Teen Scientist Finds Bacteria to Decompose Plastic

I just wanted to repost this article from Wired Science.  A teen from Ontario found bacteria that makes plastic decompose in just three months.  This is something that scientists have been working on for many years.

Youth Involved in Major Scientific Announcement

Today, National Geographic announced a major archaeological find in the Sahara. Follow the link to read more about the science. However, what is most relevant to readers of this blog is the involvement of Chicago-area teens in the announcement. The African gravesite was found by an expedition led by paleontologist Paul Sereno, who is also co-founder of Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization that connects science to the public - especially minority youth. Some of those youth traveled to Niger as part of the excavation team, and still more were involved in the production of today's public announcement. Read here about Shureice, one of the junior paleontologists involved in the program. Many scientists will tell you that communicating their findings to the public is one of the hardest parts of their job. Project Exploration gives youth an early opportunity to experience the science and the communication. Visit their website announcing the find, and you should be impressed by how well they do it.

Cafe Scientifique

In response to my July 8 post, debs from the Children and Youth Blog commented that the idea of pub science would be great to offer to teens as well. I found that NSF recently funded such a project, Cafe Scientifique in New Mexico. I don't know much about it, but it seems to give teens a space to have informal conversations about science and technology. Sounds like a great idea to me!