Science Matters

From speakers embedded in the mural “Freedom Constellations: Dreaming of a World Without Youth Prisons,” voices of teenagers describe their hopes for the future without youth incarceration in Virginia. Learn more about these young artists and coders who brought this mural and important message to life.

Biochemist and Miss America 2020, Camille Schrier explores DNA, the blueprint for all living things. Learn about DNA’s structure and function by extracting DNA from strawberries and building a model of DNA out of candy. Developed for students in grades 6-10.

Take a walk through the human brain to discover how your mind moves your body. Move and balance along with neuroscientist, Dr. Catherine Franssen, resident scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia, to learn about your brain and nervous system. Developed for students in grades 4-7.Science grades 4-7.

For most of us the beginning of 2021 has involved a lot of headlines about the coronavirus, vaccine distribution, and some tense political news. For astronomers it’s also included tons of new information from this winter’s American Astronomical Society conference!

Join biochemist and Miss America 2020, Camille Schrier, as she uses her kitchen as her laboratory. Explore the science of semipermeable membranes and osmosis and experience a chemical reaction that breaks down the shell of an egg. Discover what happens when the chemical reaction is complete. Developed for grades 6-8 and correlated with Virginia Standards of Learning.

A lot of art is made to be seen — but what if you could touch, hear, and even smell works of art? Join host Lauren Paullin to make paints that smell like pastries, turn sounds into sketches, and learn what happens when the brain links multiple senses together.

Join Sarah Adewumi, former NASA eClips™ Intern and Aviation Sciences and Management graduate, and explore the world of extremophiles- organisms that live in the most extreme settings on Earth. Developed for grades 4-7.

Explore the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and discover how you can be a Backyard Baysaver! Investigate how we are all connected to a watershed and find out what you can do to protect rivers and streams near you. Developed for students in grades 4-6 and correlated to Virginia Standards of Learning.

Living through a pandemic and all the other compounding stresses of life has been challenging to say the least. In the past we’ve heard that old saying about stress making you go gray.

We're starting the new year with three coronavirus vaccines approved for use and slowly starting to make their way to people, but we still have a lot of folks left to vaccinate. This means a lot longer that we'll need to continue social distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and washing our hands frequently in order to protect our families, communities, and the limited resources of our hospitals.