Want to win $25,000?

Then submit an essay to an International Science Essay Competition answering the following question…

Are we alone in the universe?

Wow, getting paid $25,000 to write an essay about a cool science topic!  It doesn’t get much better than that.  For full details, visit this site: http://www.newfrontiersinastronomy.org/student-essay-competition.html

If you have never seen this, you should definitely check it out – very funny

http://www.flycatfly.com/cat-and-dog-diary

I received the following announcement about a contest and wanted to pass it along.  GIS is an interesting and fun technology so the contest sounds like it would be fun.

K-12 GIS Contest

Maps Tell the Story:  The Adventure in Your Community

Entries Due:  March 23, 2012

I recently received this email from Jennifer Sykes from Delaware Technical Community College.  They have a summer research course that sounds quite interesting.  The program is free unless you want college credit.  I have pasted her email below.

The Biology and Chemistry Department at Delaware Technical Community
College’s Stanton Campus is offering an exciting summer experience for
high school students. Please pass along the below information and
attached flyer to school administrators and teachers that would be
interested in sharing this opportunity with their students. If you would
like color copies of the flyer to distribute or post, I am more than
happy to send them to you.

If anyone has questions about or would like to register for the program,
they can contact me directly. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Sykes

Department of Biology & Chemistry
Delaware Technical Community College
400 Stanton-Christiana Road
Newark, DE 19713
(302) 453-3725

SMART Start to Research Techniques is 2-week, half day summer experience
gives high school students the opportunity to earn college credit while
learning about research techniques used in the fields of biology,
chemistry, and biotechnology. The summer experience will be held at
Delaware Tech’s Stanton campus on July 16-20 & July 23-27 at 8:30 a.m. -
12:30 p.m.

Faculty from the Biology and Chemistry Department at Delaware Tech will
be teaching students both laboratory and field research techniques.
Hands-on field research will include the investigation of local
waterways through macro-invertebrate sampling and water quality testing.

Laboratory research techniques will include DNA isolation, amplification
(PCR) and sequencing. Guest speakers and field trips are scheduled
throughout the camp.

This program is free for students not seeking college credit. For
students interested in receiving college credit, a payment of $124.25
(the cost of tuition and fees) will be required. Please note that space
is limited and preference will be given to students seeking college
credit.

Don’t like your junior research proposal?  Did you put it together in a hurry and would rather do something else but you don’t know what to do?  I recently received an email from the director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, Kelvin Lee.  In the email he stated that they don’t really have many student research opportunities available at DBI but…

“We don’t have much of an infrastructure to support summer research projects at this time – except on an ad hoc basis. At this point, we could try to collect statements of interest from various Charter students and try to “shop them” to faculty to see if there is interest. An equally effective approach is to have interested students peruse the relevant websites of various faculty at our Institute and at UD in general, and then have them reach out directly to ask if those faculty are able to take summer research interns. Many faculty do host interns (some volunteer, some paid) during the summer.”

This is a great idea.  The university even has a ‘research’ link on their homepage that talks about research opportunities and internships for UD students.  Perhaps they would take Charter high school students as well.  It couldn’t hurt to ask.  So you should go to the UD website (www.udel.edu) and look around the site for opportunities and contact information.  Send a professor and email and ask if there are ways you can get involved.  It is a great opportunity for you to develop an excellent junior research project as well as a way to get your foot in the door at UD.

The University of Delaware has a summer internship program for aspiring math and science teachers.  If you are a rising junior or senior and are interested in investigating this opportunity then you should checkout the website below.  The applications are due by April 9, 2012.  You will even earn $1,500 during your internship!

http://www.projectsmart.udel.edu/aspiring-teacher-info/

Scientists have reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice using the skin cancer drug bexarotene.  This does not mean it will work in humans but it is a potentially exciting step forward.  You can read the CNN news article here and listen to an interview with one of the study researchers at the NPR Science Friday website here.

Food companies can say lots of things on their labels that might mislead the shopper into thinking they are buying healthy items when they are not.  One of these issues revolves around whole grain foods.  Read this article to learn what terms have a legal meaning and which do not.  Be sure to check out their guide to decoding ingredients in grain products too.

Listen to this Science Snapshot podcast from Kaitlyn Engler to learn why biofuels may not be all they are hyped to be.

Biofuels