Maker-a-Day: Wednesday with Jellylab (UCD)
Joining us on our third Maker-a-Day during Science Week is Mark Pickering and his team from Jellylab (University of Dublin) on How do sea creatures react to light? How to build a simple experiment to explore the world around you.
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13:00 – 14:00
Jellylab (University College Dublin): How do sea creatures react to light? How to build a simple experiment to explore the world around you.
We believe that anyone can be a scientist, and we want to democratise discovery by taking experimental tools out of the laboratory and into the hands of anyone curious about the world around them.
This project will show how to use simple and easily available components to build an experiment to answer a scientific question: if tiny sea creatures have eyes, what do they do when they see light? For this we’ll use brine shrimp (also called Artemia), which are sold as “sea monkeys” and “aqua dragons”, as well as some tiny plankton we collect in the sea, but you could also adapt this to investigate bugs from your garden (how do ants or spiders respond to light?). The experiment can be run using an Arduino controlled neopixel RGB LED ring. We’ve been using this as a demonstration for some time now, and documented the experiment here:
Now, we want to show how you can make everything you need to do this type of experiment yourself. We’ll show you how to set up the lights with an arduino, and how to control the light pattern with a game controller (specifically the nunchuck controller from a nintendo Wii).
In addition to showing how to make the light experiment, we’ll also show how to build a system to hatch your own brine shrimp, and how to collect tiny plankton from the sea that can be used in this experiment. FInally, because some of these creatures are really tiny, we’ll also show how to make really simple, cheap “microscopes” to make the invisible visible!
The contents of our proposed video are all things we have lots of experience with, so we have confidence that it can all be covered in a 40-45 minute video, and we think we can make it pretty entertaining as well!
What you will need to participate
For the light experiment you’ll need:
- An Arduino: any Arduino should work
- Something like a nano is fine: https://makershop.ie/Microcontrollers/Arduino/Nano-V3-Ch340-not-soldered
- In this workshop, we’ll be using an Uno: https://makershop.ie/Microcontrollers/Arduino/UNOR3-USB-cable
- A ring of RGB LEDs:
- Connecting wires are needed, and a breadboard might also be handy – something like this would be useful
- 35mm petri dishes. These can be gotten from Amazon, but any clear bottom dish or cup would work fine.
- (optional) To control the LEDs
- A nintendo Wii nunchuck (can get these easily from Amazon, ebay, or sometimes in CEX etc.)
- A WiiChuck adapter:
https://irishelectronics.ie/WiiChuck-Nunchuck-Adapter-Module-Board-for-Arduino
To hatch brine shrimp:
- You’ll need an empty plastic bottle (1.5L or 2L size would be perfect) – make sure to keep the cap!
- A small air pump and tubing (you can get aquarium air pumps from most pet shops, the smallest size is fine).
- Brine shrimp (Artemia) eggs. You can also get these from many pet shops.
- Seahorse Aquariums in Dublin stock eggs as well as other supplies if you want to keep growing your shrimp.
http://www.seahorseaquariums.com/JBL-ArtemioPur-40ml/1437
- Seahorse Aquariums in Dublin stock eggs as well as other supplies if you want to keep growing your shrimp.
- If you want to catch some plankton from the sea, you’ll need a wire coat hanger and a pair of tights (no, seriously).
- If you want to try simple DIY microscopy, you’ll either need a webcam (Logitech C270) or some transparent silicone.
📍Where to find Jellylab (UCD)
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PickeringLabUCD
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhmAU8GgHw0VWTZlmXEALw
- Nation Geographic Field Notes (Blog): https://fieldnotes.nationalgeographic.org/expedition/combjellies
For more info on our other Maker-a-Day events during Science Week, check out https://dublinmaker.ie/maker-a-day-at-science-week/ for more details.