Latest news with #AndrewMyers
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Colorado high schoolers invent device for NASA
DENVER (KDVR) — Two students from Ralston Valley High School in Arvada proved they have brains in bunches by inventing a device that will be presented to astronauts and NASA engineers in Houston. Samuel Iannone and Andrew Myers will travel to the Johnson Space Center, where they will showcase the medical device the two invented after being selected as finalists in the High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware program. New Rockies uniforms honor colorful Colorado The device they created functions as an otoscope, retinoscope and nasoscope. The multi-purpose tool will allow flight surgeons on board spacecraft to study the effects of zero gravity on fluids in the ears, eyes and nose of the crew. The boys were inspired to create their invention after hearing some astronauts mention that they experienced hearing and vision loss during their time in space. The boys dedicated the next six months, during or outside of school hours, to develop their concept, which is 3D printable and can be made from materials already found at the International Space Station, using fiber optic cameras and diagnostic systems. The two have worked alongside career professionals, astronauts and engineers to help realize their project. More information about the program can be found on the NASA HUNCH website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Giant beaver could become Minnesota's official state fossil this year
The Brief A bill before lawmakers would name the Castoroides Ohioensis, also known as the giant beaver, as Minnesota's official state fossil. The giant beaver became extinct around 10,000 years ago, but once reached lengths of up to 7 feet and weighed up to 200 pounds. As the largest rodent ever in North America, it also would have existed with the first people ever to settle in Minnesota, according to a representative from the Science Museum of Minnesota. Minnesota is one of only four states without a current state fossil designation. ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Castoroides Ohioensis, also known as the giant beaver, would be designated as Minnesota's official state fossil under a new proposal before Minnesota lawmakers this legislative session. What we know The bipartisan effort, authored by Rep. Andrew Myers (R-Tonka Bay), would officially designate the giant beaver as the state's official fossil – an effort he says was geared towards introducing students to new species, and came to him from middle school students. What they're saying "I see state symbols as a wonderful educational opportunity, where we can introduce new things to our kids as they're growing up," said Dr. Alex Hastings of the Science Museum of Minnesota during the House State Government Finance and Policy Committee on Thursday. According to Hastings, the science museum carried a vote two years ago in order to make a nomination decision on what the fossil should be, with the giant beaver receiving more than 11,000 submissions. Minnesota is currently one of only four states that does not have a designated state fossil. "There was a very clear winner – none other than the giant beaver," Hastings said before the committee. "One of the fascinating things about this animal is not only was it the largest rodent ever in North America, it also would have existed with the first people settling in Minnesota. There's even some folklore that suggests some personal interactions with them." A skeleton of the giant beaver is currently on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota – found just seven miles from St. Paul, Hastings said. Historians believe the giant beaver was far larger than the current common beaver – reaching lengths of up to 7 feet and weighing up to 200 pounds. Common beavers seen today are around 31 to 47 inches in length, and weigh around 24 to 66 pounds. The bill would also include indigenous translations as part of the designation. The backstory Giant beavers were bear-sized beavers that lived in North America, but went extinct around 10,000 years ago. Scientists believe its extinction coincided with the end of the last ice age, due to several factors, including climate change and the loss of their wetland habitats. Since they primarily ate aquatic plants, they were highly dependent on wetland ecosystems for both food and shelter, which eventually dried up. Unlike modern beavers that make dams and lodges, scientists believe the giant beaver was unable to adapt to the changing landscape. What's next The bill was laid over by the committee on Thursday for possible inclusion in a larger collection of bills – known as an omnibus bill - to be approved later in the legislative session.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EDITORIAL: Send legislators back to school? Shouldn't be necessary
Mar. 1—Regular readers of the Post Bulletin's Opinions Page should have a pretty good notion of our views about teachers. We've long argued that they are overworked and underpaid, and that in the past 20 years the complexities of the job have grown in inverse proportion to the respect they receive. Simply put, teaching is an increasingly difficult, thankless job. Therefore, one might guess that we would support a recently introduced bill that would require Minnesota legislators who serve on the Education Policy Committee and the Education Finance Committee to get a firsthand look at what's happening in public schools. The bill calls for these legislators to spend at least 12 hours "shadowing" a K-12 teacher or administrator, and then write a publicly available report on what they observed. The bill's chief author is Rep. Andrew Myers, a Republican from Tonka Bay, and his proposal already has garnered some DFL support in both the House and Senate. Myers also has introduced similar bills that would require members of some other committees to do a ridealong with law enforcement or firefighters, or to observe the operations at a child care center. There is some logic in such proposals. When Minnesota legislators are assigned to committees, we assume that they have a certain level of experience/expertise in that area — or at least a strong interest and a desire to learn. It's possible that some committee members lack these qualities, but do we need a law that mandates 12 hours of homework and a term paper? No, we do not. We elect legislators to a job; namely, to represent the interests of their constituents, to introduce and/or support legislation that furthers those interests, and to be well-informed on all manner of issues that affect the people they represent. And Myers is correct about one thing: This job can't be accomplished merely by making phone calls and reading emails while sitting behind a desk in St. Paul. To serve their districts, legislators must be present and visible. They should attend meetings of school boards, county boards and townships. They should attend high school basketball games, middle school plays and PTA meetings. They should visit assisted-living facilities. They should know which ambulance services operate in their districts. That's the gig. It's not a punch-in, punch-out position. If there are gaps in a legislator's knowledge base, we expect them to do whatever is necessary to fill those gaps, so that they can make good arguments and cast informed votes. We should not and do not need laws to mandate a certain amount of participation and learning. We hold elections, and voters get regular opportunities to replace representatives who aren't getting the job done. That's the big-picture perspective, and things don't get better when we consider the practical ramifications of mandated "shadowing" of teachers, firefighters and child care workers. Several members of the Post Bulletin editorial board have experience in front of a classroom, and we can safely say that few teachers would be eager to host a legislator for a day. It's tough enough to teach when the principal is "observing" you, and it might be worse to have a legislator sitting at the back of the class, compiling notes for a report on what happened on your watch. We doubt that police officers and the owners of child care centers would be excited about this prospect, either. Also, who would enforce this law? Who would check to make sure that every committee member spent the mandated number of hours "in the field" every two years? Who would read the reports? What penalties, if any, would fall upon legislators who ignored such a mandate? Finally, what's the logic in limiting this new mandate to just a few committees? If the current proposal becomes law, one could reasonably argue that health policy committee members should spend 12 hours sitting in an emergency room or shadowing a nurse. Children and Families committee members should spend a day or two with a social worker. Agriculture committee members should put on boots and spend a day on a dairy farm, and the Environment and Natural Resources committee should have first-hand experience checking duck hunters in a swamp while the wind howls on a cold, rainy October morning. Granted, the written reports on such experiences might be entertaining reading, but after a year or two, this entire process would become just another piece of busy work — and our legislators aren't federal employees who need bullet points to include on their "What I did last week" lists.
