FEBRUARY 2024
NETWORK NEWS
2024 Total Solar Eclipse - Monday, April 8, 2024
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be seen in the US from Texas to Maine. States on the path of totality include: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. All of North America will have at least a partial solar eclipse (if skies are clear).
• Compilation of public engagement resources:
nisenet.org/solareclipse
• Online workshop registration - partners sharing plans (recorded 1/9/24)
• Online workshop recording - available resources (recorded 9/12/23)
Upcoming Lunar Eclipse: March 24-25, 2024
A lunar eclipse will take place Sunday night March 24, 2024 into early morning of March 25, 2024 throughout North America.The lunar eclipse will be visible throughout North America if the sky is clear. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks most of the sunlight that normally reaches the Moon. The Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.
Check exact timing for your location
• Compilation of public engagement resources:
nisenet.org/lunareclipse
UPCOMING EVENTS
Online Workshops
The NISE Network hosts free online workshops as professional development opportunities for our partners to share with and learn from each other. Online workshops take place on select Tuesdays at 2pm-3pm Eastern. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events
Practices, Principles, and Programming for Engaging Blind and Low Vision Audiences
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
2-3pm Eastern
Please join us for this online workshop about creating more equitable experiences with Earth and space programming for blind and low vision audiences. We will hear from experts in the field who are striving to expand access to STEM resources. Listen as they discuss best practices as well as some of the tools available for others interested in this work. We will also hear from NISE Network partners who have co-collaborated with members of their communities to identify and better address the needs of visually impaired audiences locally.
Learn more and register
Wildfires & Air Quality - Providing a Relevant Portal to Get Audiences Invested in the Conversation
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
2-3pm Eastern
During this online workshop we will hear from partners engaging audiences of all ages in Earth and climate science through activities that take a closer look at the scientific and societal impacts of wildfires. Learn how to use activities from the NISE Network, NASA, and others to demonstrate the connection between global issues of climate and evolving fire seasons. Presenters will discuss strategies for making content relevant and approachable, while creating a safe space for important conversations around climate resilience to transpire. Come hear how to increase interest in your community and empower the public to take action.
Learn more and register
PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS
Arizona State University Engages Learners with the Neuro Futures Card Game During Emerging Technologies Experience
During this year's Annual Winter School on Emerging Technologies, participants used the Neuro Futures Card Game, part of a downloadable kit of hands-on activities to help encourage dialogue in public and professional audiences on the societal connection to advancing brain research and technologies. The Changing Brains kit is part of the NISE Network's larger Changing Brains project focusing on Neuroscience. In the Neuro Futures Card game activity, participants encounter future neurotechnologies with unknown societal impacts.
Learn more
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
Talking with Children about
Tragic Events in the News
Parents, caregivers, and educators can all play an important role in helping children recover from exposure to tragic events in the news as well as traumatic experiences. Below is a compilation of resources for talking with children about tragic events in the news including war, violence, racism, and natural disasters. Navigating these conversations isn't easy, but these resources can be helpful for both children and adults.
nisenet.org/tragic-events
Meteorites and Asteroids
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx successfully returned to Earth in September 2023 with material from asteroid Bennu. The Psyche mission that launched in October 2023 will visit a metal asteroid. Meanwhile the Lucy spacecraft encountered its first asteroid Dinkinesh in November; over the course of its mission, Lucy will explore the belt of asteroids known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
nisenet.org/asteroids
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) will hold a one-day symposium on March 5
The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) will hold a one-day symposium on March 5 in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the law that authorized the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Opportunity to attend in person or virtually. Experts will address the importance of nanotechnology in quantum engineering; optics; the environmental, health, and safety implications of nanomaterials; advanced polymers; microelectronics; medicine, education; manufacturing; inclusion, diversity, equity, and access; and more.
Learn more and register
Protect and store your solar viewing glasses
Store your solar viewing glasses safely to use again in the future; you don't have to wait for a solar eclipse to use your glasses to view the Sun.
STARnet activity for make a protective case for your solar-viewing Glasses: English and Spanish
Partner tip: Churro bags fit solar eclipse glasses well
Interested in one of our exhibitions?
There’s a waiting list for that!
If you are interested in hosting the Nano exhibition, or the Sun, Earth, Universe exhibition, please reach out to Christina Leavell, NISE Network Community Manager, to be added to a waiting list.
Contact us
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
NANOTECHNOLOGY NEWS
A teenage scientist has been developing a bar of soap that could treat skin cancer. The soap delivers cancer-fighting drugs via lipid nanoparticles – which work to activate the body's immune cells to fend off cancer.
