Dr. Martyn Poliakoff

Our second international podcast brings us to the University of Nottingham, where The Periodic Table of Videos is hosted.  An online periodic table that includes short videos about each element, the PTOV has been watched over 3.9 million times.  Dr. Martyn Poliakoff, CBE - a research professor at the University of Nottingham - tells us about The Periodic Table of Videos, a project made possible with his team and video journalist Brady Haran.

• periodicvideos.com
• Visit the PTOV Channel on You Tube
  
• Subscribe for free at www.youtube.com/periodicvideos or via rss.
• Is You Tube blocked at your school?  Try Use www.periodicvideos.com/nyt/.
• Test Tube - Behind the Scenes in the World of Science

• Press Release from the University of Nottingham
• Article from C&EN
• Article from the Telegraph
• Links & Praise

In this episode, Maryann Suero and Ken Roy warn us of safety dangers lurking in schools - both in the science lab and beyond.  Dr. Suero is the Children’s Health Program Manager for the EPA Region 5 (Midwest Region), and Ken Roy is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in CT, the Safety Compliance Consultant for NSTA, and a safety columnist for the Science Teacher and for Science Scope.

SC3: Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign
The Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) aims to ensure that all schools are free from hazards associated with mismanaged chemicals. SC3 gives K-12 schools information and tools to responsibly manage chemicals.

• Fact Sheet (pdf)
  
• Green Cleaning (pdf)
• Partnerships with Industry (pdf)
• No More Methyl Something (ppt)

OSHA Lab Standard and HazCom Standards websites:

• Laboratories
• Reactive Chemicals
• Hazard Communications

Safety Links

• King County, WA (Seattle) “Rehab the Lab” Program
• Council of State Science Supervisors Safety Website
• Connecticut High School Science Safety Prudent Practices and Regulations (pdf)
• Conneticut Middle School Safety Prudent Practices and Regulations (pdf)
  
• National Science Education Leadership Association “Safe Science” safety articles for science teachers
• YouTube Video Warning of Consequences Playing with Thermite Grenades

For safety Issues in Schools - email NSTA’s Science Safety Compliance Consultant/Safety Columnist/Author: Dr. Ken Roy at Royk@glastonburyus.org

Direct download: LOL22.mp3

Well, I make my class all about turkeys on this day. Turkey wishbones to be more precise.

First, we examine the age old tradition of breaking the wishbone to see who pulls harder. Using two Vernier force probes, we split this tradition in half. I give my students a quick handout (that I modified from Vernier’s Thanksgiving Experiments page) to get the students on their way.

For the rest of the class period, we try to perform a wishbone balancing act. See what it’s all about in the video below.

What I like about these two activities, is that there is a good chance the students will be talking about them with their family the next day. I have had several students make wishbones so they can try the wishbone balancing act out with their family.

When students take science home, everyone wins. And I’m thankful for that.

Share your Thanksgiving related activities in the comments below.

Dr. Kiki Sanford

Our guest this week is Dr. Kirsten Sanford, Ph.D. (Neurophysiology).  Dr. Sanford (Dr. Kiki) is making her way in independent science media and journalism.

Recently, Dr. Kiki shared a comment on her blog in a post entitled The Reason Why.  Here’s a snippet:

After showing her your podcasts, [my daughter] has discovered that it is not only possible but very rad to be both smart and interested in science but to like fashion and lip gloss at the same time.

We talked with Dr. Kiki about this post and women in science.

Links

• The Bird’s Brain - Dr Kiki’s Blog
• The Reason Why
• Food Science Videos
• World Science Festival with Dr. Kiki
• This Week in Science Podcast
• Kristen Sanford’s bio on TWIS
• Pop Siren

Direct download: LOL21.mp3

Flinn Safety Training Notes

Each month, Flinn Scientific provides “Science Department Safety Training Notes”.  This month’s notes are “Safety Guidelines for Chemical Demonstrations.”

From Flinn:

Chemical demonstrations can produce attention-grabbing results that dramatically illustrate chemistry in action–from making fountains of foam to creating kaleidoscopic colors, and generating flashes of fire. This month’s safety training reminds you that safety must always come first by providing important guidelines to consider before doing any chemical demonstration.

To receive Flinn’s Safety Training Notes, simply subscribe at www.flinnsci.com/contact_safety.asp.

Flinn also maintains an extensive MSDS database, with 2-page, printable Material Data Safety Sheets.

Ed Begley, Jr.

In this episode, we talked with Ed Begley Jr.  Ed talks to us about science, the environment and his show Living with Ed.

Preview from the Show:

I think when people are armed with good knowledge about science, I think we’ve really got a shot.  It’s amazing to me when I talk to people – adults, people my age – about simple things – the boiling point of water, how many planets are in the solar system and in what order they are aligned – people don’t have a lot of knowledge about the basics of electricity and things that really affect their lives.  Let me just remove it even from planetary movements and more arcane things like that in people’s lives (that are very meaningful to me) and a lot of people can’t talk about nuts and bolts things like where water comes from and where it goes to, how electricity works, Ohm’s law – things that would really be helpful if they knew it, and precious few people that I know, know much about it.

