Science for Seniors

We have a science writer in our class this week. He's super nice, and sits next to me. We've been honing our communication Science to Non-Scientific audience skills.

Today our challenge was to present our research in 10 minutes, with five slides, to a room full of eager (hypothetical) Senior Citizens. I guess seniors don't know about science? If I were a senior I'd be getting my hackles up right now. I forgot about that requirement though and was just trying to get the teachers to understand my stuff.

I would have tried harder, I really really meant to, if not for all that pesky traffic on Sunday. We were given the assignment on Friday and I figured that I'd have time on Sunday night to polish and practice and refine. This was not the case. I went out on the boat with a different lab--they need someone to lounge around on the boat, getting a suntan, thinking deep thoughts while they dive and do research (actually, I was trying not to get sun burnt or puke--I only succeeded at not puking). Thanks to some poorly planed traffic rerouting due to construction, it took us 5 hours to get home instead of 1, so I didn't actually get back to my homework on Sunday night. So this morning, I winged it. Luckily I spent about 20 minutes on Saturday throwing my slides together.

I did well though. I think I lost them at "correlation matrix" but our workshop-head-guy said "Well, that's the clearest presentation of Microarrays I've ever seen and I want to use your slides in my bio210 class" Which I think is pretty awesome. I think my microarray slide rocks too.

Tonight our challenge was to write a 'creature feature' or a short introduction to something science-y and involving an animal. I wrote about weevils--because there's a poster of one on the wall in my living room, and the research component of the article was easy. "Hey Laura...what's up with that bug?" Here's an excerpt. Oh and "Send her on her way" has been postponed to a later date. I'm busier than I thought I'd be. I'm disappointed in me too.

There is a weevil in my living room. It has been there for years. It's moved to several different houses with me, in several different states. Actually, it's a poster--a cast off from the E** lab at the U.of.Idaho--I guess it's out of focus but I can’t tell. In the picture, the insect is about 6 inches wide and it practically grins at me whenever I gaze at it. The weevil is crawling to the top of a yellow flower petal, it's reaching around the edge of the petal with its front legs while its long, cylindrical snout emerges over the curve of the petal. No other insects have snouts, and thus it follows that no other insects are nearly as endearing. This weevil, Gym**, is not just a pretty face--it is an environmental crusader.

Gym**, or the fuzzy weevil as it is affectionately called by those who know it, loves Toad Flax to death. This is a boon for researchers who are looking for ways to get rid of Toad Flax--a noxious weed. Toad flax was introduced to the United States from Europe and it reeks havoc in the Pacific Northwest. Though the plant itself is beautiful, it produces toxic chemicals that are poisonous to livestock. Like most invasive species introduced to new habitats, it has taken over large tracts of land and has no natural predators in its new range. Researcher in the E** lab studied the plant in its native range and quickly honed in on the fuzzy weevil as a potential biological method to control Toad Flax infestations in the Pacific Northwest.

**Identifying details have been removed to protect me from too many internet searches of this beast.