Cultures in Black communities place an extra importance and emphasis on heritage. Finding out about your ancestry is incredibly important to being proud of where you have come from. This is one of the biggest reasons behind the success of DNA testing companies, in fact. 

There are several DNA testing companies that focus purely on Black ancestry, as we will explore later on. 

“As African-Americans, we have a distinct challenge in terms of tracing our ancestry, because slavery is a research brick wall. But we’ve got our family history essentially etched into our DNA. Those stories are there to be uncovered.” Andre Kearns says, a genealogist from Washington DC.

The reasoning behind getting a DNA test done might be very specific, in fact. Many have a single question that they want answered, such as “is my African ancestry from my father or mother’s lineage?” or “What African countries do my ancestors come from?”. Such questions are even more profound for those who are adopted, or kept in the dark about their family history. In fact, it comes as no surprise that these DNA test kits has resulted in people being reunited with siblings they never knew they had, or found out they had cousins from a certain part of the world. Some have even uncovered family secrets or a family trees with deep roots in slavery.

DNA test kits — accessible science

As each day passes, science becomes increasingly part of mainstream culture. This is great news of course, even if its commercialization can at times be daunting. Finding out about your heritage used to be an incredibly difficult task. Sure, Facebook and social media has made it easier to an extent, but going back hundreds of years is profoundly time-consuming and at times, impossible.

After a certain amount of generations, knowledge can quickly become lost. Particularly as our knowledge wasn’t documented and uploaded to the cloud in the 1800s. Today, you can pay a reasonable fee for a service that cuts all of these corners. In fact, it gets straight down to the data: which corners of the world your DNA traces back to, and how much of your DNA is actually where you think you’re from.

A simple swab of your DNA and a waiting time of a couple of weeks will result in such a report. This isn’t necessarily the be all and end all, but it’s a great place to start. In particular, it raises questions and chucks surprises our way. This helps us get more specific if we continue to build a family tree later on. In fact, many of these services will facilitate building a family tree to make it easier for you.

Companies that specialize in Black ancestry

Finding out about your black heritage can make it really enticing to go with a company that specializes in black ancestry. In fact, some companies claim that’s their sole purpose. With most services, the specialization will result in a more focused, better product. In this instance. It just doesn’t.

Unfortunately, the nature of DNA test kits means that only one thing is actually important: having lots of data. It comes then as no surprise that many of the top companies have the biggest databases. The biggest databases, plus a reputable company, will most likely lead to more accurate results. There is an exception here, though, which is that the company AfricanAncestry is very highly rated, and focused on Black ancestry. You can read in more detail about the companies that are best for Black ancestry.

There is a criticism of some of the bigger companies that they focus more on European heritage. This does seem to be the case in many scenarios. Unfortunately, the amount of black ancestry data they do have still tends to be more than the smaller, black ancestry-focused companies. This may require some more research in the future though, as things may change as these smaller companies grow.

A general rule of thumb when picking a company though is to avoid the fringe companies because of privacy concerns. Privacy is important with DNA test kits because you’re giving away a very big part of yourself – your DNA. This makes you somewhat vulnerable to being exploited. For example, this data has, in the past, been sold to companies or shown to the FBI. In order to protect yourself from this, avoid smaller companies with tiny literature on their privacy policy. Instead, stick with big companies that emphasize its importance, and that have a good track record. 

In this age, our various devices have the ability to open up the universe to our children.  One of the great things about field trips is the benefit of having the ability to touch and see things in a curated setting like a museum and talk to those who work in places like the Planetarium.  One of these field trips sparked the imagination of a young man from New York who became the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City.  In 2014, Tyson assumed the reins from Carl Sagan and hosted the second season of Cosmos.  At this year’s New York Comic Con, BGN got the opportunity to talk to Tyson about his new show and how he sees the relationship between, athletics, arts, and his work.

In an episode of Cosmos, you said: “All scientists have been wrong at some time.” When have you been wrong?

Just to be clear the goal of science is to establish what is objectively true about the world and once that is accomplished, that does not later become untrue because it is established by methods and tools that are repeatable and that are tested. So when you’re wrong, a scientist is wrong often on the frontier, the bleeding edge of science.

We have a new idea, you put it out there, it gets tested, you have to modify it, you have to discard it. You do an experiment, maybe the experiment had a flaw in it. This is why it’s odd that any scientific result that comes out, the press runs to it and declares it as the next truth. That’s not how this works. This is a scientific result and then someone has to verify that because maybe you were biased and maybe there was a spike in the voltage when you took the measurement — maybe the subject was in one condition when you thought it was in a different condition and you got flawed data. Somebody has to duplicate that result.

It’s not as sexy to show that someone else’s result was correct.  There are forces against that happening rapidly, and the press doesn’t want to wait because they want to get an inside track on an early breaking story. But it’s why you have things like oh, cholesterol is good for you, now it’s bad for you, now it’s good for you. You think scientists have their head up their ass when in fact, they’re people chasing the bleeding edge of research. So scientists who are active at some point are always wrong on the frontier, that’s how you know you’re on the frontier. If you’re always right then you are nowhere, you’re deep within the inner sanctum of what is tested and understood.

So where were you wrong?

I made a prediction, a long time ago, like 30 years ago, that there would be 10 times as many galaxies to be discovered in the universe, then what was in the catalogs. That was a pretty big factor to say that we were missing. There’s some skepticism at the time and over the ensuing years, we’ve found 5 times as many galaxies. So that’s an interesting case where the concept and the idea were basically correct, we were undercounting galaxies, but my estimate was off. The estimate triggered people to look more carefully. It inspired people to hone the observation that they had taken, “maybe I had missed some, let me go back and check some more.” So that’s a combination of being right and wrong. That’s the best kind actually.

