What Is the Shape of the Molecule?

Last night we had another great "Born to Do Science" at the library! Dr. Christina Bourne was our guest scientist from the OSU Vet Med department.

Unfortunately, the batteries in our camera died not far into the program, so I only have two photos to share, and neither of them is of our scientist!

Here I am sharing the brand new song, "What Is the Shape of the Molecule?"

Here we are demonstrating some background information about how proteins and inhibitors work. The kid volunteer is our "protein." She is a large molecule that has a job to do inside a bacteria. This protein's job is to combine the blue and green molecules together to make a new substance. The new substance is something the bacteria needs to survive. But we don't want the bacteria to survive! So we try to stop it doing its job with an "inhibitor" molecule. That's something that sticks to the protein and gets in the way. Those big gloves are a trial inhibitor. They stuck to the protein but didn't stop it from doing its job, as you can see. So then we tried oven mitts. The oven mitt inhibitors worked, but not perfectly well. They slowed the protein down quite a bit, but she was still able to catalyze her chemical reaction (I mean, put the green and blue blocks together).

Dr. Bourne's work is a lot like this demonstration. She searches through thousands of possible inhibitors to find ones that will stop a particular protein from doing its job. The protein she's working with comes from an anthrax bacterium. That's right - some day her work may lead to a new medicine that can cure anthrax!

Dr. Bourne uses x-ray crystallography to find out what her protein looks like. This helps her shape the inhibitor molecule just right so it'll stick to the protein and keep it from working. Here is a representation of her protein, in blue. The yellow bit in the middle is the inhibitor molecule, which Dr. Bourne has tweaked so that it fits just right and keeps that protein from functioning.

Our next program:

May 20, 2010

The Older the Rock, the Brighter It Glows

Using Luminescence Dating to Determine the Ages of Rocks

Dr. Regina DeWitt from the OSU Physics Department will speak about a dating technique she has developed based on the natural ability rocks accumulate over time to luminesce. Dr. Dewitt's work is funded by NASA and her luminescence dating instrument may be selected for inclusion on a future Mars rover!

See you there!

New Flyer

We have a new flyer to help promote the last two BTDS events of the Spring season. Please print a few and post them where interested families might see them! Thanks!!

Here's the link:

BTDS Flyer

Let's Get Small!

I just wanted to post a reminder about the Born to Do Science schedule, plus a bit of news.

There is no program this month due to Spring Break.

Our next program is "What Is the Shape of the Molecule?" on April 15, with Dr. Christina Bourne. We'll be talking about x-ray crystallography. If you are one of the people who wrote "Chemistry" on your feedback form, make extra sure to be there. This topic involves proteins and lots of organic chemistry.

Here's the bit of news -

The library is presenting an extra science program in conjunction with the Oklahoma Wondertorium between now and then.

A display on nanotechnology will go up in the North Lobby case the first couple of days in April and will remain through the end of the month. There will be a program for hands-on experiences on Saturday April 10th, with several stations for demonstrations. This will be a come and go thing for about three hours.

Mark your calendar now, and be sure to catch the nanotechnology display and/or program, not only because it's really cool, but also because on the 15th, we'll be talking about things that happen in the natural world on the nano scale. This will help you start to think small!

See you soon! Enjoy!

Everybody Blown Away by Latest BTDS Event

Last night our guest scientist was Dr. Steve Stadler. He's our Oklahoma state geographer, and through the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative he's been instrumental in creating tools that help bring more wind energy to our state.

We started the program with "The Wind Energy Song." Here I am turning our group into a human wind farm:

We started the program a bit differently, and had everybody brainstorm about what factors might be important in determining where to locate a wind farm. Then we asked Dr. Stadler to comment on each one. We discussed the ways trees, buildings, water, and elevation might effect wind turbines. As it turns out, wind speed is the important factor in all cases.

