Kids of all ages, from toddlers through grandparents, braved unusually cold temperatures to attend AAAS’s free public event, which began yesterday and concludes today in the America’s Center.
At registration for Family Science Day, each kid gets a bouncy ball that lights up and makes noise and ricochets in many directions. On the Science Stage, a different show premiers every hour. I saw the first one, called “Cloud Nine,” where an educator from Weatherworks.com demonstrated how to make a cloud in a bottle: Add a little water, a bit of smoke as “seed particles,” and close the bottle. Adding pressure by squeezing the bottle creates clouds that impressed the kids. But the spectators were more intrigued by “fossilized raindrops.” Spray a little water in some cornstarch, filter off the cornstarch and voila—the droplets can be stored in a bag!
[SCIENCE STAGE In the Cloud Nine show, people comprise a bar graph that shows how the temperature has dropped in the past few days. Photo by Rachel Petkewich]
Visitors also stopped at various booths. For example, people from the Aerospace Systems Lab of Washington University in St. Louis demonstrated how a large spacecraft moves around a smaller one. Monsanto brought a bus that visits local elementary schools and is called “My Investigation Station,” complete with biological specimens and a kid-sized climbing cave. Volunteers from the St. Louis Zoo discussed burying beetles, which have red spots that distinguish them from other beetles. But the longest line formed near the “roadway.” The St. Louis Science Center marked a winding road on the floor where visitors could test out a Segway.
But what is that dull roar in the background? Not a Segway. Lions from the zoo? More like thumping bass. I investigated and discovered that Family Science Day shared a wall with a motocross pit party. That’s where fans paid $10 admission to meet their favorite motocross riders and pick up motocross-related freebies before the Amp’d Mobile Supercross series competition kicked off at the Edward Jones Dome next to the America’s Center. Family Science Day had a steady stream of visitors, but nothing like the 45,000 motocross fans expected at the Dome.—Rachel Petkewich, filed at 7:54 AM CST