Science is no game… or is it?

Kellian Adams from Green Door Labs shares three games that contribute to scientific research.

I admit it: I was not a science nerd when I was a kid. I was an artsy nerd and in fact, I was a little scared of Math and Science. But we live in a different world now where science is accessible to artsy kids in ways that I never imagined.

Now, as a game designer, art and science collide in my world every day and I’m amazed by how scientific research actually makes for GREAT (and beautiful) games. The exciting thing about science games is that they can be used to gather and interpret real data for scientific research so there’s this sense of playing with a purpose. There have been new supernovas named, new proteins discovered and new epidemiological patterns uncovered all thanks to people’s hard work through gameplay.

So as you check out the games below have fun playing but also consider your serious work as a true, contributing, game-playing scientist. Who knows, you may discover something groundbreaking!

Help cure cancer, AIDS and Alzheimers with FOLD IT: http://fold.it

Foldit is “collecting data to find out if humans' pattern-recognition and puzzle-solving abilities make them more efficient than existing computer programs at pattern-folding tasks.” The project suspects that humans playing games may in fact be more efficient than computers in some cases. (We shall see…)

In the game, players solve real-world puzzles by taking large strands of proteins and folding  them into the most compact possible configuration so that they can be recognized and categorized. Each move affects the protein molecules in the strand in a different way, making it something like a game of “molecular chess”.

Playing Foldit, people have discovered the structure of a protein belonging to the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV), a close relative of HIV that causes AIDS in monkeys.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/09/18/computer-gamers-solve-problem-in-aids-research-that-puzzled-scientists-for-years/#.UL5BvINZXSg

http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Zoran-Popovic-Massive-multiplay

Map the human brain with EYEWIRE: eyewire.org

If an electron microscope took a picture of only 1 mm of a human brain, tracing the neural connections there “would take one person working around the clock 100,000 years. Aided by a computer, it would require 1,000 years of work” says physicist Sebastian Sung, inventor of Eyewire.

But what if hundreds of thousands of people all pitched in? Under Sung’s lead MIT’s neuroscience department has built Eyewire, a game that presents people with black-and-white neural images and lets them color and correct the computer’s image. The results may help scientists at MIT and the Max Planck Institute of Science understand how neurons affect diseases like schitzophrenia and epilepsy. Eyewire uses points, progress bars and checks on your neural mapping to make the game simple and pretty addictive.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/07/15/mit-scientists-crowdsource-effort-map-connections-brain/v1CEwhwl90GDjKzL6oTC4L/story.html

http://gamelab.mit.edu/symposium/schedule2012/closing-keynote-from-sebastian-seung/

Identify species and map migration patterns with Project Noah. http://www.projectnoah.org

This game is especially cool because it’s mobile and involves going outdoors and looking for plants and animals.

Download the Project Noah app to capture photos of plants and animals and tag them according to your location. Identify what other people have seen and talk with other users about whether or not you think the categorization is correct.

Missions include tracking global urban biodiversity, counting and identifying species in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the “Great Pollinator Project of NYC”. Project Noah’s research has been used by National Geographic and the National Park Service.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/project.cfm?id=project-noah

http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/project-noah/

Looking for more ways to play your research? Check out https://www.zooniverse.org, which has a number of games for research on everything from space exploration to whale song translation. For more citizen science games to play on your mobile phone, try here:  

http://www.openscientist.org/p/citizen-science-for-your-phone.html

*Green Door Labs  is a Cambridge-based game company that helps educators make learning more engaging. You can learn more and see what they’re playing at www.greendoorlabs.com or follow them at @greendoorlabs

What is a Germ?

A guest post by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology‘s public outreach coordinator, Geoff Hunt:  

Germs are everywhere. In the bathroom. On the subway. All over the kitchen. But what exactly is a germ? How does it make you sick? Is it alive? What does it look like?  

Comb through the scientific literature, and you will find thousands of papers that can answer these questions. But those different answers are confusing to the general public.  

