Jaclyn's interest in science started early in life when her uncle gave her a bag of sand. Sifting through it she found fossilized shark teeth and petrified coral. She has also been on fossil hunting expeditions. When reflecting on fossil hunting, she says, "Those stones still hold wonder for me, just as does everything that has lain like it, hidden, for millions of years, waiting to be found." That is what science is all about! Jaclyn has explored many areas in science, and is currently pursuing an avid interest in microbiology. When not busy with school, Jaclyn is a childcare volunteer and helps at the Silicon Valley Down's Syndrome Network. Jaclyn also enjoys writing and is working on her own novel!

Heroes? Ok, you're going to laugh at this, but—my dad. He is a computer expert—in fact he built the computer on which I am typing this  by hand. He and my little brother Aaron built a working TV receiver too! But more than that, he is my dad, and that's everything.

Say circulating fluidized bed five times fast. Today we saw it. It's for cleaning up carbon emissions from burning coal, and the working model is about five stories tall. A guy named Franklin built a "revolutionary computer program" that connects to a high-speed camera, blows the image up, and tracks each individual particle, color-coding it according to its speed. They're using it to study the motion of the gunk in the circulating fluidized bed.

Tonight when we were eating dinner, something happened—I don't recall what—and Hiyam burst into laughter. Then I joined in, and then we were all rolling over the floor laughing. Literally. I was laughing so hard that I reverted to the cackling laughter I thought I'd grown out of years ago. It sounded like a cackling witch, or possibly a duck. Hiyam recorded the sound of everyone laughing, and just as we got control of ourselves, she played it back. We were off again. We laughed until our stomachs hurt. I think we have safely (or not so safely, witness the stomachaches) proved that laughter is contagious.