More and more universities have made a place for the Internet in today's educational offerings, but will universities still have a place in tomorrow's educational environment?

"We're about to undergo a tectonic transformation in education," Caltech astrophysicist George Djorgovski, a pioneer in scientific applications for virtual worlds, told me on Wednesday. "This is the start of an 'S' curve, and universities will be unrecognizable in a decade or two."

The rapid rise of next-generation distance education, and what it means for educational institutions, is our theme on "Virtually Speaking Science," an hour-long talk show that goes out to listeners on BlogTalkRadio and to a live audience in the Second Life virtual world. Djorgovski is my guest beginning at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday. If you miss hearing the show live, don't fret: You can always catch up with it as a podcast on BlogTalkRadio or iTunes.

Djorgovski has had years of experience in virtual worlds, thanks to his role as the director of the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics. MICA closed down last year, but Djorgovski is still involved in virtual-reality projects — including the first class that he taught as a massive open online course, or MOOC. "Galaxies and Cosmology" was offered over the Internet via Coursera, one of several MOOC ventures.

"It took way more work than I thought," Djorgovski recalled.

More than 28,000 students signed up online, and 2,000 stayed on for the whole course. One of the students was an 80-year-old Caltech alumnus. "I was impressed and surprised by just how dedicated these online students are," Djorgovski said. "This was not a goofball pretty-picture class, this was a serious course with differential equations."

Djorgovski set up a Facebook page for the course and kept office hours in Second Life. Although most of the students interacted through Coursera's discussion forums, about a dozen of them sent their computerized avatars to visit "Curious George" in his virtual office. "All of those who did were absolutely delighted," Djorgovski said. "They thought this was the greatest thing."

Second Life / Courtesy of George Djorgovski

Caltech astrophysicist George Djorgovski, a.k.a. Curious George, holds office hours for his cosmology course in the Second Life virtual world.

No money changes hands, and no college credits are given for completing the course. Nevertheless, the experience showed Djorgovski that "there is this great need or desire for extended education in some novel sense." For many of the international students, MOOCs provide the only way to get the kind of knowledge that America's universities can offer.

But MOOCs also raise deep questions for universities. "Now everybody's thinking, how are they going to do this?" Djorgovski said. "You can get 80 percent of higher education online for free, so why would you spend $300,000?"

Djorgovski said he's less interested in the business aspects, and more interested in the long-term effects on academic institutions. He wonders whether the research and the educational functions of a university will become decoupled, particularly at the undergraduate level. And he wonders whether educators will adapt. The idea of forcing educators and students to be in the same physical location may seem terribly outmoded in the year 2033.

"We will not be firing 99 percent of the professors, but I think their jobs will change," Djorgovski said. "It may be an even more painful transition than it has been in other fields. If we are lucky, it will be as mild as journalism or the music industry. If we are not lucky, it will be like buggy whips."

Do you agree? Tune in "Virtually Speaking Science" on Wednesday, join the audience in Second Life, or download the podcast later.

'Virtually Speaking Science' podcasts:

• Doug Griffith and Taber MacCallum on moon and Mars trips
• Sean Carroll and Matt Strassler on physics' X Files
• Ig Nobel's Marc Abrahams on weird science in 2012
• Paul Doherty on Curiosity and the year in science
• Shawn Lawrence Otto on climate change and the 2012 election
• Sean Carroll on what lies beyond the Higgs boson
• Alan Stern on the Uwingu mystery space venture
• George Djorgovski on the future of immersive virtual reality
• JPL's Dave Beaty previews Curiosity's mission on Mars
• SETI Institute's Seth Shostak about aliens and UFOs
• Paul Doherty on solar eclipses and the transit of Venus
• Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto on spaceflight and Yuri's Night
• JPL's Dave Beaty on the search for life on Mars
• Shawn Lawrence Otto on science and politics
• Ig Nobel impresario Marc Abrahams on silly science in 2011
• Rocket scientist Robert Zubrin on Mars exploration
• Propulsion expert Marc Millis on interstellar spaceflight
• Sean Carroll on the puzzles facing physicists
• Rand Simberg on the private-enterprise vision for spaceflight
• Martin Hoffert on the future of energy policy
• George Djorgovski on science in virtual worlds
• Alan Stern on suborbital research and NASA's mission to Pluto
• Col. 'Coyote' Smith on the outlook for space solar power
• Tim Pickens on rocket ventures and the Google Lunar X Prize

