Science

At least one student was sent to a hospital Tuesday afternoon following a leak of chemical gas into the air in a Villanova University science center. The leak occurred about 2:30 in a third-floor chemistry laboratory in the Mendel Science Center, where freshman chemistry students were synthesizing esters - chemical compounds, a staff member said. A student became ill, and classmates initially believed she was having an asthma attack, police said. Then her nose began to bleed, and other students felt faint and nauseated, and experienced tightness in their chests, police said.

CAPE MAY - When the agenda was planned for the 2013 Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit - a biannual gathering of scientists, academics, and government officials - Sandy hadn't devastated the New Jersey Shore. But the storm that struck Oct. 29 was at the forefront of conversations and some workshop discussions during the four-day conference, titled "Weathering Change - Shifting Environments, Shifting Policies, Shifting Needs. " "So much has happened within the environment since our last summit in 2011, coming in on the heels of what perhaps is the worst natural disaster in the mid-Atlantic in modern times," said Jennifer Adkins, executive director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, which has hosted the event every two years since 2005.

Enjoy hands-on science and engineering activities at Drexel University on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day. Learn about materials science, expressed in laymen's terms as "the study of stuff," and learn what everyday things we use are made of and how they work. The event is free and presented by the departments of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.   Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Bossone Research Enterprise Center on Market Street between 31st and 32d. Event is free.

Taniyah, 12, is very articulate and readily expresses her thoughts and feelings. She enjoys singing, dancing, coloring, and drawing. Taniyah takes pride in her artistic ability and dancing skill. Enrolled in sixth-grade regular classroom, Taniyah likes going to school and is working hard to improve academically. Although her favorite subject is math, she is best at science and recently placed second in her school's science fair. In the future Taniyah would like to be a fashion designer or a makeup artist and travel to Paris.

The Inquirer's No. 1 ranked boys' basketball team found itself in some trouble Sunday at the FamJuice City Classic. But an overtime session turned out to be nothing that undefeated Math, Civics & Sciences couldn't handle. The Mighty Elephants turned away No. 9 Martin Luther King, 80-71, at Ben Franklin High School in the marquee game of the one-day showcase. Raquan Brown Johnson's three-pointer for Martin Luther King with four seconds left in regulation forced overtime. In the extra period, the Mighty Elephants took advantage of being in the double bonus to outscore Martin Luther King, 17-8.

JOEL HODGSON, creator of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," has made a career for himself by riffing on movies, lovingly poking fun at the big screen. But for his next act, he'll take on a weightier topic then sci-fi B-movies. This time, he'll riff on his own life. Hodgson, who lives in Bucks County, is the main attraction at "Sunday in the Dark with Joel" happening at the Trocadero and presented by local blog Geekadelphia. The evening (yes, it's this Sunday) consists of two parts: a presentation of Hodgson's new multimedia memoir, "Riffing Myself," and a screening of "The Pod People," a beloved episode of the show Hodgson created in 1988.

Two local high school students have been chosen as finalists for the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search. Meghan Shea of West Chester, a senior at Unionville High School, and Jonah Kallenbach of Ambler, a senior at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, will travel to Washington in March with 38 other finalists for a weeklong competition. The event is a program of the Society for Science and the Public and is the oldest pre-college science contest in the nation. The top winner will receive $100,000.

Math, Civics & Sciences cracked the national rankings on Tuesday as the visiting Mighty Elephants topped Del-Val Charter, 65-57, in a Public League Division A boys' basketball game. Jeremiah Worthem scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead MC&S, now ranked No. 15 in the country by MaxPreps.com. Math, Civics & Sciences 17 11 23 14 - 65 Del-Val Charter 13 18 9 17 - 57 MC&S: Tyheem Harmon 3, Tyrese Hester 8, Britton Lee 12, Louis Myers 2, Jeffon Powell 1, Malik Starkes 12, Maurice Stevens 3, Shafeek Taylor 5, Quadir Welton 6, Jeremiah Worthem 13. DC: Dashon Giddens 14, Karl Lewis 1, Antwan Scriven 4, Jamir Taylor 10, Darius Wallace 3, Clayton Wolfe 10, Hassan Young 15.

Orlando R. Barone is a freelance writer in Doylestown I bent down, close to my wife's ear as she lay motionless in the hospital bed. It was her second day out from the surgery that removed a devastating BB-sized tumor from her pituitary gland. "Maida, Maida, I have a question to ask you," I whispered as her eyes fluttered ever so slightly. "Yes?" Her mouth formed the word. I paused, then decided to ask the question. "What is my Apple ID Password?" The query was greeted with amazed disapproval from my four adult children.

Imagine a particle 1/10,000 of a cross-section of a human hair. That's the size of a protein, way smaller than a cell. Bernardo Cordovez, 29, and his partners have come up with something they call a NanoTweezer that allows them to pick up and move that kind of teeny-tiny particle using a laser beam of light. There's been a lot of talk about trying to bring high-tech, high-potential businesses to Philadelphia, and the story behind how Cordovez's very small company, Optofluidics Inc., landed here provides an object lesson.