Complete the scavenger hunt, available throughout CSF week at mitpressbookstore.mit.edu, then pick up your prize at the MIT Press Bookstore and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 bookstore gift card!

Scan this QR code to get started!

Be a planetary explorer! Take a self-guided tour of our Solar System from the Sun to Pluto, precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor, created by ​MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

Take a closer look at Surveillance: From Vision to Data, on view at Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. Join the curators for a talk introducing select objects, the multiple legacies of surveillance through data, and critical artworks that have resisted now ubiquitous data-driven surveillance. Then tour the exhibit to see for yourself how data shapes the nature of surveillance.

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

In this lecture, we will provide an overview of how Intellia is leveraging its CRISPR-based technologies to develop novel, potentially curative therapeutics. To fully realize the transformative potential of CRISPR-based technologies, Intellia is pursuing two primary approaches. The company’s in vivo investigational programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia’s investigational ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Join The Orchestra on the Hill’s Thomas Palance and Chris Florio as they offer compositions they have written based on the vibrations of amino acids.

The practice, using exact and approximate measured vibrations of amino acids as equated to the equal tempered musical scale, results in interesting possibilities in musical composition not yet explored.

The demonstration will be followed by an open discussion about the many possibilities for the use of this technique in new music and STEAM education.

Audience participation will be welcomed!

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.

Think you have what it takes to build an unsinkable ship? Join us for some stories, and then we will build boats out of tin foil. If your boat floats we’ll add pennies to see how much weight they hold! For children ages 5 and up and their caregivers.

Weather permitting, we will meet outside the front of the Museum of Science and walk approximately 4.6km, learning 4.6 billion years of Earth’s history along the way. This is a nearly three-mile walk along Cambridge Street to Cambridge Common. Wear comfortable shoes and prepare to be outdoors for a few hours.

Event organizer Nancy Lowe is an artist interested in the rich ecotone — the boundary territory — between art and science. She makes art with science themes, teaches art-science workshops, curates art-science exhibits and performances, guides art-science residency programs, and leads citizen science projects and other activities for creative science engagement. She worked for over a decade as a technician in labs focusing on pollination biology, insect-plant interactions, and large-scale ecology.

Complete the scavenger hunt, available throughout CSF week at mitpressbookstore.mit.edu, then pick up your prize at the MIT Press Bookstore and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 bookstore gift card!

Scan this QR code to get started!

Be a planetary explorer! Take a self-guided tour of our Solar System from the Sun to Pluto, precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor, created by ​MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

The City of Cambridge offers curbside food scrap collection to 30,000 households. Learn how the program developed, and how anaerobic digesters process our food scraps. Find out more about our community’s efforts to meet our zero waste goals.

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

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. ***

Tough Tech is transformative technology that solves the world’s most important challenges through the convergence of breakthrough science, engineering, and leadership. Come learn more at The Engine!

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

Together, we will learn about the environmental, social, and economic benefits of green roofs; green roof system types and FAQs; and why waterproofing, proper design, and maintenance are some of the most important aspects of a green roof. Learn about some of our exciting local green roofs, such as Fenway Farms at Fenway Park, the Boston Medical Center Rooftop Farm, Community Architecture Landscape Art (CALA) in Somerville, and many more.

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

MIT Sea Grant Marine Biology and Robotics Labs will be hosting tours of our facilities and hands-on activities, including driving a Sea Perch ROV as well as microscopes with local marine life and a touch tank with live animals to interact with!

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.

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.

The recent discovery of a marbled salamander larva by EwA volunteers in the Middlesex Fells illustrates the importance of participatory science to conservation research. In addition to collecting critical data, these science programs can foster a robust research community of scientists, field leaders, and local experts.

We invite you to attend EwA’s dynamic presentation and experience the power of conservation-action communities. Let us capture your attention and make you realize that you can help protect urban natural systems effectively.

Complete the scavenger hunt, available throughout CSF week at mitpressbookstore.mit.edu, then pick up your prize at the MIT Press Bookstore and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 bookstore gift card!

Scan this QR code to get started!

Be a planetary explorer! Take a self-guided tour of our Solar System from the Sun to Pluto, precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor, created by ​MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

Hear local musicians’ original electronic music designed for quadraphonic surround sound.

The MIT Spatial Sound Lab is a community studio for making immersive sound productions, including music, sound art, sonifications, accessible technology, sensory ethnography and more.

This mixtape presentation in 4.1 sound aims to highlight possibilities of listening from the margins, hearing a multiplicity of voices in new ways, and generating soundscapes to explore in relation to changing environments.

