“He’s so amazed; he’s trying to look at every part of the flower,” exclaimed an enthused mother, whose son was preoccupied with a bright red specimen.

These sheets even had spaces laid out for everyone, mainly the children, to draw what he had seen! Everything that was viewed, from the original flowers to their magnified samples were messily recorded and pasted onto the bus itself, and there they stayed until the event’s end.

The festival was a great success; as a man on a loud speaker announced, people were caught groaning that they had to leave. That made me snort. It was a long couple of hours that were extremely enjoyable.

—Jordan Sutphen

Every morning at 11:00 AM, Dr. Ben and his anxious helpers would visit the water during high tide and collect samples. The samples would be observed throughout the day utilizing the professional microscopes. They were extremely diverse: krill, snails, lipids, barnacles, baby starfish, sand worms, crabs, and hermit crabs were just a few of the organisms collected from the Long Island Sound that fascinated the spectators. Once the festival-goers were taught to use a microscope they would visit the white pail teeming with life and choose what to discover next. A young man stood in awe in front of the screen projecting the magnified barnacles and exclaimed it appeared to be another world—one of the many reactions to seeing organisms that, without a microscope, appeared to be little more than tiny moving specks. Those fascinated by the BioBus would often come back later with companions and introduce them to an unbelievable new way to look at ordinary animals. People of all ages realized that there was so much more in our world than what can be perceived through the naked eye.

—Juliana Castrillon

The video can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=935012674942&oid=138412069508769&comments

This synchronized proliferation of cells is the beginning of life. In the video, what appears to be a round boundary starts out filled by two seemingly-large, but really microscopic, cells. This boundary, and its contained cells, is what make up an embryo, or the first sign of a living thing after an egg is fertilized. That ball is really just the beginnings of a baby…sea urchin. Well, that sea urchin must have some very proud parents, because the BioBus has decided to use it as an example depicting the early development of practically all organisms: “Look, that’s my developing urchin on TV!”

While the video made the division of these cells appear to only take a few seconds,  in reality the event was recorded over the span of an hour and was sped up for our enjoyment. If you pay close attention to the embryo, you will see that the cells making up the embryo keep getting smaller as they divide. They have to do this to divide as fast as they do. They cannot just stop to refill on cell juice (a.k.a. cytosol), or other parts just yet! So, they divide a few hundred more times until the cells are extremely numerous and tiny, then they reorganize themselves in specific shapes, and they grow in size by taking in nutrients.  The subsequent embryonic divisions and reorganization of cells actually precede the formation of something more universally recognizable: a fetus, or a baby.

—Jordan Sutphen

No, that oil contains copious amounts of food gunk, bacteria, water, and glycerin (a thick, colorless, and sweet-tasting liquid found in most beauty products) that would ruin any engine. Before using it, Dr. Ben has to separate the refuse from the vegetable oil.

Luckily, the BioBus owner has thought up an answer to this dilemma: a filter system. Said system, when I tried to research it, was a total mystery to me! In fact, Dr. Ben had to send me a diagram of the BioBus’ engine, only for me to stare at it blankly in confusion. Thusly, I asked Dr. Ben to explain to me just how the four-step filtration system works, and here’s how he put it:
“Step 1: When we suck grease out of any dumpster behind a restaurant, there is a strainer that filters large chunks (over 150 micrometers) of matter from the oil before it ever enters the bus.

Step 2: Between the dirty tank and the clean tank, there is a PRIMARY VEG FILTER that separates matter 30 micrometers or more—a marine-grade fuel filter.

Step 3: Between the clean tank and the valve assembly in the engine, the SECONDARY VEG FILTER separates water from the fuel, as well as anything 10 micrometers or larger—another marine-grade fuel filter

Step 4: There is a 10 micrometer water separating diesel fuel filter that is a normal part of the engine, which both the vegetable oil and the regular diesel fuel passes through—called the SECONDARY DIESEL FILTER.

Filters 1, 2, & 3 are ones that we put in, filter 4 is a regular part of the engine.”

His explanation, which was much easier to understand than the diagram was, gave me the impression that each filter is like different level of filtration. The first level is easiest to get through, because the stuff that gets stuck in it is the largest. Then, as the filters progress, more and more refuse is limited by the smaller filters. The vegetable oil at the end of the last filter is then guaranteed to be perfectly suitable for the engine!

