Around The World in 90 Minutes

We had a great time with Marty Essen on July 10-11. If you missed it, here's an interview with the author and explorer. For more information on Marty or his book, visit www.coolcreatureshotplanet.com

Kelly: So tell me about your show.

Marty: My show features interesting facts, humorous stories, and the best of thousands of photos I took while traveling the world for my book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. It's the type of show where the audience has fun laughing at the stories, oohing and aahing at the photos, and then, when it's all done, they realize just how much they've learned.

Kelly: Sounds like fun! How did this all begin?

Marty: Around the World in 90 Minutes began as a show that I presented in bookstores as part of his first book tour. Later, after numerous refinements, the show took on a life of its own in colleges, museums, and nature centers across the United States. In fact, it has been APCA’s (a major college activities association) #1 booked lecture for eight months straight.

Kelly: Can you tell me and the parents some of the highlights?

Marty: Highlights of my show include: amazing animal facts, debunking animal myths, cuddly wallaroos and spiny walking sticks, charging elephants and howling wolves, deadly snakes and friendly penguins, bizarre creatures and endangered species, swimming with piranhas, kayaking in the rainforest, hiking with the Porcupine caribou migration, rafting with humpback whales, and surviving a hippo attack in Zimbabwe!

Joel Gordon on...Backyard Science

JOEL GORDON with daughter Lily

I had the pleasure of conversing with Joel Gordon, Museum of Discovery Exhibit Director, about Backyard Science, a cool new exhibit at the Museum. Joel designed and installed this exhibit, so he has a lot of cool insights about it.

KM: So, what is the exhibit BACKYARD SCIENCE about?

JG: The point of Backyard Science is to teach that science is everywhere, it’s not a far out discipline reserved for mega-geniuses, it’s all around us. What we want people to take away from BYS is an excitement and urge to explore their own back yard. When kids are watching the ants in their back yard, it’s science. When rain clouds gather, it’s science.

KM: "Backyard science" seems to be a buzzword lately. Can you tell us why?

JG: If you get online and search “back yard science” you’ll get hundreds of pertinent hits. You will see kids doing experiments at home on You Tube, you’ll see instructions for doing experiments yourself with your kids. It’s a popular movement that encourages a real connection with the sciences all around us.

KM: You designed this exhibit, right?

JG. Yes. I designed it and the Museum of Discovery cooperated with the Arkansas Discovery Network to build the exhibits. I wanted to see a few exciting exhibit pieces that spanned a range of disciplines. This gives our kids a chance to show us what branch of science they could get excited about. Biology, physics, astronomy and earth sciences are some of the disciplines children will be exposed to.

KM: Why is Backyard Science a smaller exhibit?

JG: BYS is a small exhibit for two reasons; we don’t want to overwhelm, we want to entice and encourage discovery at home and we want this exhibit to travel easily. The Network wants this exhibit to travel to other parts of the state and give smaller communities an opportunity to benefit."

Thank you so much Joel, for giving us blog readers some firsthand information on Backyard Science.

Backyard Science is now open and part of the Arkansas Museum Road Trip. The exhibit was developed by the Museum of Discovery in cooperation with the Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. We want to thank Bank of America for sponsoring.

Remember that on these HOT summer days, the Museum is a GREAT place to visit! Leave us a comment and let me know all about it!

Tammi Helmick & Robinson Elementary: TOP SCHOOL TEAM 2009

We'd like to introduce you to TAMMI HELMICK.

Ms. Helmick is a teacher at Robinson Elementary and a fitness buff who has championed Dino Dash for the past several years at Robinson.

Ms. Helmic's team has been the #1 school team for the past several years, including 2009! Her team will be treated to a pizza party for the kids at the Museum of Discovery this fall.

Earlier this year, the Museum of Discovery kicked off its 2009 Dino Dash registration drive by having an event at Robinson Elementary.

Robinson students, like the one pictured here, shared why they like Dino Dash.

Jeff and Lisa from B98.5 attended and congratulated the students for their work well done.

Jeff Maher, Race Director, showed Robinson students the big stuffed dino that we raffled off at Dino Dash.

Leah Thorvilson, Little Rock Marathon winner and Dino Dash 2009 1K starter led a lively warmup activity and dino prizes were given out.

Tammi was given a dinosaur puppet (donated by TOY UP!) as a thank you for her hard work. Thanks, Tammi, for being a great supporter of fitness and of the Museum of Discovery! We'll see you this fall for your team's pizza party!

A great 10th Dino Dash & Discovery Fest!

We had a great time at Dino Dash and hope you did too! Please share your experiences with us!

Big thank you to Verizon Wireless, our presenting sponsor!

Be sure to visit our event photographer's web site at jaywhitephotography.com to view and purchase event pictures. A portion of proceeds benefits the Museum!

