Born on January 24, 1882: Harold Delos Babcock, an astronomer who studied sunspot cycles and the sun's magnetic polarity during each approximately 11-year cycle.

That the orientation of the sun's poles changes, routinely, may come as a surprise, but, right now the sun's poles are upside down. The sun looks the same, but every 11 years or so, things flip over again as the Solar Cycle progresses, reaches, and passes its midway point. (The Earth's polarity also changes, but with much less regularity—the last change was more than 750,000 years ago!).

According to NASA, "graphs of sunspot numbers resemble a roller coaster, going up and down with an approximately 11-year period." It is at the high point, the "Solar Maximum," that astronomers have discovered that the magnetic orientation of the sun changes. In February 2001, NASA reported on the "flip" as the Solar Cycle 23 hit Solar Maximum: "The Sun's magnetic north pole, which was in the northern hemisphere just a few months ago, now points south."

While the magnetic flip has come to represent an expected part of each solar cycle and an indication of Solar Maximum during the approximately 11-year cycle, forecasting the "peak" of a solar cycle remains variable. Scientists are sure the reversal will happen, but pinpointing "when" is often only possible as we near the Solar Maximum. A survey of reports over the last several years regarding Solar Cycle 24, our current cycle, shows that NASA made several predictions that indicated a "peak" in 2011 or 2012. Indeed, in an account of the 2001 flip, NASA noted, "The Sun's magnetic poles will remain as they are now, with the north magnetic pole pointing through the Sun's southern hemisphere, until the year 2012 when they will reverse again. This transition happens, as far as we know, at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle—like clockwork."

They were close. Revised NASA forecasts now posit a "peak" for Solar Cycle 24 in mid-2013, with an unusually low number of sunspots during the Solar Maximum, the lowest since 1928.

Making Connections

It's not a clock you'll want to base your day-to-day activities upon, but the "clockwork" behavior of the Solar Cycle is interesting to watch and leads to much discussion and prediction from armchair astronomers and observatory-researchers alike. Students, too, can jump in and learn more about sunspots, magnetic fields, and the Solar Cycle. The following Project Ideas give students a chance to use publicly-available, historical data to learn more:

• Sunspot Cycles
• Correlation of Coronal Mass Ejections with the Solar Sunspot Cycle

Update! Solar Max Means Amazing Skies

A related effect of the approaching solar maximum is an increase in activity that translates into amazing aural displays. Check these beautiful photos of the northern lights in January. See also, the "Spectacular Northern Lights From Solar Storm Wow Skywatchers" report.

Willing to try a licorice-based toothpaste?

When it comes to candy, certain flavors fall into a category that tends to require a more sophisticated palate. That's my decidedly non-scientific assessment having watched my own kids and their love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with all things "mint," something to which dental-care product developers really should pay more attention since many "kid" pastes still have a bit of mint "bite" to them. After witnessing thousands of mint-related shrieks and mini-rebellions, I've thought about the way our palates change and grow with time. We know this about spinach and brussels sprouts, right? But clearly there are certain flavorings, as well, that we potentially grow into (and out of).

Already there has been a softening to mint. For a while, we dumped strawberry toothpaste and existed harmoniously with a single tube of mint, but it was short-lived. Someday, I have no doubt they may prefer a real candy cane in December to a sickly, sweet and sour, fruit punch flavored one. Someday, I am sure they'll look at me in disbelief when I recount the fit thrown at the dentist when one selected a chocolate toothpaste from the picture-based menu only to realize when it hit the tongue that it was chocolate mint. For now, even mint-flavored dental floss is frowned upon, and in reality, most dental flosses have at least a hint of mint.

Mint isn't the only category of candy flavoring that seemingly grows on one with age. While, personally, I look back fondly on the world of Atomic Fireballs, Hot Tamales, and even Big Red chewing gum, which my grandfather stocked in his shirt pocket, along with Juicy Fruit (I guess I pre-date the sugarless gum industry!), my kids won't come near cinnamon-flavored candies. I doubt they'd cozy up to something ginger-flavored or black-licorice flavored either.

