If you read the recent post on this blog and were hoping for a real time-lapse video of the construction so far on our new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, your wish has been granted. The following video was released today, and condenses months of work into just 14 seconds. Watch closely!

If you’ve ever seen one of those time-lapse videos – bustling crowds at Grand Central Station, swirling clouds steadily forming into a hurricane, or construction workers erecting a building bit by bit – it really makes you appreciate the action in a whole new way. In the case of those clouds, if you see just one image, it may look calm and serene. But if you see a sequence of images showing a hurricane forming, it can feel like an intense, dynamic spectacle. It’s kind of like a zoetrope, which is a device that has been around for thousands of years, that gives the illusion of motion through a series of images in rapid succession. In the image below, the little girl is watching the zoetrope at the Miami Science Museum.

When the little girl leans down to look through the slits in the side of the rotating cylinder, the images of the still-frame horses appear to be one galloping horse.

Documenting the construction of the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science is like that zoetrope. On any given day, a photo can be taken of lots of workers doing their jobs bit by bit. But looking at a few photos in sequence, you can begin to see the changes in action. Just imagine how the building and these workers would look in a time-lapse video. Or even through a zoetrope. Stay tuned for more action!

June 20, 2012 (For reference, notice the new Perez Art Museum Miami under construction in the background, and the Adrienne Arsht Center to the left)

September 10, 2012 (from the same viewpoint)

November 28, 2012 (from the same viewpoint; the Arsht Center is just off the image to the left)

It’s important for children – the next generation – to understand that food doesn’t magically appear on grocery store shelves. Growing food takes knowledge and skill, and in an urban environment like Miami, it’s important for our health, as well as the health of the environment, to have locally grown food. Hydroponics, the growing of plants using mineral nutrients and water – without soil – is a sustainable method of food production that provides more opportunties for urban gardening. The Museum has recently built on-site hydroponics exhibits, and now, with grants from the Dunwalke Foundation and the Envionmental Protection Agency, is working to install small hydroponic gardens at local schools.  The Museum’s Sara Tomeo, who is leading the project, is working mostly with 4th and 5th grade students from several area elementary schools, including Barbara Hawkins, North Miami, Miami Springs, Mater Academy East, Southside, and Coconut Grove,  as well as Nature Links, an organization on Virginia Key that specializes in helping young adults with disabilities.

Teachers at partner schools are encouraged to have groups of students help plant the system, and so far, eager students have done much of the work in setting up many of the systems. The goal is to have students learn to grow their own food throughout the school year, learn where some of the food they eat comes from, and see how different plants grow. Additionally, each school will learn how urban gardening can be applied based on the location of each school.  For example, many students in Southside Elementary, located in Brickell, live in high-rise buildings, and this project will teach them that they can have a garden at home - even if they don’t have a yard!

Barbara Hawkins Elementary: Students’ indoor hydroponics system, called “Emily’s Garden System,” sits on a classroom table with an adjustable grow-light to promote growth.

Barbara Hawkins Elementary: Students planted basil, rosemary, lemon balm, a tomato plant, and lettuce. Science teacher Craig Uptgrow has students monitoring growth rate, taking height measurements, and keeping records of what they do with the system.

Sara Tomeo has a background in Environmental Design and has worked as an intern at Disney’s “The Land” pavilion at EPCOT, working in hydroponic greenhouses. Sara has now helped to design and build the hydroponic exhibits at the Museum, and will play a role in the Museum’s plans to build aquaponics systems, which is another kind of sustainable food production system involving aquatic life.

It can be difficult for some schools to provide opportunities to get their students to the Museum. And it’s a goal of the Museum to involve our entire community (and beyond) in the amazing adventure of science. So through our Science Stars program, we are making an effort to go out into the community to reach those students who are not able to visit us. Between now and the opening of our new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, we will work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to select nine schools per year and connect that school with a “Science Star” who will give a special presentation about their field of science and what inspired them to pursue that career. Each school, along with children’s families, will then be invited to a free event at the Museum where they will receive a free 1-year family membership to the Museum – so they can come back again!

In December the program continued with a visit to Comstock Elementary School with Science Star Lindsay Bartholomew. With a background in physics and astronomy, and currently the Science Curator for the Miami Science Museum, Lindsay shared stories about what inspired her to pursue a career in science (those first glimpses at the Moon through a telescope, hearing from her Grandpa at 5 years old that the Sun was 93 MILLION miles away), and shared other stories about some unique experiences that continue to inspire her (like going on an expedition to Antarctica to learn about climate change). During the presentation, students were taken on a trek into Antarctica (did you know that baby penguins go to “penguin kindergarten” when they’re old enough for their parents to go get dinner, but not quite old enough to be left alone?), and then on a journey through the solar system (did you know that Saturn would float if you could find a bathtub big enough?). Then Lindsay led the students in a Jeopardy-like trivia game, and made a scientific discovery – Comstock Elementary has lots of potential future scientists!