Race results are available at www.MuseumofDiscovery.org and www.ArkansasRunner.com

We would also like to thank our other sponsors: Bancorp south, the Heritage Corporation, Burger King, VCC, First Security, Wilkes and MuHugh, PA, Little Rock Athletic Club, Bird and Bear Medical, Lamar Advertising, Flake and Kelley Commerical, AR Children's Hospital, Sage Partners, Susan and John Sharpe, and our media sponsors, B98.5, Little Rock Family, and KATV Channel 7

Look forward to hearing your Dino Dash experiences!!

Robert Lang, physicist and origami artist

ROBERT LANG - Physicist and origami artist, featured in our new exhibit SCIENCE & ART

From the time he was a child Robert Lang was passionate about rendering beautiful figures from nothing but a square of paper. His skill in folding origami and in mathematicsled him to become one of the pioneers of a branch of origami known as origami sekkei, or‘technical origami” in which computer algorithms aid in the creation of crease patterns for highly complex sculptures. In 2004 he became a full-time origamiartist, after nearly three decades as a physicist and engineer, during which he authored or co-authored over 80 technical publications and was awarded 40 patents involving semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics. Robert Lang is recognized as a master in the rarified world of origami artists.

Science and Art

There's a new exhibit coming on May 9 to the Museum....called Science and Art! This promises to be an AWESOME exhibit.

Here's a model of what the exhibit will look like. Come to the Museum to see the real thing!


This is a behind the scenes look at one of the parts of hte exhibit being designed. The steel structure will hold signage and exhibits.


At SCIENCE & ART, you'll find out:
- why some artists have to know or learn a lot about science in order to do their work.
- how some art can convey scientific ideas and help people understand them.
- It’s cool to be interested in and good at both art and science

We are so thrilled to have Robert Lang, an origami artist featured in the Science and Art exhibit. His work is so amazing, I can't wait for you to come check it out!



Be SURE to mark your calendars to check out this cool exhibit, opening May 9 at the Museum! I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of it!

Going Green at the MOD

Going Green....are you doing it?

The term "going green" is very popular right now. From recycling at home to using environmentally friendly materials to build a corporate headquarters, everyone is "going green." Learn more about preserving our earth and how you can help at GO GREEN, a special event at the Museum of Discovery that runs April 29-May 2.

We will have many events going on, and many things to do in the Discovery Court. Your kids will:

- See examples of building materials used in the construction of the award-winning Clinton Presidential Center
- Explore under the hood of a pickup truck from Chesapeake Energy that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG) and learn how you can convert your own vehicle to CNG
- Examine eating utensils and cups made from potato starch used by Boulevard Bread
- Discover how to apply sustainable techniques to gardening and animal care,
- Taste organically grown vegetables.

We all can join in the going green movement, and this is a great way to teach our kids some practical ways to do it! Join us April 29-May 2 while we GO GREEN at the Museum!

A big thank you to our sponsors, GO GREEN is sponsored by Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Kroger and FTN Associates.

Buggin' You!

We're enjoying BUGFEST at the Museum of Discovery. Sing along.

BugFest - Sponsored by Central Termite and The Bug Man

Did you know that insects are found in nearly all environments on the planet and play a crucial role in human lives? Come to BugFest 2009 - sponsored by Central Termite and The Bug Man - coming up April 22-25 at the Museum and discover more facts about our creepy crawly friends!!

Exhibits throughout the Museum will highlight insects' habitats, behavior and life cycles. Educators will teach about the important relationship of insects, plants and humans as they answer all your creepy-crawly questions and share facts about some of the world's most interesting bugs.

My personal favorite? We have a very special race, where visitors can cheer on their favorite cockroach at "The Great Hissing Cockroach Races," held in the Discovery Court. Over 3,500 species of cockroaches exist worldwide and they are capable of living over a month without food. Learn more about cockroaches, beetles, bees and more. Sounds like fun!

Plan on attending BugFest 2009, sponsored by Central Termite and The Bug Man. We'd love to hear your comments if you did make it!

NanoDays

Did you make it to the 2nd Annual NanoDays 2009? We would love to hear your feedback, and even better, submit a picture to us of your time at the Museum.

Do you know what 'nano' means? Ask a kid you know--he or she might have been part of the several school groups that visited April 1-3. Students participated in activities and demonstrations about nano science, including measuring the size of their hand and their height in nanometers!(Things at the nano scale are very tiny--one billionth of a meter, or in other words, 60 carbon atoms across!) Students also learned that things at the nano scale behave differently than larger amounts of the same material.


On Saturday April 4, many visitors to the Museum learned about nano technology by participating in several activities such as measuring their hand or height in nanometers,helping to create a giant carbon nanotube balloon sculpture in the Discovery Court,


watching water bead up and roll off of plants such as lotus and cabbage (why? because nano-sized bumps on the leaves make the water bead up and roll off--called "The Lotus Effect")