The Moth Radio Hour: Brand New YOU
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What is the main theme of the episode 'Brand New YOU'?
This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Sarah Austin Janess. In this episode, lifelong learning and the pursuit of the unfamiliar. Everything novel and new. We start in Central Park with an unlikely catalyst for change. Pond scum, also known as algal blooms. Notion Kahn shared this story with us as part of a moth education showcase when she was a high school student in New York City. Here's Notion live at the Moth.
How did Naushin Khan transform her relationship with chemistry?
Raise your hand if you ever hated your high school science class. Especially chemistry. Yeah. When I was in 10th grade, I also hated my chemistry class. Sitting in the classroom, I used to think, why do I have to learn all these complex chemistry words like oxidation, reduction, spectro something, something. We don't see those words in our environment. There is no connection. We don't use them. They're pointless. When I turned into 11th grade, I had to take that subject test for chemistry. I was so frustrated because I never had a good relationship with chemistry. But I still had to take it. Sitting in the testing center for three hours, I was so pissed. I don't even remember what the test was about as it just bubbled random answers.
So my sister came to the testing center to pick me up. And when she saw me very gloomy, she decided to take me to the Central Park to give me some therapy to forget the test. When I went to the park, she handed me a camera to take pictures. So I was running around in the park holding a camera, and I saw a lake full of green water. I was like, wow, green water. I did not know there was green water before. When I saw the water, I wanted to touch it. Then my sister shouted, hey, stupid, do you not see the sign beside the lake that says dangerous? All go blooms. Please don't contact with the water. I was like, wow, this glowing, beautiful water could be that dangerous. It even can give me skin disease. That's unbelievable.
And a few days later, I was accepted to an internship. And the internship was called Sustainable Energy. And I thought I would be learning about planting trees and how to save energy. So I'm excited, and I went to the first day of the internship, and I was shocked. It's all chemistry. I was thinking, oh God, I did not sign up for this. And my professor gave us an assignment to conduct an experiment and research that would somehow benefit the environment using all chemistry. But because we have to do it, I remembered my day at the Central Park where the water was all dangerous because of harmful algal blooms. So my team and I decided to conduct some research by collecting those water to see if we can somehow make that water into something that would be beneficial for the environment. After conducting six weeks of research, I realized the words that I used to hate in my chemistry class, like specto something something, now became my favorite word. Because it is spectrophotonometry that
that helped me to turn that harmful algal bloom affected water into biofuel, which would benefit the environment. And this way, we were able to take the harmful substance of the water and turning them into something that would produce less carbon dioxide into the environment and use them as a biofuel to run our cars. I was like, wow. It's all chemistry. I never even thought chemistry was all around us like that before. I thought to myself, why did I still think in my chemistry class that science is so boring, that there is no connection of chemistry in our environment when there is? We just don't think about it. But hey, it is those oxidation words that gives us invisible ink, which Maybe you know.
And it is anti-oxidation that keeps our fruits fresh. Oxidation that lets us turn these lights. Still, why do you think we hate science? Do we not like the stars? We use science all the time. We do love science, although we tell ourselves we don't. So after that experience, this time I took my sister to the Central Park. And I took her near to that lake, and she shouted again, hey, Notion, do you not remember I told you that that lake is dangerous? You're going to get skin disease. And I looked at her, and I told her, do you know how much biofuel you can produce from this lake? She looked at me, I was like, wow, so you like science now? I was like, yeah, you know why?
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