Swing Into Summer at the Museum New Exhibits, Giant-Screen Films, and More Make for a Sensational Season!
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JUNE – JULY 2017 Sparks!A Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Museum of Science Inside This Issue • One-Stop Family Fun • Planetarium Shines at Night • Taking STEM to the Street Cover Photos © TMP Images Swing into Summer at the Museum New exhibits, giant-screen films, and more make for a sensational season! eed help filling your summer calendar? The Museum is your FREEDOM go-to resource for awe-inspiring attractions for children and CHAIR adults alike. Intriguing exhibits (including seasonal favorite N ® POPnology), immersive IMAX and 4-D films, a new evening series in the Planetarium, thought-provoking live presentations, and more ensure you’ll keep the learning and fun going long after school’s out! See It Before It Happens Behind the Scenes: Help us test new exhibits!, a new permanent exhibit next to the Theater of Electricity, gives you a sneak peek into the Museum’s future. Just as the name implies, you get a firsthand look at what goes into producing an exhibit— from the birth of an idea to the finishing touches before it’s ready for prime time. And you can participate in the process by experimenting with the newest ideas before they reach their final form. Swing in front of a screen featuring a 3-D space scene designed to make you feel like you’re moving outside this world in “Starfield Swing.” Then share your thoughts on the experience to make it even better! Check back regularly—the space changes frequently as the Museum’s expert exhibit creators are always working on new projects. Continued on next page Continued from cover Celebrate Local Innovation The Museum’s Boston and Cambridge locale has always been an important asset for an institution dedicated to science, with many prominent medical, educational, and scientific institutions nearby. In fact, the Bloomberg Index determined last year that Massachusetts was the most innovative state in the nation! The Museum celebrates these innovations and the people behind them with our newest permanent exhibit, Wicked Smart: Invented in the Hub, debuting in June in the Blue Wing. KARL SIMS INTERACTIVE Photo © TMP Images Enjoy a multi-person interactive powered by an image processing language created by Cambridge-based digital media artist and computer graphics research scientist Karl Sims. Use your body to interact with a variety of special effects created via Sims’s language and watch and listen as the simulation responds to your movements. Plus, see Harvard’s impressive flying robots (“RoboBees”) and learn about portable health- care with the Daktari CD4 System cell counter from Cambridge-based Daktari Diagnostics. In addition, test the latest in POPNOLOGY EXHIBIT ROBOBEE wheelchair technology with the “Freedom Chair,” an all-terrain wheelchair created by GRIT—a social enterprise startup created by a group of mechanical engineering students from MIT. Other exhibit highlights: 3-D printed glass sculptures from the MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter group and the “Cheetah II” robot, also from MIT. Are You a POPnologist? Find Out! While these exhibits will be part of the Museum landscape for the foreseeable future, POPnology (on exhibit through September 4) won’t be! Don’t miss this unique exhibition that highlights the connection between pop culture and technology AMAZON ADVENTURE OMNI FILM Malyszko Photo © Michael and shows how movies, books, television, and other art forms continue to inspire technological advancements. See the iconic DeLorean from Back to the Future Part III, enjoy a photo op with the title character from the Alien films, and more! Traveling out of state this summer? Out More to Explore of the country? With your membership, you can enjoy all the offerings already mentioned Be sure to bring plus everything in the Exhibit Halls for free. Take in more than 700 interactive your Museum of exhibits (the Hall of Human Life is just one) and attend a live presentation (Live Animal, for example). And for just $5 each, take a break in the Mugar Omni Science membership Theater and watch one or all of these large-format films on the IMAX® Dome card with you! It can screen—Journey to Space, Amazon Adventure, or Extreme Weather. Plus, enter be used to get free the 4-D Theater for film experiences that capture all of your senses! (Check or reduced admission mos.org for showtimes.) to more than 400 As you can see, there’s plenty to keep you intrigued and entertained at the Museum science centers and zoos this summer, with something for all ages and interests. Come visit today! worldwide. For more details: mos.org/reciprocity RoboBee image courtesy of Harvard University. Planetarium Gets Its Nighttime Groove Summer evenings