The Adorable, Rewarding, and Sometimes Difficult Task of Birthing Babies

 by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS

A common misconception is that the only job of a midwife is to deliver babies. In reality, the duties of a midwife begin long before the baby is born. A midwife can screen for diseases, prescribe certain 

medications, help the mother stay healthy during pregnancy, monitor the baby’s growth before and after 
birth, provide emotional support, discuss care options and breastfeeding, support the mother and
her child after birth, and provide many more services in addition to the delivering the baby. As a 
midwife, upcoming MSS speaker Sheri Matteo is responsible for the health and wellbeing of a woman
and her baby for the entire length of the pregnancy and beyond. The video below shows the benefits of 
midwifery for women. 



 Matteo explained that midwifery in the U.S. has undergone many changes throughout history.
“Before the early 20th century, most babies in the US were delivered by midwives at home. Then 
medicine, mostly male doctors, brought birth into hospitals and birth became a medical condition. 
Women were put to sleep and babies were delivered with forceps. Moms were encouraged to bottle 
feed. Midwifery pretty much vanished. In the 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the “natural birth” 
movement, midwifery as a profession started to grow again. Unlike many other industrialized countries
with better childbirth statistics where midwifery care is the norm, midwifery in the US has stayed on 
the fringe and been seen as an “alternative” birth option. In the 15 years that I have been practicing, 
I have seen many midwifery services grow and disband based on whatever economic issue was driving
healthcare at that time. Healthcare in the US is still largely driven by economics and legislation, but 
midwives and other “mid levels” or “allied health professionals” are rising in use and stature. We 
have rigorous education and certification maintenance programs and are fully integrated into healthcare
teams with nursing, case managers and social workers, as well as doctors. The profession is growing in
numbers and strength and our good outcomes are more commonly recognized by clients and medicine
professionals.” According to Time magazine, approximately 8% of babies born in the U.S. – a record 
high – and about 24% of babies in New Mexico were delivered by midwives in 2009. While delivery in 
the U.S. usually takes place in a hospital in the presence of obstetricians, more and more women are 
turning to midwives. 

Read the rest of the interview with Sheri Matteo for a sneak peek preview of her upcoming MSS 
presentation Birthing BabiesWhat it Takes to be a Nurse Midwife”. 



How did you decide to become a midwife?  
I was premed in college and always thought I wanted to be an obstetrician. I was also a singer and performed in HS and college plays. I spent my junior year abroad studying acting in London and when I returned I realized I no longer wanted to go to med school. I received my BA in Theatre Arts at Brown University. I worked as an actress in NYC, off-Broadway and as a member of a theatre company. Working on a play with an older actress, I discovered her daughter was a midwife. I didn’t even know midwifery was a profession at that time! Shortly after, I met a woman who was an obstetrician. I was really inspired hearing about her work. She invited me to “take call” with her one night at the hospital. I saw a birth and I was hooked! Midwifery appealed to me more than medicine because of its emphasis on childbirth as a natural part of life, not a medical condition that needs to be “treated”.


How does one become a midwife? What sort of training or education is necessary?  
There are many different kinds of midwives in the US and several different ways to become one. There are “lay” midwives who receive traditional training as an apprentice of another lay midwife. These midwives are sometimes state licensed and sometimes not. They are not eligible to work in hospitals so they only do home birth.  To be a Certified Nurse Midwife, I had to enroll in nursing school with the plan to continue onto graduate school. I went to Columbia University School of Nursing in NYC. They have a special nursing program for people who already have a baccalaureate. Instead of four years, I earned my BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing) in one and a half years. I continued on to complete my Masters in Nursing (MSN) in another one and a half years, for a total of three straight years and two degrees.
What are the responsibilities of a midwife? What is a typical day?  
Certified Nurse Midwives can perform nearly all aspects of women’s health primary care. We screen for diseases, including cervical cancer, breast cancer and STDs. We can prescribe medicine including birth control and antibiotics. We perform prenatal care, making sure moms stay healthy in pregnancy and their babies are growing well.  We can deliver babies in the hospital, in birth centers, or at home. We support women with breastfeeding and take care of them postpartum. We do a lot of client teaching about their health, bodies, and care and treatment options. Though we do not perform surgery like c/sections, we are hands-on surgical assistants. A typical day involves either working at the clinic seeing prenatal patients (between 12-20 in 8 hours) or working in the hospital supporting moms in labor and delivering babies. Because I am the Director of my group of 12 midwives, I also have office work and a lot of meetings to attend. I work on marketing my group’s services, hospital quality and safety and employee satisfaction and performance.



What is the most exciting, rewarding, or difficult aspect of being a midwife?  
Watching new families grow! Helping women be and stay healthy. Meeting all kinds of people from all different cultures. Working with women and empowering them to believe in their natural ability to birth and mother.
What advice do you have for young people aspiring to be in a healthcare profession?  
It is very hard work but also very rewarding. Never forget to treat all people with dignity and respect.