I remember liking black licorice, and as an adult, I can vouch for the goodness of a chocolate-ginger combo, but I can't imagine my kids opting for either over something sweet, sour, and sure-to-turn-the-tongue-bright-blue.

It's too bad, because a toothpaste with a base of licorice root might help safeguard our trips to the dentist's office!

The "Root" of Things

Recent studies have shown that licorice root has benefits for oral health—cavity-fighting benefits. Scientists behind a study in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Journal of Natural Products cite licorice root as being instrumental in helping fight both tooth decay and gum disease. Licorice root has been used in Chinese traditional medicine for various reasons, and to enhance the properties of other herbal additives, but the recent US-based study focused specifically on the effect of compounds in licorice root on bacteria common to the mouth. According to studies, licoricidin and licorisoflavan A, two compounds found in licorice root, help inhibit the growth of bacteria that cause cavities as well as bacteria related to gum disease.

In reality, however, those looking to take advantage of licorice-laden oral healthcare will need to find their licorice somewhere other than the candy aisle because licorice root is commonly replaced by anise oil in candies. So if you decide to add licorice to your list, be sure and check package labels and ingredients.

Making Connections

Tooth decay is a widespread problem, but it is one that can be helped with both preventive and routine care. According to the CDC, "tooth decay affects more than one-fourth of U.S. children aged 2-5 years and half of those aged 12-15 years." Those are high percentages, as is this startling statistic: "one-fourth of U.S. adults aged 65 or older have lost all of their teeth."

Can licorice root make a difference? How safe is licorice root? How much can be taken? For how long? Are there other risks?

These are just a few of the questions researchers have to consider and explore, and there are already warnings accompanying stories about the benefits of licorice root that indicate there are counter-risks related to blood pressure and potassium levels. Licorice root is also a legume, which raises additional considerations for those concerned about gluten. As one might expect, licorice-root Altoids® probably won't suddenly be appearing in the dental health aisle as an end-all solution to oral health.

Further exploration, however, seems prudent, and students can jump in by learning more about the ways in which licorice root interacts with oral bacteria.

Taking it Further

Students interested in designing an independent science project focused on the anti-bacterial properties of a substance like licorice root may find the underpinnings of their project in the The End Zone: Measuring Antimicrobial Effectiveness with Zones of Inhibition Project Idea, adapted to use licorice extract and bacteria cultured from swabbing the inside of the mouth.

As with any bacteria-based project or study, however, it is important for students to fully review and be mindful of SRC guidelines and rules regulating bacteria projects. The Science Buddies Microorganisms Safety Guide offers additional information.

Our "science history" notes this week at Facebook included mention of both Dian Fossey and Joy Adamson. Both women left behind inspiring legacies and volumes of experience gathered from living with, observing, and interacting with animals.

Born on January 16, 1932: Dian Fossey, a famed zoologist whose study of gorillas in Rwanda, Africa is chronicled in Gorillas in the Mist. The book is her own account of thirteen years spent living in an African rain forest and was also later made into a movie starring Sigourney Weaver.

Students can use the BLAST bioinformatics tool to examine the relationship between humans and our non-human relatives in the Neanderthals, Orangutans, Lemurs, & You—It's a Primate Family Reunion! genomics Project Idea.

Born on January 20, 1910: Joy Adamson, naturalist and author, best known (along with her husband George Adamson) for raising and training Elsa, an orphaned lioness, and eventually successfully releasing her into the wild. After Elsa, Adamson worked with other animals, including a cheetah and a leopard. Adamson chronicled her work in a number of books, beginning with Born Free (also made into a movie).

Teaching the family dog to shake hands or give a high five is (depending on the breed) likely far less dangerous than working with a wild animal, but students can begin to explore the ways in which animal trainers approach the process of teaching animals new skills or tricks by working through the Tricks for Treats: How Long Does It Take to Train Your Pet? project.

Making Connections

For a look at ways to turn a love of animals into a career, explore the following science career profiles: zoologist, animal trainer, park ranger, and veternarian.

For other exciting Project Ideas designed to let students explore science questions related to animals, see projects in Zoology, Biology, and Mammalian Biology.

