually independent from-chaos theory and quantum mechanics, and which has not received much attention in the recent philosophical literature about determinism. This forgotten strategy-embedded in the doctrine called "emergent evolutionism"-is nonetheless far from being a mere historical curiosity that should only draw the attention of philosophers out of their concern for comprehensiveness. It has been indeed recently revived in the works of respected scientists. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Harsh Environments

PubMed Central

Mihailov, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

Because of their small size, passive nature, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and capability to directly measure physical parameters such as temperature and strain, fiber Bragg grating sensors have developed beyond a laboratory curiosity and are becoming a mainstream sensing technology. Recently, high temperature stable gratings based on regeneration techniques and femtosecond infrared laser processing have shown promise for use in extreme environments such as high temperature, pressure or ionizing radiation. Such gratings are ideally suited for energy production applications where there is a requirement for advanced energy system instrumentation and controls that are operable in harsh environments. This paper will present a review of some of the more recent developments. PMID:22438744