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

In recent years there has been a surge in tools that facilitate creative works using AI (such as DALL-E and Chat-GPT) and with that has come both creative uses for those tools and ethical questions around artist ownership and copyright. The NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) will host a workshop to share how these tools work and what ethical concerns arise in relation to them. Attendees will then be invited to submit AI-generated poetry and prose to be read and displayed at a reception. Anyone who submits will be entered to win a gift card. Refreshments will be provided.

This event is co-sponsored by the MIT Media Lab and is made possible with funds from the MIT School of Science Quality of Life program.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Have you ever wondered why forgetting is so common? Why you can be confident about a past event, yet wrong about the details? Why you can study hard for an exam yet be unable to retrieve the content? Why you can forget someone’s name almost as soon as they’ve told it to you?

This talk, by Professor Elizabeth Kensinger, Chairperson of the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Boston College, will explain why these occurrences are so common, and may challenge some of your ideas about why we forget.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

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 the local mycologist Lawrence Millman for an educational walking tour of Fresh Pond Reservation. Millman is the author of Fascinating Fungi of New England, the first guidebook dedicated to understanding New England mushrooms. Together we will learn about existing species, the history of different species, and their role in our ecosystem.

Registration is mandatory.

Have you ever eaten a Milky Way candy bar? Have you noticed how many everyday products are named after astronomy terms? Ever wonder about the science behind these popular consumer brand names?

For example, the candy bar “Milky Way” was named after our home galaxy — one of the many countless galaxies in the universe! POP! Astronomy is an educational video series and online science communications campaign featuring scientific presentations made by undergraduate students at MIT.

Join MIT Professor Anna Frebel for an interactive presentation or participate online by creating your own Pop! Astronomy graphic. Produced in collaboration with STEM on Stage.

www.popastronomy.com

Bring yourself, plant clippings (if you have them), and lots of excitement to the new home of Sasaki & the Sasaki Foundation in downtown Boston. Meet some new friends, learn about the science of propagation, have a drink, and celebrate Cambridge Science Festival. Never propagated plants before? No worries. Here is a useful guide for propagating common houseplants in water. Don’t have any houseplants? That’s okay, too! You can still participate, hang out, and go home with a new plant.

To ensure we have enough soil, planters, and snacks, please RSVP if you plan on attending.

We invite children and their caregivers to join us for a special evening story time event: learning fun things about the lives of famous scientists like Jane Goodall and George Washington Carver. This program will be held indoors at the O’Connell Branch Library and will run 20-25 minutes. Please call 617-349-4019 for more information.

Find out how the City of Cambridge is preparing to enter a new era of sustainable development! Come learn about our methods and strategies, and what our ambitious goal of fossil-fuel free construction means for our city’s residents.

Test your knowledge of the life sciences and the scientists behind these discoveries at a Trivia Night hosted by the MIT Graduate Womxn in Biology. There will be prizes for the winners!

Please note that Lamplighter’s taproom is 21+ after 5 pm and all guests must show a valid, government-issued photo ID. All space is first come first serve – make sure you reserve a spot for your team and come early to get a good seat.

Complete the scavenger hunt, available throughout CSF week at mitpressbookstore.mit.edu, then pick up your prize at the MIT Press Bookstore and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 bookstore gift card!

Scan this QR code to get started!

Be a planetary explorer! Take a self-guided tour of our Solar System from the Sun to Pluto, precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor, created by ​MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

Join us for a relaxing walk of Fresh Pond with Park Ranger Tim Puopolo! No two weeks are the same in nature, and Tim will share his insights about what’s growing, changing, and blooming in the neighborhood.

We will meet in the courtyard of the Collins Branch Library (64 Aberdeen Ave.) and leave together towards the pond. Registration is required. To register, call 617-349-4021.

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

In this workshop participants will learn how to understand and be able to respectfully use terminology relevant to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. Additionally, participants will learn tools for advocating for queer, trans, and gender diverse youth & adults. Participants will leave the workshop with a list of resources to further their education.

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

Join faculty from the Office of Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School for a lunch discussion on the importance of diversity inclusion in medical and STEM professions, hear about the strategies to strengthen educational and career pathways, as well as priorities for future action.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

MIT Assistant Professor Marzyeh Ghassemi has been at the forefront of bias in medical machine learning for several years. In this talk, she covers how we can prevent artificial intelligence (AI) from replicating the inequities and harms of human biases and why we shouldn’t be afraid of AI in health.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Join the Charles River Conservancy for a lunchtime kayak adventure on the river. Visit the Charles River’s first floating wetland and hear about the development of the project from idea to installation, and from engagement through envisioned expansion.

Please reserve your ticket by September 21st to guarantee participation.

