The Intrepid White-Footed Mouse

Coming this Saturday, October 15!

The Intrepid White-footed Mouse

How Toxic Waste Affects Animal Populations and Diversity

Dr. Karen McBee, Curator of Vertebrates with the Department of Zoology at Oklahoma State University, will speak about her research into what makes some animal species more resilient than others at the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

Here's a view of Picher, OK from the air - all those white blotches are mounds of chat left over from 100 years of lead and zinc mining! During our program you'll get to think like a scientist and help design a study to try and understand how area wildlife is affected by this.

See you Saturday!

Dr. Karen McBee

The White-Footed Mouse

These voucher specimens are a research tool that allows biologists to compare populations in the wild with animals from different times and places.

The mammal collection is getting a new home! The mice were still packed away when I visited, but Dr. McBee will bring some samples for us to look at on Saturday.

This was one huge armadillo - see the pen by its tail? That gives you an idea of its size!

Vaccination Innovation

This Saturday was our first Born to Do Science program of the season! We had a good turnout with 28 people to see Abbie Smith, a graduate student (of ERV blog fame) at the OU Health Services Center speak about viruses, vaccines, why there is no HIV vaccine, and how we might be able to make one.

Basically vaccines work because they mimic actual pathogens (viruses, bacteria, etc - anything that makes us sick). These fake pathogens fool our immune systems into making antibodies, which we can use to fight off the real germs if they ever show up.

Normally when we get sick it takes about two weeks of trial and error for our systems to evolve effective antibodies against the disease. But if we've been immunized so that we've already made those antibodies once, or immune systems remember how to make them again, and we can fight off the disease right away.

All of this works because our bodies can recognize a particular virus and call up the proper antibody to fight it off.

The problem with a virus like HIV is that it keeps changing. If you have HIV virus in your body, and it takes two weeks to come up with an antibody, by the end of that time you'll have hundreds of new HIV variations and the new antibody will not be able to fight them off. Basically your immune system can never catch up with all that rapid change!

Abbie's idea for getting around this seems pretty simple on the surface. Just put lots of variations of fake HIV into a vaccine, so that our systems will learn how to make lots of different HIV antibodies!

But here's the rub: in order to cover all the possible HIV variations in one vaccine, you would need to put in a mind-boggling number of different fake viruses. That number is something like a one with 61 zeros after it! (And that's only one way of counting them - other types of variation are possible too!)

If you were to get a vaccine shot containing just one of each possible variation of fake HIV in it, you would need to use a gallon-sized syringe!

Luckily if you can make an antibody for one type of HIV, your system can quickly come up with antibodies for similar types. That means we don't need ALL the possibilities to go into one vaccine, just a relatively small portion of them.

Abbie is working on how to create a mixture of fake HIV types that might work as a vaccine. She has been testing her methods to make sure that all the different variations she put in actually work to produce different antibodies. She is just about ready to start testing the vaccine on mice to find out if it really provides protection against HIV.

Maybe we'll be able to get her to visit again one day and let us know how that turned out!

Since Abbie's work involves a lot of time spent manipulating DNA (to create and test all those different fake HIVs!), we ended the program with a hands-on activity that lets you actually see your own DNA in a test tube!!

You can do this yourself at home - it's really easy. Here are instructions (thanks to the Science Museum of Minnesota).

And here are photos from our program. We hope to see YOU at the next one!

Abbie Smith explains how viruses work. 

Me swishing water vigorously to dislodge cheek cells. This is the first step in our activity, which allowed each participant to extract and view their own DNA!

Second step - add soap and mix gently. This bursts open the cells and sets the DNA free.

The third step is to add some chilled alcohol. This forces the DNA out of solution.

See that cloudy bit dangling beneath the cap? That's a glob of my very own DNA!

Show us your DNA! Cheers!

Abbie is extracting the DNA from the top of the test tube to put it in a small capsule for safekeeping. It lasts longer if you freeze it.

Our next program:

October 15

The Intrepid White-footed Mouse

How Toxic Waste Affects Animal Populations and Diversity

Dr. Karen McBee, Curator of Vertebrates with the Department of Zoology at Oklahoma State University, will speak about her research into what makes some animal species more resilient than others at the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

See you then!

