Because There Is A Law Such As Gravity, The Universe Can and will create Itself From Nothing. - Stephen

Did you know you can grow plants without soil? Check out this STEM for Kids investigation activity on The Groovy Blog: https://www.groovylabinabox.com/grow-your-own-groovy-green-roof/ 🌱 Hydroponics uses water and a growth medium to grow plants. NASA has been researching how to use hydroponics in space. Our Groovy Water Works Box is all about how a future Mars Colony could grow their own food hydroponically. This investigation is all about making your own space barn with a green roof and learning how seeds can grow with only a sponge and some water. 🌱 🌱 🌱 #photosynthesis #aquaponics #hydroponic #greenroof https://www.instagram.com/p/B3iClhrhHYM/?igshid=1u74j5y6zzjrb

A hypothesized mechanism for the origin of life, an event called abiogenesis.  In this version, called RNA world, small molecules called nucleotides formed in the waters of the early Earth during the Hadean Eon, and polymerized on the surface of clay minerals.  These simple chains of RNA could replicate themselves in solution, but only slowly and inaccurately.  An RNA molecule developed which would fold into a structure that catalyzed RNA polymerization; a ribozyme.  The first ribozymes would replicate their sister strands, and produce copies of themselves and other RNA molecules. 

     In the same environment, long chains of carbon molecules called phospholipids were formed.  These molecules have two parts, the tail, which is hydrophobic, and the head, which is hydrophillic.  Because of these properties phospholipids will stick together and form micelles and vesicles in water.  Vesicles can absorb RNA nucleotides, concentrating them and creating a space where they can replicate, mutate and evolve.  At some point a ribozyme became enclosed within a vesicle, starting a chain reaction that evolved into the multitude of biological forms that we see today.

   Because this event occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago, theories about how and where it happened are highly speculative.  Possible environments for abiogensis include hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, hyper saline bubbles of water trapped in ice, radioactive lakes or lagoons on earths surface, and even in space or on another planet, brought to earth through a panspermia event.  We have very little molecular evidence of the first cells, but ribozymes and catalytic RNA molecules are embedded in the DNA replication machinery of all life.  Because evidence of this event has almost certainly been lost to time, the true mechanisms of the origin of life may remain a mystery to science.

Attention Next Generation Space Explorers! "Astronauts for Hire" needs YOU to imagine our future in space! Enter the World Space Week 2013 Art Contest...because a STEM mind is a CREATIVE mind! http://bit.ly/15RFJNI

Count down to launch!  

3...2...1...Einstein in a Box will launch its website October 1st, 2013! Introducing our "Lunar Launch Box!"  Children 8+ will be assigned very important missions as "Rocket Engineers."  Experience all the wonders, beauty, and adventure as Einstein in a Box launches to the Moon, the International Space Station, and beyond.  The universe is waiting for YOU so lets start discovering! www.EinsteinInABox.com

Douglas Adams on leaving the planet. An English writer, humorist, and dramatist, Adams is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which originated in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books hat sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime and generated a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame #humor #DouglasAdams #space #NASA

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." - #STEMist, Albert Einstein https://www.instagram.com/p/BzlTFPAhcIB/?igshid=srqhoj0pljub

Mars crater may actually be ancient supervolcanohttp://bit.ly/19iqm78

Awww, such smart kitties. They clearly love our "Moon Dance" groovy box which is all about convex and concave lenses! Check out our groovy deal - 50% OFF "Moon Dance" Single Box! CODE: FULLMOON Go to "Single Boxes" on our website, click the "Moon Dance" groovy box then use code: FULLMOON at checkout. Hands-on Next Generation Science Standards, project-based learning. #STEMists do the "E" in #STEM! Fellow STEMists who want to become optical engineers can be on their way to doing research and investigations through the engineering design process found in monthly-themed Groovy Lab in a Box.  Explore Earth’s moon, gravity, mass vs. weight, moon phases, tides, light, telescopes and much, much, more. Check out "Moon Dance" for more groovy fun for STEMists! Engineering Design Challenge:  You are an optical engineer, using only the materials from your Groovy Lab in a Box, can you design and build a two lens telescope which can expand and contract while you make observations of the night sky? #optics #NASA #science #technology #engineering #math #education #convex #GroovyLabInABox #STEMist #FutureScientist #homeschooling #opticalengineer #FutureEngineer #STEMEd #moonphases #homeschooling #gravity #galileo #refractingtelescope #concave #homeschoolscience #GroovyLab #telescope #telescopes #STEMEducation #STEMEdu #instascience #MakerEd

GROOVY ALERT! Today's 7.5 hour #MercuryTransit across the sun will go from 7:12am ET to 2:42pm ET. Here's the latest view via NASA.

#TBT 1999: Alexander McQueen’s fall/winter collection for Givenchy featured a flashing LED bodice and glow-in-the-dark pants that resembled a motherboard. #STEM #STEMforKids Learn and Teach More Here: https://www.groovylabinabox.com/tbt-1999-led-bodice/ #AlexanderMcQueen #Givenchy #led #motherboard #wearables #wearabletech #fashtech #fashiontech #STEMeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/B43PKtqnOTY/?igshid=1vtjzxh2h7nf6