Fun at the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo

On Saturday, October 23, 2010, Princess and I joined the crowd at the first USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo in Washington, DC. Roughly 850 organizations from all walks of science - education, industry, government - presented more than 1,500 interactive exhibits. The range of topics was staggering. But my favorite exhibits weren't just interactive, they were off the wall.

Maggot Monet, presented by Southeastern Louisiana University's College of Science and Technology, allowed visitors to paint with live maggots. Or rather, you dipped the maggots into paint and they did the painting for you by wiggling across the page. You got to take home their maggot masterpiece.

Candy Experiments™ was another hot exhibit. Visit their online experiments page to put your Halloween candy to the test. Did you know that you can create a density rainbow using Skittles? Float the letter "m" off of your M&Ms? Make Life Savers flash in the dark? Their booth was so popular that I couldn't even get the stroller near it.


All in all, the festival was a terrific success. Families crowded around displays of sea ice, robotic arms, nanotechnology, microbiology. The 8-to-12-year-old crowd, in particular, enjoyed the many options for fun: racing model cars, building molecular models, shooting foam rockets, meeting TV stars from CSI Miami.

But the festival didn't exactly cater to the youngest scientists. Access was difficult with a stroller. Princess did get to color a kidney for the American Society of Nephrology. We won a stuffed E. coli. And she had fun playing with ping-pong ball "moons".


I hope it becomes an annual event so that we can take her brothers with us next time. As it was, I lugged home a load of science swag for them. As soon as this picture was taken, they divvied up the goods and scurried off with their newfound treasures. Dad got to keep the science-themed T-shirt. Princess and I have our memories. Well, that and the stuffed E. coli.


Photo credits: Mama Joules

Kids' Science Challenge

Ashwin Vasavada, planetary scientist at JPL, throws a Frisbee in the Mars yard (Photo credit: Kids' Science Challenge)

Would you like to see a scientist work to solve a problem or experiment that you designed? If you live in the U.S. and are in grades 3-6, you've got six days left to enter the three science contests presented by Kids' Science Challenge.

Let's say that you like astronomy. You can enter the Sports of Mars contest. In the future, astronaut explorers might colonize Mars. What kind of games could people play there? How would the Martian climate (dusty, with less atmosphere than Earth) affect the ways sports and games are played?

If Mars isn't your thing, check out the Detective Science Challenge ("Can you think of an everyday mystery that you can solve with the scientific tools of detection?") or the Bio-Inspired Designs Challenge ("Birds inspired airplanes. Seed burrs inspired Velcro. What part of nature will inspire your new invention?")

Visit the media arcade for inspiration. You can enter one idea for each contest! If you have a winning submission, you will get to work with a scientist to put your idea in action. And, your entry could win one of these awesome prizes, including a week at Space Camp, a bionic eye, or night vision goggles.

The entry deadline for all three contests in the Kids' Science Challenge is February 28, 2010. You can enter individually or as a team. You will have to describe your idea and tell how you came up with it; a sketch of your concept is optional. Complete rules are listed here; you'll need to register first. The official entry form (this is a .pdf file) can be mailed, faxed, or submitted online.

Good luck!

By the light of the moon

Photo credit: Andrew McMillan
My niece is working on a science project examining the effects -- real or imagined -- of the full moon on human behavior. I was poking around on the net, looking for some studies that might help her write up her background section, when I came across some interesting data about animals.

While the jury is still out about people -- it seems many think the moon affects human behavior but statistics don't seem to support this (although there have been some studies that do) -- a full moon has been shown to affect animal behavior.

As recently reported in Discovery Channel news, a new study to be published in the journal Animal Behavior has shown that a Full Moon Energizes Birds, at least in the case of the marine streaked shearwater.

A 2005 paper published in Wildlife Biology also documented an increase in noctural activity during the days surrounding the full moon in another bird, the yellow-throated marten.

And a 1974 study, reported in the journal Oikos, showed that the toad, Bufo americanus, was less active during a full moon.

From an ecological perspective, I think it makes sense that the moon would influence animals in predator/prey interactions, simply by increasing the amount of light available for the hunt. If you were a predatory bird, this would work in your favor and you might be more active. If you were a toad worried about being eaten, you'd stay put during a full moon.

Now, I'm less sure about dogs and cats. Like people, they've adapted to our lives full of artificial light, so the influence of light level from the moon seems like it would be less influential. But does the moon still exert an influence?

Maybe, maybe not.

