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.

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!

You've heard of being caught red-handed? The brightly colored abdomens of the bugs in a series of photos taken by Dr. Mohamed Babu (Mysore, India) leave little doubt as to which colors of sugared water the translucent-bellied ants in his garden had been sipping. Reportedly, his wife noticed that the ants turned white when they sucked up some spilled milk, which gave him the idea for this colorful garden science experiment—and photo opportunity.

The images of the 'technicolor' ants are striking, but there's plenty of room here for further student exploration! The photos Dr. Babu took, and his observations as to which colors the ants clearly preferred, leave a colorful trail for student research into color-preference among animals and insects.

Color Sense: Aesthetics or Survival?

In the wild, 'color' provides a lot of information. Some colors are perceived to indicate something safe. Other colors signal danger or poison. Some species, in fact, have certain colorful exteriors that warn others away: don't eat that brightly colored frog, it is poisonous! And when a blue-tongued skink sticks out its tongue, predators perceive "danger" and run away! (Keep in mind that most animals and insects don't see color the same way humans do, but they still process "color" information.)

Making Connections

Students intrigued by the way the ants' bodies visibly soaked up the color in Dr. Babu's photos, might experiment with local ants to see if they have similarly translucent body parts. (Or try a variety of "clear" mite.) Or, as part of a controlled exploration, students might replicate the process Dr. Babu used to see if local ants demonstrate similar color preference. His ants, for example, notably preferred two of the four colors of sugared water he made available.

Other science projects that could be explored for a color-sense science project include:

• Do Milkweed Bugs Show a Color Preference for Egg-Laying Sites?: The brightly colored exterior of a milkweed bug may warn predators that it "tastes" bad because of the toxic sap it slurps from milkweed plants. In this project, students explore whether or not the color of the milkweed plant matters to the bugs when they select a site for egg-laying.
• How Sweet It Is! Explore the Roles of Color and Sugar Content in Hummingbirds' Food Preferences: If you feed hummingbirds, or know someone who does, you probably know that there is a specific color commonly used for kitchen-brewed, sugary hummingbird food. Is the color alone enough to make a hummingbird choose one solution over another? In this project, students ask, "what is more important... the color of the solution or the amount of sugar it contains?"
• Perfect Plating: Which Food Presentation Technique is Best?*: Humans, too, evaluate food based on color. We know, for example, that plates of food that contain green or orange are likely to be more nutrient-packed than plates of food that are all white. But even beyond our knowledge of vitamins, we may "respond" to foods based on color. This cooking and food science project encourages exploration of how "presentation" affects response to food. While this project looks at what might be considered "serious" cooking, if you are around small children, you might ask... does changing the color of the food change the chance that they'll eat it?

A 'Closer' Look
If colored ants don't give you the creepy crawlies, you might enjoy seeing this wonderful series of seriously zoomed-in insect photos by Stephen Gschmeissner!

The "Day Thirteen" update on the Row to the Pole website reads: "The crew fight against turbulence during a 20 hour row..."

When the part-sledge, part-boat vessel pushed off on less than two weeks ago from Resolute Bay in Canada, four hundred and fifty miles of ice-riddled water stood between the six-man crew of the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole expedition and the magnetic North Pole. If successful, the journey, which will take between four and six weeks of rigorous, sometimes almost round-the-clock, rowing, will be the first time the magnetic marker is reached by boat, an eye-opening testament to the melting that has occurred in the ice cap.

The Spirit of Adventure

For Jock Wishart, a seasoned explorer and leader of the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole expedition, the challenge of "getting there by boat" after finishing his second trip to the North Pole was just too tempting—and possible today in a way it would not have been a decade ago.

In 1988, Wishart circumnavigated the globe by boat, traveling seventy four days on the Cable and Wireless Adventurer and breaking the previous world record for circumnavigation in a powered vessel by more than seven days. (Wishart's record has since been beaten.) In 1996, Wishart co-founded of the 1996 'The Ultimate Challenge' and subsequently organized the biennial land-based Polar Race. He's no stranger to arctic terrain, and he embraced the idea of navigating massive ice formations and racing against the coming freeze to reach the magnetic pole by boat. Reveling in the challenge of a new spin on his past arctic expeditions, the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole expedition was born.

According to Wishart, the changes in the ice—and in available water in which to row—is dramatic, which makes the Row to the Pole quest possible. The change in quantity of free and accessible water where once there was solid ice also makes the expedition one with an environmental undertow. According to Wishart, the trip will shine another light on climate change, one from there in the middle of water that was once ice surrounding entry to the North Pole, a location at one time considered ice-locked.

