French-American Science Festival 2012 - CHICAGO
Saturday 28th to Wednesday 31st October
BIOLOGY
Northwestern U. & École Nationale Supérieure Paris
"Understanding what goes on inside the Cell: from DNA to Protein”
Lurie Atrium
Monday, October 29th, 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Tuesday, October 30th, 09:00AM - 02:30PM
All living organisms are made up of cells. Cells are the smallest level of all living organisms. Inside all cells is a molecule called Deoxyribonucleic acid or, DNA. DNA contains the complete set of instructions for making all the proteins a cell will ever need. DNA controls the production of proteins inside the cell. Proteins, in turn, are very important for the cell because they carry out all the tasks for the cell to function or to make an organism live and grow. In biology, in order to study any living organism, scientists need to learn about its DNA and the proteins it makes.
Students will isolate DNA from bacteria or fruit and learn how to visualize DNA using gel electrophoresis. Students will also see chemistry at work inside the cell: we will look at proteins inside of living cells using fluorescent microscopy. We will demonstrate how using fluorescent markers allow us to visualize the tiny world of cells.
Sue Fox, Laboratory Manager, Dr. Richard I. Morimoto laboratory, Northwestern University, Department of Molecular Biosciences
Laetitia Chauve Graduate Student, Prof. Jean-Louis Bessereau; laboratory, École Normale Supérieure-Paris; Richard I. Morimoto, laboratory, Northwestern University, Department of Molecular Biosciences
Participating members: Renée Brielmann, Research Technician; Mario Neto, Graduate Student
FUSE is a new out-of-school program where teens can hang out and mess around with hands-on challenges in science and technology. Learn to combine and control light from three LEDs to produce a rainbow of different colors, create your own jewelry using a 3D printer, capture various items (“cells”) inside a bead made with a gel material that scientists can use to grow human cells, Learn how to build apps for your Android phone using App Inventor and the game “Whack-a-Mole”, build a laser maze, and more!
FUSE programs are running in libraries and high schools around the Chicago area. To find the location nearest you, visit us online at fusestudio.net.
Maggie Waldron
Curriculum Developer, Office of STEM Education Partnerships
PARTICLE PHYSICS
Fermilab, CEA & CERN
"Alternative Energies" &
"Particle physics at Fermilab and the LHC"
SYMBIOSIS
U. of Wisconsin, CNRS, U. de Toulouse & U. de Lyon 1
"Teaming with microbes"
NANOTECHNOLOGIES University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
"Explore Nanotechnology in a variety of ways"
"Discovering the real face of math in middle school, high school or later!"
MATH GAMES
Lycée Français de Chicago
TACTICAL ILLUSION
Northwestern U. & U. Pierre et Marie Curie
"Tactical Illusion: A window into the sense of touch"
DIGITAL FABRICATION Museum of Science & Industry
"Twanger Family Fab Lab: Using the modern tools of digital fabrication to dream, design and make almost anything"
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Argonne National Laboratory
"Nulear Energy: a significant source of energy worldwide."
ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
N.U. & École Polytechnique Paris
"Nanotechnolgy: Integrating chemistry, biology, physics, materials science and electronics!"
CHEMISTRY/ENVIRONMENT
Northwestern University
"All about CO2..."
Participants will explore nanotechnology in a variety of ways, exploring a nano-manufacturing technique and observing interesting behavior of nanostructures.
Using a photoactive polymer, participants will easily “print” 3-D plastic objects using a technique developed to create nanosized structures called microstereo lithography. Complex objects can be created layer-by-layer using light.
Participants make gold nanoparticles and explore their properties. Participants discover that the nanoparticles of gold are not gold colored, but rather are red due to the way the surface interacts with light. They can conduct simple observations to get a sense of the size of the nanoparticles.
Carrie Kouadio, Education Coordinator Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Joseph Muskin, Education Coordinator Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Our senses are subject to illusions and the sense of touch is not an exception. Bumps or holes can be felt even on a strait linear track, or stroking a pen over a comb underneath your finger can make you feel a moving dent. These illusions reveal the complex behavior of our perceptual system. They inform on the transformation between the mechanical stimulation of the skin and the perceptual image that we perceive. Hands-on demonstration of these tactile illusions will be presented. Visitors will be able to experience having two noses, touch objects that aren't there or feel a piece of glass dynamically changing its texture.
