April 24, 2021

APRIL 24 PROCLAIMED DR. FRED CALEF III DAY IN QUINCY AT 7^th SOUTH SHORE SCIENCE FESTIVAL

Fred Calef III,  Quincy High School ‘87,  Chief Cartographer for NASA’s Mars Project

“From Quincy, Mass. to Quincy, Mars!”

Dr. Fred Calef III holding a chunk of Quincy granite from his office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.    © Courtesy Photo

 

Headlining the virtual science festival (in Part 2):

Dr. Fred Calef

Ward 6 Councilor Bill Harris introduced Dr. Calef and read to him Mayor Koch’s proclamation of April 24 as Dr. Fred Calef III Day.

We learned, first and foremost, that as “Keeper of the Maps” Dr. Calef named two sites on the Gale Crater on Mars for his hometown:  Quincy, Mars and Squantum, Mars! That’s where the Curiosity rover landed several years ago. It’s pretty obvious why he chose Quincy:  that’s his hometown, and it has a rich history of granite quarrying.  But why Squantum in particular?  There is special rock there called Cambridge argillite and Roxbury conglomerate, or puddingstone.  This stone is also found in northwest Africa where America and Africa were long ago connected in one landmass, called Pangaea.

We learned that humans one day could live on Mars, but only for 2 to 12 months, due to physical problems caused by reduced gravity.  We learned about a wide range of occupations and skill sets needed in NASA’s various teams – in addition to the obvious scientists, engineers, astronauts, and IT people – such as artists, graphics designers, and writers.  Kasha Patel, science writer for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, also runs DC Science Comedy and conducted the interview with Calef. 

A past student at Lincoln-Hancock School, Sterling Middle School and Quincy High School, Dr. Calef became interested in rocks and earth science when his grandfather opened his eyes to the story that an ordinary rock can tell and from visits to a quarry near his home in southwest Quincy.  The number of questions Calef was asked gave a good idea of the interest people have in the Mars program.  South Shore kids in particular may want to investigate this further, inspired by someone local who has succeeded in this field.

National Anthem      The science festival was officially opened in Part 2 with Sofia Marietta Hurley singing The Star-Spangled Banner – as she has for so many years as a young girl in the early days of the South Shore Science Festival.  Sofia allowed this tradition to be continued in a science festival which was anything but traditional this year!

Science Fair Projects        Four students from Saint Agatha School, Milton, presented their science fair projects with an Earth Day theme.  Adriana Joassainte, grade 5, explored water pollution and its effect on the environment. She explained the difference between plastic pollution and chemical pollution.  Jacob Gratch, grade 6, showed us how to desalinate water.  Dermot White, grade 7, explained that we should know what soil is made of and described six types of soil.  Chloe McGrath, grade 8, compared tap water plus different brands of bottled water and shared her findings on their water purity.

Tinker & Create concluded Part 2 with Doug Tepe, partner of Etay Armon.  He demonstrated their 3D modeling program, inviting kids to sign up for SketchUp so they could follow along with him, and he showed them how to make an .stl file.  They can then bring this on a thumb drive (memory stick) to some libraries for printing.

                                                 

Going back to Part 1, the virtual festival got under way with Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan.

Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan hopes young people consider entering the scientific field as forensic technicians.  They analyze DNA from crime scenes and use a database to compare it with others, similar to the way fingerprints are handled.  Technological devices include police radios, body cams for the police officers, and video cameras.  He gave an example of the ability of facial recognition technology to work well, even with a mask, when it was tested on himself!

Next was “Our Rainbow Earth:  Light and Color – and Trees.”  Collaborators were Kathy Hogan of Gateway to Science: Sports and Games; Mary Flowers, local artist; and Chia Ming Chen of E-Green. Waving to the audience was a lead-in to light waves. Ms. Flowers read Alan Baker’s White Rabbit’s Color Book about pigment-based color; when all such colors are mixed, it produces black.  After Hogan made the Claim that mixing all the colors of light, on the other hand, produces white, Chen provided the Evidence with the E-Prism lamp, demonstrating part of the Scientific Method.  A DVD or CD is a readily available way to learn about reflection and refraction (white light breaking into the colors of the rainbow, the color spectrum).  It was explained how blue light wavelengths enter water and the water reflects these back to your eyes, which pass the information to the brain, which interprets the color as blue.  It’s the same with plants and how they look green.  However, plants absorb other color wavelengths, and the chlorophyll changes them to food – photosynthesis.  An art activity was suggested to reinforce this. 

That was the foundation for the next two presentations.  Storyteller Judith Black’s stories provided a fine segue.  She told a story that kids could participate in with I’m A Tree, We Are Kin, then gave them something to think about with Spider And The Palm-Nut Tree.  Quincy Tree Alliance/Quincy Climate Action Network continued this with a reading of The Lorax, which is about saving trees, then took us to the Wakefield Arboretum in Milton to show us how to get a tree started. Syndie Cine, Maggie McKee, Fay Strigler and Joe Murphy collaborated on this.  They and Judith Black are helping kids to be more aware of the importance of trees – and all plants, for that matter.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was read to teach the importance of caring for trees.

State Senator John Keenan addressed the viewers at the end of Part 1.  He stressed the importance of science and technology in solving our climate issues.  Massachusetts is a leader in science and technology, and among these firms is Moderna, whose Covid vaccine is helping to protect so many of us now.  He cited the MBTA that two years ago was planning a new bus depot for diesel buses in Quincy but, after people made their views known, there are plans now for hybrid buses.  Keenan thanked kids for their interest in STEM and urged them to keep it up, saying, “Our future is in your hands.  Your future is in your hands.”

