Statewide Science Festival Kicks Off Friday

Science & Technology

Statewide Science Festival Kicks Off Friday

吉彩网网站 | By Catherine Brand,

Published April 2, 2013 at 5:59 PM EDT

A scene from last year's Science Festival.

The 鈥� a series of more than 300 science-related events at locations across the state 鈥� kicks off this Friday. It鈥檚 the third year for the festival, and it's expected to draw more than 200,000 participants. The first event is a stargazing party for all ages at 45 different sites across the state. Triangle-area venues include the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, Marbles Kids Museum and Imax Theater in Raleigh, the Morehead Observatory in Chapel Hill and Jordan Lake in Apex.

The N.C. Science Festival鈥檚 goal is to have a science event within a 30-minute ride of every North Carolinian. Festival director Jonathan Frederick says the hundreds of events over the course of the festival's 16-days run range 鈥渇rom science demos at libraries to a robot rumble at a science museum. There are community-wide events like the UNC Science Expo at Chapel Hill. There's maker stuff if you like to do things with your hands. There's high-minded talks and lectures featuring scientists talking about cutting-edge and leading-edge science. So there's great diversity and variety on the calendar.鈥�

Frederick says there are also tours for adults - including science-related beer and wine-tasting tours. A short video montage of last year鈥檚 N.C. Science Festival events shows participants of all ages:

Some featured events in the Triangle-area include the Triangle (Biotechnology, Engineering, Science and Technology) at Raleigh鈥檚 N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences on Saturday; UNC-Chapel Hill鈥檚 Science Expo on April 13, an open house event where the public can learn about research happening at the university; and on April 18, a night with celebrity chef Alton Brown at Durham鈥檚 Performing Arts Center. Brown hosts the Food Network show 鈥淕ood Eats.鈥�

At the NC Science Festival last year, families gathered to learn about a weather balloon.

鈥淎lton Brown could be the poster boy for the Festival theme, which is 鈥楲ife is your lab,鈥欌€� says Frederick. 鈥淲hether he鈥檚 inventing his own kitchen gear or showing you how changes in temperature affect food on a molecular level, Alton Brown is making that connection between science and everyday life.鈥�

A complete listing of events searchable by location, topic, and age range is available on the .

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Catherine Brand

Fed up with the frigid winters of her native state, Catherine was lured to North Carolina in 2006. She grew up in Wisconsin where she spent much of her time making music and telling stories. Prior to joining 吉彩网网站, Catherine hosted All Things Considered and classical music at Wisconsin Public Radio. She got her start hosting late-nights and producing current events talk shows for the station's Ideas Network. She later became a fill-in talk show host and recorded books for WPR's popular daily program, Chapter A Day.

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Laura Candler

Laura moved from Chattanooga to Chapel Hill in 2013 to join 吉彩网网站 as a web producer. She graduated from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in the spring of 2012 and has created radio and multimedia stories for a variety of outlets, including Marketplace, Prairie Public, and Maine Public Broadcasting. When she's not out hunting stories, you can usually find her playing the fiddle.

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