Interested in reading other firsthand accounts from female scientists, zoologists, naturalists, and conservationists? You might also enjoy learning more about Jane Goodall's legendary work, chronicled in titles that include: Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, My Life with the Chimpanzees, Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years.

(Science Buddies Project Ideas in Zoology are sponsored by the Medtronic Foundation.)

We're out for a rare walk around one of my favorite spots in the Bay Area, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. We've fed the geese and practiced our aim as we tried to toss bits of salvaged and saved bread to them and the mallards. We know the gulls will swoop in, loudmouthed and pushy, to steal away our stale but doughy offerings. My youngest has greeted his "friends," the gray coots with their white-spotted foreheads, red eyes, and chartreuse feet. We've stopped and peered up into the trees where the great blue herons nest in the spring months, though we know that despite the weather, it is too early for them. We've shooed away the flock of pigeons that has crowded around in hopes of sharing our bag of bread.

The bags all emptied out, we're heading around the perimeter of the lake, a path that will take us past a small tunnel made of branches and twigs that they can just barely crawl through, across a bridge (see the keystone?), along the lower level of the tiered paths that wind around the small mountain to a beautify city lookout at the top, past the Japanese pagoda and the waterfall, around the boathouse (which no longer sells ice cream treats), and back to the car.

They run ahead, footsteps kicking up dry dirt and rock as they move along the path, pausing now and again to peer at a treasure on the ground, a shiny rock ("a crystal"), a perfect stick, a dandelion, a squirrel jumping away with a foraged scrap, a Steller's jay that has jumped from the ground to a branch above with a loud squawk.

They run ahead as I take photos from behind, of them, of branches, of light on the water.

Lowering my camera, I focus in on what has now captured one's attention.

"Don't pick that up!"

It's a feather.

He pauses and looks up at me, his fingers inches from the feather.

"Don't pick that up. They can carry disease."

Back in the Day

I remember when feathers could be picked up, when feathers were magical and marvelous, when you could run your finger along the edge of a feather and be amazed by the softness. I remember the impossible discovery of a peacock feather.

Many years have intervened between then and now. Many years, two children, and a host of frightening flus that have lingered in public—and parental—consciousness. The residue of those years and those flus has accumulated into a frothy, sticky, mostly unfounded, squeamish sign of my age, one that comes oozing over the sides of the admonishment: "Don't pick that up. It's dirty!"

Needless to say, while we have small collections of rocks, broken shells, shark's teeth, and other treasure we've accumulated through various walks and expeditions, there are no feather collections in our house. Not even one.

All of that came rushing home when I saw a photo by Robert Clark highlighting a feature essay by Thor Hanson in Audubon Magazine. The photo is an 'almost' grid of forty-seven feathers, brightly colored, samples of bird plumage from species of birds I've no doubt never seen. These are not your ordinary, everyday pigeon feathers, the ones I am most tempted to disallow my kids pick up and handle. These are feathers that remind us of the beauty and wonder of birds, the exotic free-flying nature of birds, and the sheer diversity of birds. But this is a reminder from a new angle. Feathers.

The photo is a stunning visual entrée into an equally captivating essay underscoring the beauty, novelty, and incomparable nature of features. No matter what your relationship with birds, or whether or not you would or would not have picked up (or let your children pick up) a feather on the street yesterday, Hanson's high-flying essay on feathers may sweep you away. Hanson's essay weaves together the scientific and the aesthetic, the personal and the historic, the pragmatic and the mystical, and emerges as a beautiful and inspiring exposé on feathers, a distinguishing feature of birds, one that is unique to birds, one at which you may not have stopped before to marvel or think about too deeply. After reading this essay, I think you will. I think you'll pick up a favorite blanket or winter vest and think differently about the realities of feathers. You might even look up a photo of a golden-crowned kinglet so that you can have an image to pair with Hanson's story of a night spent in sub-zero weather—and the realities of the small golden-crowned kinglet sleeping somewhere in the open air, relying on its feathers alone for warmth.