Vaccination Innovation - This Saturday!

I'm getting excited and I hope you are too - our first program for the new school year is coming up this Saturday, 9/12/11, at the Stillwater Public Library at 10:00 AM! 

Our guest scientist is Abbie Smith, a brilliant young virologist. I've seen her speak, and she's a lot of fun. She'll be talking about a new approach to vaccines that may lead to protection against viruses that evolve rapidly, such as HIV (parents, don't worry - we won't really talk about the disease, just the virus itself) and the flu virus. (Imagine only having to get the flu shot once and you're good for life!) 

I'm working on a new song, so hopefully we'll get to kick things off with that. Then after a bit of background information we'll give the kids a chance to think like scientists and share their ideas. All the programs are very interactive, so you get some real face-time with a real scientist!

The library has provided me with an awesome flyer to help with promotion. If you are planning to participate, please print a flyer and stick it on the fridge to help you remember. (Plus maybe your friends and neighbors will see it too!) Feel free to print extra copies and post them anywhere people might see them. Thanks!! Here it is:

Announcing the 2011/2012 Season of Born to Do Science!

Born to Do Science brings kids face to face with scientists to learn about their research. Programs begin at 10:00 AM usually on the third Saturday of each month, and run about one hour. They are located at the Stillwater Public Library. Attendance is free and open to kids in 3rd-7th grade and their parents. Participants should register ahead of time with the library when possible.

The program is hosted by children's songwriter Monty Harper, who introduces each topic with a brand-new song. Guest scientists include zoologists, physicists, psychologists, and biologists from OSU and OU. The line-up for 2011/2012 includes nine programs with topics ranging from teenage behavior to the nature of the universe.

Born to Do Science 2011/2012 Schedule

September 17
Vaccination Innovation
Helping Our Bodies Combat Quickly Changing Viruses
Abbie Smith, doctoral student in immunology at the University of Oklahoma, will speak about her work on a new approach to vaccination that may provide protection against unpredictable viruses such as seasonal flu and HIV.

October 15
The Intrepid White-footed Mouse
How Toxic Waste Affects Animal Populations and Diversity
Dr. Karen McBee, Curator of Vertebrates with the Department of Zoology at Oklahoma State University, will speak about her research into what makes some animal species more resilient than others at the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

November 19
Pieces of Protons
Ramping Up the World's Greatest Physics Experiment
Dr. Flera Rizatdinova from the Oklahoma State University Department of Physics speaks about her work testing the ATLAS detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The ATLAS is a marvel of technology built to explore dark matter, gravity, the standard model, and other deep mysteries of the universe!

December 17
Popular Teens - Friendly or Mean?
The Role of Aggression in Teen Popularity
Developmental psychologist Lara Mayeux PhD from the Department of Psychology at the University of Oklahoma will speak about her research into the underpinnings of social status among teenagers.

January 21
This Is Your Brain On Words!
How We Pull Meaning Out of Written Language
Do you understand this sentence? How? Shelia Kennison, PhD, from the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University will speak about her research into how our left and right brain hemispheres work together to create meaning while we're reading.

February 18
Digesting Sunshine
How Mother Nature Converts Light Into Chemical Energy
Dr. Robert L. Burnap from the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University will speak about his study of the enzyme plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and how a better understanding of photosynthesis may lead to more efficient production of biofuels.

March 10
My One and Only Vole
Pair Bonding in Monogamous Prairie Voles
Tomica Blocker, master's student in Zoology at Oklahoma State University and recent recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship grant, will speak about her investigations into the mating habits of these amorous rodents and how they may be affected by human industrial activity.

April 21
Predators, Prey, and the Games They Play!
Computer Models Reflect Real-World Animal Behavior
Dr. Barney Luttbeg from the Oklahoma State University Department of Zoology will speak about his research using tadpoles, dragonfly larvae, and computer simulations to understand the complex interactions between predators and their prey.

May 19
The Fungus Among Us!
When Fungi Attack, Science Fights Back
Stephen M. Marek PhD from the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Oklahoma State University will speak about his use of molecular tools to investigate "who done it" and how to stop it when important crops suffer damage from pathogenic fungi.

