Waves and the waggle dance
From a peacock’s tail feathers to a firefly’s flashing posterior, to schools of flatulent herring and the honeybee’s waggle dance, the animal kingdom is rife with examples of “behind-the-scenes” conversation. With that as a hook, Howard Stone, Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and a former Harvard faculty member, enticed children and their families into the world of physics and biology. The lecture, titled “Good Vibrations: How We Communicate” and hosted by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) on Dec. 11, was designed to give kids a grounding in the physics of vibrations and sound waves. The event began with a game of “Telephone,” to introduce the idea that communication is simply a message going from one place to another. “All we need is something going back and forth,” said Stone. He then turned the audience into a human wave, with each row standing up in turn. “You...