There’s a stereotype about what an intelligent Black man is and you’re not just a physicist but you’re also an artist and an athlete. How do you bring those aspects of yourself into your scientific pursuits?

That’s a great question. By the way, I would add that stereotype is with all scientists, not just Black scientists. Your image of a scientist is not an athlete, right? Or an artist. There are pictures of Einstein playing the violin, but I’m told that he really sucked at it.

We’re excited about season 3, is there one particular episode where you say, “guys you have to see this one?”

That’s hard for me to answer because we filmed it asynchronously. So I have to reassemble episodes in my head which is hard because to me it’s the entire project just sitting there. So I would say they’re all good, that’s my first answer but I would say the 13th episode. That would be the last one. That one is about bees. Bees play a major role in that episode. You realize that bees find a new hive to go to or a new place to build a hive and there are scout bees that come back to the base camp and they communicate where that hive is. They tell how far away it is, what direction you fly in, and how high in the tree it’s found. Bees are communicating what is essentially mathematical information to one another.

Biologically we’re incapable of even imagining that they could do such a thing. But what do you really think they’re doing in their hives? The antennae are always jiggling and dancing. You think they’re just doing it for no reason? Tests have shown that they’re communicating mathematical information to one another. So when you want to talk about intelligence in the universe, are we fully aware of all the intelligence on earth? That’s the 13th episode.

Do you think that there’s a better way that we could be getting science to the new scientists that are coming into the next generation?

Yes! I spend much less time thinking about kids in this regard than people want me to and it’s because kids are born curious about the world and they stay curious until adults beat it out of them. They’re born wanting to learn about the world around us and we teach them to walk and talk and then the rest of their lives we tell them to shut up and sit down. So my focus has been adults who outnumber kids, who vote, who are heads of agency, and captains of industry and heads of politics. The problems of the world come not because kids don’t know science, it’s because adults don’t know science. So hence, adults have always been my priority.

How has working on Cosmos impacted your life personally aside from the fandom?

It’s completely disrupted my life. I don’t know how actors do it. Cosmos is like this bulldozer and everything in my life, it just plows it and it mounds it up and any break I get, I hack away at the emails, and the correspondence because I have a day job running the Hayden Planetarium. Most of my life is out of balance in the act of catching up.

You can check out season 3 of Cosmos is scheduled to air in March of 2019.   

The Hayden Planetarium is in New York City and is open daily from 10 am to 5:45 pm except on Thanksgiving and Christmas.   

Executive producer Brannon Braga was asked about what was in store for this season and some of the challenges filming the show.

“Well, it’s always a challenge when Anne and I sat down and said, ‘What’s this going to be this time?’ She already had some great ideas about the “Possible Worlds” theme. We sat down, I think it was three years ago this January, with a bunch of scientists at Cornell University in different fields, from climate science to astronomy and many other fields and just started brainstorming. The most challenging part was writing the show. Particularly the quantum physics episode, which will be episode nine this season, was like falling down a rabbit hole. Hopefully, the audience will fall down the rabbit hole with us.

Ann Dryuan was asked about why the show was brought back for a third season.  Druyan provided:

“I think it’s mostly due to the fact that Carl Sagan was probably one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the last many centuries. He saw so far and I think that’s why the original series and Carl’s vision is still so beloved. We’re living in a very dark time. We’re all feeling a sense of a shadow across our future and the fact that we are led by people who have no concept of what’s at stake and what matters. There’s Carl in Cosmos in the late 1970s, 1980s, and beyond seeing what we have to do to wake up, to get our act together. Our latest show, the newest Cosmos is about many different kinds of possible worlds. Brannon and I tried to find every single conceivable meaning. Lost civilizations of Africa, the world inside a dog’s brain, and more. All of these different possible worlds besides the obvious interpretation of exoplanets and moons of other stars and planets. The one that means the most to me, and I think the most urgent, is the possible world we could still have on earth. It’s not too late. I think a lot of us operate in this kind of fatalist, hopeless mode. ‘It’s too bleak. What are we gonna do about it? We can’t do anything about it.’ This impending sense of doom. One of the things that makes Cosmos so meaningful and why we do it is to awaken people to what can still be done and how much cooler than anything we’ve experienced that future could be.”

This season, Cosmos is going in all directions and it’s obvious that Druyan’s outlook on science comes from a very personal place.  BGN asked her about how she seems to talk about science and facts in sort of a spiritual, religious context. So we asked her could she talk a little bit more about how she sees science as it relates to religion.  Druyan added:

“That’s a great question. For me, you know, science is my religion. Not because I feel it ever delivers ultimate truth or absolute truth, but because to me it’s the highest form of humility. Isn’t that what religion really strives for? Is to have this voice whispering in your head, ‘I might be wrong. I’ve been wrong so many times before. Maybe this isn’t right.” If someone comes along and proves it’s wrong, then let’s embrace them. Because we love nature, and the universe as it really is. What kind of love relationship can you have with someone if it’s about a fantasy of who they are? It can only be great and true when it gets real. I love science because it forces us to be real. It has an error correcting mechanism at its heart. That’s why conventional religion doesn’t really satisfy me. Most of all it’s usually presenting a vision of nature that’s borrowed from a long time ago before we even began to begin to understand how nature works. I have this feeling that people are so fascinated by the supernatural. I don’t think there is anything that’s supernatural. I think it should be called subnatural. I think nature is the highest and the most splendid and magnificent reality that we have. When we start, one of the stories we tell in the new series is about Spinoza. Spinoza said one of my most favorite and most stirring things. He said, ‘Don’t look for God in miracles. Miracles are violations of the laws of nature. God is best apprehended in the laws of nature. Not in the breaking of those laws.’ That’s my religious view. If there was a more effective way of demystifying how nature works I would be all for that.”