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

"Virtually Speaking Science" airs on Wednesdays on BlogTalkRadio, with a live audience in the Exploratorium's Second Life auditorium. In addition to Alan Boyle, the hosts include Tom Levenson, director of MIT's graduate program in science writing; and Jennifer Ouellette, science writer and "Cocktail Party Physics" blogger.

High-altitude balloon missions are so mainstream that iPhones, "Star Trek" action figures, Lego toys and political bobblehead dolls have all taken their turns rising to the edge of space — but what about Hello Kitty? Now the lovable Japanese plush cat has made its own mark on the final frontier, thanks to 13-year-old Lauren Rojas.

Rojas, a seventh-grader at Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch, Calif., settled on the idea of sending a Hello Kitty doll to the stratosphere for her science project. The doll was provided by her dad, who picked it up during up a business trip to Tokyo. The girl (who was 12 at the time) perched the kitty in a cute silver rocket ship, positioned it amid flight gear from High Altitude Science, festooned the rig with GoPro Hero2 video cameras, filled up the lighter-than-air balloon — and then let 'er rip.

The aim of Rojas' experiment was to gauge air pressure and temperature as the balloon-borne experiment package rose — and she picked up some interesting effects: The peak winds exceeded 60 mph at the 10,000-foot level. The temperature fell from 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) as low as 22 degrees below zero F (-30 degrees C) when the balloon popped at an altitude of 93,625 feet (28,537 meters).

That's less than a third of the way to the internationally accepted boundary of outer space, which is at an altitude of 62 miles or 100 kilometers. But as this YouTube video about the flight demonstrates, it's high enough to get a great view of Earth below the black sky of space. The package fell back to Earth and landed 47 miles (75 kilometers) from the launch site, 50 feet up in the branches of a tree. Which is an apt place for a wayward kitty to end up.

For more about the feat, check out this report from the New York Daily News.

Still more high-altitude adventures:

• A rise and fall that's out of this world
• How a space train was brought to life
• MIT acceptance letter hits the heights

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Published at 3:58 p.m. ET Feb. 6.

Montana State Univ. / NASA

CubeSats like the one shown in this artist's conception, measuring 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, are coming within reach of student experimenters and DIY enthusiasts.

Wanna do some space science? You no longer have to be a professional researcher, or even a grown-up, to get your experiment into orbit. A new program called DreamUp is offering slots on the International Space Station's experimental racks to school groups for as little as $15,500 a pop, and you can use credit-card reward points to help cover the cost.

"We are committed to lowering the barriers for entry to space research," Jeffrey Manber, managing director of NanoRacks, said in a news release announcing the program. "This is a double win. This first-of-its-kind student experiment donation platform will help create a world-class experience for students."

NanoRacks, which has already helped put iPhones and the makings for Scotch whisky into space, is partnering up with the Conrad Foundation on the DreamUp program.

"Some experiments can't be done on Earth because we can't 'turn off' gravity," said Nancy Conrad, the foundation's chairman and the widow of Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad. "DreamUp, powered by our partner NanoRacks, is the ultimate 'plug and play,' helping our next great innovators participate in a scientific research opportunity like no other."

Organizers say American Express Membership Rewards points can be put toward the cost of an experiment, at the rate of $10 for every 1,000 points redeemed. The DreamUp program is open to junior-high students, high-schoolers and college undergraduates from accredited U.S. schools.

Teacher, I shrunk the experiment
The concept follows up on a series of student experiments that have already flown up to the station on NanoRacks' platforms. One of the key players in the project will be Werner Vavken, director of Valley Christian Schools' Applied Math, Science and Engineering Institute in San Jose, Calif. Vavken and his students have built experiments for the space station and taught several other schools to do likewise.

