X-Men Succeed in Making First Space Elevator Using Nanotechnology

Cyclops tells the press about the importance of
the pace elevator in Marvel's X-Club #1

Imagine the possibilities of an elevator that could bring people and supplies all the way up to an orbiting space station. A space elevator has long since been a dream of science fiction, and more recently with the discovery of carbon nanotubes, is making its way into real science. As scientists use nanotechnology to create stronger and thinner materials, we become closer to achieving this dream. This week, in the pages of Marvel Comics, the X-Men's science team figured it out.

NASA depiction of a space elevator.
Artist: Pat Rawling

The science geek in me loves all the science talk in comic books. It doesn't always make a lot of sense, but it often lines up with some of the big science ideas that make their way into pop culture. For example, the Fantastic Four got their super powers in 1961 from cosmic radiation while traveling into outer space. This was the same year that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.  Throughout the 1960's the word "atomic" was associated with just about everything in comics, and now in the new millennium its "nano" that keeps popping up.

I'm a member of the NISE Network, a community of scientists and educators that teach about nano-technology.  Nanotechnology is already changing our lives, and may end up having a bigger impact than the invention of personal computers or the internet.  Nano refers to a nanometer, which is one billion times smaller than a meter.  It is the same ratio as the size of the Earth compared to the size of a marble.  By studying and working with materials at the nano scale scientists can make things we never could before.  They are producing better sports equipment, clear sunblock, anti-stick substances, medicine, artificial flavors for our food, and spray-on coatings for our produce.  Nano-technology may even hold the key to fighting cancer, defeating AIDS, and to creating better photo-voltaic cells in solar panels.  If you've never hear of nanotechnology, check out the site and prepare to be amazed.

The cover of Marvel's X-Club #1
shows the four members of the
X-Men's Science team.

Okay, so back to that space elevator in the comic book. For those who keep up with the fictional world of Marvel comic books, you may know that the super-hero group, the X-Men, have founded a sanctuary and sovereign nation for mutants off the cost of San Francisco.   Utopia houses around 200 mutants.  On the island, the X-Men have a group of scientists called the "X-Club," which consists of two male mutant scientists, a female human scientist (Go Dr. Kavita Rao!), and a self-aware female robot (don't ask). The X-Club characters are normally supporting roles, but their new mini-series puts them in the spotlight.  And since the mutant nation is trying to convince the world not to fear and hate them, building a space elevator for humankind seemed like a good idea for public relations.

In the comic book, the leader of the X-Men tells the press that this project is part of a new era of privatized space exploration, and that it may benefit humankind by helping to monitor the ecological health of the earth, and harvest electricity for those communities that need it.  Is Cyclops just trying to gain credibility for his nation, or would a space elevator really do all of that?  I mean, in real life.

X-Club's Dr. Nemesis explains his process.

Of course we won't know until it finally happens, but a space elevator would be a big deal.  NASA and the US Military think so, and are researching the details.  Google thinks so, too.  They are trying to learn to build one in their secret research lab.

A space elevator would cut down dramatically on the costs of sending people and supplies into space.  Using rockets is very expensive, and a space elevator or elevators would cut down the need for them.  The space station on the other end of the elevator could conduct all kinds of science experiments.  A big part of what NASA does now is monitor the Earth.  I think we can assume that a space elevator would do some of this as well.  The station could also possibly be used to assemble and launch other space vehicles or satellites.  In this way the station could help launch, assemble, and repair solar energy-collecting satellites.  These could harness solar energy in space and beam it back down for us to use as electricity.  We are really just at the beginning of privatized space exploration.  With advances in nanotechnology it is a real possibility that space elevators may become a part of our lives in the coming decades.

I could keep writing about the comic book and about space elevators, but I think this post is just long enough.  Please, send me your comments, and if you're interested in this topic I've posted some links and a video below.

NASA's space elevator article: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast07sep_1/

NOVA's space elevator site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/space-elevator.html

The International Space Elevator Consortium: http://isec.org/

Performing for Adolescent Psychiatric Patients: Part 1

Working with new groups of people is one of my favorite experiences as an informal science educator.  I find it a great challenge and opportunity to teach science to groups of people I haven't worked with before, especially if I think my interaction with them can have a positive impact.  You may be surprised to learn I've performed science shows for immigrant and refugee children, grieving children, hospitalized children, the elderly, and religiously conservative groups who may distrust science.  In each one of these cases I felt their was something special I could offer, and I did my best to tailor my shows to accomplish this.

Whenever someone calls to request a traveling show, I never know where it might lead. Recently a phone call led to my first performance at a psychiatric hospital for children and adolescent patients.  Huchings Psychiatric Center helps children with a variety of mental health problems.  Their website provides informational material on Depression, Eating Disorders, Schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses.  Before going to the Center I read through all of these materials and asked the women who booked the show a number of questions about what I should expect from the young people and how my shows fit in with their schedule.  The Center wanted to celebrate the Thankgiving school break with the patients, and thought it would be fun for the students to have me visit and provide some educational entertainment.

I ended up performing a show for the younger patients and another for the adolescent patients (ages 13-18), but it is the show for the adolescents I want to write about.  I knew I would have no problem with the younger audience, but I did a lot of thinking about how I would connect to the older kids and deliver a show that would entertain, teach, and possibly help with the healing that the audience needed.  I don't perform traveling shows often for teenagers, and it always makes me nervous.  An 18 year old can ask questions that are a lot harder than a 10 year old usually can, and many times teenagers can adopt an "I'm too cool for this" attitude.  Whenever I do a show for this age group I prepare with some extra reading on the science topics and commit myself to giving an A+ performance.   Having an audience full of teenagers who were potentially cutting, attempting suicide, and starving themselves before entering the Center seemed like it could add more difficulties I couldn't plan for.  Would the patients have problems with me as an "authority figure?"   Would they be angry they were forced to live in a hospital and resent me for being a part of it?  I just couldn't know.

