We do have a new home for the blog. It’s here:

Saskatchewan Science Centre blog

We’re still working on some formatting things, but I have actually posted new entries so go have a look! It’s now housed within our website, which as you’ll see is completely redesigned. And every time I create a new entry for the blog, the title and the first few lines are displayed on the main page of our website. We have an RSS feed for the entries, but we’re still working on getting one working for the comments.

I’ll post again here once everything is to my liking, but I didn’t want you to think I forgot about you!

Stay curious,
Collette

You will notice next week that this blog won’t have anymore new posts. Why? Well, we’re getting a new website! Why? Because our old one was old. It was only about 4 years old, but in internet time that’s kind of like 100 years! Things move quickly on the internet. The old site was like taking a horse and buggy to town, where the new one will be like taking a space ship to the International Space Station! Well, something like that anyway.

At any rate, the new website will have a blog built right in! So, you won’t need to come to this site anymore. A bit sad, I know. I love this WordPress blog. But, things change I guess, so let’s be happy and dance around instead. I know I am! (My poor colleagues! All they hear these days is, “and the new website will do this! And this! And this!”)

Once the new website and blog are up and running, I’ll come back here and let you know the new address. The new site should be up next week sometime, and hopefully I’ll be up and blogging right away. I promise to come back and tell you the new address! I won’t be long. In the meantime:

Stay curious,
Collette

The Ig Nobel Prize is for achievements that first make people laugh then make them think. I like that!

Some of the winners were a man who cracked the knuckles on one hand but not the other for 60 years to see if he would get arthritis in one hand but not the other, a couple that showed that cows with names produce more milk than unnamed cows, and a trio of researchers who decided to figure out if it’s better to be hit on the head with a full beer bottle or an empty one.

So, should you stop cracking your knuckles? Find out here!

Stay curious,
Collette

It’s Fact Tuesday! I’ve started asking fellow employees of the Saskatchewan Science Centre to tell me their favourite science fact. Here is one from Clinton, our GO! science Outreach Coordinator:

I was recently surprised to learn that the female praying mantis doesn’t always kill her mate after mating.

I did a little bit of research on this, and it seems that they tend to kill their mate more often in captivity than in the wild. I thought that was pretty interesting too!

Clinton’s fact today also reminded me of a photo that I saw recently of a praying mantis catching a hummingbird! Here it is:

Photo by Sharon Fullingim, published on National Geographic Your Shot

Stay curious,
Collette

Two of our board members, Bruce Crouter and Paul Korns, plus our Director of Exhibits and Programming, John Snell, as well as our Executive Director Sandy Baumgartner served the food to the crowd. Here’s Sandy serving up some sausages:

Discovery Jones came out to say hi to the kids. High fives and hugs were the order of the day:

Bruce, Discovery, and Paul taking a break for a photo opportunity:

There are all sorts of videos on the internet of dancing babies, but we have a Dancing Sport Scientist! Let me introduce you to Keir:

We do our best to always entertain, so here is Kim, our Manager of Corporate Development, and Dave from Visitor Services showing off their pancake flipping and catching skills:

They got pretty good at it and Kim could flip them pretty high before Dave had problems catching them:

They did this for hours! So eventually, we had two pancakes going at a time. That, um, didn’t last too long though, ha!

(Click on any of those photos to make them bigger — and in particular check out the face of the lady on the left in this one!)

Adding to the general fun of the day was Jessica performing our Wow Stage Show outside in the tent for the kids:

We were grateful to have such beautiful weather, and we enjoyed getting to know the 400 or so folks that were able to make it out to this event. I even ran into some of the Masney kids and their mom Angie!

For more photos of the day, including the giant pancake (wow!), have a look at the Flickr set.

Stay curious,
Collette

On September 3rd for an evening of thanks, we brought together some of our corporate members, sponsors, partners, and major donors for a little party.

We had a climbing demonstration going when people arrived:

We created some special drinks:

Served some gorgeous food:

Put together some teams of people who did not arrive together:

Sent everyone to all corners of the Saskatchewan Science Centre on a Scavenger Hunt:

And then ended the evening with the Cryogenics Stage Show:

We were really happy to see that everyone had such a great time! We received several phone calls and emails over the next few days thanking us for a fun time. But the whole thing was created to thank them! Our partners are very kind! We were really glad that the Scavenger Hunt and team introductions were so enthusiastically received as well — we wanted our corporate friends to get to know each other a little better. Perhaps this is the beginning of some partnerships of their own?

We have more photos in the Flickr set, as usual, and I skipped a few details so go ahead and have a look. And hey, if you’d ever like to do something like this for your company or organization, please just ask! We are a great place for parties, team building, employee appreciation events, and whatever else your imagination can create. We have a phenomenally creative staff here, that’s for sure.

Stay curious,
Collette

It’s Fact Tuesday. Today’s fact is about today, in fact.

Today is the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth. This is the classical name of what is occurring today — that the Earth’s axis is tilted neither towards nor away from the sun. Some people prefer to say that it’s the September equinox, though, because while it’s the beginning of autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s actually the beginning of spring for those in the Southern Hemisphere!

Are you happy that autumn is here? Do you have a favourite part about autumn?

