Modern Medicine explores mucus, germs, and our physiology today!

As the weather changes, our bodies continue to work overtime to protect us from the bacteria and germs that we encounter. At Kids Science Labs, our scientists explored the relationships between the cohesive and adhesive liquids throughout our body (saliva, mucus, earwax) that help us to trap and fight off germs and bacteria. On this day of camp, we explore how our skin protects us, but whenever there is an open wound or entry point for bacteria, that internally, our body uses mucus as a means to trap and remove bacteria from harming us. Modern Medicine also explores how taking medicines can aid this ongoing fight against th

All along our ear, nose, mouth, and throat, we have outstanding mucus that is essential to keeping our bodies working properly. Not only does mucus protect our nose and mouth, for example, from drying out, but it also is a primary exit vehicle for removing harmful bacteria that has been battling our white blood cells. There are three primary discovery experiments that most of our students explored. (1) Why is our mucus green (2) How does our body protect us form germs (3) Why is our mucus so sticky when we get sick? Each of these activities involves exploring the understanding of germs, microbes, and how our bodies keep them out and eventually trap them, before expelling them from our nose.

During an infection, our white blood cells contain neutrophis, which contain green colored tiny little enzymes, that when they get together in large quantities, can turn our mucus greenish color. So there is a reason our mucus may be green and its not because “we are so sick” but because our infection fighting white blood cells are attacking bacteria properly. IN this class, we explored the modern medicine of why its so important for mucus to be extra thick when we are sick, and how germs would simply stay in our body, if they couldn’t be trapped by wet, viscous, sticky slimy mucus. We then made such mucus and tested in on fake bacteria (glitter) to test whether it was sufficiently viscous to remove it from our system as shown above!

Summer Camps in Chicago that accelerate careers in Medicine for Young Scientists

Modern Medicine powers Summer Camps in Chicago for Kids

Summer Camps should be fun, but they also should empower kids to build a better future tomorrow, so students attending Kids Science Labs are studying hematology in Med School for Kids in our Chicago Summer Camps.

Young Scientist in Winter Camp safely practicing extracting “blood” {red filter water} through skin {saran wrap}

How do we accelerate careers in STEM for Kids, using Summer Camps?

At Kids Science Labs, we try to help our scholars see that modern medicine is accessible by them, while deliver real science with real situations that build a better understanding of how the things work in their world. Today, we explored blood types, blood physiology and its critical components, and even tested for features of blood, just like students may see when the visit their pediatrician. It all starts with a basic understanding that our bodies have this wonderful liquid called blood, that is pumping through our bodies with oxygen, nutrients, and carrying hormones that help us communicate with our various parts of our body.

How to Boost Kids’ Interest in Modern Medicine, starting in elementary school?

There is no need to wait until post-secondary education for Your child to explore the various components of blood (plasma, platelets, white and red blood cells, various nutrients and minerals). Our Summer Camps in Chicago are design to build knowledge and skills now, when they are most curious and imaginative and before the system reduces their imagination. In our Summer Camps in Seattle they may have practiced extracting and testing blood samples using 24-well plates and simple science tools as shown, such as pipettes. Learning that not all blood is the same, but that all blood contains similar features and constituents is a critical learning vehicle for knowing how the body works. Kids know they have blood, but don’t realize that it serves such critical roles in our bodies.

As a part of the wonderful experience at Kids Science Labs, many of our scholars explored how the blood flows around the body or “circulates” and performed tests to better understand how blood delivers critical information through the process of diffusion from our brains to our feet and everywhere in between.

Why do Hurricanes spin the way they do? - Weather and Climate Summer Camps for Kids

Easy Science Experiments for 6 year Olds

Kids are curious and their questions matter. All day they are asking about what they observe, wondering how things work, and applying their curiosity to our world in exciting ways. For example, my six year old asked me yesterday on the way to school “ Why can’t you drive faster on the side streets”, which just was a beautiful observation that led to a interesting conversation on risk, safety, and noise pollution.  KSL Parents know that all of our classes that we teach start with an engaging question that is asked by a child, and only then do we experiment, discover, and use creative design to apply science principles to innovating things like chairs made of cups or night lights made of LED’s for our student population, starting at age 2.  Our parents have been asking us for years to blog on the same cool science that we do in class each week and provide a forum for our students to ask their questions. So here you go, some hopefully useful news to engage your own curiosity as parents and help you to engage your kids in the car with some discussion. Enjoy!

