To get the data

1. Get online and visit the CensusAtSchool random sampler. This page will provide responses from a survey called CensusAtSchool. Read the conditions of use and if you agree, then click through to the next page.

2. Select the following data options:

* Reference Year – 2011
* Questions to display – Select data by question

For ‘data by question’, check the following boxes:

* Q8. Eye colour
* Q17. Favourite take-away
* Q20. Getting to school

Scroll down further and select the following data options:

* Sample Size – 100
* Postcode range – 0000 to 9999
* Select by state/territory – All states/territories
* Select year levels – choose your year level
* Select sex – All

Press Get Data Sample at the bottom of the page.

3. Click on the link next to ‘Download data.xls sample file’ at the bottom of new page. Open this file with your spreadsheet software.

To use the data

1. When you open the file, you’ll have a table containing three columns and one hundred rows of information.
2. Each column contains answers to one question. The first column, Q08.ColrEye, tells you a person’s eye colour. Q17.TAFood is their favourite takeaway food, and Q20.TrvToScl tells you how they get to school.
3. Each row contains all the answers to the survey by one person. We don’t know their name, but we can learn lots of other things about them by reading the answers for each question.
4. If you’ve never used a spreadsheet before, follow this link to read some tips and tricks.

Exploring averages

1. Sort the rows by clicking on one entry in the first column, then clicking data > Sort. Choose the column you want to sort in the first drop-box (there might be other drop-boxes depending on the software you are using) and then press OK.
2. Go to column A – Q08.ColrEye. Find the most common eye colour, and count the number of people with that eye colour.
3. Now look at column B – Q17.TAFood. Work out how many people gave the most popular answer (hint – do another sort, and make sure you select Q17.TAFood in the first drop-box).
4. Count up the number of people who have the most popular eye colour, and also take the most popular transport to school.
5. Look at column C – Q20.TrvToScl. Find the most popular answer and count the number.
6. Work out how many people are in the most popular group for all three answers.
7. As each new mode is found what happens to the number of members in the group that display all of the average characteristics? Given that there are thirty questions in the CensusAtSchool survey for 2011 do you think anyone is average for every single one?

What’s happening?

To make an average, you need to collect different information about one question. The average you find is a summary statistic about that group.

But the average answer doesn’t necessarily tell you exactly what most people are like. For instance the 2011 CensusAtSchool data found that the most popular sport was netball. However, less than half the respondents chose it as their favourite sport, which means most people chose other sports. So the average for this question, in this survey, only tells you something about a large minority.

Numerical data, such as height, can be even trickier. If you measured the height of every person in your class very accurately, you’d probably find that they were all slightly different heights. That would mean at most, only one person could be exactly the average height!

An average is a summary of a lot of information, but it can’t tell you everything about a population. Being different from the average is normal, and in a lot of cases, very likely.

This activity used data from the 2011 CensusAtSchool questionnaire.

	Click through to get to the data.
	To make the columns the right width, double click on the lines in between the alphabet cells at the top.
	To change the colour of cells, select them, right click and choose the background fill option.
	In Excel 2007, there’s only one drop-down menu in the sort command.
	In Open Office, there are several drop down boxes – you only need to change the first one.
	If you highlight all the most popular responses it’s easy to see how many people have all three.

If you answered yes to all of the above, then your answers agree with ‘averages’ obtained from a random sample of the 2011 CensusAtSchool questionnaire. But does this make you average? ‘Average’ can mean different things depending on who you’re talking to. In everyday language average can mean typical, or something that you wouldn’t be surprised about. However, in statistics average and typical are very different things.

An average summarises a characteristic (such as height) using data taken from different sources. There are different types of average – each tells you something different and all are useful.

The type of average you should use will depend on what information you have. Favourite foods, transport to school and favourite sports are a type of information called ‘categorical data’. There’s only one type of average we can calculate using this data – we can count up all the different answers and find the most common response. This type of average is called the mode.

Information such as height, age and reaction time is called ‘numerical data’, and these have more than one type of average. If we put all the numbers in order from smallest to largest, we can find the middle number – this type of average is called the median. We can also add all the numbers together and then divide by the number of terms. This number is called the mean, and it’s probably the most commonly used average.

While they are both averages, the mean and the median can be different for the same set of numbers. For example the mean amount of money students received in the week before they completed CensusAtSchool was $40, but the median amount was $10 (the same number of people received more than $10 as received less than $10).

No matter which type of average you use, it’s unlikely to describe most people in your group. It’s unlikely that a student with exact mode, median and mean characteristics in the CensusAtSchool questionnaire exists at all, much less be ‘typical’.

Its been established that it is going to be hard to avert serious climate changes through stopping greenhouse gas emissions. The present goal falls short of the levels required to maintain the levels of global warming below the dangerous levels. For this to be succesful, the trend of rising emissions has to reversed followed by a sharp decrease as the century progresses. This has to be done immediately because delaying is bound to make it more expensive.