That’s why ASBMB, in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Festival, is sponsoring the “What is a Germ?” challenge.  We’re looking for the most creative, insightful entries that can answer the simple question: What is a germ?  

Here’s a chance for scientists to take their technical knowledge and boil it down to a simple, straightforward explanation, free of jargon, complications and caveats. Scientists can use any format for their responses but should be aware that they will have to impress a panel of tough judges — elementary and middle school students chosen from the Boston area.  

Submit your entry today to germchallenge2013@gmail.com! For more information, go to www.asbmb.org/germ. Finalists will get to present their entries during the Cambridge Science Festival’s “Curiosity Challenge” Awards on Sunday, April 21.


Originally posted on Wild Types: A blog for ASBMB Today by Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay

From Spark to Hologram: A Timeline of Theater Technology

post by: Daniel Jones

A figure emerges on the stage. It’s a man dressed in dark clothing. He disappears through a wall. He was never real; he was a hologram.

Such is the magic that we’ve come to accept as part of the modern theatrical experience. Imaginative designing and directing team Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon have infused their company—aptly titled Lemieux Pilon 4D Art—with this sense of wonder and technological engagement, and they bring it from Montreal to the Boston stage with the ArtsEmerson presentation of La Belle et la Bête.

La Belle et la Bete is playing at ArtsEmerson Dec 5-9

Cutler Majestic Theatre

219 Tremont Street, Boston

For tickets or more information visit artsemerson.org or call 617.824.8400.

The Beast from La Belle et la Bete interacts with one of the many complex holograms from Lemieux Pilon 4D Art.

But the optical illusions so masterfully crafted by Lemieux and Pilon would not be possible without a long history of technology in the theatre. We’ve come a long way from the ancient origins of theatre: performed in daylight with three-sided set pieces turned to change location. Yet some things aren’t quite so new; the Romans made good use of trap doors, moving platforms and changing scenery in their theatres, and the Greeks were infamous for making gods fly in baskets or chariots suspended above the stage.

Whereas the modern effects of defying gravity have advanced, the principles are the same as they were centuries ago. The main difference? Electricity. One spark changed everything. And now, the effects are inescapable. With the internet, Skype and live chat running rampant, it’s easy to forget how we got here. Take a look back at how far we’ve come (or what has barely changed) from the Renaissance till now:

Link Salad: Fall edition

Happy Fall, everyone!  An assortment of news and links for your perusal on this fine autumn day.

Taken from: http://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience Warning: Language

Did you know that it's National Chemistry Week?

This year's theme is Nanotechnology, which can be used to create a new method for water desalination or to make the world's smallest snowman - both very worthy pursuits IMHO.

Not new news, but a fun exercise all the same to understand that the human eye has a blind spot.

Relatively new news, that we (using the very broad definition of "we") have found the first planet known to have 4 suns.  Yes, four.  Even after reading the article, I don't even have a clear picture in my head of how that works.

On the festival front, some very exciting events are coming together for April.  Know of organizations that should be involved?  Leave us a note! 

For Science on the Street, we're headed out again this weekend for a couple very exciting events - Thinkfest at Merrimack College (click link to register!) and a STEM Expo for the Girl Scouts!

And lastly, in honor of Mole Day (10/^23)! Check out xkcd's What If: http://what-if.xkcd.com/4/

Taking a poll

So, one signature event we're putting together for the festival next year is a "Science Crawl" through Kendall Square.

To give you some background - at last year's Bay Area Science Festival there was a Science Crawl through the Mission in San Francisco on a Friday night.

It was pretty awesome. (Click to embiggen)

So, the short of it is that we want to make our very own Science Crawl with tons of fun for an adult audience.  What we'd like to know is - do you like this idea?  And - would you come?  Please fill out the poll on the right side of the page letting us know if "yes" you would come, "no" it's not for you, or "maybe, if..." and please let us know in the comments what would draw you out to the Crawl.  (Please only take the poll if it is possible for you to attend the Science Crawl.)

