Tag Archives: Vrylena Olney

Nano haiku and MOST summer camp

The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse, New York is hosting a five-day summer science camp that combines nano haiku and education about nanotechnology. From the July 28, 2011 NISE (Nanoscale Informal Science Education) Net blog posting by Vrylena Olney,

Betty Jones from the Science Education department at MOST told me that she and the other educators have been interested in figuring out how much of the nano content the kids are retaining. To get a sense of that, they’ve had the campers keep journals and created the haiku activity.

The haiku activity involved about 20 minutes of discussion. To prepare, educators printed out big copies of some of the Nano Bite haikus to post near their cafeteria. On the last day of the camp, the campers and educators visited the Nano Haiku Fence and campers were invited to find one haiku that they could explain. They removed their haiku from the fence and brought it back to the classroom where either the camper or educator read the haiku aloud. The camper then explained what the haiku referred to and, if possible, an activity that they had done that related to the haiku. According to Betty, every camper was able to interpret their haiku correctly!

There are sessions for 8 – 11 year olds and, at least one session for 10 – 14 year olds.

Finding work, finding scientists—the nano way

This job is not for a nanotechnology communicator but I did receive notice of it in my NISENet (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) July 2011 newsletter and I suppose one could include some nanoscience activities if one were inclined, so here it is,

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and affiliated Nature Research Center (NRC) is looking for a new Science Communication Director. The director will be based in Raleigh and communicate science education efforts at the NRC, teach at North Carolina State University, conduct research on museum education/outreach activities, and host interns, citizen scientists, and colleagues on both campuses. For more information about the position, please click here.

Getting back to nanoscience and nanotechnology, the NISE Network has a new program on their website, Find a Scientist; how to find a nano scientist (from the webpage),

Many scientists are willing (and eager) to collaborate locally on educational projects or serve voluntarily as advisors and content experts. To search the NISE Network member directory for a scientist near you:

  • Step 1. Go to Advanced Search
  • Step 2. Choose Professional Category: “Scientist”
  • Step 3. Narrow your choices further by choosing a Region or a State
  • Step 4. Click Submit

It looks like a pretty simple process. The webpage also offers information for scientists who want to sign up for the program.

Another new item in the catalog features a TEDx Madtown (independently organized TED event) presentation by Troy Dassler, an elementary school teacher who introduced nanoscience to his students. Here’s the video (approx. 12 mins),

For anyone who’s quite familiar with nanotechnology, you will find the presentation a little slowgoing at the beginning while Dassler’s offering a basic introduction for his audience but if takes off once he starts talking about his classroom work and how the kids investigated a new scientific question. You can find other resources for Nanoscience in Elementary Schools here.

At last,

Nano Haiku

Acid-binding antibodies
And gold nanoshells
Detect latent fingermarks

by Vrylena Olney of the Museum of Science, Boston referring to the news article Nanotechnology is Key to Recovering Usable Fingerprints from Old Evidence

On that note, Happy Monday!

A nanocrystalline solar cell; nano haiku; and more courtesy of the NISE Net

June’s Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) Network newsletter features a 2009 video, Nanotechnology brings us Delicious Nanocrystalline solar cells,  which was entered for the American Chemical Society’s 2009 Nanotation Nanotube contest.Who knew you could use donuts and tea to make a solar cell?

ETA June 20, 2011: Dexter Johnson in a June 17, 2011 posting on his Nanoclast blog points out that the science in this video is not of the best calibre.

On another note entirely, an April 22, 2010 posting from Clark Miller on the NISE Net blog focuses on bio-non-bio interfaces. Excerpted from Miller’s posting,

What would it mean if biological and non-biological systems were not just fully connectable but fully interchangeable? That’s one of the questions that nanotechnology poses for us. More than any other field of scientific inquiry, nanotechnology operates at the basic scales of biology. DNA, for example, has a rough width of 2.5 nm. Viruses are roughly 20 to 250 nm. A bacteria is roughly 1000 nm. So, nanotechnology spans from the scale of individual biological molecules through the scale of simple biological systems to the scale of living cells.

Miller certainly poses an interesting question especially in light of work which could conceivably lead (or perhaps already has led) to interchangeable biological and nonbiological systems,

For example, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new sensor for viruses that works through a combination of nanotechnology elements. The base of the sensor is a flat basin filled with liquid crystals (these are crystal molecules that behave like a liquid and form the core materials used in computer and flat-screen TVs). Within the basin are a series of parallel ridges approximately 5 nm on each side. These ridges help orient the liquid crystals so that they line up in parallel to the ridges and therefore exhibit a constant color across the entire basin. Finally, set into the ridges are a series of antibody particles for a specific virus. Once built, the sensor is exposed to material that might contain the virus in question. If the virus is present, it will bind to the antibody and, when it does, disturb the arrangement of the liquid crystals. When the liquid crystals are disturbed, the sensor changes color, signaling a positive match.

I haven’t seen any public engagement exercises that raise the issue in quite that way. At this point, it seems to be the province of science fiction.

Before I finish this posting with the June 2011 Nano Haiku, I’ll give you a little information about the article by Anne Trafton that inspired it, Finding a needle in a haystack: New sensor developed by MIT chemical engineers can detect tiny traces of explosives,

MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] researchers have created a new detector so sensitive it can pick up a single molecule of an explosive such as TNT.

To create the sensors, chemical engineers led by Michael Strano coated carbon nanotubes — hollow, one-atom-thick cylinders made of pure carbon — with protein fragments normally found in bee venom. This is the first time those proteins have been shown to react to explosives, specifically a class known as nitro-aromatic compounds that includes TNT.

And now the Nano Haiku,

Bee venom and nanotubes
Raise nano red flags
For super small explosives

by Vrylena Olney of the Museum of Science, Boston.