Back to the Classroom=Learning How to Grow Better Food At Home

Today we switched campuses and learned even more while attending Robeson Community College. Their Biotech interns worked with our youth to expand our learning base and help clarify some of the other learning from our first two days this week.

Our youth descended on the classrooms and were quickly divided into two groups. During the morning they had the chance to do some really cool experiments. One had to do with the spread of a virus. They were each given a test tube filled with a liquid. They used pipettes to share a few drops of their liquid with three other youth at random in the classroom. They tracked their sharing patterns on a piece of paper and then their student interns placed a few drops of a solution in each of their test tubes. The ones that turned purple had a "virus" the ones that did not change were considered clean. They were able to track who started the virus and how it spread around the room. The results were interesting and caused a lot of hand washing during the rest of the day. The youth also got a chance to extract DNA from, of all things, a banana. They worked in teams and crushed half a banana and mixed it with a solution of shampoo and salt. After straining the mixture through a coffee filter they put some of the strained solution into a test tube of ice cold rubbing alcohol and were able to swirl DNA strands so that they could see it. The experiment proved DNA exists in more than animals and humans and was really cool to see. They also got a chance to view bacteria on their hands and learn the best way to keep their hands really clean.

After a very filling lunch at Ryan's we headed back to the college and played scientist some more. We had the chance to view cell structures of plants, blood, mold and more under various microscopes. We also saw how they chance used cooking oil into fuel it was really cool. We also learned about how soap used to be made by using hog fat and lie. The samples they had were also made with orange juice for the citric acid balance (but it still didn't smell very good). After all of that we wrapped up with a video on how biotech research can help us with crop production. It is important because the more research done the more likely we are to find bug resistant plants which means less chemicals on our food, in our soil, and ingested in our bodies. It means bigger yields for farmers, and more reasonably priced food for us (with great taste).

It was a great day with huge ramifications for our future, because we learned that we can all do this. All it takes is imagination, asking questions, and a willingness to find the answer. It is a world that is unending in its applications and the need is great and will be there for years to come. Stay tuned as tomorrow we will continue our science adventure and apply what we have learned to a crime scene and try to solve a possible crime.