  

To learn all about midwifery and birthing babies, attend the Marin Science Seminar presentation Birthing Babies: What it Takes to be a Nurse Midwife” with Sheri Matteo, RN, CNM of Prima Medical Foundation, Marin General Hospitalon Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207. See the flyer here

For more information go to:
Our Bodies Ourselves Health Resource Center
Dimensions Healthcare System
Student Medics
Time Magazine

Image credits:
https://drewstarr.wordpress.com/pictures/early-american-midwifery/
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/birthanddeath/childbirthandmedicine.aspx
http://healthsciencetechnology.wikispaces.com/Midwife

http://organichomebirth.com/
http://firststepskent.org/welcome-home-baby/welcome-home-baby-book/

~Claire Watry

A Renewed Sense of Porpoise – An Interview with Jonathan Stern

by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS
Harbor porpoises have returned to the San Francisco Bay after a 65-year absence. What does their return mean for the other animals of the bay? Why did they leave? Why might they have returned? This week’s Marin Science Seminar speaker Jonathan Stern will address these questions and provide insight into the world of local harbor porpoises. The video below is a tribute to the harbor porpoise’s return to the bay by the National Wildlife Federation California.



Fast Fasts about the Harbor Porpoise from the National Geographic Society:

Terra Linda High School graduate Jonathan Stern is a lecturer and adjunct professor in the Biology Department at San Francisco State University. He has studied minke whales since 1980 and currently serves as a Co-Principal Investigator at Golden Gate Cetacean Research, where he studies harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, and minke whales locally in the San Francisco Bay. He has also studied an assortment of whales including gray whales, killerwhales, fin whales, humpback whales, and pilot whales. He was the first volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center when it opened in 1975.

How did you decide to study marine life?

My father was a ship captain, who traveled all over the world. When he would come home, he would bring me seashells from the places he traveled. I also watched Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau when I was a child and was fascinated by the sea.

From left: Lloyd Bridges stars in Sea Hunt, Seashell collection, Explorer Jacque Cousteau

How do you conduct your research?

This varies depending on what specifically I am studying. I do my observations from the shore and a boat. I also spend a considerable amount of time doing data analysis. I sit with my computer and books about statistical analysis and modeling.


Harbor Porpoise sighting near the Golden Gate Bridge


What is the most difficult aspect of your work?
My works is not difficult; it is challenging physically (being out on the water in a small boat on the open ocean takes its toll over the years) and the data analysis and the writing of papers take time to get things right. The challenge is fun!
What is one of the most surprising or exciting thing you have discovered about porpoises?
We have seen porpoises mating. This sounds like it is not a big deal, but given that these porpoises are among the most commonly seen marine mammal, we are the first to see them mating. The real surprise though is that we can do most of our observations from the Golden Gate Bridge.


What advice do you have for aspiring young scientists?
Prepare yourself! Prepare yourself by taking as many math and science classes as possible. Prepare yourself by learning to keep your focus, but keep your eye on other branches of science. Prepare yourself by learning to ask questions. that is the most important part of science, asking questions. Do not be afraid of the challenge. Prepare to study, work, and have fun. Science is a process.



Report your porpoise sightings! Golden Gate Cetacean Research’s page for Porpoise, Dolphins & Whale sightings in SF Bay & the NorCal coast. http://www.ggcetacean.org/Contact_Us.html



To learn more about the return of the harbor porpoise and its ecological implications, attend the Marin Science Seminar presentation San Francisco Bay Has a Renewed Sense of Porpoise” with Jonathan Stern Ph.D. of San Francisco State University, January 29, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207. See the flyer here

Want more information? Check out the websites below.
National Wildlife Federation California 
Golden Gate Cetacean Research
National Geographic
NPR 
SF Gate Article

~Claire Watry

The Fascination Behind Ants

by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS

Did you know that ants are capable of carrying 50 times their body weight in their mouth? Or that ants are the original farmers? Or even that the total biomass of all of the ants on the planet is roughly equivalent to the biomass of all of the people on Earth? These are three of the many reasons why ants are so fascinating. The small insect that most of us view a pest is actually a intriguing specimen and worth the time and effort to research. 



Marin Science Seminar returns in 2014 with a presentation titled “Ants: The Invisible Majority” with Dr. Brian Fisher. Dr. Fisher is a modern day explorer who journeys through remote tropic areas in search of ants. His research utilizes ants as a tool to discover and preserve plant and animal diversity in these places. Dr. Fisher has discovered over 1000 new species of ants including the jumping ants and Dracula ants. He has appeared in a number of BBC, Discover Channel, and National Geographic films and has been profiled in Newsweek and Discover magazine. When he is not working in the field with ants, Dr. Fisher lives in a tree house with the banana slugs. He is currently Chairman of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences and adjunct professor of biology at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University. In the video below, Dr. Fisher details why he believes ants are so cool.

                                     


The following interview shows his experiences with ants and his passion for his research.


How did you decide to become entomologist? 


I actually thought I was going to be a botanist, but after a trip to Panama as a sophomore at the University of Iowa, I was struck by the ants’ diversity, abundance, and ecological role. Its not just their diversity that is fascinating. After all beetles are diverse – there are 40,000 leaf beetles – but they all just eat leaves. Ants, on the other hand, have evolved  the most diverse and surprising ways of making a living from growing fungus to tending to aphids. Also, because ants are social, there is a whole other dimension that is fascinating that is not even possible with solitary insects. After working on plants a bit that year in Panama and I dropped the “pl” and just worked on “ants”.
Why did you choose to study ants specifically?

I remember I changed the day I discovered an orchid in the canopy in Panama.  This orchid had a specialized home for ants to live and produced nectar for the ants to eat. This was the first orchid to have such a relationship with ants. After researching the ants on this orchid, and learning how their trash pile in the orchid bulb helped feed the orchid, I was hooked on ants.  

