The BioBus Mobile Science Lab

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00:00:15;19 My name is Ben Dubin-Thaler.
00:00:17;11 My name is Sarah Wiesberg.
00:00:18;26 I did my PhD at Columbia in the lab of Mike Sheetz.
00:00:22;14 I did a masters in Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science and also at Princeton.
00:00:28;19 After I finished my PhD, I had a lot of really exciting post-doc opportunities.
00:00:33;11 I loved using microscopes to see things that I could never see with my eyes.
00:00:40;04 But at the same time, living in New York City, seeing people from all walks of life,
00:00:45;03 who just had no idea what was going on in the lab
00:00:48;04 Is it possible to make that level of science, that level of cell biology...
00:00:54;00 Is it possible to make it interesting to anyone?
00:00:57;00 And, what we're in right now is the experiment that we've set up to test to see...
00:01:04;16 Can we make science interesting, engaging, and fun to anyone who walks in off the street?
00:01:21;23 Well, here we are, outside of the BioBus,
00:01:23;16 and before we were able to run our experiment
00:01:27;01 and have people come on the bus and do experiments,
00:01:29;08 we needed to figure out how to solve a couple of problems.
00:01:32;27 One problem that we had was electricity.
00:01:36;24 We wanted to run microscopes, computers, screens, all kinds of stuff.
00:01:40;25 Where do we get our electricity from?
00:01:42;20 There are a couple of solutions to that problem.
00:01:44;13 You can constantly connect to a power grid, but then you're tied down.
00:01:49;17 We wanted to be able to go out into rural areas all over the country
00:01:52;27 and not worry about having a place to plug in.
00:01:55;19 Instead, we actually run the bus completely on renewable resources.
00:02:00;03 For instance, we have a wind turbine on the front of the bus.
00:02:03;25 We have solar panels on the roof of the bus.
00:02:07;14 And, in addition to making electricity, we make energy for the engine
00:02:12;10 using waste vegetable oil that we collect from restaurants.
00:02:16;00 We're making our energy from the sun, from the wind when it blows,
00:02:19;17 but in addition to making our energy from clean sources, we also wanted
00:02:23;18 to reduce the amount of energy that we had to use.
00:02:25;24 In order to do that, we have a couple things, including insulation on the inside of the bus,
00:02:31;17 including a live green roof on the roof of the bus,
00:02:36;13 and it acts basically like a natural air conditioner.
00:02:39;07 The plants keep the roof cool and the rest of the bus cool when it's hot.
00:02:42;25 We also have some reflective paint on the roof to keep the rest of the roof cool,
00:02:47;04 and for heating, instead of using a gas- or a coal-based heater,
00:02:52;05 we have a pellet burning stove--a stove that burns recycled wood pellets.
00:02:57;08 The Bio Bus is filled with amazing microscopes.
00:03:00;20 We have microscopes that range from $300 to $25,000 dollars,
00:03:04;23 and they've been donated by companies like Olympus, Nikon, Motic, and Zeiss,
00:03:11;27 and it really makes the Bio Bus an amazing place to do science.
00:03:16;09 In the beginning, we had this bus, we had these amazing microscopes,
00:03:20;02 we had all of this energy being created, but we needed some students.
00:03:24;05 And basically, I went to friends of mine who were teachers and asked them
00:03:29;02 if they would be interested in having the bus come to their school.
00:03:31;16 They said, "Yeah, bring the bus!"
00:03:33;18 We went and worked with their students, and the students loved it.
00:03:37;13 Word of mouth spread, other teachers started learning about us,
00:03:40;11 and now we have hundreds of teachers that we visit every year that are
00:03:45;27 starting to work the Bio Bus into their regular curriculum.
00:03:49;05 The science that we do inside of the Bio Bus is inspired by our own work,
00:03:55;02 and also our collaborations with scientists like those who are at Woods Hole.
00:03:59;14 My name is Mark Allegro, and I'm a senior scientist
00:04:02;10 at the marine biological laboratory here in Woods Hole.
00:04:04;18 People who run the program have been exposing kids to sea urchin development.
00:04:09;14 And this is a great example of kids having the opportunity to get hands-on experience
00:04:15;14 and experience first-hand excitement with biological materials.
00:04:20;29 So, the kids are getting to see cells, they're getting to see embryos develop
00:04:24;05 through a great collection of microscopes that are here on the Bio Bus.
00:04:28;13 And, I enjoy programs like this.
00:04:31;04 I enjoy bringing fundamental science to kids of all ages, including myself.
00:04:36;11 As well as allowing scientists like ourselves, who love their lab work,
00:04:41;00 love what they're doing, and find it incredibly exciting, but want to get out
00:04:45;08 and bring that to the community, a way to do so
00:04:49;04 At Woods Hole, we've been collaborating with Mark Allegro,
00:04:51;08 who is a scientist who specializes in embryology, and we've worked with him for the past week
00:04:55;15 to develop the sea urchin embryo development experiment.
00:04:59;03 And, we're going to take that experiment and offer it as part of our regular course.
00:05:04;20 so that students can come on and see cells dividing and see animals developing
00:05:09;04 on their own, using their own hands.
00:05:10;23 The Bio Bus has lessons developed for anywhere to kindergarten,
00:05:15;16 all the way up through college.
00:05:17;05 so that students who are really little, look at their fingers and look at bugs.
00:05:22;25 The students that are a little older start looking at organisms and body plans.
00:05:26;22 Students in middle school start looking at microorganisms,
00:05:30;07 and students in high school can look at the internal physiology of the cell.
00:05:35;17 Looking at DNA and mitochondria using our fluorescence microscopes.
00:05:39;27 So, we have a really wide range of lessons we can offer.
00:05:42;29 What we're really trying to do with the Bio Bus is allow people to come on board,
00:05:48;04 use really powerful tools that we would normally only have in the lab,
00:05:53;03 learn alongside with scientists who are helping them use those tools,
00:05:59;01 and make their own discoveries, see new things that they've never seen before,
00:06:03;00 and get them really excited about science and the process of discovery.
00:06:07;07 You can find out more about the Bio Bus by going to our website, biobus.org
00:06:11;14 You can learn about our upcoming public events and also how to invite the Bio Bus
00:06:16;08 to come to your school, as well as learning about how to volunteer on the Bio Bus.
00:06:19;28 And lastly, I hope that we've managed to convince you
00:06:24;07 that you can get anybody excited about what you are doing.
00:06:29;10 Just make it relevant, make it real, make it fun, and it'll be cool.

This Talk

Speakers: Sarah Weisberg, Ben Dubin-Thaler

Audience:

Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
Student
Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Researcher
Educators

Recorded: September 2011

Talk Overview

The BioBus is an ecologically friendly, mobile biology lab that provides children and adults with the chance to experience the excitement of hands-on science. Ben Dubin-Thaler and Sarah Weisberg explain why they chose to create and work on the BioBus and the joy of working with scientists and teachers to develop fun and educational opportunities for all ages.

Speaker Bio

Sarah Weisberg

Sarah Weisberg joined the BioBus in 2010 after receiving her Master’s degree. Currently, the BioBus reaches 15,000 people/year. Learn more at biobus.org. Continue Reading

Ben Dubin-Thaler

After receiving his PhD, Ben Dubin-Thaler decided that he wanted to share his love for science with the public, especially with students from underserved communities who do not have access to hands-on science education. The result was the founding of the BioBus in 2007. Currently, the BioBus reaches 15,000 people/year. Learn more at biobus.org. Continue Reading