Exploring Your Universe 2013

Get ready for the most exciting day of science all year, the fifth annual Exploring Your Universe! 

Date: Sunday, November 17th, 2013

Time: 12 - 5 pm (with possible nighttime activities to follow)

Location: UCLA's campus

Admission is FREE for everyone!

著名學府 UCLA 多個科學學院聯手打造這個親子體驗日，用淺易的遊戲實驗將深奧的科學介紹給普羅大眾，今年已經進入第五屆，還增設了多個由名教授親自為小朋友主講的科學講座，讓孩子親身體驗和觸摸科學實驗和理論的難得機會，更可以在UCLA 漂亮的校園裡倘佯拍照，你又怎能錯過？

 

Lots of Fun Activities for All Ages

This year we have even more activities and groups than ever, including outside groups like the STAR Eco Station. We will feature many activities and demonstrations open to the general public, and we have added even more than last year! Activities for all ages include workshops, faculty and graduate student talks, planetarium shows, solar telescope viewing, comet making, weather tours, dinosaur fossils, physics demos and much more!

NEW for 2013 ~ Scientific Talks

A special session of talks by professors in the Earth and Space Sciences department in between our general lectures! (see below for schedule)

Participating UCLA Departments:

Astronomy Live!, the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Earth and Space Sciences, and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, ESSN, SMACS, Alpha Chi Sigma, BEAM, IEEE, OSA/SPIE, Neuroscience and Statistics. It is sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement, and each of the departments listed above. This event was developed by graduate students, faculty, and staff in each of these departments.

Traffic and Weather Condition

Exploring Your Universe will still be held even if there is rain. All outdoor activities will be moved into the Math Sciences Building, the Geology Building, and the Physics and Astronomy Building. The Info Booth will be at the Math Sciences Building. So rain or shine plan on coming, but maybe bring an umbrella just in case! Traffic - - Westwood Blvd will be closed north of National to Pico Blvd, from Friday night to Monday morning. Please use Overland or Sepulveda for detours on Sunday.

Event Schedule

The primary event will take place in the Court of Sciences with activities and demos at the Physics and Astronomy Building, Mathematical Sciences Building, Geology Building, and near Kinsey Pavilion. You are welcome to come for any or all of the festivities! Feel free to pick workshops and activities you are interested in attending.

Astronomy (12:00 - 5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences unless otherwise noted): 
- How the Sun works and solar telescope viewing 
- Stellar Evolution 
- Bottle Rockets 
- Comet Making Demo 
- Pocket Solar System and Asteroids 
- Constellation Detectives 
- Discovery methods for finding new worlds beyond our solar system 
- Planetarium Shows (Mathematical Sciences 8th floor): Every half hour starting 12:30 pm! Pick up tickets to planetarium at the Information Booth. 

Physics (12:00 - 5:00 pm) (Physics and Astronomy Building - PAB): 
- Physics Demonstrations: 2:30 and 3:45 pm. 
- Lasers and Optics 
- Waves and Vibrations 
- Rotational Motion 
- Electricity and Magnetism 

Earth and Space Sciences (12:00 - 5:00 pm)(Geology Building unless otherwise noted): 
- The Shocking World of Electricity 
- Dinosaurs and Fossils 
- Earth: Inside and Out 
- Mineral Gallery 
- Natural Disasters (Court of Sciences) 
- Meteorite museum 
- Build Your Own Hurricane (Chemistry quad) 
- Your Local Space Neighborhood: 
     - THEMIS: Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms 
     - ARTEMIS: Studying Space Weather 
     - Dawn: Investigating the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch 
     - Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment 
     - ELFIN Satellite: See UCLA's first Satellite! 

Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (12:00-5:00) (Court of Sciences): 
- Exploding Marshmallows--Expand marshmallows using a vacuum pump! 
- Can Crushing--See how pressure can crush soda cans! 
- Tornado-in-a-bottle--See and create your own vortexes! 
- Cloud-in-a-bottle--See clouds being made right before your eyes! 
- Portable Weather Station--Talk with experts about conditions and get an updated forecast for the day! 

