At most of our camps, campers have an opportunity to build and launch a model rocket.  If you love that part of camp and can't wait until next year to have that experience again, here are some model rockets that you can buy now or make at home.

First of all, we want to give a shout-out to our rocket supplier Belleville Wholesale Hobby.  They carry the Starhawk rockets that we use at camp, as well as many other models that you can buy in bulk or individually.  They are a great company and have had a decades long relationship with STAR Camp.  Ron Becker is the owner.  Tell him STAR Camp sent you.

If homemade is more your style, here are a few rockets you can make at home.
With paper, tape, and some PVC pipe, make a stomp rocket.  Click on the link for detailed directions from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

If you want a super simple rocket that you can make with stuff you most likely have at home, check out JPL's instructions for how to make straw rockets.

For a rocket that you can propel with just a rubber band, check out JPL's foam rocket video.

We would absolutely love to see how your rockets turn out!  Share videos and comments below with your results.

With the Summer Olympics fast approaching, athletes are preparing for the games by doing everything they can to build up their strength and stamina.  A lot of science goes into helping an athlete reach their peak performance.  A few ways that science affects the Olympics are:

Biomechanics: Biomechanics is the study of human movement, including the interaction of a person and the equipment they are using.  It is generally broken down into two different areas.  Kinetics is the study of internal and external forces acting on the body.  Kinematics is the study of movements of the body as a result of these forces.  In sports, biomechanics uses a detailed analysis of sports movements in order to reduce injuries and enhance performance.  It can also be used to explain how some athletes excel in different sports.  For example, Simone Biles is 4 feet 8 inches tall, which is a good height for a gymnast.  She has trained her body to have near perfect control.  Combine that with her strength and speed and you can see the results!

Physics: Understanding practical applications of physics helps athletes and coaches develop better techniques in pretty much all sports.  Principles of gravity, force, and momentum, for instance, are at play every time a body is in motion.  One example of physics being applied in the Olympics is with runners.  Newton's second law, often summarized as force equals mass times acceleration, tells us that for something to start moving, a net force must get it going.  Aside from their own bodies, sprinters need a force to kick off their acceleration.  In order to get as large of an acceleration as possible,  they kick off of starting blocks as hard as they can to create as large of a net force as possible.

Nutrition and Physiology: There is no one size fits all method for eating a healthy diet, but science can certainly help us to optimize our diets to the lifestyle we are living.  When it comes to Olympic athletes, they generally tend to eat healthy diets that are designed to help them perform at their best.  Swimmer Michael Phelps famously ate 10,000 calories a day while he was training six hours a day for the Olympics, but that is not appropriate for every athlete.  Canadian boxer Tammara Thibeault is a vegetarian, though when she is competing and travelling, she is not as strict with her diet because it can be difficult to meet her protein needs without meat.  Nutritional science helps all Olympic athletes determine the diet that makes them feel the strongest and provides the proper nutrients to give them strength and stamina.

The 2024 Olympics will begin on Friday, July 26th.

Twenty years ago today, the spacecraft Cassini traveled past Saturn and sent back an unprecedented look at the planet's rings.  Here are a few of those stunning images.  All image credit: NASA

Happy Pride Month, friends.  Here are some LGBTQ+ folks who are doing great work in science right now.

John Pham is a molecular biologist.  He is the editor-in-chief of the well-respected science journal Cell.  He has been recognized for the major role he has played in making the journal more inclusive.

Joan Roughgarden is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist.  She is considered to be the most notable trans scientist in American history.  She has engaged in theory and observation of the Anolis lizards of the Carribean.

Jack Andraka created an early testing system for pancreatic cancer when he was just 15 years old.  His sensor system, similar to diabetic test strips, won the Gordon E. Moore award in 2012.

Biologist Rochelle Diamond is the Director of the California Institute of Technology’s Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Shared Resource Laboratory.  She has been an activist for LGBTQ+ rights since being forced out of a professional role due to extremely homophobic behavior from a lab colleague.

