Tentative Schedule (subject to change)

Human clones, spare body parts, computer chips for the brain: science fact or science fiction? At the beginning of the week, we'll use a discussion of the book "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer as a launching point for our discussion of ethical issues in the life sciences. We'll explore ways that biotechnology has impacted society, from transgenic plants and animals to stem cell cloning for treating diseases.

How do these issues affect us in our personal lives and how will they affect us in our careers? Headlines such as 'Scientists clone horse', 'Stem cells tailored to patients', 'Plants could be new source of antibodies', 'DNA Computer Works in Human Cells' are all indications of how ethical issues are integrally linked to the life sciences. We'll look at some of these issues and during the week you'll be invited to reflect on your workshop experiences. Through personal journaling, you will have the opportunity to look for connections to ethical issues in the research you experience each day. At the end of the week, we will have an opportunity to look back on the week's experiences and discuss the responsibility of the scientific community to consider how these issues affect society.

Have you ever wondered what wildlife do when humans aren’t watching? In this session, participants will watch and use new technologies to monitor the secret lives of wildlife, with an emphasis on white-tailed deer. Wildlife biologists, electrical engineers and computer scientists from the University of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation have created the DeerNet team to test a new method of observation. They are collecting information on deer behavior by outfitting them with miniature video cameras.

That’s right! The cameras and other sensors are mounted right on the deer so scientists can see the world almost literally through the animals’ eyes and remotely record where the deer spend time and how they use their environment. We will join in this activity by viewing video collected by the researchers and talking about the scientific process used in developing these methods. Participants will use research equipment to locate wildlife transmitters hidden on campus. Students should have a better understanding why and how ecologists monitor wildlife and how new technologies facilitate the scientific process.

Students will be taken to the biomedical optics laboratory and shown techniques for diagnosing various medical conditions. Students will build and use a laser interferometer to detect micro-vibrations in tissue samples.

Students will work in the biomedical optics laboratory in the Life Sciences Center and be introduced to various lasers and laser systems used in applications and research in medicine. Students will use a laser to ablate blood clots in artificial arteries.

In this short course, participants will help in the sequencing of a bacterial genome. In a collaboration with the University of California - Los Angeles, undergraduates at MU are sequencing the entire genome of ammonifex degensii. We will join in this sequencing effort by doing plasmid preps to obtain the DNA for sequencing, checking a restriction digest of the DNA by agarose gel electrophoresis to ensure there is an insert in the plasmid, setting up a DNA sequencing reaction, and performing computer analysis of DNA data that were previously obtained. We will also tour the MU DNA sequencing facility in the Life Sciences Center. At the conclusion of the course, students should have a better understanding of DNA sequencing and computer DNA databases, such as Genbank.

The Yeckel Collection was donated to the School of Natural Resources in 1990 by Phil Yeckel, a 1933 alumnus of the MU School of Journalism, who was also a rancher and oilman.

The 44 species collection contains specimens from Africa, Eurasia and North America and is aggregated according to the major biomes in which they occur. Species from Africa are housed in the two displays on the north wall; species from Eurasia/North Africa and North America in the single case on the south wall.

The Glen Smart Collection of Waterfowl and Upland Game Birds, donated by Glen Smart, an MU graduate of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, began in 1963, and has grown to include 287 specimens of approximately 238 species that represent avian diversity from all continents of the world excluding Antarctica.

If you are excited about attending a world-class research university, planning a career in science, looking for great recommendation letters for graduate or professional school, considering an honors research project, or looking for a part-time job in your major, this session will help you explore undergraduate research at MU.

Students will break up into small groups and collect insects from a variety of habitats demonstrating insect ecology and diversity.

The use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) has become an integral part of our lives. As a technology, it has many uses with limitless potential. This session will introduce you to the technology as it relates to both the physical and social sciences. A morning meeting in Rock Bridge State Park will provide an entertaining look at this technology. We will also do some geocaching, a unique and challenging way to apply this science. We think you will enjoy the intrigue, mystery and discovery GPS creates in the Science of Life.

