Saturday, November 21, 2009
11/21/2009 02PM-03PM | Ages: All Ages
These hour-long sessions give Adler guests an opportunity to meet astronomers, scientists, and historians in an informal atmosphere, ask questions, and explore visualizations in the SVL, Space Visualization Lab, with an expert guide.
Check http://www.adlerplanetarium.org for further scheduling information.
11/21/2009 11AM-12PM | Ages: 13 and up
Did you know that the Earth and Sun orbit the center of the Milky Way galaxy every 200 million years? While astronomers know quite a bit about what is going on near the Sun, for years they have been literally in the dark about this galactic center we orbit.
Now, because of newly developed telescopes, we can see right into the center of the galaxy! All sorts of amazing astrophysical phenomena is there â" huge dense gas clouds, exploding stars, and if that wasnât enough, thereâs the supermassive black hole right in the middle of it all.
Join Doug Roberts, Ph.D. of Adler Planetarium and learn more about this amazing galactic center than
Astronomers ever thought existed â" itâll knock your socks off!
11/21/2009 09AM-12PM | Ages: 9 and up
New instructors and new projects! Learn mechanical and architectural principles building with Lego blocks. Then test your projects. Instructors will demonstrate principles and help you to try new strategies based upon what you learn.
Instructors: Bob Shaw, Fermilab Education Office and Todd Ernst, Valley View School District 365U
Download a registration form from our website to mail or fax in.
11/21/2009-1/25/2000 09AM | Ages: All Ages
Watch a great white shark capture its prey, follow penguins glide beneath the ice, and take an ocean voyage with seals through Crittercam. Crittercam is a scientific video- and data-gathering tool safely worn by wild animals, offering researchers insights into animal behavior and clues to protecting animals and the world we share. The exhibition focuses on Crittercam's deployment on seals and sea lions, sharks, sea turtles, whales, penguins, bears and lions.
National Geographic Crittercam: The World Through Animal Eyes is organized and traveled by the National Geographic Museum, Washington, DC.
11/21/2009 09AM-04PM | Ages: All Ages
The âGreenest Home in Chicagoâ is back at the Museum of Science and Industry, redesigned and updated for 2009. The home - built by Michelle Kaufmann Designs and built by All-American Homes -- showcases the ways you can make eco-friendly living a part of your life, and highlights what the future may bring for consumers.
Smart Home offers guided tours of the 2,500 square-foot home and grounds. Discover the new interior, reinterpreted with the help of Chicago Home + Garden magazine and featuring bold colors, fresh green stories, and new products and furniture. New and unique home technologies are also on display, courtesy of WIRED magazine. Explore the updated landscaping, which offers techniques for urban gardening such as vertical gardens and EarthBox planting.
11/21/2009 12AM-12PM | Ages: All Ages
From September 2008 â" August 2009, citizens enjoyed unparalleled access to more than 1,200 dynamic in-person science experiences and countless ways to explore and share science on the web. Learn more and enjoy highlights of the Science Chicago year here: http://www.sciencechicago.com/finalreport/
11/21/2009 11AM-12PM | Ages: 13 and up
Right now, nuclei are splitting, carbon atoms are rejoining oxygen atoms, generators are turning, transformers are stepping voltages up and down, oil pumpjacks are nodding, refiners are processing, and cars are whirring on numerous highways. Our modern life depends on a bewildering number and variety of transformations of energy. These all act together transparently to provide our everyday conveniences and essentials, and are easy to take for granted. The energy transformations employ many key ideas of physics that have been developed in the last century and a half. Indeed, the emergence of almost every major area of physics went hand-in-hand with the invention of practical devices that define our modern life.
This 70th Compton Lecture Series sponsored by the University of Chicago Enrico Fermi Institute will break several of these technologies down to their essential phenomena, and put those phenomena in the context of the development of physics as a field.
Lecturere Eric Switzer, KICP Fellow/Postdoctoral Scholar in the Enrico Fermi Institute, will review some of the essential physics of energy technologies in an approximately chronological order, from outcomes of electrodynamics and thermodynamics to applications of more modern nuclear and condensed matter physics.
The lectures will take place every Saturday morning from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. beginning October 3, through December 12, 2009.(No lecture on November 28th).
