Science doesn’t stop in Maine: MSF partners help us keep the focus on science year-round. See what’s happening near you this month and remember that #scienceiseverywhere.
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July 13, 7:00 – 8:00pm: Gaining Perspective with Lighthawk. Jonathan Milne, Eastern Program Manager, Lighthawk. Since 1979 Lighthawk has been at the forefront of utilizing the aerial view to inform management and change hearts and minds. Come along on this visual journey and learn what is seen on a Lighthawk flight.
July 20, 12:00pm-1:00pm: Brown Bag Lecture – Thoreau’s Journeys in The Maine Woods. The Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail consists of traditional Wabanaki canoe routes and portages in Maine’s Kennebec and Penobscot River drainages over which Henry David Thoreau traveled in his three excursions into the Maine Woods, his last two with Penobscot Indian guides. Paul Johnson highlights the places where Thoreau traveled, and some of the plants and animals that he observed, many of which can be seen today just as Thoreau saw them more than 150 years ago. Paul Johnson is a member of Maine Woods Forever, an all volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the legacy of Maine’s forests and woodlands.
Moore Auditorium, Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, Acadia Drive, Winter Harbor
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Science Summer Camps: Week-long summer camps, covering topics in astronomy, math & art, and space & energy. More information: physics.umaine.edu/summer-camp.
Grades K-8; $215/week, with discounts for multiple children and/or multiple weeks.
Bennett Hall, University of Maine, Orono
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July 14, 8:30am-4:00pm: The Beaches Conference. The Beaches Conference works to provide continuing opportunities for exchange of the most current information among beach and coastal stakeholders with diverse interests, and to present the findings from Maine and New Hampshire beach monitoring programs. Registration begins at 7:30am; Coastal Social from 4:00-6:00pm.
General registration fee $50 plus processing fee for online registration.
Conference – Wells High School, 200 Sanford Rd, Wells Coastal Social – Wells Reserve at Laudholm, 342 Laudholm Farm, Rd, Wells
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Now Open: Real Pirates, a National Geographic Exhibition. Learn the real story of Pirates. Their code of conduct, their lives at sea and their stories. The exhibit features the worlds only authenticated pirate ship. The Whydah sank 300-years-ago, off the coast of Cape Cod, carrying treasure from over 50 ships. 150 artifacts are on display.
AGES: Good for all ages, although this is focused more for teens to seniors
7 days per week. $15.50 – $19.50. Group rates are also available.
Portland Science Center, 68 Commercial Street, Maine Wharf, Portland (1 pier over from Casco Bay Lines)
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July 7-9: Family Weekend on Hurricane Island. This weekend is for families to unplug and experience our off-shore and off-the-grid island together as they explore, learn, and connect with each other and other families. Science programming options will be offered each day and families will also have time to play along the shore line, hike our trails, and even jump off our pier to take a quick swim in the ocean. Come join our island community and make memories that will last a lifetime. $200/person; all ages
July 12-15: Advanced Bird Banding. The four-day advanced classes are designed for experienced banders who wish to improve their sexing and ageing skills. Participants fine-tune the banding skills they already possess and advance their comprehension of molt strategies and ability to recognize molts limits and plumages on birds in hand. We focus on understanding and identifying the differences between specific adult age classes using the Identification Guide to North American Birds by Peter Pyle. We also spend time addressing advanced skills such as skulling, refining the scoring of various characteristics, and interpreting these characteristics for age and sex determinations. $1250 (includes all transportation between Hurricane Island and the mainland, all food, housing, and instruction); 18+
July 16-22: Beginner Bird Banding. The seven-day introductory courses are designed to provide both amateur birders and professional biologists with the skills necessary to participate in monitoring and research programs involving bird banding. $2100 (includes all transportation between Hurricane Island and the mainland, all food, housing, and instruction); 18+
Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, Rockland
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July 10, 5:00 – 6:00pm: MDI Science Café – Mapping the Chemosphere: Understanding the Chemicals in Our Environment. Joseph R. Shaw, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, will talk about the “Mapping the Chemosphere” initiative to gain greater insight into the worldwide health threat posed by manufactured chemical.