Results from studies published online project how much gas the greenhouses may emit by the turn of the century and how the climate will respond to the emissions. Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at ETH Zurich together with his colleagues published information regarding model simulations known to maintain global warming levels below 2°C using the cheapest cost. Over 193 models were discovered which put into consideration factors that influence the levels of greenhouse gases produced like technological advancement rate as far as efficient fuel burning is concerned, the quantity of fossil fuels present and the advancement in creation of renewable fuels. This data was fed into a model for climate to try and gauge how possible it was to avoid a dangerous warming.

Results predict tough periods in the future for stakeholders. The strategy likely to succeed is where the emissions peak this decade then decline soon after. The decline should be well on its way by 2020 reaching half the present emission levels by the year 2050. Just three of the 193 models were able to maintain the warming levels below the dangerous levels and they all require energy systems to help get rid of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An example includes manufacturing biofuels then storing the carbon dioxide created in the ground.

Neil Edwards, a climate scientist, notes that very few models offer the future we all want. He agrees with Rogelj thatuncertainties created a need for people to be very innovative though this may still not be enough to guarantee success.

The name of the black hole as kept by scientist is Sagittarius A*. It has weight as compared to the 4 Million solar weights. The distance between this black hole and our earth is about 27,000 light years. Sun is believed have a turnaround time of around 230 Million years in the orbit around the black hole but there is another star which has a turnaround time of around 16 years. Max plank institute of extraterrestrial physics in Germany has been keeping a close tab on the black hole and its surroundings.

The studies have revealed about an object approaching the black hole. Large telescope with infrared wavelength is being used for doing check on the black hole and its surroundings. The specified object is going nearer to the black hole everyday with a great speed. Infrared wave of wavelength 3.76 microns could detect the object while wavelength of 2.16 microns failed to detect the presence of the object. The object approaching is believed to be a collection of gas and dust because the object was only visible with greater wavelength while the stars are visible at lesser wavelength. The stars are very hot hence they dazzle at a very low wavelength.

The cloud has a mass of thrice as that of earth and it emits the energy thrice as that of sun. The temperature of this object is about 550 Kelvin which less hot than that of Venus. The black hole has very high gravitational force hence the acceleration of the object is increasing day by day. Ad compared to the speed of the object 1200 kilometers per second the speed has been twice in the year 2011. The speed has reached 2350 km/s with which an aero plane will take 17 secs to revolve around the earth once. The study shows that the object would reach the black hole at around summer 2013. The impact will be there with a distance of the cloud from black hole at 260 times that of the distance between earth and the sun. The best moment will be to see the cloud being destroyed by the black hole which could be seen through the telescope.

When the cloud will hit the black hole it is going to emit all the energy it has and the energy would be radiated in the form of X-ray. The temperature that would produce with the end of the cloud would be the main reason for production of x-ray. Many scientists believe that the cloud may not be absorbed by the black hole but it may happen that the cloud would go pass through the black hole and it can be a periodic event. Only the year 2013 can make it clear, what is going to happen.

Jumping spiders falls under the category of invertebrates. For many years scientist was really amazed as how spiders manage a sophisticated nervous system with their hunting behavior. A detailed research was done on Adanson
jumping spiders who fall in the category of eight eyed spiders. Four eyes are present of the face of the spider and have the sharpest vision. The jumping spiders have four distinct layers of light sensitive at the back of the eyes but the uses of these four light sensitive tissues had not been found so far. It is found that if any object falls on the base layer that object cannot be seen on the next layer up and the object becomes blurrier.

Detailed analysis on spiders:

A detailed study was done by a group of scientist from Osaka City University in Japan. In this research the study was conducted by using gene expression, electrophysiology and other method to give the conclusion that two bottom layers of jumping spiders are very sensitive to green light. The other two layers also responded weekly to red light. So finally they concluded that even the bright color object like red will appear like dim green on their retina. These colors of light are helpful to them in different varies when it come to grabbing of insects such as flies.

In a green light only one single bound can get them their prey whereas in case of red light it becomes difficult for them to snatch the flies because according to the study made on them they are unable to cover the required distance in their single jump. The brains are small when they are compared other insects such as flies and along with their eyes are really helpful to them in getting them the approximate measurements of the distance.

These chatbots were developed by researchers at Cornell University. Rather than becoming irritated by attempting to communicate with these chatbots, one can now be entertained by watching them communicate with one another.

These Cheverbots, developed by artificial intelligence programmer Rollo Carpenter, have avatars of a South Asian female and a British male. Their software uses the phrases that it has picked up from the millions of conversations it has had with actual human beings online.

One one point in the video, the man tells the female that she is unhelpful and a “meanie.” She also irritatingly tells him that she’s answered all of his questions, and then they have a deep and humorous discussion about God and religion. The male even zings the woman, making fun of her memory, which is bad for a woman. The interaction ends with the woman asking the man if he would like to have a body. After he answers in the affirmative, she said “Au revoir.” to him, surprising me with her knowledge of a bit of French.

These clever bots one the British Computer Society Machine Intelligence competition in 2010. The best prize any chatbot developer could hope to win is the Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence. It comes with a prize of $100,000 and the developers must try their hand at convincing human judges that it’s an actual human being. IEEE Spectrum’s Evan Ackerman tells us that the first chatbot to actually do this successfully will be what Artificial Intelligence truly is. Keeping these amusing chatbots around, though, would really be great in either case!