The first lesson that Vavken shares with other schools is that doing space science isn't as hard as it sounds. "I explain this to them, and they think I'm from outer space," he told me. "But they really can do it. The sky is no longer the limit."

Werner Vavken / Valley Christian Schools

Valley Christian High School's principal, Mark Lodewyk (back row with tie), Vice Principal Jennifer Griffin and projector mentor George Sousa (in the blue shirt) witness the packing of one of two NanoLabs being readied for shipping to the International Space Station. The students are Brian Hu and Evan Borras.

NanoRacks / Kentucky Space / Valley Christian Schools

A NanoLab container holds a plant growth experiment as well as electronic gear.

The key trick is to shrink the experiment: Vavken said the experiments that he and his students build have to fit within a 2-by-2-by-4-inch space (5 by 5 by 10 centimeters). That sounds incredibly challenging, but it can be done. One of the schools he worked with wanted to design an experiment to mix concrete in microgravity — a task that some thought would cost millions of dollars. Suffice it to say that the eight-student team from Faith Christian Academy in Coalinga, Calif., found a cheaper way.

"They conjured up a way to mix concrete in space, in 16 cubic inches, and they didn't have a $4 million budget," Vavken said. The experiment is due to return to Earth next month aboard a Russian Soyuz craft, and the students will then analyze how zero-gravity concrete differs from the Earth-made equivalent on the molecular level.

Other high-school experiments have been aimed at monitoring plant growth, bacterial growth and food spoilage in microgravity.

"The opportunity for students to do small experiments on the ISS is a powerful motivator in science, technology, engineering and math," Julie Robinson, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station, said in this week's news release. "DreamUp will provide the opportunity for top students of all socio-economic levels to fly their experiments to the space station, and the NanoRacks system allows them to be completed without any impact to other research activities."

The revolution continues
NanoRacks' standardized research platforms, known as NanoLabs, are shipped up to the space station on cargo flights. NASA astronauts plug them into the station's power and communication system, and then just let them run for 30 days. The students get the opportunity to interact with the astronauts and check in with their experiment.

"It's really pretty revolutionary for teenagers to conjure this up, get it built and tested, and approved by NanoRacks," Vavken said.

Next year could be even more revolutionary. "We are teaching the kids how to design and launch a satellite from the International Space Station," Vavken said. The CubeSat device, measuring 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, could be sent into orbit as early as next February from Japan's Kibo laboratory, he said.

Vavken acknowledged that the $15,500 cost was "a little pricey," but he said the project could be a game-changer for teens who are interested in math, science and engineering. He recalled the case of one high-schooler who was on the team for a space experiment he helped organize. "She graduated this past year ... and got a four-year, full-ride scholarship to MIT," he said. "Now, I think that's a good payback for a kid in an after-school program."

For more information about the DreamUp program, including a registration form, click on over to the Conrad Foundation website.

But wait ... there's more
Meanwhile, aerospace experts and their corporate partners have just set up a Kickstarter campaign for a citizen-space-science project called ArduSat. They're soliciting donations to cover the anticipated $35,000 cost of building a CubeSat that will contain more than two dozen sensors for orbital observations. "As soon as the funding goal is met, we can move ahead with applications for free launches through various NASA or ESA ride-along programs," the project leaders say.

Organizers of the campaign say that ArduSat will be the "first open platform allowing the general public to design and run their own space-based applications, games and experiments, steer the onboard cameras to take pictures on demand, and even broadcast personalized messages back to Earth." If the project gets off the ground, Kickstarter supporters will get the first turns at taking the controls, at a discounted price.

Discover Magazine has partnered with ArduSat to run the Discover Space Challenge, which is soliciting ideas for innovative experiments, games or applications to run on the nanosatellite. The winning team members will be awarded a Team Development Kit that could turn their idea into a reality.

Interested? For more information, check out Phil Plait's spiel on the Bad Astronomy blog, plus Evan Ackerman's report on the DVICE blog.