Making Connections

"On any given day, up to four hundred billion individual birds may be found flying, soaring, swimming, hopping, or otherwise flitting above the earth. That's more than 50 birds for every human being, 800 birds per dog, and at least a half-million birds for every living elephant. It's about four times the number of McDonald's hamburgers that have ever been sold. Like the robin, each of those birds maintains an intricate coat of feathers—roughly one thousand on a ruby-throated hummingbird to more than twenty-five thousand for a tundra swan. Lined up end on end, the feathers of the world would stretch past the moon and past the sun to some more distant celestial body." ~ Thor Hanson

Hanson's essay is thought-provoking and eye-opening, and for students with an interest in birds, or even an interest in paleontology, there is plenty of potential for inspiring and inspired science projects that may find a launching point in an essay on feathers. One path students might follow involves considering the question: where did feathers come from? And why do birds, alone, have them? A project looking at the history of feather formation will take students back to the age of dinosaurs. That's right, scientists now label birds as a living form of dinosaur, a fact students can investigate further in the "BLAST into the Past to Identify T. Rex's Closest Living Relative" genomics Project Idea.

A Shift in Perspective

After reading "The Multiple Miracles of Bird Feathers," I found myself wondering about the weight of "don't touch that" fear I've somehow picked up along the way, part of the baggage of socially-induced paranoia that many parents carry around, especially when and if we are too busy to stop, question, and get the facts. If faced with the kinds of delicate, diverse, exotic, breathtaking, and mesmerizing feathers shown in the Clark's photo, I doubt I could insist we leave the feather where it lay. That's why we carry anti-bacterial hand gel, right? But can I let go of my concern about the ordinary feathers we're more likely to discover in our regular outdoor excursions? After all, while there is a wonderful plethora of natural terrain in and around the Bay Area, we're still in a city. Hawks perch on the streetlights in front of my house and nest in the trees out back, but there are also thousands upon thousands of pigeons and starlings and blackbirds, even in the parking lots of the grocery stores.

Questioning my own concern, I talked with our Lead Staff Scientist, someone who has gotten used to the fact that I approach many of my science stories from a non-scientific starting point. I didn't simply ask are feathers safe. Instead, I asked, how feasible is it for students to do a project in which they investigate either the kinds of bacteria that might linger on bird feathers collected in a local area or what approach one might take to best ensure the safety of bird feathers if one wanted to collect them. (Before I asked, I did a quick search engine search and read just enough to know that, most likely, the parental baggage I was carrying around was unjustified, far-fetched, and should be shelved—in favor of a rekindling of the magic, beauty, and scientifically-amazing properties of feathers.)

Our lead staff scientist confirmed that while it's "possible" to get a disease from bird feathers, the probability is very slim. Still, there is a question that can be asked, and so there are projects that can be designed and procedures that can be put in place to explore how "safe" found feathers might be. Is a parent who says, "Don't touch!" right—or just over-protective?

Putting Feathers to the Test

There are three kinds of health hazards that can be carried on a feather: parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Of the three classes of possible health problems one might trace back to feathers, culturing bacteria from feathers and analyzing the bacteria colonies that grow is the most likely course of investigation for student research. Students interested in developing an experimental procedure that could be used for a microbiology-based study of feathers might find the procedure used in the Germ Invasion Project Idea a helpful starting point. Is exposure to UV light a helpful strategy?

Safety Considerations and Guidelines

Because there are many rules, regulations, and safety guidelines that have to be followed for student science investigations that deal with microorganisms, devising an independent course of study examining microorganisms and feathers requires careful attention to safety guidelines, awareness of any local fair rules, as well as ISEF regulations, and may require the supervision of a teacher or mentor or access to a specific kind of lab. In addition, your project may require pre-approval from fair officials.

For more information about safety considerations when working with bacteria, and about related ISEF rules and regulations, visit the Microorganisms Safety Guide and the Projects Involving Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents resource.

News of a lone wolf roaming through California made SF Gate headlines today. The gray wolf's movements are being monitored, but according to reports, the nearest companion is hundreds of miles away—the other direction. Why is this wolf wandering alone—and away from the nearest known female (and the potential of creating a pack)?

Students interested in patterns of animal movement—or wolf behavior—can learn more by using available radio telemetry wolf movement data to better understand animal movement patterns in the Where, Oh Where, Do the Wild Wolves Wander? zoology Project Idea.