Thankfully, the show went great.  In fact, it was an experience I won't soon forget and I don't think the teenagers will either.  If you had observed, you would have seen an audience eagerly participating and enjoying themselves while learning about optical illusions, the science of sound and music, and meeting the museum's pet turtle, Patsie.  The experience wasn't magical and didn't resemble a Hollywood drama, but it was real.  I noticed only one of the patients seemed a bit withdrawn, but even he was interested when he saw the African hand drum I brought.  I couldn't have asked for a better audience.  I left this show feeling like I had made a positive impact on the patients' day, and maybe even on their recoveries.

If you are an educator and you get the opportunity to work with a group you've never worked with before, or whom you might be reluctant to work with, I say to just go for it.  Do what research you can beforehand, and go for it.

In this post I gave a description of the show and my thoughts leading up to it.  In Part 2 I will talk about why I think the presentation worked and what role science presentations might have in the recovery of adolescent psychiatric patients.

Free-Choice Science Learning: A Show for All Ages

Photo from www.lymefreelibrary.org

I don't get requests to travel outside my county very often to perform "Traveling Science Shows," but I am always excited at the chance.  I enjoy the roadside scenery of a longer drive and the time to think.  Yesterday's show came with a 1 1/2 hour drive which culminated with a beautiful sunset over Lake Ontario.

When someone calls to book a show I always ask the age and number of people attending.  Going to a kindergarten class or a middle school assembly requires different science content and styles.  Yesterday's show at the Lyme Free Library was challenging because I was told we would have a small group (10-30 people) with an age range that would be considerable.  Astronomy was the requested topic.  I prepared as best I could and hoped for the best.  When the show started we certainly did have a diverse mix of ages.  There were several elementary age children and one teenager, but about half the audience members were adults who had come without children.

The presentation really was a show for all ages.  Judging by the questions, comments, participation, and attentiveness, the performance was a success.

How do you present an astronomy show and make it interesting for all ages?  What was my strategy?  What I decided to do was write a show that would start in a basic more child friendly place and slowly move to content for a more mature audience.  I also made the show flexible, so that I had ideas on how I could adapt the show as I went, depending on the audience's responses.  For example, if I ended up with all families I would spend more time telling constellation stories.  I must say that this strategy would not have worked at every venue.  The children were well behaved and eager to learn.  They were patient and attentive during the more adult sections and the adults were patient during the more child friendly sections.  I am still grateful that I had such a nice audience.

Some parts of the show seemed to appeal equally to all ages.  As part of my discussion on asteroids I brought a good sized iron meteorite to pass around through the audience.  Everyone got to experience the excitement of holding what was once the core of an ancient world now long destroyed, and the unexpected joy of feeling how heavy the thing really is.  The adults were interested in questions about what minerals we might harvest from asteroids and how we know that meteorites actually come from space.  The other part of the show that was a hit across age boundaries was a video from NASA of our next Mars rover.  One the boys even found a section in a book with a picture of Pathfinder, the first Mars rover, and showed it to me as we were ending.

I am glad I had this opportunity yesterday.  It was the first of its kind for me, and I am definitely interested in trying something like this again.  If you are an educator in a similar situation, or have done this kind of thing before, I would love to read about your experience.  Hopefully, reading about mine was helpful for you.

Here are some related links:
Asteroids as future resources: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/resource.html
Curiosity, next Mars rover: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

Don't forget the dry ice, but if you do... it's probably okay

Part of a "thank you" letter from one of the 4th graders today.

This morning I had driven halfway to a school to give science presentations to the students when suddenly I realized I forgot the dry ice for the show.  Just before starting out I had checked the contents of the cooler to make sure the dry ice hadn't all sublimated overnight, and yet somehow I managed to leave it behind.  After pulling over I tried calling the teacher who booked the shows to see if she wanted to push them back a half hour, but I couldn't get ahold of her.  My only choice was to continue on.  Fortunately I was bringing four other demonstrations with me, so putting on a good show wasn't the problem.  What made me feel bad was that the teacher had specifically requested I do the demonstration featuring dry ice as part of the show.  Every once in a while some minor slip-up like this will happen, and I always feel awful.


So what happened when I got there?  Did the teacher and the principal run me out of the school?  Did the students boo and decide they would live a life without science education?  No.  Instead, the teacher and the principal were welcoming, excited to have me, and quickly put my fears at ease when I apologized.  The shows ended up going great.  Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun learning about air pressure, chemistry, and Newton's 1st law of motion.  The teachers even had their cameras out, taking photos of some of the best parts.

An illustration of me doing the Power of Air demo.

You might be wondering why I would want to write about how I made a mistake, even if it did work out in the end.  The point is that most of the time things do work out.  I little mistake like that doesn't mean the program is finished or that you've ruined your reputation.  I think it is best to apologize and then give 100% in your performance.  The teachers want you to succeed.  The students want you to succeed.  The principal wants you to succeed.  The odds are still in your favor. 

I look forward to performing at this school again next year, and even though I know they wouldn’t be upset, next time I won’t forget the dry ice.

Some of the students wrote “thank you letters.”  I’ve scanned some of them to share with you.

I love that this student included all threee layers of cups and saucers, and drew me with such an exciting pose.

If this doesn't warm your heart, what will?