More about nanosatellites:

• Kinect-controlled satellites heading to space
• Beware, terrorists: Mini satellites can find you
• NASA backs a contest for nanosatellites
• CubeSats: Tiny spacecraft, huge payoffs

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

What is a flame? Scientists were challenged to explain the concept in terms an 11-year-old could understand, and a grad student specializing in quantum physics has taken the prize for a cartoon that's as entertaining as it is educational.

After sifting through more than 800 entries from 31 countries, organizers of the Flame Challenge announced on Saturday that the winner is Ben Ames, a 31-year-old Missouri-born researcher studying quantum optics at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. And if this physics thing doesn't work out, Ames can always fall back on his obvious skills as an animator/writer/musician.

"When I learned about this wonderful contest, I had finally found a project where I could put all of my interests to use," Ames, a graduate of the University of Utah, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The contest was the brainchild by Alan Alda, an actor who's best-known as the star of the long-running "M-A-S-H" sitcom and has gone on to become the host of science-rich programs such as "Scientific American Frontiers." In a Science editorial published three months ago, Alda reflected on the difficulties that some teachers have when they try to communicate scientific concepts in terms that kids can understand.

He recalled an exchange he had with a teacher at the age of 11. "What's a flame?" the young Alda asked. The teacher replied simply and unsatisfyingly: "It's oxidation."

"That was a discouraging moment for me personally, but decades later I see the failure to communicate science with clarity as far more serious for society," Alda wrote. So, in cooperation with Stony Brook University's Center for Communicating Science, Alda set up the Flame Challenge to have scientists answer his schoolboy question as best they could. The twist was that the primary judging would be done by thousands of 11-year-olds across the country.

Scientists sent in poems, essays, songs, videos and graphics to define a flame. Any of the entries from the contest's five finalists would do the trick, but Ames' seven-minute animation — starring a long-bearded prisoner, a scientist and a happy little devil in Hades — was the standout.

The lesson is summarized in Ames' original song, featured at the end of the clip: "The fuel loses mass, and turns to a gas," he sings. "Before the next change is through, some atoms shine blue. When the process is complete, it gives off heat. Extra carbon will glow, red, orange, yellow."

Pretty hard to beat that, don't you think? For his efforts, Ames won a flame-shaped trophy, a T-shirt and a trip to the World Science Festival in New York, where the winner was announced. 

Now the Flame Challenge is asking 10- to 12-year-olds to suggest the next scientific concept to explain. What questions would you put on the list? Even if you're not an 11-year-old, feel free to pass along your suggestions as comments below, and we'll try to get them to the right folks at the Center for Communicating Science.

More about communicating science:

• Easy answers to kids' most burning questions
• Experiment sheds light on flames in space
• Ph.D. dance-off makes science sexy
• Scientific tales that take the prize
• Must-see science videos of 2011

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / MIT / SRS

This view of the lunar far side with Earth in the background was taken by the MoonKAM system on NASA's Ebb spacecraft on March 17. A little more than halfway up and on the left side is the crater De Forest. The crater is near the south pole and receives sunlight at an oblique angle when it's on the illuminated half of the moon.

More than 45 years after the first "Earthrise" picture, fourth-graders got to pick their own shot of our home planet peeking over the moon's horizon, courtesy of NASA's GRAIL mission.

The new views of Earth from the moon are included in GRAIL's first batch of student-selected images, snapped by the Ebb spacecraft's MoonKAM camera from March 15 to 18 and released today. Ebb and its twin, Flow, are orbiting the moon to study the lunar gravity field — and students get to choose what the small cameras on the washing-machine-sized orbiters take pictures of.

"MoonKAM is based on the premise that if your average picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture from lunar orbit may be worth a classroom full of engineering and science degrees," MIT planetary scientist Maria Zuber, GRAIL's principal investigator, said in a NASA news release. "Through MoonKAM, we have an opportunity to reach out to the next generation of scientists and engineers. It is great to see things off to such a positive start."

