Lab Out Loud®

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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

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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

The deadline for the Weather Channel’s high school essay contest is less than one week away!  This is your last chance to enter for a free trip to Washington D.C. to attend the Forecast Earth Summit, a conference for high school students to engage and protect the environment.  Submit an essay describing what you are doing to keep the planet green and clean at www.forecastearthsummit.org before midnight EST on October 19.

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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

Usually the during the week of homecoming, my Biophysical Science class is just finishing up a basic chemistry unit on the properties of matter.  To keep the kids focused on science, I make sure to obtain a little dry ice to have my students observe a unique phase change known as sublimation.

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.