Science: Both Popular and Fun. Who Knew?

Yesterday and Monday, a colleague and I took Rena Pacella, a reporter for Popular Science, all over Metro Denver to tour companies in the region. I love my job - I get to see some of the most spectacular things going on in the world. Really.

Monday

First, we met with David Hiller, the executive director for the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a research partnership among the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Colorado State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado School of Mines.

Next, we met with the most amazing professor, researcher and business owner - Claude Selitrennikoff, who's also the Vice-Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He's an incredible character - he has an excellent sense of humor and explains complex biology in laymen's terms - and he got us all (well Susan, my colleague, and I) really excited about science.

Through his company, Mycologics, he's working to find a vaccine for Leishmania, or Baghdad Boil as it's affectionately known - a fungus carried by sandflies in the Middle East (so lots of Iraq and Afghanistan vets are getting the disease). This same vaccine will likely work on malaria as well - fascinating science that has the potential to save millions of lives.

Apparently, diseases like Leishmania are migrating, thanks to yours truly, Global Warming, and may be coming to a desert near you soon. After meeting with Claude, we started singing, a la Flashdance, "She's a Leishmaniac, Leishmaniac on the floor...."

Next, we headed to CH2M Hill, where we met with Thomas Searle, the president of CH2M Hill's international division. Mr. Searle told us all about his company's incredible work in Singapore, including the upcoming Singapore Deep Tunnel Sewage System, the Panama Canal Expansion program, and the 2012 London Olympics. (They are also working on the Masdar Initiative in Abu Dhabi.)

Then, we met with George Douglas at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden.

We wrapped up the day at the Colorado School of Mines, Center for Space Resources and its Eighth Continent Project. Although the School of Mines has its history in - what else? - mining engineering, it is now using this expertise for space - mining the moon, mining in conditions that are inhospitable to humans, such as under the ocean, and for mining uranium. I never thought about trying to mine on the moon, but they told us that you essentially need a miniature Bobcat that is light, requires virtually no energy, has parts that won't get clogged up by moon dust (super sharp and corrosive stuff, apparently) and can keep the mining material in one place (oops, I forgot that the stuff floats away...).

Also, the Center came up with a system for suppressing fires in space - tiny, tiny droplets (sounds easier said than done) - but apparently this application has uses on Earth, too - the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, is now using this system to protect its art, because the water droplets evaporate quickly after putting out fire - and so, won't ruin the paintings.

They have also come up with this thing called Space-DRUMS, a machine that uses sonar sounds to keep a sample from touching anything and getting contimated. Many people wonder why we go to space when there are so many issues on Earth. Well, we discovered that many of the findings in space have applications here, such as - in space, cells hold chemotherapy for a longer time than on Earth, meaning the treatment is more effective in this environment. Maybe George Bush was right about one thing - getting back to the moon.

That night, we ate at the Walnut (Jeb waited on us - and Joy showed up later, too) and stayed at the Hotel Boulderado, a historic hotel in Boulder.

More on the Tuesday events tomorrow...