Gregg Gonsalves is a global health activist and epidimiologist.  He is best known for his work on AIDS and HIV research.

Jeanne Marazzo is an physician-scientist and infectious disease specialist.  She is the sixth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious disease.  She is considered to be an expert in HIV prevention.

Jay Keasling is a professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering.  He is considered one of the foremost authorities in synthetic biology.

While on the ISS, astronauts spend months in space doing science experiments and maintaining the space station.  But before they become astronauts, everyone on the ISS had another job.  Here are the people who are currently on the ISS and what they did before (and sometimes during) their time as astronauts.

Did you know that your local planetarium probably organizes star gazing parties?  In fact, Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City has all kinds of cool events going on for kids this summer.  Most of the events take place at the planetarium, and you can check out their schedule here.  But the next Star Party is this Friday at Flight Park in Draper, UT!

This will be an all ages event.  Space is limited, so please register ahead of time with the planetarium!  Keep checking the schedule for more cool activities.  If you aren't local to Utah, see where the nearest planetarium is to you and let us know what they have going on for kids!

Happy summer break, everyone!  We have vacation on our minds (and STAR Camp, of course!).  The ocean is one of Earth's last unexplored frontiers.  The ocean is still a huge mystery to us!  We have only explored about five percent of the ocean.  It is tricky because it is difficult to design technology that can withstand the pressure exerted by ocean water.

Here are some ocean-themed STEM activities that you can try!

Ocean Currents
What you'll need:
9x13 inch glass dish (or something similar)
Ice pack or baggie with ice in it
Food coloring
Water

1. 

Robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in our modern lives.  Here are a few examples of robots and how they are used.
Domestic robots are designed to help with household tasks.  You might be familiar with the Roomba vacuum cleaner.  They've been around since 2002!  Roombas are robots that can be programmed to clean floors, carpets, and rugs.
​Another example of a domestic robot is the Wakamaru robot.  It is designed to be a companion to elderly people who live alone.  It uses AI to monitor its owner's health, behavior, and location.  If it detects a problem, it can contact family members or caregivers!

Medical robots are used to assist doctors with medical procedures.  Some even perform full procedures autonomously!
The da Vinci Surgical System is a widely used medical robot that allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery through tiny incisions in patients' bodies.  Doctors use special instruments and controls built into the robot.  Performing surgery this way reduces the amount of blood lost during procedures, increasing the chances of patients surviving surgery unharmed.

Educational robots are used to help students investigate topics that are interesting to them.  Some are even used to teach kids about robotics and programming!

What is your favorite use of robots in everyday life?

Plants have been used in science for ages.  Evidence suggests that plants have been used as medicine for at least 60,000 years!  Medicinal plants like opium poppies, ephedra, and cannabis have been discovered at ancient archeological sites.

Botanists today study plants and their uses in medicine, genetics, agriculture, climate science, and architecture.  Scientists are studying many different aspects of plant science!  Check out this website to read more about some specific studies that are going on right now.

Click through this slideshow to see some of the plants that are used to make medicines.

Astronomy is the study of the Universe and everything in it.  It's a huge subject!  That includes planets, stars, galaxies, comets, black holes, and so much more.  So what can you do as a kid to start your astronomy journey?

One simple place to start is by stargazing!  Going out when the conditions are right will help you to see more stars.  Try going out when it's not cloudy and there is little to no moonlight.  Try and find a place that is away from house lights, street lights, and headlights, and give your eyes about thirty minutes to adjust to the darkness.

If you want to identify things in the sky, take a star map with you!  What you can see in the sky is going to be different throughout the year, so make sure you find one that will match the season and your location.  If you have a telescope, it can help you find things that are not visible with just your eyes alone.  Take a notebook with you to record what you find.

Also, (and this is important!) don't go out stargazing without your parents!  It is easy to get lost in the dark.

​Have fun exploring the sky and share what you find with us!