(Also, nobody has answered the question I posed in this entry, which means nobody has won the tickets to an IMAX film! Here’s a hint: the guy dressed up probably has a pretty phenomenal view of the sun today!)

Stay curious,
Collette

It’s Fact Tuesday! I’ve started asking fellow employees of the Saskatchewan Science Centre to tell me their favourite science fact. Here is one from Kim, our Manager of Corporate Development:

Lake sturgeon go back over 100 million years, to the time of the dinosaurs, and they’re considered a “living fossil”.

I did a little research on lake sturgeon myself and I found even more fascinating facts:

• In the wild, sturgeon seem to enjoy tail walking (standing above the water on their tails and moving backwards), especially in warmer weather. They also jump out of the water and twirl around. Kinda like dolphins!
• They don’t have scales like most fish, but bony plates instead.
• They used to be considered a nuisance because they damaged fishing gear, so they were simply killed and dumped back into the water. Then they were considered a delicacy, so they were overfished. Now they are protected by limited fishing.

You can read more about lake sturgeon here and here. They’re really neat-o fish! We actually have two here at the Saskatchewan Science Centre so I took a few photos for this post. They are super fun to watch! In fact, they move around so much it was hard to take a good photo, so I took some video as well. Have a look:

They are currently living in a tank in our Uranerz Lab in the basement while we wait for a new habitat to be built. I can’t wait until they’re out on the exhibit floor and accessible to the whole public. They really are fascinating!

Stay curious,
Collette

First, you’ll be interested to know the films. We’ve chosen the following five:

The Magic of Flight — it’s from 1996, making it the oldest one we can get our hands on right now. It’s a retrospective film festival, so we want to play films that you haven’t seen in a really long time, or that you haven’t seen at all. As far as IMAX presentations go, 1996 is pretty old. Heck, as far as movies go — 1996 was the year Scream was released, which revolutionized an entire genre!

Amazon — also an oldie but goodie, it’s from 1997.

And then here we get into films that are not so old, but very popular and entertaining by all accounts:

Vikings: Journey to New Worlds — it’s from 2004. If you didn’t catch it back then, this is one of few chances you’ll have to catch it.

Hurricane on the Bayou — it’s from 2005 and it was also voted as Fan Favourite by you guys! In response, we’ll play that one three times during the festival, instead of just twice.

Wild Ocean — okay, this one is from 2008 and it’s not old at all. But, it is our brand new really fantastic film that’s in our current rotation and we think you will like it!

Our opening night is Monday, September 28th, and we’ve decided to play our oldest and our newest film together. So, at 7 p.m. you can catch The Magic of Flight, and at 8 p.m. you can watch Wild Ocean. I’ve seen Wild Ocean and it’s pretty fantastic, and I think it will be fun to contrast the new fish movie with the older jet plane movie!

The rest of the schedule is on our website if you’d like to have a look. You’ll also find a synopsis for each film as well. The only one I’ve seen is Wild Ocean, so I’m really looking forward to going to the festival as a patron myself.

Oh, and prices! I haven’t mentioned that yet. Usually a film at the Kramer IMAX Theatre is $7.50, but we’ve knocked that down to $5 for the festival showings. And, a double feature is only $9. And, if you are a member, we’ll knock that down another 20%. It’s our 20th Anniversary and we want to do something nice for you for being so good to us — so enjoy!

Stay curious,
Collette

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Yesterday we had a quick little contest here for patrons to guess the number of bricks in the 9 foot tall space shuttle that the public helped build way back in May.

Lowest answer: 100
Highest answer: 100 trillion

Of 120 entries, very few were actually close. Lots of people guessed way under, in the 10,000 range, and lots guessed way up in the millions. A few were around the 400,000 mark.

Actual answer? 260,000. Of course we don’t know the exact number, but that’s as close a number as we have.

Now, I’d better call the winner to let him know he can pick up his prize — a LEGO sign autographed by Robin Sather, Canada’s only LEGO Certified Professional!

Stay curious,
Collette

It’s Fact Tuesday! I’ve started asking fellow employees of the Saskatchewan Science Centre to tell me their favourite science fact. Here is one from Outreach Explorer Jayne:

Permineralization, the process of becoming a fossil, does not necessarily take millions of years. Objects can permineralize quite quickly, but in order to be considered a fossil, an object must be at least 10,000 years old.

Definition of fossils from our Dino Ranch exhibit

Stay curious,
Collette

From left to right is Megan, Meghan, and Marcy!

(By the way, if you can figure out who that cutout guy is, I’ll give you 2 free tickets to a regular show at the Kramer IMAX Theatre! First person to comment correctly who does not work for the Saskatchewan Science Centre will win — make sure you put a valid email address in the required box. I can see that on my side, but nobody else can so don’t worry!)

They used some of the prizes we’ll be giving away when we show this Sunday’s Labour Day Classic football game at the Kramer IMAX Theatre. (Find out more about the event here.) We’ve sold a lot of tickets, but we do have tickets left if you and your friends want to watch the game on the giant screen! Call the Kramer IMAX Theatre box office at 522-IMAX, or come on by.

