fun things

10 Bold Summer Activities for Science Lovers

Posted on by Roberta Braga
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At 25 I often find myself looking for exciting new ideas for enjoying an evening with friends and family that extend beyond the typical dinner, drinks or a movie. Over the three years I have worked at Promega, my interest for scientific discovery has been amplified by the expertise and enthusiasm of my colleagues. In appreciation for science-lovers everywhere, here is a short list of activities for those looking for unique ways of having fun with science this summer.

RECRUIT A PARTNER TO HELP YOU COOK UP DELICIOUS MOLECULAR TREATS

Combine your love of food, science and technology this summer by experimenting with molecular gastronomy, the culinary practice that incorporates scientific tools and techniques to transform ingredients. You and a friend or family member can go from boiling, chopping, and roasting, to trying spherification, gelification, and emulsification. Search the internet for a beginner’s guide to Molecular Gastronomy or a Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit and you are ready to cook up some creative recipes, including transparent ravioli, edible raspberry lipstick or carbonated mojito spheres. Find recipes at MolecularRecipes.com.

Continue reading “10 Bold Summer Activities for Science Lovers”

Bacterial transformation and counting colonies for grade school students

Posted on by Maciek Smuga-Otto

Our experimental setup: Microbe plushies, Lego DNA, plates, iPhones and makeshift stand, ready to go.
Our experimental setup: Microbe plushies, Lego DNA, plates, iPhones and makeshift stand, ready to go.
A few weeks ago, our elementary school held its annual science fair. Owing to the greater-than-usual number of scientists among the parents, the halls of this event were lined with tables staffed by said parents, showing off the wonders of science, tech, and especially biotech. There were at least three stations devoted to various aspects of stem cell research, and the table next to us had kids run simple nucleic acid extractions from wheat germ using detergent and alcohol – my son loved that one, as he pulled out the stringy goop with a q-tip at the end of the process.

My wife and I contributed to the festivities by putting together a presentation on bacterial transformation. I was just about finished working on a colony counter iPhone® app for Promega, so I figured why not try it out in the field: Print out some colorful ersatz bacterial plates, have the kids count the colonies using the app (yay, touch screens!) and maybe teach them something about genetic engineering along the way.

Our setup turned out to be a lot of fun to run, and quite popular to boot. It went roughly like this: Continue reading “Bacterial transformation and counting colonies for grade school students”