Our discussion with Neil deGrasse Tyson can be found in part 2 of our coverage.  Season 3 of Cosmos is scheduled to air in the Spring of 2019.   

Hidden Figures is based on the biographical book by the same name written by Margot-Lee Shetterly, which chronicles the personal and professional lives of three black female mathematicians who worked at NASA and were once known as “Human Computers”. Both the book and film are centered around Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe).

During their time at NASA, the women overcame multiple stumbling blocks and obstructions caused by racism, segregation, and sexism. Dorothy became the first African-American woman to become a supervisor at the Langley Research Center. Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectories and flight plans for Apollo 11 moon mission, Project Mercury and many others. Mary Jackson was NASA’s first black female engineer, later in her career at Langley, Mary became an Affirmative Action Program Manager and Federal Women’s Program Manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs in order to facilitate career advancement for women at NASA.

I’m looking forward to learning more not only about these three ladies but also the other women who worked with them at the West Area Computing Division. It will be great to have a show that portrays Black women in STEM who not only broke down barriers in the past but paved a way for future generations.

The TV show will executive produced by Jenno Topping and Peter Chernin, who also served as EPs on the film. Hidden Figures is currently available on HBO and Netflix in Argentina and Canada.

Carolyn Hinds: Brittany thank you for speaking with me today, I find your project B-360 very interesting and appreciate the time to speak with you about it. Before we get into B-360 can you tell me a bit about your background in STEM?

Brittany Young: My background in STEM is I’m an engineer so I have worked for a lot of companies like NASA, the Johns Hopkins physics lab, McCormick & Co. and Key Technology Inc. I’ve done everything from satellite exploration for Venus, I’m also a published author for an abstract in science, medical devices, and prototypes. McCormick was really good, one of my last [positions] there was in the kitchen so I helped work on the manufacturing processes and the increase in their techniques, but also create new spices and new foods which were really cool. So I’ve pretty much done everything.

So with all of your experience especially the mechanical side of engineering — what inspired you to create B-360 and make dirt bikes the focal point of the program?

Brittany: Being in engineering as a minority, then on top of that a black woman and then being from a city that people kind of look down on, and I was still working in engineering around the time of Freddy Gray so just the comments of people not understanding how we as students in urban demographics like mine are always perceived as negative. I’m usually always the youngest, the only woman and the only person that’s from a real city. In one of my first positions, they confused me for the secretary which was like “Oh, haha, no. I’m not the secretary, I’m actually the engineer.”

Two, I had a lot of really good experiences as far as my career, but personal experiences weren’t as good, so that’s kind of what sparked B-360. I’m working to increase STEM diversity but to also show students that look like me that we exist in this industry, and to show people who don’t look like me why it’s important to engage students where they are, as opposed to wanting to create curriculum or designs that have no basis on what the students want to engage with. Now I’m also a teacher, I work with a community college around STEM to get more students to work at NASA, but the issue was how to you get more students from these areas who have no clue about rocket science? Those who are really not interested in traditional ways of engaging in STEM but are natural geniuses and that is where the dirt bike part came from.

Because I grew up in Baltimore — I felt like Baltimore is a part of us and you know black kids in the city are a part of its history, but it was such a negative connotation with dirt bike riding. A lot of my students are eleven and younger but have been riding dirt bikes since they were maybe six or five and come to me knowing everything about breaking down a bike, how to repair it and when I work with older riders it’s the same thing.

A lot of them are either self-taught mechanics or are in the mechanics field now, so just again it’s about meeting people where they are and the theme of the curriculum that we use is based on dirt bikes because my students already get it. We’re relining what they know with what the engineering mindset is. We focus on engine design process the most because all of my students won’t grow up to be engineers, but that critical thinking and analysis that we have as engineers are always there, so that’s kind of how we see worlds colliding. We’re also realizing there’s a bigger issue which is the tech-divide because only five percent of all engineers are black and Latino, and also being able to address a stigma in Baltimore and other cities because they have urban riders but we’re countering a negative narrative with a positive one that works for everyone.

Taking into account as you said the negative way the dirt bike culture is viewed by larger communities, were there any other challenges you faced when starting B-360?

Brittany: I would say some of the larger ones, of course, is the legal aspect. In Baltimore, it’s illegal to own a dirt bike. So with anything like dirt bikes, people get nervous about it just because the press and media describe dirt bike riders as gun-toting criminals, as people that ride lawlessly without impunity. So whenever I mention dirt bikes sometimes people get afraid, but then once they get over that hump that “Yes, it’s about dirt bikes” then it’s really about education. I’m not in politics, we advocate on behalf of those that want to ride safely, we want to work with the riders, the police and the community because there is a place for this.

I would say the stigma behind dirt bikes is always the hardest for people to get over when trying to describe a program that works with a culture — that people who often fund other projects — have no idea exists is also the second problem. Unless you are from a black community in [places] like Baltimore, Philadelphia or Detroit you’ve never really experienced those things like urban street riding to know it was an issue. When I’m talking to funders or even investors about why it’s an issue for my community and more importantly why we offer a solution, they have no idea that this was on the radar of things to tap into. So I would say those two things; the stigma and then trying to make it aware to a demographic of people that had no idea this even exists.