Do you know the question for this trivia answer in the “Planet Puzzle” category? The students did!

Channel 10 reporter Christina Vazquez speaks with Museum President Gillian Thomas at the construction site for the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science

Museum President and CEO Gillian Thomas, Vice President of Marketing Tony Lima, and the workers at the construction site for the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science had a very special visitor this week. Channel 10 WPLG reporter Christina  Vazquez joined them on “the plaza level” of the new Museum building – which was a first for everyone!

The visit resulted in a piece aired on Wednesday evening’s newscast, as well as a Channel 10 webpage to support our story. Click here to watch the broadcast, read the story, and see lots of amazing photos!

For humans, if your home has a recognizable scent, that may or may not be a good thing. But for bees, it is a necessary part of life, and of finding its way home. Bees find their way to their own hive because of a distinct scent that they can recognize. If you want to see a real beehive up close, and safely, you can even come to the Museum and see our beehive exhibit, made possible by the Junior League of Miami.

Because bees are are so beguiling in many ways, they are the subject of one of the Museum’s Early Childhood Hands-On Science (ECHOS) curriculum units. After receiving training on the materials from Museum education staff, pre-school teachers throughout Miami-Dade County and Head Start schools, lead the children in exploring their world, as well as the bees’ world. The children learned first-hand that bees know which hive is their own only by the scent, by becoming bees themselves. Each was given a cup with a scent, and they had to explore their classroom to find the hive that matched their scent. But they did not want to stop exploring even after they found their hive. One wanted to draw his own beehive based on the ECHOS Busy, Buzzing Bees book, one wanted to see how the beehive model in the classroom compared to photos of real hives, and a couple wanted to match up the scents of all the “hives” in the room. These children in the photos below are true explorers.

A lone mangrove seedling

On Saturday, December 8^th, 60 Upward Bound Eco-Ambassadors joined a group of volunteers from Miami-Dade College in replanting almost 1,000 mangrove propagules at R. Hardy Matheson Preserve. The Preserve is undergoing a major management effort by Miami-Dade County to remove exotic plants, replant native habitats such as mangroves, and create a multi-use protected area for recreational activities.

In all, over 100 volunteers participated in planting mangrove seedlings that had been exhibited on a wall at Miami Science Museum since November 2011, as part of the Museum’s Reclamation Project.  Specifically, they planted young mangrove plants along the banks of the Snapper Creek, a historical waterway. Not only does Snapper Creek have historical significance, as evidenced by a 500 B.C. Tequesta Indian habitation mound, but it is also one of the largest tracts of coastal native habitat in Miami-Dade County. Until recently, the banks of the creek where the volunteers planted were covered in large mounds of landfill which were dumped there as part of periodic dredging of the creek for the purpose of recreational navigation. These mounds were also, until recently, covered in invasive plants such as Australian pine and Brazilian pepper, and devoid of any native vegetation. Thanks to the efforts of these Eco-Ambassadors, this area will once again be covered in mangroves and associated plants which will provide food and shelter for native birds, mammals and reptiles, such as the endangered American crocodile and the West Indian manatee.

This effort is being funded by a State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant to engage local teenagers in restoring local habitat, outdoor learning and telling their own stories about South Florida’s natural areas through film. Click here for more information on the Reclamation Project, the Eco-Ambassadors, and the State Farm Youth Advisory Board.

The eco-ambassadors gather to start the day

The group wades into the water to replant mangroves

According to a new report just released by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), average sea level around the world is projected to rise anywhere from 8 inches to over 6 feet by 2100.  That seems like a large range, so what does that mean?  NOAA developed the sea level rise range based on four scenarios, that include varying amounts of ice sheet loss  in Greenland and West Antarctica and different levels of ocean thermal expansion (warming of the ocean waters).  From 1900 to 2000, the average global sea level rose 8 inches, so it seems safe to say that another rise of 8 inches would be the absolute minimum we could expect by 2100.  At the high end, a rise of over 6 feet would occur if global ice sheets melted at the worst-case rate between now and 2100.  However, the rate at which glaciers and ice sheets will melt is the greatest source of uncertainty in sea level rise projections. No one has the answer for this difficult scientific question, as there is a lot more that goes on with ice dynamics than meets the eye.

So what does all this mean for South Florida?  Regional projections in sea level rise are a tough, but necessary business. While we can try and hope for the best, officials need to plan for large changes in sea level. (Better safe than sorry, right?)  South Florida is particularly vulnerable, with a large population along the east coast and the unique and fragile Everglades to the west. Not to mention the fact that Florida sits on top a limestone bed, which is very porous and allows for rising seawater to intrude into our freshwater drinking supply. Also, even a small increase in sea level can lead to a greater chance for urban flooding events, especially during storms (think Hurricane Sandy).  We all know that South Beach already floods during an afternoon thunderstorm, so this could very well become a more frequent occurrence throughout South Florida.  And depending on the extent of sea level rise, some places could disappear altogether. In the images below, you can see what Florida will look like (and which areas will be underwater) if the sea level rises to a given level. If you want to experiment with what U.S. coastlines will look like as the sea level rises, go to NOAA’s Sea Level Rise and Coast Flooding Impact Viewer.

