BC Summer Science Camp
Daily Summaries
August 15 - 19, 2011

The Science Campers are Back!

Monday [Day One]: Get a Life? Bacteria, The Masters of the Universe, Did It First!

A key hallmark of life is its diversity and bacteria have this gig down pat! With approximately 5 million trillion trillion bacteria (give or take a few) on the planet, they are the organisms with the "most-est"--the most ancient, adaptable, numerous and yes, diverse. They live in the coldest, hottest, highest, and deepest environments possible.

You've seen or heard about Days of Our Lives. How about microbes in our lives? Yes, let's get a bit closer to home: your body! Most of us have been conditioned to think of bacteria as "Bad News Bears!" To be sure, bacteria can have an "Eastwoodian" reputation: they can, depending on their host, numbers and environment, be the good, the bad and the ugly. Probably the most famous bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (coccus=grapelike clusters + aureus=golden), can befound just about everywhere but this bacteria really loves your skin and with an estimated 1012 bacterial cells on board, we are almost certain to find these guys behind our campers' ears. Say what? Yep, Al Farrand, temporary full-time BC instructor, had the campers swab their skin and we are incubating the little creatures…stay tuned for the exciting news later in the week.

Al also introduced the campers to another famous (infamous?) player called Escherichia coli or AKA E. coli for short. These characters are probably the most famous organisms in microbiology. Hey, we're talking Hall of Science Fame status, along with yeast, fruit flies, the labmouse, round worms, among other special notables. About another 1014 of these characters live in your large intestine, where they are harmless and actually produce some vitamins, most notably vitamin K, our blood-clotting vitamin. Unfortunately, some strains of E. coli can cause food poisoning. Does anyone remember the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli crisis in Washington State?

Next, the campers investigated the real bad boys of the microbial world, the viruses ("bad news wrapped in protein"). Viruses have a fancy handle: they are "obligatory intracellular parasites" meaning that they absolutely require living host cells in order to multiply. In particular, the campers learned about influenza (flu) B and the body's attempt to fight it off with a vast army of cells, antibodies and chemical warfare. Finally the campers did a spread of disease lab and became eager epidemiologists is search of the index case or primary case-the first person that indicates the existence of an infectious disease outbreak. Thanks Al for a great learning experience!

Tuesday [Day Two/Part I]: Holy Mackerel! (And Holy Rockfish, too!); BC's Sue Miller Leads the Campers on A Fishing Expedition…But It's a Good Thing!

Tuesday [Day Two/Part II]: You Are What You Eat with BC's Shannon Fenster (and some good food for thought)

Today the campers joined BC Marine Biologist Sue Miller in a tale of the "big one" that didn't get away. Sure the local fishing reports can tell you what's being caught in Puget Sound or in the area's rivers and streams, but they never report on the fish out of the water activities in S210, where Sue often hangs out. Just like Al Farrand is wild about microbes, Ms. Miller shouts and screams enthusiastically about fish. You could actually make a case that she is literally hooked on them!

After hearing about the wonders of fish in general, the campers moved on to exhibits M and R: the mackerel (visiting from Ballard or was it Norway?) and the rockfish (a type of fish that lives among rocks and a favorite of rock stars worldwide). Who would have ever guessed that fish looked so different up close and personal? First, check out their streamlined bodies and there countershading (their dorsal side [top] is darker). And how about their eyes: in the front or on the side? Big eyes (Bette Davis size) or small? And can you dig the differences in their gill rakers? While you are at it, get a load of the tailfins on display (a good indication of what type of swimmer you are: very slow, slow or fast). I personally haven't thought this much about fins since those Chevys and Caddies rolled out of the Motor City in the 1950s & 60s…

Finally it was time to fish or cut bait and look at some guts: livers and intestines galore with these big fishes in a small pond, I mean lab. As you can imagine, this was an uproariously fun lab. I just wish I had saved the goldfish snacks for today instead of serving them yesterday…One last thing: ask Sue about her fascination with the "lateral line." Thanks, Sue!