My next question is related to film, with the success of Black Panther and more specifically the popularity of Shuri a young black girl who as we know is in charge of her own research and development STEM lab, have you noticed an increase in the interest of youth already in the program and those looking to join B-360?

Brittany: OH yes [laughs] which I was so happy to see. I finally got to watch it about three weeks ago, I was like “Thank goodness, it’s like how the comics were” cause I was doing my research. I think the first exposure was with Hidden Figures, that was big for everyone that wanted to get into STEM because you learned about Katherine Johnson and black women in the workplace and what we go through. But more importantly how there were three women that we’ve never heard about were there when the Apollo missions first got started.

I think that was the first serious push with black girl into STEM, and with Black Panther it was like “Oh yes, science is cool, Shuri is leading” so I’m kind of envious of her cause I wish that I had control of a lab. I wish that was me when I was younger, but for girls and boys to see, they had no idea what the code for Vibranium was, so now they’re looking at the [table of] elements trying to figure out if Vibranium is a real one, if it’s not, then what is it? I think for us that has helped a lot because of all of my students have gone to see it, but more importantly, they can identify themselves on the screen. Of course, she’s a kid, but it’s a black person leading this wave and then you consider her age and just everything she was doing, now they want to develop prototypes for their helmets and their own equipment just from watching the movie.

It really goes to what we’ve been saying that representation matters, but it also matters if you deal with a new generation like future Shuris and future T’Challas in a civilization that exists off of Vibranium and then they have the beginnings of a new technology venture. We’ve definitely seen an increase, and I know that more people will come especially because now I think Disney is launching the STEM center in Oakwood, but there are also plans for I think Baltimore and Philadelphia. So I’m just excited and waiting for all of this stuff to happen.

They’re already thinking about how they can sell stuff, how they can sustain it and how they can grow it. So just hearing this from not only ten and eleven-year-olds, but also my older riders that are students, I think that Shuri shows that you can create your own lane and there is no traditional way to get into STEM.

Following Black Panther is A Wrinkle in Time which is about a young girl who travels through space and time and I wanted to know if you read the book.

Brittany: [laughs] Yes, I read it in elementary school and was like “Finally!” I’m actually in the process of re-reading it and I should be done next week because I want to finish it before I see the movie since I haven’t read it in like twenty years [laughs]. But for A Wrinkle in Time, I was looking at the visuals and it took me back to being a kid and the different types of women that are on the screen. It’s directed by Ava and she is amazing when you talk about the film and I read her bio when she said she didn’t take the traditional route to being a filmmaker.

She didn’t even direct her first piece until I think she was like 32 and pick up her first camera. And again that just shows that you don’t have to know everything that you plan to do before you do it, but also some people have the natural talent and abilities that can be harnessed and grown and she shows that not only on film and on camera but also by her personal story. So I’m really looking forward to the movie when I’m done with the book and my students they’re also reading it too, now that they’re in middle school.

Where do you see yourself and B-360 going from here? What is your ultimate goal with the program?

Brittany: I have a lot of goals so I’m trying to think of which one first. Of course, we want to work with as many students as possible, also we want to hire dirt bike riders as instructors to change their mindset, so they go from just “riding dirt bikes” to actually being teachers. For us, it’s about changing how people view engineers, people in urban cities and demographics but also how people view dirt bike riders specifically because of the issues surrounding it.

Getting more students interested and seeing how many of them get into the STEM field, and so far all of my students want to do that and it was the complete opposite. When we first started they were just there to ride bikes but now them actually all want to go an become engineers so I’m really excited to see how many graduates from school go into the profession. We also want to get into events that show motor cross and urban riding aren’t really different, again this is a talent and art form we can display safely in different cities. So that means working soon hopefully with Baltimore, which is my main goal to show how in this organization we change perceptions of engineers and dirt bike riders.

Another goal is to see the law changed as a result of the work we’ve done, because again working with students that are eleven or twelve is good that there’s a vehicle that leads them to engineering. But once they become eighteen it’s also the same vehicle that hinders them from going into the STEM field because in a lot of the STEM professions you can’t have any kind of misdemeanors or interactions with the law so we want to decriminalize dirt bike riding itself.

To learn more about B-360 and the work being done visit the website at b360baltimore.org

Follow the organization on social media on Twitter:@B360Balt and Instagram:@b360baltimore

Disney,Marvel Studios, Dolby Laboratories, Synchrony Bank, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Broadcom MASTERS and Society for Science & the Public are pleased to present the nationwide MARVEL STUDIOS’ THOR: RAGNAROK SUPERPOWER OF STEM CHALLENGE in conjunction with the November 3, 2017 theatrical release of Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins.

In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk!

Marvel Studios is, once again, encouraging young girls to explore the superpower of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) with the MARVEL STUDIOS’ THOR: RAGNAROK SUPERPOWER OF STEM CHALLENGE.

This program, supported by American Association for the Advancement of Science, Broadcom MASTERS, and Society for Science & the Public, seeks to inspire young girls to use the superpower of STEM to help their family, community or the world be safer, healthier or happier. MARVEL STUDIOS’ THOR: RAGNAROK SUPERPOWER OF STEM CHALLENGE invites girls nationwide, ages 15 -18 in grades 10 – 12 living in the 50 United States and D.C., to use the superpower of STEM to create an original Do-It-Yourself project that can be replicated by others.

