SciSpotlight: NYSCI News Digest

Latest updates on events and topics based on science, technology and learning from the New York Hall of Science: NYC's hands-on science museum.

[humanoidhistory]

Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan on the Moon, December 1972, as seen in a 1984 painting by moonwalker Alan Bean.

[nysci]

Why Are People so Afraid to Fly?

Get the science behind the fear of flying.

[Watch the video]

[nysci]

NYSCI will be at Pier 26 in Hudson River Park tomorrow, Sept 24 for #SubmergeNYC Marine Science Festival. Join us for a FREE, day-long event to celebrate local marine science and to raise awareness about our coastal waters. Enjoy hands-on science activities, catch-and-release fishing, science stage events, kayaking and more! http://bit.ly/2cGC1GH

[cherry-fizzle-blog]

Happy First day of Autumn!🍁🍃

[nysci]

Flock together for the anniversary of Connected Worlds.

Adults! Join us this Friday, August 5 for our NYSCI After Dark: Anniversary Party. Explore our groundbreaking exhibit while talking with scientists, environmental advocates and other participants about the emerging field of synthetic biology and its societal implications. Weigh in on the debate if we should engineer mosquitoes to reduce malaria transmission? All while celebrating with artists, live music and refreshments.

RSVP for this event.

Image: NYSCI/David Handschuh

[nysci]

Our newest art exhibit "Climatic Visions II" opens tomorrow, July 30. Experience the creativity of how these artists express climate change and it's impact on various geographic locations. Image: Isabella Jacob | Air.Ice.Rock #4, collage (at New York Hall of Science)

[nysci]

Let other #Pokémon players know who's the leader at this gym with your very own "Gotta Hit The Gym" T-shirt. Will you be collecting your defender bonus? • Available in our Science Shop for $19.99 • #nysci #pokemongo #pokemonfan (at New York Hall of Science)

[nysci]

The early bird gets the worm, and by worm we mean World @makerfaire tickets. #nysci members get a 30-50% off discount. Early-bird pricing ends July 31. • Photo by @andrewkellyphoto • #MakerFaire #FamilyFun #queensny #nyc (at New York Hall of Science)

[brynmawrspeccoll]

Nettie Stevens: Sex chromosomes and sexism

At the time of her death in 1912, Nettie Maria Stevens was a biologist of enough repute to be eulogized in the journal Science by future Nobelist Thomas Hunt Morgan and for her passing to be noted …

Awesome blog post from Cristy Gelling at the Genetics Society of America about Nettie Stevens’ contributions to genetics. Nettie Stevens received her PhD at Bryn Mawr in 1903. 

She discovered that in some species chromosomes are different among the sexes, by observations of insect chromosomes. The discovery was the first time that observable differences of chromosomes could be linked to an observable difference in physical attributes, i.e. if an individual is a male or a female.

[itsfullofstars]

The NY Times has a truly fantastic series of interactive pieces on the #JunoMission

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Arrives At Jupiter - a look at the spacecraft, its mission, orbital path through the solar system and around the gas giant.

Jupiter and Its Moons - MUST-SEE in Google Chrome, trust us, it’s not often you get to just spin Jupiter like a toy.

What to Expect When Juno Gets to Jupiter - the mission in detail.

All Eyes (And Ears) on Jupiter - includes audio of the “bow shock” Juno experienced when it passed into Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

This has been an exciting day for space fans!

[nysci]

Here's a wonderful (off the record) shot of #billcunningham at NYSCI's Gala in 2014. Photo by @andrewkellyphoto

[nysci]

It's #FreeFriday at the museum during 2 – 5 pm. Enjoy @brickfestlive live for their final weekend at #NYSCI before it's all gone. #lego #queensny #itsinqueens #nyc (at New York Hall of Science)

[nysci]

Happy Birthday to Alan Turing, who would have been 104 today. His well known work in mathematics, software and computing, celebrated in “The Imitation Game" largely eclipsed his remarkable theoretical work in morphogenesis, a theory for how identical cells manage to differentiate to result in organisms composed of many different kinds of cells and resulting structures like internal organs, limbs, etc. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. #AlanTuring #tbt #science #STEM

[tabbooks]

Read up on Why the Maker Movement Matters for National Week of Making!

[nysci]

NYSCI’s bringing makerspaces to hospitals with the Maker Therapy program, and has been highlighted by the White House as one of the nation’s major commitments to the National Week of Making and President Obama’s Nation of Makers Initiative.

Over the next year, Maker Therapy will be implemented at Children’s Hospital of Colorado, with leadership support from Cognizant, as well as at hospitals in New York and Florida. 

Learn more:

 http://nysci.org/bringing-makerspaces-to-hospitals/

[itscolossal]

Rocket Coffee Table

[nysci]

This would look perfect in the museum offices.

[nysci]

Your Body is a Space That Sees: Artist Lia Halloran’s Stunning Cyanotype Tribute to Women in Astronomy

From Hypatia of Alexandria to Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a beguiling homage to the heroines of illuminating the cosmos.

Drawing on historical images and texts, Halloran, who holds an MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale, pays homage to astronomers ranging from Hypatia of Alexandria to Caroline Herschel (whose nephew John, incidentally, invented the cyanotype mere months before Anna Atkins pioneered its use in scientific illustration) to the team of women “computers” at the Harvard Observatory known as Pickering’s Harem.

[nysci]

2001: A Space Odyssey Is Even Crazier After Running it Through Google's Neural Network

In addition to transforming 2001 into something even weirder than it already is by teaching Deep Dream to interpret the scifi classic as a Picasso painting,Bhautik Joshi ran Republican hopeful and remorseless bigot Donald Trump through a variety of neural networks that resembled things like bullets, money, and human teeth.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-is-even-more-of-an-acid-trip-when-1781404255