Snacks4theBrain!

On Monday October 23, the freshman class at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, settled in their chairs at the lab tables for a chat with with Mark Twickler, director of the National Ice Core Laboratory, to learn about how ice cores are collected and used in scientific research to reveal information about life and climate in past eras. This episode of Snacks4theBrain! will share out from that interaction, in which yours truly also learned some interesting new things, like about the lakes in Antarctica! Think you might be interested in participating in a research trip to the frozen south? Listen to what he says about the selection process…

Thanks to Mark Twickler and to the faculty and students of the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, for this tasty morsel of a snack. Music for episode 63 hails from Magnatune.com’s Sun Palace, led by the capable and beautiful vocals of Andriette Redmann.

Download Snacks4theBrain! 63 right here, or click “Links” above to listen with the Podcast Pickle player!

Bonus links:
Polar Planet Palooza, podcasts from the poles.
Water, Water, Everywhere–blogpost by Amanda Dixon

On Monday, October 1st, the freshman class at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt visited the Harpeth River, at a beautiful stretch of its snakelike path through Davidson County and Middle Tennessee. The yellow Metro Nashville Public School bus pulled into picnic shelter number 11 at the beautiful Edwin Warner Park, located just a few miles from the School’s lab at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Light Hall.

The students were out for a field trip with the intention of gathering data to assess the health of the stream. They were learning to use all manner of field instruments–digital levels, digital pH probes, GPS devices, and scientific magnifier lenses–and how to record and interpret the readings and observations from those instruments in meaningful ways. They also used their hands and their feet, “kick seining,” stirring up the stream to capture macroinvertebrates and capturing downstream-bound critters in a fine mesh sein, or net. The collected debris from these efforts was transferred into glass petrie dishes, where careful observation would identify the inhabitants of this watery evirons–would they be only the sort of creatures that could survive in polluted environments, or would they find more sensitive, delicate species that would indicate the river is satisfactorily healthy? Well, final interpretation of findings would have to wait until later, when all the data would be compiled back at the lab. For this episode of S4theB! you’re out here on the river with the students, listening in on the process.

The voices you hear will be those of students, their talented teachers, and the occasional crow, along with that of Pat Holiday, retired USGS ranger and geologist (and also Brittainy’s grandfather!). You’ll also be treated to two very nice bites of wonderful music, “The River,” and “Fire Dance,” from Jesse Manno. You can pick up these songs or the entire album, “Sea Spirits,” for a song at Magnatune.com! Alrighty, stalwart listeners, listen up right here or click “Links” up top to use the Podcast Pickle player at the site!!!

And BONUS!!! here’s a slideshow of pictures from the river visit:

This episode features some absolutely captivating audio with a social responsibility aspect, a cutting-edge science aspect, and a sortofa gross aspect. You’ll like it!

On Monday, September 17th, Dr. Larry Zwiebel, Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, met with our freshman class in their lab and spoke to them about, to quote from the School for Science and Math’s website, “the most dangerous animal on the planet, a parasite of humans,” and explained how his work may one day help control “the most prevalent life-threatening disease on Earth.”

This is a long listen, longer than most Snacks, but I think you’ll agree with me that it’s something you can learn from, and why the heck are we here anyway? I’m going to lead into this fascinating stuff with a song by independent recording artist David Spencer, a gifted purveyor of what I’m coming to call “Intellapop.” Far from derogatory, as I often use the term “pop,” this is, like, alternative pop, or right in the vein of one of my old faves, Dan Fogelburg (whatever happened to…?). David is a kind, centered, immensely talented young man I recently featured at my personal blog, scottmerrick.net, and he is a stellar guitar teacher. My son may be his most devoted student! His music can be purchased at davidspencermusic.com and also via iTunes. I’ll close the show with the title cut to his new cd, “Love Like a Symphony.” You owe it to yourself to stay on for that

Download S4theB! 61 here, or click the Links link and use the podcast pickle Podcast Pickle Player to play right here!

Woooooooooooooooooooo! Episode 60! Being as everybody’s so much in a “back to school” mode, let’s take an episode and dedicate it to audio celebrating the opening of The School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, an audacious project that the fine folks at the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach have been planning for over a year and which they have just implemented!