Stay curious and Go Riders!
Collette

It’s Fact Tuesday! I’ve started asking fellow employees of the Saskatchewan Science Centre to tell me their favourite science fact. Here is one from Meghan from Visitor Services:

You only need 23 people in a room to have a greater than 50% chance of having two birthdays on the same day. This has certainly been proved true in this office, try it out in yours and then read the science.

It really works too! Last week we had a little birthday party to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Saskatchewan Science Centre, plus the birthdays of all of the staff. 21 people wrote down their birthdays on a poster, and Diana and John had the same one!

Stay curious,
Collette

Yep, it’s true. Watching the game on your neighbour’s 52 inch television pales in comparison to watching it on the 5-storey IMAX screen that is as wide as two school buses end-to-end! Add to that over 10,000 watts of 6 channel, 4 way stereo surround sound and you have yourself a football experience!

We are looking forward to a sea of green, so we’ll have prizes for costumes! We’ve also arranged for food and drinks (also known as beer and pizza) for sale, plus as always we’ll have popcorn and soft drinks available at the concession.

Tickets are only $20 to celebrate 20 years of the Saskatchewan Science Centre. We’re hosting this event in conjunction with a bunch of other activities in the next few weeks. To buy tickets, call the Kramer IMAX Theatre box office at 522-4629 or come by today. Or for a few more details, have a look at our website.

Stay curious,
Collette

In the meantime, we are still compiling a list of movies that will be shown and you can help! On one of those nights, we will feature a Fan Favourite from our list of library films. So, how about a poll? Let us know which film you’d like to see. Maybe you’ve seen it? Maybe you missed out when it was in our regular rotation? Either way, we want to know what you want to see.

Results will be revealed on September 14, so tell your friends to come vote!

It’s Fact Tuesday! Time for some truth.

It was on this day, 400 years ago, that Galileo showed off his telescope to the Senate of Venice. And while Galileo’s telescope gets credit for a whole lot of things (like proving that the Sun is the centre of our universe, not the Earth), Galileo didn’t actually invent the telescope. The person who gets credit is a Dutch man named Hans Lipperhay. Hans invented a basic telescope the year before that magnified things by three times. But Galileo’s improvements to the basic one, first by magnifying things eight times, then later on that year by 20 times, lead the way to many scientific discoveries that we base our science on today.

According to this story, apparently people really do walk in circles! I know sometimes it just feels like we do, but now we all have science on our side.

Biomimicry is when humans develop sustainable technologies inspired by nature. One famous example is Velcro, which was inspired by looking at burrs stuck in dog hair. Check out 14 more cool examples of biomimicry.

This is more about general technology rather than pure science, but I loved reading this next article. Back in June, the BBC invited a 13-year old to use a Walkman for a day, instead of his iPod. My favourite quote is, “It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.” Ha! I can somewhat relate actually — last year we listened to tapes during a rainy day at the cabin, and the first time we needed to flip a tape over we just kind of stared at each other thinking that it sure hadn’t played very long. Oh right — two sides!

One last little science news bite for you today. I like this compilation of 10 differences between the North and South Poles.

Stay curious,
Collette

I’ve never written a movie review before, but hey there’s a first time for everything. I’ll try!

Wild Ocean is a documentary about the annual fishing frenzy that happens every year off the coast of South Africa. Billions of sardines make their way up the coast and the dolphins, birds, seals, sharks, and humans are right there to get in on the action. And what action! Imagine swirling “bait balls” of fish (one review likens it to a huge underwater beehive), gracefully swimming dolphins, menacing shark attacks, and birds plunging from dizzying heights to thump down into the ocean to spear their prey.

Go check out the trailer here!

Now imagine all of that on a 5 storey screen and the powerful sound system that defines the IMAX experience!

As you can see, the film has a very strong environmental message. The smooth-voiced narrator tells us about how the local people have put fishing limits upon themselves, and about how important marine preserves are to maintain this circle of life that is vital to everyone. Wild Ocean is not just about the fish, but about the people who rely on them, and how those people take the survival of the fish very seriously. But this documentary isn’t entirely serious — some of my favourite scenes contain the beautiful dancing and singing of the locals. While the environmental message is strong, it is definitely not heavy-handed.

Another star of the movie is the music. The creators of the percussion-based performance group STOMP did the music to this film, and it’s clear that they know how to tell a story through music. It lifts you up, gets your heart pounding, and then changes direction to tell another part of the story.

I was really impressed with Wild Ocean, and I think it’s excellent for all ages. Little ones will like the fish and love the dive-bombing birds, and adults will be swept away with the music and the vast landscapes. And despite this being a documentary about hunting, it is exciting without being too scary for anyone too sensitive.

Wild Ocean opens tomorrow at the Kramer IMAX Theatre. Among other show times, it’s playing all weekend at 8pm if you’d like to take a date!

Stay curious,
Collette

That is Barb. He is pretty cool. He? Yep, he! The people who donated him gave him that name, and we like it quite a lot. Today I learned that Barb eats about 80% greens and 20% insects. Most of the week he gets salad, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays he gets 4 or 5 crickets. Yum!

Here is some more info about Barb:

(Click on it if it’s too small to read.)

And here is where Barb lives:

It used to be the home of the boa constrictor, but we needed to make space. And luckily for Larry, our boa, we have some very excellent people who made him this gorgeous habitat.

