SEPTEMBER 2025
NETWORK NEWS
ASTC Conference 2025
We are looking forward to seeing many NISE Network partners at the ASTC Conference in the San Francisco Bay Area September 5-8. NISE Network activities include concurrent sessions, an exhibit hall booth, and a networking meet up during the first night of the conference.
nisenet.org/astc2025
NISE Network Networking Event
Friday, Sept. 5th, 5-7pm
Please join fellow NISE Network members as we gather together informally, all are welcome!
No need to RSVP
LeRoy King Carousel Plaza
in front of the Children's Creativity Museum
Corner of Howard Street and 4th Street
(next to Moscone South)
Snacks will be provided, we will be outside.
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
• Online Workshop: DIY NASA Exhibits with Earth Information Center & ViewSpace
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Did you know that NASA has freely available DIY exhibit resources including print-you-own signs and interpretive panels, graphics, digital interactive components, and continually updated content that you can use to build your own museum exhibits? Please join us for this online workshop as we explore how to set up these NASA exhibits at your location, featuring resources and content from NASA's Earth Information Center and ViewSpace. Learn details about how you could incorporate these exhibits into your museum or science center including options for installation, design examples, space needs, minimum technological requirements, and the range of costs.
Learn more and register
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
New Public Engagement Materials:
• Radio Technology Timeline Posters
This printable visual timeline highlights pivotal milestones in radio technology from the 1950s through the 2020s. Designed as a large-format educational resource, it showcases iconic breakthroughs and cultural moments in wireless communication. Part of the Making Waves with Radio Kit.
Online Workshop Recordings:
• America 250 - How Can Children's Museums and Science Centers Celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial? (recorded on 6-3-25)
Learn more
• Creating Relevant and Meaningful STEM Experiences
(recorded on 4-15-25)
Learn more
• More online workshop recordings
Navigating Changing Federal Priorities:
Resources from trusted sources for helping your organization navigate changing federal priorities for STEM, public engagement, and education. Photo by Ali Elliott on Unsplash
Learn more
Recent Publications:
• “Let’s Have a Plática – Tengamos Una Plática: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned From Conducting Pláticas in Three Different Settings” by Regina Ayala Chávez, in International Journal of Qualitative Methods, with free access online.
• “Implementing Culturally Responsive Evaluation Methods: Reflections on Challenges to Traditional Understandings of Power, Validity, and Rigor” in Visitor Studies with free access online.
• More publications: nisenet.org/publications
Planning a Halloween event?
Check out ways to incorporate fun STEM activities into your events..
nisenet.org/halloween
United States 250th “Semiquincentennial”
Resources to help plan relevant programming for the United States' 250th anniversary (Semiquincentennial)
nisenet.org/america250
Looking for an easy way to discover resources on the nisenet.org website?
Check out our “Browse by Themes and Topics,” featuring curated collections of hands-on activities and resources by themes and STEM topics:
nisenet.org/browse-topic
PARTNER HIGHLIGHT
Making Waves with Radio STEM Day at Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey California
NSF STEM Day, held on May 10, 2025, brought together BSCS educators and its museum partners from the NISE Network, Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco, Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, and the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California to facilitate Making Waves with Radio activities in Downey, California. Hands-on science activities enabled families to explore the science of radio signals and radio-enabled technologies, from drones and Wi-Fi detectors to a visual timeline of key radio technology inventions.
Learn more
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our World: Worldwide Day of Play - September 27
ACM and Nickelodeon are offering stipends for $600 to help support ACM members in offsetting the costs of hosting an event.
Learn more
International Observe the Moon Night - October 4Prepare for this event with observing suggestions and tools for hosting, hands-on activities, and custom Moon Maps. You can register your event to NASA’s global map of lunar observers.
Event planning webinar
Learn more
NISE Network Moon resources
International Day of Scientific Culture - Sept. 28
This event aims to highlight the importance of scientific culture in today's world; and celebrate activities and institutions that provide spaces for people to make science a relevant part of their lives.
Learn more
National Chemistry Week - October 19-25
This year’s October 2025 National Chemistry Week theme is The Hidden Life of Spices - a great opportunity to make chemistry and food connections. Resources for this year’s theme are now available from the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Learn more
Interested in one of our exhibitions? Join the waiting list!
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
SCIENCE NEWS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Scope "Monkey" trial, a 1925 legal case in Tennessee where high school teacher John Scopes was accused of violating a state law by teaching human evolution. The case featured famed attorneys William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, and can draw many parallels 100 years later.
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) delivers targeted electrical currents through tiny electrodes implanted in the brain. Like a cardiac pacemaker, these electrical pulses can be used to interrupt problematic activity in the brain. DBS electrical stimulation is starting to be used selectively when the device detects abnormal brain activity associated with symptoms.
