Look fast Meteors—AKA shooting stars—burn different colors depending on the chemicals they contain. A meteor made of mostly calcium will look purple, while one made of magnesium looks green or teal (bluish green). –accuweather.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

Have you ever been lucky enough to see a shooting star? How about a meteor? Trick question! They’re the same thing, but you weren’t fooled were you?! While it may feel like a one-in-a-million chance, shooting stars are actually quite a common occurrence. According to a report done by the University of Oregon, roughly 25 million–that’s right! Million!!!–meteors enter our planet’s atmosphere every day. That’s approximately 289 shooting stars every second! Let’s take a few minutes to learn about shooting stars and, just maybe, we’ll learn how to spot them better, too.

So what exactly are shooting stars–or rather, meteors? Well, a meteor is generally a small piece of space debris, usually from a comet or asteroid, that collides with Earth’s atmosphere and burns up. But what causes it to burn? Friction is when one thing rubs against another and encounters resistance. When friction occurs, it can generate a lot of heat. That’s why your hands warm up when you rub them together super fast. Meteors are moving so fast that they encounter air resistance. They are experiencing friction with the air in the atmosphere. Because they are moving so incredibly fast–approximately 44 miles a second!–they generate an extreme amount of heat that incinerates them, resulting in total destruction. 

Sometimes, however, a bigger meteoroid–a meteor that is still up in space–will get caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull. The bigger the meteor is, the more likely it is to survive the trip through the atmosphere and reach Earth’s surface. When this happens, the meteor is then called a meteorite.

So maybe you have seen a meteor, but were you able to tell what color it was? That’s right! Shooting stars can be different colors depending on their elemental makeup. The speed at which they are traveling can also have an effect on their apparent color. Atmospheric atoms–nitrogen and oxygen–when moving quickly around the surface of a meteor will ignite and appear red. The meteor itself may contain different metals like iron, calcium, sodium, and magnesium, with iron being the most common. An iron meteor will give off yellow light. One of calcium will appear purple. A meteor of sodium will look yellowish-orange. And finally, a meteor composed of magnesium will burn a bluish-green color. These aren’t the only metals found within a meteor, but they are the most common and highest concentration by percentage.

Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for: How to raise your chances of seeing a shooting star. First, wait till it gets dark! The darker the sky is, the easier it will be to see a shooting star, or any star for that matter (minus the sun). It would also help for the clouds to be absent and the moon to be in its new moon phase (when it appears to be missing). Did you know that it is very likely that you live somewhere with light pollution? About 80% of the world’s population lives in areas with skyglow. Cities and towns give off a lot of artificial light that can obscure the brilliant night sky from view, so you will be able to see a lot more if you go somewhere far away from civilization. Check out this link to see the best “Dark Sky” locations.

Another way of raising your chances is to wait for a scheduled meteor shower. There are quite a few different meteor showers that happen every year. The Perseids meteor shower is one of the most popular as it takes place during the whole month of August with its peak occurring August 12-13th. The Geminids is another popular shower with its peak occurring December 13-14th which is in just a few days if you’re reading this post just shortly after its launch date. The Geminids are said to be quite bright, and with the moon being only 1% full on the date this year (2023), I’d highly recommend getting out to enjoy the stars. Remember to look for a place with little cloud cover and light pollution. Also, if it happens to be winter wherever you are during these dates, remember that snow reflects light so it's even more important to get away from city lights! Happy star gazing!

This reminds me of “The Night the Stars Fell” on November 12-13, 1833. The Leonids shower takes place every year with its peak mid November. That particular year, however, was a night not many would soon forget. With thousands of stars “falling” every hour, many believed that it was the day of the Lord’s judgment. But we know better. In fact, Jesus foretold this occurrence in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, quoting from the book of Isaiah, “...All their host shall fall down…” Isaiah 34:4. This was one of the signs Jesus gave that pointed to the soon coming of His return. To read more, check out Matthew 24. NKJV Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Burr of invention In the 1940s, Swiss engineer George de Mestral hiked in the woods and pondered the burrs that attached to his clothes and his dog’s fur. After examining the burrs under a microscope, he spent years working to recreate what he’d seen– finally inventing what’s now called “velcro”. –livescience.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Do you ever use VELCRO®? It’s a handy tool for fastening and unfastening things quickly. Did you know that the brand name VELCRO® is made up from the words velvet and crochet? How cool! But the reason why it’s made up of those two words is because when the inventor was creating it, he used velvet material and a piece of crochet work with hoops as a sample. After many more years of researching better materials, like nylon, cotton and polyester, VELCRO® was patented in 1955 by Swiss engineer George de Mestral.

