Science Station Research Articles

The Language Science Station at Planet Word: a language research and engagement laboratory at a language museum

Abstract The Language Science Station (LSS) is a research and engagement laboratory operating at the Planet Word museum in Washington, DC, representing a unique partnership between language researchers and a museum dedicated to language. The LSS invites Planet Word guests – ranging from local to international visitors – to participate in research studies and engage in educational activities with student language scientists from diverse academic backgrounds. In doing so, we broaden participation in the language sciences among both the researchers and the participant population. This paper outlines the goals, values, and structure of the LSS, highlighting our dual emphases on research and engagement. We focus on several aspects of the project. These include our novel multi-university researcher-museum partnership, the different considerations that we find are necessary for conducting research in a museum setting compared to the laboratory, and our training of researchers and student research assistants. The paper also provides reflections from students on their interactions with museum visitors. We share our experiences with the broader scholarly community in an effort to lower barriers for other behavioral scientists interested in combining research and engagement in public venues.

The Ironberry Plan: an Electric and Steel-making Way to Build a Science Station on Mars

This paper introduces the Ironberry Plan. This practical plan leads to the construction of a science station in the iron region of the Meridiani Planum (IRoM), Mars. It also enables the continuation of NASA’s Water Strategy, the beginning of astronomy from Mars, the landing of humans at IRoM and the beginning of continuous human habitation there. A focus of the plan is to provide abundant electricity on Mars through an intense use of local resources. The characteristic early steps of the Ironberry Plan are: 1. The robotic harvesting and processing of a superb iron ore at IRoM; 2. The use of Mars-optimized, robot-controlled steel-making and manufacture of steel parts; 3. At least for some years, a deliberate push for mutually feeding exponential growth in electricity generation, steel-making and steel manufacture, where early steel manufacture is focused on making more electrical generation equipment; 4. Using the rapidly growing power capacity and advanced robotics and processing of local sediments, the start of many more foundational activities (i.e., water liberation, sulfur-concrete construction, multi-material manufacture, agriculture and more); 5. Using 1-4, the building of a science station at IRoM while also converting excavated sediment caverns into underground, radiation protected spaces for the science station. Keywords: Ironberries, Iron Region of the Meridiani Planum (IRoM), Science Station, Abundant Electricity, Steel-making

AI Adaptivity in a Mixed-Reality System Improves Learning

AbstractAdaptivity in advanced learning technologies offer the possibility to adapt to different student backgrounds, which is difficult to do in a traditional classroom setting. However, there are mixed results on the effectiveness of adaptivity based on different implementations and contexts. In this paper, we introduce AI adaptivity in the context of a new genre of Intelligent Science Stations that bring intelligent tutoring into the physical world. Intelligent Science Stations are mixed-reality systems that bridge the physical and virtual worlds to improve children’s inquiry-based STEM learning. Automated reactive guidance is made possible by a specialized AI computer vision algorithm, providing personalized interactive feedback to children as they experiment and make discoveries in their physical environment. We report on a randomized controlled experiment where we compare learning outcomes of children interacting with the Intelligent Science Station that has task-loop adaptivity incorporated, compared to another version that provides tasks randomly without adaptivity. Our results show that adaptivity using Bayesian Knowledge Tracing in the context of a mixed-reality system leads to better learning of scientific principles, without sacrificing enjoyment. These results demonstrate benefits of adaptivity in a mixed-reality setting to improve children’s science learning.