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
GENETICS NEWS
A Texas-based company claims it has de-extincted dire wolves, a large-bodied wolf species that last roamed North America during the ice age that ended some 11,500 years ago. Despite criticisms, Colossal Biosciences is not backing down.
NISE Network resources:
• Storming the Castle Museum Theater Show
• Building with Biology: Introduction to Synthetic Biology and Society Video
SPACE NEWS
The largest Mars meteorite on Earth has sold at auction for $5.3 million to an anonymous buyer. Originally the 54-pound (25-kilogram) meteorite NWA 16788 was found by a meteorite hunter in Niger in Northwest Africa in 2023
NISE Network resources:
• Asteroids and Meteorite resources
WEATHER NEWS
This month marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina storm devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and ultimately reshaped the entire country’s understanding of disaster. The Weather Channel has curated a powerful collection of stories, capturing the voices, memories, facts and feelings behind one of our nation’s most historic storms.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Climate and weather resources
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
A new formulation of cement reflects and emits heat more effectively than normal Portland cement, so it stays much cooler on a hot day reducing the need for air conditioning.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
ENGINEERING NEWS
Humanoid robots have been trained to walk, lift, and perform repetitive tasks efficiently, however some new humanoid robots are now able to master new tasks quickly based on human motion capture data recorded in long sequences, skipping the laborious task of engineers having to program them to perform those tasks.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Engineering and robot resources
• Size, Scale, & Measurement resources
RADIO & SPACE NEWS
Scientists are using instruments flown on balloons high above Antarctica that are designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere. The goal of the experiment is to gain insight into distant cosmic events by analyzing signals that reach the Earth.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Making Waves with Radio kit
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
SPACE NEWS
After three years, NASA’s Webb Telescope infrared vision has led to many new discoveries changing our view of the cosmos from the most distant galaxies to our own solar system. The most significant is that the universe evolved faster than we previously thought.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Webb Space Telescope resources
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
NANOTECHNOLOGY NEWS
Scientists have been injecting succulent plants with nanoscale sized particles to make them glow like living rechargeable night lights.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Light resources
• Biomimicry resources
• NanoDays activities
• Plant resources
CHEMISTRY NEWS
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has released resources for celebrating this year’s October 2025 National Chemistry Week theme: The Hidden Life of Spices.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• National Chemistry Week
• Chemistry 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
Year-long 2025
- International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ)
- National Science Foundation's 75th anniversary
- Planetarium Centennial
September
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Back to School (September)
- Read a New Book Month (September)
- National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15)
- International Observe the Moon Night (October 4, 2025)
- International Microorganism Day (September 17)
- National Pollution Prevention Week (P2 Week) (third week in September)
- International Coastal Cleanup Day (third Saturday in September)
& World Cleanup Day (third Saturday in September) - Fall Equinox (September 22 in the Northern Hemisphere)
- Solstices and equinoxes provide opportunities for planning quarterly programs related to the Earth, Sun, and Moon (astronomical seasons) or your local environment (meteorological seasons)
- Moon resources
- NASA Space Place seasons resources
- International Day of Scientific Culture (September 28)
- Astronomy Week (Fall) (9/22-28/2025)
- Worldwide Day of Play (late September) (September 27, 2025)
- National Public Lands Day (fourth Saturday of September)
October
- Campus Sustainability Month (October)
- Walk Bike & Roll to School (early October)
- World Space Week (October 4-10)
- Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) (October 3)
- Public Power Week (first week in October) (October 5-11, 2025)
- Ada Lovelace Day (October 8)
- National Nano Day (October 9)
- National Nanotechnology Day is an annual celebration and pays homage to the nanometer scale, 10–9 meters.
- NanoDays activities and resources
- NISE Network size, scale, & measurement resources
- Metric Day (October 10)
- Indigenous Peoples' Day (Second Monday in October)
- International Day of the Girl Child (October 11)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - World AI Week (second week in October)
- Earth Science Week (second full week in October)
- Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills (third Thursday in October)
- World CRISPR Day (October 20)
- Lights On Afterschool (October 23, 2025)
- National showcase for afterschool programs
- Afterschool Alliance resources
- National Chemistry Week (October 19-25, 2025)
- Imagine a Day Without Water (mid-October)
- International Archeology Day (third Saturday in October)
- Nuclear Science Week (third week in October)
- Take Me Outside Day celebration of outdoor learning (third week in October)
- World Origami Days (October 24 - November 11)
- Dark Matter Day (on or around October 31)
- Halloween (October 31)
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- ASTC List of Conferences in the Community
Learn more - ASTC Conference, September 5-8, 2025, San Francisco, CA
Learn more - Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) Annual Conference, October 28-30, 2025 Pittsburgh, PA
Learn more - STEM Ecosystems Convening October 20-22, 2025, Washington, DC
Learn more - Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, April 21-23, 2026, San Diego
Learn more - National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences
Learn more