An Extreme Trip

A 'row' of this magnitude and in these conditions is one full of possible pitfalls and unforeseen challenges. During early stages of the journey, the crew is logging fourteen or more hours a day in the boat—and consuming a reported 5,000-7,000 calories a day to keep up with the demands of the trip. While the crew spends most of the day on the boat and on the water, they have pulled ashore to stretch out and make camp, a night's sleep interrupted at least once by polar bears.

The crew recently posted to their blog that they are mid-way through the trip, having logged more than two hundred and thirty miles and reaching Penny Straits, a section of the trip predicted to be particularly tricky in terms of navigating dense ice—and potential bottleneck. The logged entry, however, notes that the passage was less of a challenge than expected, only 30% ice coverage, a density dramatically lower than the ice reports they'd reviewed.

Making Connections

The challenge of the expedition, in and of itself, may fuel the small crew through the weeks of rowing—along with many, many pounds of dehydrated food packs. For the onboard BBS photographer who plans to make a documentary of the expedition, the soul of the journey may lie in recording and capturing the day-to-day moments of row—the challenges, victories, team dynamics, and rigors of the journey.

The six-man crew also includes an oceanographer who is collecting data and samples throughout the journey, information that will be helpful for future studies and research into climate change and may help scientists better understand the shape of the ongoing changes in polar regions. The multi-week journey offers an amazing opportunity to gather firsthand information related to climate change and environmental and geo sciences.

Students interested in following the expedition and cheering from cozy and warmer sidelines can still get hands-on with some of the science surrounding the voyage.

• Polar Puzzle: Will Ice Melting at the North or South Poles Cause Sea Levels to Rise?: The increased free water (versus ice) enabling the Row to the Pole is directly related to the melting of the ice caps. In this ocean sciences project, students can explore the relationship between climate change and sea levels.
• Making It Shipshape: Hull Design and Hydrodynamics: The design of the boat being used in the Row to the Pole expedition is critical to its potential success and involved collaboration between a boat designer and a sledge expert. Students curious about hydrodynamics can explore the relationship between boat design and drag in this project.
• Geomagnetism*: The Row to the Pole is specifically heading to the "magnetic" North Pole. Students curious about the distinction between the magnetic North Pole and the geographic "North Pole" can explore geomagnetism and devise an independent project using the questions in this Abbreviated Project Idea as a starting point. ( For those curious, the pole position, charted in 1966, maps to these coordinates: 78°35.7N 104°11.9W / 78.595°N 104.1983°W.)

Further Research

For additional coverage of the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole expedition, check the following sources and articles:

• Row to the Pole (official expedition website)
• Paddling to the pole: First rowboat heads to Arctic (CNN)
• Explorers begin attempt to row to North Pole (The Telegraph)

Sometimes, becoming more environmentally-friendly is a one-step-forwards, two-steps-backwards process, a reality that can be both frustrating and costly, despite good intentions. In the case of recent widespread reports of dying conifers like Norway Spruces and White Pines, the "cost" of using an approved and environmentally-conscious herbicide may be measured out in tree loss.

Tree problems around the country have been linked to the use of an herbicide called Imprelis. Manufactured by DuPont and sold for commercial use by landscapers, Imprelis was released onto the market last October in the U.S. (excepting New York and California) with a "conditional" seal of approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. The herbicide, which contains a single active ingredient, is marketed by DuPont as an environmentally-friendly approach to treating a common gardener's gremlin—broadleaf weeds like dandelion and clover.

Unfortunately, despite all the testing prior to its release, the effects of Imprelis are not limited to pesky weeds. Approximately six months after landscapers began using the product, some varieties of conifers (plants that produce seed cones, like pine trees), have been turning up in various states of decline, from browning to outright dying. Tree owners and landscapers alike are up in arms over the unforeseen problem, and landscapers have been put in the position of replacing and paying for lost trees.

Up a Tree

According to the New York Times' coverage of the story, "Imprelis went through about 400 trials, including tests on conifers, and performed without problems, according to experts at DuPont and at the EPA." It sounds like a lot of testing, but even so, the article notes that while the EPA approved the product, the 23 months of review they conducted before giving their "conditional" thumbs up wasn't enough to conclusively determine the product safe.

Investigations into the cause of the tree problems is ongoing, and there are suggestions that problems could be related to methods of application, quantity, the preparation of the herbicide for use, or even the effects of the herbicide coming into contact with other products. Getting to the root of the problem could take a long time—and a lot of research.

While DuPont has reportedly suggested that many of these trees may return to health, the sad reality for affected tree-owners right now is what seemed like an environmentally-conscious choice...has turned out to be a bad one.