Thanks!!

We want your events... festival style.

Hey there.  It's that time of year again!

We're trying to put out our Call for Entries as far and wide as possible!  Please help us.  Want to be involved in the festival?  Shoot us a note on our website or submit your event proposal.  Know someone who should be involved this year?  Send this along to them.

We're looking for everything from lectures, workshops, exhibits, performances, tours, and debates to ideas we've never imagined.  We're also doing something new this year!  Each day of the festival has a different overarching theme.  Not to say that ideas or events that don't fit in a day's theme won't be considered, but it will allow us to have signature events for each theme on a day of the festival.

Our Themes:
April 12 - Big Ideas for Busy People
April 13 - Science Carnival
April 14 - Arts and Sciences
April 15 - No theme yet - Ideas anyone?
April 16 - Science Communications
April 17 - Science of Sports
April 18 - Technology & Innovation
April 19 - No theme yet, so talk us into something cool!
April 20 - Space & Rockets
April 21 - Earth Day and Conservation

(Also, as a disclaimer, we're still very much in the formative stage of festival planning, which means that all of this is subject to change.  Look, I used the small font and everything.)


Another new item about the 2013 festival is that it will be the first festival that falls on April public school vacation week.  This moves the festival over a week up in the calendar year, which brings up our deadlines to know about your event!  Our deadline for proposals is Friday, December 7th.  If you would like festival help in developing your event, connecting you to venues or other players, please contact us as soon as possible!  To cut down on levels of stress and slippage into insanity in the festival office, events that do not have all details down (e.g. date, time, location, event description, image) by January 2nd will not be included in the print program, but will be considered for the official online schedule after that point. 

Help us out, folks, and get your ideas in soon.  Now's the time to have fun with crazy new ideas and form partnerships around larger events.  Let us know particularly if you'd like to be involved in a large Science of Sports event in Boston, a Space & Rocket Day event, or a Science Crawl through Kendall Square!

Submit your proposal today!

Want to see last year's print program?  Check it out here.

We've also put together a couple checklists to give you an idea of what a festival event entails!
Download the CSF Event Checklist >>
Download the CSF Carnival Booth Checklist >>

Science on the Street... so far

Hey folks!  It's been a long time since our last update on festival happenings, so I figured I'd give you all an overview of our busy busy summer!

As many of you may have read in previous posts, we have started a new initiative here at the Cambridge Science Festival called Science on the Street.

Through Science on the Street, we have had a chance to take some of the best elements of the science festival out into communities across the state throughout the rest of the year (when we're not holding a humongous science festival in the Cambridge-Boston area).  So far this year we've been to a Science Day for a pediatric AIDS camp, a Caribbean festival, an arts festival, a Boston Public School Orientation for rising 6th graders, a Red Sox game, and more.  It's been crazy busy, a ton of fun, and a great learning experience for the whole festival team.

Some evidence of our various activities...

Why Are Clouds White?

Gianna, Age 6, asked:

Gianna's entry was entitled "A Day in the Sun"

Great question, Gianna! To answer it, we have to first talk about waves, like the kind you see in the ocean. Ocean waves look sort of like this: 

Curiosity Challenge: Questions & Answers

Many of you already know about our Curiosity Challenge for students ages 5-14.  For those who don't know, it's a call out to 5-to-14-year-olds to tell or show us what they are curious about.

We get all sorts of cool entries.  Like this one:

What color is lightning? - Noor Hassan, age 7

Or this one:

When people have different emotions, how does it affect their face? - Omar Mohamed, Age 9

This year we had a record number of entries - over 2000 from students all over Massachusetts.  We get questions that showcase incredible creativity, that prompt us to think about our own curious questions, that make us want to immediately look up answers, and some of the best that challenge our perceptions of the day-to-day.  We've wanted to post up some of these questions online and post alongside some answers as well.

