Neosho students learn DNA extraction with KCU professor
NEOSHO, Mo. — First grade students at Neosho's Rise Elementary use cutting edge technology for a little classroom fun.
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KCU Assistant Professor Dr. Joseph Williams spent an hour with the students, extracting DNA from strawberries. Dr. Williams says the process for that is similar to what would happen in a lab if a doctor ordered DNA testing for a patient.
Along with being a lot of fun for the students, Dr. Williams says it also helps spark a love for science. The students tell us it helped bring classroom lessons to life.
'For example, I learned what it is, like what DNA stands for, and DNA can be in your blood and your bones, DNA is like everywhere,' Bregan Burch, 1st grader.
'The whole idea here is to spark curiosity, spark questions. The number one rule that we're going to have here today is 'ask lots of questions.' we're going to have a lot of fun, we're going to make a lot of noise, we're going to get a little messy as we go along with that, but that's what science is. Science isn't always about finding the right answer, it's about continuing asking the questions so that we can push the envelope the best we can,' said Dr. Joseph Williams, KCU Assistant Professor.
Dr. Williams says KCU staff try to take opportunities like this as often as possible because of the impact they can have on the scientists and physicians of the future.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams launched on Starliner 1 year ago. What's next for spacecraft?
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Boeing Starliner: On anniversary of Florida launch, look back at mission's biggest moments Boeing is developing the Starliner spacecraft with the goal of it becoming a second operational vehicle for NASA to transport crews and cargo to the space station. The missions would be contracted under the U.S. space agency's commercial crew program, under which NASA pays private companies to conduct orbital spaceflights using their own commercial vehicles. SpaceX has already been making routine trips since 2020 to the space station under the program using its Dragon capsule. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a contingent of four. The Crew missions launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket – one of the most active in the world – from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida. 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The move, which dealt a blow to Boeing's hopes of getting the vehicle ocertified for regular space travel, would also free up a docking port at the station for the spacecraft now tasked with bringing Wilmore and Williams back. Under NASA's plan, the space agency selected a SpaceX Dragon bound the following month for the space station to transport Williams and Wilmore home. And to avoid having the station be understaffed, NASA opted to keep Williams and Wilmore at the station a few extra months rather than launch an emergency mission to return them to Earth. The empty Boeing Starliner then undocked Sept. 6 and made its way back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in the New Mexico desert. At the time, Boeing had plenty of work ahead to prepare the vehicle for routine spaceflight – including more ground tests and potential modifications to remedy its propulsion system woes. 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The astronauts, who have long since returned to Earth, have regularly spoke about relishing the extra time in the cosmos, including in an exclusive interview in January with USA TODAY. Wilmore and Williams have also downplayed their extended mission as just part of the job. On the one-year anniversary of the Starliner's doomed launch, here's a look back at the biggest moments of a now-infamous spaceflight mission that captured the world's attention. As the two astronauts selected for the Starliner's first crewed flight test, Wilmore and Williams launched June 5, 2024, on a mission to test a vehicle intended to one day join the SpaceX Dragon in transporting NASA astronauts to orbit. The Starliner capsule rode to orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The highly anticipated liftoff came after several delays over the course of about a month due to troubles detected with the spacecraft, including issues with a valve in the rocket's upper stage. Wilmore and Williams reached the International Space Station the next day, June 6, 2024, where they were expected to remain for about 10 days before returning home. But when they made it to the orbital outpost, engineers discovered a slew of helium leaks and problems with the craft's propulsion system that for months hampered Starliner's return to Earth. Williams and Wimore's fate remained uncertain for months as NASA and Boeing deliberated on how best to get them home. That decision came Aug. 24, 2024 when NASA officials announced that the Starliner wasn't safe enough to crew, and would instead undock empty and return to Earth. The move, which dealt a blow to Boeing's hopes of getting the vehicle certified for regular space travel, would also free up a docking port at the station for the spacecraft now tasked with bringing Wilmore and Williams back. Under NASA's plan, the space agency selected a SpaceX Dragon bound the following month for the space station to transport Williams and Wilmore home. And to avoid having the station be understaffed, NASA opted to keep Williams and Wilmore at the station a few extra months rather than launch an emergency mission to return them to Earth. The empty Boeing Starliner then undocked Sept. 6 and made its way back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in the New Mexico desert. At the time, Boeing had plenty of work ahead to prepare the vehicle for routine spaceflight – including more ground tests and potential modifications to remedy its propulsion system woes. Starliner's future as a second operational vehicle for NASA to transport crews and cargo to the space station remains unclear, though the space agency appears to still be working with Boeing to make the vehicle operational. On Sept. 28, 2024, NASA launched the SpaceX Crew-9 mission as planned, but with one crucial change: Just two astronauts, Nick Hague of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, headed to the space station instead of four to leave two empty seats on their vehicle reserved for Wilmore and Williams. The pair arrived a day after getting off the ground on a spacecraft. But Wilmore and Williams didn't return with them right away. Instead, the Starliner astronauts were folded into the Crew-9 mission, and Williams even became commander of Expedition 72 – overseeing all of the spacefarers living and working at the space station. The plan then became Williams and Wilmore to return with Crew-9 in 2025 once Hague and Gorbunov completed their mission. If it weren't for the extended mission, Williams would not have been able to set a record Jan. 30 during her ninth-ever spacewalk. After she and Wilmore spent more than six hours venturing outside the space station, Williams has now spent a cumulative 62 hours and 6 minutes in the vacuum of space – more than any other woman in the world. Only three other people in the world have spent more cumulative time on spacewalks than Williams. After taking office in January, President Donald Trump weighed in several times on the Starliner mission, the delay of which he blamed on the Biden administration. He and billionaire ally Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, began characterizing the vehicle's crew as being "abandoned" or "stuck" in space – an assertion Wilmore and Williams have oft refuted. Trump also claimed that it was he who "authorized" Musk to retrieve the astronauts, despite the return plan being in place before he was elected. However, Trump did appear to have had an influence over NASA's decision to accelerate by about two weeks the launch of a mission that replaced Crew-9. That mission, unsurprisingly known as Crew-10, launched March 14 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-10 included a full contingent of four spacefarers, including mission commander Anne McClain of NASA, NASA pilot Nichole Ayers and two mission specialists from other space agencies: Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. After more than 28 hours traveling through orbit, Crew-10 reached the space station late March 15 – a critical step in setting the stage for Wilmore and Williams to embark on their long-awaited return trip. Before the outgoing astronauts departed the station, they spent a few days helping the new arrivals familiarize themselves with the orbital laboratory and station operations during a handover period. Wilmore and Williams then boarded the Dragon with Hague and Gorbunov and undocked March 18 from the ISS's Harmony module, a port and passageway onto the station. About 17 hours later, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle – charred from its journey through Earth's atmosphere – deployed parachutes for a dramatic water landing March 19 off the coast of Florida. SpaceX teams then raced to retrieve the floating spacecraft and its crew of four, helping secure the Dragon and hoist it onto a recovery vessel. Once the Dragon was firmly in place on the ship's main deck, teams cut into the vehicle's side hatch to help Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov exit. As commentators explained during NASA's livestream, the astronauts were placed onto stretchers – standard protocol after long-duration spaceflights – and taken to receive medical examinations. 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