In 2015, nearly 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, gravitational-waves were discovered by the LIGO observatories. Eight years later, tens of gravitational-wave sources have been discovered, changing the way we can explore the Universe and some of its most extreme objects. Come hear the latest news about gravitational waves and black holes.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

Meet neuroscientists from MIT’s McGovern Institute to talk about their latest discoveries in brain science, including new tools built from viruses and bacteria to repair the brain and listen to what neurons are saying to each other. Have fun interacting with brain-machine interfaces and artificial intelligence, and see real brains.

There are so many fun ways to trick your eyes and brain! Create your own optical illusion and explore how we take in and process visual information.

Join MIT professor Benedetto Marelli and Dr. Muchun Liu as they use biodegradable silk to replace microplastics in agriculture. With a live presentation and demos, discover how silk polymers can be micro-engineered to enhance productivity and reduce environmental impact.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

Can biomaterials build a more sustainable future? Decide for yourself in this hands-on workshop as you create colorful string from seaweed-derived polymers. Work together with your family, experiment with different formulas and extrusion methods, and put your creative skills to the test!

Supported by the Biogen Foundation.

Join Museum curators for a behind-the-scenes look at a few of their favorite objects from our vast collection.

During these talks, we’ll explore early synthetic material from the Arthur D. Little Company, including the first seamless garment and a lead balloon that was able to float. Learn about a nautical chart from the 1820s and dig into the citizen science and data collection behind early mapping efforts on the ocean. Find out how six French architectural drawings caused an international sensation when they were brought to MIT in 1902.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

The Charles River Floating Wetland was installed in 2020 to enable important research on artificial wetland technology. The pilot project met both climate resilience goals and created connections to the Charles River. Learn about the success of this pilot from the Charles River Conservancy and help design a look into the future by creating a vision for additional wetlands in the Charles.

Explore and experiment with mechanical motion as you create your own moving art. Along the way, discover how simple mechanisms like cams, linkages, and levers work to generate different types of movement.

Join us as we explore the intersection of science, innovation, and ethics. Genetics research is progressing at a feverish pace and increasingly impacting people’s lives and society as a whole. Can gene editing technology improve health equity or will it worsen existing inequalities? What is the impact of altering microbial, plant, animal, and human DNA on global health challenges?

Speakers from the Personal Genetics Education Project at Harvard Medical School will address the risks and rewards of using gene editing tools to change the world around us.

In fiction, writers and readers often focus on the hero’s journey. But protagonists don’t always start as heroes. They’re reluctantly shaped and molded by the obstacles they face along the way. What’s a good story without an equally strong antagonist? Join MIT MLK visiting scholar Christine Taylor-Butler for a discussion on the role of villains in children’s storytelling and the multiple forms used in advancing the plot and raising the stakes. The motivations or lack thereof might surprise you.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

Explore and experiment with mechanical motion as you create your own moving art. Along the way, discover how simple mechanisms like cams, linkages, and levers work to generate different types of movement.

Explore and experiment with mechanical motion as you create your own moving art. Along the way, discover how simple mechanisms like cams, linkages, and levers work to generate different types of movement.

In this interactive art project, participants create light paintings, viewable in real time, using a variety of light sources such as fiber optics and smart LEDs. At the end, a flash is triggered, illuminating participants in their painting.

A conductor’s jacket able to measure the physiology and movements of musicians was created by Teresa Nakra during her doctoral research at the MIT Media Lab with Professors Tod Machover and Rosalind Picard. Conductor Keith Lockhart wore the jacket during Tech Night at the Boston Pops in 1998, with animated sensor data projected above the orchestra. It is now part of the Museum’s collection.

In this presentation, explore the ideas embedded in the jacket design and watch a demonstration of the signals generated by a professional classical musician.

Did you know that pollutants move across the globe in complex and even chaotic patterns? Utilizing a large-scale interactive globe, join MIT Professor Glenn Flierl to explore how the jet stream and the weather systems affect these movements in both ocean and the atmosphere.

The museum is proud to present selections from the acclaimed Woods Hole Film Festival, a showcase of independent film and the oldest independent film festival on Cape Cod and the Islands.

The Artist & the Astronaut tells the unlikely love story between the artist Pat Musick, a civil rights activist, and the Apollo astronaut Jerry Carr as they participate in some of the most historic events in human history. The film is filled with never-before-seen footage of the early space pioneers and features interviews with key figures from that era. It chronicles Pat’s and Jerry’s vastly different paths as they traverse uncertain times, eventually coming together to render some of America’s most enduring art. The Artist & the Astronaut is an uplifting love story proving that curiosity, perseverance, and empathy for others can be powerful agents of change.

The story of the making of this documentary is as unlikely as the story depicted in the film. Bill Muench, a full-time teacher, and basketball coach, at the urging of his wife, decides to make a documentary on a local Vermont couple. He embarked on this journey with no plan or budget. In the next six years, he traveled to nine states and two continents to interview numerous Apollo Astronauts, their wives, award-winning authors, artists, art historians, and even NASA directors of mission control. Eventually teaming with music legend Todd Hobin, they produce a story that otherwise would have never been told.

A Q & A with filmmaker Bill Muench and composer Todd Hobin will follow the screening.

Explore the science of lasers with demonstrations, hands-on activities, and more! Learn about optics and the endless possibilities of laser technology.

Data visualization is a powerful tool for making sense of complex information, but it often relies solely on our visual sense to communicate insights. In this event, multidisciplinary designer Tiange Wang shares a different approach to creating and sharing data stories by incorporating additional sensory elements like taste, smell, texture and physical interaction into the mix. Engage in a hands-on design workshop where you can start to sketch out your own set of data wagashi to make and share.

Explore and experiment with mechanical motion as you create your own moving art. Along the way, discover how simple mechanisms like cams, linkages, and levers work to generate different types of movement.