are now filled with live music, comedy, trivia, sci-fi movie magic, and more! The Charles Hayden Planetarium has long been a desirable destination for daytime educational experiences with visitor favorites such as Magic Tree House: Space Mission, Moons: Worlds of Mystery, and Wonders of the Night Sky. But more recently the venue has also become the spot for dazzling after-hours options for adults. It’s truer than ever this summer with exceptional events happening every single week! Thursday Thrills Admission _______ Place ________________ Spanning June through August, something special is on the menu every Date ____________ Time ________________ © Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. Thursday evening. Take a trip down nostalgia lane the first Thursday of each month for a sci-fi movie night. Test your knowledge against friends and others on the second Thursday with trivia hosted by The Big Quiz Thing. On the third Thursday, enjoy live music by Boston favorites Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, SUBSPACE PROJECT Hallelujah the Hills, and more, while the fourth Thursday is all about comedy with ImprovBoston. Whether you attend one or all, you’ll have a great time while surrounded by the inventive, captivating visuals created by the Planetarium team. With a fifth Thursday in June and August, the Museum has something especially enticing—sci-fi movie marathons! The first two Back to the Future films will be screened on June 29, and you can see films from the Alien franchise August 31. (Items from both films are featured in our temporary POPnology exhibition.) SubSpace Is Back! SubSpace Project, the Museum’s experimental playground for developing WALTER SICKERT & THE ARMY OF BROKEN TOYS fresh, original, and social experiences for adults, has been impressing audiences for more than a year with its featured programming that combines popular music and stunning visuals for an unforgettable experience in the unique Planetarium environment. Don’t miss this summer’s lineup of new shows! Enjoy the scintillating sounds of Coldplay (Wednesday, June 7), Rihanna (Wednesday, July 19), and Justin Timberlake (Wednesday, August 16). While you may be familiar with their music, you’ll appreciate it in an imaginative new way! So when you’re making your summer plans, be sure to circle Thursdays THE BIG QUIZ THING and select Wednesdays to check out the Charles Hayden Planetarium—and experience it in a whole new light…at night! Recommended for ages 18 and up. Separate ticket required. See calendar and visit mos.org/events for more information and to purchase tickets. Nightlife in the Planetarium Select Wednesdays and every Thursday Science at Home Think like an engineer and build your 1. Cut the toothbrush head own personal robot! with pliers or the wire cutter, cutting the handle When you visit the Museum’s newest traveling exhibition, close to the bristles. POPnology, you’ll meet some riveting robots like R2-D2 of Stars Wars fame. But your robot interaction doesn’t have to 2. Test the battery and motor end when you go home. Keep it going with your own homemade by stripping the end of robot—a bristle bot to be precise! the pager motor’s wires 1 so about half an inch of metal wire shows. Attach one wire to the top of the battery and the other wire to the bottom. (The motor should spin with some intensity.) 3. After a successful test, 2 fasten the motor firmly to the top of the toothbrush head. Use double-sided tape or foam tape to set in place (a rubber band can BUILD A BRISTLE BOT do the trick too). Materials Needed: • 1 pager motor (1 to 3 volts) with 2 wires (if you don’t have 4. Tape one of the motor’s one, you can remove it from any electronic device that wires to one side of the buzzes or vibrates or buy one for a few dollars) 3 battery. Then fasten the • 1 button cell battery (1 to 3 volts) battery firmly to the top of • 1 toothbrush with angled bristles the toothbrush so the wire • Pliers or wire cutter is on the bottom. Connect • Double-sided tape or foam tape the second wire so it stays • Any extras you want for decoration! in contact with the top of the battery. 4 PLACE YOUR BRISTLE BOT ON A SOLID SURFACE AND WATCH IT MOVE! If you want to give your cyber creation some extra character, decorate it! Attach eyeball stickers or something even more creative. And for extra fun, place some items in your bristle bot’s path and watch it knock them over. That’s one tough bristle bot! This project is adapted from one created by PBS Kids! Photos courtesy of pbskids.org. Bringing Science to the Neighborhood The Museum’s Street Team continues to break down barriers. A day at the Museum of Science offers an unmatched “You don’t have to have a lot of money or a lot of fancy experience of engaging, interactive learning that introduces materials to have fun with STEM.