The Lighter Side of Science

So NASA Found Some New Exoplanets…Now What?

Posted on by Darcia Schweitzer
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You have probably heard a lot of excitement over NASA’s recent announcement about the discovery of seven earth-size planets found orbiting around the star TRAPPIST-1, which is part of the constellation Aquarius.

These exoplanets are notable because they exist within the habitable zone of the star (nicknamed Goldilocks planets because this area is not too hot and not too cold) and are probably rocky with the potential to contain water on their surface.

A lot of the enthusiasm revolves around the hope that one of these exoplanets might harbor extraterrestrial life or could be suitable for human inhabitants. Of course, many further observations must be made to determine if these scenarios are plausible, not to mention the huge advances in technology that would need to occur so we could actually verify the planetary conditions or send humans 40 light-years away.

Continue reading “So NASA Found Some New Exoplanets…Now What?”

Calling All Science PUNdits

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

As the point of contact for our social media efforts at Promega, I spend a lot of time scanning science-related Twitter, Facebook, Instagram media accounts. There are some science channel managers who do a great job of bringing delight to their followers. Those managers use their platforms to educate—I follow them because they constantly amaze me with new things. I find information that is useful, fun and makes me think “wow, that is interesting.” On my favorite accounts, that new learning comes along with a wry sense of humor, and some of my favorite social media channels are ones that not only teach me new things but do it with a little fun on the side—often in the form of bad science puns.

Promega has the privilege of sponsoring the Cool Science Image contest run by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Just recently @UWMadScience tweeted about the deadline for the contest, tagging @promega in the tweet. Their tweet included a visual science pun which was not lost on their fellow campus account managers:

Submissions for the Cool Science Image Contest are due today, 3/3. Don’t tick us off. Get yours in! https://t.co/QWErbiV9UM @promega @UWDoIT pic.twitter.com/u0PfApExq1

— UW–Madison Science (@UWMadScience) March 3, 2017


That pun started a chain reaction among the other UW accounts that follow @UWMadScience:

Continue reading “Calling All Science PUNdits”

Promega Employees Find Their Muse in Company Band

Posted on by Karen Burkhartzmeyer
Becky Guy (keyboard), Randy Dimond (left), Eric Vincent (Trombone) play for the Promega Employee Recognition Meeting as part of Lead Generation.
Becky Guy (keyboard), Randy Dimond (left), Eric Vincent (Trombone) play for the Promega Employee Recognition Meeting as part of Lead Generation (now Major Groove).

Musicians wait onstage as the sound tech adjusts the cables around them. He signals “OK” and runs back through the seats of the empty auditorium to the mixing board. The musicians all dressed in black, instruments in hand, prepare to play. Four sharp whacks from the drummer’s sticks and music fills the space. Horns, keyboards, electric guitar, bass, and harmonica back singers as they belt out the upbeat earworm Drive It Like You Stole It. They sound great and make it look pretty effortless too, which is why it’s hard to believe these “rock stars” are also scientists, marketers, IT specialists, lawyers, you name it, who make up the Promega employee band, Lead Generation, known now as “Major Groove”.

“Lead Generation is just one of the many opportunities at Promega that make it truly unique,” says Kris Zimmerman, a research scientist who sings and plays trumpet with the band. “Any kind of expression of creativity can help you to have different perspectives and be a better problem solver. Fostering an environment where collaboration and creativity are rewarded really helps to create a sense of belonging, and creates a vibe of excitement that you don’t find just anywhere. Plus how cool is it to tell people that you play in a band? At work?”

Continue reading “Promega Employees Find Their Muse in Company Band”

More Than Just a Belt—The Benefits of Practicing Martial Arts

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

Two years ago my, then ten-year-old, daughter and I started a journey together. We joined a local dojo (karate school). At the time my daughter was still looking for ‘her’ activity, and after trying both girl scouts and 4H as well as several intramural sports, I reached back into her early childhood when she had enjoyed participating in karate classes as a three and four year old. I was hoping to find an activity that we could share (much as her brother and father share camping and outings with Boy Scouts) that we would both find challenging and enjoyable—and maybe part of me had secretly always wanted to be a ninja.