If you hear claims about something – let’s say an issue like loss of coral reefs, or ozone depletion, or global warming – go online.  And I say to you and to the students, stay away from fringe information from anybody.  I’m not saying go to environmental sites or some AM talk radio site.  Go to good people like National Geographic, Science Magazine, Nature Magazine, Princeton University, Columbia University.  Go to people like that – people with Ph.D. after their name.  And I’ll roll the dice on that.  You need someone good with peer reviewed studies.  If it says something other than what I believe, I’m going to listen, because I believe in peer reviewed studies.

In response to: “What do you want our kids of the future to know?”
I want them to develop an interest in science if they don’t have one, to cultivate an interest in science if they do have one, and something that they should continue to pursue the rest of their days.  I think it’s a wonderful thing in our pursuit of knowledge to know things about science.  I’m all for learning about art and literature…  In addition to that, we also need to be grounded in some sense to scientific knowledge, have some modicum of scientific knowledge, and the more the better.  I would urge everybody, no matter what your passion is…, to have a bit of your life grounded in science, and you’ll be all the better for it.

Links:

• Ed Begley, Jr
• Living with Ed
• Living with Ed from Planet Green
• Planet Green
• Episode 14 - Bill Nye Talks About Energy and More

Direct download: LOL20.mp3

Dr. Jeffrey Kahn

Dr. Jeffrey Kahn is Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Kahn reminds us of the importance of ethics in science - from the classroom to public policy.

Ethics Resources:
Bioethics.net
Kennedy Institute of Ethics
High School Bioethics Curriculum Project
Bioethics in the News (Google News)

Molly Nash Case:
The Nash Family: Breaking New Ground in Medicine
Making Lives to Save Lives by Dr. Jeffrey Kahn
Genetic Testing of Embryoes Raises Ethical Questions (CNN)
Genetic Selection Gives Girl a Brother and a Second Change (CNN)
Designer Babies from Salon.com
Adam’s Gift from People.com
A Design for Life (BBC)

This episode is sponsored by Frey Scientific

Frey Scientific has offered science educators quality science products and dependable service for nearly 50 years. Working with leading educators and manufacturers, Frey provides the required equipment and supplies for your science classrooms and laboratories, as well as being leaders in Lab Planning and Renovation. Frey Scientific is part of the School Specialty family of science companies that includes Neo/SCI, Delta Education, and CPO Science.

School Specialty Science: Helping educators engage and inspire students of all ages and abilities to learn. To learn more, visit www.freyscientific.com.

Direct download: LOL19.mp3

As we rapidly approach November 4th, we were able to talk with Lesley Stone from SEA (Scientists and Engineers for America) to discuss the role of science in the upcoming elections.

Links:

• SHARP Network
• Views from the Experts
• McCain and Obama’s Answers to Innovations 2008
• Candidates’ Forum for Innovation
• Obama’s Responses to Science Questions from Nature.com
• Campaign 2008 (from Physics Today)
• Obama’s Science Advisors (from Wired.com)

Preview from the Show:

Science and tech have fueled the American economy to a great extent, and as you talked about in 1957 with Sputnik, we funded science really heavily, and now we haven’t been doing that as much, so there are going to be real changes if America can’t compete on a technological level in the global economy.

We don’t want to put science in its own little ghetto and just pretend that it’s just one single issue, when almost every important issue in the campaign revolves around science – like health, climate change, environment, energy – all these have scientific underpinnings… But we do need to hear about what they think about scientific issues as well, and how they intend to incorporate science into their administration.

I think that there is a tendency for people to focus on their own career path, and I think it’s really important to remember that you’re part of a broader society and that these elections matter to you even if sometimes seems that the relationship between you and the elections is remote - every person, every citizen has a responsibility to find out what their politicians are doing. And the science teachers can really help with that. They can help their students to understand that, they can show their students the SHARP network, where you can easily see the science and tech policy views of the people that represent you, and also really important is urging the candidates to respond to this questionnaire.

Direct download: LOL18.mp3

We observe:

1. Sublimation of dry ice
2. Density of carbon dioxide (bubbles with hover over more dense carbon dioxide - see video)
3. Carbon Dioxide as a liquid (under pressure) as it exists in a gas cylinder
4. Carbon Dioxide as a liquid (by sealing off a pipette with pliers, students can safely observe carbon dioxide liquefy as the pressure increases - see phase change diagram of carbon dioxide)
5. Rapid sublimation of carbon dioxide in water in a sealed Nalgene bottle (see videos below)

CO2 Expansion 2007 from Brian Bartel on Vimeo.

Note the rapid condensation that appears on the lab table once the pressure is equalized.

CO2 Expansion 2008 from Brian Bartel on Vimeo.

NOTE: this demonstration was done behind a Plexiglas screen when there were no kids in the room.  Below are pictures of the bottle before, after, and a piece that was lodged in the ceiling (of which I am quite proud).

Nalgene Bottle Before Phase Change

Nalgene Bottle After Phase Change

Bottle Piece Lodged in Ceiling

I should emphasize that this rapid buildup of gas pressure can be very dangerous.  In fact, the rapid vaporization of liquid nitrogen in a sealed plastic container is exactly how I once blew up a sink.  This is why a safe alternative to a live demo is to videotape it for future use.