Author: Stephanie

Have you ever worn UV-blocking sunglasses or slept on a memory foam pillow? Used a Dustbuster, a wireless headset, or an ear thermometer? Clicked around a 360-degree view of a house or car online? Then thank your lucky stars! Or the U.S. space agency, NASA, to be exact. Because these and other everyday things—including acoustic guitars, kidney dialysis machines, and even NASCAR—have borrowed from—or been inspired by—technologies developed by NASA.

As a matter of fact, since humans landed on the moon, hundreds of useful items and activities that benefit life here on earth have used NASA research. Part of the agency’s mission is to partner with industry, schools, other government agencies, and national laboratories around the world. Together they develop technologies that help fields such as health, transportation, public safety, computers, food production, sports, and the environment.

The Space Shuttle program, for example, has generated more than 100 practical technologies, including:

• light-emitting diodes that treat cancerous tumors
• miniaturized heart pumps
• infrared cameras that scan for forest fires
• lighter and stronger prosthetic limbs
• rocket fuel that destroys land mines
• thermal protection for racecar drivers

In its search for life on Mars, NASA created a tiny, ultrasensitive sensor that can detect traces of pathogens in water using very little energy and no lab expertise. A company in Troy, New York, is working on developing the sensor to help reduce waterborne diseases for people around the world. The device could prevent E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks (like those in spinach and tomatoes in recent years), and help reduce cholera, which killed thousands of people in Zimbabwe in 2008.

Even the Statue of Liberty has benefited from space exploration: Miss Liberty sports a coating of primer that NASA developed for rocket supports at launch sites to protect them from heat and corrosion.

To learn more about the nifty things inspired by space research that we use everyday, that entertain us, or that protect us, visit NASA’s cool interactive world, NASA@Home and City, or read the magazine, Spinoff. For more fun, check out the Space Pup coloring book.

And in case you were wondering…Tang, Velcro, and Teflon were not invented by NASA—but NASA did use them in space.

"Who would want to be 100 years old?" "Anyone who is 99," goes the joke.

I can’t tell you how happy I’ll be in a few weeks. My family and I will gather in Chicago to celebrate my second cousin’s 100th birthday. Hattie is going strong—doesn’t take any medication and can still belt out a hymn like nobody’s business.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, my centenarian cousin is in good company. It estimates that there were nearly 105,000 centenarians in the U.S. last fall. That’s more than double the number nearly 10 years ago. In 40 years, the number of 100 year olds in the U.S. is projected to jump to 601,000. The Census Bureau also reports that about 80 percent of centenarians are women.

To put my cousin’s age in perspective, the year she was born, William Howard Taft was president, the fashion of the day was Late Edwardian, and cars cost $850.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, upheld the Jim Crow law of "separate but equal" just 14 years before Hattie (an African American woman) was born, and the Lincoln penny was issued the year before she was born.

My cousin was two years old when the Titanic sank, and four years old when World War I broke out.

There was no federal income tax or Social Security, and women couldn’t vote yet. There also was no Federal Reserve or National Park Service, and New Mexico and Arizona (and Alaska and Hawaii) weren’t states yet.

For fun, I checked the Social Security Administration to see how popular her name was 100 years ago ("Hattie" ranked 73rd), and to see how the popularity of her name changed over time (it fell off of the top 1,000 names list 41 years ago). I also requested a birthday greeting for her from the President.

Do you know any centenarians? What was going on the year you were born?

Want to be a part of an international project? Look no further than your own backyard! Tomorrow is the start of the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, when beginning bird watchers and experts alike across North America count the wild birds they see in their backyards, parks, or wildlife refuges.

The event, which is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada, is cosponsored by the National Resources Conservation Service and the National Science Foundation.

During the four-day event, which runs through President’s Day, participants use checklists to count birds for 15 or more minutes a day and then enter the results online. You can explore real-time maps and charts to see what other people are reporting in your state or anywhere in North America, and you can tweet about your findings, too. If you took some great snapshots of our fine feathered friends during the count, consider entering them in the photo contest.

Results from the count help researchers compare the timing of birds’ migrations with past years, and determine if populations of individual species are increasing or declining, among other things. Additionally, information from the Great Backyard Bird Count and other citizen-science surveys go into a bird database that is used by scientists around the world.

Can’t participate in the count every day? You can submit surveys for fewer days. Don’t think you can tell a flicker from a sapsucker? See these resources for identifying birds and learning more about them. Don’t have enough birds to count in your yard? Visit these resources for attracting, feeding, and housing birds to prepare for next year’s count.

Are you participating in this year’s count? If so, what birds have you seen?

It could be my response to one of those icebreaker games: People don’t know that I…am a proud member of the Disabled American Vets Auxiliary. I’m a member because of one night during WWII when my dad’s lungs and leg were burned from mustard gas that leaked from the train he was guarding as a U.S. Army soldier. Dad sustained permanent scars because he didn’t abandon his post. Like a lot of members of the military, my dad doesn’t think anything he did during his years of service warrants “thanking.” “I was just doing my job,” he always says.

But especially this time of year, many people want to show support for the men and women who are serving or who served in the U.S. military. Want to help? The U.S. Department of Defense offers a list of organizations that can send your care package, card, or letter to troops. Or e-mail the troops a holiday greeting and thank you. Some of the nearly 255,000 e-mail messages sent so far are particularly heartwarming to read. And be sure to check out the video messages from service members deployed around the world.

Veterans also should be remembered during the holidays. You could visit vets at your local VA hospital or nursing home, or simply mail a holiday greeting to local VA hospital patients or local VFW or American Legion members. If you know any veterans, you might show your appreciation by offering to get them some groceries, mailing or e-mailing them holiday cards, inviting them over for a holiday meal, or even just shoveling their walk.

Need more ideas? Visit DoD community relations or “101 Ways to Thank a Veteran.”

Have you thanked a military member or veteran this holiday season? I’d love to hear from you.