Larry and I were having a chat the other day, and he tells me he loves the new digs. He looks pretty happy to me.

Stay curious,
Collette

Can you tell that I watched the Cryogenics Stage Show here at the Saskatchewan Science Centre the other day?

I also learned that cryogenics is the study of very cold temperatures. I always thought that cryogenics just meant freezing people! I didn’t know it was actually a much broader term.

So, I took a few photos of the show. Here is Science Explorer Danny amazing the crowd with some very cold liquid nitrogen:

When the cold liquid nitrogen hits the ground (or really, before it even hits the ground) it warms up and turns into a gas. We learned all about gases, liquids, and solids. I liked the way Danny explained it all. It was pretty cute! The kids liked it and so did I.

And here’s more liquid nitrogen fun — monster fog! Or, pour some liquid nitrogen into a container of very hot water:

And the kids getting a chance to feel how cold the fog is:

Have you ever seen one of our stage shows? Feel free to comment about it — I’d love to know your favourite! The Cryogenics Show is the only one I’ve seen so far, but I would definitely like to catch a few more soon. We have about four shows a day here, every day. If you come to visit, you should definitely sit in on one. Best of all, once you’ve paid your general admission, it’s free!

Stay curious,
Collette

Julie is on her way to Sudbury to go to school to become even smarter (as Chad puts it). She claims she’s not going to come back and steal my job, but she’s taking Science Communications so I’m not so sure. But, I guess I should believe her — who wouldn’t trust this face:

Also, check out this announcement letter that Julie put up and you’ll see how much her staff loved her:

Bye Julie! (And also, hello to her replacement Nicole!)

Stay curious,
Collette

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival has announced that Wild Ocean will be a finalist in the following peer-judged categories:

• Best Sound
• Best Editing
• Best Special Venue project

Wild Ocean has already won the Earthwatch Film of the Year Award, plus it was a finalist for two Panda awards at the Wildscreen Festival for Best Film-Theatrical and Best Music.

Thanks to all the buzz it’s getting, and no wonder since it was produced by the creators of STOMP (the music is going to be amazing!), I’m getting really excited to see Wild Ocean! August 21 — just two more weeks! Have you seen the trailer yet?

Stay curious,
Collette

Stay curious,
Collette

Stay curious,
Collette

This is Astronaut Jamie!

Her suit is quite a lot shinier than Astronaut Jeremy’s was! And she has shoes! Plus look at this walkie talkie:

Oh, and she has an alien friend they named Quetzalcoatl:

Nice work everyone!

Stay curious,
Collette

First I had to get some popcorn. Even though it was only 10 a.m., you can’t go to a theatre without popcorn! We actually get a lot of questions about that. YES you can definitely take popcorn, drinks, and candy into the Kramer IMAX Theatre! We sell it, and to be honest it’s cheaper than at those other theatres in town. It’s also delicious!

Then, I settled in. See how excited I am?

Okay, let’s step back a bit. I actually got a bit of a tour of the projection room on Tuesday. Have you ever been in a projection room of a theatre? I hadn’t, and I certainly hadn’t ever been in an IMAX projection room. But, I can tell you, the machines and the film are big!

To the right is the actual projector. You can see the light from the film being reflected onto the floor. The black line through the centre of the photo is the film stock. It starts from one one side of the room (the upside down T-looking holder in the photo), then weaves it’s way over to the left, then to the right into the projector.

Okay, movie time! Oh, first Jessica had to remind us to turn off our cell phones. She also talked a bit about the theatre experience. The screen is 5 stories high and as wide as two school buses end to end. The sound system is also impressive: 6 channel surround sound, 11,000 watts, and includes speakers behind the screen. It’s all so big that she even had to give us instructions on what to do if we felt queasy! I didn’t feel sick, but I have to admit twice during the movie I lost track of where I was a little bit. I knew I wasn’t moving, but it felt like I was!

The screen is so big that when I took a picture, I couldn’t fit it all in one photo. This is Kansas, 82 million years ago and minus the edges of the screen.

And here are the stars of the film — the dolichorhynchops, or dollies for short. (Yes, I had to look up the spelling, ha!)

I really enjoyed the film. All of the swooshing and swooping under water and above ground was really fun, and exactly why people love the giant screen experience. There was also enough action that I jumped — twice! And the story line is pretty fantastic too. I’m not gonna lie — I got a little emotional at the end. The movie is suitable and entertaining for all ages, from kids to grandparents. Although if you have a small one who is really sensitive, they may find it to be too much. I was really surprised at how attached I was to the characters! But hey, these guys are experts at entertainment and story-telling, right? I shouldn’t have been surprised at all!

Oh, have I mentioned the music was by Peter Gabriel? IMAX films have some pretty awesome productions these days.

Well, if you’d like to watch Sea Monsters, I recommend it! It’s playing tonight at 7 p.m., and if you miss that there are more showtimes on our website. We have other films too, and I’ll review those sometime as well! Plus, we have a new one coming out in less than a month.

