The BioBus Daily News

Certified Tree Hugger

Dr. Ben — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:55:16 +0000

I’ve been accused of being one many a time, but now there can be no more doubt: Treehugger.com just ran a great article on the BioBus.

Still hugging tree in the cold but sunny NYC winter!

Goodness

Dr. Ben — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:01:49 +0000

Is the BioBus good?

Could someone please add a comment that the BioBus uses waste vegetable oil, which is definitely good?

Beat It!

Dr. Ben — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:13:35 +0000

BioBus spent the day at the Beczak Environmental Center yesterday. The center is on the banks of the Hudson River, where you can gaze across the frigid, brackish waters to the ice covered cliffs of the Palisades across the way. The center focuses on the ecology and geology of the Hudson River, and they have a set of super cool hands-on activities that allow students to explore and learn about the environment.

They invited the BioBus there to work with two of their student groups, and we had a lot of fun checking out various crustaceans and protists. Check out one of the movies the students made of a paramecium, where you can see lots of beating cilia and chunky organelles inside:

And if you have time, please join us later today (Saturday, Feb 20) at the Williamsburg Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The BioBus will be there from 12-1:30 putting on a special program for Green Apple Kids, but people of all ages are welcome to stop by!

Big BioBus News!

Dr. Ben — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:40:34 +0000

Do good things come in three? Evidence in favor of this hypothesis:
1) Scientific American today published a glowing article about how the BioBus narrows the science achievement gap

2) BioBus approved Wednesday as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity by the IRS

3) On Tuesday, the transmission dropped its top 2 gears, but only five miles away from the garage, and U.S. Coach was able to fix it easily. Something to do with a piece of Bakelite in the governor cracking.

Do I have to choose?

Lasers on the BioBus

Dr. Ben — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:35:08 +0000

Just received a grant from the Awesome Foundation to build a laser tweezer on the BioBus so we can poke, prod, and pull cells and other cool stuff. Read more!

How Not to Teach

Dr. Ben — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:51:36 +0000

Mentoring Minorities

Dr. Ben — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:48:45 +0000

The Scientist Magazine has a really thoughtful article in their current issue about mentoring minority students and researchers. I’m beginning development of a full-fledged mentorship program for the many talented and driven students I meet on the BioBus. Articles like this one have been helpful in shaping my thoughts, and I would greatly appreciate anyone who has other articles, resources, or know people who you think are running really top-notch science mentoring programs, to please send the info my way. Thanks!

Oh, and check out this cool movie of a Daphnia’s Heart Beating that students made recently on the BioBus. We just received a generous donation of a pretty high speed laptop that should make future movies a little less jumpy!

BioBus on National TV

Dr. Ben — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:34:44 +0000

The BioBus along with 8 students from the Community Health Academy of the Heights (CHAH) were featured in two, three minute long T.V. segments that aired live on the Japanese national network NHK yesterday. Below are some photos I took from the scene – as soon as the piece goes onto the web I will be sure to post it here. While I understand only a handful of words of Japanese, Ms. Udo, the anchor, explained to us what the segment was about. “Japanese scientists spend all of their time in the lab,” she explained. “We hope that the BioBus will give them some inspiration to get out of the lab and do their own outreach to the community.” Thank you, Ms. Udo and the entire NHK staff for your attention and for an unforgettable experience. I hope to see a BioBus full of Japanese scientists this time next year!

Mission Accomplished

Dr. Ben — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:23:44 +0000

Ric and I rounded out the BioBus 2009 Mid-West tour back in NYC today at Angelo Patri Middle School in the Bronx. We had a great day with 4 different classes – the first classes on the BioBus in its new configuration. The refurbished BioBus not only looks really nice, but is much more functional. We have room for many more students in both the front and the back of the bus, and everyone is more comfortable. Also, I know have a big whiteboard space at the front to use in my lessons. I will post some pictures of actual students on the BioBus soon, but below are some unpeopled shots of the interior.

Another exciting development – I might be on live Japanese television next week. Did I mention we’re big in Japan? (Sorry, lame joke, but I’ve always wanted to say that.) It will probably be either this coming Thursday or the Thursday at between 5 and 6pm. So, if you are a school-age student or you know any school age students who would like a mini-lesson on the BioBus at that time and want to be famous in Japan, let me know.

Humming to the Music

Dr. Ben — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:05:09 +0000

There was a few minutes today on the shop floor at Farber Specialty Coach when the normal caucophony of machine hums, rattles, whines, and buzzes, fell into harmony with the songs booming on the PA – first to Led Zeppelin and then to what sounded like Aerosmith.

I spent the day with a file, sand paper, and baking soda, and a few jugs of distilled water, doing some maintenance on our battery bank. These are the batteries that allow us to save up solar power for use on a rainy day, and really it is time to buy a new set, but that would run about twelve hundred dollars that we don’t have right now. Our bank is made of eight Trojan T-105 deep cycle batteries, known as the most reliable, long lasting deep cycle batteries around – given proper care. And we’ve taken real good care of this set, regularly cleaning corrosion off of terminals, checking water levels, and equalizing the cells. But after over 5 years of hard use – freezing cold weather, lots of vibrations from a bouncing bus, and at least 500 charge-discharge cycles, these batteries are ready to start a new life as lead paper-weights (actually, the lead will be recycled for use in new batteries). But they can still store up enough energy for an entire school day without complaining too much, so for the moment they’ll have to do.

Of course, the guys at Farber we’re hard at work today. They put down a wood sub-floor, laid down and glued in the new blue rubber floor, finished new cabinets for the wet lab, and got about half-way through the new bench-top in the computer classroom. Check out the pictures below. Tomorrow is the final day, and I can’t wait to see how everything comes together – it is already starting to look amazing.