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

There is an ever-growing demand for larger structures in space: Larger solar panels achieve greater power output, larger antennas achieve higher gain and resolution, and larger solar sails achieve faster propulsion. However, the state-of-the art approach for deploying such systems in space limits their size to tens of meters, due to issues with reliability, precision, and other challenges unique to the space environment. To overcome these challenges, we are developing a method for manufacturing large structures in space from raw feedstock. Our approach relies on deformation processing, solid-state joining, and electrostatic actuation to fabricate truss structures for various space applications. In this lecture Harsh Bhundiya will describe the proposed manufacturing process, our research progress, and our vision for manufacturing large structures in orbit.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Koch Institute cancer research spans all stages of the research pipeline—from bench to bedside. Our researchers ask fundamental questions about basic biological processes and invent new technologies to address critical cancer challenges. They launch startups as well as partnering with clinicians and companies to translate groundbreaking research into transformative tools and treatments.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

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. ***

Why do we age? Does every living thing age? How can some organisms live for over a century while others die in mere weeks? These questions have been on the minds of almost every natural philosopher for the past few thousand years, but modern advances in evolutionary biology and gerontology have only just given us satisfactory explanations. In this presentation, I will share some of the insights that brought aging from the realm of the supernatural to the realm of science. I’ll also talk about some remarkable organisms that appear not to age at all and what these organisms may be able to teach us about our own chances at combating the diseases of aging.

Christopher Rodriguez, Graduate Student, Reddien Lab, Whitehead Institute

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Human longevity potential colliding with our adoption and use of AI, automation and other technologies is collectively disrupting how we live, work, learn, and play. In this session at the Cambridge Senior Center, join MIT AgeLab researchers for a discussion exploring our current understanding of the evolution of the longevity economy. They will share key insights from existing projects focused on topics like the adoption of smart technologies for aging-in-place, research with the ‘oldest old’ of older adults and family caregivers, and use of an age empathy suit for education and learning. Learn from MIT-driven insight to maximize your 100 years of life. Light refreshments will be provided.

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

This is a quick introduction to offshore wind covering the fundamentals of wind energy, main components of the offshore wind farm, how it works, and an overview of the US offshore wind development.

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.

We invite children and their grown-ups to join us for 20-25 minutes of stories and songs about science, with a craft to take and make at home, while supplies last.

Join us for the unveiling of Multiplicities: An Artistic Exploration of Racial Disparities in Cancer Outcomes, a new art exhibit supported by the MIT Koch Institute and the health equity organization Nucarta. 

Research has shown that Black, Brown and minority communities hold the highest cancer burden of all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The exhibit consists of thought-provoking artworks that speak to the current state of cancer inequities and starts the conversation about how to eradicate health disparities in our communities. 

The exhibit’s opening night, timed to celebrate the Cambridge Science Festival’s Health Equity Day, will include talks from the artists and a chance to mingle with the artists and local scientists, engineers, health equity advocates, and health professionals.  

The Harvard Plate Stacks is presenting a special exhibition, Her Luminous Distance: The Legacies of Women Astronomical Computers at Harvard, in the rotunda and dome of the Great Refractor at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Free and open to the public, the exhibition celebrates the legacy of the Women Astronomical Computers and will illuminate to audiences the various disciplines and fields of study that have been inspired by these women and the astronomical photographs that they studied.

Get ready to be part of an exclusive behind-the-scenes reveal of iFp Emerging Innovators’ latest project: “Transforming AI: Equity, Justice, and You.”

Our Innovators, all aged 14 and up, are excited about the potential of AI tools. However, they are also deeply concerned about the rising mistakes and harms that come with the technology. Join us for a special open house event where you’ll get an insider’s look into our early research.

Your feedback will play a pivotal role in shaping the final version of “Transforming AI” which will run throughout the school year for students in grades 7-12.

We’re wrapping up the event with a fireside chat, moderated by iFp Innovators themselves. If you’re passionate about making AI more equitable and just for all, we can’t wait to welcome you!

This program is appropriate for adults and teens.

Join us for a free arts + science night at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology! This month we are partnering with Harvard’s Brain Science Initiative to explore our senses—from understanding our ability to perceive and process visual, smell, touch, sound, and taste stimuli to exploring how our brain “knows” when we feel hungry, thirsty, or excited. How does it all work? Meet Harvard scientists and students who are figuring it all out!

Come with a date, come with friends, or make new friends while learning about the brain and strolling through the galleries. Participate in activities, enter raffles to win museum gifts and memberships.

Handcrafted cocktails and mocktails by CraftHouse Bartending will be available for purchase. Valid government ID is required to consume alcoholic beverages.

