Public research - Ohio State researchers on stage at COSI performing health studies

Gavin Jackson | Dispatch

Ohio State University research assistants Jenny Brichler, left, and Mia Cohen help test subject Elan Lieber in a study at COSI.

Source: Columbus Dispatch

These researchers don't work down some long, dark hallway in the bowels of an ancient university building.

They don't sit in silence at a lab bench, surrounded by beakers and petri dishes, all attention trained on microscopic who-knows-what.

When they talk about what they do, they aren't even hard to understand.

And all of that is sort of the point. Welcome to out-in-the-open, regular-Joe-friendly science.

A group of Ohio State researchers have handed over anonymity to become part of COSI's Labs in Life.

Their research focuses on exercise and nutrition and, on a recent Sunday afternoon, it was plain to see that visitors - everyone from toddlers to seniors - were drawn to the glass-encased labs inhabited by scientists, student interns and their subjects.

Some of the younger visitors were so mesmerized by the action inside the lab on COSI's second floor that they smashed their faces and hands up against the glass walls to watch two studies being performed by researcher Carmen Swain and her team.

In the first study, they're seeking to discover if Wii workouts really are workouts. They're doing this by having people walk or jog with the Wii Fit program. While they exercise, the joggers wear a mask that measures oxygen intake. They also report the intensity of the workout to the researchers every five minutes.

Elan Lieber, an OSU sophomore recruited by the team, was barely winded at the end of his jog, during which he demonstrated how to "cheat" the Wii by moving the hand-held control faster than he was actually jogging. He laughed as the Wii instructed him to take it easy.

Meanwhile, intern Jenny Brichler picked up a microphone and explained the study to the crowd gathered outside the glass walls.

In a second study, Swain's team is comparing the Presidential Fitness Challenge and an electronic BodyTest system to see how different tests influence the motivation of 8- to 11-year-old children who are recruited during their visits to COSI.

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