NanoDays activities often bring university researchers together with science museum educators, creating unique learning experiences. NanoDays engages people of all ages in a miniscule world where materials have special properties and new technologies have spectacular promise.
Cornell researcher Sharon Gerbode talks about "squishy science" at Sciencenter in Ithaca, NYMany NanoDays celebrations will combine simple hands-on activities for young people with events exploring current research for adults. One popular activity involves visitors working together to build a giant balloon model of a carbon nanotube. (Real carbon nanotubes, which are 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair, have extraordinary strength and unusual electrical properties that make them useful in electronics and materials science.
Other NanoDays activities demonstrate different, unexpected properties of materials at the nanoscale -- sand that won’t get wet even under water, water that won’t spill from a teacup, and colors that depend upon particle size.
Some NanoDays participants host public forums, discussions about the risks and benefits of particular appllications of nanotechnology. Many participating universities host public tours of their laboratories that work with nanoscale science and technology.
For lots of ideas about what you could do for NanoDays, browse our online catalog.