Everett students see that science is full of surprises

Published 11:05 pm Thursday, February 7, 2008

EVERETT — One speaker had piloted a $2 billion spacecraft; the other can make cool smoke rings.

Between them, Richard Searfoss and Steve Jacobs on Thursday entertained and opened the minds of North Middle School students to the possibilities of science.

The pair came to Everett to promote a Science Matters campaign that will include middle school students from 15 cities across the country.

Searfoss, a former NASA astronaut, made three journeys into space and commanded the most complex science research space mission ever, the STS-90 Neurolab flight on the space shuttle Columbia. In a world of more than 6 billion people, Searfoss is one of about 450 people to have ventured into space.

He shared images taken afar of the Australian Outback, the Sahara Desert and the rugged Andes Range and discussed the possibilities of life on Mars long ago. He described what it was like to eat upside down while hanging like a bat in his capsule and to watch rookie astronauts push off too hard in their weightless environs and bump their heads.

He answered several students’ questions, including one exploring whether there were any side effects after returning to Earth.

One moment stood out after he came home from a mission and wanted to help his wife get dinner ready. As he held the plates, she asked him to get the salt and pepper. He reached for the shakers and let go of the plates, figuring they would just float beside him in zero gravity.

“It was a total brain-freeze,” he said

Searfoss reminded the students that while he has been in space, humans have yet to land on another planet.

“We are saving that for your generation,” he said.

Jacobs, who designs experiments for the show “Mythbusters” on the Discovery Channel, demonstrated how science can be entertaining, even at home with simple objects.

At one point, he showed how air behaves when it is forced out of a confined space, blowing artistic smoke rings from a cardboard box with a hole cut in it.

With a team of five student volunteers holding a T-shaped plastic pipe with hooks, he showed how much harder it is to keep up a five-pound lead weight at incrementally distant lengths.

“I really want to burst the bubble that science is not just for old men with beards in a lab,” he said. “Science is a part of everything we do.”

Heather Nguyen and Kyle Anderson, both 13-year-old eighth-graders, found the assembly inspiring.

“I really liked hearing about what it was like moving in zero gravity,” Nguyen said.

Anderson liked the hands-on nature of Jacobs’ demonstrations instead of just learning science from a book.

“Science is so much cooler when you get to do things,” he said.

The Science Matters assembly was sponsored by Comcast and the Science Channel. North Middle School also was presented with a $5,000 check for science studies. In addition, middle school science teachers in the Everett School District will be given kits containing lesson plans and their students can compete with schools from 14 other cities in a science contest. The winning school will receive $25,000 for its science program.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.