Quincy native Marsha Goodman-Wood of Marsha & the Positrons, Washington, D.C., brought her love for science and music to kids and their families.  Her enthusiasm and inviting way comes through loud and clear and makes you want to dance and sing right along!  Due to time constraints with a virtual festival, her performances needed to be split up, but now you can watch Marsha on her own separate video. It was such a great complement to the speakers’ topics: 

·                   Fred Calef, Mars (Why Can’t You Dance On Jupiter?) 

·                   Peter Doherty, viruses (Nobody Likes Viruses And Germs)

·                   Kathy, gravity in games (Gravity Vacation)

Marsha Goodman-Wood sings Gravity Vacation to complement Kathy Hogan’s call to help kids riding on playground slides to understand gravity.         Photo, Marsha Goodman-Wood

Quincy Fire Chief

Joe Jackson opened Part 3.

Fire Chief Joe Jackson presented what is referred to in his field of work as turnout gear, his bunker coat, an item that most of us might overlook amid all the impressive equipment on a fire truck.  However, every firefighter is protected by this coat because of how it is made.  The outer shell of the coat contains the heat-resistant fiber Kevlar, with crisscross fibers which are cut-resistant.  The middle layer is a moisture barrier.  It is attached to the inner thermal layer which helps protect the firefighter from heat; called Glide fabric, it is smooth and makes the bunker coat easy to put on, saving time when responding to a call – when seconds count.  Chief Jackson expressed his pleasure at being part of the science festival.

 

Manuel Barroso, co-chair, of Positive BCS asks, “Why do engineers and scientists have all the fun jobs?”  He revealed the many interesting fields they can work in, such as working with drones, remote control toys, smart sport devices, bridges, energy-saving devices, and self-driving cars.  He explained there are differences among artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning.  Applied AI can be used in the fields of education, retail, robotics, automotive, and with Alexa.  As an example of the Internet of Things (IoT), he introduced the Samsung SmartSuit for speed skaters; if the skater’s posture is a little off, the SmartSuit communicates with the coach who in turn sends a vibration to the skater’s wrist. 

Barroso asks viewers, “What will you invent?”

Kathy Hogan of Gateway to Science: Sports and Games explained how kids can learn physics from the ground up – literally in the playground!  She gave examples such as learning about gravity on the slide.  She urged the establishment of C.A.M.P.S. – a Center for the Advancement of Math and Physics through Sports.  She believes there is a lot of business potential for such a revolutionary approach, especially if professional sports organizations get involved. 

Boston Scientific, represented by Raju Kavalla, Zaki Ahmed Syed and Helga Barroso, showed us how medical instruments improve the quality of life and save lives.  We saw videos of special instruments used for removing gallstones, opening blocked arteries with balloon dilation, and stimulating the spinal cord to relieve chronic pain.  Their STEM Club is open to employees’ kids. There are field trips to Boston Scientific for students in the Quincy Public Schools, and some workshop topics that are offered include smart cities, life and nature, the universe, and Legos.

Bobbie Carlton of Innovation Women and Mass. Innovation Nights.  Bobbie Carlton concluded Part 3 with her message that STEM needs spokespersons – to add the A in STEAM.  That’s the reason that several years ago she, along with other social media people, were invited to Florida by NASA to view the SpaceX-4 cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station and went on tours of the facilities there.  Not an engineer or scientist herself but passionate about the need to communicate, she explained the different kinds of speaking, including a way that is available to members of an audience, and that is to ask questions.  It’s one way to get started and gain confidence.  She described different kinds of roles in this field such as entertainer, journalist, teacher, and marketing.  Carlton started a new magazine since the pandemic began, Lioness, for  female entrepreneurs.

 

Part 3 ended at the festival’s usual closing time – 3 p.m.  However, Part 4 at 7:30 p.m. was added this year to accommodate the time in Australia.

Dr. Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 1996. 

Photo, Global Virus Network

 

Nobel Laureate Dr. Peter Doherty.  Dr. Doherty of Melbourne, Australia was introduced by Dr. Edward Shapiro of Nobel Laureates’ School Visits.  Co-Chair Barroso and Dr. Shapiro welcomed Dr. Doherty, an immunologist, whose work concerns viruses and vaccines. 

What are the hit men of immunity? We learned:  Killer T-cells!  Produced in the Thymus gland (under the breastbone), they roam around inside the body to destroy cancer cells and viruses, such as the coronavirus.  Listening to Dr. Doherty, it soon becomes clear there’s a relationship between our internal environment (our health) and our external environment (Earth’s health – plus ours).  A few years ago there was a Nobel Laureate symposium on global sustainability.

Doherty explained that our defense comes in two forms:  1) Our central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves), which perceives things with consciousness and memory.  2) Our immune system, which has no consciousness but has specific organs that produce an immune response. 

What can we do? A variety of things, Doherty says. “By talking with friends and family and using social media we can all become social communicators” to help with the need for “an understanding of science in the broader community.”  He says that political leaders need to listen to scientists and that it is urgent for us to replace fossil fuels with reusable energy. Because democracy is so precious, he urges us all to use our right to vote. Taking Vitamin D may help the immune system.  To learn more, check out his books (you can get them at the library), his weekly essay Setting It Straight, and this interview at www.southshorescience.online (Part 4).

 

Trivia Time       Finally,  Barroso  and  Hogan  also run Trivia Time on Zoom six times throughout the year, and some of your favorite presenters from South Shore Science Festival VII plan to participate. 

 

To see the videos of this year’s festival, go to www.southshorescience.online (click “Recorded Live”).