It all began one day when Mr. de Mestral was outside with his dog in the woods. When they came home, both were covered with burrs. Mr. de Mestral took one of those burrs and looked it over under the microscope. That’s when he noticed the little hooks. Most other soft material, and even animal fur, would be prone to the burrs’ hooks and adhere itself.

Sometimes, when something new is invented it often takes awhile before people come to realize its full potential and how they can use it. The same was definitely the case with VELCRO®. 

Two distinct parties really helped to get the idea of VELCRO® off the ground (and into space!). The first was NASA. In the 60s, the scientists were looking for a way to keep things tacked down inside the ship while it was in space. It wasn’t long before they realized they had the perfect tool with VELCRO®. It was a great success.

The other party that helped to boost awareness of this multi-use product was a few famous fashion designers. They used this new invention on their futuristic clothing designs. 

Well, today we use VELCRO® maybe even more than zippers and buttons! It is also used widely in office, medical and therapy materials. Today, there are many uses for VELCRO®! Have you had the fun of having a pair of VELCRO® shoes? Putting them on and off is so much faster than having to tie them! However, that’s not to say we shouldn’t learn how to tie things. Keep exercising your faith as we learn more fun things everyday!

Well that’s one way to conserve energy Many animals hibernate to survive cold, dark winters. In hot climates, some animals—including species of amphibians and reptiles—undergo a form of hibernation called estivation. Most bury themselves in the ground to wait for the wet season or cooler temperatures. –discoverwildlife.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

You know what hibernation is, right? During winter months when it’s cold and resources like food are scarce, some animals—typically endotherms, also known as warm-blooded creatures—go into this kind of deep sleep to conserve energy. Everything important to homeostasis—the equilibrium of the body’s internal processes—seems to drop. Heart rate, metabolism, breathing, and sometimes even temperature will significantly plummet to low levels. If we humans did that, it’d be unlikely that we would come out of it alive. Certain animals can do it though, allowing them to stay in stasis until their environment is more hospitable for them. But what about when an environment tips towards the other extreme? What do certain animals do when their environment gets too hot and dry to survive? Let’s find out!

While endotherms rely on their internal processes to generate the heat that keeps their body temperature warm, ectotherms don’t have that ability. Ectotherms, otherwise known as cold-blooded critters, depend on external sources to regulate how hot or cold they need to be to function. Most invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and reptiles are cold-blooded and live in environments that are best suited to cater to their needs. That’s why animals like snakes and lizards choose to live in places that are hot and sometimes humid like a rainforest and not some place freezing cold like Antarctica. 

The South Pole just can’t provide the necessary warmth and humidity that these creatures would need to survive like a rainforest or a desert can. But even in the hot places that some of these creatures call home, sometimes their environment won’t always stay ideal. During colder months, some ectotherms will partake in brumation, their equivalent of hibernation. Other times when it's really hot, certain places can get so heated and dry that the cold-blooded residents of that environment just wouldn’t survive. But we still find them alive and well today. So what do they do? Well, they have a very special kind of deep sleep of their own that they utilize to survive. 

Aestivation (estivation) is when certain ectotherms go into a special deep sleep to wait out the searing, dry heat until cooler temperatures and rainy seasons come along. Just as the hibernating endotherms hide away in their dens and burrows to conserve heat, estivating ectotherms will often burrow into cool, damp dirt to conserve what little water and cold relief they can get from the sweltering sun. However, there is often great risk in aestivation as burying one’s self alive can be dangerous and quite deadly if not done carefully. If the environment doesn’t cool down soon enough, the aestivating critters may not make it.

Puff the Bearded Dragon Bearded dragons are medium-sized lizards with triangular-shaped heads. They have rows of spiked scales beneath their head which puff up, resembling a beard, and can change colors. —thebeardeddragon.org

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

Did you know that dragons are real creatures? Well, maybe not the dragons of fairytales, but there are quite a few lizards, sea creatures, and insects that are referred to as dragons. One such dragon is the bearded dragon. This dragon is a lizard which is a kind of reptile. Let’s recall some basic characteristics of reptiles. As a reptile, bearded dragons are able to breathe air, they are cold blooded vertebrates, and they have scaly skin. But what makes the bearded dragon a bearded dragon? What makes it special? Let’s find out!

Most lizards have legs, external ear openings, movable eyelids, and lay eggs, though there are a few species that have lost one or more of these characteristics. The bearded dragon is lucky enough to have all of these. However, one they don't have is the ability to regrow limbs like other lizards. So, if you have a pet dragon that’s lost its tail, you’re out of luck!  

