Mathematica (by IBMSocialMedia)
This is a mini-documentary about the Mathematica exhibit at the New York Hall of Science. The exhibit, which celebrates mathematicians and helps children appreciate math, was designed for IBM for the 1964 World’s Fair by the design team of Charles and Ray Eames. This video was made on the occasion of the release of an iPad app about the exhibit.
We’re super excited to announce that Puppet Parade will be at NYSCI April 8th - May 6th 2012. Here are some photos of us getting it setup and ready for the public. See a video of the project here.
1964 in NYSCI’s Great Hall, nearly 50 years ago…Frank Capra’s last movie, Rendezvous in Space is a 20 minute long quasi-documentary with Danny Thomas trying to explain what will happen in the Space Station that will eventually orbit the Earth (a question that still lingers with the International Space Station). At one point in the movie —which I have put on youtube, its a lousy print, but you can get the idea, —the footage cuts to the images that John Glenn took from his first Friendship 7 orbits of the Earth.
It is the first time most people every saw the Earth from outside the Earth. I remember it vaguely, but the rush of images, culminating in the image of the Earth from the moon and beyond, have diminished the shock. We are on one planet, not on separate continents. Political lines do not show up on the actual globe (I actually remember being kind of surprised, since the only globe I had at home was a political map). The ocean, the clouds, the atmosphere are vast and transnational.
For the new exhibition we are planning in NYSCI’s Great Hall, we are inspired by this sense of connectedness to consider the global systems that shape the future of the planet. Not just the natural systems, but the social, economic, transportation, and electronic networks that are deeply influential in peoples’ lives. The immediate impacts of these human global systems shape our lives more directly than the longer range impacts of changing natural systems.
Steve Uzzo, a network science PhD and polymath leading the Great Hall Project insists that climate change is a symptom of a world out of balance, and that making communities healthier and more sustainable (in a human sense…better education, health care, transportation, economic opportunity) is the best way to address climate change.
There is a wonderful set of TED talks by Hans Rosling that use clever visualization to show how data reveals transnational social change. Check it out. It is an image of a globally interconnected world that is more abstract than John Glenn’s orbital pictures of the earth, but equally compelling in showing how connected we are.
(Source: theworks-nysci)
Bjork fan @ NYSCI Wed night testing his strength on Internet Arm Wrestling in the Connections exhibit. Photo: Andrew Kelly
Here’s a new blog by the Chief Content person at NYSCI, Eric Siegel:
At the NY Hall of Science, there are a whole slew of things I am working toward on any given day. This blog will focus on five projects that are all pretty large scale, all interesting and challenging across several different dimensions, and all in about the same stage of development. I will also…
(Source: theworks-nysci)
New York Times: On Mars Rover, Tools to Plumb a Methane Mystery
No water yet but evidence of flowing water; probably salty.A great article to read while you check out @NYSCI’s Search for Life Beyond Earth exhibit. Via @iamweiss
Animals are a part of our daily lives. Whether you wake up to see your dog holding his leash in his mouth, hear birds chirping outside your window, or have a squirrel steal a bite of your food when you’re not looking, you share your space with animals. But do animals think, or are they governed only by instinct?
A new exhibition exploring this question is currently being developed by a team of experts headed by NYSCI’s science interpretation consultant, Martin Weiss. Dr. Weiss helped create the NYSCI traveling exhibitions Charlie and Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure and Molecules & Health … The Shape of Science. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the new animal cognition exhibition, titled Wild Minds – What Animals Really Think, will premiere at NYSCI and the Staten Island Zoo in October. It will then tour the country with stops planned in Oregon, California, Indiana and Ohio.
Creating Wild Minds has been a large undertaking, involving many people and institutions. The project’s development team includes Diana Reiss from Hunter College’s Department of Psychology, who is best known for her work on mirror self-recognition among dolphins and elephants; and John Fraser, a conservation psychologist and educator currently serving as Director of the Institute for Learning Innovation’s New York office. Partner institutions include the Staten Island Zoo, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Oregon Zoo, the California Science Center, Santa Barbara Zoo, Science Central, Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, COSI (Center of Science and Industry), and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Programming planned for Wild Minds will include NYSCI-style hands-on, do-it-yourself activities that you can try with animals in and around your home. What do you think your pet will think of that?
NYSCI’s famous Charlie and Kiwi touring exhibit, curated and researched by our very own Science Interpretation Consultant, Martin Weiss, is now a best selling book presented and illustrated by award winning Peter H. Reynolds, and available on Amazon and at the NYSCI store. Charlie and Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure opened at NYSCI in May 2009, and then began touring the United States in August 2009. Since then, it has received rave reviews, tackling the subject of evolution in a manner that appeals to kids of all ages.
Via Amazon:
Charlie and Kiwi: An Evolutionary Adventure
Is that a bird?
Where are its big, feathery wings?
Why does it have whiskers like a cat?
A kiwi can’t be a bird, can it?
The answer, Charlie learns is simply evolutionary.
Presented by Peter Reynolds and FableVision and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this is an easy to understand scientific adventure. Charlie and Kiwi (with help from great, great, great, great, great Grandpa Charles Darwin) take you on a journey through time and through a huge scientific principle. The story of evolution—and that strange little Kiwi bird—reminds us that sometimes what seems like a raw deal (a bird that can’t fly) turns out to be just perfect!
The New York Hall of Science is New York’s hands-on science and technology center. They promote science and technology as important tools that help us understand ourselves and the world we live in.Visit the exhibit behind the book, Charlie & Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure in person or online http://www.nysci.org/explore/ontour/charlieandkiwi.
FableVision is an award-winning children’s media developer and book packager founded by Peter and Paul Reynolds.
Peter H. Reynolds is the bestselling author and illustrator of The Dot and Ish and illustrator for the New York Times #1 bestseller Someday by Alison McGhee. He is also the illustrator of Little Boy, Charlie and Kiwi and the Judy Moody series. He lives in Dedham, Mass. where he is co-owner of the Blue Bunny bookstore. Visit Peter online at peterhreynolds.com.
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