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Training future leaders to understand life cycle assessment data is critical for effective research, business, and sociopolitical decision-making. However, the technical nature of these life cycle reports often makes them challenging for students and other nonexperts to comprehend. Therefore, we outline here the key takeaways from recent economic and life cycle assessments for three major commodity chemicals--ethylene, ethylene oxide, and terephthalic acid--that are precursors for plastics, synthetic fibers, and many other consumer products. The five lessons and 10 discussion prompts (provided in the Supporting Information) serve as useful teaching tools for introductory chemistry and chemical engineering courses.

Every year, high school students hunch over microscopes and peer at a plethora of tiny creatures. Swimming single-celled protists and whirling multicellular rotifers often steal the show, preventing students from noticing the static algae. However, these frequently overlooked, ordinary algae are inspiring research all over the world as scientists contemplate the idea of using algae as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. By shifting the focus of their timeless microscope activities, teachers can introduce students to this idea. This article provides an overview of several algae activities that teachers can incorporate into their microscope activities to engage high school students in authentic inquiry--whether in a general or advanced biology, environmental-science, pre-engineering or biotechnology elective or in a summer enrichment course. From microscope to photobioreactor, algae is an effective tool to relate common biology concepts to real-world chalenges like renewable energy. The area is not only ripe for inquiry, but students can make observations, pose questions, and gather and analyze data.

Research has been conducted on the antimitotic agents epothilone and paclitaxel which promote microtubule stabilization and mammalian tubulin assembly. Results indicate that epothilone stimulates microtubule formation from the purified yeast tubulin.

Colorimeters (also known as spectrophotometers) are versatile analytical tools in science laboratories. Homemade vs. commercial colorimeters Unlike Vernier colorimeters that calculate absorbance for you, the toolkit colorimeter requires users to calculate absorbance from resistance. ON THE WEB Sample data, Student assessment: www.nsta.org/highschool/connections.aspx DIY colorimeter video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HXzkx1PWCg Inexpensive Colorimeter: www.thingiverse.com/thing:1334389 PHOTO (COLOR): FIGURE 1. [Extracted from the article]

The article evaluates the potential therapeutic effects of Oct-4-positive rat umbilical cord matrix (RUCM) in treating cerebral global ischemia using a reproducible model of cardiac arrest and resuscitation in rats. The results reveal that RUCM cell transplantation indirectly reduces the percentage of damage hippocampal neurons after cardiac arrest.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two genes for α-tubulin, TUB1 and TUB3, and one β-tubulin gene, TUB2. The gene product of TUB3, Tub3, represents ∼10% of α-tubulin in the cell. We determined the effects of the two α-tubulin isotypes on microtubule dynamics in vitro. Tubulin was purified from wild-type and deletion strains lacking either Tub1 or Tub3, and parameters of microtubule dynamics were examined. Microtubules containing Tub3 as the only α-tubulin isotype were less dynamic than wild-type microtubules, as shown by a shrinkage rate and catastrophe frequency that were about one-third of that for wild-type microtubules. Conversely, microtubules containing Tub1 as the only α-tubulin isotype were more dynamic than wild-type microtubules, as shown by a shrinkage rate that was 50% higher and a catastrophe frequency that was 30% higher than those of wild-type microtubules. The results suggest that a role of Tub3 in budding yeast is to control microtubule dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides instructions for a science experiment designed to help students understand how internal combustion engines work by disassembling the engines of small radio controlled cars. A list of necessary equipment and supplies is provided, and directions for the experiment as well as discussion on how the experiment can lead to discussion of topics including gasoline, energy, engine technology, and biofuels are presented.

Potential therapeutic effects of Oct-4-positive rat umbilical cord matrix (RUCM) cells in treating cerebral global ischemia were evaluated using a reproducible model of cardiac arrest (CA) and resuscitation in rats. Animals were randomly assigned to four groups: A, sham-operated; B, 8-minute CA without pretreatment; C, 8-minute CA pretreated with defined media; and D, 8-minute CA pretreated with Oct-4(+) RUCM cells. Pretreatment was done 3 days before CA by 2.5-microl microinjection of defined media or approximately 10(4) Oct-4(+) RUCM cells in left thalamic nucleus, hippocampus, corpus callosum, and cortex. Damage was assessed histologically 7 days after CA and was quantified by the percentage of injured neurons in hippocampal CA1 regions. Little damage (approximately 3%-4%) was found in the sham group, whereas 50%-68% CA1 pyramidal neurons were injured in groups B and C. Pretreatment with Oct-4(+) RUCM cells significantly (p < .001) reduced neuronal loss to 25%-32%. Although the transplanted cells were found to have survived in the brain with significant migration, few were found directly in CA1. Therefore, transdifferentiation and fusion with host cells cannot be the predominant mechanisms for the observed protection. The Oct-4(+) RUCM cells might repair nonfocal tissue damage by an extracellular signaling mechanism. Treating cerebral global ischemia with umbilical cord matrix cells seems promising and worthy of further investigation.

In vitro models have proven to be effective in studying the placental transporters that play a role in the exchange of nutrients, waste products, and drugs between the maternal and fetal circulations. Although primary cultures of trophoblast cells can be used to perform uptake, efflux, and metabolism studies, only the rodent HRP-1 and the human BeWo cell lines have been shown to form confluent monolayers when grown on semi-permeable membranes. Protocols for the revival, maintenance, passage, and growth of BeWo cells for transporter expression and transcellular transport studies are provided.

Microtubule dynamics are influenced by interactions of microtubules with cellular factors and by changes in the primary sequence of the tubulin molecule. Mutations of yeast beta-tubulin C354, which is located near the binding site of some antimitotic compounds, reduce microtubule dynamicity greater than 90% in vivo and in vitro. The resulting intrinsically stable microtubules allowed us to determine which, if any, cellular processes are dependent on dynamic microtubules. The average number of cytoplasmic microtubules decreased from 3 in wild-type to 1 in mutant cells. The single microtubule effectively located the bud site before bud emergence. Although spindles were positioned near the bud neck at the onset of anaphase, the mutant cells were deficient in preanaphase spindle alignment along the mother-bud axis. Spindle microtubule dynamics and spindle elongation rates were also severely depressed in the mutants. The pattern and extent of cytoplasmic microtubule dynamics modulation through the cell cycle may reveal the minimum dynamic properties required to support growth. The ability to alter intrinsic microtubule dynamics and determine the in vivo phenotype of cells expressing the mutant tubulin provides a critical advance in assessing the dynamic requirements of an essential gene function.