How far will a wolf travel in a single year? Explore historical data to find out!

The 2012 Olympic Games are being held in London, England, this summer. It's an event for which athletes spend years preparing and training. For competitors, the quest to bring home the gold is a driving force, but for environmental scientists and engineers like those who work at Pavegen, the 2012 Summer Olympics are a chance to shine a global light on the power and potential of renewable energy—one footstep at a time. Pavegen has been monitoring test installations of its tiles locally, including at a Kent-based school, but the world will be watching as a small number of tiles capture the kinetic energy of thousands of passing footsteps during the Olympic Games and convert that energy to electricity.

A Bright Idea

For those who walk over a Pavegen tile, there is the potential for an immediate moment of awareness—my step just created a tiny bit of electric energy. That moment is reinforced by the fact that each tile contains a "luminaire," an embedded light which glows when it is walked across, a process that uses a small amount of the energy generated by each step. The walker sees the glow and becomes a conscious part of—and participant in—the process of renewable energy generation. According to Pavegen, the power harnessed by the tiles is suitable for off-grid power applications like street-lighting and signage.

Making a Difference

The success of the tiles, both in capturing, converting, storing, and re-deploying the power created by passersby, and in generating increased public awareness of the process, will play out along with the games. If Olympics visitors and pedestrians are aware of the potential power of their steps, will they take more steps? Will children race back and forth across the tiles to help rack up just a bit more stored power? It remains to be seen, but the concept is undeniably engaging. It's exciting. It's forward-thinking. It's creative. It's a real-world application of "community" applied to a real-world problem. And the idea is cool--both in the abstract and in the physical design. Even in prototype, these tiles have the kind of look-and-feel that may win people over as an appreciation of design aesthetics and environmental consciousness come together.

The idea of these tiles opens up avenue upon avenue of "what if" thinking. If the tiles work—and if they can be produced cost effectively—it would seem there are an infinite number of possible applications. Think how many public spaces receive millions of footfalls each day as people move throughout their days. As Pavegen notes on their website, "up to 52,000 people per hour pass through busy train stations," and "the average person takes around 200 million steps in their lifetime." That's a lot of kinetic energy that currently dissipates into nothing. If Pavegen's tiles pan out, those footsteps could help change the way cities and communities think about powering lower-level applications. Even those not willing to walk a few feet out of their way to make an environmental contribution may end up a part of a larger alternative energy solution—intentionally or not!

Looking Ahead

It's an exciting technology, and one I'll be watching both at the summer games and after. With my increasing awareness that my desk-based work keeps me far more sedentary than even the 10,000 "steps" a day recommended for a healthy lifestyle, the potential of an energy source that both encourages and acknowledges public involvement looks very compelling.

Making Connections

Students can get a head start on the debut of these tiles at this year's Summer Olympics by spending time exploring the properties and principles of kinetic energy. How can it be collected? How can it be transferred or converted? How can the new energy be stored?

The following Science Buddies Project Ideas pave the way for students looking to "step" into this area of science and research:

• Roller Coaster Marbles: Converting Potential Energy to Kinetic
• Rubber Bands for Energy
• Roller Coaster Marbles: How Much Height to Loop the Loop?
• Put Your Water to Work: Using Hydropower to Lift a Load
• The Frightened Grasshopper: Explore Electronics & Solar Energy with a Solar-Powered Robot Bug

Despite the exacting nature of "science" and the scientist's quest for cut and dried, statistically sound results, science is constantly changing. There are always new questions being asked and new answers being found, engineered, or developed. New research, new findings, new accidents, and new discoveries happen every day. This spirit of "what if" and "what next" and "why not" makes science exciting—and continues to push our understanding of the world around us (and the world we can invent, design, or engineer).

Here are a few of the science stories and headlines from 2011 that stood out for Science Buddies staff members—and ways students can explore the science behind the stories that made some of last year's top science headlines.

• "Powerful Quake and Tsunami Devastate Northern Japan": The earthquake and tsunami—and ultimate nuclear plant meltdown—in Japan was one of the year's most devastating disasters. (See National Geographic's pictorial documentary.)