Stay curious,
Collette

To mark this occasion, Barry made him a “card” that we could all sign:

And Clinton made him a cake that we could all eat:

Why the tuxedo? One of Todd’s bazillion responsibilities here was Fantasy Food, our annual black tie fundraiser. A well-organized and classy event, Fantasy Food is known as being Todd’s “baby”. This is a replica of the logo!

We also had a little party, where Todd received his card:

And his gifts!

Thank you for eight years of your heart and soul, Todd. The Regina Food Bank is lucky to have you!

Stay curious,
Collette

Isn’t it nice?

I like the instrument panel on the front (it’s the red flap thing), the copious sparkles (which are kind of tough to see here), and the emergency whistle (only for emergencies!).

Here’s the back too:

I particularly like the oxygen tank!

(Larger photos with more detail are here and here!)

The kids at the Astronaut Adventure summer camp put together this amazing suit for Jeremy. I think they did a pretty great job! Hm, I wonder if NASA would like us to send them the prototype. Maybe once we find Astronaut Jeremy some boots.

Stay curious,
Collette

In honour of this out of this world anniversary, NASA has put together some really great interactive information on their website. Check out this animated comic about that day, plus the video and photos they’ve compiled. Or go to the Apollo 11 mission page, for more information, video, transcripts, and photos.

And there’s always Google to help you find more info about this as well.

Can you imagine what it was like to walk on the moon?

Stay curious,
Collette

See?

So do the kids at the Saskatchewan Science Centre’s Critter Crazy summer camp!

See?

Today the Griffith’s Petting Farm brought a handful of critters by. I learned that goats prefer grass to leaves, that George is a common animal name (they brought a hamster named George), that there is a kind of goose that doesn’t swim much because it doesn’t have the oil glands to keep it from becoming waterlogged, and that this is a very weird looking bird:

I took a few more photos and put them over here on Flickr as well.

Stay curious,
Collette

Tesla is also the inventor and genius behind so many things that we take for granted today. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity. Before Tesla, Edison had invented a relatively inefficient kind of electricity called direct current, or DC. But Tesla’s alternating current (AC) electricity is more efficient, and it’s what we still use today all over the world.

Okay, so what is a Tesla coil? A Tesla coil creates electricity with very high frequencies and high voltages. Thanks to this, Tesla created neon and fluorescent lights, plus the first x-ray photograph. He also created the first radio transmissions, which is something we definitely take for granted today. But think about it — radio transmissions are sending electricity through the air. Back when Tesla figured that out, it was kind of like magic!

He invented the idea of remote control and introduced it to the world by showing off a remote controlled boat. In an time when only a handful of people knew about radio waves, some thought that Tesla was controlling the little boat with his mind. But really, he was sending signals to the boat using a small box with control levers on the side. We do it all the time now (when was the last time you got up to turn the TV channel?), but it was completely astonishing 100 years ago!

We actually have a Tesla coil at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. We use it to demonstrate lightning on the third floor of our building. I went over there this morning and took a little video. The video starts out pretty dark, so this is a photo of what you’re looking at:

The copper tube and silver doughnut-looking thing is the Tesla coil. Now, watch this video of the lightning strike!

Kind of spooky, isn’t it?

Want to know more about Nicola Tesla? This website is a pretty good place to start. Over there I learned that he was considered a “mad scientist” and that many of his ideas, like the remote controlled boat, were so far ahead of their time that we’re only just now realizing their potential.

Did you like the Tesla coil video? There are a lof of neat videos of Tesla coils making music over on YouTube.

Stay curious,
Collette

Just now I watched a dad explaining to his two sons, aged about 5 and 8, how our miniature hot air balloon works. That piece, along with the bubbles, is possibly one of our most popular parts of the floor.

Yesterday I watched a mom tell her little guy about the bones in the body. They were looking at the diagram on the main floor near the elevators. She pointed to the ribs on the picture, and then showed her son where her ribs were inside of her body.

It just gives me a good feeling to see knowledge being passed down like that. I think everyone learns a lot when they come here, both parents and kids!

Stay curious,
Collette

(click on the pictures to see larger versions)

Ethan K, age 3:	Talissa H, age 4:
Hilary D, age 5:	Mikael N, age 6:
Logan K, age 8:	Jacob K, age 9:

All of these talented kids win a Family Combo Pass so that they can bring their family to the Science Centre to see Wheels, Wings & Waves — A LEGO World of Transportation. Plus, because it’s a Combo Pass, they get to go to the Kramer IMAX Theatre for free as well. Lucky!

I have to confess, the one that got the most attention was this one:

Have a look at the age — this contest was for kids aged 2 to 10 and this guy is 45! When I was separating the entries into age categories, that’s what first caught my attention. Then I noticed the name — Chad works here! He is one of the Five Pound Burritos guys (although if he’s actually 45, he shows his age well doesn’t he?). And, he is quite the Star Trek fan. And smartypants. Oh, and that is his real office phone number, so feel free to give him a call and compliment him on his colouring!

Stay curious,
Collette

We have a couple of ferrets here at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. Neko and Dorrie are domestic European ferrets, and their kind have been domesticated so long that they have little hunting instinct left. You wouldn’t be able to let them loose to hunt and have them survive.

