Mar 30 2015
Montana State University will offer an evening of free, family-oriented events on Monday, April 13, as part of a nationwide celebration called NanoDays/MicroDays, which will delve into nanotechnology, as well as other small-scale science and engineering research.
All events take place from 5-7 p.m. at the Strand Union Ballrooms on the MSU campus. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
The main theme of the event is nanotechnology, an emerging field in which scientists and engineers study and manipulate matter at the atomic and molecular scale to develop disease-fighting drugs, alternative energy solutions, ultra-strong sports equipment and many other applications. The evening will help both kids and adults understand nanoscience and its impacts on society in a fun and easy-to-understand format.
For the first time ever, this annual event will feature other small-scale – but larger-than-nano – science and engineering projects, including microbiology research in Yellowstone National Park.
Visitors can stop in at any time for activities and demonstrations such as examining hydrogel, extracting DNA, viewing nanogold, and learning about static electricity. Several new activities have been added for 2015.
At MSU, researchers are using nanoscience to develop targeted vaccines, magnetic materials for electronics, and catalysts for producing hydrogen. Nanoscience is an emerging field that blends chemistry, physics, engineering and other areas of science, and is one of the country's top research priorities. Many other students and faculty are involved in small-scale (but not nano) research, including studying the micro-organisms that live in Yellowstone’s hot springs and the bacteria that help plants absorb nitrogen from the soil.
NanoDays / MicroDays is sponsored by MSU Extended University and Montana NSF EPSCoR. For more information, visit http://eu.montana.edu/nanodays
Source: http://www.montana.edu/