Why Do Hurricanes Spin That way -

There has been a lot of news recently on Hurricanes, with Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria reeking havoc on in the U.S. South and coastal islands.  One child asked us “Why do hurricanes spin that way”? It is a really an interesting topic and fundamental question. Many people know that most hurricanes originate in warmer climates, and that they involve fast moving winds, so let’s start by just figuring out what the problem is?  

Teaching Hands-on Science about Earth’s Features Helps Elementary SChool Kids Learn Science

The main problem is that the earth is constantly moving, and its environmental conditions are constantly changing and evolving. It is this movement and the changes in the environment that end up creating a basic weather phenomenon, wind. We can’t even talk about hurricanes without talking about wind. If we know that the earth has air, the question really starts with why that air starts to move in the first place. Air, like most other natural phenomenon, wants to be in the least disruptive place, so whenever there is high pressure, it moves away towards low pressure. It is this basic movement of air from high pressure zones to lower pressure zones that creates what we call wind.   So when you see a lot of wind, it usually means that a very high pressure zone has moved in and the air is running away from it to find the nearest low pressure zone (peace).  This of this like a letting a balloon go, the air shoots out because inside it is stuffed in (high pressure) and it is trying to get out to the low pressure.  

Even Kids Can learn about Forces in Seattle Summer Camps

Anything requires force to move, so wind is simply air that is in motion, moving away from high pressure zones to low pressure zones. Our students in our Seattle Summer Camps wanted to know, so Imagine you were sitting at the top of a slide, but haven’t moved yet. Then some big kid comes along and pushes you, whether you like it or not, you are moving. The bigger and harder the push, the faster your body is going down the hill. This example if important, because gravity and the environmental conditions (wetness, heat, etc) are also big effects in producing lots of wind, just like being pushed down a slide. 

Phew! So now that we are all on the same page that wind is just the earth pushing air around us, because there are strong forces (differences in high and low pressure generates force), lets get to the real question that this kid is having. 

Engineering for Kids - How Hemispheres work

Scientists will tell you the basic science that hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere typically rotate counterclockwise and in the Southern Hemisphere they rotate clockwise. But why? Well, to a child, it is like watching anything that spins, the air around it is going to move in the direction of motion of the object spinning. Since the Earth moves or spins to the right, the strong winds that are experienced by a hurricane are typically moving in that same direction. Regardless of whether the hurricane is moving north or south, it is spinning to the right because the earth is pushing it that way. 

What is the Coriolis Effect? - Easy Scence ExPeriment for Kids

If wind is the basic motion of air from high pressure to low pressure that is happening all the time everywhere on the planet, then its motion is almost always curving to the right, because that is the direction of the earth. There is a technical name for this called the Coriolis Effect, but that is not necessary to talk about to kids, just put that in your pocket for your next cocktail party!  So when you are in the Southern Hemisphere (south of the equator), and traveling north, the earth is going to push the wind to the right as that is the direction of its spin, which creates a clockwise spin for any hurricanes moving north through the southern hemisphere. If however, you are in the northern hemisphere and traveling south, the earth is still pushing you to the right, however the motion that results is counterclockwise. To show this to your kids, just have them draw a line with an arrow pointing downward on a piece of paper and then slightly bend the arrow it to the right and see that it starts to move into a counterclockwise rotation. Now draw the opposite line with an arrow pointing upward and slightly bend it to the right to see that it starts to move into a clockwise rotation. If your child is drawing the line, just slightly push her finger to the right while she is drawing and the circular motion will start to look like a clock moving in the wrong direction if you keep pushing their finger. 

That, our friends, is what creates the basic motion of a Hurricane in each of the hemispheres. Typically, Southern originating hurricanes moving north are clockwise and Northern originating hurricanes are counterclockwise as shown below. 

Counterclockwise Motion - Curious Kids in our Chicago Summer Camps Want to know how it Affects the Wind

Now that we understand that wind is just the resulting motion of air from high pressure to low pressure, and that hurricanes spin clockwise or counterclockwise almost entirely based on their origin and the rotation of the earth (Coriolis Effect), we can begin to talk to our kids about environmental conditions. A Hurricane needs food to grow big and strong, and the food that hurricanes love the most are water, warmth, and strong differences in pressure. When the wind starts to move over water, it is called a Tropical Depression, which is basically strong enough to feel (up to 38mph), but doesn’t cause major damage most of the time. When the wind feeds on water that is evaporating, warmth, and pressure difference, the wind gets stronger and can build into a Tropical Storm (winds 39-73mph).  A tropical storm causes damage, but it not nearly as bad as what happens next, which is a Tropical Hurricane (winds > 74mph). 

