There's Still Hope Yet

I had the opportunity to talk to a middle schooler today about biology. The conversation took the form of a smattering of best of bio topics. Diffusion, concentration gradients, genetics, Punnett squares, homo and heterozygous, dominant recessive.  It was a great time. Thinking back on the latest series of posts I asked the young fellow what his favorite biological macromolecule was. His response: Lipids. Why? They store so much energy! Boom! There’s still hope yet.

There was a lot of hope to be had. I also had the great fortune to talk to some high schoolers who are national and world champions/finalists in robotics. It was amazing because these were kids who could have easily become loners. But given the community to thrive in and the opportunity to do real and challenging work these nerds (I can say that without offense because I stand among them) became confident and capable beyond what you would expect of them as they approach the beginning of their sophomore year.

There is still hope yet.

One Giant Leap for Nerdkind

Tonight, I bought a breadboard. Not just any breadboard but a mini, self-adhesive, red breadboard and some red wire and a force sensitive resistor and an Arduino Uno and LabVIEW Student Edition. Now I’m just a brief 5-7 days of shipping and a few lines of code away from a force sensitive device with a graphical computer interface. Awesome.

I should mention that I also got a pretty awesome electronics mentor too.  In a previous post I mentioned this confident electonogician and since then he has mocked up, created, and tested the project that I asked him to think about.  He did all of this with stuff he already had around the house and, in 21^st century communication style, he emailed me a pair of videos as a proof of the concept.

One reason I’m excited for the potential of this project is the possibilities it can open up for me as a scientist. Scientists have always tinkered in order to blaze the technological trails that would allow them to explore the mysteries of the natural world that intrigue them.  I am a nerd and I aspire to be the best nerd I can be.  I believe electronics will help me get there.