Five finalists will be selected to come to Los Angeles and present their projects, in person, to a panel of experts and to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of Marvel Studios’ THOR: RAGNAROK.  Each finalist will receive: Two round-trip tickets to Southern California for the finalist and her parent or guardian, including scheduled meals, ground transportation to and from organized activities, hotel accommodations, from October 8 through October 11, 2017; the opportunity to be on the red carpet at the Premiere of Marvel Studios’ THOR: RAGNAROK, $500 deposited into a high-yield savings account from Synchrony Bank; a tour of the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California; and more.

One grand-prize winner will be selected from the five finalists to attend an immersive three-day mentorship in New York City with Disney Imagineering to build her STEM story, creating a professional-level video teaching other young people how to recreate her Challenge–winning project. The winner will also have the opportunity to demonstrate her Superpower of STEM project live to the nation with a brief appearance on Good Morning America. (The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Good Morning America / ABC News.)The video created during her mentorship will be made available to students, teachers and families worldwide on the American Association for the Advancement of Science education resource website ScienceNetLinks.com.

Complete contest information will be available from August 23, 2017, through September 23, 2017.  Entries will be accepted beginning on August 23, 2017 at 4:00AM PT through 6:00PM PT on August 23, 2017. For application forms, eligibility requirements, official contest rules and more information about MARVEL STUDIOS’ THOR: RAGNAROK SUPERPOWER OF STEM CHALLENGE, please visit www.marvelstudiosstemchallenge.com.

About the Contest

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends at 6:00PM PT on September 23, 2017. Open only to girls between the ages of 15 and 18, in grades 10 – 12, as of August 23, 2017, who are legal residents and physically living in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Limit 1 entry per person. Winners must be able to travel on or about October 8, 2017 through October 11, 2017. See Official Rules at www.marvelstudiosstemchallenge.com for full eligibility and entry requirements, prize description, conditions, and limitations. Void where prohibited. The official contest sponsor is Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

So we here at BGN are waving the nerd flag.  After 38 years, on August 21^st at 1:16 pm EDT, Lincoln Beach, Oregon will be the first in the United States able to see the total eclipse of the sun.  The total eclipse will last about an hour and a half with the last United States viewing being in Charlestown, South Carolina around 2:48 pm EDT.  The path of total eclipse travels from Oregon through Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North then South Carolina.

So to get ready, I spent some time on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) eclipse website to study up a bit.  The website has the things that you would expect, including a great discussion of the various terms and an app that you can download to collect information to make environmental observations that complement NASA satellite observations to help scientists studying Earth and the global environment.  There is also a discussion about a better use of aluminum foil than protecting your brain waves from alien probing.  Among the safety discussions and totality maps, there was a page about eclipse misconceptions.  There were a few I had heard of like going blind if you look directly into the sun or an eclipse, except at the point of totality.  Apparently, it is true that starting into the sun or partial eclipse can cause damage, but normally most people look away before any severe damage occurs.  However, it is not recommended to try to view portions of the eclipse through a camera or telescope, unless the devices have a solar filter.

This leads us to the main reason most of you are reading this article.  Will using my smartphone to view and/or photograph the partial eclipse damage my eyes or my smartphone?  Well, it appears the answer is sort of yes.  NASA indicates that the minute or so of the total eclipse there should be no issues, but outside of that both eyes and normal cameras should be appropriately shielded.  Smartphones are interesting.  It appears that the crappier your smartphone, the less likely that a photo of the partial eclipse will damage the phone.  However, the photos you will be able to take will look like a blurry orange with a flickering flame. The better the camera, the more likely the partial eclipse will damage the phone, so apparently, they are recommending that you use a solar filter or your ISO-Certified sun-viewing glasses to cover the smartphone lens over the aperture (camera lens).  From my research, if you don’t have one by now, have fun with the blurry orange.  Be careful not to stare too long trying to sharpen the image as the display can also damage your eyes.

Probably more important than your smartphone, in order to view the eclipse it has been recommended that you only use ISO 12313-2 international safety standard compliant glasses.  Even with the solar filter glasses, please be mindful to not sue them if the lenses are scratched or damaged.  For the last one in the US, I remember being intrigued by instructions for making a viewer using a shoebox.  Well it is a new century and now they are recommending using a cereal box, and some other great options include a pinhole projector.  I am fortunate that I have a nerd friend with a 3-D printer, as NASA has downloadable templates to 3-D print state shaped pinhole projector.  If you’re asking what a pinhole projector is, it is a card or firm paper with a small hole around 5 millimeters in diameter.  With your back to the eclipse, you will hold the card around 3 feet from the ground.  As the eclipse progresses you should be able to see the disappearing sun projected onto the ground in front of you.

A curious misconception was related to a total eclipse being a sign of a major events in people’s lives or other celestial events.  Just to set the record straight, eclipses do not foretell bad events, or cause changes in human behavior (although we know the truth about the moon and werewolves), the rest is pure myth.  So finish that box of cereal, take the aluminum foil off your head (ignore the voices, that’s the television), get some complaint eclipse glasses or make yourself a viewer, and join the rest of  us nerds outside on Monday around noon to witness the eclipse.

E.Angel is an engineer and holds a BS in electrical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. She’s a real nerd who loves all things Star Wars and Star Trek, and is an avid gamer. E.Angel can be reached at e9of10@gmail.com or on either game platform as Bunnehs Sister.

I am hopeful about the future. I am optimistic that the men and women who have inherited this crazy messed up world have the passion and the drive to make a difference. In this STEM series, I set out to highlight the everyday narratives of people of color who have dedicated their lives to their respective fields. I was fortunate enough to meet some fascinating folks, from an entomologist to Indigenous scientists; it was an inspiring experience.

