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Summer Friday Blog: Journey into Outer Space for the Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower

Posted on by Kathryn Doers

11156716_lThis week we travel to outer space, the Final Frontier, to catch a glimpse of the Southern Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower. But don’t worry, you don’t have to leave your backyard. Just grab a blanket and find a place without too much light pollution, and you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of this worldwide phenomenon.

The Southern Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower is an annual summer occurrence that spans July and August, but this weekend marks its nominal peak in activity. From July 26th through August 1st, give or take a couple of days because nature is lovably fickle, we can expect a maximum hourly rate of 15-20 meteors. That might not sound like much, but a special angle of atmospheric entry gives Delta Aquarid meteors long, lingering trails that seriously set this shower apart.

Most meteor showers are created by comets. As a comet circles our Sun, it sheds a rocky dust stream along its orbit. When Earth travels through this space litter, the result is a meteor shower. Astronomers believe that the Southern Delta Aquarids originated from the breakup of two sungrazing comets, Marsden and Kracht.

Shooting stars, as they’re lovingly called, can appear anywhere in the sky, but if you trace the tails it becomes clear that each shower has a definite epicenter. The showers are named after these radiant points, taking the name of the constellation dominating that particular region of the sky. The Delta Aquarids, as you can probably guess, pay homage to the constellation Aquarius. Look for the star Skat within the “water bearer” constellation, the point where Delta Aquari meteors are born.

For every time zone and all continents, the hours between midnight and dawn will be the best time to glimpse these brief celestial bodies. Those of you in the southern hemisphere and southerly latitudes in the northern hemisphere will get a better show, as is typical with this particular shower, though all observers are bound to see activity. Unfortunately, this year the waning crescent moon rises around midnight and will drown out dimmer meteors. But we’ll still see the big ones, and those are arguably the most thrilling.

Meteors are really just bits of interplanetary debris traveling tens of thousands of miles per hour, igniting as they vaporize in Earth’s upper atmosphere, but they sure are pretty. For a preview, take a look at this video of last year’s meteor shower, filmed August 2 by Canadian Geographic.

Think your budget is too small to start your new lab? Well, think again.

Posted on by Promega


eh62Guest blog by Joanna Stevenson, Promega AG

You are young, dynamic and full of initiative. Your dreams oscillate around setting your playground and working without being told what to do and how to do it. You think it is the only way for you to produce results that others will envy. Well, your dreams can actually come true sooner than you think— with your persistence and with a little help from the Promega New Lab Set Up Program.

Even after receiving for external funding, you probably have a few items you still need to set up your new lab. Maybe you have already established your first lab, but you need to change the location. In any case, maximize you budget and continue dreaming. It doesn’t matter if you are in the USA, Australia, Spain or Switzerland –we can help. Please visit our program at www.promega.com/newlab to find out how.

Summer Friday Blog: This Week We Travel to Hawaii and Peshtigo, WI to Learn about Firestorms

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Fire-whirlThis week’s video takes us to a forest fire on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. One of the firefighters captured this amazing video of a fire whirl that erupted as the air temperature near the ground grew very hot. Fire whirls like this one are caused by extreme heat rising from the ground rather than a confluence of atmospheric events, but they can be be every bit as destructive as atmospheric tornadoes and cause a forest fire to continue to burn out of control.

There are written records of fire tornadoes including several that developed after lightning struck an oil storage facility near San Luis Obispo, CA, USA in 1926. In 2003, scientists confirmed true fire tornadoes in Australia associated with the Canberra fires. In this case the fire tornadoes produced damage consistent with the intensity of an F2 tornado. In The Great Pestigo Fire in 1871, the town of Peshtigo, WI, may well have been consumed by fire tornadoes. Dry weather conditions and slash and burn farming practices contributed to this devastating fire (as they did the more famous Chicago fire that occurred on the same day). Strong winds carried a forest fire into the mill town of Peshtigo, WI, and researchers theorize that cut timber and wooden structures of the town fueled such intense heat that a massive fire whirls formed, consuming the town. You can read some compelling stories about the Peshtigo fire here and here.

Understanding the conditions under which firestorms and fire tornadoes form hopefully will lead to a better understanding of how forest and brush fires spread and allow scientists and fire control experts to develop more effective methods of control.

Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown

Posted on by Roberta Braga
A visitor studies a piece at the current Promega Art Showcase.
A visitor studies a piece at the current Promega Art Showcase.

Albert Einstein once wrote: “to raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.” The marriage of science and creativity, it seems, is indispensable for exploration and the discovery of new ideas.

As a life sciences company, Promega supports the work of scientists who are tasked with unraveling mysteries and who ask questions in an effort to get answers that improve the lives of others. Because creative thinking plays a key role in the scientific discovery process, Promega supports artistic exploration in many forms. As an organization, we appreciate that creativity reinforces the type of imagination that inspires scientific progress and innovation.