A few months back, a lovely MIT student walked into the Cambridge Science Festival office and offered to do just that.  Anna and a group of undergraduates from French House at MIT, the University of Illinois, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory summer student program have come together and will post up answers here on the blog.  The answerers come from a wide variety of science backgrounds including (but not limited to!) astronomy, physics, computer science, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, chemistry, math, and biology. They will start posting questions and answers within the next few days, so stay tuned!

Science on the Street (SciStreet)

We're breathing easier here at the Cambridge Science Festival office.  But we're about to take a deep breath to dive into Science on the Street. 

What is SciStreet, you ask?  Well, it's our new initiative to reach more people - especially folks who wouldn't normally glance twice at a Science Festival event - in places where they are not expecting us.  We want to take the fun (and sometimes quirky) science activities, wows, demonstrations, and more into other community and cultural festivals.  We dipped our toes into the water for this effort last year at various community events (which were awesome - see below). 

These girls had just made some paper helicopters at Cambridge Carnival 2011.

 

And now we've got a full calendar ahead for this summer and fall. 

National Astronomy Day Celebration at The Clay Center Observatory.

Was a cloudy night :\ but still managed to see the moon's craters up close :)

Please find the entire bunch of event pics I clicked here

The Clay Center Observatory website: http://www.dexter-southfield.org/podium/default.aspx?t=118941

Science Trivia Challenge!

Prof. Walter Lewin at MIT, renowned for his free online lectures on Physics [I love his lectures! my version of super-star you see :) ;)], moderated for the third time, the science quiz, 'Science Trivia Challenge', a splendid success in IMHO, today at the Broad Institute of MIT. There were two categories, one for high school kids and the other, open to public. Well, even though it was open to pubic, most participants turned out to be bachelor students and only a few quite elderly [one team which made it to the top had all biggies ;)]. Most of the questions were multiple choice or required a short-answer. Each team had 30-60 seconds to come up with their answer.

I had no team or any plan to participate for I am a photographer, blogger.. but, when I was there, I did find that I missed out on something. The teams that made it to the top had won the opportunity to dine with one of the Nobel Laureates at MIT! :O Man, I did miss something. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun. I was everywhere, clicking, cheering, helping out, engaging with the audience.. The event reminded me of my middle-and-high-school-quizzing-spree.. those are fond memories. Yep, the event turned out to be a lot of fun.. never a dull moment! :) :D

Few of catchy team names: >U, The Golden Ratios, Everyone is Above Average, Baklava, Schrodinger's Cool Cats.

Questions ranged across many topics from knowing common names of insects, the commonly occurring compounds in food, the distances of objects out in the night sky, scientists and their contributions, stories surrounding major inventions/discoveries.. and many more.
Often the questions begin, "What causes X in ..?", "Why is A like ..?"
A firm grasp of basic concepts in Science and being able to rapidly manipulate physical quantities are a team's necessary ingredients in making it to the top.

Thanks to the industrious volunteers for making the event happen!
Sincere thanks to the sponsor, Mathworks, for making the event a memorable one!
Further, I would like to thank the people who contributed and edited the questions, for their tremendous effort involved in the same.

Please find the entire bunch of event pics I clicked here

Event website: http://web.mit.edu/trivia/index.htm

Urban Astronomy: Bringing the Stars to the Street

A night of celebration of the heavens! :)

[(8:00pm - 11:00pm; Friday, April 20, 2012); Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Deguglielmo Plaza, Harvard Square in front of 5 Brattle Street]

I managed to get a glimpse of Venus [appeared a bright crescent], Mars [a bright spot with a reddish fringe], Saturn [with a ring, I shrieked; unable to hide my excitement], The Mizar quadruple star system [actually did not get lucky, saw the brighter binary system; one bright, other dim] and a satellite that zipped through the field-of-view.. Wow! with all the abundant city lights, we still managed to see these celestial objects!

It was fun to interact with the curious attendees, knowledgeable members who set up the telescopes by the sidewalk, sharing insights into the precise construction of the telescopes and the various flavors of telescopes.