In the final chapter of The Color of Science BGN series, we introduce two young women who are just beginning their careers and have a real passion for what they do. Sasha Weise is a forensic specialist with a background in medical anthropology, while Nicole Galase has her eyes turned skyward as she keeps tabs on endangered seabirds that nest within the majestic volcanoes of The Pacific. The passion of these two scientists shine through in their interviews, and you can’t help but think that they are meant to do great things.

The Forensic Specialist

Name: Sasha Weise

Occupation: Criminalist – Forensic Specialist

Where are you from?

Originally born in Jamaica W.I., Brooklyn since I was 12.

What are your hobbies?

I love going to museums; I’m on a mission to visit a museum in every state/country I visit. I enjoy lectures, anything science or anthropology related, spending hours in Barnes and Noble, etc.

Tell us something nerdy about yourself.

I have my DVR set to record every single episode of River Monsters and Monsters Inside Me. I binge-watch them in one sitting, then google academic articles on the things mentioned to the point where I sound like an expert in freshwater fish.

Tell us a little bit about your childhood. Were you always drawn to the sciences?

In a way, I was. As a kid, I would always tell my mom I was going to become a research scientist. I have no idea where I got it from, but turns out I’m psychic because the research is my favorite part.

What is your education background? What degree(s) or training do you have?

I have a B.A in Anthropology (double minor in forensic science and medical anthropology); a Masters in Forensic Science and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Firearms and Toolmark Examination.

What inspired you to choose your field of study?

Initially, I majored in mechanical engineering. I thought I would change the world with artificial intelligence, but at 19, I couldn’t even change the mind of my advisor that I was a capable student. Eventually, I switched and realized I had an interest in forensic science but at my school, you had to major in something else to do forensics, and I wasn’t holding my own in chemistry like I did in high school. So, I went to anthropology because I also enjoyed observing people, and discovered forensic anthropology and knew that I was where I’m meant to be.

Who do you look up to in your field?

Right now, there isn’t someone in any of my fields that I look up to, mainly because I’m having a hard time finding the stories of women of color. My field is largely women but still painfully white.

Please describe a typical work day in your field.

Currently, as a criminalist, I focus on identification for the Medical Examiner’s Office. It’s partly my role to make sure the people in our possession are who they’re supposed to be before they’re released and buried.

What are some of the challenges as a person of color that you run into in your field (if any)?

While I’m still young and may not have the full experience of many seasoned women in my field, for me it’s the same as going through school and having to prove over and over that you’re just as good or that you belong here, or that you might have an idea about what you’re talking about.

What is the coolest aspect of your job?

Cool to me, weird to some but I love how much the body can speak after death. It’s weird to say, but I’m always amazed at the things we learn from bones and anatomy overall.

How do you feel about how this Administration is dealing with environmental issues?

It’s terrifying. Environmental science is probably one of my weaker points, but even I know and acknowledge that we need this planet more than it needs us.

What advice would you like to give to young people of color with interest in the sciences?

Ask for help. A lot of my issues would not have been as dramatic as they got had I sought out help from anywhere I could. Also, create a network, find friends who make you proud to be who you are and encourage you to push forward. It’s hard in this world alone, especially when you’re a black woman in STEM, probably the only one in your department and someone in the office is trying you.

The Seabird Conservationist

Name: Nicole Galase

Occupation: Wildlife Biologist- Seabird Project Leader for the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands

Where are you from?

Honolulu, Hawaii

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies range from cooking for friends at home to exploring the world through hiking and bow hunting.

Tell us something nerdy about yourself?

My first ever “research paper” was self-assigned as a 7-year-old. I read a few kids nature magazines and wrote a paper on the humpback whale.

Tell us a little bit about your childhood. Were you always drawn to the sciences?

I knew I wanted to be a Marine Biologist at a young age, thanks to watching Jacques Cousteau shows before dinner. My parents let my siblings and I explore the backyard and took us to the beach often. It was the outdoors that pushed me to wonder, “how does this all work?” As I grew up and learned more along the way, I always appreciated that science was methodical as well as mysterious.

What is your education background? What degree(s) or training do you have?

I have a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management with a Marine Option Program Certificate from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, and I went to New Zealand to obtain my Master of Marine Conservation from Victoria University of Wellington.

What inspired you to choose your field of study?

My parents let us watch a lot of nature shows and kept our bookshelf full of wildlife books and magazines. I decided I wanted a job that felt more like adventuring.

Who do you look up to in your field?

There are a lot of people that I respect in the field of seabird research. I really appreciate the willingness of researchers to provide knowledge and tips for my project, even if they don’t know me personally. I am very young in my career, and try to take advantage of opportunities to call on the expertise and experience of my colleagues.

Please describe a typical work day in your field.

It’s tough to pick a typical work day since my job is varied. One day I could be sitting in the office writing and analyzing data, another day I could be over an hour away from my office and hiking 11km over lava fields with a detector dog in search of seabird nests. Other days, it’s nights that I work. Since the seabirds I study only visit their colony at night, I need to adapt to them and survey them at night with night vision goggles, near infrared light, and many many layers of clothes to survive the drop in temperature and gusts of wind that accompany the nocturnal life.

What are some of the challenges as a person of color that you run into in your field (if any)?

Perhaps it’s because I have spent my career thus far in Hawaii where minorities are prevalent, but I don’t feel that I have run into many challenges as a Filipino-American. I do, however, recall several times when I was underestimated because I am a woman. Luckily, I proved myself each time and walked away feeling more accomplished than marginalized.

What is the coolest aspect of your job?

