Staff Picture of the Week

            

Thanks to some hard work and generosity from the SLSC Public Programs department, staff had the opportunity last week to walk across water.

"How?" you ask?

By combining corn starch with the proper amount of water, you can reach of state of matter we call OOBLECK, a Non-Newtonian Fluid which retains shape when under pressure but melts and fills a space like water. This means you can hit it, roll it in your hands, and even walk on it. However, the second you stop moving your feet, you will begin to sink.

Interested in learning more about Oobleck and other gross, sticky, fun science concepts? Give us a call at 314.289.1414 and book a program for your group. Who knows? Maybe we can bring Oobleck to you!

Okay, staff is slacking on getting in some real quality pictures. I guess they're too busy taking the pictures they aren't in any of them!

Here's one from last fall. Chastity, YES Coach in the Communicating Climate Change (C3) component, joins YES teens on a field survey. The group walked the field counting butterflies and looking for other interesting insects, plants, and wildlife. They're showing off their finds. Is that a persimmon?

Okay, I'm not normally all about self promotion. :) This week Kerry led the monthly Community Partners meeting. Each month we invite local community organizations to the Taylor building where we showcase a particular science activity or set of activities, talk about what's happening around town, and give youth care providers a chance to mingle with other organizations. This month's topic was climate change. Kerry presented a variety of activities to educate about the effects of greenhouse gasses. Pictured here is a Polar Bear activity developed by one of our YES teens. The object is to get all the fish to eat before all your ice melts away. The white papers are ice floats and the blue papers represent water melting those ice pieces away. You can only step on the white ones. Those polar bears are going to have to be pretty agile. The lesson learned: Emitting less carbon gasses helps keep the glaciers from melting, which assists polar bears with getting food. Check out your carbon footprint and what you can do to make better choices today! 

So I'm a little behind on Staff Picture of the Week.....

 Here's 5 great ones randomly selected from Flickr:

With Tim. I hope you actually put a quarter in.