By Mariel Emrich, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
TB is a difficult disease to treat. People are prescribed a combination of many antibiotics to be taken daily for 6 to 9 months. This is a schedule that is hard for patients to follow and hard for their nurses and doctors to administer. Even after beginning the appropriate treatment, some of the infectious cells survive for long periods of time. A team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study to figure out why some tuberculosis cells are inherently more difficult to treat with antibiotics.

By Mariel Emrich, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
Iron oxide is a component (along with magnesium) of ferropericlase, the second most abundant mineral at Earth’s lower mantle. In the center of the Earth, there is extreme pressure and high temperature. This causes atoms and electrons to squeeze so closely together that they interact differently from the way they interact in the outer layers of Earth. New experiments and supercomputer computations have enabled researchers to discover something interesting about the way iron oxide (FeO) behaves in deep Earth conditions.

by Meryl, Coastal Studies for Girls
On November 30, our final guest speaker of the semester, Anne Madden, gave a talk on her research involving microbes in paper wasp nests. Anne Madden, a graduate research student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, studies the microbes in wasp nests.

Fin whales are enormous animals, with the largest individuals measuring nearly 90 feet in length and weighing 80 tons. Something that large should be conspicuous, especially in the coastal waters where fin whales spend much of their time. But the species’ propensity to disperse to open water and steep declines in its numbers in the 20th century have rendered it a rare sight. And so, relative to its famous baleen cousins, the blue whale and the humpback, the fin whale is lesser known, and its behavior little understood.

For our first podcast, and just in time for the holidays, we explore the insect stop motion animation work of Ladislaw Starevitch, a Russian insect enthusiast. He created The Insects' Christmas, a lovely short film that’s perfect for the season. So leave out some cookies for Santa and some crumbs for the beetles and join us on Bug Bytes.

Every forest includes a host of microorganisms, insects, and pathogens (disease-causing organisms) that cause damage to the trees within it. A certain level of damage is unavoidable, and can even be healthy for a forest ecosystem. Therefore, modern management techniques must include the consideration of protection against forest pests. In this activity, you are a forester figuring out strategies to deal with a forest pest, quantifying the damage to your plantation, and considering the costs and benefits of different strategies. This activity is adapted with permission from Biology in a Box.

By Mariel Emrich, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
 
Know a child who loves science? Check out these gifts for this holiday season!

Kaitlyn, Gerber, Carleton College
For years, parental concerns regarding the dangers of heading the ball have been brushed off by players, coaches, and even FIFA, the international soccer federation. In 2001, a study conducted by the U.S. Soccer Federation and the UNC Orthopedic Clinic found that that intentionally heading the ball spreads out the impact over the entire body, minimizing risk of a concussion. But what if they were wrong?

By Zach Lynn, Carleton College
The Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii is known for its rigorous difficulty. Competitors must complete a 2.4 mile swim, a 180 mile bike ride, and a 26 mile (marathon) run. In 2011's Ironman Triathlon, Mr. Evolta, a 6.7 inch tall robot, raced alongside human competitors. It finished in 166 hours and 56 minutes, just under its goal of 168 hours (one week). The average time for a human competitor is about 10 hours. The lead designer of Mr. Evolta, Tomotaka Takahashi, reasoned that since the robot was about one tenth the size of a man, it should take the robot 10 times as long to complete the course.

By Mariel Emrich, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
Biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells. The researchers started by attaching a fluorescent protein to the biological clocks of the bacteria. They then synchronized the clocks of thousands of bacterial colonies to glow on and off in unison.

By Mariel Emrich, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
 
Before 2011, a brain scan was typically used to identify the type of stroke a patient had suffered.However, it takes hours to receive the result from this method -- during which time the stroke is getting increasingly more dangerous. A new device uses a technique called impedance spectroscopy. Impedance spectroscopy measures how waves of energy flow through different tissue or materials to analyze what’s going on deep inside the skull.