STEM is used in all kinds of jobs, including solving crimes! Here are some ways that police and investigators use their STEM skills in law enforcement.
Analyzing evidence: When forensic investigators collect evidence at a crime scene, they are using science skills! An investigator might collect and test substances, weapons, and even biological evidence like fluids or hair. All of these clues help them piece together what happened and who was involved in the criminal activity. This could also include identifying bomb or other weapon components. Using algorithms: Modern investigators rely heavily on computers to help automate examination of evidence. Fingerprints, facial recognition software, and DNA databases are all used to identify perpetrators and others present at crime scenes. Data analysis: Another way investigators solve crimes is by using computer data to identify commonalities in criminal activity. This can help identify "hotspots" of crime and can even help analyze networks of organized crime. Cryptanalysis: When investigators find a jumble of code or an unfamiliar gang tattoo, they use cryptanalysis to decipher its meaning. Code cracking relies heavily on STEM analysis skills. If you are interested in a career where you can utilize STEM skills while fighting crime, check out the FBI's STEM Careers website here.
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NASA has had a long history with the United States Armed Forces. Many astronauts have been selected from their ranks, and the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command currently provides support to NASA. While NASA's astronaut program is open to both military and civilian applicants, military training, particularly in fields like aviation and engineering, can provide valuable skills and experiences that are relevant in space. Flip through this slideshow to learn about just a few of these heroes. November is Native American Heritage Month, and we want to take a moment to appreciate people of Native American descent who have made great contributions to STEM. Each of these individuals has made a great contribution to their field. Unfortunately, while marginalized racial and ethnic groups still only make up a small percentage of people working in STEM, it is important to note that indigenous people in America are greatly underrepresented in the sciences. American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) peoples hold only 200,000 out of 34.9 million STEM jobs. Click here to learn about initiatives to grow indigenous participation in STEM. Halloween candy is great! And you can do so much with it! Check out these ideas for how to use your candy.
Is your candy acidic? Candy pH Test What you'll need: Sour candy (like lemonheads, nerds, or sour gummy worms) Skittles M&Ms Candy Corn 8 plastic cups Distilled water Measuring cup Baking soda How it works: 1. Taste one of each of your candies. Order your candy by how sour it is and write down your observations. 2. Put 1/4 cup of water in four of the cups. Place one piece of each candy in the cups (one kind of candy per cup). These are your controls, which means you won't do anything else with them other than observe what the water does to the candies. 3. Write the letter C on each of these cups and set them aside until the end of the experiment. 4. Put 1/4 cup of water in four new cups. Place one piece of each candy in the cups and let the candy dissolve completely. You can crush candies that are taking too long to dissolve. These are your variable cups, the ones you'll be working with. 5. After the candy has dissolved completely, sprinkle one tablespoon of baking soda into each of the variable cups. The baking soda is your independent variable, the only thing that changes in the experiment. Watch for bubbles. 6. The bubbles are your dependent variable, which is the thing that happens after you add the independent variable. Record your observations about the bubbles. The greater the amount of bubbles, the greater the acidity of the candy! Dancing Frankenworms What you'll need: Gummy worms Baking soda Vinegar Cutting board Sharp knife 2 clear cups How it works: 1. Cut 3 gummy worms into quarters the long way. It may help to make your knife wet or dust it in baking soda to prevent the candy from sticking to it. 2. Stir 3 tablespoons of baking soda into a glass filled with 1 cup of warm water. Mix your cut worms into the baking soda solution. 3. Let the worms soak for 15 minutes. 4. Fill the second clear glass with vinegar. 5. Fish your worms out of the baking soda solution with a fork. Add a few to the vinegar. 6. The baking soda in the gummy worms will react with the vinegar by producing carbon dioxide bubbles. The bubbles form on the outside of the gummy worms, causing the worms to rise and "dance" their way to the top of the glass. Growing Gummy Bears What you'll need: 2 small bowls Water Salt Gummy bears How it works: 1. Make about a cup of supersaturated salt water solution. To do this, add salt a little bit at a time to a cup of boiling water until no more salt dissolves. 