Month: March 2017
A New Lens on the Situation
I’m studying. Gravitational lensing causes the multiple images of background galaxies shown here.When I signed up for this course, I had no idea what real scientific research, particularly in astrophysics, looked like. I certainly didn’t think I was signing up to learn more intricacies and annoyances of Excel, and other programs and languages like Mathematica and even briefly Fortran, than I ever wanted or cared to know. I imagined that I’d dive right into the physics behind it all, learning some equations, making some plots, and discovering something important. However, when you spend hours upon hours meticulously copying annoyingly formatted data to make a few seemingly-easy histograms, only to find that everything is wrong because an absolute value function apparently doesn’t work on more than one cell—or you’ve used the wrong set of data entirely—you learn.
This all started the summer before this school year, when my current mentor (the first positive response after seven carefully-written emails) sent me a paper full of cryptic phrases like “pseudo isothermal elliptical mass distribution” and instructions to learn Fortran 77. I admit, I was a little discouraged—instead of discovering something new about gravitational waves or exoplanets, I was working in a field (gravitational lens modeling) I’d never heard of that seemed far too obscure and impenetrable.
Still, I did my best to start understanding it, and eventually I became a bit more optimistic, in part due to getting to meet my mentor. Walking into the office of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics was definitely intimidating, but it also felt like all the work I’d done on my own during the past few years to learn about astronomy was finally getting somewhere. My mentor’s excitement as she explained light from distant galaxies being bent and distorted by the gravity of nearer ones, and all the applications that measuring this can have, showed me that what I was doing (comparing the models we use to understand this) really was important and interesting.
Once I actually started working on the project, I realized just how inexperienced I was. Excel, the only somewhat suitable program that I knew how to use, was clearly not made for this. It took me weeks to even get the data in a usable format, and much longer to manually manipulate the data into the graphs I needed, which ended up being wrong in the end anyways. By December, I figured out that this approach wasn’t working, and decided to buy Mathematica instead. Once I learned the basics of the language, everything became infinitely easier and faster, and I finally started to feel like I knew what I was doing. My plots were giving results, I could program new ones quickly, and I’d explained my project enough times to actually start understanding it myself.
Though I probably won’t discover anything earth-shattering, I will contribute something, and perhaps that’s not even the most important part. Personally, I’ve gotten to experience the roller coaster of research firsthand, and convinced myself that this is really what I want to do in the future. I’ve learned how to deal with obstacles that I otherwise wouldn’t have encountered until grad school. I’ve learned when to ask for help and when to figure it out myself. And yes, I’ve learned how gravitational lensing works too. This course hasn’t always been fun or easy, but despite all the hiccups it has definitely been worth it.
Scientists’ Social Skills
As I drove up to the Crown College parking lot, an abundance of thoughts raced through my head.
“How are my clothes?” “What do I say?” “What if she rejects our idea?”
I was embarking on a new journey, my first meeting with my assigned mentor, Dr. Stacy Ingraham, an exercise science professor at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota. As a member of the Minnetonka Research program, I was aware that the research I strived to conduct couldn’t be done without the help of a knowledgeable scientist like Dr. Ingraham.
Despite knowing the importance of Dr. Ingraham’s help, I was very nervous for the meeting. I had met Dr. Ingraham once prior on a summer tour of her exercise science labs, but this meeting was going to be our first formal encounter. My initial research idea that I was planning on proposing was this: changing the size and weight of a baseball to analyze youth throwing biomechanics in relation to arm injury. I felt strongly with this idea, yet I knew Dr. Ingraham could easily destroy any or all of my hopes. So, as I sat in the welcome chairs at Crown College and waited as Dr. Ingraham walked over to greet me, I was clearly nervous. Despite standing at 6’4” compared to the 5’0” Dr. Ingraham, I must say I initially did feel a bit intimidated by her expertise. Nevertheless, I persisted on with Dr. Ingraham, as I struggled to make small talk as we trekked to her lab.
An important aspect of my research to note is that I am working with a fellow classmate of mine, Matthew Muller. But, to my dismay, the only date and time available to meet with Dr. Ingraham directly conflicted with Matt’s hockey schedule, so I was alone for this meeting.
As we sat down in Dr. Ingraham’s lab, I was reminded again why I sought for her help. As a two-sport high school athlete with a strong interest in physics, I was in awe of the equipment and past research conducted in this particular lab under the guidance of Dr. Ingraham. I was seemingly given an extra boost of confidence from this realization and proceeded to present my idea. To my relief, Dr. Ingraham was very intrigued with our idea, only tweaking our research question slightly.
