In her first year of full-time employment with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Leah McCluskey taught youth how to make miniature lava lamps. She led the students through an experiment that combines sodium alginate, a compound derived from seaweed, and calcium chloride inside a test tube to form the familiar funky bubbles. The experiment gave her a chance to talk to students about seaweed aquaculture in Maine, sharing why it is important to the state economy and in what ways extractions from the plant can be used. read more New UMaine program works with Extension to enhance blue economy through education, outreach and tuition assistance