Take your spirit of adventure along on a float trip down the Missouri River from Rocheport (the heart of Katy Trail Country) to Huntsdale. Learn the history of the Missouri River, MKT Trail and Lewis and Clark.

Experience outdoor education through the Missouri Department of Conservation's Catfish 101 class.

Students will be taken to the biomedical optics laboratory and shown techniques for diagnosing various medical conditions. Students will build and use a laser interferometer to detect micro-vibrations in tissue samples.

Students will work in the biomedical optics laboratory in the Life Sciences Center and be introduced to various lasers and laser systems used in applications and research in medicine. Students will use a laser to ablate blood clots in artificial arteries.

In this short course, participants will help in the sequencing of a bacterial genome. In a collaboration with the University of California - Los Angeles, undergraduates at MU are sequencing the entire genome of Ammonifex degensii. We will join in this sequencing effort by doing plasmid preps to obtain the DNA for sequencing, checking a restriction digest of the DNA by agarose gel electrophoresis to ensure there is an insert in the plasmid, setting up a DNA sequencing reaction, and performing computer analysis of DNA data that were previously obtained. We will also tour the MU DNA sequencing facility in the Life Sciences Center. At the conclusion of the course, students should have a better understanding of DNA sequencing and computer DNA databases, such as Genbank.

Students will isolate beneficial and not so beneficial microorganisms from a variety of food products and observe them microscopically. They will also have an opportunity to see what kinds of microorganisms are found in our environment that may affect the food we eat, and observe the different kinds of factors that affect microbial growth.

Discussion of how we evaluate fertility in bulls and boars, and how we can make designer mare or female calves by preselecting sperm cells that carry either male Y or female X chromosome. Students will label some sperm cells with fluorescent DNA stains used for such sperm cell selection and examine them under a microscope. If available on that day, we will also see some cow eggs and how they are being fertilized in a Petri dish.

Discussion with current second and third year veterinarian students about their path to veterinary medicine. Tour the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital where more than 16,000 cases are seen annually.

The University of Missouri Research Reactor leads the nation as the highest power research reactor at a university, with multidisciplinary research, education and service programs that span hundreds of projects in Missouri, the U.S. and throughout the world.

• Each participant must present photo ID.
• No purses, backpacks, brief cases or other containers are permitted.
• No cameras are permitted inside the facility.
• No cell phones or other devices with cameras are permitted inside the facility.

Discussion to talk about the week and see how your improved understanding of science (resulting from your experiences during the week) affected your perceptions of ethical issues that were discussed on Monday morning.

A clean, breathable atmosphere is critical for nearly all living creatures on our planet. Without an atmosphere, the planet's surface would be much like that of the moon. As a consequence, monitoring the state of the atmosphere, its weather and climate, are essential for a larger understanding of living processes on Earth. In this session, you will learn about the measurements that meteorologists use to understand the current weather conditions, make weather forecasts for tomorrow, monitor long-term climate change, and predict the future state of the Earth's climate system. Hands-on experiments will show you: the best way to measure the temperature at home; how the wind blows; the mechanics of a tornado. We will also launch and track weather balloons.

Relax on a wagon as you take a tour of the Bradford Research and Extension Center. This will be an informal setting where you can see how science is applied in agriculture and see several educational demonstrations up close and personal. There will be frequent stops that highlight research and demonstration plots including:

• Corn Chromosome Maize. See a living and growing 80 x 80 ft replica of the 10 chromosomes of corn and see for yourself what phenotype type changes occur at each of the bins at each chromosome.
• Gene Zoo. A vast of array of plants that depicts the history of corn and soybean from ancient ancestors to modern hybrids and cultivars.
• Septic City. Learn how the different disciplines of science can come together and sort out a smelly problem.
• Native Plants. Not all plants are from Missouri. Find out what makes native plants so special.
• Wildlife Management. No this isn't about college life! Instead see how a few simple steps can greatly increase wildlife on a farm.
• Alternative Crops. What are the crops of the future?
• Horticulture. Growing vegetables goes one step further using plastic to grow plants on and under throughout the year.