Calling all scientists! Please help connect kids with science!

Are you a scientist in or near Stillwater, Oklahoma? 

Would you like to share your research with a curious and appreciative audience?

Would you like your work to inspire a new generation of scientists and science supporters?

Would you like your work to inspire a brand new song?

If so, please participate in "Born to Do Science!"

*** Our 2011/2012 season is scheduled!! But you can still respond to this post to participate in the 2012/2013 season. Thanks! ***

This is a program for kids (3rd-6th grade) and families which I present at the Stillwater Public Library. Each month I bring in a volunteer guest scientist to share their research with the kids. I think it's important for kids to meet scientists face to face, find out what they do, and learn something about the process of scientific investigation! 

If you haven't presented your work to kids before, don't worry. It's my job as host to learn about your research and figure out how to present it to our audience. I have a Master's degree in mathematics, a deep interest in science, and more than 20 years experience communicating to kids as a children's musician. My past guests and I have successfully presented some very sophisticated topics, including bacterial biofilms, wheat genomics, x-ray crystallography, luminescence dating, stress hormones, phototaxic bacteria - you get the idea!

You can see photos and descriptions of past programs on the website: http://www.borntodoscience.com/

I will also write and perform a brand new song inspired by your research to help introduce the topic. You can check out some past songs here: http://montyharper.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-science-frontier

If you aren't sure that your research topic will work for kids, please don't rule yourself out. Talk to me first, and maybe we can find a way to present it.

Your time commitment would include the following:

1. A 30-45 minute phone conversation with me sometime soon to help decide the focus of our program, title, and description, for publicity purposes.

2. A one to two hour interview with me about your research, one month before the program date. This is to get me started on a song and a plan for the program.

3. As much time as you choose to spend preparing hands-on materials and/or visuals and answering follow-up questions between the interview and the program.

4. About 90 minutes for the program itself.

Below is the schedule for our fourth season. Please contact me if you'd like to participate in season five!

Programs will be held the following Saturdays at 10:00 AM at the Stillwater Public Library. 

(tentative titles)

September 17 - Vaccination Innovation

October 15  - The Intrepid White-Footed Mouse

November 19 - Secrets of the Universe

December 17 - Popular Teens - Friendly or Mean?

January 21 - This is Your Brain on Words

February 18 - Digesting Sunshine

March 10 - My One and Only Vole

April 21 - Predators, Prey, and the Games They Play!

May 19 - The Fungus Among Us!

If you are interested, please contact me! I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have, hear about your research and help you decide if it would make a good "Born to Do Science" program.

Thank you!!

Contact:

Monty Harper

(405) 624-3805

monty@montyharper.com

Citizen Science and "Bee Buffet"

Our last program of the Spring 2011 season, May 21, was "Bee Buffet," with Dr. Janette Steets from the OSU Botany Department. She spoke about her research on pollinators in vegetable gardens.

Dr. Steets is interested in finding out how gardens are effected when food plants (like tomatoes and okra) are intermixed with ornamentals (flowers). The hypothesis is that ornamental plants will attract a greater variety of insects, including pollinator and predator species, and that this will result in more healthy food plants with higher yields, and will reduce the need for pesticides.

Dr. Steets has run a couple of preliminary studies that showed promising results. We talked about how one would go about designing a larger study that might help verify the higher yields she saw in her mixed gardens. Dr. Steets is preparing a study now that will incorporate help collecting data from "citizen scientist" volunteers.

I debuted a new song, "Citizen Scientist" - see below for lyrics.

Studying bees and flowers close up, to see how pollen gets moved around when plants are pollenated. 

Dr. Steets brought seeds and planters so we could plant our own samples to grow at home.

Planting seeds.

Me, Dr. Steets, and Brook Bonner. Brook is a PHD student who works with Dr. Steets. She came along to help with the presentation.

The "citizen scientist" aspect of Dr. Steets work is part of what makes her excited to be doing what she's doing. She loves the idea of involving regular folks like you and me in the scientific process. So do I! There are lots of citizen scientist projects out there that you can take part in! That's why I chose "Citizen Scientist" as the title and focus for my song this time around.