I like that I am able to get creative and utilize novel ways to study my species. The Band-rumped Storm Petrel is very secretive, and I often feel like a detective more than a scientist.

How do you feel about how this Administration is dealing with environmental issues?

It’s scary to think of how the conservation field may change, but it won’t stop me from continuing to do as much productive work as I can, whether through a government agency, non-profit organization, or just as a hobby.

What advice would you like to give to young people of color with interest in the sciences?

Keep working towards it and let your good work speak for itself. Even if you think there are barriers to your success, work through them because you’ll be more disappointed if you don’t try anyways.

If you missed the previous installments of this series, have no fear! Check out the links below to read about people of color in STEM with backgrounds in entomology, environmental conservation, landscape architecture, and Indigenous science.
Part I: The Color of Science
Part II: The Color of Science: Empowerment
Part III: The Color of Science is Indigenous

Jahkotta Lewis is a professional archaeologist, an amateur astronomer, and an aspiring writer. When she is not documenting Pacific Island archaeology, she spends her days hiking through native forests, spelunking within the depths of an active volcano, and watching/reading all things fantasy and science fiction. Follow her on Twitter @jahkotta

Here we are about 6 months into the 2017 convention season and we here at Black Girl Nerds had a great phone interview with Ben Penrod, founder of Awesome Con. Awesome Con has been around since 2013 and starts this year on Friday, June 16th and lasts through Sunday, June 18th. Like years past, Awesome Con is growing and seems to introduce something new every year.  There is the “Backlot,” which contains themed props and backdrops for some really cool t-shirt or actual cosplay fun. Last year there was also the “Science Fair,” which was supported by the Science Channel and included a main hall discussion with Bill Nye the Science Guy.  

Ben noted Awesome Con’s commitment to diversity, and that can be seen in some additions to the con.  This year, a week after Washington D.C.’s Pride events, Awesome Con is presenting Pride Alley and another themed track known as Future Con. Ben was a great sport and after a quick quiz to test his nerd credentials, it was determined that he is a true fantasy lover of the Real Genius, Dr. Who, House Targaryen flavor. We then moved on to what is new at Awesome Con this year.  

BGN:  So talk to us about Pride Alley, we’re really excited to see that.

Ben:  Yes, so we’ve been, we’ve had Geeks Out, which is a, which is a LGBTQ nonprofit, we’ve had them involved in Awesome Con for the past few years, and… last year…I think… it was their third one, but I didn’t realize that have been doing … their own convention in New York City called Flame Con, which is you know like a small LGBTQ convention. I just remember I was on Twitter, and I kept seeing everybody talking about Flame Con, and I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t there. It was the most amazing thing and I was upset that I didn’t even realize that it was happening…so I would have gone and [then] one of my co-workers Peter, he went to Flame Con and he, and I reached out to him [and asked] “Have you heard about Flame Con?” and he was like yeah, I was there. We knew this was a very special thing that had happened and we wanted to wanted to be a part of it and to support it at Awesome Con, so we got in touch with Geeks Out, who we had worked with in the past, who had put on Flame Con.  And we said, hey, can we do…[a] sort of a LGBTQ track, where a section of the con at Awesome Con and you know and use your Flame Con contacts to kind of… make this happen.  They were happy to do that and we put it together, and it was… really cool. I think it’s gonna be very fantastic. I wish we had announced it earlier, [because] I don’t think the…Pride Alley part of Artist Alley is going to be quite as big as we wanted it to be, because I, we just didn’t announce it earlier enough for people to get on board, but it’s okay we can always start small and grow it up big for later.

BGN: So what will be expecting so see on the alley, is this specific groups or related to the LGBTQ community?

Ben: So it’s like a, like a part of the Artists Alley that is going to be you know LGBTQ, creators or people who are in that in that space in some way, and it’s like the same type of creators that would have been at Flame Con. We also have a programming track, that is actually very robust that will be like a Pride Alley programming track. I believe there is one room that will just be Pride Alley programming…[while] I’m not 100 percent sure, but I know we have a whole track that’s like three whole days of Pride Alley.

BGN: Excellent, excellent…That’s really cool…we also see that you’ve teamed up with the Smithsonian and the Sci[ence] Channel…[for] Future Con, so what can we expect to see for Future Con?

Ben: Future Con is something we have been working on for a long time…and so last year we introduced the Awesome Con science fair, which was kind of a singular-type version of Future Con and it went very well, and then we teamed up with the Smithsonian to put together Future Con, which is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) area of the convention floor, so you’re gonna see, instead of seeing exhibitors who are selling comic books, or t-shirts, or video games or any of that cool stuff, instead it’s going to be like NASA and…Science Channel, and Smithsonian and…I don’t even know the, we have so many of ‘em, and it’s going to be mind-blowing, kind of where science fiction meets science fact. We have a programming track for Future Con also has headlined by Star Talk, which we had last year, and this year we’re going to have Commander Chris Hadfield hosting Star Talk, and if you’re not familiar with him, he is the Canadian Astronaut who is very famous for playing his guitar in outer space. He did a cover of Space Oddity by David Bowie in space (https://youtu.be/KaOC9danxNo). He is amazing and you know I nerd a lot about TV stars and professional wrestlers, but this guy [is] like the world’s most famous astronaut and…he’s going to be at our con and that’s so amazing. He’s been to outer space, he’s done an awesome cover of a David Bowie in space, and David Bowie liked it, and he’s going to be at our con. Like how cool is that?