Where has your research taken you?
I have worked mostly in the tropics, especially South America, Africa, and Madagascar.  Ants are much more diverse in the tropics. Antarctica, the only continent named after ants, actually doesn’t have any ants.  

Dr. Fisher collecting ants in Madagascar. 

What is the most difficult aspect of your work? 

To be a field-based explorer and a scientist requires you to juggle a lot – from fund raising and government permits to extreme field conditions to sitting endlessly looking through a microscope.  

What is one of the most surprising or exciting thing you have discovered about ants? 
In Madagascar, I have discovered over 800 new species of ants, including Dracula ants. These “primitive” ants feed off the blood of their own larvae. Why are we so interested in discovering life on Mars when right here on Earth, we know so little. We are also probably the last generation that will have a chance to explore much of this diversity before it goes extinct.  


Dracula Ant
Dr. Fisher’s Ant Collection


What information can people learn from ants?

Ants are social and, like humans, face many of the same problems such as communication, group problem solving, food transfer etc. By studying ants, we are learning how ants, after 150 million years of evolution, have solved these shared problems.  Some of these studies on group intelligence and neural networks are already making an impact in the field of artificial intelligence.  
How do people react when you tell them about your work?
After I give a lecture, where I detail the wonder of the secret lives of ants, the first question I get is always, “How can I kill the ants in my kitchen?” My response?  I tell them to leave some cookie crumbs on the counter and watch the ants. It is a rare treat to watch these wonders right in your own home.     


Be sure to check out the rest of the 10 Fascinating Facts About Ants here

Still not convinced that ants are fascinating? For countless reasons why, come to the Marin Science Seminar presentation Ants: The Invisible Majority” with Dr. Brian Fisher Ph.D. of the California Academy of Sciences, January 22, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207

See the flyer here

For more information, videos, and pictures about Dr. Fisher check out his page on the California Academy of Sciences website or his ant web site. 

~Claire Watry

Image credits:

http://www.petridish.org/projects/new-species-of-ants-in-madagascar

Video credits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEWdhksSM6I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsEED8A7Itc

Rethinking Buildings with Cyane Dandridge

by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS
 
When I was asked by upcoming MSS speaker Cyane Dandridge, executive director and founder of Strategic Energy Innovations and executive director of the Marin School of Environmental Leadership, what the 5 “R”s are, I easily breezed through the first 3 – reduce, reuse, recycle – and managed to recall the fourth one – rot – but I could not think of the mysterious fifth “R”. Rethink is the fifth “R” and a very important one at that. As a community and as a society we must rethink how we use energy. For Cyane Dandridge and Strategic Energy Innovations, it begins with rethinking all aspects of buildings. People don’t normally think of buildings as the gateway to a more environmentally-friendly and energy-conscious society, but Dandridge maintains that they should be at the forefront. The various components of buildings – space for the building, resources for construction the building, electricity to power the building, even the stuff in the building – can be carefully considered, scrutinized, and altered to be more green.
Statistics from the EPA
Dandridge got an early start in the energy-efficient building movement. While attending a boarding school, Dandridge built a small house for two people using passive solar to capture heat. She then went to study physics at Reed College in Oregon. She served as a consultant to help people get solar installed. Dandridge then went on to MIT to study in the new building energy efficiency program. After her time at MIT, Dandridge worked for the EPA designing the energy star programs before founding Strategic Energy Innovations. 



Dandridge founded Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) in 1997 to answer the question of how can we help communities engage in sustainable practices. SEI is based on four pillars – jobs, government, housing, and education – and a collaboration of the four pillars to achieve sustainability within communities. See the video below to see more of what SEI does. 

Visit the SEI website for more information


 The project-based boarding school that Dandridge attended served as inspiration for the Marin School of Environmental Leadership. The goal of the program is to create strong  leaders and use the environment to address critical issues. The students in the program learn imperative 21stcentury skills – how to be engaged, how to take initiative, how to communicate effectively, how to think critically, and how to be innovative through project-based learning. The goal is to expand the program and spread the model to other schools. 


Visit http://www.thesel.org/ for more information about the Marin School of Environmental Leadership.

Below are a few of the world’s green buildings

From top left clockwise to bottom left: School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Acros Building in Fukuoka, Japan, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and 30 St. Mary Axe in London, England

Learn more about energy-efficent buildings at “Innovations for Combating Climate Change: Clean Energy, Green Building & Energy Efficiency” with Cyane Dandridge, executive director and founder of Strategic Energy Innovations and executive director of the Marin School of Environmental Leadership on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207

Get the flyer here

Sources:
http://www.seiinc.org/
http://inhabitat.com/
http://www.epa.gov/
~Claire Watry


A Behind the Scenes Look into the Lawrence Berkeley Lab with Polite Stewart

by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

What makes Polite (pronounced “po-leet”) Stewart stand out from any other person working in the Advanced Light Source department at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab? The answer is that Polite is only nineteen years old. His remarkable story begins with a young boy who has a knack for learning.


