Cambridge Science Festival

The Cambridge Science Festival is an annual 10-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, art and math in Cambridge and New England and the global impact of those endeavors. Every spring, the Cambridge Science Festival makes science accessible, engaging and fun for everyone through multifaceted, multicultural events.

There are dozen of events to attend throughout the week, including many free, drop-in, and kid-friendly events and some that require advance registration, so be sure to check out the full schedule. Here are a few events we’re excited about:

Friday, April 15, 4-6 p.m.
The Possible Project: Maker Marketplace
The Possible Project Makerspace, 107 Portland Street, Cambridge

The Possible Project Makerspace houses laser cutters, 3D printers, vinyl cutters and much much more! Housed in the innovation hub of Kendall Square. Come see a local Makerspace in action with live demos and meet our high school student makers. Check out the products that they’ve created and the businesses they are running. Learn more about our programs for youth in the city of Cambridge. All ages welcome!

Saturday, April 16, noon-4 p.m.
Science Carnival & Robot Zoo
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School Field House and Cambridge Public Library at Broadway and Ellery Street

The Science Carnival and Robot Zoo is an expo-style event with over 100 ways to explore, build, learn, and, most importantly, have fun! Explore Earth + Space, the Micro Zone, Game Corner, Robot Zoo, and more.

Noon-4 p.m.
Paper Circuits in the Idea Hub
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

Using copper tape and LEDs, create your own artistic light up cards, paper models, and more. This program uses small button batteries and is not suitable for young children.

Sundays, April 17 & 24, 9 a.m.-noon / Wednesday, April 20, 3-5 p.m.
Free Admission to Harvard Museum of Natural History & Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
26 Oxford Street & 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

See the new and historic exhibits featuring Harvard’s extraordinary natural history collections and research from across the University at Harvard’s most visited museums. Explore the new Marine Life in the Putnam Family Gallery featuring a floor-to-ceiling recreation of life in New England’s coastal waters. And don’t miss Islands: Evolving in Isolation, showcasing the unique and sometimes startling creatures that evolve on islands.
At Peabody Museum, visit the new exhibition of featherwork from the Peabody’s collections, including colorful feathered headdresses, jewelry, and a Peruvian mummy mask. Explore the varied beauty and craftsmanship of war objects drawn from cultures around the world in the new exhibition Arts of War: Artistry in Weapons across Cultures. From maces, clubs, daggers, and spears, to shields, helmets, and entire suits of armor, this exhibition offers museum-goers more than 150 striking examples of weapons that are also extraordinary works of art.

2-4 p.m.
Intro to Web Development for Girls & Moms (or Aunts, Grandmas, Big Sisters, etc.)
Cambridge Public Library Computer Lab, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

Want to know how to make a website? Come to this hands-on workshop with Women’s Coding Collective and learn about HTML and CSS—the building blocks of every site on the Internet, from your favorite blog to Amazon.com. We’ll introduce you to free tools and get you started with some basic know-how. Then the two of you will be able to sketch out a plan for your webpage and get started creating it! Open to girls and women ages 10 to 103.

Tuesday, April 19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
TECHnically Art: A Collaborative Mural
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

In celebration of MIT’s 100 years in Cambridge, the MIT Museum invites all of our visitors to contribute to a creating a collaborative mural of the city by combining creativity, conductivity, and magnetism! Conspire with MIT Museum staff, local artists and Chibitronics founder, Jie Qi, as we create a community art piece at the MIT Museum. Once completed, this collaborative art and engineering piece will be displayed for visitors to enjoy.

11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Workshop: Mission to Mars with MIT Society of Women Engineers
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

It’s the year 2050, and you have been selected to join an elite team of engineers to design rovers for discovering water resources on Mars. This is a critical mission in order for humans to live on Mars!  Join us for a 3-hour workshop to learn the design process to create your own Mars rover, using simple machines and Newton’s laws of motion! You can only bring a small supply of materials and oxygen to Mars in your spacecraft, so you have scarce resources and limited time to build a rover to traverse through the mysterious planet and find water. Are you up for the mission?

3-6 p.m.
STEAM Maker Inventions
Trapelo Road at Pleasant St., Belmont

Make innovative toys and devices, such as polymer balls, micro-robots, sound and LED gizmos, and green chemistry products for improved health,. All innovations inspired and supported by science researchers at Harvard, MIT, and UMass Amherst. Take home two of your designs.

Wednesday, April 20, 6-8 p.m.
Circuit Hacking Night at Artisan’s Asylum
10 Tyler St, Somerville

Come play with electronics at Artisan’s Asylum! Whether you’re a newbie or an experienced hacker, there will be something for you at Circuit Hacking Night. This one night the electronics & robotics lab will be open for FREE — there will be a free introductory soldering lesson, electronics kits on hand for sale for those who wish to make things, and experienced hackers and engineers around to answer all your questions. Feel free to bring your own projects to work on if you have them!

All proceeds and donations will go directly towards funding maintenance and improvements in the Electronics & Robotics lab of Artisan’s Asylum: to buying new equipment, keeping consumables in stock, and towards general upkeep.

Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23, 3-9 p.m.
DigiFabCon
Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

The DigiFab Conference explores how digital fabrication including 3D Printing is changing the world. Hear first hand stories from Cambridge & around the world on fostering startups, workforce development for the next Industrial Revolution, K-12, non-traditional & higher education, medical and biotech innovation, and building communities. Keynotes & panels on Friday afternoon, Friday evening interactive expo with reception, Saturday breakout sessions.

Saturday, April 23, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Black Girls CODE Boston Presents – Build a Webpage in a Day!
Lena Park Community Development Center, 150 American Legion Highway, Dorchester

Join us for Build a Webpage in a Day Boston!

This workshop will teach participants to build their own unique webpage in one day using fun games and activities to introduce HTML, CSS, and basic web structures. All BGC workshops are geared towards introducing participants to the technological universe and encouraging them to pursue careers as Tech Creators and Entrepreneurs. This event is intended for all girls ages 7-17.

11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Community Sculpture Race & Exhibition
Danehy Park, Sherman Street, Cambridge

Watch your fellow teens, moms, dads, artists, and neighbors race zany art on wheels on the ½ mile sidewalk loop around the city’s Olympic soccer field. You are invited to attend as an audience member or to participate, either as a racer or just to exhibit your ideas for racing sculptures. Racing sculpture-building workshops for teens will be held around the city this spring. Please see the website for pictures of past races and info on workshops and how to participate. Spectators should arrive by 10:45 a.m.

Noon-4 p.m.
3D Printing Cambridge in the Idea Hub
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

See (and build) Cambridge, MA from a new perspective. Explore 3D models of the city, customize individual building designs, and help build a 3D-printed, crowd-sourced map for display in the Museum.

1-3 p.m.
Young Makers Pop-up Space
Teen Central and Children’s Libraries, 700 Boylston St, Boston

Ever wanted to create an electrical circuit from paper and tape or take apart the kitchen fan to see how it works? Have you ever made music with a micro-controller or wondered how you can design things to be cut from a laser cutter? Come to our Young Maker’s Pop-up Space to get your hands on dozens of STEAM activities designed to ignite the curiosity and inventiveness of teens and young children.

Sunday, April 24, 1-4 p.m.
FabLabuLous!
Cambridge Public Library Community Room, 449 Broadway

Learn and “Fab” in this lab workshop where art meets science!  Participants select from a set of drawn objects, learn the corresponding code, and then use engineering design principles to manufacture the object.  8th graders and up are welcome!

The MIT Media Lab-Center for Bits and Atoms co-sponsored the International Fab Lab Conference held in Boston this past summer.