Welcome to the April Nano Bite, the monthly e-newsletter for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net).
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NISE Network at the American Alliance of Museum (AAM) 2015 Annual Meeting
April 25 - 29, 2015; Atlanta, GA
The NISE Network invites partners to join us for an informal gathering on Monday, April 27th from 5:00-7:00pm to catch up with colleagues and friends, and make new ones! Network partners will also be participating in several sessions at AAM; we hope to see you there [find out more].
Association of Children's Museums (ACM) Interactivity 2015
May 13 - 15, 2015; Indianapolis, IN
If you're attending ACM this year, make sure you stop by the NISE Network booth in the exhibit hall on Thursday, May 14th between 7:30am and 4:30pm to visit with partners and learn about future Network opportunities and more!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- NISE Net News and Announcements! - The Biggest Thank You to Partners Who Celebrated the Smallest Science
- Upcoming Events - Stay Connected! Upcoming Online Brown-Bag Conversations; Join the NISE Network in Attendance at Upcoming Conferences
- Featured on the Website - Oil Spill Clean Up Simulation; Science Writing Workshop: How to tell a story, How to conduct and interview
- Community News - Exciting News - The MRS Spring Meeting Relocates to Phoenix, AZ Beginning in 2016; NNI Invites the Public to to Cast Their Vote for the Winning Images in the EnvisioNano Photo Contest
- Nano in the News - With New Nonstick Coating, the Wait, and the Waste, is Over; Rainworks: The Invisible Street Art That Only Appears When It's Wet
NISE NET NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS!
→ The Biggest Thank You to Partners Who Celebrated the Smallest Science
NanoDays media coverage - Here are some highlights of the national coverage of NanoDays 2015 in news, videos, pictures, and social media!
Here's the NanoDays 2015 Round Up!
NanoDays media coverage - Here are some highlights of the national coverage of NanoDays 2015 in news, videos, pictures, and social media!
Boxing up Boxes in Boxes - NanoDays Kit Storage - Don't get the post-NanoDays blues because you have so many great new activities you just don't know where to put them all; here's some helpful partner examples for getting organized!
Sharing your NanoDays 2015 event photos - Show us the many smiles of NanoDays :)
NanoDays 2015 Reports - Tell us about your events - We greatly value your feedback around NanoDays festivities. If you received a 2015 NanoDays physical kit, please submit your required report by Friday, May 1st.
→ Stay Connected! Upcoming Online Brown-Bag Conversations
Beyond NanoDays - New Ideas for Presenting the Smallest Science
Monday, May 18, 2015
1 pm - 2 pm ET [Sign up]
Everyone loves NanoDays festivities but how do you keep visitors excited about nano the rest of the year? Join this discussion to discover the innovative ways your colleagues are incorporating nano outside of NanoDays such as into nature detective activities, in take-home workbooks shared at public events, and more!
Here are a few recent brown-bag conversations that may be of interest to you, and for even more brown-bag recordings view the online archive.
- Nanotechnology and Pseudoscience (Recorded)
- The Science Behind NanoDays 2015 - Part 2 (Recorded)
- The Science Behind NanoDays 2015 - Part 1 (Recorded)
NISE Network at the American Alliance of Museum (AAM) 2015 Annual Meeting
April 25 - 29, 2015; Atlanta, GA
The NISE Network invites partners to join us for an informal gathering on Monday, April 27th from 5:00-7:00pm to catch up with colleagues and friends, and make new ones! Network partners will also be participating in several sessions at AAM; we hope to see you there [find out more].
Association of Children's Museums (ACM) Interactivity 2015
May 13 - 15, 2015; Indianapolis, IN
If you're attending ACM this year, make sure you stop by the NISE Network booth in the exhibit hall on Thursday, May 14th between 7:30am and 4:30pm to visit with partners and learn about future Network opportunities and more!
- Special Evening Event: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis - Thursday, May 14th from 6:30-9:00pm - NISE Net activities and information will be featured in the Biotechnology Learning Center. Pre-registration is required.
- Don't miss NISE Network partners featured in a number of professional development sessions about engaging the public in nanoscience, engineering, and technology.
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
→ Oil Spill Clean Up Simulation - A NISE Net Linked Product short activity features the "nano sand" or "magic sand" product that was originally invented to help with the clean up of oil spills in water, due to the sand's hydrophobic properties. This would be a great activity to pair with April's national events such as Earth Day or National Environmental Education Week. This product was created by the University California Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN) at UCLA.
→ Science Writing Workshop: How to tell a story, How to conduct and interview - A NISE Net Product, prepared by a team of professionals at the Materials Research Society, is a workshop and program designed for researchers, scientists, science educators, and students with an interest in journalism and science writing. This full-day workshop, with a modifiable instructional design, focuses on writing science stories that engage both the general public and other scientists.
→ Science Writing Workshop: How to tell a story, How to conduct and interview - A NISE Net Product, prepared by a team of professionals at the Materials Research Society, is a workshop and program designed for researchers, scientists, science educators, and students with an interest in journalism and science writing. This full-day workshop, with a modifiable instructional design, focuses on writing science stories that engage both the general public and other scientists.