Ever since an early age, Polite’s parents could tell that he picked up new concepts at a much faster rate than other kids. After being enrolled in the Baton Rouge University at fourteen years old, Polite entered the Timbuktu program there which is designed to focus on studying advanced subjects of English and math. Polite excelled in his academic experience there and became one of the youngest graduates of the university’s 132 year history. His passion for physics can be expressed in his current work with the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

What is the Advanced Light Source?  “Think of it as one of the world’s most powerful microscopes. With such a tool, scientists and industry can study materials at the molecular level, such as improving the physical structure of pharmaceutical drugs to increase effectiveness, studying the degradation of materials in batteries to build energy storage devices that last longer, and identifying how the molecular structure of solar cells impedes energy conversion efficiency.” [1]

In the interview below, Polite talks about his work at the lab and provides valuable insights on how to strive reach your highest potential level of success.  His topic is highly specific so some here are some explanations of terms.

Terms:

  • Postbac – Post Baccalaureate (a college level degree)
  • ALS –  The Advanced Light Source is a specialized particle accelerator that generates bright beams of x rays for scientific research. [2]
  • How the ALS works – Electron bunches traveling nearly the speed of light, when forced into a circular path by magnets, emit bright ultraviolet and x-ray light that is directed down beam lines or tubes to different research labs. [2]
  • How Bright Is It? – The ALS produces light that is one billion times brighter than the sun. This tool offers research in materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and the environmental sciences.  
The Berkeley Lawrence Lab

Interview:

1. What first sparked your interest in physics?
  • My interest in physics is related to kinetics (motion) Newtonian physics, and that interest was piqued because I knew it would be useful to know about force transmission in the martial arts. It also helped me gain a better understanding of mathematics, engineering, and chemistry via research and self-study; everything is connected. My true interest is bio-engineering. I plan to research neuro-muscular theory to help people improve and repair lost neuron connection.
2. What specific topic are you studying?   

  •       At the moment, I work with hard X-Ray Scattering, specifically Small-Angle(SAXS) and Wide-Angle(WAXS). X-ray scattering is an analysis technique that uses x-rays to determine the structural formation of an object. At my beam line, 7.3.3, we specialize in protein, block co-polymer, polymer, and semi-conductor based samples. Transmission SAXS/WAXS is used to view a sample’s interior; whereas, Grazing Incidence(GISAXS/GIWAXS) is used to look at the surface structure of a sample.

    X-Ray Scattering machine
    Image Credits: http://www.saxswaxs.com
    3. You are working with very sophisticated machines and ideas. Can you explain to high schoolers what the synchrotron does?
    •       A synchrotron is a huge particle accelerator that uses magnets to control electron bunches. The electron bunches are what make up the particle beam that each beam line end station (workplace) uses. The particle beam at our synchrotron is only a few micrometers wide and over 10x brighter than the sun.
    4. Why is a synchrotron important?
    •      Well, that has a very long answer. The simplest answer would be to state that the aforementioned electron bunches are necessary to irradiate samples and therefore extract data…but, let’s go deeper than that. First, a synchrotron is a just another version of the particle accelerator. So, we must determine why a particle accelerator is useful. Fundamentally, it is known that everything in this world is made up of atoms and molecules. There are smaller particles but we will only concern ourselves with the structures, for now, and not their components. Atoms and molecules are, of course, too small to see with the naked eye so, in essence, particle acceleration is our window into the world of the micro- and nano-structures.
    •       How does this work? The electron bunches are sped up to a very high constant speed and then the bunches are sent down each individual beam line’s lead tunnel. The light is then rammed into your sample. When this occurs, the electrons in the beam will then collide with atomic and molecular structure of your sample. This will cause photons (light emission from the bouncing of electrons in particle space) to be emitted. This emission is then recorded and visualized as a scattering profile. This means that a synchrotron is very useful for allowing us to see the unseen. It is one of the many windows that helps us to understand the results of biology, chemistry, and engineering as a whole.

    5. What do you hope to learn from this research?
    •       This research has only one real goal. It is to speed up the progress of science. At the synchrotron, there is something called beamtime. Beamtime is the experiment time given to each scientist who writes a proposal to use our beam line. This implies that many research groups frequent our beam line and the synchrotron itself. My job, and my employers’, is to aid in the experimentation process. This increases (research) paper output, which in turn increases the output of scientific knowledge, and eventually improves consumer life (i.e. you).

    6. Is this something that will help everyday people or businesses? Or both?
    •       The research that we do at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) is designed to help the commercial (consumer) and financial (business) sectors because helping the commercial automatically helps the financial.
    7. How long do your projects take? 
    •       I have two jobs as a student researcher on the beam line: help the users (various research groups) at the beam line and write programs/make changes to enhance, and increase the efficiency of, the beam line. User assistance only lasts as long as the given research group’s experiments. On the other hand, enhancement of the beam line will never stop.
    8. What is a typical day in the lab like?
    •       There is no such thing as a typical day, but I would say days normally start off with determining whether users are present. If they are, the whole day is generally devoted to helping them with experiment setup and execution. If there are no users, then the morning might be spent cleaning the beam line and the remaining afternoon would be devoted to programming.
    9. Where do you see yourself going?
    •       Currently, I see myself working for another year. Hopefully, it will be with Lawrence Berkeley Lab in the life sciences department. If not, I will apply to other labs and try to get a biological position. In the future, I would like to get a Masters in Bio-Engineering, possibly from Berkeley, and then go overseas to get my PH.D. and do my post-doc in Japan.
    10. What do you recommend high school students do to get involved in research?
    •       This is a difficult question. The first step is to cultivate and maintain a self-driving spirit and will. From a different take, I’m saying that, first and foremost, the level to which you want to learn determines how much you learn. Effort and excellence are proportional; even you don’t see the results immediately.
    •       Now that effort has been determined as the essential element, let us discuss the limiting factor: resources. Resources (lab equipment and opportunities) are hard to acquire and difficult to locate. However, there is a hack…and then there’s a cheat code. I know they sound the same but they most certainly are not. The cheat code are summer programs. Look up as many as you can, find the ones that interest you, and apply with all the initiative you can possibly muster.
    •       Finally, the hack is the ability to network. How do you develop this hack? Talk to anyone and everyone who gives off a positive light. In school, on the street, in the store, at home, and especially at a place you would love to work at in the future. The key to your success is your voice and your ability to use it. When you see a person who could benefit you, address him/her, introduce yourself, and begin to discuss how you could help them and they can help you. Only practice can make you adept at communication, but once you can talk with poise and demonstrate mental rigor…there will be no limiting you or the passion which you hold in your heart.