In 2001, SPACE.com reported on two studies published in the British Medical Journal, one from England that showed a correlation between dog bites and the full moon, and one from Australia that did not (although if you look at the data, there appears to be something exerting an effect each month).

In July 2007, LiveScience® reported that "researchers found the risk of emergency room visits to be 23 percent higher for cats and 28 percent higher for dogs on days surrounding full moons."

Whether the "full moon effect" is real or imagined, the idea of the moon having an influence over animals and people has persisted for ages. Some scientists are sick of the controversy and have even taken a stand on the subject. David E. Campbell of Humboldt State University wrote in 1982, "Research on the relationship between phase of the moon and human behavior indicative of 'lunacy' should not be encouraged," in a short abstract with the subtitle "When enough is enough".

Despite Dr. Campbell's plea, with data this interesting, study results so varied, and fascinating personal stories, I doubt the question will be put to rest any time soon.

So what do you think? Are you wilder during a full moon? Does your dog seem to bark more? Can you think of a way to test your theory?

Website of the Week: Science News for Kids

Do you want to keep up with the latest science news but you aren't sure where to start? Try Science News for Kids, a website dedicated to providing science news for children and teens ages 9-14. You can search the article archive by topics such as animals (learn about a newly discovered blind ant), chemistry and materials (discover how bacteria can "eat" plastic) or technology and engineering (read Hubble trouble doubled to find out what's been plaguing the Hubble telescope lately). You have the option of rating the articles and you can also search to find those articles that are most popular.

Science News for Kids is also broken into zones of interest, including a Puzzle Zone with a weekly brainteaser, a SciFi Zone for you science fiction writers, and a SciFair Zone for anyone needing tips or ideas for science fair projects (FYI: This section links up with Science Buddies, another great site if you need help with your science fair project). Teaching materials, like question sheets to accompany the articles, can be found in the Teacher Zone.

P.S. Happy Halloween, everyone! :D

Keep a science journal

Last night, my 7-year-old son came to me and began to describe his idea for a new robot.

"It would pick up toys and put them away," he told me, and he proceeded to describe the mechanics of robot in great detail. (Let me tell you, I *want* one of these robots!)

I suggested that we buy a journal. "Let's get one with WALL-E on the cover," I said. "And then you can write down all of your ideas for new robots. Later on, when you're older and enter a science fair, you can read about your plans and pick one to work on."

A science journal doesn't have to be about robots, though. Pick any topic that you like. Give yourself the freedom to explore your interests.

Do you watch clouds? Write down the shapes that you see, draw them in your journal, and look them up in a cloud identification book later. Would you rather study bugs? Draw the insects in your journal and describe their behavior. Have a great idea for an experiment? Plan it out on paper before you put it into practice.

Remember, this is your journal. You can be as detailed or as simple as you want. Similar to a diary, you don't have to share your ideas about science with everyone. Let yourself dream ... and don't forget to give yourself the permission to dream big.

Website of the Week: Science Buddies

It's that time of the year again ... time to knuckle down and select a topic for your science fair project. Or maybe you already have an idea but you just need some help to put it into practice. Whatever your status, Science Buddies is for you. With over 700 science fair project ideas -- broken down into categories like Chemistry, Microbiology, and Sociology -- you're sure to find a topic to interest you. Following the advice of the Science Fair Project Guide will keep your experiment on track. The Ask An Expert "online bulletin board [is] staffed by volunteer scientists and top high school students" who are ready and willing to help you should you get stuck. And before you cart your project off to the competition, be sure to read Amber Hess' Science Fair Tips for Success on the Science Competitions page.

Good luck, everyone! :)

Life in a pine cone

The next time you go for a walk, see if you can find a pine cone. When you pick it up, marvel at this: you may be looking at someone’s home. Some animal species – like spiders, mites, and ants – can live, eat and sleep in this microhabitat. I learned this the hard way a year ago. I was working on a craft project involving pine cones and decided to saw one in half. Soon after I began cutting, small insects started fleeing the pine cone in earnest. A good rule of thumb for crafters is to bake a pine cone in a 200 degree F oven for about 20 minutes before using it for crafts. From an ecologist’s perspective, however, I must remind you that in doing so, you might be destroying someone’s home. You may wish to study the microfauna (little bitty animals) in your pine cone instead. Check out Life in a Pine Cone if you want to examine a pine cone like a scientist. I think this would make an interesting topic for a science fair project. What do you think?