Sunday, June 2, 2024
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Dragonflies, order Odonata, live on every continent except for Antarctica. There are around 3000 species of this predatory insect, characterised by their huge compound eyes, two narrow pairs of intricately veined wings, and elongated, sometimes iridescent bodies. Dragonflies can fly backwards, right themselves when falling (even when unconscious), control each wing individually, and have near 360-degree vision. You may ask, Maia, this is a physics internship. Why are you harping on about dragonflies?
Dragonflies are full of physics. All kinds of equations go into understanding their different modes of flying–hovering, gliding, and taking off. The flight patterns and efficiency of dragonflies are an inspiration for engineering flight technologies. Dragonflies come in a remarkable range of colours, some hues produced from light scattering and layers of cuticle that produce thin-film interference. One of my favourite damselflies, Neurobasis chinensis, the Green Metalwing, has iridescent emerald green hindwings. Varying fluid velocities in the veins within these wings mean different levels of flexibility in the base and the tips. Depending on whether they are perching or gliding species and the kind of habitat they live in (do they need to manoeuvre around dense vegetation?), species have different wing stiffnesses. This is to say that as the SOCK intern, I hope to centre this box of outreach materials around the wonders of the dragonfly.
As nymphs, dragonflies live beneath the water’s surface, catching prey such as mosquito larvae and tadpoles. When this naiad is ready to become an adult, they swim to the surface and climb onto a plant to moult. It feels appropriate that dragonflies have been used to symbolise transformation and imminent change. This was indeed a week of change.
Over the weekend, my little brother graduated high school. Immediately after, on Monday, my family packed into the car and drove down from New York City to Washington D.C., stopping to visit with my great aunt. Did you know that the most commonly spotted dragonfly (94,695 iNaturalist observations) in Washington DC is the Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis? ‘Longipennis’ means long wings. After settling in, a group of us interns gathered in someone’s room to play Head Trip and Mafia (I am extraordinarily bad at Mafia).
Tuesday morning, we gathered in the lobby of our dorm hall to commute to the American Centre of Physics (ACP) together, our steady tour guides Brynn and Jaden leading the way. During orientation, we were introduced to a great many people. Orientation was long and filled with PowerPoints, but the consistent message that everyone involved in this internship program cared deeply about the work and the students made everything better. The most entertaining part of the day's programming was the marshmallow-spaghetti tower competition. While Brynn, Evan and I may not have won, I’m confident we had the best tower.
On Wednesday, I had IT orientation (conducted from my lovely Shenkman living room), and a meeting with my SOCK mentor, Mikayla (conducted from the ACP office). I was very excited to discuss the goals of this internship and what steps we would take to ensure those goals are met. I spent much of the day reading about and thinking about dragonflies, and brainstorming ideas for the SOCK. After the workday, my college friend Sophia and I got a yummy Indian food dinner and walked a large circle around the GW campus (also sweet treats, always sweet treats). That night, we had the riveting experience of a 3 am fire alarm (Voices speak from the ceiling? It is terrifying).
Thursday was centred around Astro on the Mall–an outreach event run by Hofstra University on the National Mall. As the SOCK intern, it is my job to organise materials for the SPS booth and make sure that every intern is ready for it. I spent the day compiling demo overviews from previous years' materials and designing new table cards to summarise each activity.
I spent all week very excited for Friday, as Dr Jack Hehn had given me a ticket to a National Orchestral Institute concert at the National Museum of American History. After some work in the morning and a lunchtime walk along the mall, Amanda and I headed to the museum for the concert. It ended up being a very small event hidden in the Hall of Music History. The quartets were lovely and the musicians were super talented. As we returned to the dorm, we ran into several other SPS interns and joined them for an exhibit titled Good Fortunes at the Heurich House Museum.
The weekend was full of markets! On Saturday, Sophia and I went to the flea market at the Eastern market (which turned out to also be a farmers market). Acquisitions were: two boxes of strawberries (eaten on the spot), four peaches, and a loaf of sourdough. We spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens (Pachydiplax longipennis spotted!) before returning to Shenkman for dinner and peaches with vanilla ice cream. Sunday was yet another market day (Dupont Circle and Georgetown flea). I made a strawberry-rhubarb compote (thank you, farmers market), which went perfectly with more vanilla ice cream.
Images:
Farmer's markets sightings; view on a walk; National Orchestral Institute concert; Eastern market fabrics; Pachydiplax longipennis; strawberries for compote
Maia Chandler