The first targets were selected by fourth-grade students from Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont. They earned that honor as a reward for coming up with the names for the spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, during a nationwide competition last year. (Before the names were unveiled, the probes were known merely as GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B.)

More than 2,700 schools in 52 countries are in the pool for target selection. Suggestions for picture-taking are funneled through the GRAIL MoonKam Mission Operations Center, at the University of California in San Diego. The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, who became NASA's first woman astronaut in 1983 and is now president and CEO of an educational company called Sally Ride Science.

"What might seem like just a cool activity for these kids may very well have an profound impact on their futures," Ride said in today's news release. "The students really are excited about MoonKam, and that translates into an excitement about science and engineering."

Ebb is only the latest camera to snap that iconic shot of Earth over moon's horizon. The first such picture from a NASA probe came on Aug. 23, 1966, during preparations for the Apollo moon shots, when the unmanned Lunar Orbiter 1 sent a black-and-white picture back to Earth.

The best-known Earthrise picture is the one that Apollo 8's crew made famous in 1968, but even after the Apollo program ended in 1972, robotic probes have periodically sent back fresh views of our planet as seen from deep space. Japan's Kaguya orbiter, for example, captured a high-definition Earthrise on video in 2008.

Some experts believe seeing Earth from this perspective gives viewers more of an appreciation for its beauty and fragility, leading to a spiritual phenomenon known as the "Overview Effect." Will today's fourth-graders get a chance to experience Earthrise and the Overview Effect in person? I'd like to think so, but what do you think?

More views from space:

• GRAIL captures first video of moon's far side
• PhotoBlog: From the moon to the earth
• Slideshow: Pictures from the International Space Station
  
• Planetary Society: Images of Earth from planetary probes

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Philip Montgomery

Regional winners in the YouTube Space Lab competition are treated to a zero-gravity airplane flight during their visit to Washington.

Teenage scientists will get to have their bugs — specifically, spiders and bacteria — fly up to the International Space Station. That's the bottom line from the YouTube Space Lab contest, which reached its climax this morning at the Newseum in Washington when the organizers announced that Egypt's Amr Mohamed and the United States' Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma were the global winners.

"The idea of sending an experiment into space is the most exciting thing I have ever heard in my life," Mohamed said in a news release. "Winning YouTube Space Lab means everything to me, to my family, and to the people of the Middle East."

Mohamed's experiment focuses on how zero-gravity affects the way zebra spiders catch their prey. Previous experiments in space have shown that, after an adjustment period, spiders were able to adapt their web-weaving skills to microgravity in orbit. But the zebra spiders might have a harder time, because they depend on capturing their prey by pouncing on them rather than using webs. Will the spiders be able to adjust their jumps for zero-G? "I believe it is going to show a major behavioral change," Mohamed says.

It's all systems go for Mohamed's experiment because the 18-year-old from Alexandria won the 17-to-18 age category in the Space Lab contest, sponsored by YouTube, Lenovo and Space Adventures. The opportunity to have experiments flown up to the space station, and have the orbital activities streamed live via YouTube, was arguably the biggest draw for the five-month-long global Space Lab competition.

Chen and Ma, two 16-year-olds from Troy High School in Michigan, were judged the top entrants in the 14-to-16 group. They took a page from previous research indicating that salmonella bacteria became more virulent in zero-G, a finding that could lead to more effective vaccines against food poisoning. The two girls proposed an experiment to send another type of bacteria, known as Bacillus subtilis, to do its thing under controlled conditions on the space station.

On Earth, Bacillus subtilis has an antifungal effect, and Chen and Ma want to find out whether subjecting the bacteria to zero-G will make them even better fungus-fighters. Who knows? This may be the next frontier in the battle against athlete's foot.

"The idea that something that is your experiment being sent up into space and actually becoming a reality is incredible," Ma said.

Mohamed, Chen and Ma have the choice of traveling to Japan this summer to watch the launch of their experiments on a Japanese cargo craft heading for the space station, or going through a cosmonaut training program in Russia at a later time.