NISE Network resources:
• Microscopes and Tools for the Small
GENETICS NEWS
Using gene editing, progress is being made to control and possibly eradicate mosquitoes that carry dengue, malaria and other diseases. Male mosquitoes have been genetically altered to produce female offspring that don't survive to adulthood. Females are the mosquitoes that bite, spreading dengue and other diseases.
NISE Network resources:
SPACE & RADIO NEWS
We are at the height of the Sun's activity in its eleven year cycle, known as the solar maximum. Let’s look back to 1859, when astronomer Richard Carrington was studying the Sun and witnessed the most intense geomagnetic storm recorded in history.
NISE Network resources:
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
Elon Musk announced that human clinical trials have begun on Neuralink’s Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface (PRIME) study, a medical device trial that uses a wireless, brain-computer interface designed to enable people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts.
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and Neuroscience resources
ENGINEERING NEWS
Inspired by a small and slow snail, scientists have developed a robot prototype that may one day scoop up microplastics from the surfaces of oceans, seas and lakes. The robot’s design is based on the Hawaiian apple snail that uses the undulating motion of its foot to drive water surface flow and suck in floating food particles.
NISE Network resources:
• Engineering and robot resources
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY NEWS
Nearly 100 years ago, a group of visionaries dared to imagine what life would be like in 2024. Some of their prophecies fell woefully short while others proved to be strangely accurate. Join us now as we gaze into that crystal ball from 1924
NISE Network resources:
CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS
Art × Climate is the first art gallery to be featured in the National Climate Assessment with the understanding that, together, art and science move people to greater understanding and action. The work of 92 artists offers a powerful depiction of climate change causes and impacts, as well as the strength of our collective response.
NISE Network resources:
CHEMISTRY NEWS
After causing an international incident by suggesting that adding salt to your cup of tea will improve it, chemist Michelle Francl says it’s great to see everyone talking about chemistry.
NISE Network resources:
STEM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
Discover activity ideas for incorporating current science, engineering, and technology content into events, special programming, holidays, and seasonal activities by visiting: nisenet.org/seasons
February
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Black History Month / African-American History Month (February) - celebrate people in STEM
- NASA Modern Figures Toolkit
- African Americans in Science and Technology internet resources from the Library of Congress
- NASA Museum & Informal Education Alliance resources (log-in required)
- Celebrating Black Innovators poster from SPIE the international society for optics and photonics
- HistoryMakers ScienceMakers biographies and oral histories of African American scientists and toolkits of hands-on activities connecting to scientists
- NISE Network Racial Justice Resources
- Leap Day (February 29) (every four years)
March
- Women's History Month (March) - celebrate people in STEM
- Severe Weather Awareness Weeks (March, dates vary by state)
- World Futures Day - Young Voices (March 1)
- Dr. Seuss Day (March 2)
- Exploring Materials - Oobleck activity
- Oobleck gets its name from the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, where a gooey green substance, Oobleck, fell from the sky and wreaked havoc in the kingdom
- Horton Hears a Who! Storytime
- World Wildlife Day (March 3)
- World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development (March 4)
- Groundwater Awareness Week (March 10-15)
- Brain Awareness Week (March 11-17)
- Pi Day and International Day of Mathematics (March 14)
- National Learn about Butterflies Day (March 14)
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- Solstices and equinoxes provide opportunities for planning quarterly programs related to the Earth, Sun, and Moon (astronomical seasons) or your local environment (meteorological seasons)
- NASA Space Place seasons resources
- NISE Network Moon resources
- World Water Day (March 22)
- Earth Hour (March 23)
- World Meteorology Day (March 23)
- Lunar Eclipse: March 24-25, 2024
- NanoDays (March 30-April 7)
April
- NanoDays (March 30-April 7)
- Citizen Science Month (April)
- National Kite Month (April)
- Global Astronomy Month (April)
- Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month (April)
- National Arab American Heritage Month (April) - celebrate people in STEM
- National Public Health Week (first week in April) and World Health Day (April 7)
- International Dark Sky Week (first week of April)
- Star Trek First Contact Day (April 5)
- Solar Eclipse (April 8, 2024)
- Yuri's Night (April 12)
- National Robotics Week / RoboWeek (second week in April)
- World Quantum Day (April 14)
- World Art Day (April 15)
- Earth Day (April 22) and National Environmental Education Week
- DNA Day (April 25)
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
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International Symposium on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), April 10-12, 2024, Zacateca, Mexico
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Association of Children's Museums InterActivity, May 15-17, 2024, Madison, WI
Learn more -
Visitor Studies Association Conference 2024, July 16-19, 2024, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Learn more -
ASTC Conference, September 27 - October 1, 2024, Chicago, Illinois
Learn more -
REVISE InformalScience.org conference calendar
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National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences