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| Joe and Ryan, feeling pretty exhausted after so much great discussion! |
In light of "Film Frenzy" at Mesa' 2nd Friday Night Out, we brought out Joe's great-great-grandfather's camera, circa 1888. We talked a little about optics and how photography works. In all reality, we could still use that old camera to take photos, provided we could find a good source of glass plate negatives.
Of course, the camera was just a fraction of what we talked about. One guest wanted to know the relationship between our gut bacteria (AKA microbiome) and how they might effect the drugs and medications we take. We also talked with another guest about bio-luminescent bacteria, and bacteria that might be used for energy. Another guest wanted to know how citrus fruits or vinegars might off-set the spiciness of hot peppers.
Here's what's so cool about this program: not only do the experts share knowledge of their fields, but our experts learn so much from the public, too. Admittedly, we didn't know exactly how to operate Joe's camera, and spent an evening trying to figure out how to use the 'viewfinder' to determine the right focal length. Naturally, we had a photography enthusiast come by our table, who was super-excited to see our camera, and gave us some more insight into how the camera worked (Thank you, sir!).
We're honestly amazed by how much research that people do on their own. We're so excited to see that people how much curiosity people have on a HUGE range of topics!! In that sense, we're glad to talk with people, rather than give lectures on what we think is interesting.
Although, we did get a cool question from a guest last night: "What questions do YOU have?" Well, we were happy to talk about our research questions that we work on in the lab.
A little shameless advertising here, we owe our gratitude to the Arizona Museum of Natural History, who is contributing some materials for us to use. We highly recommend you stop by and check out the museum on MacDonald Street when you have a chance. Some of our experts are regular volunteers there as well!
We also want to shout-out to our friend at HeatSync Labs on Main Street in Mesa. They have a pretty cool space for tinkering and building things, so we recommend checking them out, too!
Since we're still exceeding our expectations for Science on Main, and since we're learning so much from hanging out on Main Street talking about science, we will be back in February! See you all on Feb 9 in front of Pomeroy's 6-10pm :-D
