What makes one microscope better than another? A few weeks ago I co-ran a week-long Physics and Human Physiology day camp for high school students, part of the University of Oregon’s “SAIL” program that especially targets low-income students. I’ve written about SAIL before (2019, 2017, 2014) — this was our 14th Physics + Human Physiology … Continue reading A Few Flavors of Microscopes — SAIL recap, 2023
Synopsis: I describe a short activity for high school students on visualizing protein structures and etching them in wood. Challenge: If you’re familiar with proteins, you might like to ask yourself before you get to Part 2: If you were to show non-scientists a few protein structures, which structures would you pick? 1. Background: SAIL … Continue reading Etching proteins — SAIL recap, 2019
Last week we had another successful run of our Physics & Human Physiology “SAIL” outreach day camp for high school students. I just realized that this is the 10th year I’ve co-run a SAIL camp, which means I should probably offer some grand assessment of it. Instead, I’ll just jot a few notes, post a … Continue reading SAIL Recap 2017
A few evenings ago I gave a “science pub” talk — part of a long-running series of public presentations that the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry runs at several sites in the state. (This was at a local pizza place, so thankfully I could just bike to it.) I called the talk “Glimpses of … Continue reading Science Pub 2016
Like last year, several of us from the Physics Department manned a booth at the Oregon Country Fair, the long-running hippie / arts / music / performance / counterculture festival that occurs each year outside Eugene. I worked there today, which was lots of fun. Though our booth was mostly about energy — lots of … Continue reading “You should do birthday parties!” — Year 2 at the Oregon Country Fair
I’m involved in a lot of different outreach activities, but I added a new one to the list today that’s a bit stranger than the others: working at the physics booth at the Oregon Country Fair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Country_Fair). The OCF is the yearly giant hippie gathering outside Eugene that’s full of art, music, performance, crafts, and … Continue reading Physics + Hippies = ?
The Eighteenth Elephant 