As Science Friday’s director of audience, Ariel Zych actively leads the engagement, learning, research, and impact strategies and activities at Science Friday, working to make science exciting, accessible, equitable, and representative to a growing national audience.
Ariel joined Science Friday in 2013 as its inaugural education manager, designing new lessons and experiments, planning teacher trainings, drawing diagrams, and curating collections of SciFri media for libraries and partners. Before that, Ariel was a high school biology, marine science, and environmental science teacher in Washington D.C. In addition to being a classroom teacher, Ariel has created and facilitated informal and formal science programs around the country and has developed curricular materials and experiences for camps, cruises, campuses, zoos, museums, scouts, parents, teachers, and schools.
While completing her master’s degree in entomology at the University of Florida, Ariel once discovered the mechanism of acoustic communication in scentless plant bugs, which was super interesting to her, but not to many other people. Several other memorable scientific pursuits include studying snail gonads, collecting ticks, caring for colonies of social spiders as an undergrad at Cornell, tagging dragonflies, sailing aboard the E/V Nautilus and, more recently, traveling to Antarctica to cover long-term research on the frozen continent.
Ariel constantly misses her home town of Portland, Oregon, and loves traveling the world, eating fun food, family time, and spending time outside.
How To Capture A Scent
Separate and capture scent molecules by their heat of vaporization.
How Big Was This Squid?
Learn how to determine the size of a Humboldt squid using a beak left behind in a whale’s stomach in this data-rich math activity.
Make A Secret Marshmallow Message
Use chemistry to write a secret message on marshmallows that can only be revealed by toasting them!
Life Under a Rock: Bacteria in Extreme Environments
Explore the dry, dim world of hypolithic or “under rock” cyanobacteria and measure and compare colony growth in deserts around the world.
What Do Cochlear Implants And Hearing Aids Sound Like?
Learn how hearing aids work, then conduct your own test to determine whether hearing aids can improve speech recognition for cochlear implant users.
Build An Ultra High-Speed Toy Out Of Paper
Make a paper toy that spins thousands of times per minute, and then measure, and try to modify, its speed.
17:10
How You—and the Science Club—Broke It Down
The Science Friday Science Club meets to wrap up their latest project, devoted to the idea of disassembly.
Six Things You Can Break Down Right Now
Sometimes the best way to learn about something is by taking it apart. Here are six things you can break down in 10 minutes or less.
7:55
Six Things You Can Break Down Today
The Science Club discusses their “Break It Down” challenge, and offers some suggestions to get your investigations going.
6:50
The Science Club Challenges You to ‘Break It Down’
Sometimes taking something apart can reveal insight into how it works.