You’re invited to a film screening at the Museum! Students in the Museum’s Upward Bound program have been serving as Eco-Ambassadors to south Florida’s unique environments, and with support from a State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant, have created their own Public Service Announcement videos. These videos are meant to bring awareness to the environmental issues in our community, such as water conservation and the exploitation of our natural resources. Check out the flyer below for more information, and we’ll see you there!

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.

With the help of a State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant and the Museum’s Reclamation Project, students participating in the Museum’s Upward Bound program are serving as Eco-Ambassadors to south Florida’s unique environments. We have all seen the PSAs (public service announcements) that make you stop and think, like NBC’s “The More You Know…” series. Now, our student Eco-Ambassadors are creating their own PSAs in a 5-day One Water Workshop. They’re learning about the whole process of creating a PSA, from scripting to filming to editing, and doing it all themselves in small groups of 4 or 5. The teamwork and creativity brought out in a project like this represents the same kind of effort that we need to apply to involving our communities in environmental conservation. These students are taking a first step towards that goal, by creating their PSAs on topics ranging from natural resource exploitation to restoration to environmental economics. The final films will be finished on January 7, and will be posted to the Miami Science Museum and State Farm Youth Advisory Board websites. So be sure to check back! Because the more you know…

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/dive-into-the-museums-underwater-festival/ http://www.miamisci.org/blog/dive-into-the-museums-underwater-festival/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:52:37 +0000 admin http://www.miamisci.org/blog/?p=2971 Continue reading →]]>

The Museum was flooded last weekend with visitors who came to dive into our 2^nd annual Miami Underwater Festival. Friday night kicked off the event with showings of award-winning French and English underwater films from the 39^th Festival Mondial de L’image Sous-Marine, including The Surprise Salmon, narrated by Jeremy Irons. And the film festival continued on Saturday with an evening of marine conservation films sponsored by COSEE Florida and Beneath the Waves Film Festival. Throughout the weekend, lots of special guests came to shed light on fascinating underwater worlds, and the amazing creatures that call water home:

Dr. Ted Caplow of Fish Navy Films showed his film Fish Meat: Choose Your Farm Wisely, and talked about how to support sustainable fish farming (for example, eat the “bottom feeder” species)… Dr. Mike Heithaus of Florida International University talked about all the incredible research they are doing in Shark Bay, one of the world’s most unique ecosystems… Julian Sprung of Two Little Fishies discussed new trends and species in ornamental marine aquaculture (everyone loved seeing all the new blends in hybrid fish coloration)… Dr. Lisa Krimsky of NOAA’s National Sea Grant Office talked about lionfish, which are an invasive species in south Florida (this means they are not native to the region), and the problems they are causing for native species. This was followed by a yummy lionfish taco tasting prepared by Chef Alan McLennan… Expert divers Nick Morrell and Jason Bacon of the Miami-Dade Reef Guard Association shared tips on the best places to dive and the fantastic things you can see there… and Chris Olstad from the Marine Resources Development Foundation connected with the Museum via videoconference from Key Largo, and let visitors here at the Museum remotely operate an underwater vehicle in the ocean!

For those visitors who wanted to really get their hands wet, there were workshops to learn how to set up and maintain an aquarium (and a raffle to win your own new aquarium), activities to learn how things float, interactive story time with Oscar from the Miami-Dade Public Library, displays of fluorescent coral, viewings of WPBT2’s Changing Seas, and an exhibition of underwater photography by the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. If you really wanted to get up close, you could even dissect a squid (if you could stomach it). And of course, when you are showing award-winning French films, the weekend would not be complete without a delicious French breakfast by PAUL, sponsored by the General Consulate of France in Miami and partners.

We are just starting to dry off after our weekend underwater, but we are already looking forward to diving in again next year!

What you’ll see in our Sea Lab, or diving off south Florida

Visitors dissect squid in the Museum’s Sea Lab exhibition

Starfish can grow a whole new body from just a single limb!

