This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
When I told Kit Parker of Harvard University to think about explaining what he does to teenagers who would be watching our Google Science Fair Hangout On Air earlier today, he had a great answer for me: “My job is to work on cool.”
Among Parker’s many “cool” research passions are understanding cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering, understanding new ways to treat traumatic brain injury, creating organs on a chip to test new drugs, and developing nanofibers to help treat wounds. In this Hangout, you will find out about all those areas of tissue-engineering research, along with some other things–like how cuttlefish “freckles” (aka chromatophores) can help create camouflage and how you can reeingineer a rat into a working jellyfish.
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Scientific American is a founding partner of the Google Science Fair and has funded the $50,000 Scientific American Science in Action award for the past three years; this year we will fund a new award, called the Innovator Award, as well as an award honoring work that has Community Impact. Entries for the 2015 competition are due May 19.