Podcast: Life at the South Pole Science Station

Podcast: Life at the South Pole Science Station

Active seismic exploration along a human lunar mission traverse analogue in the San Francisco volcanic field

Lunar surface activities during Apollo and terrestrial analogue lunar mission simulations have commonly focused on traverses that prioritize surface observations and sample collection activities. Along the way, geophysical measurements are often made. However, they are not necessarily made in a way that optimizes information about the physical subsurface properties, which is something that geophysics can provide. In 2010, NASA simulated a high-quality multiweek human lunar rover traverse analogue mission in the San Francisco volcanic field in Arizona. The traverse route and associated science station locations were selected based on addressing surface observation and sampling tasks. Geophysical studies were not included in the simulation. We returned to the same field area and obtained data on 19 active seismic refraction geophone lines from the science station locations accessed during the simulation. We analyzed the data to calculate 1D seismic velocity profiles for each of the lines. Results revealed up to seven distinct seismically defined material types, including a nearly ubiquitous veneer of regolith of variable thickness at the surface. Results also provided depth and thickness of the seven material types in the first 60 m of the subsurface at each of the science station locations. These cannot be obtained by geologic observations of the outcrops. Systematic interpretation of the area's overall subsurface stratigraphy was not feasible due to the geophysically nonsystematic nature of the original traverse's prioritization of the science station locations. The added geophysical understanding of a region could drive additional geologic investigations to locate samples of otherwise unknown material through the location of surface exposures or coring. This emphasizes the importance of synchronizing geologic and geophysical research requirements during lunar traverse planning and execution to optimize addressing scientific and utilization questions.

Prevalence of Vibrio coralliilyticus in stony coral Porites sp. in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan.

The purpose of this study was to assess the health of stony coral Porites sp. based on the presence of bacterial pathogens, specifically Vibrio coralliilyticus, in the Gulf of Aqaba, and to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on Porites sp. Porites sp. specimens were collected from the Marine Science Station (MSS) and a public beach (Yamanyeh) in Jordan. Mucus, water and sediment samples were collected throughout the year. The Vibrio-like population was higher in diseased samples than in healthy samples and was slightly higher in Yamanyeh than in MSS in all the samples. In samples from both sites, there was a seasonal variation in the Vibrio-like population, with a decline in population as the temperature reduced. All samples contained virulent isolates clustered with V. coralliilyticus strains. Inoculation of healthy Porites sp. fragments with virulent isolates and V. coralliilyticus strain caused bleaching of the coral after 48 h. Therefore, V. coralliilyticus represents a pathogenic agent which may contribute to bleaching in Porites sp. in the Gulf of Aqaba and may not be affected considerably by anthropogenic activities. This is the first report of a bacterial pathogen of corals in Jordan; future studies should identify other coral pathogens in this region.

Overview of the multimessenger astronomy on the moon

In this new age of multimessenger astronomy, we can explore the universe using the knowledge obtained from four cosmic messengers: electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays. Together, they boost our cognitive potential. The moon is an excellent site for multimessenger astronomy owing to its preferable conditions of radio quietness, weak gravity, vacuum environments, and gentle moonquakes. Thus, a lunar laboratory is ideal for detecting signals from the Dark Ages, receiving Deci-Hertz gravitational waves, exploring the origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, and discovering exoplanets. Hence, moon-based observation proposals deserve serious consideration, and constructing a lunar science station may be helpful to further our exploration of cosmic mysteries. In this overview, we present a retrospective summary of the development status of lunar experiments and introduce the scientific significance of multimessenger astronomy on the moon.

Study of the spatiotemporal structure of extensive air showers at high energies

In a series of works carried out at the Tien-Shan High Altitude Science Station (TSHASS), a penetrating component of extensive air showers (EAS) caused by cosmic rays (CR) with energy of the primary particle above 1 PeV was discovered. The local increase in the energy of secondary hadrons in the EAS cores in the region of the CR spectrum slope change around energy of 3 PeV, the so-called “knee”. The problem of knee formation currently is one of the currently still open mysteries in astrophysics. The studies carried out at the TSHASS show that more information on the knee region can be obtained by studying the characteristics of the EAS cores. At present, a large installation with an area of several hundred square meters is being constructed at the station to study the EAS cores in the “knee” region. The installation is located at an altitude of 3330 meters above sea level near the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Nobeoka Marine Science Station, Field Science Center, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki

Nobeoka Marine Science Station, Field Science Center, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki

UAV空中写真を用いてSfMにより生成したオルソ写真の位置精度検証に関する事例報告―宮崎大学田野演習林スギ人工林における事例―

UAV空中写真を用いてSfMにより生成したオルソ写真の位置精度検証に関する事例報告―宮崎大学田野演習林スギ人工林における事例―

A robotically deployable lunar surface science station and its validation in a Moon-analogue environment

This article presents a system design and a surface operations concept for a robotically deployable, small scientific observatory on the lunar surface. The design reference mission scenario considers its implementation as part of larger international exploration mission such as the European Exploration Envelope Programme. The underlying science case particularly addresses scientific objectives for long term observations as part of scientific networks. Considered strawman payload for this surface station focuses on instruments which are – or could be – candidates for geophysical and astronomical observation networks. A seismometer, a radio experiment and an IR telescope have been taken as sizing case to assess the station’s system budgets. First part of the article looks at the station design from engineering perspective whether a small modular station can address common needs of such instruments such as a sustained operation in the lunar environment. Focus is given to design features to enable the station’s deployment by robotic assets. Secondly, the core unit of the conceptualized station has been built as engineering model including its basic system functions, interfaces to neighboring mission elements such as the lander vehicle and the rover and a set of geophones as representative for a science instrument. This hardware realization was used in a functional end-to-end demonstration from robotic deployment to delivery of geo-scientific data. The mission demonstration has been carried out in a Moon analogue field test on Mt. Etna, Sicily/Italy and confirmed the general feasibility of the proposed concept for lunar scientific exploration. Particularly, the evaluation of the acquired seismic data confirmed its suitability for sub-surface exploration. Results from the Moon analogue test are presented together with the design details of the surface station and the necessary conditions for its implementation and use in a robotic exploration scenario.

Rapid Ocean Destratification by Typhoon Soulik over the Highly Stratified Waters of West Jeju Island, Korea

Lim, H.; Miles, T.; Glenn, S.; Kim, D.; Kim, M.; Shim, J.; Chun, I., and Hwang, K., 2020. Rapid ocean destratification by typhoon Soulik over the highly stratified waters of west Jeju Island, Korea. In: Malvarez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 1480–1484. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Global warming is affecting ocean disasters by intensifying typhoons, which present a threat to people living in coastal cities. The increase of intensity has been observed in the typhoons approaching the southwestern Korean Peninsula; this increase can be attributed to the increasing water temperature and strong stratification of the Yellow Sea in summer. Typhoon Soulik was formed on August 16, 2018 in the western North Pacific and tracked northwestward toward the Yellow Sea, slowing down as it moved towards the highly stratified coastal waters of western Jeju Island on August 23. However, its intensity rapidly decreased from a typhoon to a tropical storm before it landed on the southwestern Korean Peninsula. Typhoon Soulik was observed by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology's (KIOST) Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS), the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency's (KHOA) Moslpo tidal station, and an underwater glider deployed by KIOST and Rutgers University as a part of the Joint Program Agreement (JPA) by the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The glider was deployed over the Yellow Sea Trough, west of Jeju Island near IORS, from August 15 to 25, 2018; during this time, the eye of typhoon Soulik travelled within 26 km of the glider track on August 23 at 04:37 Korea Standard Time (KST). The glider also observed a rapid ocean cooling where the surface temperature dropped from 27.5°C to 16.5°C while the bottom temperature increased from 11°C to 14°C, and the pycnocline deepened from 30 to 60 m. The rapid ocean mixing coincided with a tidal transition followed by several hours of sustained winds and waves with limited mixing and cooling. It is suggested that this rapid ocean destratification might reduce the intensity of typhoon Soulik before landfall.