        References:

       [1] The Collective Energy.  “Part 2: The Mad Scientists at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories”  Sept 23, 2013. <http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/277291/pt-2-mad-scientists-department-energy-s-national-laboratories>.

       [2] “Advanced Light Source.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 July 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Light_Source>.   

        The Advanced Light Source – A Tool for Solving the Mysteries of Materials.” Advanced Light Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/>. 

        Further Reading:

        Learn more about Polite by clicking on the links below.
        What is the Berkeley Lawrence Lab all about? To learn more about getting involved, click here.

       Click here to see an interactive map of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab!
       See the Advanced Light Source Quick Facts in a pdf here.
       
       See the flyer for Polite’s upcoming presentation here.

       – Jessica Gerwin

    Imitating Nature Through Robotics

    by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS

    What do Olympic swimwear, Velcro, and office buildings all have in common? They are all inspired by nature and created through the process of biomimicry. According to the Biomimicry Institute, biomimicry is “a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems”. The high-tech swimsuits worn by Olympic swimmers (before they were banned from competition) to be able to swim faster are based off of shark skin. Velcro is a hook-and-loop product created by Swiss engineer George de Mestral based on a burr. Termite dens serve as the inspiration for office buildings because of the ability of their cooling chimneys and tunnels to maintain a constant internal temperature.


    Meet Terra Linda High School grad Ian Krase, a junior at University of California, Berkeley studying mechanical engineering who will be presenting at the upcoming Marin Science Seminar. In his presentation Bioinspiration: Bird-bots and Bug-bots at Berkeley, Ian will discuss how robots are developed through the process of biomimicry. In college, Ian joined the Fearing Lab, a group that works to create small, efficient robots by mimicking nature. Ian’s explanation of the Fearing Lab is “in university research, each professor runs a lab, with several graduate students who are working on their PhDs or Masters degrees. Each student has a project, and the whole lab has a unifying theme with its own laboratory space and shared resources. Fearing Lab is Professor Fearing’s lab, and is focused on biomimicry and small-scale robotics.” The interview below shows how Ian became interested in robotics, what kind of work is done in the Fearing Lab, and advice on how to become involved in robotics.


    What sparked your interest in robots?
    I’ve been interested in mechanical things for as long as I remember, and robots are a developing field with some of the most interesting open questions. While I tried building a robot in junior high on a whim, my current interest began when I saw some robotics labs while visiting colleges. 
    What past project are you most proud of?
    Probably the work I did on BOLT (Bipedal Ornithopter for Locomotion Transitioning), a hybrid running and flying robot. I designed a carbon fiber frame for it to allow it to steer. My work on flight evolution was also pretty cool, but the part I actually worked on didn’t end up panning out very well. 


    Read more about BOLT here
    What project are you currently working on?
    Currently, I’m working on an upgraded ornithopter and on a project to study the evolution of flight in birds by building robotic models of extinct birds and test-flying them. 
    What lessons have you learned from mimicking nature?
    Natural systems are incredibly complicated, even the ones that seem simple. You need a LOT of iterations. And there is almost always a reason for everything — you have to look a long way for something you can actually change. Also, natural systems seem to be incredibly strong and damage resistant. It’s actually a little creepy. 
    What do you see as the future/potential of biomimicry? 
    We can expect some much more efficient equipment, especially small UAVs. I also expect to see prosthetics to get much better, although Fearing Lab doesn’t work on things of that scale. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of equipment replacing motors or manual latches with shape-shifting actuators. 
    How can students learn more about and get involved with robotics and biomimicry?
    Robotics is pretty popular, and easy to get into — you can pick up a Lego robotics set or use an Arduino and a simple driving base. On the other hand, if you want to go Fearing Lab style, you’ll do better starting with the mechanical parts. (Most of our work is more about mechanical systems and controls than about software). In the last five years there’s been an explosion in the availability of cheap and easy to use 3D printers and electronics development kits. You might want to join a hackerspace — these often have classes or workshops in electronics and other subjects. If you want to get your hands on a Fearing Lab project, you can check out Dash Robotics. And there is also a project to make gecko tape in a school chemistry lab environment on the Fearing Lab website.