Remembering what we learned about reptiles, bearded dragons have spiny scales all over their body. Underneath their chin and around their neck, they have rows of spiked scales that can puff out depending on their mood. These special spikes can even change color! But why do they change color, and what does it mean? Bearded dragons’ scales can change color for a variety of reasons, the main ones being for thermoregulation, camouflage, and communication with other dragons. Bearded dragons will also communicate with each other by bobbing their heads and waving their arms. It's quite fun to watch!

We currently know about 8 different species of bearded dragons, all fondly referred to as “Beardies.” All Beardies are native to Australia, but Pogona Vitticeps, more likely known as the Central or Inland Bearded Dragon, is the most common species to be seen in the United States as a pet. Bearded dragons can be anywhere from 4-24 inches in length depending on the species. They mature at over just a year old and can live as long as 14 years in captivity, compared to the maximum of 8 years that a wild Beardie gets to experience. 

Bearded dragons were introduced to the States in the 1990’s and have rapidly become a popular reptilian pet since then. While Australia banned the export of wildlife in the 1960’s, it is believed that any of the Beardies found outside of the country were smuggled out and have since then been bred in captivity.

Bearded dragons are omnivores, meaning they will eat both plants and animals. In fact, they’ll eat almost anything, although not everything is best for a pet Beardie. As young dragons, their diet will consist of mostly carnivorous options. But, once they reach adulthood, their diets will take a 180 and will consist of mostly plant vegetation. In 2005, scientists discovered that bearded dragons have a mild venom, similar to that of a rattlesnake, that aids in their hunt for animal matter. Don’t worry though! A bearded dragon’s venom, for the most part, is harmless to humans and will cause no long lasting side effects.

Mega-canoes Polynesian voyagers sailed the Pacific Ocean in canoes averaging 50-75 feet long. A Tongan double canoe could hold as many as 100. –worldhistory.org

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Have you ever been out on a lake in a canoe and a speedboat passes by? It can get a little scary when the waves start coming and you get close to tipping over, especially if you don’t feel like getting soaked. Now imagine you were out at sea where the waves are much bigger and more constant. That would be terrifying, don’t you think?! With our little canoes, maybe it would be, but back in the 15th-13th centuries BC when humans were said to have first settled in the Oceanic Region, the Polynesian sailors weren’t too worried. Especially since their canoes were a lot bigger and specifically built for oceanic travel. 

Because the Polynesian settlers didn’t have access to the modern metals that we do today, their canoes had to be made with other materials. They had to use what was available to them. That meant that their canoes were most often made out of tall tree trunks, possibly from the breadfruit tree, one of the “canoe plants” also known as ulu. Sap from this tree could also be used as caulking to help with waterproofing. The lashings used to help stabilize and secure the craft and its components would be made of twisted coconut husks or other braided sennit to form sturdy ropes. 

Some of the historical Polynesian canoes are very different from the typical canoe design that we think of today. While there were designs for single-hulled canoes, they almost always had an outrigger attached to help with stability out on the rough waves. Other designs were for double-hulled canoes which could be built to be a lot bigger than its single-hulled counterparts. Some of the longest double-hulled canoes recorded were said to have been anywhere from 70 to 110 feet long and could hold up to 100 or more people. For reference, 70 feet would be about half the height of the Statue of Liberty without her pedestal. That’s a pretty big boat! 

While these canoes did have paddles as their primary mode of power, sails were also used to propel them in the right direction. These sails were often made of woven pandanus leaves and secured to the booms (spars) and mast with lashings. A common design for these sails was known as the “Crab Claw,” a triangular shaped sail mounted on straight spars. It was said that these canoes could move quite quickly in the water, and were easily able to overtake Explorer James Cook’s ship, the HMS Endeavor. (Cook, A Journal of the Proceedings...)

Made for oceanic travel, these canoes were constructed to endure the harsh wind and waves of tropical storms. These vessels were used for a variety of reasons: fishing, transportation of passengers and cargo, exploration of neighboring islands, recreational endeavors, and sometimes even war.

This reminds me of another boat that had to endure rough, stormy waters. God had Noah build a big ark out of cypress wood, a very strong and durable material that would be able to withstand the crashing waves. He also had Noah cover the ark with pitch inside and out to keep it waterproof. God protected Noah and his family from the flood and all the animals on board as well. To read about the story of Noah, check out Genesis chapters 6-9.