Kinne Library, MDI Biological Laboratory
July 24, 5:00 – 6:00pm: MDI Science Café – Precision and Imprecision: Science and the Art of Medicine. Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., a summer resident of Mount Desert Island, is an American nephrologist and director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), an agency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the leading federal agency for research on diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.
Center for Science Entrepreneurship, MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd, Bar Harbor
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July 11, 5:00 – 6:30pm: Café Sci, Wavelengths of Change: The Impacts of a Yellowing Gulf of Maine. For the last 18 years, Dr. Barney Balch, a Senior Research Scientist at Bigelow Laboratory, has investigated how the Gulf of Maine works, and how long-term changes in climate affect the vital microorganisms on which all life in the sea ultimately depends. Join him to discuss the important answers his research has revealed and the many intriguing questions that remain. Registration suggested!
July 14, 10:00am – 2:00pm: Annual Open House. Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will host its annual open house, where our scientists will have a wide range of scientific demonstrations and activities. At the open house, you will be introduced to our robotic research aides, meet some of the smallest organisms on the planet, and much more. Community members of all ages are invited to come and not just learn about, but be a part of, the cutting-edge science being conducted at Bigelow.
July 18, 5:00 – 6:30pm: Café Sci, Alaskan Reefs on Acid: How Climate Change is Altering the Ecology of Kelp Forests. Dr. Doug Rasher, a Senior Research Scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, has been working to unravel the affects climate change is having on the ecology of the kelp forests found in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Join him to discuss not just how the ecology of this remote and vast ecosystem is changing, but also how his research will help us understand the changes currently occurring within our own Gulf of Maine. Registration suggested!
July 25, 5:00 – 6:30pm: Café Sci, Journey to Antarctica: Exploring the Influence of Polar Algae on our Climate. Drs. Pete Countway and Paty Matrai, Senior Research Scientists at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, spent two months at the Palmer Research Station in Antarctica to study the relationship between phytoplankton and bacteria, and how a compound produced by certain phytoplankton may help shape microbial communities in the Southern Ocean. Join them to discuss their research, and how this compound may play a key role in the regulation of Earth’s climate. Registration suggested!
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Dr, East Boothbay
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Summer camps! Including:
LEGO Robotics Camps. Use the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics kit to build and then program your own robot. Then spend the week rebuilding and programming the robot for more complex missions! Beginners, mixed, and advanced camps. Ages 9-14; $290-$325 depending on location and level.
3D Design and Printing Camps. Learn to design and then print 3D designs using the camps 3D printers. Ages 12-16; $300.
Programming in Minecraft. Learn to program within the Minecraft world. Design and program in the world to create never before seen items and scenarios. Also have the opportunity to play the game you have modified! Ages 10-14; $325-$335
Visit camps.mainerobotics.org for the full schedule and locations
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Summer camps, July 10-14, and July 24-28:
Little Space Travelers – Ages 5-7 10, 9, 8,…Blast off to a week of fascinating and fun space exploration. What makes our planet so special? What’s out there in space? What’s it like on the surface of Mars and other planets? Find out, what life is like on a space station. Build a solar system, giant floating asteroid, discover the stories of the stars, imagine and build alien planets and populate them with strange life forms. Be a stargazer, astronaut and engineer in this out-of-this-world camp!
Your Place in Space – Ages 8-12 Get to know the big forces that shape our own blue planet and then venture out into our solar system, to exoplanets, galaxies and beyond. Design and build with surprising materials to learn about orbiting objects in space. Ever wonder what could survive on alien worlds? Explore the inner workings of ice moons and ocean planets with models and experiments. Get to know our sun, bringer of shadow, light, and life! Get ready for this year’s eclipse, a rare and beautiful event humans have observed and tried to explain for thousands of years. Make a pocket solar system and explore planets around other stars and far away galaxies!
Prices based on age and membership; please see MDM summer camp website for details.
Maine Discovery Museum, Main Street Gallery, 74 Main Street, Bangor
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Regular public programs are available on Friday evenings at 7pm (Dawn of the Space Age) Sunday afternoons at 2pm (Secret of the Cardboard Rocket). More information and tickets: https://astro.umaine.edu/
Tickets for planetarium programs are $6 for Adults, $5 for UMaine Students/Veterans/Senior Citizens, and $4 for children under 12.
Emera Astronomy Center, 167 Rangeley Road, University of Maine