    Gecko Tape
    For more information: Gecko Tape Activity

    As far as college goes, you’ll probably want to go to a research institution for mechanical, electrical, or bioengineering. Fearing Lab at UC Berkeley, the Poly-Pedal lab at Berkeley, the Biorobotics Lab at Case Western Reserve University, and the Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation lab at Stanford are all biomimetic robotics labs. General robotics labs are quite common at universities with engineering research. You should also look at joining TL’s FIRST Robotics team. 

    For more information about the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab click here
    Learn more about biomimicry in engineering on NOVA’s Making Stuff: Wilder. You can watch it online here

    Learn more about robotics and biomimicry at BioinspirationBird-bots and Bug-bots at Berkeley” with Ian Krase, TLHS grad and junior at UC Berkeley on Wednesday, October 30th, 2013, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207

    Sources:
    http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/7-amazing-examples-of-biomimicryhttp://biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.htmlhttp://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/robot-birds-and-octoroaches-on-the-loose-at-uc-berkeleyhttp://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ronf/Biomimetics.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b5sOru11Mg

    Claire Watry

    Entering the Medical Field

    by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

    Dr. Art Wallace, who is a cardiac anesthesiologist and the Chief of Anesthesia Service at the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center (SF VAMC) will be presenting at the Marin Science Seminars this Wednesday. His presentation “Making Medicine Safer”, will explore the vital roles that drugs, devices and software play in modern medicine. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Wallace and was given insight on how to enter into medical professions. Our interview is below.


    1. Your B.S. was in Engineering and Applied Sciences. Did you start off wanting to be an Engineer?  If so, what first sparked your interest in the field of medicine?
      1. I always wanted to be a doctor. My mother died when I was a young child and this experience focused my interest in medicine with a goal of preventing this problem in others.
      2. I started off in college with a goal to go to medical school but with an interest in physics and engineering as well. Electrical engineering appealed to me, so I majored in Engineering and Applied Science with a focus on electrical and biomedical engineering.
      3. I am fascinated by how stuff works.


    1. What kept you motivated to go through the intensive level of schooling needed to become an anesthesiologist?
      1. I was fascinated by medicine and research.
      2. In medical school, I my girlfriend developed cancer. This second experience with terminal illness drove me even harder to try to find therapies to help patients.
      3. I was driven to invent therapies that save lives.


    1. What makes you excited about going to work everyday?
      1. Providing the best care possible for patients.
      2. Creating the future of medical care. I focus on inventing therapies. Testing therapies. Making therapies better.


    1. What attributes, both teachable and non-teachable, do teenagers need to have to start pursuing a career in medicine?
      1. Fascination with science, medicine, people.
      2. Caring about people.
      3. Desire to understand how stuff works.


    1. What sort of local opportunities should teenagers be looking for?
      1. Exposure to science.
      2. Exposure to medical care – volunteer in a hospital.

    1. Do you feel that teenagers today underestimate what it takes to become a successful?
      1. Teenagers need to realize that it takes a  long time to accomplish something significant. I worked for almost 30 years to become a doctor. Once I was a physician, it took 10 more years to get good at it.
      2. One can master a video game in a week (less than 168 hours). Becoming a doctor takes a minimum of 12 years of work 100 hours a week. That is more than 60,000 hours of work to become a doctor.

    1. What message would you like to give teenagers today about joining the medical field?
      1. It is great. I love it. I can’t imagine a better thing to do with my life.
      2. It takes a lot of work.
      3. Make sure it is something that fascinates you.
      4. There is enormous joy in providing care to patients. They are relieved. They don’t die. They are no longer in pain. It is a tremendous experience to be able to help a patient.
      5. It is a tremendous experience to invent a therapy that prevents morbidity and mortality.


    To learn more about recent advances and methodologies in modern medicine, check out our next seminar on October 23rd  featuring Dr. Art Wallace speaking on “Making Medicine Safer with Drugs, Devices, Software and More” The event will take place at Terra Linda High School Room 207 at 7:30 pm. To download the Fall flyer, click here.

    Click on the link below for more information about Dr. Wallace

    Image credits

    -Jessica Gerwin

    The Process Behind Medical Innovations Revealed

    by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS

    This week Dr. Art Wallace returns to the Marin Science Seminar to present “Making Medicine Safer with Drugs, Devices, Software & More”. Dr. Wallace is a cardiac anesthesiologist at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SF VAMC) and the Chief of the Anesthesia Service. He is also a professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Wallace provides clinical anesthesia care to patients at the SF VAMC and has a laboratory that works on reducing perioperative risk. He has compiled an impressive list of innovative theories for perioperative cardiac patients. Dr. Wallace will explain the process of developing a new drug, device, or software and answer your burning questions: How is a drug or device developed? How is a new product tested? How is it determined whether the therapy is successful or not?  How do new technology and therapies change medical care? For a sneak peek preview of his presentation, check out part of my interview with Dr. Wallace below. 

    What is the process of researching, developing, and implementing a new drug, device, or software?

    a. The first step is to identify a problem and then identify the likely etiologic factors (what causes the problem). When we looked at patients having heart attacks around the time of surgery we first did an epidemiologic study to find out how often they died. We then put holter monitors (small portable ECG monitors) on the patients. We found that they had myocardial ischemia (not enough blood supply to the heart muscle).

    b. The next step is to test likely therapies. We tested 20 different drugs to find ones that would prevent myocardial ischemia. We found four that worked.

    c. The next step is to implement the programs. We implemented programs in our hospital to use those medications. Those programs decreased the mortality of patients about 35%.

    d. The next step is to disseminate the program to other hospitals. We helped more than  1000 other hospitals implement the programs and they found similar reductions in mortality.

    e. For devices the approaches are similar – 1) Identify a problem. 2) Find possible causes. 3) See if you can create a device to eliminate the problem. 4) Test the device to see  if it reduces or eliminates the problem.


