S4theB! episode 42 takes you into the Girls and Science (GAS) Camp produced by the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach every summer since 1999. In line with the Center's mission, "...enhancing the classroom experience by increasing the use of technology, providing professional development opportunities to teachers, and encouraging connections between science experts and classrooms," this summer opportunity for middle and high school girls is one with a proven track record and all the promise of continuing for years to come. Listen to veteran Metro Nashville Public Schools science teacher Kathy Lee (Martin Luther King Magnet School for Health Sciences and Engineering) leads her small group through a forensic search to determine the gender and race of a human skull. When you do so, remember that this is just one activity in a full week of them. The Girls and Science Camp website will tell you more, including that the camp received the 2001 Vanderbilt University Diversity Initiative Award and that as part of the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge 2005, the 2005 Discovery Health Channel "Science Camp" Award Special Prize Winner received an all expense paid trip to Nashville to attend a week of 2006 GAS Camp 2006. Listening to what goes on will tell you even more. Listen up here or click the "Feed" link in the lefthand sidebar will let you browse all 42 of our shows! Check out these pictures, too! Just to save you a few clicks, here is a copy of the sample activities that go on in the Camp(s):

Grade 7	Grade 8	Grade 8 @ Dyer Observatory
Biology "Make Your Own Lungs" "Mystery of the Bloody Stain" "ReeBops" "Sheep Heart Dissection" Chemistry "Does Sunscreen Really Work?" "Glow Chemistry" "Kidnapping She Wrote" "Properties of Gases" "Simply Sublime" "What Causes the Heat?" Environmental Education "Acid Rain in a Bag" "Aquifers" "Building a Water Filter" "Recycled Paper" "Testing for Water Pollution" Physics "Effervescent Launchers" "Hovercrafts" "It's Electric!" "Pinhole Cameras" "Properties of Light" "Protect Your Brain" Other Activities "Bottle Rockets" "T-Shirt Chromatography"	Biology "DNA Extraction" "Firefly Bioluminescence" "Making DNA Jewelry" "Quantification of Extracted DNA" Chemistry "Flame Spectroscopy" "Pale Powers" "Polymers" "Gems" Forensics "Crime Scene" :DNA Fingerprinting" Physics "Balancing Nails" "Bed of Nails" "Crystal Radio" "Effervescent Launchers" "It's Electric!" "Solar Vehicles" "Striking it Rich!"	Environmental Education "Air Pollution" "Biology & Chemistry of Soil" "Chemical Testing of Soil" "Leaf Litter Studies" "Organic Matter in Soils" "Soil Observations" Space "Building a Comet" "Is our Solar System Unique?" "Oil Hungry Bacteria" "Planet Quest" "Where are we searching for planets?" "Why do we put telescopes in space?" Water Quality "Water Quality Lessons" "Acid Rain in a Bag" "Bacterial Pollution in Water" "Chemical Testing of Radnor Lake"

Whew. That's a lot of science. Good, solid, student-centered, hands-on science. If you know a student who would love to be in a real university lab and doing real science, don't hesitate to visit the GAS Camp website to learn more and apply! Music today is compliments of my dear old pal Scott H. Miller, who just last month released his own independent CD entitled "Letters to Myself." Each and every song on the CD is worth a listen and a relisten--Visit cdbaby.com to hear more and to purchase this excellent CD, on which, by the way, I have a little piece of the writer's credit on one song, "The Complexion of My Love." Our TechTipTidbit feature today benefits from the gracious loan of information from digital media guru Jake Luddington's MediaBlab website. Jake's tips will continue to be heard on Snacks4theBrain! as long as he will continue to share with us! The opening sound clip is as I mention courtesy of the fantastically funny movie from Sony Pictures, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. I'm not kidding (though the movie most often is): Run out and get this movie! Finally, thanks to Kathy Lee and all the girls at GAS Camp. It's a G-G-G-GAS!!! And boys? Check out our Boys Exploring Science and Technology (BEST) Camp for you!!!