The Bradbury Science Museum is celebrating NanoDays 2014 through April 13. At NanoDays, a range of exciting programs is underway that demonstrate the special and unexpected properties found at the nanoscale. Visitors have the opportunity to examine tools used by nanoscientists, view nano materials with spectacular promise, and join in discussions of technology.

By combining hands-on activities with presentations on current research, this nationwide event features new and unique learning experiences for both children and adults.

At the nanoscale—the scale of atoms and molecules—many common materials exhibit unusual properties. The ability to manipulate matter at this microscopic size enables innovations that were never before possible. Using these advancements, nanotechnology is revolutionizing research and development of medicine, computing, new materials, food, energy, and so much more.

Visitors to the museum are experiencing these technologies first-hand by discovering how an inkjet printer works using capillary action, investigating new nano products and materials like Ferrofluid—a magnet that is also a fluid—and imagining what society might be like if everyone wore invisibility cloaks.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

• Hands-on activities all week
• Special Demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday
• Fun Films about Nano at 1 p.m. daily
• Special lecture on “Building the Iron Man Suit” by Nathan Mara noon Wednesday
• Art of nanoscience on display all week

As part of the NanoDays week of events, Nathan Mara of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, will discuss the science behind the “Iron Man Suit.” The talk, titled “Building the Iron Man Suit: Developing the science behind lightweight, damage-tolerant nanocomposites,” is noon to 1 p.m. at the museum.

Mara is a technical staff member, and nanomechanical testing subject matter expert in the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies; his research focuses on the relationship between microstructure and mechanical behavior at the nanoscale, with an emphasis on structural applications in extreme environments. He earned his doctoral degree in 2005 in materials science and engineering from the University of California-Davis. Mara is chairman of the Nanomechanical Materials Behavior Committee of the Metals, Materials, and Minerals Society

To learn more about nano, visit: www.whatisnano.org

Admission is FREE and open to the public. For more information about this and other special events at the museum, visit: www.lanl.gov/museum