The ferrets being introduced back into the wild, the black-footed ferrets, generally eat prairie dogs. Their long, thin bodies allow them to get right into prairie dog burrows, and they even live in abandoned prairie dog homes.

Neko and Dorrie live in rather different surroundings:

Ferrets in the wild tend to be solitary animals, but not our little guys:

Stay curious,
Collette

Curious about these little guys, I read a bit about them this morning. Here’s is just some of what I learned:

There are a lot of different species of ticks! About 900 in fact. Of those 900, there are two main kinds: hard ticks and soft ticks. From what I understand, we have hard ticks in Saskatchewan.

Ticks are not insects but arthropods, which means they’re more related to spiders than dragonflies. Just like spiders, they have eight legs. They are parasites, meaning they live off of the blood of other creatures — like your dog, and you!

If you read too much about ticks, you start to feel itchy everywhere! It’s true, at least for me!

Ticks have four life stages: egg, larva, nymph, and adult. The egg hatches into a larva. A larva (“seed” tick) has six legs. It feeds on small animals like mice, then turns into a nymph. A nymph has eight legs. It then feeds on animals like deer and cows, then turns into an adult. Adult ticks also feed on larger animals, including people and dogs, and then lay eggs in the soil and die.

You can find ticks in tall grass and wooded areas. They climb up the grass and when they sense a meal coming, like my dog and I, they wave their front legs to grab on. A tick uses carbon dioxide, scent, and body heat among other things to find a host. If they miss out, they eventually become dehydrated so they’ll have climb back down to get some water. Then they climb back up and try again.

Ticks don’t attach themselves to their host right away. Once a tick finds you, it tends to climb upward until it reaches a more protected area, often the back of the knee, groin, navel, armpit, ears, or nape of the neck. Then it begins the slow process of grabbing on. It’s important to find them before they latch on and start feeding.

If they do latch on to you, or your dog, the only recommended way of removing them is to use tweezers to grab the head, and pull out slowly. You can’t convince a tick off of you using fire or vaseline — they are actually cemented on! They can’t detach until they’ve eaten, which takes several days. Cool fact: they concentrate the blood during feeding and will return a lot of the water back to the host.

Here’s some serious stuff: you shouldn’t touch a tick with your hands, and you should wash off the spot where they latched on. Ticks can make you really sick, so it’s important to read up on Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It’s also why you should find those little guys quickly — the longer they’re attached to you, the more likely you are to have problems. Generally they’re just annoying to have around, but it’s good to be prepared.

And you know what eats ticks? Not much. A few kinds of birds, but that’s about it. My dog eats pretty much anything including flies, but I don’t think she’d eat a tick. Yuck!

Well, now that you’re feeling all creepy crawly — hey what’s that thing behind your ear? Oh, sorry, it’s nothing.

Stay curious,
Collette

Yesterday I discovered their blog, Travels with Georgie. George (or Georgia) is their newest ambassador owl. This pint-sized owl is being hand-raised so he can help teach people about prairie conservation.

We have a pretty friendly relationship with SBOIC. Not only do we see them pretty much wherever our GO! science team travels (like at Wings Over Wascana), they come out to our Summer Day Camps to teach the kids about their work and their owls. This year we should have them here for our Critter Crazy summer camp.

Speaking of summer camps, we offer four: Astronaut Adventure, Sports Science, Girls Rock, and Critter Crazy. Spots are filling up fast, but there is still room in all of our camps if your 6 to 11 year old has some time on their hands this summer. They’ll get to learn about science, meet other kids, have fun, and the price is very reasonable compared to other week long camps in the city.

If your son our daughter is crazy about animals, I definitely recommend Critter Crazy. And maybe they’ll get to meet George:

He’s just so cute! I may have to take a trip out to Moose Jaw to meet him.

Stay curious,
Collette

Here is Gary Carlson, Director of the Community Services Committee of the Regina Eastview Rotary Club, explaining a little bit about what the Rotary Club is all about:

As you can see, we had two lovely models, Alex and Mullen, demonstrate the chairs for us!

And here is Bruce Crouter, chair of the Saskatchewan Science Centre’s Board of Directors, officially accepting the wheelchairs from Gary:

Thanks to service clubs like the Rotary Club, we can better provide an educational experience to everyone!

Stay curious,
Collette

Here is Curt Vossen, president of Richardson International (the title sponsor of the exhibit), speaking to a crowd of school kids and a lot of invited guests that helped us bring this exhibit to the public:

One of the coolest parts of the exhibit is this 20 foot play structure shaped like a Pioneer inland terminal. You can see the kids really loved it!

Do you know how those old grain elevators worked? Or the new inland terminals? Now you do:

Also very cool is the kid-sized combine:

I have to confess, I wanted to check it out myself:

Hey — I wanted to see the wheat being harvested! Like a lot of Saskatchewan kids, I remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap while he drove the combine. And, it looked like this:

Did you know that canola is a tiny little round black seed? I didn’t — but I know now, thanks to this part of the exhibit:

You can stick your hand in and touch all sorts of different kinds of grains.

But we don’t just grow grain in Saskatchewan — we have saskatoon berries, lentils, potatoes, and we also have stuff like beef and pork. Ever seen a calf being born? I hadn’t until I watched this video in the barn:

There is a lot more to this exhibit (a movable touchscreen! barcoded crops! little grain trucks you can move around! a giant puzzle wall!) so you should really go have a look at the Flickr set. Or, come to the Science Centre! We’d love to have you.