  
  Making connections: Students can explore the powerful ocean sciences phenomenon—and structural engineering considerations related to tsunami planning—in the following Project Ideas:

  • The Science Behind Tsunamis: Study the Effect of Water Depth on Wave Velocity
  • Taming the Tsunami: Investigating Different Structures to Reduce Tsunami Damage*

  
  

• "Foldit Gamers Solve Riddle of HIV Enzyme within 3 Weeks": Video gamers join forces to crack the code in an online 3D protein simulation game.

  Making connections: Students can both learn and use science when playing and designing video games. Our December 2011 newsletter featured Project Ideas for students with an interest in video game design. In addition to creating games that are "fun" to play, students can use gaming and animation as platforms for tackling environmental and social challenges, as demonstrated in these Project Ideas:

  • Go Fish! Creating an Ocean-Friendly Fishing Video Game
  • Save a Life! Teach Hands-Only^TM CPR

  
  

• "Miniature microscopes capture neurons in action": This updated miniature fluorescence microscope technology is tiny and enables researchers to image neurons without impeding the movement of the specimen being observed.

  Making connections: For a better understanding of what this type of technology can help monitor, students can explore the wide-ranging work of neurons in the following Project Ideas:

  • Pinocchio's Arm: A Lie Detector Test
  • Paw Preference in Pets
  • Now You See It, Now You Don't: A Chromatic Adaptation Project

  
  

• "Aircraft Carrier-Sized Asteroid Zips Past Earth": A recent "close call" with a giant asteroid seemed like something from sci-fi movies!

  Making connections: Students can explore the science behind asteroids (smaller ones!), their impact, and ways to study them in these Project Ideas:

  • Catching Stardust
  • Craters and Meteorites

  
  

• "'Peanut butter medicine' giving hope to Haiti's hungry": Therapeutic medicine offers hope for the malnourished children.

  Making connections: Students concerned with global health and access to food can learn more about nutrition and the biology behind the body's use of calories in the following Project Ideas:

  • You Are What You Eat!
  • Burning Calories: How Much Energy is Stored in Different Types of Food?

  
  

• "Breakthrough malaria vaccine tantalizingly close": Scientists are close to a malaria vaccine. If they perfect the vaccine it will save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.

  Making connections: Students who want to know more about how vaccines are made can learn more with this Project Idea:

  • BLASTing Flu Viruses

  
  

• Final NASA Space Shuttle Mission: The launch and landing of Atlantis in July 2011 marked the end of NASA's Space Shuttle program and 30 years of shuttle-based discovery and exploration.

  Making connections: Students can learn more about science and technologies involved in building and launching a shuttle (or other object) and can explore emerging technologies for continuing space exploration in these Project Ideas:

  • Rocketology: Baking Soda + Vinegar = Lift Off!
  • How the Strength of a Magnet Varies with Temperature
  • The James Webb Space Telescope's Amazing Multiple Mirrors and Sunshield

  
  

• "Earth's First Arctic Ozone Hole Recorded": A newly recognized ozone "hole."

  Making connections: Students can explore ozone in the atmosphere in the following Project Ideas.

  • Mapping Troposhperic Ozone Levels Over Time
  • Ozone Depletion*

  
  

• "Artificial Meat 6 Months Away, Hamburger In A Year, Say Scientists": Bioengineered meat alternatives may have 'green' advantages—and a hefty price tag.

  Making connections: Students can boost their understanding of cell culture and biochemistry as it relates to the food industry in the following biotechnology Project Idea:

  • Yogurt Cultures

  
  

• "Habitable Exoplanets Catalogue ranks alien worlds on suitability for life": Astronomers continue the search for exoplanets in 'habitable' zones (zones which would make life on the planet possible). (For more information on the search for exoplanets, see: "NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System.")

  Making connections: Students interested in the kinds of sophisticated equipment being used for space observation can learn more in these Project Ideas:

  • Using the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO) to Measure the Motion of a Coronal Mass Ejection
  • Using the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO) to Determine the Rotation of the Sun

  
  

• "How the Higgs Boson Could Change the Universe": Definitive results are not in, but news in late 2011 from the Large Hadron Collider suggests proof of the Higgs boson may be in the stars for 2012.