To learn more about sea level rise and storm surge threats, come visit our two exhibits Water, Wind and Waves: Miami in a Changing Climate, funded by NOAA, and Hurricanes, funded by the FIU’s International Hurricane Research Center.

The Miami coastline, with a 1 foot increase in sea levels. Shades of blue indicate areas underwater; green indicates low-lying areas.

The Miami coastline, with a 3 foot increase in sea levels. Shades of blue indicate areas underwater; green indicates low-lying areas.

The Miami coastline, with a 6 foot increase in sea levels. Shades of blue indicate areas underwater; green indicates low-lying areas.

]]> http://www.miamisci.org/blog/put-on-your-rain-boots-the-water-is-rising/feed/ 0 http://www.miamisci.org/blog/taking-nature-back-with-eco-art/ http://www.miamisci.org/blog/taking-nature-back-with-eco-art/#comments Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:15:10 +0000 admin http://www.miamisci.org/blog/?p=2921 Continue reading →]]>

In recent times, it seems more and more difficult for humans to avoid negatively impacting nature. But that does not mean that we can’t make a positive impact. The Museum’s eco-art Reclamation Project works to help restore our coastal environments. You can see these efforts every day, on an exterior wall by the Museum’s Wildlife Center. More than 1,100 mangrove seedlings are lined up in biodegradable cups, waiting to be replanted at several restoration sites scattered throughout Miami. Each year, when all the seedlings are taken to be planted, 1,100 more seedlings are brought in to replace the ones that were taken out. This year, as part of a grant from State Farm Youth Advisory Board, students from the Miami Science Museum’s Upward Bound Math and Science program replaced the 1,100 red mangrove seedlings on the wall with new ones they had collected in September from Bear Cut Preserve on Key Biscayne and Matheson Hammock County Park. The seedlings taken down off the wall will be replanted by the Upward Bound students over the next couple weeks at R. Hardy Matheson Preserve, a Miami-Dade County Park, and on Virginia Key. As part of the same grant, students also visited a restoration site at  Oleta River State Park that is currently covered in invasive species. In the spring, students will help restore the site by replanting 1.5 acres. Through these activities, students begin to have a first-hand understand of the importance of nature – because humans and animals need nature in order to survive, and nature certainly needs our help to survive as well.

2013 Galaxy Gala Committee (from left to right): Patty Garcia, Irene Korge, Linda Levy Goldberg, Lizette Martino Diaz, Tori Anderson, Rose Weiss, Alan Randolph, Alicia Cervera, Anne Owen, Tara Solomon, Gillian Thomas, Trish Bell, Nancy Batchelor, Nicole Lozano, Jennifer Diliz, Maria Goodno, Steven Arch, Jennifer Gibbs, Terry Buoniconti, Swanee Dimare, Maria Beguiristain, Kristen Scorza, Abigail Dubearn. Not Pictured: Ana Maria Bezerra, Debora Duro, Joseph Falk, Vanessa Grout, Lee Hare, Caressa Lanier, Lesley Lyons-Monahan, Bronwyn Miller, Brenda Nestor Castellano, Helena Poleo, Kim Smith, Electra Spillis, Elizabeth Taylor, Susie Wahab, Dale Webb, Steven Weinger.

Under the leadership of co-chairs Nancy Batchelor and Nicole Lozano, along with a stellar committee of the leading ladies and gentlemen of Miami’s business and philanthropic communities, the Committee for the 2013 Galaxy Gala is off to a great start!

Scheduled for March 9, 2013, the gala’s theme this year will be centered on an out of this world aquatic experience. The inspirations are the outdoor aquatic spaces and the 600,000 gallon aquarium facility that will be featured in the museum’s new facility at Museum Park. Among the many amazing elements conceived by Miami’s top event planning/marketing company WOW Factor for the gala are: live fish tanks, an LED screen over the dance floor that will make guests feel like they’re truly under the sea, and a few surprises that will blow guests out of the water!

Committee members have already helped line up top sponsors that include Neiman Marcus, Bacardi, City National Bank and Baptist Hospital, among others. In addition, they have secured a line-up of top-notch, luxurious items for the auction that range from a Gucci handbag and Rene Ruiz gift certificates to a 2-night stay at the Shore Club and box seats to the Sony Ericsson tennis finals.

The gala is taking place just as the construction on the new facility continues to progress. Designed by internationally recognized Grimshaw Architects, the 250,000 square-foot Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science will be among the world’s most innovative and sustainable science museums. According to Grimshaw, the Museum is intended to act as a demonstration of ecological and sustainability principles. The building will harness energy from water, sun, wind and even museum visitors to power exhibits and conserve resources.

Slated for completion in 2014 and grand opening in 2015, the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science will be state-of-the-art center for science education and innovation.