On to Nutrition 101 with BC Adjunct Shannon Fenster! Students practiced learning how to calculate the number of Calories (that "mystery of mysteries" for most of us) that they burned in a 1-minute walk around the lab (about 3 or 4 Calories). And how about that way cool computer simulation of a bomb calorimeter, a device used in calorimetry or the science of measuring the heat of chemical reactions? Students took turns dragging different types of food (hamburger, cheese, salmon [but no red herring], etc.) into the calorimeter to determine its caloric value. For example, one serving (28 grams) of a famous brand of corn chips registered 160 Calories, with 90 Calories from fat. Upon scrutinizing the nutritional information on the package, lo and behold, the campers discovered that there were 3 servings in the bag or 3 x 160 Calories. Suddenly the one-minute walk around the lab turned into potentially a 53-minute exercise in burning off the tasty treat. Sometimes, life is just not fair!

Shannon provided wonderful exercises that helped the students to determine serving sizes, with balances and calculators and the important business of reading food labels. Eating healthy can be a tough business, so let's get started early… Thanks, Shannon!

Wednesday [Day Three/Part I]: Seemingly Defying Gravity, BC Physicist Robert Hobbs Electrifies Campers with a Magnetic Pull…

Wednesday [Day Three/Part II]: BC Astronomer Art Goss (aka Captain Kirk) Takes Campers on a Close Encounter of the Celestial Kind…

OK young physicists, let Robert Hobbs introduce you to the big three fundamental forces: gravity, electricity and magnetism. Here are some key words and we need you to align them with one of the Big 3:

? Things that attract and repel
? Sparks
? Lightning
? Brangelina
? Shock
? Things that fall
? Things that go bump in the night

After a short intro to the big 3, Robert got the students involved in an episode of Jeopardy involving the Earth's geographic and magnetic poles. The magnetic pole that is near Earth's geographic north pole is, but of course, a south pole, because, as we all know (?) opposites attract. Confused? Just remember that a pilot using a magnetic compass to fly to see Santa at the (magnetic) north pole would fly towards the Earth's south magnetic pole but the plane would be moving in a northerly geographic direction…Is this material on the exam?

Robert got the campers to imagine Ballard no, a gigantic bar magnet inside of planet Earth (reportedly the original source of all refrigerator magnets that somehow liberated themselves from the swirling motions of molten iron in the Earth's outer core). Let's now move on to electromagnets…

Physics, the study of matter or nature in effort to understand the universe, is a daunting undertaking, but Robert makes it come alive with an assortment of hands-on toys, demonstrations, and a sense of wonderment. Thanks, Robert!

Next it was on to the heavens in search of a magnificent collection of stars, constellations and planets, a trip fantastic courtesy of Art Goss and BC's Geer Planetarium. The campers constructed star wheels, a handy device to navigate the night sky. Want to find Polaris, the Big Dipper (but not the Big Bopper), the North Star (what is so particular about this, the 49thbrightest star?), Vega or the Zenith? No problem with the Star Wheel and a dark night sky.

The simulation of shooting stars and meteors was way cool! The Leonids, a spectacular meteor shower, gets super special about every 33 years, so Art had the campers clear their calendars for the year 2033 (how many of us will be around for the show?).

And then it was on to the top level of the parking garage (where on a clear day you can see forever or at least to the Olympic Mountains) in search of micrometeorites, tiny pieces of rock and metal, which have been tripping through the solar system for about 4.7 billion years before falling to Earth. Usually no bigger than a speck of sand or pepper, the campers used magnets to find the micrometeorites and then examined them under microscopes. Hmm, the 3Ms: micrometeorites (astronomy), magnets (physics) and microscopes (biology) all rolled into one… Thanks, Art!  

Thursday [Day Four]: We've Got Trouble Right Here in River City, oops, Bellevue, But Never Fear, BC's Naomi Jones and her CSI crew are here!