    How long does the process typically take?

    The development of perioperative cardiac risk reduction takes many years and many billions of dollars. It depends when you start the clock. When did you identify the problem? When did you find a likely solution? When did you prove it works? When did you get others to use it? Science takes a long time. Once you find a therapy, it takes the average doctor 17 years to adopt it.

    When asked about what serious health issues he believes can be alleviated by the development of new technology, Dr. Wallace answered that even with new technological advances, prevention is key because “many of the health care problems we face are related to behaviors”. Dr. Wallace cited using birth control and HIV prevention, not smoking, taking illegal drugs, becoming obese or drinking excessively, and exercising regularly as prime examples of how proper education and behavior alterations can dramatically reduce health problems. He maintained that “it is vastly easier and more effective to avoid having a problem than to attempt to fix it” and mentioned computerized reminders to eat reasonably, to avoid drugs, cigarettes, and excessive alcohol, and to exercise as an effective way to avoid having a problem.

    Dr. Wallace stressed that even with advanced technology “developing some miracle drug or therapy for a disease is really, really hard. Avoiding getting the disease in the first place is vastly easier and cheaper. Literacy, flush toilets and sewers, washing your hands, chlorine and fluoride in drinking water, refrigerators, pasteurization, electricity, seat belts, and social security did vastly more for people than medicine.”

    Learn more about the development of new medical therapies at Making Medicine Safer with Drugs, Devices, Software & More” with Dr. Art Wallace M.D. Ph. D. on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207

    http://www.marinscienceseminar.com/speakers/awallace.html

    Claire Watry

    Public Health Plays More Roles In Your Life Than You May Think

    by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

    When you hear the term public health, ideas that may come to mind might be about immunizations or food recalls. However, many of us don’t realize how big of a role public health plays in our everyday lives.  From the faucets that we fill our drinking cups with to the seat belts that we wear in our cars, almost all aspects of our well being relate to Public Health in some way. On October 16th, 2013 Julie Pettijohn did an exemplary job of explaining the topic of public health and talked about what being in the field really involves. As an industrial hygienist, a typical work day for Julie is not just filling out paperwork in an office. Wearing a full outfit of protective gear, Julie often goes to a site to detect possible lead amounts in a work environment. Her job keeps us safe by enforcing the proper health requirements. The work and service of people like Julie in the public health field may often be taken for granted. Nevertheless, by attending the seminar many of us learned that being in the field is not just a job, it is establishing safe and healthy ways of life. I had the honor of asking Julie some questions about both herself and her field. Our interview is below.


    1.) I’d like to learn a little about you. What made you decide to go into biology and then public health?


            I have been interested in science since junior high (now called middle school). I had a fantastic physical science teacher that really brought science to life for me. His teaching was unconventional, and his class time was spent mostly applying scientific principles through experiments instead of reading a text book. I was also a child of parents that went to community college while my sibling and I were kids. My parents met a fantastic professor that later became our good family friend. He was a Native American expert and professor of astronomy and geology. We would spend evenings at his home looking through his telescope and I often attended his college geology field trips along with my parents. While in college, I first majored in biological sciences and completed internships at the local community health center; I was thinking of going to medical school after graduation. I was fortunate to attend UC Santa Barbara, a university that is well known for aquatic biology coursework. I switched majors midway through college from biological sciences to aquatic biology and graduated with a degree in this major. This was done to pursue my due to my deep love of the ocean. My first ‘real’ job was with a state department, where I was a contractor working on public health issues related to fish contamination. My mentors at that position encouraged me to get a Master’s Degree in public health, where I could continue to learn about issues related to health, but also environmental issues, thus combining two of my interests (health and the environment).

    2.)  I think that public health and public policy are difficult subjects for teenagers to relate to. Can you explain the role of public health in Marin County?


            I work at the state level, so I’m not as knowledgeable about public health issues in Marin County. However, the County Public Health Department provides a number of direct services to Marin residents and the one that I am most familiar with is Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. County public health nurses and environmental health specialists conduct home visits where children have elevated blood lead levels, putting them at lifelong risk for learning and behavioral problems. The purpose of these site visits is to determine possible sources of the lead in the child’s environment, so that they can be reduced or eliminated.. See http://www.marinhhs.org/content/public-health-updates for some public health updates for Marin. My talk will include asking teens questions, and by the responses that I anticipate, I’m pretty sure that most of them know quite a bit about public health already, but may not automatically associate this knowledge with the field of public health.
    3.)  Can you talk a little bit about the sampling equipment you are bringing? What are you sampling for? What personal protective equipment are you bringing?