  Making connections: Particle collision isn't exactly a backyard science, but with this science Project Idea, students can start to visually explore how subatomic particles, like electrons, can influence a substance's physical properties.

  • Rainbow Fire

We can't wait to see what 2012 brings—and what connections students can make and explore in their in-class, at-home, and science fair projects!

The staff of scientists, editors, and writers at Science Buddies work throughout the year to develop exciting new Project Ideas that encourage and enable hands-on student exploration of inspiring areas of science and cutting-edge topics of research.

We have more than 1000 Project Ideas for K-12 students in our library of free science, technology, engineering, and math Project Ideas. As the year winds down, we asked our staff to pick their favorites from the Project Ideas introduced in 2011 and share why they selected the projects they picked.

• Ken, Founder and President: Build a Gauss Rifle!

  Why? "The Project Idea uses neodymium magnets to visually demonstrate important physical principles about acceleration, mass, velocity, and the conservation of momentum."

• Courtney, Vice President: Do Migratory Birds Like It Hot?

  Why? "Because my dad is a bird scientist and bird migration expert!"

• Marisa, Director of Development: Smart Medicine Cabinet: Build a Sensor That Reminds Patients When to Take Medicine

  Why? "Remembering when and how often to take medications—especially if you are prescribed a number of them—can be challenging!"

• Sandra, Lead Staff Scientist: Water to Fuel to Water: The Fuel Cycle of the Future, Do Your Storm Drains Keep the Ocean Trash Free?, and Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Saving Migratory Animals

  Why? "These Project Ideas are favorites of mine because they highlight real-world environmental problems and then encourage students to experiment and work on real solutions. The fact that we can work on finding solutions makes me hopeful for the future."

• Hugo, Chief Software Architect: Making It Real: Incorporating Physics in Video Games

  Why? "Physics was my favorite subject in high school. Now I develop software. This Project Idea brings both of them together—this field is what makes the current generation of video games so awesome."

• Claire, Product Design Engineer: Creating a Video Game for the Blind
  Why? "I love that this project idea takes something often thought of as purely entertainment—video games—and shows how they can be used to solve common social issues like blindness."

• Debbie, Web Editor: How Far Will It Fly? Build and Test Various Paper Planes

  Why? "Making paper airplanes is a great, creative way to spend free time with my son and a great way to recycle paper around the house—especially holiday wrapping paper. What boy doesn't want to make a flying object to launch at his sisters?"

• Michelle, Staff Scientist: Go Fish! Creating an Ocean-Friendly Fishing Video Game
  Why? "I enjoy projects that have an environmental spin. Writing the introduction was fun, and I learned lots of interesting things like the fact that a rockfish can live for 100 years!"

• Amy, Online Community Manager: Into the Wild Blue Yonder: The Science of Launching an Airplane by Catapult

  Why? "This is a cool hands-on aerodynamics project, perfect for an afternoon at a big open field!"

• Sherry, Grants Manager: Under Pressure: Does a Child's Blood Pressure Depend on His or Her Age?

  Why? "This project challenges kids to learn to take blood pressure readings themselves."

• Teisha, Staff Scientist: Hydroponics: Gardening Without Soil

  Why? "This project focuses on hydroponics, an emerging gardening technique that allows people to grow plants without soil, which creates new opportunities for commercially growing crops. Because having enough food is an issue in developing countries, new technologies for improving crop yields and crop adaptability are really important to explore."

• Kaarin, Project Manager: Customize Your Own Drum Set!

  Why? "This computer science project combines my son's love of creating music with his interest in how video games work. Combining the PicoBoard with Scratch is great!"
  

• Yvette, Email Support: Dirty Snowballs: How a Comet's Size Affects How Fast It Melts

  Why? "Comets have always fascinated me since I was a child, and they come in all different shapes and sizes, so this project allows you to investigate how the physical properties of comets can affect their lifespan!" (Another favorite for Yvette is A Sweet Sequence: The Cacao Genome*: I love chocolate, and this project combines both chocolate and genomics, a rapidly rising field of science, to find new ways of protecting cacao trees and increasing cacao production!)