This week, they and the competition's other regional winners were shown a great time in Washington: They received Lenovo laptops, got a special tour of the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center and met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"We have a lot of top scientists who come before our committee," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, told the kids. "But I think you're better than all of them."

The highlight of the trip was a weightless ride on a Zero G airplane. Here's a video ... from YouTube, naturally ... that recaps the past few days for the Space Lab winners:

Don't you think science-minded students should be as celebrated as, say, the singing stars on "American Idol"? Admittedly, watching bacteria multiply may not be as entertaining as Heejun Han's antics — but in the long run, what's more important?

Here's what physicist Stephen Hawking had to say on the subject: "Humanity's future relies on moving beyond Earth. Realizing this goal will require an entrepreneurial spirit and a new generation of scientists and astronauts. YouTube Space Lab is a wonderful initiative that helps inspire young minds around the world to take a greater interest in science and the future of space exploration."

Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts about how to foster the next generation of scientists and astronauts — and stay tuned to find out the fate of the zero-G jumping spiders and the fungus-fighting germs.

More about the next generation of scientists:

• Obama calls for boosting science education
• Formerly homeless teen praised at science fair
• Students help NASA control robots from space
• Solar cells that go anywhere win invention prize

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

The YouTube Space Lab program aims to get students thinking about outer space as their experimental sphere.

Can zero gravity open the way to better fungicides, novel types of liquid circuitry and magnets ... and previously unseen snowflake shapes? Those are the kinds of questions that six teams of teens want to answer as they move into the final phase of the YouTube Space Lab competition.

The regional winners were named today and will gather in Washington next month for a series of events and tours, including a March 22 awards ceremony. The contest is divided into two age categories, for 14- to 16-year-olds and 17- to 18-year-olds. Three teams were selected in each category to represent the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Europe/Africa/Middle East region.

While they're in Washington, the teens will be treated to a weightless airplane flight and a special tour and dinner at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, which will be home to the retired space shuttle Discovery by that time.

The regional winners were chosen in a process that was guided by judges as well as by votes cast by more than 150,000 YouTube users. Next month, the judges will announce the top teams in the two age categories. Those teams will have their zero-G experiments run on the International Space Station and live-streamed on YouTube over a Lenovo laptop. The two top teams can travel to Japan this summer to watch their experiment launch as part of Japan's robotic HTV-3 space station supply mission — or they can choose to go through cosmonaut training in Russia once they turn 18.

One of the experiments would send a bacteria with fungus-fighting properties, known as Bacillus subtilis, into space to see whether growth in weightlessness enhances its virulence. Earlier experiments have shown that to be the case for salmonella bacteria, a common culprit in food poisoning.

The other proposed experiments would study how zero-G affects surfactants, ferrofluid magnets, ice crystallization, heat transfer and even the hunting habits of jumping spiders. Rather than going into the details here, let's have the regional winners themselves explain their research:

The Space Lab competition is sponsored by YouTube, Lenovo and Space Adventures, in cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The man behind the idea is Zahaan Bharmal, Google's head of marketing operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"This grand project demonstrates that math and science matter," Bharmal said in today's announcement of the regional winners. "These six winners represent the next generation of scientists and even space explorers. Their families, schools, local communities and countries should be very proud."

Amen to that.

More about student science projects:

• Hey, kids! Put your space experiment in orbit
• Biochemist bags top prize at Google Science Fair
• Obama takes his best shot at White House science fair
• Formerly homeless teen gets presidential shout-out

Alan Boyle is science editor at msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding the Cosmic Log Google+ page to your circles. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

NBC Sports Group

Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne gets face time in "Science of NHL Hockey."

Why does a hockey player's stick actually strike the ice behind the puck for a slap shot? How quickly does a player pick up speed during a breakaway? The answers to these and other questions are explored from a scientific point of view in a new series of videos presented by the NHL, the National Science Foundation and NBC Learn.