How Does the Eye of a Hurricane Work? An Easy Science Experiment for Kids

A basic hurricane has a low pressure center (peaceful in the middle), with ridiculously strong winds immediately boring this low pressure EYE and winds that decrease in strength as you move further away from the eye of the hurricane.  There are hundreds of tropical storms a year, and only some of them have the right mix of wind and pressure conditions that they develop into Hurricanes (Category 1 - Category 5). Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones are all the same thing, they just originate in different zones. 

When discussing with kids, there is a basic experiments that can do to demonstrate their power at home.  The first is to grab an empty two liter bottle and fill it with water. Put a tiny bit glitter or cinnamon (colorful spice) into the bottle and fill it up. Then, just turn it over and watch the water flow out, as you observe it, the glitter or cinnamon won’t do anything.  Next, repeat the experiment, but as you turn the 2 liter upside down, give it a tiny circular spinning motion, which will start a vortex (higher speeds of motion) and the kids will see that the glitter is now moving violently in a circular motion and the water will pour it twice as fast. This helps kids see that circular motion effects an increase the rate of water being dumped and simulate the naturally occurring rotation effects on wind as the earth moves.  If you happen to have small solid object that will fit into the water, it makes for a really interesting observation as the spinning vortex will whip that object around the 2 liter as the vortex pushes everything down! 

Learning How Wind Works -And how its related to Hurricanes?

Ok, so wind is simply motion of air that is caused by differences in pressure, the earth spins to the right, hurricanes develop over time under the right conditions of warmth, water, and pressure, that are sustained, and if you know the hurricane develops in the south or the north, you can reasonably predict whether it will be spinning clockwise (destination Northern Hemisphere from Southern Hemisphere). That’s cool. So what is all this recent media business on whether Hurricanes are getting worse. Well, it turns out, that climate change suggests that our climate is getting warmer. The basic principle is that since the oceans are getting warmer, then the evaporative movement of water will be forming more storm clouds, which will experience higher pressure differences, which will create faster movement of wind, which will increase wind speeds with circulation motion, which will result in stronger hurricanes. :) A Category 5 Hurricane can raise water levels up to 20 feet, which is why there is so much flooding during a hurricane. Water is literally being pushed by the wind over long distances and it piles up onto the shore or in other instances leaves beaches with dry ocean beds.

We could talk about this topic forever, but we will start with some basic problem solving. We can’t really control mother nature, so Hurricanes and Storms will happen. However, if you look at how you theoretically stop them, there are three basic methods:

• Cool The Air

• Remove the Water

• Disrupt the flow of Air with large objects/deflectors (friction is the force that slows things down as we are learning over the next two weeks at Kids Science Labs)

When speaking to kids, we can’t really talk about complexity, as they just are not that interested in that deep level of detail. The basic reason that Hurricanes Spin the way that they do, is that the earth is spinning to the right, and all hurricanes have wind that is being pushed to the right. It just matters whether the hurricane is traveling to the South or traveling to the North, that causes the hurricane to be Clockwise (Destination Northern Hemisphere) or CounterClockwise (Destination Southern Hemisphere). Some of your kids may want to know more, and if so, just bring them to Kids Science Labs because we do this stuff all day. We are the place to bring the curious child to be engaged and learn about how the world works!  

If your child has a question that involves science, please let us know and we will address it on Facebook or via a new feature of “I Have A Question”, a regularly occurring blog explaining basic science to kids around the world. Just email your question to “stem@kidssciencelabs.com” and our team of passionate teachers, engineers, and parents will gladly get back to you. 

Why do marathon runners need to drink more water than sprinters in the 100m dash?

We need water, and other key nutrients to keep running at peak performance, including special uniforms full of the world’s best science. Anytime you exert forces on the body, the transfer of biomechanics energy results in the loss of hydration (sweat), and electrolytes that need to be replenished in the right amounts and at the right time to have your optimal performance. Imagine washing the a pot with a dehydrated sponge…well our bodies are the same way and need to maintain balance, which is why Olympic athletes eat well, sleep well, and get their bodies well hydrated before, during and after competition.

Our students performed critical hands-on science experiments to evaluate:

• Which materials absorb moisture the best, so they can select which gear to wear in a race

• How nutrients are lost and relished by specialized juices and drinks to help athletes reach performance

• How various flavor enhancers can help and hurt our peak performance if they upset our bodies needs at any time

• How to design and innovate their own electrolyte and nutrient-rich power punch, along with a convenient camelback pouch to take with them to their competition

Watch the short video below with your child to further their understanding of why we sweat when we compete in sports, and it should help them know why parents are always asking them to drink more water!