On why I think that the Bento Lab is a #Gateway to Science

You may have already seen the trending hashtag #GatewaytoScience out in the twittersphere that was created to compile the diverse inspirations of scientists from all around the world. Incidentally, when I ran into it yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of the Bento Lab, the most recent idea to hit the DIY Science circuit. The Bento Lab is a compact, portable Molecular Biology Lab kit/DNA analysis lab that contains all the important Molecular Bio tools/components that can be found on your lab bench: a mini-thermocycler, mini-centrifuge, DNA visualization kit, and power supply etc. The kit itself comes with several mini project ideas ranging from testing your hamburger to see if it has horse meat, to seeing if you have the “athletic gene” ACTN3, and many other ideas.

I have two reasons why I’m impressed and excited. Firstly, this invention (in addition to just the overall cool and clever factor) is a straight-forward intro to Molecular Biology methodologies. Secondly, it actually is a gateway into not only Biology, but really all the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.

When I think of DNA, I first think of not only the nucleic acids that make it up, but the biophysics that govern its structure, and the epigenetics that regulate its expression. Then, I remember that 4 years ago, there are scientists who used DNA to store 70 billion copies of a book in DNA format (which Stephen Colbert famously tried to eat, ha!). Others, yet are using DNA to help build self assembling nanotubes. All of this is not even mentioning that these days, scientists and non scientists alike are interested in learning about their genetic predispositions for disease, their ancestry, and exploring the many frontiers to be crossed in personalized medicine.

Ultimately, creating an accessible way where more students and non-scientists can engage with Science is invaluable because it will increase scientific literacy. Increased literacy in turn might just reduce the distrust associated with STEM topics/developments. Moreover, I’ve observed that too many conversations surrounding Science and Innovation tend to be on the alarmist, anti-establishment end of the spectrum. Increased Science literacy will help to breed conversations that are driven by curiosity and fueled by facts and evidence. I’d say that this will definitely be the fulfillment of the Bento Lab founders’ goal which is “to empower citizens to co-create, and be technology literate”.