Gravitational Waves and Corn Genetics

To celebrate American Indian Heritage month, today we discussed Indigenous contributions to science. We focused on the recent detection of gravity waves by Corey Gray, a Blackfoot scientist working for LIGO in Washington state. It's been recently announced that Gray and his team are being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in detecting gravitational waves. Click HERE to listen to Corey Gray talk about their discovery. A special moment in class was watching a recording of Mr. Gray's mother, Sharon Yellowfly, reading the press release for the discovery of Gravitational Waves in the Siksika (Blackfoot) language.


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Sacred Seeds Video

In addition to gravity waves, we also discussed the domestication of corn and how the indigenous people of Central America began selectively breeding corn up to 10,000 years ago and how this new cood crop spread throughout the continent. We also watched a clip of Omaha Tribal member, Creighton University Professor, and Corn Planter Taylor Keen discuss the revival of many ancestral species of corn that he and many others are trying to bring back from obscurity.

Gold Tape Question: Draw or use a computer to create a color diagram showing the "Four Sisters" that Mr. Keen describes in the Sacred Seeds video, with labels or captions that explain how each of the different plants helps the garden survive better together than they would on their own.