Running lizards, rats and people will highlight the CU Wizards show "The Biology of Muscles and Movement," Saturday, Oct. 27, at 9:30 a.m. in the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry Building, room 140.
University of Colorado at Boulder biology Professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Todd Gleeson and biology Senior Instructor Mark Osadjan will show the audience how muscles power motion and how muscle metabolism functions during exercise through a treadmill demonstration using people and animals.
The interactive show also will feature several experiments delving into muscles and locomotion, including one where kids in the audience play the roles of different proteins found in muscles. In another demonstration kids will collect data on blood flow increases during exercise.
The CU Wizards series is an annual program that introduces the audience to astronomy, chemistry and physics. Though intended primarily for students in grades five through nine, the shows are educational and entertaining to people of any age.
"The audience will have the chance to see how muscles power motion and to learn how the body uses energy and oxygen to make muscles work," Gleeson said.
Gleeson and Osadjan also will show that nerve signals are what make muscles work by causing their own muscles to twitch when they electrically shock themselves.
"The kids always get a real kick out of the shocking demonstration," Osadjan said. "The whole idea of our show is to take science out of the classroom and present it in a fun, understandable way."
The show also will include video and computer-generated images to explain the physiology of movement.
Free parking for the Oct. 27 show is available in lot 169 northeast of Folsom Stadium off Folsom Street, lot 396 off Stadium Drive, lot 378 southeast of Folsom Stadium, lot 436 east of the Engineering Center and lot 308 south of Regent Drive and west of Kittredge Loop Road. Parking also is available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark for a nominal fee.
Anyone with a disability or special need should notify the physics office at (303) 492-6952 a few days prior to the show. For general information about the CU Wizards series call (303) 492-4318.