My sincere thanks to enthusiastic organizers of the event.

Please find the entire bunch of event pics I clicked here

Event website: www.bostonastronomy.net

Big Ideas for VERY Busy People

One of the great things about living in Cambridge is being surrounded by such brilliant minds.  What with numerous colleges and universities in the area, Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College to name a few, we're bursting with new ideas!

We got a glimpse into 9 novel ideas at the Big IDEAS for Busy People event Friday night, where speakers only have FIVE minutes to describe their big idea, followed by another 5 minutes to answer questions from the audience.  The talks were very diverse, ranging from biomedical and electrical engineering, atmospheric science, physics, psychology, even literature!  There was a huge turnout, and although I showed up half an hour early, I was barely able to find a seat.  Just goes to show how this city drinks in science and new ideas.  I've summarized only a few of the great talks below.

Science and Magic

You're sitting in an auditorium.  A man emerges from the side of the stage in a black tuxedo and a top hat.  He introduces himself as the Great Gregory!  He takes off his hat and shows the audience that it is empty. But wait!  He reaches in and pulls a rabbit out of the hat!

OK maybe that was too basic of an example; but what are you thinking of when watching a magic trick?  Are you actively trying to figure out how the magician is accomplishing this feat?  Or are you just in awe and really want  this illusion to be real?  

The magician is skilled in altering reality, they understand how our senses construct the world around us.  Scientists also question reality in an effort to understand nature, and are in many ways magicians themselves!  The Science of Illusion was explored by a panel of scientists and artists at the MIT Museum on Wednesday.  What was especially intriguing about this event was the intersection of science, art, and magic.

Big Ideas for Busy People TONIGHT

Big Ideas for Busy People is happening tonight! More details about the event here. In the meantime, check out some "lightening lectures" in the video below created by YouTube user PhysicsWoman.

Experimenting with Art and Science

If you’re like me, you grew up thinking that artists and scientists inhabit non-overlapping worlds or perhaps even that they use different sides of their brain. Fortunately, great science communicators have stepped up to dispel this myth, coming up with creative new methods of bringing out the art in science. New projects like WNYC’s Radiolab or Studio 360 routinely weave potent storytelling, sound design, and music to frame the science story and stimulate their audiences’ imagination. During my Cambridge Science Festival wanderings, I’ve observed the same trends on display. The Story Collider is a science storytelling show that believes everyone has a personal science story to tell. On Tuesday night the founders of The Story Collider, Brian Wecht and Ben Lillie, hosted a storytelling event at the MIT Museum showcasing inspired science stories that had the packed museum in stitches for much of the night.

What's Your Question?

Over the weekend I attended the thought-provoking symposium Rivers of Ice: What's Your Question, co-sponsored by GlacierWorks. Following the symposium was a reception at MIT's absolutely spectacular Rivers of Ice exhibition, featuring images from GlacierWorks founder David Breashears. A fully packed auditorium tuned in to hear five experts from diverse backgrounds speak on melting glaciers in the Himalaya and the impacts of climate change. Framing the speakers were beautiful works of art by local high school students that inspire questions surrounding water supply, rising temperatures, agriculture and politics.

Adventure photographer and film-maker David Breashears introduced a short film that followed his exploits on a recent climb. We were taken on a journey of breathtaking beauty that showed first-hand the effects of climate change in this remote region and on its people. The photos that followed included some of the earliest photos of glaciers captured juxtaposed with a current photo taken from the exact same spot!  While most glaciers are losing mass at an increased rate, a few are actually gaining mass.  Albeit only a few inches a year, but this underscores the complex mechanisms at play in the region.

Adventure photographer David Breashears introduces the audience to the changes he has witnessed firsthand
from his decades of climbing the mountains of the high Himalaya.

Same goes for all the impacts of climate change. Take for example, global temperature increase. While one year may be cooler than others, and some regions may experience cooler temperatures than usual, that does not take away from the global long-term trend that average temperatures are increasing. Conversely, a warm spell such as our recent non-winter also does not mean that it is getting worse. The real answer is, it's complicated.

