Santa Barbara, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara will host special education activities and exhibits, designed to educate and engage the local Santa Barbara community in the growing fields of nanoscale and nanotechnologies, at UCSB’s Elings Hall on Saturday, April 5, from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  These activities are hosted by the California NanoSystems Institute and the NSF Center for Nanotechnology in Society at UCSB, and are part of the first annual “NanoDays,” sponsored by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) Network, a national education effort during the week of March 31 – April 6, 2008.  Interactive education activities are designed for ages 8+.  All are welcome to attend this free event.

Hands-on activities include:

•    Demonstration of the special ability to recognize nanoscale objects using scent; simulation of the difficulty of nanoscale design using Legos and oven mitts; construction of models of carbon nanotubes using Post-Its™; and exploration of the nanoscale size range using paper and scissors.

•    Exploring Too Small To See-2, a nanotechnology education exhibit, designed for children ages 8 and up which includes many hands-on activities such as viewing common objects through microscopes at varying magnification levels, building atomic models; learning how scientists manipulate matter at the nanoscale with the Atom Transporter, and interacting with projected images of molecules in a salt crystal to see changes that occur when energy is added.

Additional education activities include:

•    Presentations of research by Graduate Fellows with the Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS), a National Science Foundation-funded center to explore the historical context of nanotechnologies, the institutional and industrial processes of nanotechnological innovation and global diffusion, and public risk perception and response to nanotechnologies.

•    An interactive display of consumer products using nanotechnologies that are already on the market, such as stain-free fabric, lens cloths, metal polish, and memory storage devices such as CDs and DVDs.  The Woodrow Wilson Project on Emerging Technologies recently identified over 500 such consumer products already on the market. Other sites participating in the NISE Nano Days are the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Discovery Center (Springfield, Missouri), the Science Works Museum (Southern Oregon), and the California Science Center (Los Angeles).

All Nano Days exhibits and activities are free and open to the public. 

Parking is available for $3.00 in UCSB’s Parking Lot 10.  Campus maps are available online: http://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/toosmalltosee/directions/index.php

Science Background

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of materials on a very small scale.  One nanometer is one billionth of a meter.  By comparison, DNA is two nanometers wide, a red blood cell is 10,000 nanometers wide, and a single strand of hair is 100,000 nanometers thick.  Nanotechnology holds great potential in virtually every sector of the economy, including electronics, medicine, and energy.

WHAT: NanoDays, a series of education activities and exhibits designed to interest and educate the local Santa Barbara community ages 8+

WHEN: Saturday, April 5, 2008, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

COST: Free