As solar eclipse spectators are gathering in the path of totality, teams of students from Maryland and around the nation are preparing to launch instruments to study the phenomenon.

This afternoon, dozens of teams participating in the NASA supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project will launch high altitude weather balloons hauling instruments into the sky to study the eclipse's effect on the atmosphere. A team from the University of Maryland will launch two balloons from a location near Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Mary Bowden, senior lecturer of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, said there are numerous engineering lessons.

"All of the learning about how to design payloads that will work at altitude, and in the low temperature and low-pressure environment up there at altitude, and then putting them together and inflating a balloon and tracking a balloon and all that, there's a lot of engineering there," Bowden outlined. "That is really a wonderful educational experience."

The Maryland team is part of the University of Maryland Nearspace program, which has been conducting multiple balloon launches each semester for nearly 20 years. Even if skies are overcast, the balloons will fly well above the clouds, livestreaming video to YouTube.

Balloon teams have the opportunity to investigate several different scientific questions including how heat moves through the atmosphere. The Maryland team has been conducting practice launches in the months leading up to today's eclipse. Bowden pointed out in addition to monitoring forecasts of wind speed at higher altitudes, trying to study the eclipse has the team focused on timing.

"One of the trickiest parts of this is that we need to launch the balloon such that it is at altitude at totality," Bowden explained. "You have to figure out how much helium to put in the balloon to get a certain ascent rate to make sure it's going up just at the right speed, so that it is at altitude. And for us, we're shooting for about 70,000 to 80,000 feet."

The team tracks the payload during the flight and after with multiple technologies including using Iridium satellites, as well as ham radio frequencies. After the eclipse, the team will activate a remote device to cut the payload loose and allow it to parachute back to the ground. Balloon teams select the recovery location and choose open fields or farmland rather than forests or cities.

Bowden noted sometimes, recovery is the hardest part.

"We can usually locate exactly where they've landed, even to the point of walking up to somebody's house and saying, 'We just landed our payloads in your backyard. Would you allow us to go get them?'" Bowden recounted. "That is the last step of the flight. And sometimes the most stressful is basically recovering the payload."


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With Donald Trump in the White House, Illinois and the nation face new challenges about who "belongs" in the United States.

Nationality has become a flashpoint, and studies show folks tend to have an implicit bias about who fits the bill for being "American." Experts say many associate the term "American" with white people who speak English - even if they initially say otherwise.

University of Chicago psychology professor Katherine Kinzler said people don't always consciously exclude individuals from being American, and can be vocal about how ridiculous the notion of being white to be American sounds.

"And yet," she said, "those same people, when given a more subtle task - of 'what they think of when they think of what it means to be American' - they might just be a little bit faster to identify somebody who's white and who speaks English as being American, versus somebody else."

She said humans categorize others using cognitive shortcuts, which can cause prejudice and stereotypes, and lead to real-world consequences such as determining hiring decisions and ultimately making individuals feel like they don't belong.

Studying the development of social attitudes in kids, Kinzler said she found young children initially perceive English speakers as "more American." As they grow older, they then associate both English speakers and white faces with American identity. Kinzler said children often pick up on the statistical realities of their world, which can also color their beliefs.

"So they might be noticing, 'Who are the people I come in contact with? Who are the people that my parent talks to, who come over for dinner? Who are the people in my school? What access to resources do they have?' And so forth," she said. "And so, kids are paying attention to the social realities of their world and kind of adding it up."

While it's impossible to control everything children are exposed to, Kinzler suggested parents try to broaden their early experiences by exposing them to diverse ideas, languages, people and places, especially from a young age. She said formed biases are more often a result of social and cultural attitudes rather than political messages.

The slime, gunk, and goo in and around your home could help mitigate climate change.

Researchers at Colorado State University are asking Coloradans to join the search for micro-organisms known as extremophiles that survive in extreme environments, such as cold air conditioners, hot water heaters, and dishwashers that alternate between dry and wet.

Sarah Newman - the director of operations for CitSci.org at CSU's Natural Resource Ecology Lab - said said microbes are nature's alchemists.

They can take almost any chemical or compound, and turn it into something else to survive.

"For climate change, we are interested in organisms that can take CO2 out of the air," said Newman, "and that might be able to help us with carbon capture in new and novel ways at scale."

Scientists found one microbe with an appetite for carbon living in volcanic vents under the Aegean Sea.

The bacteria nicknamed Chonkus converts CO2 into food through photosynthesis, like plants do, but at much higher rates.

Newman encouraged anyone interested to send photos of weird things growing in and around the home through the Extremophile Campaign's website. CitSci.org

Newman noted that efforts to find and harness new microbial carbon sinks shouldn't be seen as a stand-in for other actions, including ending the use of fossil fuels driving climate change.

But she said she believes biology has a role to play.

"If there are ways that we can help facilitate the removal of carbon at a faster rate with some of these new ideas, then that is an additional piece that we can add to the puzzle."

The campaign was officially launched last October, and Newman said the idea of joining a crowd-sourced science project to help address climate change has struck a chord.

"And since then, the response has been really incredible from people from all over the U.S." said Newman. "We've had 136 people sign up to be a part of the project, and have sent in over 103 samples."

A drumming program at Ohio State University-Lima is helping people dealing with Parkinson's disease improve coordination, memory, and overall wellness. Music faculty said it is offering both students and patients a new rhythm for healing.

The "Drumming for Wellness" program connects Ohio State-Lima music students with local Parkinson's patients, referred by Mercy Health St. Rita's Hospital.

Austin Thomas, a member of the university's music faculty, said each week, participants take part in live drumming sessions designed to support motor function, speech, and multitasking.

"We're not necessarily curing any of those diseases," Thomas acknowledged. "We're hoping to kind of delay their symptoms for the hour that we get to see them each week-or for the six or seven weeks that the entire program goes on."

Parkinson's disease affects nearly 1 million Americans, with no known cure. Studies show music and rhythm therapy can ease symptoms such as tremors, speech loss and gait instability.

Thomas noted each session involves multiple exercises designed to challenge the brain and body simultaneously. Participants drum while reciting word sequences, tap feet to rhythm or mimic complex patterns to help regain focus and movement.

"Maybe half of the participants need to work on multitasking, a couple need to work on arm mobility, a couple need to work on their walking gait," Thomas outlined. "We try to address any obstacles that are in the room every single week."

Thomas added the experience has been rewarding for everyone involved and he hopes more Ohio communities can use creative therapies to support neurodegenerative disease patients.