A number of friends, family and even acquaintances have expressed surprise that this was the activity that my daughter and I settled on, or more specifically, that I was taking up karate as an adult. We tend to associate karate with classes of kids in white gis, or with high-intensity, high-level competitive martial artists, which we typically think of as male. But this is not a “kid only” or “male only” sport. According to the New York City-based research firm, Simmons Market Research, over 18.1 million Americans participated in karate or some other form of martial art at least once, and roughly 9.4 million were adults. The study also found that gender is pretty evenly split between men (52%) and women (48%). Karate is popular globally, with an estimated 50 to 100 million practitioners worldwide (Japan web and World Karate Federation, respectively), and was one of five new sports added to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

karate girl in mirrorMartial Arts Improves Physical and Cognitive Performance in Youth

It is easy to find the reasons why people enroll their children in martial arts training. Participation in karate has been shown to improve physical performance in children and young adults as measured by such things as better coordination, reaction speed time, explosive leg strength and muscle endurance (1, 2). At the same time, children participating in karate also score better than their peers on executive functions, working memory and visual selective attention (1). Karate has also shown promise in helping with behavior issues by improving self-regulation and executive function (3).

When you look at the literature, though, it is clear that the benefits of martial arts such as karate are not limited to children and teens. Continue reading “More Than Just a Belt—The Benefits of Practicing Martial Arts”

Top Science Books of 2016

Posted on by Nicole Sandler

While I planned to write about New Year’s resolutions for the first Promega Connections blog of 2017, I was sidetracked by some “best of 2016” lists—in particular, best science books. I realized though that these seemingly unrelated ideas overlapped at some level because every year I resolve to find time to read more books. What was once an easy and natural escape for me, like for so many others, reading for fun now requires a bit of effort and prioritization. With the continual distractions of Netflix, social media and online news stories, it’s a challenge to find time to read books the way I once did.

So, in honor of a new year’s resolution do more of what I like and less of what I don’t like, here is a list of what has been deemed the best science books of 2016. I culled through the lists of several of the most reputable science blogs and publications and looked for overlap among them. Between the Science Friday blog, New York Magazine’s blog, The Science of Us, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, and the New York Times’ best of 2016 lists there are loads of suggestions to keep you reading until the start of the next decade. Below are eight recommendations that appeared on several “best of” lists. Continue reading “Top Science Books of 2016”

Travelogue Galapagos Part I: Realizing a Lifelong Dream

Posted on by Promega

In 2014, Promega created a special incentive to reward field science consultants who help the scientific community take advantage of our on-site stocking program. The winners had to meet ambitious criteria to receive 2 round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world, a week of paid vacation and spending money. Our four winners will share photos and stories about their journeys on the Promega Connections Blog.

Today’s travelogue is Part I of the adventures of Amy Parman, a regional sales manager, who used her award to travel to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.32178451-dec-12-image-1-600x400-web

Day 1: Seattle to Miami – Today we tied up a few last minute details, tested the satellite phones, checked that Grandma and Grandpa had all the info and resources they needed for anything that should arise while we were inaccessible (the manual we left was slightly thicker than War and Peace, and way less interesting), loaded up the car, put on the out-of-office alerts, kissed the kiddos good-bye and headed to SeaTac for a red-eye flight to Miami. We’re off!

Day 2: Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador – Today (Was it day? After a red-eye, who knows?) we arrived in Miami in the very wee hours. We snagged a quick breakfast and a hotel right in the Miami airport which rents rooms for the day, which was our first experience with an hourly hotel—ahem! Our nine hour layover included lunch, mani/pedis and a much needed nap. We boarded our flight to Guayaquil and made full use of some particularly goofy-looking, newly-purchased neck pillows. My husband created a little excitement as we boarded the plane—he couldn’t find his passport as the flight attendant was readying the flight doors for departure. Our local seatmates and two flight attendants helped to find it quickly as it had slipped between the window seat and the floor. Phew! The flight was smooth as a wet seal and we arrived in Guayaquil to find the Hilton shuttle waiting for us. We checked into our room and grabbed some midnight sangria and flautas while we listened to an awesome Ecuadorian jazz band in the hotel bar. This trip is off to a fabulous start! Continue reading “Travelogue Galapagos Part I: Realizing a Lifelong Dream”

Promega Spain Gets Moving Outdoors For A Cause

Posted on by Karen Burkhartzmeyer

A bike ride through the beautiful countryside, or even a routine walk to the corner store, is good for both body and soul. But sometimes even that’s not enough to get us moving in the fresh air. So our Promega Biotech Ibérica branch recently found a way to raise the stakes, and make outdoor activity even more valuable for its employees.