Active Learning is About More Than Hands-On: A Mixed-Reality AI System to Support STEM Education

Along with substantial consensus around the power of active learning, comes some lack of precision in what its essential ingredients are. New educational technologies offer vehicles for systematically exploring benefits of alternative techniques for supporting active learning. We introduce a new genre of Intelligent Science Station technology that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support children in learning science by doing science in the real world. We use this system in a randomized controlled trial that investigates whether active learning is best when it is implemented as guided deliberate practice, as constructive “hands-on” activity, or as a combination of both. Automated, reactive guidance is made possible by a specialized AI computer vision algorithm we developed to track what children are doing in the physical environment as they do experiments and discoveries with physical objects. The results support deliberate practice and indicate that having some guided discovery based on effective learning mechanism such as self-explanation, contrasting cases and personalized interactive feedback produces more robust learning compared to exploratory construction alone. Children learning through guided discovery achieve greater understanding of the scientific principles than children learning through hands-on construction alone (4 times more pre-to-post test improvement). Importantly, a combined guided discovery and hands-on construction condition leads to better learning of the very hands-on construction skills that are the sole focus of the hands-on constructive learning condition (>10 times more pre-to-post improvement). These results suggest ways to achieve powerful active learning of science and engineering that go beyond the widespread temptation to equate hands-on activity with effective learning.

Conceptual thermal design of a network of solar-powered Boardsat- and CubeSat-based landed spacecraft on Mars

In this paper, we assess the feasibility of the neoPASCAL thermal design by performing thermal analysis. NeoPASCAL is a network of compact solar-powered landers on Mars which aim to validate Mars General Circulation Models (GCMs) by measuring the diurnal variations in surface pressure. It is a modern revision of the original Pascal mission proposed in 1996, with each science station being ten times smaller in size and mass (a kg or less) by using miniaturised commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components and satellite platforms (i.e., Boardsat and CubeSat platforms). Despite the harsh thermal environments, the analysis shows that the Boardsat-based model can survive at ≤ ±60° latitude by using a large flexible-solar-cells-attached sail that was originally designed to attain soft landing. If successful, such a network would provide an unprecedented set of global meteorological data that can be used to investigate various meteorological phenomena including the general circulation.

Conceptual thermal design of a network of solar-powered Boardsat- and CubeSat-based landed spacecraft on Mars

In this paper, we assess the feasibility of the neoPASCAL thermal design by performing thermal analysis. NeoPASCAL is a network of compact solar-powered landers on Mars which aim to validate Mars General Circulation Models (GCMs) by measuring the diurnal variations in surface pressure. It is a modern revision of the original Pascal mission proposed in 1996, with each science station being ten times smaller in size and mass (a kg or less) by using miniaturised commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components and satellite platforms (i.e., Boardsat and CubeSat platforms). Despite the harsh thermal environments, the analysis shows that the Boardsat-based model can survive at ≤ ±60° latitude by using a large flexible-solar-cells-attached sail that was originally designed to attain soft landing. If successful, such a network would provide an unprecedented set of global meteorological data that can be used to investigate various meteorological phenomena including the general circulation.

Horizon-T experiment and detection of Extensive air showers with unusual structure

Horizon-T is an innovative detector system constructed to study temporary structure of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) in the energy range above ~1016 eV coming from a wide range of zenith angles (up to 80°). The system, located at Tien Shan high-altitude Science Station at approximately 3340 meters above the sea level, consists of eight charged particle detection points separated by the distance up to one kilometer. The time resolution of charged particles passage of the detector system is a few ns. This level of resolution allows conducting research of atmospheric development of individual EAS. The total of ~8500 Extensive Air Showers (EAS) with the energy above 1016 eV has been detected during the ~4000 hours of Horizon-T detectors system operations since October 24, 2016 to April 21, 2017. A notable number of events has a spatial and temporary structure that showed the pulses with several maxima (modals or modes) from several detection points of the Horizon-T at the same time as described further in this work. These modes are separated in time from each other starting from tens to thousands of ns. Some are further classified as unusual event with common structure.

