EYE ON THE FUTURE
Miss America Camille Schrier to put brain power on display
The Los Alamos ScienceFest holds one of the top docket spots in the annual social calendar at the mesa-top city.
And small wonder, given its reliance on the national lab, and the plethora of scientists who live in the city and nearby.
But this year, the ScienceFest, with the theme “20/20: Eyes on the Future,” will be different and could potentially have a much wider reach.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, “we’ve transferred to virtual this year,” said Lauren McDaniel, Los Alamos MainStreet director and one of the event’s organizers. “It’s been a challenge to rethink how we bring ScienceFest to the public in a way that’s still interactive and hands on. We won’t be able to get some of the content virtually, but we’re still trying our best to make it fun.”
Indeed, there is quite the range of topics and there almost certainly is something for just about anyone with a science itch to scratch.
A highlight of the ScienceFest, to be held July 7-12, is an appearance by reigning Miss America Camille Schrier, who holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Systems Biology from Virginia Tech, and will be demonstrating how acids and bases can change with the addition or subtraction of something as simple as a breath.
With this being the 75th anniversary of the development of the atomic bomb, the Los Alamos National Laboratories will have several speakers — including lab director Thom Mason — discussing the history of the bomb’s development, the lab’s subsequent evolution over the ensuing years and how super computers are used to model human DNA.
Also on tap are:
A local startup that has spun off technology developed at the
lab into a product that helps greenhouse farmers increase their yield. Presentation will show how that is done and its out-of-this-world plans for the future.
A local resident who has set up wildlife photo traps at both his house and his parents’ house in Los Alamos will discuss the amazing array of predators that visit local backyards with some incredible images.
A former Stanford biomolecular scientist and professor will discuss a company he has formed to produce meat products created by reverse-engineering meat.
A variety of topics through the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, including a former LANL scientist discussing man’s future manned space exploration.
Bringing somebody like Schrier on board is a real coup because she exemplifies the idea that science can appeal to anybody and everybody.
“I was a science nerd from the day of my birth and I was probably a mild terror to my parents,” she said with a chuckle. “I’d pick up frogs and snakes, and I had an aquarium full of toads in my bedroom and I would go to the store to buy crickets to feed them. It’s not something most 5- or 6-yearold girls would do. Now, I’m an overgrown version of that. I was not a girly girl. I loved being outside and in the dirt. Nature and animals. And those were all things based in biology.”
Schrier will be doing a demonstration similar to one she used in the pageant competition, which she calls “blood bubbles.”
“It is a demonstration that quite literally, with a simple color change, teaches students why they breathe, about acids and bases, and how these can change when certain things are added or removed,” Schrier said. “Just by blowing bubbles into the solution with my own breath, I can make it change colors.”
Schrier said she enjoys science because it is a part of everything and she tries to get students — particularly girls — to realize that.
“I always remind them, and my go-to line is, ‘Science is all around us.’ I use that during my demonstrations,” she said. “I’m always interested when
I see relevance in something, when I can see where it can be applied. They are much more interested in it than before. Especially girls, where science is concerned.”
Like Schrier, the folks at LANL are concerned with intriguing students with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
“We have a lot of interest in STEM education, and telling the story of science, and the important role it plays in national security, and at the same time we’re interested in stimulating interest in science and engineering because these are our future employees in the region,” said Mason.
Among the topics Mason expects to touch on are LANL’s involvement in the Mars Rover project, the work the lab does in supporting satellites and how the lab produces isotopes to further medical research.
Additionally, Mason said he will discuss the cooperative nature of science as it calls on multiple disciplines from top experts in their fields to work together to bring about success.
“The cartoon version of a lone scientist waiting for inspiration is not the way we work,” he said. “Part of the excitement of working here is working together and that is also something that can be very stimulating. It’s very interactive and a social activity, as well. And hopefully people get a sense of that as they learn more.”
LANL historian Alan Carr will discuss Trinity’s diamond anniversary.
“The idea behind this is to tell the story of the world’s first nuclear test within the proper historical context and explain why the laboratory came into existence,” he said. “We’ll talk about why they did feel it was necessary to test, why was it tested, where it was tested, and how it changed the world at the end of World War II.”
LANL’s supercomputer Trinity was vital in the research conducted by Dr. Karissa Sanbonmatsu, who studies DNA simulation and gene-mapping. This is particularly relevant now as the work helps trace how viruses and diseases can change and manipulate DNA.
“We focus on trying to understand how DNA works,” she said. “People don’t really understand how it really works on the atomic level in detail. How genes are turned on and off.
We use the supercomputer to try to figure out how that happened and visually what DNA looks like in three dimensions.”
UbiQD Inc. chief product officer Matt Bergren will display how nanotechnology is applied to greenhouse agriculture to increase yields from 5% to 20%.
Using something called quantum dots that are sprayed onto a film, the spectrum of harmful UV sunlight can be shifted to plant-friendly orange luminescence, encouraging more efficient growth.
“We can absorb that light and convert it to essentially better quality light,” Bergen said. “The plants grow more vigorously and put on more fruit or flower better.”
Hari Biswanathan, who works with LANL earth and environmental sciences, is also an amateur photographer who has captured an amazing collection of animals visiting backyard ponds.
It all kind of started in 2011 when he had put his dog out shortly before dawn. He heard a loud ruckus and saw his dog being attacked by something that he couldn’t quite see. After unsuccessfully trying to drive the invader away with a shovel, he finally saw that it was a mountain lion or cougar.
Although that encounter ended poorly as the dog died and the cougar was eventually shot by state officials, it got Biswanathan wondering exactly what does go on in Los Alamos backyards when everybody is asleep.
The results are spectacular as he has gotten photos of bears and cubs, foxes, more cougars, coyotes, owls and bobcats.
“If you live in a place like Los Alamos, or Boulder, animals are sort of everywhere; they just keep out of our way,” he said. “The point is, wildlife is pretty healthy here in Los Alamos. It does stay out of trouble as long as you play it smart.”
And, finally, Pat Brown, Stanford professor emeritus of biochemistry and founder of Impossible Foods, will discuss how the world can be a healthier place if the most destructive technology is eliminated or at least significantly curtailed, said company spokeswoman Rachel Konrad.
“The most destructive technology on the planet is not coal, not transport sector, not nuclear,” she said. “It’s the use of animals to make meat, in particular cows, which produce vast amounts of methane — the most toxic of greenhouse gases — and which require vast amounts of land.”
So, Brown studied meat at the molecular level, like a biochemist, with the idea to reverse engineer meat since all a cow does is convert plant matter into beef, in essence cutting out the middle factor.
“He figured you can skip the cow altogether and go right to the meat,” she said.
The company now has a ground-beef-like product and a sausage-like product that are virtually indistinguishable from the real things, Konrad said.
“He’s going to be pretty provocative and explain how this is better not only for our own bodies, but for the public health, as well,” she said.
“I think it should be very interesting.”
Although all sessions are free; registrations are required and can be made at losalamossciencefest.com.