→ With New Nonstick Coating, the Wait, and the Waste, is Over - Have you ever struggled with squeezing the last drop of ketchup, mayonnaise, or honey out of a bottle, the last of the toothpaste from the tube, or lotion from that container? Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a solution to a problem that has annoyed many of us for so long and that is a coating called LiquiGlide [see videos]. This coating makes the inside of the bottle or tube permanently slippery because the lubricant binds more strongly to the textured surface than to the liquid, and that allows for the liquid to slide along the surface with less resistance. The broad range of application provides for significant savings from a sustainability and industrial application perspective by helping to reduce waste, the amount of energy required to push viscous materials through pipes, and in cleaning processes.
→ Rainworks: The Invisible Street Art That Only Appears When It's Wet - A street-based artist in Seattle has finally found a way to brighten up those dreary, rainy days by creating street art that only appears when it gets wet [Rainworks video]. This artist is able to achieve this effect by using superhydrophobic coatings, a waterproofing technology inspired by nature - or biomimicry, often referred to as the Lotus effect. The leaves of the lotus consist of nano-scale papillae that are coated in a hydrophobic wax that repels water, which is similarly how the street art appears when it rains - by repelling water where the coating has been sprayed.
See related NISE Net activities and programs
→ Rainworks: The Invisible Street Art That Only Appears When It's Wet - A street-based artist in Seattle has finally found a way to brighten up those dreary, rainy days by creating street art that only appears when it gets wet [Rainworks video]. This artist is able to achieve this effect by using superhydrophobic coatings, a waterproofing technology inspired by nature - or biomimicry, often referred to as the Lotus effect. The leaves of the lotus consist of nano-scale papillae that are coated in a hydrophobic wax that repels water, which is similarly how the street art appears when it rains - by repelling water where the coating has been sprayed.
See related NISE Net activities and programs
- Lotus Leaf Effect short activity
- Zoom into a Lotus Leaf video
- Exploring Products - Nano Fabrics hands-on activity
- Exploring Products - Kinetic Sand hands-on activity
- Sand, Plants and Pants hands-on activity
- The Water Race: Hydrophobic & Hydrophillic Surfaces K-12 lesson plan
COMMUNITY NEWS
NANO THROUGHOUT THE YEAR - APRIL SHOWERS BRINGS...
→ Exciting News - The MRS Spring Meeting relocates to Phoenix, AZ beginning in 2016. This new move will allow for all meeting activities to take place "under one roof" and will provide meeting attendees with many more great networking opportunities with the local informal science education community!
→ The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) would like to invited members of the public to cast their vote for the winning images in the EnvisioNano Photo Contest (deadline to vote is April 17th)! Students from labs and schools across the U.S. sent in pictures and descriptions of their research for the chance to win top honors and have their work showcased at TechConnect World Innovation 2015 held in D.C.'s National Harbor and will be featured on NNI's website.
→ The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) would like to invited members of the public to cast their vote for the winning images in the EnvisioNano Photo Contest (deadline to vote is April 17th)! Students from labs and schools across the U.S. sent in pictures and descriptions of their research for the chance to win top honors and have their work showcased at TechConnect World Innovation 2015 held in D.C.'s National Harbor and will be featured on NNI's website.
NANO THROUGHOUT THE YEAR - APRIL SHOWERS BRINGS...
→ April is raining down bucketfuls of learning opportunities, just look at all these activities to incorporate nano into! For a more comprehensive list of NISE Net activities, see NISE Net's list of seasonal activities.
-
National Robotics Week website (April 4-12)
- Shrinking Robots! program
- Robots and People program
- World Health Day website (April 7)
-
National Environmental Education Week website (April 19-25) and Earth Day website (April 22)
- Tiny Solutions to Our Big Energy Problem stage presentation
- Energy Challenges, Nanotech Solutions forum
- Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology program
- Does Every Silver Lining Have a Cloud video
-
Global Astronomy Month website (April)
- Exploring Nano & Society - Space Elevator (NanoDays 2013) short activity
- Exploring Nano & Society - Flying Cars short activity
- Exploring Size - Powers of Ten Game (NanoDays 2011, 2012, and 2014) short activity
- Aerogel short activity
- Astronomy Day (April 25)
- National Poetry Month (April) - Nano-themed haiku often featured in NanoBite newsletters
Nano Haiku submitted by Fahad Rahmat, Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology
It shocked me to see
A cloth bag that can conduct
Electricity!
It shocked me to see
A cloth bag that can conduct
Electricity!
MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- ACM Interactivity 2015 – Indianapolis, IN – May 13 - 15, 2015
-
VSA Conference - Indianapolis, IN - July 14 - 18, 2015
- Early registration is now open!
-
ASTC 2015 Annual Conference - Montreal, Canada - October 17 - 20, 2015
- Registration now open!
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Read the Nano Bite e-newsletter online at /newsletter/nano-bite-april-2015.
Do you have something you would like to submit for inclusion in the NISE Network Nano Bite monthly e-newsletter? Please send your announcements, articles, or community acknowledgements to Kayla Berry, NISE Net Coordinator, at [email protected].