Citizen Scientist

My garden this year is a jumbled-up kind

My cow peas and daisies are all inter-twined

My botanist friend had me plant 'em just so 

She's collecting the data that may help her show

How a good mix of plants brings more insects afield

And maybe more bugs means a healthier yield

And I jumped at the chance to take part in her plan

Cause I'm happy to help when I can

I'm a citizen scientist

Citizen scientist

Joining the planet-wide dance

That helps human knowledge advance

I've weighed my tomatoes and measured the plants

I've counted the cutworms and spiders and ants

My botanist friend takes the data all down

She'll compare it with gardens from all over town

And maybe the numbers will show us the way

Toward gardening well without pesticide spray

But whether or not her study bares any fruit

It has still been a worthwhile pursuit

repeat chorus

And when the garden has been tilled, 

What new project will I do?

I can help explore the cosmos 

For the Galaxy Zoo

I can sift through tiny fossils from mastodon times

I can try to fold some proteins with Fold.it online

In the Great Backyard Bird Count I can help keep track of birds

I’ll download SETI@home and search for alien words

And for more exotic projects I don't know about yet

I'll visit science for citizens dot net

I'll visit science for citizens dot net

repeat chorus

Here are links to the projects I mention in the song:

Galaxy Zoo
Mastodon Matrix Project
Fold.It
The Great Backyard Bird Count
SETI@home
Science For Citizens

Psychology

Dr. Lack took this video at his January 15, 2011 Born to Do Science program, "Tangling With Twisters," and I thought I'd share it here.

Psychology

song lyrics by Monty Harper

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

I see eyes looking at me and I get distressed
I feel uptight and anxious, mad and depressed
I hear voices behind me that whisper and mock
No one smiles when I smile; no one listens when I talk
I don’t sleep well at all cause I think of my job
And I dream I’m attacked by an unruly mob
Is there some kind of name for the trouble I’ve got?
Can science explain? Am I crazy or what?

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?
Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

I’ve been looking in books for some self-diagnosis
I’ve read about phobias, fears, and neurosis
Obsession, repression, fixation, and trauma
Was it nature or nurture that caused all this drama?
I set out to measure the person I am
And I filled out a long psychometric exam
I wanna understand but I’m losing my nerve
I’m afraid I won’t land on the bell of the curve

Oh, yes the human mind is acutely arcane
Couched in the convoluted human brain
It comes without a manual or a guarantee
So we study that puzzle with Psychology

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?
Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

Gotta go now - my day is about to begin
My seventh grade students are jostling in
I see eyes looking at me and I get distressed
I feel uptight and anxious, mad and depressed
I hear voices behind me that whisper and mock
No one smiles when I smile; no one listens when I talk
I’ll be teaching all day with this chalk in my hand
And tonight two more lessons will need to be planned
But with every spare moment I happen to find
I will ponder the question that’s still on my mind

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

Head Boppin Lizard Talkin

Continuing my retroactive posting on past programs...

On March 19 we had what may have been our most popular program to date. Dr. Matt Lovern from the OSU Zoology Department spoke about his research on green anoles in "Head Boppin Lizard Talkin!"

The anoles communicate to one another by nodding their heads in particular patterns. Dr. Lovern has identified three distinct head bobs, which he calls A B and C. One might think this would give the lizards a three-word vocabulary. But careful observation shows that the lizards' use of the patterns is more subtle than that. Males and females use the same pattern to mean different things in different contexts. And, when it comes right down to it there are only two things the lizards need to say to one another; "This is my territory. Go away," or "Hey, baby! Come over here!"

So why has nature preserved three different signals when it seems like only one or two would do? Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye! Dr. Lovern will likely continue watching lizards bob their heads for as long as it takes to decode the true motivation behind this unique animal behavior.

Dr. Lovern and one of his anoles (I'm not saying which is which) in front of a bank of lizard tanks in the biology building. I took this photo after our interview, preparing for the program.

We started the program by watching films of lizards to see what we could observe.

After the program kids gathered around Dr. Lovern for an up-close and personal lizard encounter. 

