News — Science
We visited The Mushroom Initiative!
Biohacking Collaboration Ecology Education Environment Fabrication Maker Culture MakerBay Science Sustainability Talk
On the 29th of May, me, Maria and Emma visited the Mushroom Initiative’s headquarters at Pak Ngau Shek, Tai Po. With a vision of a world where living things live in harmonic sustainability and where the environment is conserved appropriately, the Mushroom Initiative harnesses the carbon sequestering potential of soil ecosystems as carbon sinks, where their extensive knowledge of soil ecology assists in issues ranging from climate change to forest reforestation. Despite the seemingly small scale of the farm, up close the Initiative’s headquarters contains an array of diverse facilities, from fungi fermentation rooms, labs, composting gardens and organic farms....
Mini-expedition: Shui Hau Wan, South Lantau, Hong Kong
Shui Hau Wan is Hong Kong favorite site for kite surfers and clam fishers (on this website, you can see the real-time wind and wave conditions!). With its shallow warm waters, shielded from the waves, but not the wind, it is a beautiful spot that's easily accessible. It is also a fragile environment and culture. Today, I saw more than a hundred tourists digging the muddy sand looking for shells without oversight... Sometimes I wonder if it is better to catch in the wild abundant specie or sustainable aquaculture... Video of the site Map of the site 水口灣是位於大嶼山南岸的一個隱蔽的海灣，退潮後面積可達0.2平方公里。潮間帶的生境主要以沙坪為主，亦是大嶼山其中一個中國鱟(Tachypleus tridentatus) 的繁殖地。面向海，右方有紅樹林及河口，可找到一些迴游性魚類如鰻魚。上游地帶是主要是棄耕地及灌木叢，雨季時蛙鳴不絕於耳。政府曾計劃將水口劃為「具特殊科學價值」地點，後來擱置收場。2016年頭，大嶼山發展咨詢委員會建議在大嶼山大力拓展旅遊基建，包括在水口建水上樂園、動物農莊等，計劃若落實將為水口帶來生態破壞和人為扞擾。Shui...
Talk: "Energy Autonomous Flexible Robots" by Dr Hemma Philamore, Oct 31 at MakerBay Tsuen Wan, Nov 11 at HKU
Art citizen science Science Talk
Poster by Anthony Cheuk Wang Time Session 1: October 31st, 17:30 - 19:00 Location: MakerBay Tsuen Wan, 23 Mei Wan Street, Tsuen wan Time Session 2: November 11th 14:30-15:30 Location: The University of Hong Kong, Knowles Building, Room KB730 We present an energetically autonomous robotic tadpole that uses a single membrane component for both electrical energy generation and propulsive actuation. The coupling of this small bio-inspired power source to a bio-inspired actuator demonstrates the first-generation design for an energetically autonomous swimming robot consisting of a single membrane. An ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) with a Nafion polymer layer is demonstrated in a...
Lunch with biohacker Josiah Zayner at MakerBay
Bio Biohacking Biology Science Talk
Today, we were very lucky to have the visit and share lunch with the Biohacker Josiah Zayner. It was great to hear first person his perspective about his work, the community and how the field of biohacking is moving, in the USA, China and other places. Here is an hour and a half lunch. Below are some of the things we talked about: https://youtu.be/WKj1BhefV68 Josiah Zayner Odin Companyhttp://www.the-odin.com/about-us/ Hong Kong regulations on GMOshttps://www.afcd.gov.hk/english///conservation/con_gmo/gmo_control/gmo_control.html Zebra fish embryos to test toxics in Hong Kong Science Parkhttps://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1828945/hong-kong-based-entrepreneur-discovers-new-wayhttp://www.vitargent.com/ Low cost biosimilar drugshttps://www.investors.com/news/technology/biosimilars-rival-biologics-amgen-abbvie-roche/ Genetic Immunotheratyhttp://www.personalhealthnews.ca/research-and-innovations/innovative-new-lung-cancer-treatment-extends-lifehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932400/ Assistant Professor He Jiankui and GMO baby in Chinahttps://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2182964/china-confirms-gene-edited-babies-blames-scientist-he-jiankui Zika...
Talks and Discussion "Workshopology": The art of doing workhsop with Marc Dusseiller with Helen Lo, Brian C Smith and Mark Barnett
Art Education hacking Maker MakerBay Central Science STEAM STEM
Marc Dusseiller on Workshops from DIYSECT Hong Kong kids and parents are passionate about STEM, STEAM and Maker Education. But what is it really? And can it be best given so that it has maximum educational effects on the participants? Should teachers become facilitators, or is there something even better we can do? Should education be about learning existing knowledge, or exploring, experiential, creating new things, or advocacy and even activism? We are very fortunate to have the visit of Marc Dusseiller, co founder of Hackteria in Hong Kong who is a Global Hacker and Workshop organizer who wants to...