"Science of NHL Hockey" is the latest video tutorial done up by NBC News' educational arm with the cooperation of sports officials, athletes and scientists. (NBC Universal is a partner in the msnbc.com joint venture.) It's made for students and teachers to use in the classrooms, in conjunction with specially prepared lesson plans. But you don't need to be in school to check out the series. The videos, anchored by NBC News' Lester Holt, are available online via NBC Learn, NBCSports.com and Science360.gov. You can also catch the segments this weekend during NBC's coverage of the NHL All-Star Game.

The scientific concepts at work in the fastest game on ice are broken down using a high-speed camera that can capture movement at rates of up to 10,000 frames per second. The super-slo-mo views allow for frame-by-frame analysis of the Newtonian physics and biomechanics behind the action. There's even a segment about the science of the Zamboni machine.

"Wayne Gretzky once said, 'The only way a kid is going to practice is if it's total fun for him ... and it was for me,'" Morris Aizenman, senior scientist for NSF's Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, said in a news release about the project. "'Science of NHL Hockey' is an NSF and NBC Learn project that continues our effort to make science total fun for students. We hope, after watching these videos, that students will also want to learn and practice science."

Among the players participating in the series are St. Louis Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, New York Islanders left wing Matt Moulson, Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne and Dallas Stars left wing Brenden Morrow.

"It was exciting to be part of a unique project that utilizes hockey to help educate students on science and physics," Morrow said. "It was fun to participate in and was very interesting. I learned a lot myself."

More science of sports:

• Ready for some football science?
• Jump into some Olympic-size science
• The math and science of baseball
• Why March Madness isn't that mad
• The science of soccer stats

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Memrise

A mnemonic device shows the transition between a picture depicting strength and the Mandarin character for strength. Such devices help us remember words, according to the founders of Memrise, a website that teaches you words of a foreign language.

For adults, learning a new language is often a long, frustrating process that inevitably ends up in failure. A memory expert and a neuroscientist hope to change that with a new online software package designed to make learning the vocabulary of a foreign language fast, fun and rewarding.

"Really good successful learning needs to be vivid, imaginative and creative. It needs to be active. And if you can make it a bit social, that's great," Greg Detre, a neuroscientist and co-founder of Memrise, the online destination to learn foreign words quickly, told me today.

The website is built on the metaphor that our minds are gardens where memories are either flourishing or wilting. When users learn a new word, they get a seed that they tend and grow into a healthy plant by correctly passing well-timed tests that force the users to recall the word.

To help users learn the word, the site offers up mnemonic devices. When learning the word man in Mandarin, for example, Memrise transforms the character for man into a cartoon of a man. Users are also encouraged to come up with their own devices. These devices, the founders say, make the words stick in your mind and enriches the recall experience. 

To help plant and tend the memory, the site uses an algorithm that tests you on the word when the memory of it is most likely fading your mind.

"It is trying to teach you how your memories work," Detre explained. "If you don't nurture them on a scientific schedule, they die just like flowers. But we are also at the same time trying to make your learning visible and social and useful."

The fun part hinges on choreography behind the scenes that props the tests at the time and a level of difficulty where you have to work a bit to get the answer, but that you will likely get it right. In other words, the tests make you feel like a genius, which feels good, so you keep on learning. If the tests were too hard or too easy, you might quit, Detre noted.

The site also lets you play along with friends and strangers. Comparing your garden with others fires up the competitive spirit, for example. Users can also share mnemonic devices and encourage each other to learn new words, fostering a sense of community.

Memrise bills itself as teacher of words in a foreign language. "That's only a small part of learning a language," Luis Von Alm, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and co-creator of another online learning website, Duolingo, told Technology Review.

Detre agrees that Memrise alone will not teach you a new language, but, in his opinion, is the "best way to learn the words of a new language." And learning vocabulary, he added, is "the right way for the brain to kick itself into learning a new language."

More on language and learning:

• A baby's babble leads to language
• English won't dominate as world language
• Robots invent their own spoken language
• What language do we use with E.T.?

Tip o' the Log to Technology Review's Kristina Bjoran

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).