In the morning we saw a video called “Imagining the 10 Dimensions” which I found interesting. It was not based fully on the accepted version of string theory but it was a cool way to think regardless. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 of the video.
After the morning intro video we looked at the microscopes in the basement floor of the building. We saw million dollar electron microscopes as well as more traditional light microscopes. One of them (a confocal microscope, I think) took pictures in slices and then built them into a digital 3D image; it is the only one that can do that in the entire US. Using the electron microscope we zoomed in a million times to see tiny particles called Vaults. These were discovered right here at UCLA and have no known purpose yet. The guy showing them to us used liquid nitrogen to freeze the vaults and even splashed it at us. He also had a cool accent.
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The scanning electron microscopes looked like something out of the movies. They built every part and assembled them in the lab because they are not even sold anywhere in the world. The actual microscope part is very small but the housing is large so the scientists can move samples around in a vacuum.