In a four-part module, BC Anatomy and Physiology instructor Naomi Jones took our future scientists on a CSI-themed tour of bones, blood, fingerprints and assorted crime scene evidence in a forensic exercise to solve a crime, and more importantly, to instill a sense of wonderment about science and a magnificent appreciation of the human body. Like modern day Angela Lansburys, the campers figured out blood [artificial] types, did fingerprinting [whorls, loops, & arches] and determined males and females by examining bones. They also examined other pieces of evidence such as footprints, a set of keys and puzzled over what type of tool was used to pry open a door.

Building on the human nutrition module from Tuesday, the campers took a video tour of the digestive tract, getting a close-up view of salivary and stomach glands in action among other things, as they traced the progress of food from one end to the other. And how about those preserved samples of small and large intestine?

Leaving the crime scene, the young scientists moved on to comparing skull and brain sizes of an assortment of animals, including chimps, dogs, horses, gorillas, Neanderthals and modern humans. The average human adult brain of today has a mass of about 1450-1600 grams [a bit more than 3 pounds] while chimps are only about a third of modern humans. Dogs may be man's best friend, but with a brain size of about 70 grams, don't expect him/her to do calculus. The brain size of Neanderthals is very similar in size to ours and it turns out that we also share some DNA with this crowd from about 30,000-50,000 years ago...Thanks, Naomi!

P.S. Remember the microbiology module from Monday when we had the campers culture a swab of their skin from behind their ears? Well, let's just say that, as expected, Staphylococcus aureus was abundantly present in its grapelike clusters. Hey, we could have even looked for it in nasal secretions…

Friday [Day Five]: "It's Elementary, My Dear Watson Campers." Chemistry is Everyway!

Decorating the S Building entranceway near the science camp homeroom, are 30 or so poster projects of some BC chemistry students. The posters describe a variety of chemicals, their formula, physical properties, common uses, and their formation. Chemicals such as nylon, vitamin A, Advil, epoxy resin, nicotine, Dacron. Yes, chemistry is EVERYWHERE, including our food, our bodies, even our thoughts!

So let's get started and join BC chemists Jacqui Drak, Gina Fiorini and Chris Shelly and make polymers! First you need to take monomers ("one unit") and then in a process called polymerization, link them together to form a large, usually chainlike molecule. Exhibit #1: Let's make nylon! With a mixture of just a few chemicals, Jacqui was able to make a sticky material with very little structure to it. But right before the campers' eyes, Jacqui slowly started to stretch this sticky mass into a meter-long string-like fiber (forcing the polymer chains to line up) and lo and behold we had nylon! Next, Gina had the students build ball and stick models of probably the simplest and one of the best-known polymers, polyethylene. Students each built ethylene monomers and then linked them together into polyethylene. Hey we could go into business making water bottles, plastic pipes and even garbage bags.

The campers next made their own polymer from milk and vinegar, separating out the proteins (another polymer of amino acid monomers) into a tangle of milk proteins called curds and other proteins called whey (and Miss Muffet was nowhere to be found…).

When not busy teaching BC students, Chris often hangs with Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter), so it was a treat when Daniel made a guest video appearance singing Tom Lehrer's elements song (check it out on You Tube). The song would be hard to dance to, but it does give you the names of all the elements of the periodic table.

It was now on to a couple more important classes of compounds, acids and bases, which have a wide variety of everyday applications (vinegar, drain cleaners, the citric acid in oranges, fertilizers, etc.). The campers tested various substances, including some "mystery" compounds (window cleaner and coca cola) for their acidic and basic properties. They also visualized the impact of acid on stones and pieces of shell, simulating the impact of acid rain.

And for the grand and enthusiastic finale, check out the photos of our chemists making liquid nitrogen ICE CREAM! Do you want vanilla or a dapple of Hershey's chocolate?

Thanks to Jacqui, Gina and Chris for a wonderful demo of chemistry in action!

And many, many thanks to Kate and also the support of SAMI, Veronica, Neil, Kristy, Bill, Hung, Phillip, and Stacey for their excellent work in the camp.