Boston Blog

Preview of the Cambridge Science Festival-starting this weekend

The first annual Cambridge Science Festival kicks off tomorrow: exhibits, demos, tours, talks, workshops, activities, performances, lasting all next week…boy, are they lucky the weather cleared up just in time.

It’s geared mainly towards kids and families and aims to bring science to the public at large in a fun and engaging/hands-on kind of way. (See this interview I did with the organizer, MIT Museum director John Durant about his vision for the festival)

But there are a few events appropriate for grownups. Here are some:

  • “Rocks from Mars! Rocks from the Moon!” A talk by MIT earth science professor Ben Weiss about, well, rocks from Mars and the Moon. (Sun, Apr 22, 1pm; MIT Building 54, room 915)
  • MIT AI/robotics guru Rodney Brooks and others will talk about the relationship between man and machine. (Tues, Apr 24, 2pm; MIT Museum, 265 Mass Ave)
  • Harvard Medical School’s David Sinclair will talk about the science of wine, along with a Harvard classics professor who will discuss wine’s place in ancient history (Tues, Apr 24, 6pm; MIT Museum, 265 Mass Ave)
  • Stem cell scientists will be hosting a “town meeting” on the science and ethics. (Wed, Apr 25, noon; Radcliffe Gym, 18 Mason St. Cambridge)
  • Marc Hauser, reknowned psychology professor from Harvard, will talk about morality and evolution (Thurs, Apr 26, 6pm; Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge)

And there are a few tours that I think I’ll check out:

  • Cambridge Climate trail: a self-guided walk that includes exhibits, green buildings and other stuff (Sun, Apr 29, 10am-4pm; 420 Broadway, Cambridge)
  • Human Genome Trail: Mass Ave between Harvard and Central Squares will be turned into a giant model of the genome. (all next week)

There are also quite a few avant-guard, artsy-type events that interpret the definition of “science” quite loosely so if you’re into the arts and culture, try checking these out. These events are so bizarre sounding to me, I’m just going to quote them directly from the program.

  • Lifetime: Songs of Life and Evolution (Performance)

    The North Cambridge Family Opera presents the American premiere of Lifetime: Songs of Life and Evolution, a science oratorio by English composer David Haines. Sung by a 150-member chorus of children and adults, the performance consists of 22 musical selections with equal appeal to children and adults. The songs range from amusing to moving, and include Birth – a chorus celebrating Earth’s transition from dead rock to living planet; Lake, exploring the creation of biodiversity in fish populations; Amoeba, a spiky, jazzy, witty ditty from an Amoeba’s point of view; Four Billion Years, a plea for humans to take care of earth and its life forms; and Taxonomy, a musical exploration of the classification of life forms. With support from the MIT Council for the Arts, Cambridge Arts Council, Massachusetts Cultural Council and New England Foundation for the Arts.

> Saturday April 21, 1:00PM

MIT Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave. (Rear), Cambridge, MA

  • Drama Fest! (Performance)

    Life is dramatic, and so are the life sciences, although you may never have thought so before! Get to know the life sciences via short films, live performances and visual arts. Vote for your favorite! Life-sustaining refreshments included. For more information, visit https://www.wi.mit.edu/programs/dramafest.html.

> Thursday April 26, 7:00PM – 9:00PM

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA. McGovern Auditorium.

  • Days of Our Half-Lives (Performance)

    “My Dearest Love, I’m writing you, to tell you all that I’ve been through. I’ve changed my whole identity, but loved I can’t pretend to be.” A love poem? No, a chemistry poem. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be amazed at Mala Radhakrishnan’s take on the chemical world. Don’t miss this uniquely entertaining afternoon of poems that will change the way you think about science! As Mala says, “I like chemistry so much, I’m actually made up entirely of atoms and molecules.” And you are, too!

> Sunday April 29, 2:30PM

MIT Museum, 265 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA. Robotics Hall.

There are a bunch more events on the CSF website.

I’ll be very curious to see if/how the public will respond to this festival. Science festivals are new to Americans but they’ve been going on for many years in the UK and Europe. Over there, the festivals attract the likes of Stephen Hawking, but here in the other Cambridge, the festival is too new and unknown to pull in the heavyweight scientists. UK scientists are much more open to and have a longer history of engaging with the public so I can see how the festivals succeed there. We’ll see if it flies here.

Comments

Comments are closed.