Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I am a NERD!!

The last 2 weeks I have been involved in a summer science institute with this years topic being nanoscience. It has been a ton of fun to study the the tiniest particles around and how they work. I think the coolest part was studying self-assembly and how some particles that small are able to put themselves together without any human intervention. Here is a link to an animation put together by Harvard that gives a whole different look at a cell (just click the box to play it):
http://www.xvivo.net/press/harvard_university.htm

Also, with things putting themselves together, it sparks a lot of curiosity about evolution vs. intelligent design. There is a great video by NOVA involving a case in Dover, PA. It is really interesting. Here is the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

So, here's a couple pictures. We are making a carbon nanotube out of balloons, that's how cool we are! (This is actually a very cool thing. They are now making buckyballs that can trap nuclear and radioactive particles inside them - making them buckycages, containing dangerous particles!) I know - I AM A NERD... :-)

2 comments:

Anna said...

Yes Sharon, you are. ;)

Sluggie said...

I know, but I can't help it! Anything scientific is fascinating to me!