New York City Gets Its Geek On At The World Science Festival

By Dave Giancaspro

June 20, 2009 |

10:00 am |

Categories: Armchair Geek, Science and Education

The World Science Festival 2009 hit New York City on June 10th with a Gala Opening at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and culminated on June 14th with a street fair held in Washington Square park. In between there were lectures and presentations in multiple locations around the city for science lovers of all ages and tastes.

While the lectures were mostly geared towards adults or teens, the street fair was a fun filled day for the family. Washington Square Park and the surrounding streets played host to hands on science, robots and science performances on 2 different stages.

Photo: Jeanette Giancaspro

The robotics area consisted of the New York and New Jersey FIRST robotics teams. My daughter’s favorite group was the Tecno Chix. A team of 20 Girl Scouts from Westchester county that placed 2nd in the Silicon Valley Regional Robotic Competition, earning them a chance to compete in nationals. These young ladies did some serious engineering and hopefully will go on to inspire other girls to follow. If you’re near Westchester County and want more info on the Techno Chix or girls in robotics, contact Joann Rerek

My personal favorite of the robot teams was the Might Monkey Wrenches who modified their robot into a mobile t-shirt cannon. Robots and projectiles are always a great crowd pleaser.

Once we were done marveling at the robots we hit Washington Square South, which had a strip of booths from different shows and organizations, all of them offering some great hands on science. Some of the highlights included making slime with the crew from Mad Science Kids and experiments from “How to Fossilize Your Hamster” with the team from New Scientist Magazine.

Photo: Jeanette Giancaspro

For the Life Science geeks, we took a visit to Growing Impressions Bio Art. Artist Amy Chase Gulden and scientist Kristin Baldwin teamed up to create art using E. coli bacteria that turns blue after incubation. They were collecting drawings for use in a collective art project. I drew up a quick Geek Dad shout out to hopefully be immortalized in bacteria.

Next and final stop for the trip was the Bio-Bus, a transit bus that was converted into a mobile biology lab complete with digital microscopes and a cell culture lab. As part of their presentation, we got to see the inner working of skin cells and look at some New York City pond water gathered during a Bio Blitz held on the day before. The staff was very knowledgeable and great with the kids. Check out the website and see if the Bio Bus is coming to your town.

At the end of the day we had a World Science Fair tote bag stuffed with SWAG, two tired kids and some new ideas to explore.

The Mighty Monkey Wrenches Home Page
Growing Impressions Bio Art
The Bio Bus