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ImageThe Sciencenter celebrates NanoDay on Saturday, March 28, with free admission, and more than 20 special hands-on activities and family-friendly presentations about nanoscience and nanotechnology.  Co-sponsored by the Sciencenter and Cornell University, NanoDay in Ithaca is part of a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering. The Sciencenter in Ithaca developed ten of the NanoDays activities that will be used across the country at more than 200 science museums and research centers.

The local community can experience these activities - and over a dozen more - firsthand by visiting the Sciencenter on Saturday, March 28, from 12 to 4 p.m. During the 2nd annual NanoDays™ celebration, Sciencenter visitors can get a taste of cotton candy and learn about spinning nanofibers, extract DNA and put it in a small tube to take home, and make a nanoparticle stained glass artwork and add it to a giant hanging sculpture. Kids can dress up as a nanoscientist in a head-to-toe "bunny suit," and investigate surprising materials like sand that doesn't get wet - even under water! - and a liquid that acts like a magnet. Other activities include making a pretend nanobot craft to take home, using your nose as a nanoparticle detector, and measuring yourself in nanometers.

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At 2 p.m., Sharon Gerbode of Cornell University will introduce the field of nanoscience, and describe her research on squishy crystals. Sciencenter visitors can also get a sneak preview of a new PBS television episode on nanosilver filmed right here in Ithaca by DragonflyTV. The episode, filmed at the Sciencenter and Cornell University, features local children and research. The complete NanoDay event program is available on the Sciencenter web site, www.sciencenter.org <http://www.sciencenter.org>. Free admission to the Sciencenter on March 28 is made possible by the Cornell Center for Nanoscale Systems Institute for Physics Teachers.

NanoDays™, which takes place nationally from March 28 through April 5, 2009 is the largest public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education and involves science museums and research centers from Maine to Hawaii. Regionally, science museums in Rochester, Schenectady, Syracuse, Buffalo and Troy will also be hosting NanoDays™ activities. The Sciencenter is one of seven hubs nationally in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE NET). Through activities like NanoDays™, NISE Net is building partnerships between science museums and research centers to increase the capacity of both kinds of institutions to engage the public in learning about nanoscale science and engineering.

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