Elizabeth and her family meet a seahorse for the first time

Zach meets a diver while remotely operating an underwater vehicle

Algae living in these coral fluoresce under ultraviolet light

With the increase in number and strength of hurricanes over recent years, it’s important to know how to deal with these natural phenomena. To help the public learn what it takes to predict, prepare for and protect against a hurricane, the Miami Science Museum, in collaboration with State Farm and Florida International University, opened its brand new “Hurricanes” exhibit over Thanksgiving weekend. If you are willing to brave the exhibit, you can test your skills against an impending disaster with a hurricane preparedness game, see real artifacts from Hurricane Andrew, test a model house against hurricane-force winds using a model Wall of Wind, and even climb inside a full-scale P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft. While in the aircraft, you will be headed into the eye of a hurricane, thanks to the large-scale wall mural painted by local artist Jiae Hwang. At the heart of the exhibition is the interactive spherical display known as the “Magic Planet,” which, thanks to a contribution from CSX, has been enhanced with a live climate change presentation led by Museum explainers. The Magic Planet enables visitors to explore connections between hurricanes and global climate change, with a focus on possible impacts on South Florida. During hurricane season, the 4-foot spherical display will even display real storm tracks. “This is a very important time to showcase the hurricane exhibit,” said Miami Science Museum CEO & President Gillian Thomas. “Severe weather is becoming more prevalent and serious across the globe, and South Floridians in particular need to be aware of how to prepare and protect themselves before, during and after hurricanes.” Admission to the “Hurricanes” exhibit is included with regular museum admission.

Artist Jiae Hwang paints a wall-sized hurricane

Piloting the P-3 hurricane hunter

Testing a house against a “wall of wind”

]]> http://www.miamisci.org/blog/hurricane-exhibit-has-made-landfall-at-the-miami-science-museum/feed/ 0 http://www.miamisci.org/blog/committee-moves-full-steam-ahead-on-plans-for-the-2013-galaxy-gala/ http://www.miamisci.org/blog/committee-moves-full-steam-ahead-on-plans-for-the-2013-galaxy-gala/#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:00:03 +0000 admin http://www.miamisci.org/blog/?p=2909 Continue reading →]]>

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.

In 1949, The Junior League of Miami’s Project Finding Committee decided that the children of Dade County needed a place to explore, expand their minds, and experiment with the world around them. In other words, they needed a science museum. And it only took a year to get the ball rolling with a lot of momentum. The Junior Museum of Miami opened in a house on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 26th Street, but it didn’t take long for it to outgrow its first home. After a few years, moves, and name changes, the Museum opened at its current location on the grounds of the historic Vizcaya complex – and now, it’s growing even more, with construction under way for the new Patricia and Philip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami. It all began with a simple but clear vision from The Junior League of Miami, and the League continues to support the Museum today, over 60 years later. As visitors to the early science museum will tell you, children would come from all over just to see “the beehive in the chimney.” So, what better way to support the Museum than to bring back the bees? (The non-killer kind.) With a donation from the Junior League of Miami to build a brand new beehive exhibit, and help from Bunch Farms in installing the hive, the next generation of Dade County’s children can see (and even hear) inside the busy buzzing lives of bees.

Junior League President Katie Lane Arriola, Museum President Gillian Thomas, Junior League Past President Dana Martorella

Junior League of Miami members are joined by their kids, with Museum President Gillian Thomas, by the Bees exhibit

Bee Puppet Show!

The new Bees exhibit

The busy buzzing bees at the Museum

When Orlando Figueroa was a child in Puerto Rico, the early years of the space race captured his imagination, and he wondered what it would be like to travel into space. After achieving multiple degrees in mechanical engineering in Puerto Rico and the U.S., he accomplished, in a big way, his childhood goal. He has served as the Director for Mars Exploration and the Director for the Solar System Division in the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters, and also as the Deputy Center Director for Science and Technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. And he was one of the many people behind the successful Curiosity Mars rover. You can see why he has been given the unofficial title of “The Mars Czar!” Mr. Figueroa came to speak at the Museum recently as part of an event held by PROFESA, the Puerto Rican Professional Association. PROFESA works to help strengthen Puerto Rican community organizations, and is anchored on three pillars: culture, network, and empowerment. Young people from the community who were here to listen to Mr. Figueroa could see not only see that hard work pays off, but also see that with inspiration and lots of determination, you can even become a Mars Czar.

Orlando Figueroa, “The Mars Czar”

The Mars Czar with future professionals

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