Science Education Archives - Page 2 of 2

Octopus Vs. Shark

29 January, 2014 by ES Ivy

A young reader got to wondering about who would win in a fight, a shark or a puma? I did tons of research on sharks for the Miri Attwater series, but I don’t remember coming across that particular information. But I can’t resist a good research topic.

…

Octopus camouflage, science behind the magical mermaids of Miri Attwater

22 January, 2014 by ES Ivy

In celebration of the release of Book 2, Miri Attwater and All that Glitters, I thought it would be fitting to go a little into the science behind the magic of the Miri Attwater series.

When I first started the Miri books, my intention was to write pure fantasy, with magic and everything. Magic makes things easy. Yeah, I know you have to come up with rules but – need something? Make up a rule and bam, you have something. It’s magic!

The problem was, every time I got to the point in the story where Miri’s legs magically turned into tails, it just didn’t feel right to me. Even though other writers used it – in fact the original myths even used it – it still felt hollow and unbelievable. I mean, how could legs turn into tails?…

Title Reveal for the continuation of Miri Attwater’s Adventures, Miri Attwater and All that Glitters

31 January, 2013 by ES Ivy

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Gold nugget

Book 2 has a title!

Miri Attwater

and

All that Glitters

So what glitters? Is all that glitters gold?

Gold is a pure element, which means all the atoms in a nugget of gold are the same. Chemists abbreviate gold with its chemical symbol Au. In it’s pure form before it’s been polished, gold doesn’t really glitter. In fact, it’s kind of dull.

Pyrite

Pyrite, though, glitters a lot! Pyrite is sometimes even found in the same types of formations as gold. It’s shiny appearance has given it the nickname “fool’s gold.”

But pyrite isn’t gold at all! It is only iron and sulfur combined together to form a compound called iron sulfide. Chemists write its name FeS_{2 .}

_{It is sure has fooled a lot of hopeful gold diggers!}

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A kid’s’ review of Miri Attwater and the Ocean’s Secret

24 December, 2012 by ES Ivy

This review is special to me because it’s my first official kid’s review of Miri Attwater and the Ocean’s Secret!

Holly is in 3rd grade. She says, “I like mermaids and I loved the bubble world in the book.”…

Do fish really come that color? Yep, they do!

6 October, 2012 by ES Ivy

Photo By Adrian Pingstone, Wikimedia Commons

This is a photo of a fish called a yellow tang, like Miri saw at the aquarium park. See the tiny white spot at the base of its tail? That’s the piece of bone that is as sharp as a surgeons scalpel! Another name for tang is surgeonfish.

When I went snorkeling for the first time off the Big Island of Hawaii, we looked down on the rocks in the water and noticed bright yellow stripes. We thought it was really nice of the local swimmers to paint them so newcomers would know the best place to enter the water. But when we got in, the “stripes” swam away! They were fish. They were a bunch of yellow tangs! They were so bright that they seemed to glow like the yellow stripes on the road at night.

The aquarium wasn’t the only place Miri saw Yellow Tangs. Can you remember another place she saw them?

A reader asked if I have a preview of the cover of Book 2. Sadly, I do not. I’ll tell you what I do have, though. And excerpt of Book 2 coming next week! So don’t take your eyes off this blog!