            I’m bringing with me air monitoring equipment. I use the air monitoring equipment to measure lead in workplace air to assess if workers are being excessively exposed above legal limits and to make recommendations on lead safety. I’m also bringing lead check swabs which are used for immediately assessing the presence of lead surface contamination or the presence of lead in paint. I’ll be demonstrating the use of these during the talk. I’ll also be bringing wipe sampling equipment that can be used for quantitatively determining the amount of lead (or other metals) on surfaces in workplaces, homes, and other places of interest. As for personal protective equipment, I’ll be bringing respiratory protection used for reducing the amount of a chemical of concern (like lead) that may breathed in by workers in workplace air. I’ll also be showing tyvek coveralls which are worn in many industries to keep lead (also other contaminants) from contaminating your street clothes while working. I’ll be bringing a hard hat, gloves, and a traffic safety vest too.
    4.)  What are a few examples global climate change that are impacting Marin County?

            Extremes in weather, flooding, and water quality issues.
    5). What do you consider to be the largest public health issue involving teens in Marin County?

            This is a great question. From my perspective, public health issues that affect Marin teens are wellness and injury prevention. What I mean by this is that teens should be thinking about personal physical fitness and nutrition. Many teens in our Country are unfortunately overweight putting them at risk for lifelong health issues, particularly as they age (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). In addition, teens are often new and inexperienced drivers, new to employment outside the home, may become sexually active for the first time and may have peer pressure to drink alcohol or take illegal substances. As a result, teens are at greater risk for accidents, particularly on the road, in the workplace, and may be exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, which if left untreated, can have serious health consequences. Besides this, a goal of my talk is to get teens to also think about global climate change and things that they can do to help.
    6.)  What steps can our community take to better ourselves on these issues?

    Get informed and get involved in the issues, and take care of your health to prevent or reduce future injury or illness.
    7.)  Is there anything else that you’ll be talking about?

                  The field of industrial hygiene, the program that I work for (Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program of the California Department of Public Health), how lead impacts your health, where lead is found in various industries, and recent work by CDPH on making recommendations to reduce the allowable levels of lead in workplaces, which would be a major change in public health policy for lead workplaces. Also, I’ll briefly cover some career opportunities in public health.

    Julie is one of the many people that work in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). If you are interested in learning more about these fields or just science in general, attending a Marin Science Seminar can be a great way to expose yourself to new topics and learn about a few different environments. Come check out our next seminar on October 23rd “Making Medicine Safer – Drugs, Devices, Software and More” presented by Dr. Wallace. The seminar will take place at Terra Linda High School in Room 207 so come check it out!

    October is Nova’s “Innovation Month”. You can learn more about different seminars that are taking place by clicking on the link below.

    -Jessica Gerwin

    The Making of an App Starts with a Passion

    by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS 

    On September 25th, 2013, multimedia producer David Fox spoke to an audience of over 50 enthusiastic and curious individuals about his love for Rube Goldberg machines. Rube Goldberg, as defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary is a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation. It is easy to compare the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine to the popular 60’s board game, “Mouse Trap”.

    Mouse Trap, a popular board game of the 60’s was inspired by Rube Goldberg machines. The game involves setting up an array of objects in order to trap a plastic mouse.


    Rube Goldberg himself is a famous cartoonist from San Francisco whose drawings focus on quirky combinations of gadgets that perform simple tasks in convoluted ways. The series of these “inventions” led Goldberg to become a founding member of the National Cartoonist Society and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Goldberg’s unique style and sense of humor made him a beloved national figure who created a large cultural impact. Goldberg’s sense of humor is well emulated in the popular YouTube video called “The Page Turner” by Joseph Herscher. To take a further look into these machines, watch the video by clicking here.

    Likewise, David wishes to emulate Goldberg’s intricate and whimsical style into his game. David introduced the app that he in conjunction with Electric Eggplant and Kalani games are in the process of creating. While the name of the app has changed from Casey’s Contraptions to another not yet known, the premise of the game remains the same. The mission of each level in the game is to set up an assortment of contraptions to carry out a simple task such as popping a balloon or filling a glass of orange juice.

    However, the process that it takes to animate a scene like that is more intricate than the level that they are working on. The process of programming a level is a long and difficult one. Each level requires planning, drawing, programming, and graphics skills.

    While programming can be very difficult, it is not an unattainable thing to do. Programming apps does take some specific knowledge and skills that can be learned if you want to. The earlier you learn about programming, the easier it becomes.  There are plenty online and offline resources that exist to help you learn about programming.

    For instance, code.org is a website that refers you to free programs that teach you how to code. The site recommends websites such as Code Academy, Khan Academy and Code HS. All of which are great resources to help you get started. Many representatives of the site stress the importance of being able to code in the YouTube video here.

    Creating apps are part of the “T” in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and is a creative way to entertain, teach, make money and more. The limitations for your own creativity is boundless.  The best way to start is to find something in which you are passionate about.  The STEM field is full of examples of many passions like David Fox’s. 

    To learn more about the STEM fields, check out our next seminar on October 16th featuring Julie Pettijohn speaking on “Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Work” about how Public Health research and policy keeps us healthy and improves our lives. The event will take place at Terra Linda High School at 7:30 pm. To download the Fall flyer, click here.

    Sources Cited:

    • “Rube Goldberg : Home of the Official Rube Goldberg Machine Contests.” 
    • Rube Goldberg. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://www.rubegoldberg.com/>.

    • “Rube Goldberg.” 
    • Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg>.

    • Caplan, Lisa. “The App Store’s IPad Game Of The Week: Casey’s Contraptions.”AppAdvice RSS. App Advice, 22 May 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/05/app-stores-ipad-game-week-caseys-contraptions>.
    • “Code.org.” Code. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://code.org/>.

    -Jessica Gerwin