We used the yellow windsock pictured below, in front of a fan, to demonstrate that the higher the wind speed, the more work the wind can do. In this case, a lower wind speed didn't carry enough energy to lift the windsock. But a higher speed did. In fact, the "wind power density" is related to velocity cubed - meaning that even a little increase in wind speed provides a big increase in the energy it carries.

Below is Dana, our Support Group Coordinator, helping the kids put together their own anemometers, a word I had plenty of trouble with last night. These little gizmos measure wind speed. We learned that there are 120 Mesonet stations scattered throughout Oklahoma. Each weather station has an anemometer and other instruments to collect weather data. These data points, combined with a mathematical model, allow Dr. Stadler to accurately predict average wind speed at any location in the state, at any time of year. That's good information for someone who wants to put up a wind farm!

Thanks, Dana, for supplying the anemometers!!

Wind Energy!

Howdy, BTDS fans!

Our next program is coming up February 18, 6:00 PM at the Stillwater Public Library. Dr. Steve Stadler from the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative will be our speaker. Among other things, he was instrumental in setting up Oklahoma's famous Mesonet system, and he uses mathematical models to determine where the best spots are for commercial wind farms.

If you'd like to explore this topic ahead of time, here are some cool websites to check out. Many thanks to Dana for helping collect these links!

Oklahoma Mesonet - This is the official Mesonet website. Spend some time poking around. You can see all kinds of data about current air and soil conditions in Oklahoma! Click "overview" to get some background information.

Power of the Wind - This article on Science News for Kids covers all the basics of wind energy.

KidWind - Lots of information for teachers and students, including directions for building your own wind turbine.

Alliant Energy Kids - This site includes information on many renewable energy sources, and has a great drawing showing the inner workings of a wind turbine. And you can test your knowledge with this Energy in Motion game.

Saul Griffith on Kites as the Future of Renewable Energy - This YouTube video shows a short talk on an interesting alternative way of harvesting the wind.

Here's Dr. Stadler speaking about Oklahoma wind power on OklahomaHorizonTV:

Here's me, singing my Wind Energy song for Evalyn's first grade class (two years ago):

Upcoming Programs

Please mark your calendar for our next three programs!

Feb 18, 2010, 6:00 PM, Stillwater, Oklahoma Public Library

Where Should I Put My Wind Farm?

Modeling and Mapping the Oklahoma Windscape

Dr. Steve Stadler from the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative will speak about his research modeling Oklahoma wind, which is key to developing the state's wind energy resource.

Apr 15, 2010, 6:00 PM, Stillwater, Oklahoma Public Library

What is the Shape of the Molecule?

Using X-ray Crystallography to Deduce Protein Structure

Dr. Christina Bourne from the OSU Department of Veterinary Pathobiology will speak about how potential disease-fighting drugs can be developed through understanding the shapes and functions of key protein molecules.

May 20, 2010, 6:00 PM, Stillwater, Oklahoma Public Library

The Older the Rock, the Brighter It Glows

Using Luminescence Dating to Determine the Ages of Rocks

Dr. Regina DeWitt from the OSU Physics Department will speak about a dating technique she has developed based on the natural ability rocks accumulate over time to luminesce. Dr. Dewitt's work is funded by NASA and her luminescence dating instrument may be selected for inclusion on a future Mars rover!

Building the Bat Family Tree

Last night we had another great Born to Do Science event here at the Stillwater Public Library.

I kicked things off with a new song called "Bat Man." (I'll get these songs posted one day, really, honest!)

Dr. Ron Van Den Bussche then guided us on how to study the tree of life. We learned that species that look alike may not actually be closely related. And visa versa: species that look very different can be closely related.

How do we know? By studying genes. The more closely related two species are, the more genes they have in common.

The physical characteristics of species (morphology) can be misleading. Studying genes can lead us to new conclusions about who's closely related to who. Then we can go back and look at morphology more closely to verify the new information.