Solving the challenge of climate change is also no short order, all panelists agree.  But it is not impossible.  Susan Solomon, atmospheric chemistry professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT stated that the number one problem we must solve is that of energy consumption.  How do we come off our polluting, high carbon energy diet?  How do we provide clean energy to the billions of people in the developing world who are striving to live just like us?

Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society, remarked that if the United States (2nd highest emitter of carbon dioxide) and China (1st highest emitter of carbon dioxide) do not come to a binding, strict agreement to substantially lower their emissions, it will not matter what the rest of the world's countries do.  Personally, I'm a big believer of every little bit helps.  Otherwise, it's much too easy to sit back and let someone else figure it out without taking any responsibility. After all, climate change is a global problem.

But the best question was raised by one of the high school students, simply put, how do we motivate people, (and more importantly, politicians) to reduce their consumption of energy in order to avert the most serious consequences of climate change when they are unlikely to be affected by said consequences anytime soon?  I do not know the answer, but it fills me with confidence to see intelligent, engaged youth posing these questions. Keep questioning, and the answers are bound to come.

One of the many beautiful quotes part of the Rivers of Ice exhibition at the MIT museum.

If you were unable to attend the What's Your Question event, make sure to check out Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya on at the MIT museum on now until March 2013. See for yourself the striking images of receding glaciers and the impact that this vanishing supply of water will mean for millions of people downstream.

Kick off to CSF!

What an amazing start to the Cambridge Science Festival!  This is the place that really has something for everyone.  And what better way to start off the festivities than at the Science Carnival!
Every table had a pile of bright-eyed youngsters eagerly learning about robots, cells, and chemical reactions, among the many many other science topics.  And let's not forget about the liquid nitrogen ice cream!  But I must say the kicker for me was the Science of Circus performances with the amazing athletes from Simply Circus.  Can I please run away and join the circus now?

Pre-register for Festival Events!

Hope you've enjoyed this taste of summer today!  

We're now a mere 3 days away now from the kickoff to the Cambridge Science Festival.  I want to remind everyone to please take a look and pre-register for the events you'd like to attend over the next couple weeks!

Here is my current list of the CSF events you need to pre-register for:

For students and teachers:
Scratch Workshop for Educators | Pre-register - waitlist only
6th Grade Solar Adventure | Pre-register
Center for Ultracold Atoms Kids Day | Pre-register
Central Squared (C2) Challenge | Pre-register
Taleblazer Location-Based Augmented Reality Game | Registration closed - FILLED
Vertex Community Lab | Pre-register

For graduate students/early career:
Standing Up for Science Media Workshop
Careers in Science: Speed Networking Event | Pre-register
Career Invigoration: Best Practices for Writing a Resume
Career Invigoration: Interviewing for Your Next Technical Job
6th Annual Vertex Networking and Industry Session
Mentor-Mentee Partnerships: How seasoned and early career researchers work together to ensure the continuity of science | Pre-register

For EVERYONE:
Science of Eating Local | Pre-register - waitlist only
Rivers of Ice: What's Your Question? | Pre-register
Trebuchet Design Challenge | Pre-register
Multiple Sclerosis: Moving Towards a Cure | Pre-register
Draper Prize Lecture 2012 | Pre-register
Akamai Open House | Pre-register
Fishing for Sustainability in New England | Pre-register for Panels | Pre-register for MOS Forum
Syrup, Seeds, and Bees: Exploring Links in Maple Ecology | Pre-register
Growing Science: How out-of-school time programs can help change the face of the STEM workforce | Pre-register
Group Intelligence | Pre-register
Swissnex Boston Science Café feat. The Giant Cell & HMS Prof. David Sinclair  | Pre-register
Boston Mega Awesome Fellowship Event | Pre-register
Biology Flash Mob | Pre-register

For all MIT Museum pre-registration
go to: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/festival.html#reg
This includes pre-registration for:
Workshop: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Slide Rules
Workshop: Math and Origami (but mostly origami)
Workshop: Knots for Novices
Science of Illusion
Science for Sinners
Workshops: Splash @ CSF
Workshops: Do It Yourself Game Design
Workshop: Paper-Based Electronic Art

Adult events in #cambscifest

These are events for big kids - like you and me.  I know it's long - don't get overwhelmed, just take it in piece by piece.