Extensive air showers event reconstruction using spatial and temporary particle distribution at Horizon-T experiment

A newly completed (Oct. 2016) detector system of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) called Horizon-T (HT) is a part of Tien Shan high-altitude Science Station of Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is located 32 km from Almaty at the altitude of 3340 meters above the sea level. Horizon-T is constructed to study Extensive Air Showers in the energy range above ∼1016 eV coming from a wide range of zenith angles (0° - 85°). The system currently has eight working and two under construction charged particle detection points separated by the distance more than a kilometer. The ability to record each detector response with accuracy of 2 ns gives HT ability to study the temporary structure of EAS disk and apply the results to the event reconstruction. The reconstruction is therefore based on chronotron (< 0.5 ns), spatial and temporary distribution of charged particles within the detected EAS event. In this paper, we will show the simulated time distribution of charged particles in the EAS disk vs. distance from the axis and the correspondence to the data. A flow of the reconstruction of standard EAS events and the event display is presented as well as recent HT results.

Metagenomic analysis of microbial community associated with coral mucus from the Gulf of Aqaba

Coral-associated microbial communities contribute to a wide variety of useful roles regarding the their host, and therefore, the arrangement of the general microbiome network can emphatically impact coral wellbeing and survival. Various pollution sources can interfere and disrupt the microbial relationship with corals. Here, we adopted the bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing (bTEFAP®) technique to investigate the shift of microbial communities associated with the mucus of the coral Stylophora pistillata collected from five sites (Marine Science Station, Industrial Complex, Oil Terminal, Public Beach, and Phosphate Port) along the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea). Our results revealed a high diversity in bacterial populations associated with coral mucus. Proteobacteria were observed to be the dominating phylum among all sampling sites. The identified bacterial taxa belong to the pathogenic bacteria from the genus Vibrio was presented in varying abundances at all sampling sites. Diversity and similarity analysis of microbial communists based on rarefaction curve and UniFrac cluster respectively demonstrated that there are variances in microbial groups associated with coral mucus along sites. The pollution sources among different locations along the Gulf of Aqaba seem to affect the coral-associated holobiont leading to changes in bacterial populations due to increasing human activities.

Unusual Time Structure of Extensive Air Showers at Energies Exceeding 1017 eV

Extensive air showers characterized by a multicomponent time structure were detected at the experimental Horizon-T array deployed at the Tien Shan High-Altitude Science Station of Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, at an altitude of 3346 meters above sea level. Such a structure manifested itself in showers of energy above 1017 eV and suggests that, in contrast to the standard mechanism of the development of a nuclear-electromagnetic cascade, shower particles reach the observation level as components of several shower disks.

Benthic Respiration and Nutrient Release Associated with Net Cage Fish and Longline Oyster Aquaculture in the Geoje-Tongyeong Coastal Waters in Korea

Sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and benthic nutrient fluxes were measured at five sites using an in situ benthic chamber: fish farm (FF), oyster farm (OF), Tongyeong Marine Science Station (TMSS), and two controls (FF-C and OF-C) June 27–July 1, 2017, to assess the impact of aquaculture on coastal waters of southern Korea. The net oxygen production rate of the epiphyte community attached to farming facilities was also measured using an oxygen microsensor to quantify the potential contribution of organic matter to bottom sediment. The SODs at the FF and OF were − 155.2 ± 0.2 m−2 day−1 and − 88.6 ± 0.1 m−2 day−1 respectively, more than twice those of the control sites (FF-C and OF-C). The benthic fluxes of ammonium and phosphate at the fish farm were 12.7 mmol m−2 day−1 and 3.3 mmol m−2 day−1, respectively, which were ~ 10 times higher than those of the control sites and ~ 1.5 times higher than at the OF site. The benthic N and P fluxes accounted for 128% and 501%, respectively, at FF and 89% and 70% of N and P requirements, respectively, at OF for primary production. This suggests that aquaculture activities result in an excess supply of nutrients to the water column, thereby inducing eutrophication in the coastal ecosystem. Potentially, the net production of organic carbon by the epiphyte community yielded about 65 mmol C m−2 day−1, which suggests that organic matter produced by epiphytic communities substantially contributed to benthic respiration. Thus, the commercial finfish and oyster farms increased SOD and benthic nutrient flux, but at a conservatively managed aquaculture (TMSS), there were minimal benthic impacts.