Month:
How can we estimate the amount of produce in a garden?
- September 9
In order grow plants efficiently, making certain estimations is valuable - how well plants will grow, how much produce each plant will give use, or, even more fundamentally, how many plants we can fit in a given plot of land. Taking information we know about marigolds as an example, we showcase ways to determine these sorts of important predictions. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL 2115393. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or re... CONTINUE READING
What determines where leaves are positioned on branches?
- September 9
Leaves are what plants use to gather sunlight, necessary for plants to grow and thrive. This means that it is to a plant's advantage if their leaves' position is such that all leaves receive the most possible sunlight - minimizing overlaps and shadow wherever possible! Different plants use different strategies and arrangements to make this happen, though there are some common trends across many different species. By using a protractor to measure the angles between leaves, we can tease out some o... CONTINUE READING
How Does Design Impact Capacity at the Bryan Center Plaza?
- September 9
Duke University engineering student, Katie takes us on a tour through the Bryan Center Plaza, and shows us how design can impact the capacity of a space - particularly important when social distancing rules are in place! You can access supplementary student activity sheets here: https://talkstem.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/walkSTEM-at-DukeUniversity.pdf .... CONTINUE READING