Sun Spots  An analemma is the shape you’d get if you photographed the sun from the same spot at the same time every day for a year and traced the pattern. The sun’s yearly journey through the sky makes a slightly stretched figure eight pattern. –timeanddate.com 

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Ana-what? A·nuh·leh·muh, the phonetic spelling of analemma, is the figure eight shape our sun creates yearly in its journey across the sky. This shape can be plotted on a graph, showing the whereabouts of the sun if viewed from the same place at the same time on any given day of the year. 

Each analemma is unique. There are many variables to the creation of an analemma. First, let’s talk about the two main factors that give analemmas that basic figure eight shape and what would happen if they were different. These two factors are Earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun and the tilt of the planet’s axis. 

Did you know that Earth doesn’t orbit the sun in a perfect circle? Or that the sun isn’t even at the center of our orbital path?! Our planet orbits the sun in a stretched, circular shape called an ellipse. This means that Earth is closer to the sun at some points and farther away for others. With a basic understanding of gravity, we can know that when Earth is closest to the sun, its pull on our planet will strengthen, causing our orbital speed to increase. When Earth is farthest from the sun, its pull is weaker, and our orbital speed will slow. If the tilt of Earth remained the same, but its orbital path became a perfect circle with the sun at its center, the generation of analemmas would have perfectly shaped figure eights in the sense that both loops would be the same size. The Earth’s elliptical orbit is what gives our analemmas their two distinctly sized loops.

Our planet has a tilt of 23.5 degrees from its orbital plane. Because of this fact, the sun appears as if it is moving up and down throughout the year. This is what causes analemmas to have two loops. During the summer, the sun reaches its highest position in the sky resulting in the longest day of the year, summer solstice, on June 21st. On December 22nd, the shortest day of the year known as winter solstice, the sun will appear its lowest in the sky. These two dates are important to the generation of analemmas because they are the farthest end points of the two loops. If the orbital path of the Earth remained the same but its axis not tilted, the resulting analemmas would appear oval shaped. 

So now we know how the tilt of the Earth and its elliptical orbit are what give analemmas their basic shape, but what are the other variables that can manipulate it? Well, which hemisphere you reside in can have an effect on it. Those of us in the northern hemisphere will have analemmas with the smaller loop on top and those in the southern hemisphere will have the smaller loop on the bottom. 

Your exact location can also manipulate the shape in terms of its angle. The closer to the poles you get, the more the analemma will appear to be straight upright, and the closer to the equator, the more the analemma will appear to be horizontal, like the infinity symbol. The time of day will also change the shape in terms of its direction. 

With all of these variables, it’s no wonder that analemmas have completely different shapes for the varying planets in our solar system. Uranus and Neptune share the figure eight shape with Earth—as does Pluto, whether it’s a planet or not.

As we consider the shapes of analemmas and the amazing God who has put the planets and stars in their place, it’s hard to know whether they are a masterpiece of art or science! 

Cotton to it  Over 200 pairs of jeans can be made from a single bale of cotton. https://www.cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/what-can-you-make.cfm 

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Cotton has been around pretty much forever. But it wasn’t until about 4000 B.C. that people in India, Mexico, China and Pakistan started using it in the home or as an essential for living. It got a foothold in the United States when the settlers came to the Virginia colony in the late 1500s, and over time the further south they went, the better the cotton grew. Cotton growth does best in very hot and dry conditions, so it’s no surprise that Texas is a major producer of this important product even today. 

Of the world’s cotton production, 35% is provided by the United States alone. However, the way it is harvested has changed over the years with better machines and technology. In the past, people used to pick it by hand; very hot, back-breaking work. Then came the tractor age and square bales. Today, the ultimate way to harvest cotton is by a tractor with special features that pluck it and form it into huge round bales.

The standard rectangle bales can weigh anywhere from 470 - 500 pounds! But the round bales can weigh anywhere from 1000 - 5600 pounds! These are wrapped in plastic to be left in the field until they are hauled away on semis to the gin. A gin is a special machine that separates the hard parts of the plant and seeds from the fluffy cotton.

So, what can be made from a bale of cotton? Well, that depends on how big a bale is. As we have seen, there can be quite a difference between the size and the shape.  In 2021, 17,500,000 bales of cotton were produced in the United States. One standard bale of cotton weighs approximately 480 pounds and can make 690 bath towels or 215 pairs of jeans. That would be enough jeans for your whole lifetime - unless you really, really like jeans!   In addition to the textile industry, cotton is used in fishnets, coffee filters, tents and in bookbinding.