Michael Wiertlewsky, Postdoctoral Fellow, Departement of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University
The Museum of Science and Industry houses a state-of-the-art digital fabrication laboratory called the Wanger Family Fab Lab, a small-scale workshop for computer-based innovation, design and fabrication. The Fab Lab allows you to dream up, design and make almost anything you can imagine using cutting-edge software and equipment.
Youth, families and adults can try their hands at personal fabrication while making an item of their own creation. Through a facilitated learning process, users gain skills in 2D and 3D design, engineering and fabrication. The Fab Lab also directly supports the development of key 21st-century skills, including collaboration, new media literacy, critical thinking and creativity. Youth will experience the Fab Lab’s vinyl cutter and 3D printers in action, work with some projects created by former students in the Fab Lab, and will have a chance to make something of their very own to take home.
Dan Meyer, Fab Lab Manager, Musuem of Science and Industry, Chicago
Participating member: Matt Chalker, Fab Lab Program Coordinator, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Nanotechnology has the potential to address some of the most pressing questions in the area of health, clean technology, disease detection, security and electronic devices. Our booth will aim at exploring the tools, the structures, the measurements and the materials employed in nanotechnology. We will have a hands on demonstration of self-assembly with polymers, thin films, nano-sponge material etc. Experiments will aim at learning through simple games about probe microscopes, buckeyballs, liquid crystals, nano fabric, nano sand etc. We will also emphasize on the interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnologyand its interface with other areas of research such as energy conservation and sustainable living.
Sunanda Prabhu-Gaunkar, Ryan fellow, EECS, Northwestern University, Ecole Polytechnique Paris, X – 2004
Participating members: Sunanda Prabhu-Gaunkar, Severin Schneebeli, Ying Li, Noah Horwitz, Zhi An, Yang Tang
We have moved into the Anthropocene, the time in the history of the Earth where humans are modifying, at an alarming rate, the environment in which they have developed. As shakers and movers of materials found on the surface of the Earth we are by far, out-competing the pace of geological processes by our mining and agricultural activities as well as our ever increasing energy use.
Three short experiments will demonstrate some of the chemical properties of CO2 in relation to its involvement in the global biogeochemical cycle of C. In addition, a simple computer program will illustrate how long it would take for the Earth to recover from CO2 injections in the atmosphere only through natural biogeochemical processes.
Jean-François Gaillard, Environmental Chemist/Geochemist, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University
Participating members: Cecile Da Silva, Post-Doctoral Student, Northwestern University
Nuclear Energy provides a significant share of electricity worldwide. It has the potential to produce cost competitive electricity without generating green-house gases. Our booth will display cartoons and slide-shows detailing how nuclear energy is harvested in a nuclear power plant and the various types of power plants built around the world. The objective will be to understand the advantages and this source of energy and how its risks are managed. We will also have handout for people to estimate personal annual radiation dose.
Abel Marin-Lafleche, Nuclear Engineering Associate, Argonne National Laboratory
Nicolas Stauff , Postdoctoral Appointee, Argonne National Laboratory
Kristenne L. Henne, PhD Postdoctoral Programs Coordinator
Communication, Education and Public Affair
Frédéric Petit
The variations in size, anatomy and physiology of our patients present a number of unique challenges to the zoo veterinarian. As in other areas of medicine one of the ways we address this challenge is the use of advanced imaging. Digital radiography, ultrasound and CT scanning along with advanced techniques for 3-D reconstruction of those images can greatly assist our understanding of medical problems as well as the normal anatomy of zoo species. Students will see various examples of veterinary cases and interact with 3-D renderings to better understand the anatomy and medical approach to these cases.
Thomas Meehan DVM,
Vice-president of Veterinary Services Chicago Zoological Society
Jean-Manuel Nothias MS, Vizua 3D, Vice President of Business Development
"How can we assist our understanding of medical problems with advanced imaging?"