Stay curious,
Collette

Also, you see that girl with the dark hair and the blue vest? That’s Daya. She’s one of our Science Explorers — one of the staff that helps people interpret what they see on the exhibit floor. Science Explorers also conduct our stage shows — at 3:03 you see her giving the Static Stage Show. Sadly, Daya is leaving the Saskatchewan Science Centre! She’s been with us for four years, has done some great work, but she’s decided it’s time for her to move on and Friday is her last day. Good luck Daya! And please keep in touch.

Stay curious,
Collette

As I mentioned before, Richardson Ag-grow-land will take you on a tour of the agriculture industry of Saskatchewan. More specifically, the Saskatchewan Science Centre’s mascot Discovery Jones, and his dog Tungsten, will take you on that tour.

Here’s Tungsten, waiting in his house for you to come visit!

And here’s Discovery Jones, teaching you a little bit about agricultural exports:

Each little oval flips over, with the question on one side and the answer on the other. That’s pretty neat, but check out this ship and these mountains!

See that little hole in the mountains, where the broom is? That’s where the train comes through!

I also heard that the cow poop arrived today. Yup, poop! We’ll have 3D models of it, plus flat stickers that go on the floor. I couldn’t get a picture of either of them, sadly. I’m trying to stay out of the way of the hard working men and women trying to get this exhibit put together!

I did take a couple more pictures of things in progress, and they’re over here on our Flickr set.

I can’t wait to see how the rest of the exhibit shapes up.

Stay curious,
Collette

As you can see, they are made out of crayon. As you can imagine, this isn’t a real portrait of the two (Jayne’s arms aren’t quite that long in real life). This is, in fact, part of a thank you card sent by a student from Alameda. Jayne and Jessica actually received a whole bunch of thank you cards:

Isn’t that so nice? Jayne and Jessica, and their supervisor Clinton, loved each and every card. They’ve been passed around much of the office as well — we like fan mail!

So, what is GO! science? It’s the Saskatchewan Science Centre outside of the Science Centre. If you are from a school or community group, you can give us a call and Jayne and Jessica will come out and teach your kids some science.

Alameda school got to learn about about momentum, gravity and friction through making model roller coasters in a workshop called Thrill Rides. They also got to see the Cotton Candy Show, where they learned about the chemistry behind the sugar molecule and the biology of how the human body processes sugar. Then, they got to eat cotton candy! These workshops are a great way to teach science in a fun way, and science and fun are our specialty!

Here are just a few more of these fantastic cards. Check out the roller coaster:

And this awesome picture of cotton candy:

As always, there are more pictures in the Flickr set!

Interested in seeing the GO! science Explorers for yourself? You don’t have to be a teacher — they can come out for your town’s sports day or fair this summer, or a family reunion with lots of kids! Or really any event where you think we could entertain with science. To find out more, give Clinton a call at 791-7955 in Regina, or toll-free 1-800-667-6300 (extension 5).

Oh, and here are what Jayne and Jessica really look like:

See? Much shorter arms!

Stay curious,
Collette

It took Dan a while to catch her, but he did. And he fell in love. Actually, we all did. Here is Dan, from exhibits maintenance, and Trevor, our IMAX projectionist, giving some love to the little runaway:

Who wouldn’t fall in love with this face?

We kept her happy with a chew toy, until the Regina Humane Society could come pick her up. She had no tags, so we had no other way of trying to find her owner.

All week I asked Dan if he’d called to see if she’d been picked up by her owners. We’ve all been so busy, though, so he still hadn’t the last time I checked with him. We’re pretty confident she had owners, so I’m not too worried. She was lovely, if not just incredibly lively! I’m sure she has a wonderful home.

It made for a pretty exciting morning, though, I tell ya!

Stay curious,
Collette

Well, this next story is something I’d normally put out over Twitter. It doesn’t really relate to the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and it’s a story that someone else has talked about. But, it’s so cute I want as many people as possible to see it!

Meet Tonka: the fastest tortoise on three legs!

Tonka the tortoise

Little Tonka lost her leg, so they gave her some wheels to make up the difference. Read more about Tonka here.

We do have turtles at the Saskatchewan Science Centre, named Sonny and Cher. They probably aren’t as fast as Tonka, but they’re pretty cute too. They are a different kind, called red-eared sliders. You should come visit them!

Stay curious,
Collette

I was pretty impressed when I arrived this afternoon how big this really was! Here it is about an hour from completion:

Just about done – it took 4 men to lift this piece up!

Emily Merk was the lucky girl who got to put the last piece on:

All done! Robin Sather, and the masterpiece that took 3 days, hundreds of helpers, and thousands of bricks to complete:

1 shape of brick + 6 colours = an entire army of astronauts and aliens!

There are a few more photos in the set on Flickr as well.

So, the build is done but the exhibit isn’t over! It’s here until September 7th when we get to tear down the shuttle! For real. So, come by the Saskatchewan Science Centre between now and September 7 to see it all in its full glory, then come by on Labour Day to help us pull the shuttle down.

