Cambridge Science Festival Blog

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

CSF 2012 Events and Schedule

Things are really heating up here in the CSF office. Today, we've started putting up some CSF events onto the schedule! These will update as we go with more events and changes!

Here's what we have -

Soon, we will also have an index of all Festival programs for 2012!

Woot.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Happy New Year, everyone! We at the Festival office have hit the ground running this year. Events should be going up onto the website starting in a few days (hopefully!). CSF 2012 is really shaping up to be a great 10 days - Science Circus, CSF Star Party, Science of Baseball, of course our brain marathon Big Ideas for Busy People, and so much more!

We love to collaborate with new friends, so shoot more ideas and events our way! (but soon please!)

Okay, here are some interesting links. Some old, some new, some tried, some true...

Parallel between spider silks and melody

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2en7WM/http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/silk-music-proteins-1208.html

“Nine Stubborn Brain Myths that Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science”

I have to admit, I thought a couple of these were true…

http://lifehacker.com/5867049/nine-stubborn-brain-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-science

Curing cancer in high school... Yea, I'm feeling pretty incompetent right now.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP27e6b4fd88bf44e49660ba127407d5f4.html

Righty or lefty? Check out how it shapes your moral space.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-hand-you-favor-shapes-moral-space

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

FAQs about the Call for Entries

In this tumultuous time of finals, crazed shoppers, end-of-the-year frenzy, schizophrenic weather, and, of course, the Call for Entries for Cambridge Science Festival 2012, we at the Festival office get a lot of questions, some of which I will answer en masse here today.

Q: I am John Doe and have a great idea for a CSF event, but am not affiliated with a University, company, etc. Can I still put in an event entry?
A: Absolutely! We love to see all the different ideas out there for the Festival. Keep in mind - whether or not your entry will be chosen depends on where your event lands on the awesomeometer.

Q: It is after December 6th, are you still taking Entries for CSF?
A: Yes! But pretty please, get them in as soon as possible! (For the sake of our sanity, we'll put our foot down for a hard stop in January.)

Q: I am part of XxxxxX Group and want to be part of the Festival, but don't know what to do!
A: Technically not a question, but we've still got an answer (or several):

Do a fun booth activity at the Science Carnival (past examples: liquid nitrogen ice cream, lego DNA, robotics demonstrations). Also, the Carnival this year is a Circus! Can you do something in the circus theme?
Create an engaging event highlighting science and technology (one such off-the-wall idea: a Science Crawl).
Many organizations are already doing cool events for the community, we'd love to highlight them at the Festival!
There's still time to be highlighted as a Cambridge Science Festival Sponsor for 2012! Check it out.
Contact us, and we can chat.

Q: I am ____@___.uk and have this great idea for the Festival...
A: ...Pretty sure you're looking for the Cambridge UK Science Festival... but we'd love to have you!

Q: Who are you, and what exactly do you do? [People are generally more polite than that though.]
A: Keep tuned in! We'll have Festival staff profiles going up on the blog into the New Year!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Link Salad, bon appetit

Tips to hack together a 3-course meal with a coffeemaker and much more… particularly enjoying the how to brew beer with a coffeemaker!

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/07/10-awesome-geeky-cooking-hacks/

Everyone is wrong about how people die when they fall into lava

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/the-right-and-wrong-way-to-die-when-you-fall-into-lava/

Mother and child’s hearts beat together…

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/12/scienceshot-human-hearts-beat-to.html?rss=1

Teeth are evolved fish scales?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/teeth-from-the-outside-in/

This Whale Song project invites citizen scientists to help marine researchers understand what whales are saying.

http://whale.fm/

An interesting exercise:

How to picture the size of the universe

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/universe-size/?pid=2574&viewall=true

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Links of the Week

Miscellanea of cool science linkage:

The uncertainty of memory, Courts are catching on...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/health/the-certainty-of-memory-has-its-day-in-court.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Gender-typed science learning kits and why they won't help further Science

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/11/29/how-not-to-market-science-to-girls/

…and the speedy response to the blog

http://blog.scientificsonline.com/2011/11/girlsboys-novelty-kits/

Explore interesting science in some of this year’s best science books!

http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2011/11/best_science_books_2011_boing.php

Gene identified for needing less sleep. Now when will we get to modify that gene?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Lifestyle/Wellness/Why-even-4-hours-of-sleep-is-enough/Article1-774229.aspx#.TtU6VhUTu0o.facebook

Flexible robots!

http://bostinno.com/2011/11/29/funded-by-the-pentagon-researchers-from-harvard-build-a-robot-with-the-flexibility-of-gumby-video/

Ravens point using beak and wings!

http://www.livescience.com/17213-ravens-gestures-animal-communication.html

edit:
Not a recent blog post, but the first time I've run across it - some interesting claims!
"Botox may diminish the experience of emotions"
http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2010/04/botox_may_diminish_the_experience_of_emotions.php

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Call For Entries Deadline

Hey folks!

Do you have your event or Carnival booth entry into the us on our online form? Our deadline is nearly on top of us: Tuesday, December 6th!

Now's your chance! Submit a proposal to run a program or host an event to be included in the Cambridge Science Festival -- which will run April 20 through April 29, 2012. Programs may include lectures, performances, activities, exhibits, tours, debates, workshops, or creative new ideas we've never imagined.

We're looking for ideas that celebrate science, technology, engineering and math in ways that combine spirit, interactivity and audience appeal.

Don't worry! If you still want to participate, let us know ASAP! Contact us, and we can help you work through details.

Other ways to get involved:

Sponsor

Help support the Festival!

Adult

Volunteer with us before, during or after the Festival!

Donate now!

Contact sungmi@mit.edu to:

- Blog for the Festival!

- Take science to the streets with experiments & demonstrations

K-12

- Become a Teen Intern

- Dare to take the Curiosity Challenge! (Deadline: February 10)
- Create a team to tackle the IDEAS Challenge! (Team registration by: December 9)

Monday, October 17, 2011

CSF Teen Interns!

Come one, come all! The Cambridge Science Festival needs your help and we have 10 teen intern positions open for 2011-2012!

Check out descriptions and applications here!