Second Fridays

Hands-on Activities

Create amazing light graffiti images using portable LEDs, build structures out of candy and everyday materials, or make a marble-sized roller coaster.

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Theme: Nanotechnology Night

Build A Mega Carbon Nanotube!

Carbon nanotubes are regular geometric structures of carbon atoms with fascinating properties, currently being researched at MIT. Join our MIT Science Sculptors and help build a ten-foot tall model these structures. We'll be building our model on a 1: 10,000,000,000 scale...give or take an order of magnitude.

5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Nanotech Workshop (Registration is full)

Think small! Batteries made out of viruses. Remote control medicine. Nanotechnology is making it possible. Professors Paula Hammond and Angela Belcher invite you to explore this rapidly changing field through a two-hour workshop of discussion and hands-on work with real nanotech materials.  For adults only.

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Theme: Celebrate Holography

Debunking Hollywood’s Holograms: An Illustrated Talk
Think you’ve seen holograms in the movies and on TV? Dr. Michael Bove from the MIT Media Lab will prove you wrong. See "holograms" in clips from Star Wars, CNN, and elsewhere. Compare those special effects with real holograms. Learn about the moving holograms being developed right now in MIT labs. In conjunction with the Sampling MIT exhibit.

5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

"Luminous Windows 2010" Opening

The MIT Museum’s second annual “Luminous Windows” winter exhibition of holography features artists and scientists who pioneered this revolutionary imaging technology. The curtain goes up starting from sunset—2 AM and runs until March 14, 2010.

GlowDoodle: Paint with Light!

Glowdoodle lets you paint with light... or paint with anything! Play with a collection of light-up toys, glowsticks, transparent and reflective materials to create light paintings. If you've got a computer with a webcam, you can continue the fun at home. Drop-in activity. Appropriate for all ages. Presented by Lifelong Kindergarten, MIT Media Lab.

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Theme: Art and Animation!

19th Century Animation: Make a Phenokistoscope
A phenokistoscope is a portable animation device. Spin it in front of the mirror and watch the pictures move! Learn how to make these and other animation contraptions, and hear about the science behind why they work.

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

20th Century Animation: Selected Shorts
Animation has come a long way since Gertie the Dinosaur. Come watch an eclectic selection of innovative short works (including hand drawn cels to stop motion to the hottest computer graphics). Films range from 1:30 - 20 minutes. Stop in for one or stay for all!

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

21st Century Animation: Create an Online Animation
Try your hand at making an animation with easy-to-use software on our pen-based computers. Save and share your creations online. For children and adults.

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

21st Century Animation: Meet Artists and Animators

Meet local animators Alex Ezorsky of AweSpark Productions and Bao-Yi Chang. See their work and talk with them about their process of creating animations. Talk with Jason Beene, Art Director of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game lab, about the art behind video games. See original sketches and illustrations, and learn how these get translated into the world of the game being produced at the lab.

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Theme: Darwin Day

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809. Celebrate his life and work at the MIT Museum on the 201st anniversary of his birth! Family audiences welcome.

Presentations and Demos - Evolution in Biomedical Research
Speak with scientists and engineers from the Page Lab and the Linquist Lab at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Learn about how processes of evolution are used in current biomedical research.
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Sneak Peak - From Orchids To Octopi: An Evolutionary Love Story
Listen to excerpts from the new play From Orchids To Octopi: An Evolutionary Love Story, by Melinda Lopez, presented by Catalyst Collaborative@MIT - Underground Railway Theater's science initiative with MIT. Commissioned by the National Institute of Health to celebrate the 150th anniversary of "On the Origin of Species," the play is a witty take on how we understand - or do not - the theory of evolution as set forth by Charles Darwin. The final production will be presented at the Central Square Theatre, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival in Spring 2010. Receive a special discount pass for the final production of the play when you attend the reading!
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Talk Back Discussion - Jonathan King and Debra Wise
Join the MIT Museum in the post-reading discussion with Jonathan King - MIT Professor of Molecular Biology, Debra Wise - the Artistic Director of the Underground Railway Theater, and the actors involved in the production.
7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Theme: Nautical Adventures