Stay curious,
Collette

And here is another interactive part of the exhibit– the race ramp!

But you’re not supposed to walk on it! Eep! Those kids were too small to read the signs I guess.

Stay curious,
Collette

The cutest thing heard today so far: a little kid exclaiming, “This is the awesomest thing I ever saw!”

Well, I have to agree. This exhibit is really very cool. The detail is really astonishing, and there is a lot to learn about as well. Each exhibit has a little information plate beside it explaining what you’re looking at.

Neat thing I learned today: the Skylab (pictured here) broke apart when it came back to Earth in 1979 and spread debris all over the place. An Australian town fined the American government $400 for littering when some of it landed nearby. Good stuff! 30 years later, the fine hasn’t been paid yet.

We had a media event to kick off the opening. A couple of weeks ago we had a contest in our Kaleidoscope newsletter. The first person to reply who had a membership would get to lay the first brick. So, introducing the Masney kids: Taylor, Carter, Madison, and Kalen.

Behind them is Robin Sather, Canada’s only LEGO Certified Professional. He designed one of the bigger pieces of the exhibit – a large mountain scene with a train, a crashed out UFO, boats, and other neat details. Robin is here this weekend helping build a 9 foot space shuttle that will be the centerpiece of the exhibit.

Here’s Robin again (in the red hat) helping out the crowd of shuttle builders:

Besides the big build, kids can create their own masterpieces at little building stations scattered throughout the exhibit. Here’s Kalan making something that he was pretty darn proud of!

Behind him you can see the ramp for some race cars – super fun!

Robin is here all weekend helping get that space shuttle built. If you’d like to join in, all the information you need is here.

It’s been pretty busy today, but there is plenty of room for everyone–I promise! So, I really hope you do get a chance to come down to help out with the build or watch it take place. It’s a really unique opportunity that doesn’t happen to often. That part of the exhibit ends at 3pm on Monday, and then everything will be here til September.

As usual, I have a few more photos over here on our Flickr page. I’ll be adding some all weekend as well.

Stay curious,
Collette

Opening on June 17, 2009, the largest exhibit we’ve ever had will take you on a tour of the agriculture industry in Saskatchewan. From driving a combine to shipping lentils to India, this incredibly exhilarating exhibit will show how high-tech agriculture has become.

With tons of interactive elements, Richardson Ag-grow-land is an ambitious, innovative permanent exhibit–and it was all created by the amazing staff at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. But I get no credit–I just walk through every once in a while to watch the progress and make comments like, “Really? A train? Cool!”

Trust me when I say this exhibit is really cool. Imagine climbing up an inland terminal and sliding back down again! Or sitting in the kid-sized combine actually harvesting your fields of canola!

Here are some photos I took today of the progress:

Have a look at a few more pictures over on Flickr.

Stay curious,
Collette

What are you doing this weekend? Come on down to the Saskatchewan Science Centre and help Robin Sather, Canada’s only LEGO Certified Professional, build a giant space shuttle! Find out the details here.

In the meantime, enjoy this peek at what’s going on downstairs:

Click on the picture to see a larger version!

Stay curious,
Collette

Some of the boys at the Saskatchewan Science Centre decided to take the challenge. And failed. Obviously! Five pounds of beef and rice, including four tortillas to keep it all together, is quite the undertaking. Chad, Carver, and Dave didn’t even attempt the 30 minute stipulation and decided to bring their lunches back to our IMC Boardroom instead.

The grand unveiling – Chad with his burrito that he named Winston, Carver with Taft, and Dave with Yeltsin:

Carver:

Dave:

Chad:

I know. They are ridiculous. They know it too:

VICTORY!

I took 12 photos altogether, so please have a look at them on Flickr. I can’t possibly post all 12 here, but there are some real gems over there. I promise. Chad had a little cuddle with his burrito. So cute.

Stay curious (and please don’t eat like this all the time),
Collette

Being an astronaut isn’t easy. You have to be smart, and also in good shape to meet the demands of training and life in space. Interestingly, the candidates have also been tested for their creativity and teamwork skills. You can have a look at photos of some of the testing on the CSA website.

Of course, many of us at the Saskatchewan Science Centre are pretty interested in who becomes our next astronaut. So, someone started an office pool. (Don’t worry – I checked and it’s legal in Canada.)

Each potential astronaut was given a number:

And then we all had to pick two:

A few people actually read their biographies, but I just picked based on who hadn’t really been chosen yet. They are all phenomenal people!

Canada’s next two astronauts will be chosen sometime in May. I’m excited to find out who wins! I think the office pool was a neat idea to get all of us excited about it, but I think space travel is pretty cool to begin with.

The Science Centre has a lot of space-related exhibits and programming, so today I took a few photos. In the Powerhouse of Discovery we have our Gyro Gym located next to our Space Stadium Stage, and we also have a wall profiling our astronauts. In the offices we have some collages of patches, flags, and photos from actual space missions. You can also sign up for a week-long Astronaut Adventure camp this summer if you are between the ages of 6 and 11.

Check out some more of our space stuff in our Flickr set.

Here’s the Gyro Gym. I can’t wait to try it!

Stay curious,
Collette