Today, months after that initial meeting, the overall basis of our research idea has remained the same. Matt and I will be using a slow motion camera to analyze 11 year old pitching motions in relation to three parameters. We will be looking at the hand, arm, and shoulders of the pitchers at different times in their throwing motion. Our goal is to then find a difference in these throwing motions when the youth pitchers use a 4 oz. baseball compared to the standard 5 oz. baseball.
In all, this one, initial meeting taught me so much about the complexity of authentic research. Prior to my time in the Minnetonka Research program, I was unaware of the social and professional side to research. I didn’t know how im
portant relationship connections could be in conducting research, and how there is so much more than just experimentation. Whether it be proposing new research ideas, applying for a grant, or simply opening my mind up to new ideas, I will never forget the importance of being socially adept in the world of science.
Yes, Culture is Still Important in the Modern World
by Aneri, 11th Grade Research Student
Some people might think how would you ever connect your culture to hard core science. When I signed up for this research class, I did not think at all that I would be doing exactly that.
My name is Aneri and I come from an Indian family, but I was born and raised in the United States. My family has always been pretty strict about preserving our Indian culture even if we don’t live in India. So I was taught by my grandma how to speak two Indian languages: “Hindi” and “Gujarati.” When I was younger, I always doubted the importance of learning these languages. But here I am, applying what my grandma taught me in my science research project everyday.
I am studying the prevalence and biological risk factors of hypertension (high blood pressure) within hypertensive Indian females who live in India and the United States. My project requires me to call participants in India and ask questions regarding their medical history, physical activity, stress level, medical knowledge, and other questions regarding their lifestyle in a survey. Before I conducted my first survey phone call to a participant in India, I thought that it would only take about 15 minutes to complete. But I was completely shocked and realized that the 15 minute survey ended up taking almost 2 hours!
This was not because she could not understand the questions I was asking her or the survey was really long, but instead she just wanted to talk to me about her life. I was a complete stranger to her yet she was able to open up and talk to me for a long time over the phone. At the end of the phone call, she told me that she was happy that she could communicate with me and talk to me in Gujarati. She told that me that she was very happy to have someone listen to her story.
Before conducting the phone call, I had just thought that I would ask her questions, collect my data, and go on to the next participant. But afterwards, I realized that I was able to talk to her only because of my ability to speak in her language. The Indian languages that I thought were useless, ended up helping me in such an amazing way.
The skills that I learned from my childhood are helping me in scientific research! They are helping me build connections with strangers who are exactly 8,102 miles away and on the other side of the world. Yet, once I talk to them, they aren’t strangers anymore.
It wasn’t my calculus or biology background that directly helped me build this relationship. It was my grandma who kept me connected to my cultural roots and taught these languages to me when I was just a baby. I had never thought that learning these languages would ever be helpful to me. I mean “Gujarati,” “Hindi!” Who has ever even heard of these languages here?!
But, I was wrong.
Through my research project and this really awesome class, I found out that you never know when and what skills you learn will come in handy and help you someday. That moment when I was just 3 years old, and my grandma would force me to sit down and learn these Indian languages, I would keep telling her that “I am never going to need to know this.” “I don’t live in India.” But who was I kidding. Fourteen years later I am still using these languages, these skills, to conduct an international scientific research project at my high school.
This is exactly what research is like. It is challenging, frustrating, and surprising, but most of all it’s pretty exciting. Research allows you to explore yourself. It gives you the opportunity to find skills and make discoveries that are beyond the science. Even beyond the glass.
Finding My Place in the Lab
by Adrienne, 12th Grade Research Student
The first time I worked in the lab, I was terrified.
I knew this feeling was irrational; I had been sitting in the adjoining room for months staring through the glass into the lab, longing to be there. However, as I finally went to work in the lab, my heart pounded and I could feel my blood tingling with adrenaline as it raced through my veins. The pervasive silence of the lab was supplemented only by the low hum of the positive pressure air flow and the seemingly deafening sound of my heart beating in my ears. I felt like perhaps I didn’t belong there. Everyone else working in the lab seemed to know exactly what they were doing.
This first time in the lab, I wasn’t doing anything critically important or especially meaningful.
In my project, I am studying how a species of bacteria, called “Clostridium butyricum” affects tumor cells from the liver of a mouse. As I don’t have real mice to work with, I am culturing these cells in vitro – essentially growing them in flasks. I am still waiting for these cells to arrive, but since correct cell culture depends partly on how much experience you have (for me, no experience), I have to practice as much as I can before they arrive.
That day in the lab, I was practicing my sterile technique (so I can ensure that no particles such as dust from the air or bacteria contaminate the cell cultures) by pouring a beef flavored jello mixture that I made into petri dishes. If anything grew on it, then I would know I contaminated the plates and would need to work more on sterile technique.