Free and open to the public. Visit the event website for details.

Photo Courtesy of the Harvard Brain Science Initiative.

ArtsThursdays is a university-wide initiative supported by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).

MIT List Visual Arts Center will host the book launch for designer and editor Mindy Seu’s Cyberfeminism Index. The event will feature a performative reading by Seu and conversation with Kendra Albert.

In Cyberfeminism Index, hackers, scholars, artists, and activists of all regions, races and sexual orientations consider how humans might reconstruct themselves by way of technology. When learning about internet history, we are taught to focus on engineering, the military-industrial complex, and the grandfathers who created the architecture and protocol, but the internet is not only a network of cables, servers, and computers. It is an environment that shapes and is shaped by its inhabitants and their use.

Edited by designer, professor, and researcher Mindy Seu, it includes more than 700 short entries of radical techno-critical activism in a variety of media, including excerpts from academic articles and scholarly texts; descriptions of hackerspaces, digital rights activist groups, and bio-hacktivism; and depictions of feminist net art and new media art. Both a vital introduction for laypeople and a robust resource guide for educators, Cyberfeminism Index—an anti-canon, of sorts—celebrates the multiplicity of practices that fall under this imperfect categorization and makes visible cyberfeminism’s long-ignored origins and its expansive legacy.

You get what you give. Researchers, clinicians, business leaders, and policymakers are increasingly aware of how AI learns biases from datasets. Jameel Clinic researchers discuss what we can do to reduce bias when training machine learning models in health.

Get ready for a night of discovery, celebration, and scientific wonders at the inaugural ‘Discovery After Dark’ event, hosted by the Broad Discovery Center! Embrace the night with an atmosphere of excitement and curiosity as you explore the museum’s galleries and engage with interactive displays that spark the imagination. You’ll have the opportunity to network with museum staff and Broad scientists, who are eager to share insights and stories about the museum’s journey and the work in their labs.

Enjoy music by DJ Backspin, science-themed mocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres, cotton candy dessert cart, and a fun photo booth.

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required.

Further information at broad.io/AfterDark

Explore the NeuraFutures installation at Cambridge Public Library with a captivating 30-minute tour, offering a glimpse into the future of brain-computer interfacing.

Building on Braini‘s 15 years of experience in designing and creating the most cutting edge interaction – fusion between the brain and computer – this guided installation tour will touch upon the following questions: is it possible to implant memories? Read your dreams while you sleep? Communicate a thought between two different people on different continents?

Complete the scavenger hunt, available throughout CSF week at mitpressbookstore.mit.edu, then pick up your prize at the MIT Press Bookstore and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 bookstore gift card!

Scan this QR code to get started!

Be a planetary explorer! Take a self-guided tour of our Solar System from the Sun to Pluto, precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor, created by ​MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

Come to the List Center for your lunch break and join exhibiting artist Nancy Valladares as we consider the components of analog photography through looking at her work on view in List Projects 27: fields harrington and Nancy Valladares. PHOTO/SYNTHETIC is an ongoing series and investigation which unpacks the environmental and economic impacts of the use of silver in analog photography. During the hour, we will view the works in the galleries and move to discussion with Valladares over lunch combining an opportunity to learn and socialize.

Bring your lunch and beverages will be provided.

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

Today, we are closer than ever to realizing the dream of harnessing the nuclear process that powers our sun. This stellar process, called fusion, produces minimal waste and offers the hope of an almost limitless supply of safe, dependable energy. For over 40 years MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) has been exploring nuclear fusion as a source of energy through a series of tokamaks, devices that use magnets to confine hot plasma in a donut-shaped chamber. Visit the PSFC and learn how MIT is supporting the latest exciting fusion research. Limited to 25.

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

This interactive presentation showcases projects that combine traditional materials with modern tech like robotics, 3D printing, and Arduino inventions. See firsthand how technology enhances the creative process, inspiring innovation and pushing boundaries.

Whether you are an artist, engineer, educator, or simply someone who is curious about the intersection of these fields, this presentation is sure to inspire and captivate. Come join us as we explore the exciting possibilities of art and engineering in the modern age!

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Youth should be the centerpiece of climate education since they are the key stakeholders. It’s time to ensure that youth feel included, represented and invited to engage in curriculum and conferences as well as in the classroom. Hear from a young person about what their demands look like, how youth would like to plug in, and what institutions can do to support them.

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

The lecture is an engaging exploration of the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the field of cancer research. Discover how AI is revolutionizing cancer treatment and gain insights into the groundbreaking advancements that are shaping the future of cancer therapy. Prepare to be inspired as you witness the potential of AI to revolutionize the fight against cancer.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

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. ***