2. Allow your salt water to cool in the fridge. 3. When the water is cool, fill your bowls. Put salt water in one and plain tap water in the other. 4. Gather your gummy bears and pick some that are similar in size. Put a couple in the salt water and a couple in the plain water. 5. Allow the gummy bears to soak for several hours. (Don't soak longer than overnight or the gummy bears may fall apart.) 6. Observe the changes in size of your gummy bears. ![]() In the autumn, we see a beautiful change of color as the trees that are green in the summer become red, orange and yellow. Due to the changes in sunlight and temperature experienced during the fall, trees undergo a chemical process that changes the color of the leaves. During the summer, leaves have a very important job. They are the factories where the food that trees need to grow is processed. This happens in leaves containing a chemical called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll absorbs energy from sunlight that is then used to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates. Chlorophyll has a large amount of green pigment, giving leaves their color. Other colors are present in leaves, but during the summer, the chlorophyll masks them. In the fall, when it gets colder and there is less sunlight, leaves stop the food-making process. Chlorophyll breaks down, and its green color disappears, allowing the other colors present in the leaves to become visible! Read more about this incredible process here! Did you know that cooking is science? It involves all kinds of complex reactions. Try out some of these fun (and edible) cooking science activities--with a spooky twist! This post was inspired by kitchenpantryscientist.com. Check out their website for even more awesome science ideas!
Vampire Rock Candy (Makes enough for a Halloween party) What you'll need 5 cups granulated white sugar 2 cups water cake pop sticks or wooden skewers red food coloring Directions 1. Dip one end of the wooden skewers in water and then roll them in granulated sugar. The sugar should cover 2-3 inches of the stick. Let them dry completely. 2. Boil 2 cups of water and 5 cups of sugar until the sugar is dissolved. It should look like syrup. 3. Let the syrup sit until it is no longer hot and then pour it into a large glass jar or a deep bowl. 4. When the syrup is completely cool, set the sugary end of the skewers into the syrup, evenly spaced. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them sit for about a week. Move the sticks from time to time so they don't stick to each other or the bowl. 5. When the rock candy is done, pull them from the syrup and let them dry. Save the syrup. 6. When you're ready to serve your Vampire Rock Candy, pour a few cm of sugar syrup into the bottom of a pretty glass and add a few drops of red food coloring. Stir. 7. Put your rock candy, handle side up, into the glass. Enjoy your blood-dipped rock candy! How it works This is crystal science. Crystals are solids formed by a network of repeating patterns of molecules. When you boil the sugar into the water, it makes a supersaturated solution, meaning it contains more sugar than can stay in the solution. As the temperature decreases, the sugar comes out of the solution, forming crystals. The crystals bond to the sugar "seeds" on the sticks, making rock candy! Alien Eyeballs What you'll need Two 3oz packages of lemon Jell-O One 6 oz package of Berry Blue Jell-O Water Potato peeler Toothpick or skewer Two oval-shaped ice cube trays Cherry Kool-Aid Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid Straw Directions 1. Dissolve two 3oz packages of lemon Jello in 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water. Allow it to cool briefly, and pour it into ice cube trays. Refrigerate until firm. 2. Dissolve 6 oz package of blue Jell-O in 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water. Cool briefly. 3. Using the end of your potato peeler, hollow out a circle in the middle of each yellow Jell-O "eyeball". Carve the circle about halfway to the bottom of the gelatin. Use a toothpick to remove the cored Jell-O. 4. Fill the hollow with the liquid blue gelatin and return to the refrigerator to harden. 5. Once set, put ice cube trays containing Jell-O eyeballs in a casserole dish of hot tap water for 1-2 minutes. This will help you unmold the gelatin. Remove the eyeballs from the ice cube trays. 6. Use a straw to add red Kool-Aid liquid to the center of each eyeball. Then use a toothpick to draw lines out from the center. 7. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for a few hours so that the Kool-Aid will start to diffuse. 8. Repeat the process with blue Kool-Aid liquid. 9. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The Kool-Aid colors will diffuse into the eyeballs! How it works Molecules move from areas of high concentration, where there are a lot of other similar molecules, to areas of low concentration, where there are not as many similar molecules. This is called diffusion. Halloween Meringues What you'll need 3 egg whites from extra large eggs 1/8 tsp cream of tartar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 tsp vanilla gel food coloring toothpicks sprinkles or dusting sugar (optional) parchment paper mixer baking sheets pastry bags (or large Ziploc bags with the corners cut off) Round piping tips (if you have them) Directions 1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F. 2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 3. Beat egg whites on medium speed until they start to foam. 4. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat the egg whites on high. 5. When soft peaks form, add sugar a tablespoon or so at a time as you beat the eggs. Add the vanilla. 6. Continue beating the mixture until stiff, glossy peaks with rounded tips form. Don't over-beat. 7. Add a round tip to the pastry or plastic bag. Fill the bag with the meringue. You can color the meringue with food coloring before piping. 8. Use the bag and tip to pipe half of the meringue into blobs. (Tip: make colorful streaks on the meringues by using a toothpick to smear food coloring on the inside of the pastry tip before putting it into the bag and piping the meringue.) 9. A small tip can be used to create eyes for the blobs, snakes or worms, or you can decorate with sprinkles and dusting sugar. 10. Bake the meringues for 1-2 hours until they feel dry. Let them cool before eating! How it works Meringues are egg whites whipped into sugary foams. As you whip air into the mix, glue-like egg proteins stick to the bubbles, forming a thick foam. The sugar combines with water from the eggs to create a sweet syrup. When heated at a low temperature for a long period of time, the sugar and protein go from elastic goo to a crunchy, glassy state! Happy spooky season, science buddies! In honor of the most spine-tingling time of year, here are some creepy STEM activities that you can try at home!
Flying Ghosts What you'll need: Tea bags Black permanent marker Lighter Non-flammable surface How it works: 1. Cut the top off of the tea bag, making a straight line. Unfold the tea bag and empty the contents. 2. Draw a face toward the bottom of the bag. 3. Shape the tea bag into a cylinder and place it upright on the non-flammable surface. 4. Light the top of the tea bag on fire and watch what happens! Witch's Brew What you'll need: Hydrogen peroxide Warm water Yeast Packets Flasks or plastic bottles Teaspoon and Tablespoon Food coloring Dish soap Tray or container (to catch foam) Small cup How it works: 1. Pour half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into a container. 2. Squirt dish soap into the container. 3. Add food coloring. 4. In the small cup, mix one teaspoon of yeast with two tablespoons of warm water. 5. Pour the yeast mixture into the container and watch what happens! Candy Catapult What you'll need: 10 Jumbo popsicle sticks or craft sticks Rubber bands Bottle cap Hot glue gun Fun items to fling (plastic eyeballs, spiders, candy pumpkins, etc.) Small measuring tape. How it works: 1. Secure 8 craft sticks together at the ends with rubber bands. Wind the bands tightly. 2. Take a stick and wedge it into the middle of the stack (horizontally) just above the bottom stick. Make sure it is centered in the stack. Place the remaining craft stick on the top of the stack in line with the one you just added. 3. Secure the tips of the two sticks together with a looser rubber band. It will need to have some give to get a good launch. 4. Use a glue gun to add a bottle cap to the top of the catapult. 5. See how far you can fling things with your catapult. Have fun and stay spooky! ![]() 1Do you know why apples turn brown when they've been cut? Or why bananas get brown spots? The answer is the same for both fruits: enzymatic browning triggered by an enzyme called polyphenal oxidase (PPO). Try this simple activity to explore this phenomenon! What you'll need: Banana (yellow with no brown spots Stove Pot Water Timer Apple Cutting Board Knife Lemon Juice Distilled Vinegar Milk Instructions Part one 1. Fill a pot with water. 2. With the help of an adult, heat the water to boiling on the stove. 3. Take your banana and look closely at its peel. Record observations about its color. 4. Carefully submerge the bottom third of the banana in the boiling water for 30 seconds. 5. Remove the banana from the water and observe it for three minutes. Does the banana look different after awhile? Record your observations. 6. When the banana has cooled down, peel the banana and look at the fruit inside the peel. Does it look like how you expected it to look? What happened? The boiling water caused heat stress on the cells of the banana. As the cells broke open, they released PPO, which reacted with the air and created melanin. Most likely, only the peel was affected by the hot water, because the fruit was protected by the peel. Try more. What happens if you put a banana in the fridge? What if you tape up parts of the banana before changing its temperature? Instructions Part two 1. Cut two slices from the apple on the cutting board. Place each slice on its side. 2. Poke one of the apple slices several times with a fork. Observe both slices for 15 to 20 minutes. Is there a difference between the two slices? Do you know why? Record your observations. 