That day, I knew that my feeling of anxiety was illogical. As a scientist (or a wanna-be scientist – however you want to see it) I tend to interpret the world in a much more concrete way. I like to know and explain why the world is a certain way. Therefore, irrationality and unreasonableness don’t tend to be feelings I enjoy. I see the world in a series of questions, and I want, often times need, to know the answers. Yet in research, the certainty of answers and the path to reason isn’t always concrete. Research is about being creative, about problem solving, about discovering what no one else knows – what no one else has dared yet to think or to try. Maybe it is just me, but this concept is thrilling.
Since my first “official” day in the lab, I’ve gotten more used to it and have realized that I do (mostly) know what I am doing. I am still waiting for the cells I am using in my project to arrive, but I’ve had to work in the lab to prepare for when they do arrive. Though I am somewhat used to this feeling by now, every time I keycard into the lab, it is both a little nerve-wracking, and electrifying. If you are anything like me, you understand this feeling. It is a mixture of uncertainty, and curiosity, and excitement that makes you feel so alive.
As I pull my hair back, put on my safety glasses and lab coat, and walk into the lab, I go to the last bench on the end – the bench with my name nicely labeled on the top. In reality, it is a piece of blue masking tape with my name written in Sharpie, and affixed to the top of the table. But it is this piece of tape that reminds me why I am there; that I am supposed to be there, that I belong there, that I am part of this lab. Not just because I signed up for “Minnetonka Research”, but because I am passionate about research and because I love what I am doing. I know that when I am in that lab, I am with others who feel the same way.
Maybe we don’t always know the answers, and perhaps we won’t find the answers. And maybe it doesn’t matter. We are there for the same reason – we are drawn to the pure, hard science of the lab – and it’s exhilarating.
No Turtles Were Harmed in the Making of this Project
By Annaka, 11th Grade Research Student
“Does anyone know someone who makes turtle stew?”
Everyone in my research class laughed and went back to work. As strange as that question sounds outside of those glass walls, it has become the total norm inside.
I should probably explain why I was trying to find some turtle stew. I’m working with senior Jessie Houghton and together we’re studying keratin. This protein, found commonly in the hair, nails and skin of humans, is also found in some animals. We are studying it in turtle shells. This same protein has minor differences when compared to protein strands from humans. So why is this important? Skin cell regeneration medicines. These medicines help patients regenerate their own skin cells. One ingredient in drugs being used right now is keratin, keratin found in human hair. So we ask, why not turtles? Could the differences in turtles keratin make these medicines better? First we have to ask ourselves if turtle keratins are safe for use in humans. That question has become the central idea of our project, testing keratin proteins, which we extract from a turtle shell, to see if they are safe to be used in humans.
One of the biggest skills I’ve had to learn this year is how to network. In a class where I expected my biggest struggles to be found in a lab, I have learned what my struggle really is. Figuring it all out. Figuring out which questions to ask to get the answers that I need. I certainly don’t know everything, neither do my classmates, or teachers. Even my mentor doesn’t know the answers that the universe holds. Together however, we can work to try and figure it all out.
Back to the turtle stew. After weeks trying to find a turtle shell that was safe, reliable, and had died from natural causes, we were stuck. We started the process online, hoping we could find a place to buy one. When nothing came up we started making calls. To the Zoo’s, Lowry Nature Center, Local herpetological centers, even pet stores. When no one called us back, we again, started looking elsewhere. We looked into turtle hunting licenses to see if some hunter could help us. We found nothing. We had become so desperate that we started looking into places where people ate turtles. Never in my entire life did I think I would type the words “turtle stew restaurant” into the google search bar and hit enter.
Next to networking, the second biggest life skill I have learned from this class, is that sometimes the answers that you’re looking for come from the most unexpected places.
Sometimes we do small groups, on a day where some people were in our class filming a video, someone heard our problems and had an idea to help. He suggested that we try calling the Minnesota extension service. Neither one of us had heard of it but with no other new ideas coming in, we decided to call.
To the lab we went. After being redirected multiple times we were given the number to a lady with the DNR. Having to leave a message. We were a bit discouraged, especially because most other places where we had left messages we never got responses. A few days later an email appeared in my inbox. It was the person from the DNR. After a few short email exchanges, where we told her what we were doing and how we were stuck, she told us she could help. 2 weeks later a medium sized yellow package arrived in the mail. We opened it to find inside the shell of a map turtle, and the answer to our biggest struggle yet.
So far this year I have learned a lot. If you would have asked me in September to explain the work that I’m doing now, I wouldn’t know where to start. But while I’ve learned a lot about science, I’ve learned the most about life. I have learned how to find my own answers, how to figure it out, and how to find answers in the unexpected.
Beyond the Glass 