Promega Biotech Ibérica collected images of the beautiful Spanish countryside during their Kilometros Solidarios campaign.
Promega Biotech Ibérica collected images of the beautiful Spanish countryside during their Kilometros Solidarios campaign.

Last summer, the branch came up with the idea to donate one euro to the children’s oncology department of Hospital La Paz in Madrid for every kilometer its staff biked, walked or ran outside. The idea behind Kilometros Solidarios (Solidarity Kilometers) was simple but powerful: healthy activity leading directly to the health of others.

The plan worked. During the months of July, August and September, employees got up and outside and the branch raised €1884 (about $1993 USD) toward the purchase of a much-needed portable ultrasound machine for the hospital. (To point out the obvious, 1884 kilometers of outdoor activity were racked up by just 15 employees. That’s 4710 times around an Olympic track, or about the same distance as walking, biking or running from Promega Ibérica to Promega GmbH or from the Promega Madison headquarters straight south to the Gulf of Mexico.) Continue reading “Promega Spain Gets Moving Outdoors For A Cause”

The Art of Eating: Embrace the Nap

Posted on by Promega

Celebrating Thanksgiving Copyright: rawpixel / 123RF Stock Photo
Celebrating Thanksgiving Copyright: rawpixel / 123RF Stock Photo

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day originated as an opportunity to give thanks for blessing of the harvest and to toast to a plentiful harvest the next year. Fitting with its origins, the modern Thanksgiving holiday is centered on food. Although we are grateful for this day of eating, why does it have to make us so sleepy?

L-tryptophan, commonly known as just tryptophan, is an amino acid found in many of the foods typically found at a Thanksgiving feast. You’ve probably heard one of your relatives cite it as the reason they fell asleep during the football game. Tryptophan is essential for the normal growth in infants and to balance nitrogen levels in adults. It is mostly found in proteins like turkey, chicken, dairy products and brown rice. Once the amino acid is consumed, the body converts it to 5-hydroxy-tryptophan (5-HTP), which is then turned into serotonin. Serotonin is the biochemical messenger that is associated with naps.

But tryptophan can’t do it alone. Tryptophan is not an essential amino acid, and it has to compete to get to the brain. Most of the time it gets kicked out of the way by other essential amino acids also traveling to the brain. So, why does it zip up to the brain on Thanksgiving? Carbohydrates. Continue reading “The Art of Eating: Embrace the Nap”

A Very Happy and BATTY Halloween

Posted on by Michele Arduengo
Crowds gather on the Congress Ave Bridge in Austin, TX to see the bat colonly.
Crowds gather on the Congress Ave Bridge in Austin, TX to see the bat colony.

My colleagues in the scientific communications group at Promega are pretty sure that I have bats in my belfry. And, they may be right. After all I have written extensively and repeatedly about bats in North America and the threat that they are facing from White Nose Syndrome, the devastating disease caused by a cold-loving fungus (you can read my last post here). And, just last week I skipped an awesome party on Rainey Street in Austin, TX, to instead hang out by the Congress Ave bridge in hopes of seeing the urban bats fly.

But just in time for the annual Promega Connections Halloween blog, I stumbled across some good news for our distant mammalian cousins.

Continue reading “A Very Happy and BATTY Halloween”

Royal Lessons for Scientific Discovery

Posted on by Robert Deyes

rdeyes-2This Summer I had the chance to travel to Isle Royale (‘Royal Island’) in Lake Superior for what was a trip that would challenge me in more ways than one.  Our group, comprising 3 adults and 5 boys, drove up to Copper Harbor in the Michigan Upper Peninsula and then made the four hour ferry crossing to the Isle Royale National Park.   We spent the next 6 days hiking across the island, covering a total of 50 miles with backpacks and tents weighing us down every step of the way.

The sights were fantastic, the weather tremendous and the sheer thrill of being unreachable by text, email or phone thoroughly satisfying to say the least.  But, like any adventure of this nature, there was an element of fear that accompanied the trip.  What if anyone got hurt on the island?  How would we handle losing all our food if critters raided our camp during the night?  Might someone get seriously sick on the ferry crossing?  Had we brought enough food to keep us healthy while not overloading our back packs with unnecessary weight that would hinder our progress?  What if our portable water filters got clogged up? Continue reading “Royal Lessons for Scientific Discovery”