Science Fare

Plastics Research in High School with Carla Guarraia

In this mini episode, we hear from science teacher extraordinaire Carla Guarraia who teaches at The Park School of Baltimore and is also the chair of the Upper School Science Department. Carla tells us about an innovative plastics class she teaches that challenges students’ views on plastics and gets them involved in research on plastics.  Tune in next week for the full-length interview and the last episode of Season 4!  Please click below to fill out the survey for this episode: Science Fare Podcast Feedback Form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Muh6Ep6JLTMepAy6Fe6pkqUlkUxWP99Z-4RrMxDxC60/viewform?edit_requested=true] Science Fare Podcast website [https://lucybethpohl.wixsite.com/sciencefare-podcast]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Seán Jordan on the Search for the Origins of Life

Astrobiologist Sean Jordan (Dublin City University) talks about his path to becoming a scientist studying the origins of life, some of big questions scientists grapple with when looking for chemical and biological signs of early life, and his advice for students interested in astrobiology. Find Sean at The Protosigns Lab [https://protosignslab.com] and on instagram at @originssean and @protosigns  Listeners, please click below to fill out the survey for this episode: Science Fare Podcast Feedback Form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Muh6Ep6JLTMepAy6Fe6pkqUlkUxWP99Z-4RrMxDxC60/viewform?edit_requested=true] Science Fare Podcast website [https://lucybethpohl.wixsite.com/sciencefare-podcast]  Highlights of the episode: *Opening quote by Sean about the transition from chemistry to biology and the origins of life [0:01]; *Susan introduces astrobiologist Sean Jordan and guest host Sierra Revels who is an intern for the Science Fare podcast [0:52];   *Sean tells us how he decided to become a scientist and what turned him onto astrobiology and describes the magic of piecing together the origins of an environment [2:12]; *The case for deep sea vents as a place where life originated [7:08]; *When exactly did life originate? [11:15];  *Sean’s lab’s work on lipids and insights on the first cell membranes [15:20]; *How early cell membranes may have formed and how that is different from the cell membranes students are learning about in biology [18:31]; *What is the connection between understanding early, simple cells on Earth and detecting life on other planets? [21:41]; *The “leopard spot” patterns found by the Mars Perseverance Rover and what they could mean [28:23]; *Listener question on how nebulae relate to the creation of the Earth [32:20]; *Sean’s take on the panspermia hypothesis [33:30];  *A new hypothesis Sean is working on - let’s search for signs of the emergence of life in the solar system, not just signs of life . . . is life emerging somewhere right now and if so, what would that even look like? [40:23]; *Sean’s advice to high school students interested in this field [42:33] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The First Cell Membranes with Sean Jordan

In this mini episode, astrobiologist Sean Jordan (Dublin City University) talks about his lab’s work on lipids and the origins of cell membranes. While the earliest cell membranes, aka protocell membranes, were quite different from the cell membranes of today, they also share some important biochemical similarities.  Please click below to fill out the survey for this episode: Science Fare Podcast Feedback Form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Muh6Ep6JLTMepAy6Fe6pkqUlkUxWP99Z-4RrMxDxC60/viewform?edit_requested=true] Science Fare Podcast website [https://lucybethpohl.wixsite.com/sciencefare-podcast]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ayyana Chakravartula and Catherine Sheane on Careers in Engineering

Please click below to fill out the survey for this episode: Science Fare Podcast Feedback Form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Muh6Ep6JLTMepAy6Fe6pkqUlkUxWP99Z-4RrMxDxC60/viewform?edit_requested=true] Science Fare Podcast website [https://lucybethpohl.wixsite.com/sciencefare-podcast]  Our guests today are engineers Ayyana Chakravartula and Catherine (Cat) Sheane.  Ayyana is the Failure Analysis and Strategy Lead for the Devices & Services organization at Google. She leads a team of science-y detectives who work to understand why things break and how badly they are breaking, and how our phones and other devices do when people use them in general. The team looks at phones and watches, and other hardware that Google makes, at all stages of development from prototyping to the field. Cat is the VP of Environmental, Social, Governance, and Sustainability at Parsons Corporation. Among her specialties is guiding interdisciplinary teams through climate risk assessments and third-party sustainability certifications for large, complex civil infrastructure projects.   Cat is a passionate sustainability champion with 24 years of experience leading sustainability strategy development, action planning, and execution at the corporate and project levels. In this full-length interview, Ayyana and Cat talk about what led them to become engineers, describe a day in the life as engineers, and reflect on the things that surprise them about their jobs.  Highlights of the episode: *Opening quotes by Ayyana and Cat on the things they were interested in as kids that led them to pursue careers in science [0:01]; *Susan introduces Ayyana and Cat, engineers at Google and Parsons Corporation, respectively [1:36];      *Ayyana and Cat tell us about their paths to pursuing engineering [4:53]; *How Ayyana and Cat decided to pursue graduate degrees and what that was like [11:20]; *What a day in the life as an engineer looks like [19:00]; *Ayyana and Cat give an example of a time they faced a scientific challenge and how they handled it [28:50]; *Connecting Ayyana’s and Cat’s work to what high school students are learning in science [36:00]; *Advice for high school students interested in engineering [45:14] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

High School Chemistry in Engineering: Microstructure with Ayyana Chakravartula and Corrosion with Cat Sheane

Please click below to fill out the survey for this episode: Science Fare Podcast Feedback Form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Muh6Ep6JLTMepAy6Fe6pkqUlkUxWP99Z-4RrMxDxC60/viewform?edit_requested=true] Science Fare Podcast website [https://lucybethpohl.wixsite.com/sciencefare-podcast]  Our guests today are engineers Ayyana Chakravartula and Catherine (Cat) Sheane.  Ayyana is the Failure Analysis and Strategy Lead for the Devices & Services organization at Google. She leads a team of science-y detectives who work to understand why things break and how badly they are breaking, and how our phones and other devices do when people use them in general. The team looks at phones and watches, and other hardware that Google makes, at all stages of development from prototyping to the field. Cat is the VP of Environmental, Social, Governance, and Sustainability at Parsons Corporation. Among her specialties is guiding interdisciplinary teams through climate risk assessments and third-party sustainability certifications for large, complex civil infrastructure projects.   Cat is a passionate sustainability champion with 24 years of experience leading sustainability strategy development, action planning, and execution at the corporate and project levels. In this mini episode, Ayyana and Cat share how their work relates to what a student might learn in high school science class. Ayyana talks about the microstructure of materials, and Cat talks about corrosion.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.