“We start with simple systems, and then we try to build on those as we understand what’s happening in them. Because if you just go to the complicated system right away, you can observe effects, but you can’t really figure out what they’re related to.”

That’s Linda Weavers, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at The Ohio State University, talking about one of the fundamental rules of doing science: one step at a time. Weavers and her team are studying the potential use of ultrasound to clean contaminated sediments in Lake Erie and its tributaries, a complicated process no matter what approach is taken.

Microcystin, one of the major toxins produced by harmful algal blooms (HABs) has been implicated in a number of health issues, from skin rashes to liver and nervous system damage. A main focus of preventing these negative health impacts has been limiting exposure to contaminated water, but researchers at The Ohio State University have been looking at things from a different angle: microcystin exposure from food.

In 1972, zoology graduate student Tom Hall spent a summer at Stone Lab, studying everything from ornithology to fish ecology while spending nights in Cooke Castle, then the men’s dormitory. Today, emergency medicine physician Dr. Thomas Hall, who just retired from a position as medical director at an insurance company, is working with Ohio Sea Grant and the Friends of Stone Lab (FOSL) to raise funds for renovations that could turn that same Cooke Castle into a unique meeting destination.

In the aftermath of the 2014 harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Lake Erie, which left residents in the city of Toledo without drinking water, there’s been a lot of activity around making sure something similar doesn’t happen again. Water treatment plants have added additional testing for the algal toxin microcystin that caused Toledo’s water shutdown, scientists are monitoring HABs as they develop, and backup intakes let larger plants avoid pulling in potentially contaminated water altogether. But remembering the news reports of people stuck without water for days, some concerned citizens may still wonder “what if?”

For many, Stone Lab, Ohio State’s island campus on Lake Erie, is more than just a place to take some summer classes that doesn’t involve sitting in a lecture hall. It’s a way of life that gets in your bones and stays with you from the first time you step off a boat onto the Gibraltar Island docks.

Stone Lab experiences often start with a field trip for kids as young as fifth grade. The Lake Erie Science Field Trip Program takes students out onto the lake for a fish trawl and water sampling session before bringing them back to the lab to dissect their catch and analyze their water samples under microscopes. Additional activities include everything from a plant walk around the island to meeting some of Stone Lab’s reptilian residents.

For many of the students, it’s the first time they get to experience science beyond reading about it in a book.

The three Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative projects in this focus area aim to improve use of existing technologies as well as develop new methods to detect, prevent and mitigate harmful algal blooms (HABs) and their impacts. This helps to ensure drinking water safety and a healthy environment for lakeshore residents by connecting the dots between many of HABs’ potential causes and effects.