FEATURED PRESENTATION - "Race from France to France, Leave Antarctica to Starboard"
A talk by sailing's renaissance man, Rich Wilson

Hear about personal determination during a 28,790-mile ocean race from Rich Wilson, skipper of the Great American III, and Founder and President of Sites Alive. Wilson's sailing accomplishments are legendary – most recently he was the oldest sailor to complete the grueling round the world Vendee Challenge in 2008/9. Wilson will talk about this recent ocean race and discuss the educational mission that has been a driving force in his racing career.

"Sailing on the big ocean combines mental, emotional and physical challenges. No time-outs when the game plan goes awry; no substitutes when exhaustion sets in; no referee to keep things fair—just another thousand 50-foot-high walls of water that want to do you in."  Rich Wilson

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

SNEAK PREVIEW - MIT Nautical Association
New information will be available for the first time on the MITNA 75th Anniversary Fleet Renewal. Talk with MIT Sailing Master Fran Charles about the cool new boat designs and dock underway for 2011, which happens to also be MIT's 150-year anniversary!

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

DEMONSTRATION - Piers Park Sailing Center
Learn about innovative adaptive technologies for physically disabled sailors being developed by Piers Park Sailing Center in East Boston.  Speak with developers and users of the system and learn about the educational programs at the Center.

HANDS-ON - MIT Sea Grant College Program
MIT Sea Grant research is focused on underwater robotics and communication, aquaculture and fisheries, coastal management and biotechnology. Sea Grant staff will display a new robotic underwater vehicle and showcase their hands-on educational programming. 

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

UNDERWATER ROBOT - Bluefin Robotics
See a Bluefin underwater robot built in Boston -- Bluefin Robotics was founded in 1997, from a core team of MIT Sea Grant's Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory. A Bluefin systems engineer will display a Bluefin-9 underwater robot and discuss the vital jobs for these specialized vehicles.

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

CHANTEY SINGING - "The Lazy Jacks"
David Kessler, Lynn Noel and Gary Foreman will sing songs of nautical adventure.
5:00-8:00 p.m.

SHOW & TELL - Hidden gems from the Hart Nautical Collections
The Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections are one of the oldest and most extensive archives of nautical technology in the USA.  Several rare and interesting objects will be available for public viewing and questions.

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Theme: International Development Night
Please join us for a fascinating expo and reception featuring some of the latest innovations and technologies surrounding international development at MIT. Sponsored by MIT IDN.

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Theme: MIT Authors

Join members of the MIT faculty for book readings and discussions. Meet Penny Chisholm, Professor of Environmental Studies at MIT and author of the children's book Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life, as well as Nick Montfort, Associate Professor of Digital Media at MIT, co-author (with Ian Bogost) of the popular history Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System.

5:30 p.m. - Penny Chisholm's Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life

6:45 p.m. - Nick Montfort's Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System

Theme: Celebrating the Mind in Hand Exhibit

Come to the Museum for your last chance to see our history of MIT exhibit, Mind in Hand: The Making of MIT Scientists and Engineers. After over a decade, this gallery is being closed for renovations to make way for a new exhibit celebrating MIT's 150th anniversary, opening in January 2011. Come see objects that make MIT's history come alive like a nineteenth century Chemistry exam, computer punchcards from the 1970s, and the ever popular glass pumpkins. At 6pm, join gallery curator Deborah Douglas as she shares the stories of MIT's history and behind-the-scene anecdotes about this beloved gallery.

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Free admission to the galleries.

No additional activities for Summer 2010. Please join us in September for a new year of themed activities!

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Free admission to the galleries.

No additional activities for Summer 2010. Please join us in September for a new year of themed activities!

5:00 - 8:00 p.m.