Oh the exciting times that summer brings with itself! Biosphere 2 is abuzz with undergraduates, teachers, and school students! Which means soon there will be a post about all of that. This current post however, is about two activities I recently had the opportunity to be involved in. The first was a video film in which a team from The Learning Design Group, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley were at B2 to film a science curriculum for middle-school students called 'Amplify Science, Middle School Program'. My role was to introduce LEO, and the research questions we are trying to answer. The catch though was to make it sound interesting and simple enough for middle school students. So I had to edit out words like 'abiotic' from my interview. Quite a nice challenge I must say. So there it was. I had to say a few lines for the video and also had to pose/demonstrate how we sample on the LEO hillslopes. I was helped by my colleague, Nate. The cool part about LEO is that we cannot step foot on the slopes. Hence, any above-slope activity is to be performed while being perched atop a gantry. Now Nate is a pro at operating the gantry atop LEO slope. I am not. And I also happen to suffer from vertigo! Imagine my plight when I had to look down at the cameraman while being harnessed atop the gantry. Of all the things I chose to study, soil science was a very wise decision. For the simple reason that I may stay grounded and never have to worry about sampling while being harnessed to a gantry! It was a fun exercise nonetheless!! And I have to thank Nate for keeping me safe! Here are two images during the filming. Wait till September for this demo sampling to turn real. That is when we finally will get to core some samples from the LEO hillslopes! Also if you happen to have middle-schoolers who have access to Amplify Science videos, you can see me atop the hillslope in all my glory and giddiness!
In another outreach effort, I was one of the LEO presenters during the One Young World Sustainability
Summit. This gave me an opportunity to interact with some of the brightest young minds who care about the planet and are eager to apply 'planet-smart' ideas to improve the not-so-fancy things in our fragile planet. A cohort of almost 60 attendees asked me questions, toured the LEO space, were amazed by miniLEO and how it was sampled. One of them asked me, and I quote,"Do you think your research/or you will be able to save the planet by doing the work that you are doing?" And these questions really are critical in our work. The work we do has a more immediate direct goal (often in terms of our publications, outreach efforts, collaborations, filling knowledge gaps one tiny bit at a time) and a long-term goal of educating the public, being responsible citizens, and encouraging young minds to be mindful and respectful of our planet. This second goal is limitless. You will always have that one more thing to teach, one extra person to convince, another young mind to inspire. This is what makes my job be what it is. Dynamic! Heavy conversations apart, my interactions with the attendees led to me being filmed by a Hispanic TV channel. I did not follow a word of how they introduced me and I haven't seen the video but I would like to believe it was a good interview. Again, simple words to explain the science I do and why I do it!
In some research news now, just finished a marathon season of writing grants. We also got one of them funded and are awaiting the results of the others! Manuscripts are also being worked upon and pushed out. And the first results of miniLEO microbial community dynamics is starting to come in. I am so excited about this. The suspense is about to be over...hopefully with a thrilling end! Until my next post, (which I am split between trying to write about the 'Tree of Life' in simple words, or describing my summer research endeavors with the interns) remember to take a moment to appreciate the beautiful earth we live in and be reminded of our responsibilities towards it!
P.S. If you happen to find me giving an interview with Spanish sub-titles, please forward the link to me. I would like to know about the video!