3. Cut five more slices from the apple, placing each slice on its side. Immediately after slicing, sprinkle milk on the first slice, distilled vinegar on the second slice, lemon juice on the third slice, water on the fourth slice, and leave the fifth slice as is. Make sure you keep track of which slice is which. Poke each apple slice several times with a fork. 4. Observe all five slices for 15-20 minutes. What did each liquid do to the apple slices? Do you know why? Record your observations. What happened? Slicing the apple damaged its cells due to mechanical stress. This triggers enzymatic browning, just like with the banana. When you poked the apple, you released more PPO, so that slice was likely much browner than the other slice. When you sprinkled the slices with liquids, you likely observed that the slices sprinkled with acidic liquids like lemon juice got less brown. PPO oxidase doesn't work well in acidic environments. Next time you're eating apple slices and don't want them to turn brown, try a little lemon juice! Try these easy fruit experiments and let us know how it goes! As the weather starts to get cooler, here's something neat you can try at home to monitor the changes. Make your own thermometer!
Supplies: Empty glass soda bottle Measuring cup 1/2 cup of water 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol (with adult supervision) Food coloring Clear straw Modeling clay Permanent marker How to do it: 1. Pour the water into the glass bottle. 2. Pour the rubbing alcohol into the bottle. 3. Add a few drops of food coloring and gently swirl the bottle to mix the liquid. 4. Insert the straw into the bottle. The bottom of the straw should be in the colored water, but not touching the bottom of the bottle. 5. Secure the straw at the top of the bottle with modeling clay. Do not cover the top of the straw. 6. Place your thermometer in the sun and wait a little while. The liquid will rise up the straw. 7. Use the marker to to draw a line on the outside of the bottle to show where the top of the liquid is in the straw. Write the date next to the line. 8. Use your thermometer in the same spot and at the same time each day for a week. Each time, mark the level of the liquid and the date. 9. You have collected data! What does the data tell you about the temperature over the week? Did you know that farming is all about STEM? Ever since people started cultivating crops, they have been experimenting with different and better ways to grow food! Farmers nowadays are on the cutting edge of technology and use critical thinking and problem solving skills all the time. As the demand for food increases from an ever growing world population, and as we start thinking about feeding people in harsher environments beyond our own planet, innovative STEM projects may hold the answers. Here are some of the newest innovations being implemented in farming.
Indoor Vertical Farming Indoor vertical farming is basically exactly what it sounds like. It's a method of growing crops in stacked layers indoors. This method is often associated with urban farming where space is limited. Vertical farming utilizes artificial growing systems like hydroponics and aquaponics. Vertical farms use up to 70% less water than traditional farms, and can produce more food in less space than traditional farming methods. Farm Automation Drones, autonomous tractors, robotic harvesters, and automatic watering are all becoming more and more common on farms. As robotics technology improves, more and more possibilities become available in agriculture. Automation on farms is showing promise for reducing the effect of farming on climate change. Livestock Farming Technology A wide variety of technology can help improve the management of livestock. This includes things like Precision Livestock Farming (a collection of technologies that monitor livestock using sensors, cameras, and microphones), and infrared spectroscopy (used to analyze milk for components like fat, protein, and lactose). Blockchain and Food Traceability Blockchain technology is making it increasingly possible to solve urgent food safety issues quickly. Blockchain helps with safety recalls, supply chain inefficiency, and food traceability. Food traceability has been a time-consuming task, since there are some aspects of food transportation that are still managed on paper. A blockchain structure streamlines the process and adds accountability to the system. Now we want to hear your ideas! What great ideas do you have that could help farmers? Comment with your thoughts, or try them out at home and let us know how it goes! |