CEIN - Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
- What is nanoscience, and what is special about nanoscale science and engineering? 
- Hands-on activities for all ages.  Q&A with scientists 

Environmental Sciences (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- Plant a seed and what it grow at home 
- Sustainable Practices 
- Solar Power Demo 

Chemistry (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- Find out how to make a bubble bomb for baths 
- Find out what floats on top of what... and what floats on top of that! 
- Watch food get frozen with liquid nitrogen 
- Eat liquid nitrogen ice cream 
- Make some "elephant toothpaste" 
- Inflate a balloon with only water, sugar, and yeast! 
- Check out a homemade kid-safe lava lamp 

Engineering (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- Discover microbes using microscopes 
- Program robots to obey your command! 
- Learn how circuits work! Make your own circuits! 

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- See live salamanders and tide pool animals! 
- Extract DNA from fruits and plants! 

OSA/SPIE (Optical Society of America/The International Society for Optical Engineering) (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- Explore how optics work! 

Neuroscience Brain Readers (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- See brains! Learn what normal brains look like to doctors and challenge yourself to guess which brains are from patients with epilepsy. 

STAR EcoStation (12:00-5:00 pm) (Math Sciences Building): 
- See animals and talk with professional animal caretakers! 

Mathematics and Statistics (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences): 
- Guess how many marbles and jelly beans there are, and how many of each color there are! 
- Play a guessing game and see if you can beat theory! 
- Solve the Monty Hall problem! 

SCIENTIFIC TALKS:

General Talks (located in Kinsey Pavilion)
Note! There has been a change in talk schedule. 

1:30 - 2:00: Dr. Wes Campbell (Physics) 
Your Smartphone Is Made of Science: The Amazing Physics of the Common Cell Phone 

2:30 - 3:00: Dr. Richard Kaner (Chemistry) 
Fun with Plastics 

3:30 - 4:00: Dr. Jean Turner (Astronomy) 
Tuning in on the Radio Universe 

4:30 - 5:00: Dr. James Rosenzweig (Physics) 
Miniaturizing the Accelerator: Taking the World's Largest Scientific Instrument from Km-Size to the Table-top 

5:30 - 6:00: Dr. Michael Rich (Astronomy) 
Amateur Stargazing and Big Science: Discovering Colliding Galaxies from Lockwood Valley 

ESS Special Talks (located in Geology 3656): 

1-1:30pm - UCLA Prof. Jean-Luc Margot 
Life in the Universe 

2-2:30pm - UCLA Prof. Ed Rhodes 
Natural Disasters: What's Next? 

3-3:30pm - UCLA Researcher Alan Rubin 
Meteorites: From the Asteroids to the Earth 

4-4:30pm - UCLA Researcher Jean-Pierre Williams 
Flash! Bang! Cosmic Impacts into Earth

Information for Visitors

Purchasing Food:

In the Ackerman Student Union, which is very close to the Court of Sciences, there is food for purchase. 
Carl's Jr. -- A Level -- 8:30am - 4pm 
Jamba Juice -- A Level -- 11am - 4pm 
Kerckhoff Coffee House (light food fare as well) -- 2nd Floor -- 8am - 11pm 
Sbarro -- 1st Floor --11am - 3pm 
Panda Express -- 1st Floor -- 11am - 4pm 
Rubio's -- 1st Floor -- 11am - 3pm 
Rx Candy Store -- 1st Floor -- 11am - 4pm 
Wetzel's Pretzels -- 1st Floor -- 11am - 4pm

Driving and Parking Information:

Bus Information:

       Recommended Routes: # 761, 2/302, 305

Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica): http://www.bigbluebus.com/
       Recommended Routes: # 1, 2, 3, 8, 12

Culver City Bus: http://www.culvercity.org/bus/
       Recommended Routes: # 6