IMAGERY
Vizua 3D & Brookfield Zoo
For over a century, the world has been challenged with its ability to manage energy resources. Its success has lead to a considerable increase in living standards, especially in developed countries. The world has to be aware of the non-sufficient aspect of resources and the possible threat to the environment. Energy is comprised not only by fossil and nuclear but also renewable like wind, hydro-electric, bio-fuel, and geothermal. Some additional answers like the hydrogen as an energy carrier and the storage of energy are part of the top research topics right now. We will see how far researchers could provide safe energy avoiding producing too much carbon, the first enemy of global warming.
Particle physics allows us to understand the elementary constituents of all matter in the universe. Colliding particles at very high energy to a speed close to the speed of light, demonstrates that all matter on earth is made up of electrons and quarks and gluons, the substructure of protons and neutrons. Short films will present two of the main experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, the European Center for Nuclear Research, ATLAS and CMS, where protons collide at energies up to 7 tev, simulating a situation very close to the big bang. Discussions about the potential discoveries of the Higgs boson will be performed. Posters displayed will show the detectors at the LHC and at the Tevatron Fermilab in Chicago. A live video link with the CERN will be provided at 12:00 PM.
Christophe Royon, Research Director, Institut des Recherches Fondamentales sur l'Univers, CEA Saclay
Participating members: Fabrice Couderc, CERN/CEA; Alexandre Faure, CERN/CEA
Meteorites are remnants of the formation of the solar system. Their study provides us with valuable clues on the birth of planets. The students will learn what meteorites are, what they are made of, and how to recognize them. Terrestrial rocks from Earth’s mantle will be shown for comparison and the students will have the opportunity to learn how our planet was made. Participants will be able to test their newly acquired skills on site with meteorites and terrestrial rocks from the Field Museum’s and University of Chicago’s collections.
Nicolas Dauphas, Associate professor, Origins Laboratory, University of Chicago
Philipp R. Heck, Robert A. Pritzker, Assistant Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies, Field Museum
Participating members: Asna Ansari, cosmochemistry intern and James L. Holstein, meteorite collections manager; François Tissot.
Who is Pythagoras? And Thales? When did we discover the number 1? And zero? What is the paradox of Zenon? Students of the French School in Chicago created in 2010 a math newspaper (www.mathematiquementvotre.com) to show to the public, from 10 to 110 years old, that math was more passionate than people thought. And it worked! People from more than 47 countries regularly read our newspaper.
Come to our stand to learn more about math culture and to read all articles that our students wrote for the math newspaper which show the real faces of mathematics: a rich, interesting, useful and funny subject to study at school and later. We just want to prove that math is a game for the mind. Come and see the stand to let us convince you about that, by reading exposed articles or playing with us KenKens, tangrams, enigmas or other games about math.
Frédéric Mahieu, Editor in chief of Mathématiquement vôtre, Math teacher, Lycée Français de Chicago
Participating members : maths teachers and students of middle and high school from the Lycée Français de Chicago
Living organisms, such as plants, insects and even humans, interact constantly with microbes present in their environment to form symbioses. These symbioses are very dynamic; the balance between host and microbe dictates the outcome of their interaction, which can range from mutualism (beneficial to the host) to parasitism or pathogenesis (detrimental to the host). Sometimes, these associations are necessary for the survival of one or both partners, but they can also be facultative (and be lost or acquired over time or depending on the environmental constraints).
Our booth will be divided in two sections, each emphasizing that symbiotic associations are both diverse and widespread. We will first present several symbiotic associations, and explain how these associations impact life cycle, growth and development of organisms such as insects and plants. Some examples will demonstrate the presence of symbioses in our daily life. Then, we will illustrate these symbiotic associations, allowing participants to observe, either with naked eyes or under microscopes, plants, insects and squids interacting with microbes as diverse as bacteria and fungi.
Jean-Michel Ané, Associate professor; Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Pierre-Marc Delaux, postdoctoral researcher; Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Natacha Kremer, Marie Curie-postdoctoral fellow; Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA; Department of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology, Universite de Lyon 1.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM)
Northwestern University
"FUSE: Taking STEAM Exploration to the Next Level"
METEORITES
U. of Chicago & Field Museum
"Meteorite: time travel machines to the birth of planets"
HANDS-ON BOOTH