Making Connections

For students, the fate of conifers and other trees with shallow root systems that have come into contact with Imprelis offers a real-world look at both the importance and the challenge of testing&madash;and the need to test in a variety of conditions. Change one variable, and the entire outcome can change, a reality that can make it difficult to know for sure that a new chemical is safe for a specific use and safe over time and with repeated use.

For gardeners, landscapers, and those interested in plant biology, exploring issues of plant survival and heartiness also involves understanding what "else" is in the area and what impact plants or other agents in the soil have upon one another.

The following two Project Ideas allow students to conduct investigations that can be revealing in terms of plant health. These projects may also offer insight into the kinds of investigatory work that will be involved in trying to determine why Imprelis turned out to be detrimental to conifers—when it had appeared to be safe.

• Toxic Trees: Just How Toxic is That Black Walnut Tree?: In this project, students can explore the effect of the Black Walnut Tree on tomato plants to get a firsthand look at the importance of taking all member of a local ecosystem into consideration when planting.
• Weeds Be Gone! Experiment with Factors that Affect Roundup® Weed Killer: Experiment with the impact of altering two variables related to using an herbicide containing glyphosate—dose and application method, or "how much" and "how."
  

(Note: Imprelis labeling and instructional information contains warnings about proper disposal of clippings from treated areas. Clippings are not safe for compost.)

The U.S. Women's Soccer Team didn't win in the finals of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup on Sunday against Japan, but for women's "football" fans, getting to the finals was an excellent show for the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking leaders. Fans of the team, including those with roommate connections like our own Product Design Engineer, were buoyed last week when then U.S. topped France to earn a coveted spot in the finals for the first time since 1999.

The U.S. team lost the tight match with Japan 3-1 after a penalty-kick shootout. Despite the loss, two of the women's team were singled out for individual contributions. AbbyWambach was named the second-best player in the World Cup and awarded the Silver Ball. She also took home the Bronze Boot, her four goals positioning her as the third leading scorer in the games and setting a U.S. record for career world cup goals. Teammate Hope Solo took home the Golden Glove as top goalkeeper and the Bronze Ball for third-best player.

For fans of the sport, there are plenty of soccer science angles to explore! With a bit of research and planning, you might turn a head-butt into a winning science project. Or, you might just find the science you need to perfect your own kicking angles in one of these sports science projects:

• Geometry of Goal-Scoring*
• Playing the Angles: The Physics of Balls Bouncing Off of Surfaces*

(Soccer not your sport? You can find other exciting sports-related project ideas in the Sports Science area of our Project Ideas directory.)

The choice between standing and sitting might be as important as choosing to eat better or exercise more.

Are you sitting down as you read this?

Maybe you shouldn't be. Maybe you should stand up while you finish reading this post. In fact, I stopped in drafting this piece... to stand up. It's true. It seemed wrong to sit down while writing a piece about the power of standing up! So I stood up. But then I couldn't easily reach my keyboard to type. I'm industrious, however... so I scrounged around my office space and found a box that seemed about the right height and a large plastic lid I could put on top of the box so that I had ample room for my keyboard and mouse. So here I am, standing up... typing. Granted, my monitor is a bit too low in this scenario. I may have to look into elevating it. A stack of already-read or just-in-case reference books might just do the trick.

So why am I standing up?

Because recent reports suggest that all that "sitting" we do in a regular day could be shortening our lives in measurable—and frightening—ways. At the very least, sitting down for six or more hours a day reportedly increases the risk of heart attack by more than 50%.

An infographic that has been making rounds on the Internet recently might have you think twice about how much time you spend sitting at a desk, on the couch, in restaurants, in a car, at a computer, or just hanging out with friends. We all know the phrase couch potato, but when you weigh the statistics in the series of images that make up the "Sitting is Killing You" campaign, you might find the scales tipping in favor of... standing up.

Still sitting?

You're not alone. The stats suggest that on average, we sit more than 9 hours a day.

The Nitty Gritty on Sitting Down

The infographic puts a grim face on the numbers, but if you poke around, you'll turn up other stories of people who now stand up (when they used to sit down). For example, in an article in a popular men's magazine, the staff admitted that they, too, are standing up more because the studies done comparing sitting and standing... are staggering. Here's how one writer summarized the findings: "it doesn't matter how much you exercise or how well you eat. If you sit most of the day, your risk of leaving this world clutching your chest—whether you're a man or women—as much as doubles."

