Jessica's blog

You might not know this about me but I have a Black Labrador Retriever named Ninja. One of his most favorite things to do is chase squirrels in the park on his daily walks. Usually at this time of year he starts to get fat because there aren't many squirrels to chase, but since this winter has had such mild temperatures he's been getting thisclose to catching himself quite a few furry friends. So yesterday morning I started thinking about what these mild temperatures might mean for all the hibernating, or dormant, species come spring time. Will Ninja have more squirrel friends to chase because they'll start mating earlier? What if it gets really cold again and there's another frost? The squirrels' food sources might die and then they could starve to death...or start dining alfresco more often from the dumpsters in the alleys. 

Climatologists, scientists who study weather patterns and their effect on the ecosystem, say that this warmer weather trend is likely to continue into April and it could very well effect food sources and hibernation patterns. In fact, Black Bears are expected to come out of hibernation in a few weeks, earlier than when their internal alarm tends to go off in March. When they wake up their fat reserves will have been depleted and they'll be really hungry. Most of their diet is plant based, so since there isn't a ton growing right now (as there would be more in March)  they'll be searching around human generated food sources, like bird feeders or garbage bins.

As I've mentioned this semester in Energy and Biofuels we're working on building our own devices. The stipulations given are  that they must utilize a free source of fuel to boil water. we chose boil water as a standard for being successful at cooking a product. Each group needed to come up with a name, logo, and mission statement. After those were solidified we needed to brainstorm three fuel ideas. This week we'll be researching those three concepts and choosing the one that we'll be developing in our final project. We'll have all of our team's progress updated on the windows by the Wet Lab so be sure to stop by and check in. I'd like to introduce our new project teams! (drum roll......) Our new teen groups are: Stove/In/Outs, Cookers on the Move, Free to Shine, Inc., and BioBuddies. We also have a supervisor and volunteer team called Fenix Fuels. (ta da!)

This past weekend at the Minority Scientists Showcase we brought our biofuel boats to showcase some of the work our teens have been doing in our component. These boats are made out of recycled materials and run on the biodiesel the teens made a few sessions ago. We discovered that using a paper towel remnant worked better than the string wick we started with. Look for photos of our experience at our flickr site soon. Thanks! 

A Washington based company is unveiling a new kind of workout machine at a time when New Year's resolutions to trim waistlines and wallets are high. Imagine going to the gym and generating electrical energy (watts) as you burn calories! Right now the watts you generate on a treadmill are inverted at the gym and go back into the grid, helping the gym pay for the energy used to power lights and air conditioning for example. The system is capable of storing 2,000 watts, that's enough energy to power a television for 17 hours! In the future, a Canadian based company, Eco-Fit, hopes to translate those watts earned while working out into credits you can use at coffee shops and retail stores. You'd be able to shop with the energy you used  from working out at the gym!  

Would that be an incentive for you to work out more? What other ways can you imagine we could harness our "human power" to cut back on energy costs? 

Around this time each year many people start making plans for new year resolutions. Resolutions are often things we vow to do or to quit doing to make ourselves feel like  better people. Popular resolutions are "to save money" or "to lose weight".

According to an article on Forbes.com forty-four percent of Americans make new year's resolutions. How many people do you think stick to their resolutions each year? ,A new year is a great time to make a fresh start and think about what goals you want to set for yourself in the coming months. Long term goals can help you define who you want to be, while short term goals can give you something more immediate to push toward and seeing positive results sooner helps us stay on the path to success right. This spring we'll be talking more about goal setting and planning for your future during our college prep time.

If you're thinking about making goals for 2012 I recommend you make sure they're SMART. 

S-Specific (clear, answers the who, what, where, why, and which of it all) 

 

The teens are wrapping up their first semester exploring the uses and potential of biofuels. Next semester we will be splitting into teams to work on developing our own projects around biofuels and cooking,  so I'm glad we had this opportunity to first learn what biofuels even are, practice making bioethanol, and now making our own stoves! Matt and I always practice the lab first so we have a better idea of timing and conflicts that may arise, so when we made our own stove we had to test it. It only took us three tries to get delicious popcorn using biodiesel! Last week teens tested their stoves just to make sure they maintained the flame. Stay tuned this week to see how they'll use their stoves. (stoves are made from recycled cans and screws, with wire gauge for a handle) See flickr set for more photos. 

An opportunity for youth through one of our Community Partners, the Missouri History Museum. Please contact them if you have any interested youth!

The Missouri History Museum seeks teens in their sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school for positions in the Teens Make History Academy

The Teens Make History Academy is an eight week intensive workshop allowing those with an interest in history and the humanities to explore varying types of museum careers such as exhibit development, museum education, marketing, digital media, museum theatre, and research. Those who successfully complete the program will be considered for a limited number of paid apprenticeships with the museum.

 

When?

The Academy will run from Friday February 4th through Saturday March 24th. It will be held Fridays from 3:30 to 5:30 and Saturdays from 10:00 to 2:00.

Where?

The Missouri History Museum is located at 5700 Lindell Boulevard. The Missouri History Museum is in Forest Park at Lindell and DeBaliviere and is located one block from the Forest Park/DeBaliviere Metro link station.