—Jordan Sutphen

On the way home, we stopped by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and the Franklin Institute. We’re very excited to be working with scientists at the Academy, and I’m thrilled that the BioBus will likely be returning to my hometown in April for the Philadelphia Science Festival.

Now, for what you really came here to see! Thanks to Becky, Nick, and Matt from MAKE Magazine for making this awesome BioBus bio-pic.

Merry Microscopes!
Doc Ben

Make: Shorts – Ben Dubin-Thaler: Bio Bus
Uploaded by makemagazine. – Discover more science and tech videos.

When we were at a public charter school in the Northeast section of Washington D.C., we were honored by a visit from Ben Shaw, a producer for National Geographic Weekend, a popular radio show hosted by Boyd Matson. It’s a pretty funny segment, and you can listen to it here:

National Geographic Weekend Segment on BioBus

Stay tuned for new and awesome videos of paint drying that we recorded yesterday at PS/IS 18 in Inwood.

Doc Ben

He was part of Pop!Tech,  a  gathering described as:

PopTech is a unique innovation network – a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges. We are known for our thriving community of thought-leaders, breakthrough innovation programs, visionary annual conferences and deep media and storytelling capabilities.

Dr. Ben gave  a great presentation of the BioBus and he got to meet incredible people with very interesting projects.

Here is the video:

Ben Dubin-Thaler: Science by Bus from PopTech on Vimeo.

It was our first collaboration with the group DIYBio, and it was fantastic. While we focused on our usual microscopy and green technology, DIYBio extracted DNA from strawberries and helped volunteers discover weather they possessed a gene for certain bitter tastes. Molecular biology is on the bus!

In other news, If you’ve been following NBC’s Education Nation, you’ll find the BioBus on their website today as well. I was invited to write an opinion piece describing the BioBus, why it is necessary, and how mobile labs can help address our country’s lagging science education. Check it out here, and please share widely.

Erica Tunick, H.S. science teacher, as quoted by Andrea Cardia for Scientific American

It’s official: together we’ve raised $11,000, and the BioBus engine repairs have been paid for. The BioBus is on the road again, visiting summer camps, teacher trainings, and festivals, making sure everyone gets a chance to see how cool science is, even on these hot summer days. If you’d like to hear our roaring new engine, we have a number of public events coming up in September; we’ll email the final dates soon. And special thanks to Science House for giving us the matching grant that drove us to our goal.

New engine and a new name. We’ve long since moved beyond just biology; our students explore topics ranging from physiology to physics, from pond water to paint particles, with more topics to come. I look forward to announcing our new name in early fall.

However, these changes are more than skin deep. It’s time for this project to mature beyond being what some have described as “The Dr. Ben Show,” and we’ve got two new volunteer staff members, Sarah and Marco, to help make that happen. Sarah and Marco will be taking over some of the day-to-day operations, leaving more time to grow with an eye to the future. We’ve even got another bus in the works! Sarah and Marco are also leading BioBus science outreach team, a new paradigm for creating cutting edge outreach programs.

Excited?! Join a science outreach team!

* Energy & Climate Change (Marco is team leader)
* Cell Biology & Microbiology (Sarah is team leader, and what a team!)
* Materials science (Ben is team leader)
* Neuroscience (Great, active group, but needs a leader)
* Mathematics (New group, can you be the team leader?)
* Algae (New collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden, needs a team leader)
* Molecular biology (New group with DIYBio)

Here’s that link again: http://biobus.org/volunteer/

Science teams are groups of scientists, educators, artists, grant writers, and anyone with a passion for science education. Teams develop experiments and lessons for the BioBus, perform press outreach, write grants, teach on the BioBus, and more. Our science teams have proven to be a really fun way to get a lot of work done in a collaborative environment. Please join us by giving us a little info that will help us connect you with a team:

http://biobus.org/volunteer/

Even if you’ve volunteered with us before, I would be grateful if you could fill out this new form. And please, forward this link along to any friends or colleagues who might also want to work to change the face of science outreach!

With Gratitude,
Ben