Since the anoles use head-bopping to indicate interest in - shall we say "hooking up," I decided to look to the early Beatles love songs for inspiration. The result was a super-fun song, which my wife, Lisa, and daughter, Evalyn, helped perform with backing vocals, egg shakers, hand claps - the works!

Anole in Love

When I put my dewlap out

I’m hoping you will see

How my head bobs up and down

To make you think of me

I’m an anole in love with you

Why don’t you show you love me too?

My head nods so fervently

When I see you there

Won’t you nod yours back to me

Show me that you care

I’m an anole in love with you

Why don’t you show you love me too? 

I’m a green anole

You’re a green anole

We both know the language of love

Little things you said

With your bobbing head

Let me know that I’m the green anole you’re dreaming of

So I will approach you now

My dewlap is on fire

We will be together now

As long as I desire

doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doot

doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doot

doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doot

Repeat bridge

Well I’ve got to go for now

Lovely as it’s been

In about a week or so

Why don’t you come around again

I’m an anole in love with you

Mysterious Algae of the Great Salt Plains

Well, here we are in the middle of summer, and I'm just now getting around to posting about February's program! Better late than never, right? I've got to bring this blog up to speed because I'm planning an exciting new season starting in September... more on that soon.

February 26, 2011 we had Dr. Bill Henley from the OSU Botany Department talking about the "Mysterious Algae of the Great Salt Plains." This algae is able to grow where nothing else would want to; out on the salt plains near Jet, Oklahoma. The water there gets as salty as it is possible to be, and the summer sun heats the ground like an oven. Yet these algae are able to survive and thrive!

Dr. Henley hopes the unique abilities of these algae will eventually prove useful in the manufacture of biofuels. But first he needs to understand how they work. He is trying to find out what elements are essential to this algae's survival. Do they need the heat to survive the salt? Do they need the salt to survive the heat? He hasn't yet worked out the right combination to allow them to thrive in the lab under similar conditions to those found on the salt plains. That's how science goes sometimes - you just have to keep trying different strategies until you hit on the right one.

As usual, I started things off with a song. See below for lyrics...

Dr. Henley shows us that algae are a wildly diverse group of organisms.  

Each kid got to take home a vial with algae in it to see if it would grow. Anybody have results to report?

My new song for this program was inspired by Dr. Henley's story about the day he discovered there were algae growing on the salt plains. His footsteps were breaking through the surface crust of salt, and he turned around to see green stuff in the water seeping in to fill the prints. This unexpected discovery lead to years of study and research!

Mysterious Algae of the Great Salt Plane (Green Footprint)

Leaning into the wind in the Oklahoma heat

Salt crust crunching beneath his feet

The biologist walked the flat white land

Shading his eyes from the sun with his hand

No grass no brush no bramble no tree

Sparkling salt was all the life he could see

Little did he know that something lay concealed

Until he took a look back at what his boot had revealed!

He’d left a green footprint

Where the surface of salt gave way

He’d left a green footprint

And out of the blue dawned a red letter day

For he could hardly contain the buzz in his brain

Having found a living algae on lifeless terrain!

He’d left a green footprint

In the middle of the Great Salt Plain!

He peered through his lens at a microscope slide

The algae he was growing in salt had died

So how could it live in its natural brine?

Perhaps it needed salt and searing sun combined?

First heat then salt. First salt then heat.

He tested every stressor the algae might meet

To discover how it weathered salty water intact

He knew the answer would come thanks to one funny fact

Repeat Chorus

And there are many people studying algae

Working on a way to make bio-fuel

So now he’s hoping to find that his salt resistant kind

Will do its part to help the planet cool

He'll leave a green footprint

On his journey of a thousand trials

He'll leave a green footprint

Using algae energy for low-carbon miles

Yeah, if the oil he can drain from that salt-loving strain

Can become a cheaper cleaner kind of high-octane

He'll leave a green footprint

Using algae from the great salt plain

Nano Day

The April Born to Do Science was canceled due to scheduling problems, however...

I'll be performing this Saturday (April 9) for Nano Day. Come learn all about nano-technology at this event put on by the Wondertorium and the Library! It's in the same room as BTDS, 1:00 - 4:00. I'll be there to sing a few songs at 1:15.

Find out more.

I'll catch up on posting photos from recent events soon!