Exhibits

The NISE Network has created a variety of exhibits on nano science, technology, and engineering. Digital files of exhibit plans, drawings, and signage are available at no charge for museums or educational institutions who wish to build their own copies or adapt these exhibits for their own use; most of these materials can be downloaded directly from the online catalog. NISE Network partners are also able to fabricate duplicate copies of these exhibits for a fee; for more information contact exhibits@nisenet.org.

The exhibits created by the NISE Network were developed through a process of prototyping, audience evaluation research, educator peer review, and in-depth partnerships with scientists. The NISE Network is currently working on developing a set of inexpensive portable tabletop exhibits which we plan to fabricate in 2010-2011.

 
Exhibits Available in the Catalog

Intro to Nano Exhibits

  • Intro to Nanotechnology Video
    "Nanotechnology: What's the Big Deal?" gives viewers a broad overview of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by nanoscale science, and dive into the super tiny scale of nanotechnology.
  • Creating Nanomaterials
    This interactive, multimedia exhibit demonstrates how scientists are using the ability of molecules to self-assemble to create consumer goods with surprising properties.
  • At the Nanoscale
    This exhibit aims to show just how super small one billionth of a meter, or one nanometer, really is. A Billion Beads is an activity where visitors inspect tubes that hold quantities of one thousand tiny beads, one million beads, and one billion beads.
  • Unexpected Properties
    This exhibit demonstrates how materials at the nanoscale can have unexpected properties.

    NanoMedicine Exhibits

  • Intro to Nanomedicine video
    The video's colorful animation and researcher commentary complements the accompanying text panel to provide a brief overview of some of the basic ideas and goals of nanomedicine
  • Nanomedicine Explorer
    This interactive, updateable multimedia kiosk and media package, allows visitors to explore a variety of topics and specific research areas in cancer nanomedicine through vivid animations and video story-telling up close with a diverse group of researchers.
  • Treating Disease
    This exhibit is about cutting-edge medical treatments that are being developed with nanotechnology. Gold Nanoshells, demonstrates how tiny nanoparticles of gold are being used to destroy cancerous tumors.
  • Regenerating Tissues
    Visitors see how nanomaterials are able to form tiny structures called nanoscaffolds that help the body repair damaged muscle, bone, and nerve tissues.
  • Detecting Disease
    This exhibit introduces new ways of diagnosing and monitoring disease by using nanomaterials.

    Stand Alone Exhibits

  • Nano Buzz
    This multimedia kiosk features current nano science and nan topics in the news.
  • Changing Colors
    This interactive exhibit shows how some high-tech nanomaterials mimic natural phenomena. Watch the colors change on butterfly wings and thin-film slides as you move them beneath a light source, and discover how nanoscale structures can manipulate light and create color.
  • Bump and Roll
    An interactive exhibit that demonstrates nanomaterial properties using an everyday object: a leaf of cabbage.

    Younger Audience Exhibits

  • NanoLab
    This exhibit allows visitors to dress up like a scientist, play with interactive exhibits, and learn about how nano scientists use special devices and laboratories to build and manipulate materials on the nanoscale.
  • Nanotechnology: Fact or Fiction
    This exhibit's panels and constructible toy “nanobots” teach visitors what’s real in nanotechnology, and what remains science fiction.

    Full Body Immersive Exhibits

  • Mixing Molecules
    A full-body immersive simulation demonstrating the collision of molecules at the nanoscale.
  • Three Drops
    A full body immersive simulation that allows visitors to interact with water at three size scales using their shadows.

    Where can I see nano exhibitions at a museum in the United States?

  • NISE Network created exhibits in Arkansas
    The full set of NISE Network created exhibits entitled "Nanotechnology: What's the Big Deal?" is touring the Arkansas Discovery Network during 2009-2011. The touring schedule is available here. Copies of many of these exhibits are also currently on display at the Museum of Science, Boston and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR
  • nanoZone
    A permanent exhibition at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA introducing basic nanoscale and state-of-the-art nanotechnology science to an 8 to 14-year-old audiences.
  • Strange Matter
    A traveling exhibition with over a dozen hands-on experiences and exhibits give you a close encounter with the amazing world of modern materials and materials science. Developed by the Ontario Science Center and presented by the Materials Research Society
  • It's a Nano World: Smaller than a Spot on a Ladybug
    A traveling 3,000 square feet hands-on, interactive museum exhibition that introduces children and their families to the biological wonders of the nano world that's too small to see with just your eyes. Designed for 5-8 year olds and their families. Developed by the Sciencenter of Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, and Painted Universe, Inc.
  • Too Small to See: Zoom into Nanotechnology
    A traveling 5,000 sq. ft. hands-on, interactive museum exhibition focuses on how scientists see and make things that are too small to see. Nanoscale science and engineering is the process through which materials are manipulated on the molecular scale to generate very, very small structures and devices. Designed for children 8 - 13 and their families. Developed by the Sciencenter of Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, and Painted Universe, Inc.
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