Standing in a Sit-Down World

Converting a sit-down mentality to a stand-up one involves some obvious changes but also might require a bit of creative thinking. For example, many office jobs (including mine) involve sitting most of the workday at a desk. The stand-up alternative takes the shape of "standup desks," apparently already popular in many health-conscious offices. But chucking the office chair and standing up for six or more hours a day? Doesn't it make your feet/legs/back hurt? Doesn't the floor beneath you, the shoes you wear, and even the ergonomics of how your computer monitor and keyboard is positioned relative to your height, all suddenly come into play as variables that before were minimized by sitting down? Doesn't posture become a new and different problem? What happens if you stand with your legs this way or that way?

There are definitely new elements to explore and avenues to research. Still... maybe you should stand up. At least stand up and walk down the hall. Taking more breaks, in fact, and just getting up and moving around before you return to your desk and chair might be a good starting point—even if you aren't ready to chuck the chair.

From the Couch

How much time do you spend sitting in a desk at school? Watching tv? Playing handheld video games? Do you sit down in the coffee shop or bakery? Have you ever thought about standing at the taller "counter" instead of using the chair?
Go on. Add it all up and then factor in the reality that it's summer, and despite the extra opportunity that gives you to be outdoors and exploring favorite pastimes or sports, you might find that you sit down even more with summer's slower-paced, kick-back schedule.

So what can you do?

You might start by figuring out "what" you spend your "sitting" time doing. Can you stand up and do the same thing? Talk on the phone? Check. Play mobile games? Check. Eat lunch? Check. Read your newest manga? Check. You might be surprised to discover that when you really think about it, you can stand up and do many of the things you enjoy. (I'm surprised that I'm still standing here as I type this blog post!)

You might even be able to make a compelling case for playing Wii a bit more than playing your handheld device, particularly if, like most of us, you stand up while you play your Wii games. (Tip: don't sit down when it's not your turn. Just stand to the side.)

Making Connection

When I first saw a write-up about sitting down in Mashable and then studied the infographic series, it seemed to me like there might be room in this issue for interesting and health-conscious student-based inquiry.

After looking over the series of poster-style graphics, our lead staff scientist, Sandra, confirmed that even without dealing with mortality, there are angles that might be explored in student science investigations. For example:

• One of the graphics talks about the "angle" of the body during sitting and how sitting at various angles exerts different levels of force on the spine. A student could explore this by building a biomechanical model for testing, similar to the model of the knee at the heart of the Deep Knee Bends: Measuring Knee Stress with a Mechanical Model project.

• Track individual movements over a period of time by keeping a journal that documents how much time you normally "sit" or "stand" over a 2-week period. Use a stop watch and start timing your sitting intervals each day, giving yourself not only a look at how much time you spend sitting doing certain kinds of on-your-rear activities, but also how much cumulative time you spend letting your butt muscles coast. (Tip: look up gluteal amnesia.) After analyzing your patterns and your own numbers, spend time brainstorming simple (and low-cost or no-cost) changes you can make to increase the amount of time you spend standing. Then put those changes in place over two weeks, again tracking your time spent sitting.

• Conduct a similar tracking experiment with people of varying ages, in varying situations, or among your peers. Could you get a group of teachers to participate tracking time spent sitting and standing? Can you follow up your data tracking by having participants evaluate how they "felt" (both physically and emotionally) during the weeks in which they were making more deliberate "stand up" choices? Are there changes that can be implemented schoolwide, for instance, that could help build better "stand up" behaviors and a more health-conscious approach? (Think about it... everyone wants students off the couch at home but puts them in chairs for much of the day at school.)

• Think about the power of a "visual" approach to presenting materials like this. Is it more effective than presenting data in a written or oral report? Taking this kind of data and turning it into a video or computer application is another approach you might consider. Using a programming environment like Scratch, how might you create an interactive display of materials designed to encourage people to "stand up"? For a similar project that takes heart-health as a premise for developing a Scratch application, see the Save a Life! Teach Hands-Only^TM CPR project.
  

Surprisingly Easy

I'm going to sit down now. Did I feel strange standing up typing this piece? A bit. Was I really aware of how it felt to be "standing"? Yes. Did I wonder about posture, about shifting my weight one way and another, about whether standing with feet apart or even spread might be better or worse? Yes. Was I comfortable standing? It wasn't bad, really. Did my makeshift keyboard platform work? Yes. Could my stand up system use some tweaking? Yes. (The large plastic lid I was using wasn't totally enough space to make my mouse easy to use next to the keyboard). Did the monitor being low cause a problem? It was better once I realized it has a tilt mechanism, so I was able to swivel it "up," which gave me a better angle on the screen. Did I sort of "get used to standing up" during the span of time it took to draft this piece? Absolutely. Total time spent standing that I would otherwise have spent sitting... around an hour. Will I stand up again? You bet!

Will you?