Did you know bills of money also have cotton in them? About 75% cotton in each bill to be exact.  So the next time you’re with an adult, ask them if you can feel a dollar bill. Do you feel how soft it is? It’s bendable but doesn’t tear as easily as regular paper would so it lasts much longer. 

Many things we use everyday are made of cotton or have cotton in them. Who knew cotton could be so crafty! If you’re driving this summer in the southern and southwestern states, see if you can spot the fields with big round bales of cotton waiting for the gin.

Pascal’s watch The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) not only invented one of the first mechanical calculators, he’s also the first person described as wearing a wristwatch. He reportedly tied his pocket watch to his wrist. —thoughtco.com 

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Can you imagine a world without wristwatches? In this day and age, it’s actually pretty easy to live without a watch, considering a good majority of us have advanced tech like our phones and the internet to tell us what time it is. Our technology is so advanced, we can even know what time it is on the other side of the world with just a few clicks. But for the older generations, they’d probably prefer a good ol’ wristwatch over our fancy electronics any day.

But who invented the wristwatch? It had to have come from somewhere. The true origins of the wristwatch are a little murky, but we are able to find a few instances where people had some pretty neat ideas that have helped to make what our modern wristwatches are today. Most likely in the mid-1600’s, Blaise Pascal was the very first person said to wear a watch on his wrist, tied with a piece of string. But portable watches weren’t a new concept. In fact, they had been around for at least 100 years already, if not longer. 

The first portable “pocket” watch was said to be created in 1504 by a man named Peter Henlein, though other sources claim the pocket watch had been around since as early as the 1450’s. Roughly around the same time, a man named Pierre II Woeiriot published his book containing watch designs, one of which was for a ring watch. (Source Link) Later on, other sources mention a gift presented to Queen Elizabeth I, a luxury arm or bracelet watch, given to her by Earl Robert Dudley in 1571.

A feat of early mechanical engineering, wristwatches were a novelty of the time. However, they weren’t very precise. You could either have an accurate timepiece or a small one. Having to incorporate such small parts to fit nicely on the wrist and having them keep accurate time was near impossible. It wasn’t until in the late 1650’s, with the help of Christiaan Huygens’s and Robert Hooke’s invention of the spiral spring balance and Huygens’s pendulum clock, that watches became more accurate. 

So, the next time you look at your watch or your calculator, remember Pascal. He invented very helpful tools that have lasted for centuries. Plato, a famous philosopher, said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” If you ever find yourself in need of something and wonder, “Why don’t they have a ___? (fill in the bank). Look at it as an opportunity for exploration. Perhaps in time you, too, will invent something very useful for society.

Call it what you want, I’ll call it lunch Burrito means “little donkey” in Spanish, but no one knows for sure where the Mexican dish got its name. One possible origin is because burritos look like the packs carried on donkey’s backs—or donkey’s ears. —theplazarestaurant.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Little is known about the true origin of how the burrito came to be, or got its name, but the most commonly accepted tale is about a man named Juan Méndez. As a street vendor in Chihuahua, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution, Méndez and his little donkey cart, in the hopes to keep his food warm longer, wrapped it in flour tortillas. Easy to hold and eat on the go, his “burritos” became very popular among soldiers and common folk alike. 

Do you like burritos? These delicious bundles can be made to order, so whether you prefer the traditional style of cheesy beans and rice, a breakfast style with cheesy eggs and potatoes, or a more adventurous style with pineapple in it, you can have your burrito any way you’d like. For breakfast, lunch, supper, or even dessert, a burrito is a great choice for any meal. 

Because of the burrito’s versatility, it has crossed into the cuisine of other cultures. However, being heavily Americanized, most, if not all, of the varieties influenced by outside cultures are mixed with American fusion and are mainly found only in the United States. One variety–San Francisco’s sushirrito, created and trademarked in 2011, is a Japanese-American fusion of sushi and burritos.

Jumping over to the animal side of things, burros (Spanish name) are actually domesticated donkeys and are used by people mainly for the transport of various cargo and people, just like Méndez had with his little donkey cart. But did you know that donkeys can also be used as protectors for sheep to help guard against coyotes and other members of the canid family? As farm security, they will take their job seriously to keep their territory free from any dog-like intruders. 

Do you remember our “burrito”–Jenny the Jennet–from our very own Discovery Mountain Season 24 Episode 2? Just as Chaplin Jake told the account of Balaam and his talking donkey, there is another special story in the Bible that mentions a “burrito”. In fact, it is mentioned in all four gospels! Check out Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, and John 12:12-19 to read about the young “burrito” that carried Jesus for His triumphal entry into Jerusalem!