Since 1996, Promega Corporation has sponsored quarterly art showcases at the Promega BioPharmaceutical Technology Center on East Cheryl Parkway in Fitchburg, WI. This artistic initiative came about in an effort to explore the depths of creativity and science, and to demystify biotechnology and the work of Promega for our community. Promega Art Showcases, which occur four times per year and are open to the public, have featured the work of local, national and international artists, as well as the art of Promega employees. Continue reading “Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown”

Spring Break Staycation

Posted on by Sarah Dewbre

A picnic and play in a local park can be part of your staycation
A picnic and play in a local park can be part of your staycation
Spring Fever! It seems everyone has it around here. Last week, people were the happiest I have seen in a while, and I’m certain the nicer weather had a lot to do with that. With school-age children, it seems that Spring Break is a hot topic of conversation, but an exotic vacation is not always possible for families. So, what can you do if you aren’t taking a Spring Break trip but still want to do something fun with the family? We’ve done staycations a couple times in the past. An overnight in a motel is like a vacation to my children, so that’s popular, but we are looking for new ideas. Here are a few that have been suggested:

  • Camping out! The weather isn’t quite there yet in Wisconsin, but getting out the sleeping bags and having flashlights in the family room is super fun. No electronics, so you get to spend some time together without movies, cell phones or video games.
  • Movie Marathon! We’ve picked a certain type of movie (robots, monsters, etc.), and made popcorn with sweet treats. Pajamas all day on the couch.
  • Scavenger Hunt! Who doesn’t love one? Take the time to create a really fun one that will take a while to get through. This will keep your family entertained for a couple hours if you do it right.
  • Spend the day like a tourist in your own town! There are so many places that get overlooked in our own communities because we are too busy living our lives to explore. I’ve never been to a local museum here! Do some things that people travel to your city to do and see.
  • Family Board Game Tournament! You will be surprised how much fun you can have playing board games. Mix it up so you have a variety. Prizes and snacks too!

What are your staycation ideas?

Biotechnology Ice Breakers: A Few Conversation Starters

Posted on by Amy Prevost

quiz pictureThe biotechnology industry is one of the most dynamic out there – in fact, it never stands still! For non-scientists this can be intimidating. For scientists, it can be challenging to explain what we do in ways that non-scientists can understand and appreciate.

Scientists have made great strides in improving our ability to use molecular processes to our advantage, from discovering the basics of how to isolate and manipulate DNA to gaining an understanding of how genes direct the creation of proteins in cells.  It’s clear that there is a lot we can contribute to the scientific literacy of the general public.

In this spirit, we’ve designed a short quiz for both non-scientists (you may learn something new) and scientists (you may find it useful for engaging in conversations with your non-scientist friends and family members).  Spoiler alert: answers are provided. Continue reading “Biotechnology Ice Breakers: A Few Conversation Starters”

MicroRNAs as Circulating Biomarkers

Posted on by Radhika Ganeshan

12097693_lMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short strands of RNA averaging between 19-24 nucleotides in length that were first discovered in C.elegans and subsequently shown to exist in species ranging from algae to humans (1). Speculated to be merely “junk” more than a decade ago, miRNAs have emerged as powerful regulators of a wide array of cellular processes because of their influence on gene expression at the posttrancriptional level. Dysregulation of these miRNAs is also associated with life-threatening conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, which points to a potential use of miRNAs in diagnosis and treatment. Recently, it has been demonstrated that miRNAs are present in circulating blood plasma, protected from degradation by inclusion in lipid or lipoprotein complexes. This opens up the possibility to exploit miRNA as a useful diagnostic tool in clinical samples. Continue reading “MicroRNAs as Circulating Biomarkers”

General Considerations for Transfection

Posted on by Sara Klink

Many studies, from reporter assays to protein localization to BRET and FRET, require successful transfection first. Yet, transfection can be tricky and difficult. There are many considerations when planning transfection of your cells including reagent selection, stable or transient experiment, type of molecule and endpoint assay used. Here we discuss these considerations to help you plan a successful transfection scheme for your experimental system. Continue reading “General Considerations for Transfection”

How MicroRNAs Have a Big Effect on Genetic Regulation

Posted on by Terri Sundquist
miR-133 microRNA (green) and myogenin mRNA (red) in differentiating C2C12 cells. Image by Ryan Jeffs, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
miR-133 microRNA (green) and myogenin mRNA (red) in differentiating C2C12 cells. Image by Ryan Jeffs, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Some of us scientists who have been around for a while still think about RNA molecules falling into three categories: messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). However, I have revised my outdated RNA classification scheme as scientists discover exciting new classes of RNAs that do some fairly amazing things. For example, in the early 1980s, Thomas Cech discovered ribozymes, RNAs that have catalytic functions (1), and in the early 1990s, researchers began to take interest in short noncoding RNAs that act as a genetic regulators, the first of which was discovered in C. elegans (2). RNA is no longer simply a biological middleman between DNA and protein. These ephemeral nucleic acid molecules play a much bigger role of cellular physiology and gene regulation than we had previously ascribed to RNA.

Continue reading “How MicroRNAs Have a Big Effect on Genetic Regulation”

Reflecting on the Future: Hands-On, Person-to-Person Educational Experiences

Posted on by Karin Borgh

iStock_000053412884LargeThe start of a new year is always a good time for reflection.  For those of us at the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute (BTC Institute), this means looking at the programs we offer and considering ones we might like to develop.

In this process, we find ourselves continuing to feel certain that the hands-on, lab-based opportunities we provide add something meaningful to the education of those we serve, from middle school students and their teachers to graduate students to scientists in academia and industry.  The value of learning concepts and techniques in a well-equipped setting, working with teachers and volunteers who are dedicated scientists, is significant.

In addition to gaining an understanding of the basics of molecular biology so key to biotechnology, these programs are also designed to support the development of critical thinking skills so necessary to scientific literacy.

We think this is also the case for our scientific symposia (Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium; Wisconsin Human Proteomics Symposium) and our International Forum on Consciousness.  These events enable attendees to interact with speakers and other participants in person – in an environment designed to encourage the exchange of information, ideas and perspectives. Continue reading “Reflecting on the Future: Hands-On, Person-to-Person Educational Experiences”