That gives us multiple lines of evidence, or two different ways of knowing. When they agree with one another, we can feel more confident we've got it right. When they disagree, we need to do more research.

We also learned many cool things about bats. There are 1200 different kinds; the smallest is the size of a thumb; the largest has a wingspan as wide as a basketball player is tall.

At the end of the presentation, we looked at bat specimens. All the small brown bats in the photos below are members of the bat family that Dr. Van Den Bussche is trying to sort out. Each sample represents a different species.

Notice that there isn't much to go on as far as morphology is concerned! That's one reason this family of bats is the last to be organized. Dr. Van Den Bussche is the only one working on them. He's using DNA to sort them all out.

Next month, February 18 - wind energy! See you then!

Building the Bat Family Tree

Coming Thursday January 21, 2010, 6:00PM at the Stillwater Public Library...

Molecular Evidence Reveals Bat History

"Bat Man" Dr. Ron Van Den Bussche from the OSU zoology department will speak about his research into the evolution of a family of bats that makes up eight percent of all mammal species!

If you'd like to prepare for this presentation (or learn more afterwards) here are some resources to check out!

Other researchers doing similar work:

Scientists Fill Blanks on Bat Family Tree (article)

Bats and Their Evolution (video)

General Background:

Vespertilionidae - the family of bats we'll be looking at

The Tree of Life Web Project

Speciation (video)

The Tree of Life (video):

Breaking Up Bad Bacterial Biofilms

Check off another successful Born to Do Science event! Dr. Marianna Patrauchan spoke this evening about biofilms.

We kicked off the event with the debut performance of a new song called "Super Scientist." It's all about how much patience and persistence it takes to do the type of important research Dr. Patrauchan does. By the end of the song she was beaming! Watch for the song - I'll be posting it soon.

Then we talked about cystic fibrosis and how for some reason this usually harmless bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), forms a deadly biofilm in lung tissue of CF patients. These bacteria are very common in humans, so what is it about CF that induces them to grow?

Dr. P's hypothesis is that it has something to do with the higher concentration of calcium ions present; these ions are a signal from the body to the immune system that something is wrong (CF!). The PA bacteria pick up on it and it signals them to form a biofilm.

It takes proteins to pick up a chemical signal and act on it (see this amazing film!), so Dr. P's research involves sorting through hundreds of candidate proteins to see which ones, if knocked out, could block this process from happening. For each candidate protein a mutant PA strain with the corresponding gene knocked out is created and tested, and each test takes about six months to complete!

When I interviewed her in preparation for her talk, she hadn't yet found the magic protein, however...

In a high point of the presentation she revealed a slide showing a dramatic difference between the wild PA and a particular mutant strain growing in the presence of calcium. A positive result! Go, super scientist, go!!

Now that we've identified it, we just need to figure out how to block that protein from doing it's job, and perhaps a drug can be developed that will prevent fatal PA infections in CF patients!

Dr. P shared a stack of nutrient plates with the kids. Each kid chose four sources of bacteria (they are everywhere - pencils, fingers, crumbs from the floor, etc.) and seeded and labeled their plates. Tomorrow, they'll be able to see bacteria growth!

Hey, if any of you are reading this - send me a photo of your results and I'll post them here!

Upcoming BTDS on Biofilms!

Coming Thursday 12/17 at 6:00 PM at the Stillwater Public Library:

Breaking Up Bad Bacterial Biofilms

Scientific Espionage in the Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis

Dr. Marianna Patrauchan from the OSU microbiology department will speak about her biofilm research, which may eventually help save lives.

If you'd like to come prepared, check out the related links below. This isn't required, but it would help you ask great questions!

Artwork by Marianna Patrauchan - Who says scientists can't be artists, too?

Microbe World - Microbiology in the news

Biofilms on Wikipedia

OSU Microbiology page

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Stillwater Newspress Article

Pseudomonas_aeruginosa (The type of bacteria Dr. Patrauchan works with)