Green transportation, housing and energy policies will benefit both the environment and the world’s overall health. Creating and acting upon green policies is a win-win situation for all. Many changes to green alternatives have an immediate positive impact on health while positively affecting climate change. The health sector should be a prevalent force in the push for new green initiatives to benefit the public’s health.

In housing, green insulation choices are on the rise, providing more energy-efficient buildings that will lower greenhouse gas emissions in years to come. The immediate effect of green buildings is the fact that allergies and asthma are reduced because of fewer toxic chemicals in the air. More tightly sealed homes also reduce the risk of strokes and other heart related issues due to the stable temperature. More attention must be paid to ensuring adequate air ventilation is maintained. New health risks are created by buildings without proper ventilation.

Although the focus has long been on alternative transportation, little has been said about the health benefits and social benefits gained by using sustainable transportation. An increased effort to provide safe walking areas, cycling paths and public transportation will provide great health benefits by promoting healthy exercise which in turn reduces some health related issues.

By focusing on basic green initiatives, even countries with few resources can see a vast improvement in their population. Many lifestyle changes are necessary for good health, but they need a healthy environment to make them most effective.

One recent scientific study involved an analysis of grazing halos, around the Great Barrier Reef, that were discovered via satellite images. Grazing halos are rings of sand in the ocean, where the vegetation has been stripped bare due to over-grazing by the local marine life. The study was completed by marine biologist Dr. Elizabeth Madin and her team from University of Technology, in Sydney, Australia. The research was conducted at Heron Island, in the Great Barrier Reef. The focus of the study was to observe the behavior of the marine life on the reef to determine why they did not venture far from the reef to forage for food. The scientists hypothesized that fear of predators limited their search for food and led to over-grazing.

The research team determined that the herbivores living in the coral would only forage in areas where shelter could be quickly obtained. As the distance from the reef was increased, their shelter decreased, ergo the decimation of the vegetation decreased and the vegetation canopy increased. The scientist concluded that their research did confirm the hypothesis. The herbivore marine life caused the halos because of their fear of predators. They would only graze in a safe area close to the reef. This discovery and research were all made possible because of the Google Earth satellite images.

Satellite-image-based research is an important new tool that is beneficial to the public and to scientists in all genres. Studying the satellite images over a period of time could reveal important changes in the Earth’s ecosystems. Monitoring the migration habits, of various land and sea animals, could also be accomplished by satellite image tracking. Satellite images are available, free-of-charge on Google Earth to anyone, anytime, or anywhere on the Earth. All that is needed is to access Google Earth. The possibilities, for satellite image-based research, are unlimited!

According to Ann Thresher, one of Australia’s leading oceanographers, Somali pirates have put a dent in Australia’s research efforts. The ARGO program has been one of the most affected. Under this program, researchers study the Indian Ocean Dipole. This is simply a fluctuation of temperatures within that region. The reason why it is studied is because the fluctuation determines whether or not there is going to be floods or droughts in the country. As such, researchers use special buoys to monitor what is going on. Approximately two meters long, these lithium-powered devices record a variety of readings, ranging from temperature to the salinity of the water.

However, when pirates infiltrate the water, researchers must use different routes. Unfortunately, these routes do not offer the same level of visibility, even with high-tech buoys. Thresher talks about this phenomenon in an interview with The Science Insider. She feels that the researchers’ predictions suffer every time they have to change routes. To ensure more accurate readings, they have to stay in the same area.

To make matters worse, there are some occasions when researchers cannot sail at all. Just last March, the Seychelles government forbade them from using buoys in their waters. The government was worried about the piracy threat. Fortunately, this will all change with Australia’s new “gunboat climatology” approach. Over the next four to six months, Australia will use its navy to deploy the buoys. This will create a more threatening presence among the pirates. Other countries will also help through a separate initiative. Naval vessels from the United States and the U.K. will also drop buoys for their ally. This is expected to happen over the next month or so.

Researchers had thought, at first, that it would simply make more sense for the dolphins to feed from the mid-waters rather than along the bottom of the sea. In fact, the fish and crustaceans that inhabit the bottom of the ocean are more nutritious for the Shark Bay dolphins. The dolphins must have known this all along; developing a method of hunting safely instead of turning to other food sources that provide a less sound diet.

After studying the behavior of these dolphins, researchers found that hunting with sponges is an activity primarily carried out by the female of the species. It is thought that this is because of the pressures faced by a mother who has to rear her young for almost 5 years at a time. As the young swim and forage with their mother, they learn the interesting sponging technique which they, then, pass onto their young.

Sponge fishing works as such: a Shark Bay dolphin will fit a sponge onto its beak and scrape it along the bottom of the ocean. A fish will scare up from the bottom, the dolphin drops its sponge, heads to the surface for a breath of air and then dives down for its meal. The emerging fish will swim for several meters before it attempts to rebury itself, giving the dolphin the time it needs to drop, breathe and dive. A study conducted by Eric Patterson, a graduate student at Georgetown University, showed that by sponging, a dolphin can scare up a prey fish about every 9 minutes, making hunting in this manner extremely rewarding.