The BioBus spent the last three days in the exhibition hall for the 50th annual American Society for Cell Biology meeting. Thousands of amazing scientists from across the country visited the BioBus, including current BioBus sponsors from Olympus, Nikon, and Life Technologies.
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.
The BioBus has been doing a lot of traveling over the last few months. We’ve been to Indianapolis, Illinois, Columbus, all over New Jersey, Connecticut, and we’re currently in Albany; all in addition to a packed schedule in the 5 boroughs of New York.
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:
In the first of a series of video blog posts for Discovery News, Doctor Ben shows us Daphnia, a transparent fresh water crustacean with tiny legs, a beating heart, and a digestive tract.
Dr. Ben was in Camden Maine, at the end of October to talk about, you guessed it, the BioBus.
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.
The BioBus won two Blue Ribbons at the World Maker Faire in New York City last weekend, one for our science and one for our innovative green roof. Thanks to DIYBio and all the awesome BioBus staff and volunteers for making the weekend so wildly successful.
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.
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.
* 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)
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:
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!
Prof. Don DeRosa, Professor of Education at Boston Univ., on teacher evaluations of the BioBus and other mobile labs
At the beginning of June, I asked this community of believers in equitable science education to raise $11,000 to fix the BioBus engine. You have not let me down: 97 of you have given $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, $1000, and one gift of $1300, to bring our total to $7,475. We’re two-thirds of the way there, and I have a special announcement that will hopefully help us finish this job!
The Science House Foundation, charitable arm of Science House and long-time supporter of the BioBus, has committed to match every donation you make until we reach our $11,000 goal. That’s right, starting now, if you give $30, Science House will give an additional $30! The amoeba in the movie on the right, made by BioBus high school intern Ryan Hemlall, moves faster than the BioBus at the moment. Join Science House in fixing this by donating what you can.
Based on what we’ve raised so far, we were able to get the BioBus into a garage, and the mechanics are getting close to finishing their work. Double your donation by giving today, and help get the BioBus out of the garage and roaring down the road to a equitable science education.
“My students LOVED the bio bus. It showed them scientists could be ‘hip and cool’ and they realized not only how important science is, but that it can be really fun and interesting. You reached a lot of students at some very challenging schools.”
Message from Naomi, who brought BioBus to her students at schools across Bronx
Dear BioBus Supporters,
Four days ago, I asked you to help raise $11,000 to fix the BioBus engine. Since then, fifty four BioBus believers have given what they could – $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, even two gifts of $1000 – totaling $5,680. We’re halfway to our goal!
Students are transformed onboard the BioBus. They discover, alongside real scientists, that they are capable of exploring and understanding the microscopic world using research equipment. Students who tell me “science is boring” at the beginning of the lesson are jockeying for more ‘scope time by the end. For almost all students, the BioBus experience positively changes their attitudes toward science. For others, like Taccara at Frederick Douglas Academy III in the Bronx who wants to be a cell biologist after recording a bacterium dividing aboard the BioBus, the BioBus leads to new life aspirations. Here is her movie:
The BioBus cannot continue its mission without your help. No donation is too small; please pledge your support today by visiting:
I’d also like to thank you for telling your family, friends, and colleagues about our emergency fundraiser. We’ve received a number of donations this way, so please continue to spread the word! And remember, continue to check out updates on the BioBus Blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
In the first day of our fundraising drive to fix the BioBus engine, you’ve blown me away with your support: 46 of you gave $4375 in less than 24 hours!! We’ve received donations ranging from $10 to $1000, and everyone is playing their part in getting the BioBus back on the road again. Please donate if you have not yet:
Several people have asked me if it makes sense to put this kind of money into an old bus. I’ve thought hard about it, and it does. Thanks to the blessed weather of the Bay Area (its former home), the body of the BioBus is in fantastic shape, as confirmed by multiple mechanics. The transmission was rebuilt after driving East in 2008, which should last a million miles with proper care. Then there is all the work that’s in the BioBus: paint, insulated walls, rubber floors, woodwork, electrical system, ceiling fans, plumbing, solar panels, microscope stations, wind turbine, roof garden, sky lights, and the list goes on. Sure, we could move some of that stuff to another bus, but it would take three months of labor at least, and would probably end up costing $10,000 or more on its own. And, even if you buy another old bus (trust me, we can’t afford a new one), you never know how long its engine is going to last.
So, if you haven’t donated yet, please help us get the BioBus back on the road, helping kids make movies like this one:
The BioBus is having an engine emergency, and we need your help.
Broken Down on the Side of the Road
It all started on our cross-country trip to Chicago, when a radiator valve failed, causing a coolant line to burst, and overheating our engine. In the process, we damaged multiple pistons, cylinder liners, and main bearings in our engine. We limped the bus to the N&W garage in Columbus Ohio, loaded our microscopes into a U-Haul, and setup tables on the floor of the Chicago Convention Center for the annual Biotechnology Industry convention. Folks there loved our microscopes, but everyone wanted to know, “where is the BioBus?” My heart was broken.
The folks in Columbus got us back on the road, and we managed our way back to NYC, hoping that the situation might improve. But the engine has only started smoking worse from oil that is being pushed past burned up cylinder seals. We have been told we’ll need at least $11,000 to properly fix the engine.
Burnt Cylinders
Since I started the BioBus, I’ve partnered with scientists across NYC and the country to create a unique science learning platform. We’ve engaged over 20,000 minds, primarily in economically disadvantaged communities, to think about life, about the environment, and about everyday materials around them in new and fascinating ways. The BioBus has been mine dream come true, and it makes my stomach turn to think this dream might end just as we’re getting started. Our schedule is already filling up for next fall, and we’re developing a group of new lessons focusing on climate change, algae species, and materials science.
Several different mechanics have inspected the bus and have assured me that it is in great shape, except for the engine. With your help, the rebuilt engine will move BioBus science another 500,000 miles forward. I believe the investment is worth it, and I hope you do to. For science; for education; for the BioBus: I need your help.