T minus one week, folks.  See you all there.

P.S. Want to help out?  We still need volunteers bit.ly/csfvolunteer.

Adult Events...

Family Events in 2012 #cambscifest

Hi Folks!

Here's a breakdown of all great family friendly activities at the 2012 Cambridge Science Festival this year.  Hope you enjoy!

Friday, April 20, 2012
Of course, there is the annual Science Carnival - this year themed as the Science of Circus! From 12-4pm at the Cambridge Public Library.

Of Bots and Bugs

Janine Benyus will be a guest lecturer in Evolved to Fit: Biomimicry in the Built World

for MIT's Goldstein Lecture Series, April 5th at 6:30pm at MIT Room 10-250.

Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature, is President of the The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission is to naturalize biomimicry in the culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design. See Benyus's TED Talk here.

Interested in biomimicry? 

Come to the Science Carnival and check out MIT Lincoln Laboratory's booth featuring:  

Busy busy bees... we're 22 days away.

Hi, folks!  Sorry about the hiatus on the CSF countdown.  Things are really getting crazy with prep for the festival!

Check out our Event Index!  Want to get involved?  Volunteer with us by taking photos at events, spreading the word about the 2012 festival, continuing the CSF countdown here!

A few tidbits:

• Earth Hour is just around the corner
• One of our lovely Curiosity Challenge-tackling classes has a website of their entries.  Check it out!
• Everyone has a question about Climate Change.  What's Your #climatequestion? Submit it today.

If you haven't pre-registered for events yet - here is my current list of the CSF events you need to pre-register for:

Countdown Catch-up: Your Career

At the start of your career?  Looking for a change?  Not sure what’s out there for you?  The Festival’s got you covered. 

Check out these career search events!

Coolest Teacher, Solar Flares, Trebuchets, Oh My

So, one incredibly cool piece of local (teacher) news to share is about Boston Latin School's 8th grade teacher and adviser to BLS Youth CAN (Boston Latin School Youth Climate Action Network).  Not only is BLS Youth CAN participating in the Cambridge Science Festival's Ideas Challenge, they will also be producing a mural for David Breashear's Rivers of Ice symposium for the Festival on Saturday, April 21.  But this isn't about Youth CAN (in this post, anyway).  

Cate Arnold

  
         

This is about their teacher adviser, Cate Arnold, who is currently on a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica on Expedition 2041 as a “Coolest Teacher in The World".  What a crazy experience that must be!  Check out the daily blog posts by members of the expedition from all over the world.






Moving on to some space news that makes "local" take on a new meaning.  On Tuesday, the Sun's surface had some serious solar storms, throwing a wave of charged particles - a coronal mass ejection (CME) - just past Earth.  Quick geography lesson: the moon is about 400,000 km away from Earth.  The Apollo mission made it to the moon after 3 days in space.  The Sun is about 400 times further away from us than the moon.

Credit: NASA

So these charged particles are moving fast, far, and you have to wonder what the effects may be.  Now, it's been a few days and the response was mostly concern for satellites and potential for some great Northern Lights.  But the Sun is settling back into a very active period of it's 11-year-cycle, to peak in 2013.  Some exciting sights ahead for the whole Earth community!  Look out for the CSF Star Party on Saturday, April 28th to learn more about our neighborhood of the universe!

The festival won't be taking you into a solar storm or to the last wilderness continent on Earth, but we would like to engage you in some new experiences (or classic standbys)!  And, we are now 42 days away from the 2012 CSF! And our event of the day...