So with a couple of days to set up, Ben, his loyal staff, and 400 volunteers, affectionately known as the “Brute Squad,” are getting ready for Awesome Con.  Get your Dad, and come join Ben, me and Jamie, our Blerd Queen, all weekend as we con around the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.  Also, be sure to take a stride down the various con alleys and stop in Friday to the “Queer representation in media” panel with BGN’s own Valerie Complex.  See you there!!!!!

Bio

E.Angel is an engineer and holds a BS in electrical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. She’s a real nerd who loves all things Star Wars and Star Trek, and is an avid gamer. E.Angel can be reached at e9of10@gmail.com or on either game platform as Bunnehs Sister.

Indigenous knowledge is often excluded from the mainstream scientific community. The ancient knowledge that different cultures have retained and maintained over thousands of years is often scoffed at or simply ignored. I’ve seen it first hand when I was a student at a University in California. At the time, I was working on my Master’s in Cultural Resource Management and witnessed conversations mocking the observations, beliefs, and knowledge of First Nation people as “superstitious” and “unscientific.” I’ve read articles where indigenous populations have tried to share their knowledge but have been met with distrust and ridicule. Take for instance the case of the long-lost British polar explorer ships the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus. The ships both disappeared in 1848 and the British Royal Navy searched for the vessels and their missing crew for 11 years. The Inuit people of the region testified and gave the exact location of one of the ships but were ignored, even though their knowledge of the region would have been comprehensive. It wasn’t until 2016 that one of the ships was relocated using data procured from the oral traditions of Inuit lineal descendants. It took almost two hundred years for researchers to listen to indigenous people that knew the ice, the currents, and the land better than anyone else.

In the third installment of this series, we visit an indigenous perspective on the scientific community provided by the Director of Indigenous Education at the University of West Oahu, Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer. Dr. Meyer received her Master’s of Science in Physical Education from the University of Northern Colorado and went on to get her Doctorate of Education from Harvard. Her doctorate thesis titled “Native Hawaiian Epistemology: Contemporary Narratives”  focused on Native Hawaiian knowledge. Amongst her achievements as a champion of indigenous knowledge, Dr. Meyer developed an applied indigenous knowledge master’s program for a Maori university in New Zealand; received the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations Award and has dedicated herself to building education programs focused on indigenous epistemology.  Here’s what her perspective on the scientific community and indigenous knowledge.

Name:  Manulani Aluli Meyer

Occupation:  Director of Indigenous Education at UH West Oahu

Ulu a’e ke welina a ke aloha. Loving is the practice of an awake mind.

Where are you from?

I am from Mokapu on the island of Oahu. Our ohana is also from Kailua, Hilo, Kohala, Wailuku and Kamamalu. I have spent 25 years along Hilo Paliku so I feel ma’a to the muliwai and streams there.

What is your education background? What degree(s) or training do you have or are working on?

I am a P.E. major from UH Manoa.  My Masters in Exercise Physiology is from UNC – Northern Colorado.  My Ed.D. from Harvard is within the field of Philosophy of Education.  Sports saved my life, as did my years as a wilderness instructor and coach.  I finally learned from brilliant cultural teachers about Hawaiian and Indigenous epistemology, and that shaped my path on life.

What inspired you to do what you do?

My work is to think through and describe different versions of knowledge so that waking up is possible.  I was inspired when a Professor at Harvard called Hawaiians anti-intellectual.  My work is a result of that statement, and the insights gained changed my life completely.

What do you think about the scientific community and how it has treated indigenous/people of color in the past and the present?

I don’t think we have been on their minds.  The idea of objective knowledge is quite compelling and it has produced our modern society.  Indigenous scholars seem to ‘muddy’ the waters with our insistence in alternative ways of viewing empiricism, knowledge, science, methodology and understanding phenomenon.  The state of our world allows the scientific community to broaden their scope of interests and beliefs.  It is time to be clear about what we believe and how we practice.  It is time for ike kupuna, for the knowledge of our elders, to be expressed….in song, in science, in education, in health, in the world.

There are conversations that are being had in regard to indigenous science and natural resource management. What are your thoughts/contributions on these discussions?

Indigenous science is an ancient idea.  We here in Hawaii have many communities and practitioners who understand their resources, history and the impact of climate change.  We have been around for generations and generations, and our lands/oceans/waterways are our schools. I believe it is time to exchange in meaningful and profound ways.  This is also the case within education, health and social sciences.  We simply have a treasure trove of philosophies, beliefs, practices and ideas that are untapped and unexplored by those outside our culture.  Who knows….maybe it’s time to share?

What message would you like to give to the scientific community?

The world is a magical place we are just now beginning to understand.  We are now viewing it through the lens of Holographic Epistemology where the trilogy of Physical/Mental/Spirit acts simultaneously. Understanding this will bring us to a changed consciousness.  Why not suspend our disbelief in this possibility so we can evolve – together?

What message would like to give indigenous youth with an interest in the sciences?

Be of service to something beyond yourself.  Find joy in that.  Experience how Science connects us.  Know that you are light and forever.  Find out how to love. 

Manulani Aluli Meyer

manulani@hawaii.edu

You can learn more about Dr. Meyer and her work by clicking here.

Next Time on The Color of Science…

Join us as we meet a bird specialist and a medical anthropologist. Until then, check out the two previous installments of The Color of Science series on Black Girl Nerds. Thanks for reading!

The Color of Science (Part I)

The Color of Science: Empowerment (Part II)

Jahkotta Lewis is a professional archaeologist, an amateur astronomer, and an aspiring writer. When she is not documenting Pacific Island archaeology, she spends her days hiking through native forests, spelunking within the depths of an active volcano, and watching/reading all things fantasy and science fiction. Follow her on Twitter @jahkotta