Other Events
Bill Nye
April 12|7:30 p.m.
Lauritzen Gardens
April 13 - 14|9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Fontenelle Forest
April 13|10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Metropolitan Community College
April 13|10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
April 13 - 14|10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
UNMC College of Dentistry
April 14|10 a.m. - noon
Hot Shops Art Center
April 13 - 14|11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater
April 13 - 14|11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The Strategic Air & Space Museum
April 14|10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The French Bulldog
April 14|noon - 2 p.m.
Joslyn Art Museum
April 14|noon - 3 p.m.
City Sprouts Community Garden
April 14|1 - 5 p.m.
Science Expo
April 12 - 13 | The Durham Museum
Join us at the inaugural Nebraska Science Festival Expo and participate in fun and engaging hands-on learning opportunities. There will be a wide variety of booths to promote science and its impact in our everyday lives.
The Science Expo will be split into two days:
- April 12 | 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. | A free Student Expo - Currently full
- April 13 | 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. | A free Public Expo
Tickets
Download SciFest tickets »
Free admission with SciFest ticket.
Location
801 South 10th Street
Omaha, NE 68108
View map »
Expo booths
Jump to booths on: Friday only | Saturday only | Friday & SaturdayFriday only, April 12
The Groundwater Foundation
Recharge it, pump it, protect it, conserve it – Stop by and get your hands wet with The Groundwater Foundation’s miniature aquifer models, which show how groundwater systems work. Groundwater - it's the water you drink and the water that grows your food.
Truck Farm Omaha
Explore the importance of worms in our soil with live, red wiggler worms. Identify the parts of the worm and draw pictures of them. Truck Farm Omaha’s mobile mini-farm will be parked outside with a Truck Farm educator present to answer questions and help inspire you to grow and eat fresh, local food.
Saturday only, April 13
King Science & Technology Magnet Center
Zoom in on you! Use hand-held microscopes to zoom in on coins, plants, living creatures and other common items to see them at a microscopic level. You can even zoom in on your own bodies.
Friday & Saturday, April 12 - 13
Brownell-Talbot School
What does density and rotation have to do with flight? See how density affects the ability of an object to be suspended in a gas. Explore how rotation rates can be affected and change the rate of descent of an object. Take home a Frisbee and have fun with flight (limited number of Frisbees available).
C.A.P.O.W!
11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
Science is anything but boring with C.A.P.O.W! Learn cool stuff about chemistry and physics from University of Nebraska at Omaha faculty members in a show filled with pops, bangs and flashes. Be among the 25,000 children per year nationwide to see this award-winning 30-minute program.
CAST (Center for Advanced Surgical Technology) UNMC
See how surgeons do operations through tiny openings with special tools and robots without having to cut open the patient. Some of you can try using the same hand-held tools that the doctors use for these surgeries. You will be doing the same tasks that are used to train the doctors!
Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health
Stop by the CS-CASH booth and meet Heidi the Hearing Mannequin. Heidi will demonstrate how loud noises can permanently damage your hearing. You also can peek inside an ear to see how all the parts combine so we can hear. Don't forget to pick up a pair of earplugs. Presented by the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Creighton University
Ever wonder how animals develop? Come learn the stages of embryonic development in chicken and zebrafish embryos by observing live embryos under the microscope.
Creighton University Atmospheric Science Department and Energy Technology Program
Ever wonder how the Earth captures the Sun's energy? Our hands-on displays help you discover why we have seasons, how carbon dioxide has an impact on the Earth’s climate and how energy from the sun can replace fossil fuels.
The Dancing Scientist
10:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.
The Dancing Scientist will wow you with a high-energy, 45-minute chemistry demonstration full of flashes, bangs, fizzing, over-flowing liquids, oozing and color changes. The experiments are set to music and, yes, some are done while dancing.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge
What’s that bird in your backyard? Learn the basics of bird identification at this interactive booth sponsored by DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. There is a lot to discover about our feathered friends!
Edgerton Explorit Center
Stop by the Edgerton Explorit Center booth to make lightning bolts with your fingertips. Using a Van de Graaff generator and our traveling “Piddler,” you’ll learn electricity, the difference between volts and amps, strobe lights and how you can stop motion to see water droplets frozen in time.
Egad! Science
Is it a solid, a liquid, or a gas--or something in between? Observe changes in states of matter and chemical reactions and get your hands on putty, goop, slime and other fun substances as you learn more about the structure of the stuff you encounter every day.
Joslyn Art Museum
Paint with Pendulums -- Learn to use gravity as a paintbrush to make a pendulum painting. Watch as our pendulum drips paint while swinging around its equilibrium to create beautifully mathematical designs beneath it.
KETV Weather Now Storm Team
Meet the KETV Weather Now Storm Team. Wondering what causes a tornado? How Meteorologists put together the forecast? Chief Meteorologist Bill Randby and the Weather Now Storm Team are here to answer your questions.
Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari
At the Wildlife Safari Park booth, you will discover biofacts of native species found in Eastern Nebraska. These will include furs, skulls and mounts of these species.
Lothrop Science and Technology Magnet
Booth 1 - Did you know there are different species of Earthworms? See the difference between native and nonnative species using 3-D ocular microscopes and hand-held magnifying glasses. You also will explore a vermicompost to learn how worms compost and discover the importance of sorting items into trash, recycling or charitable donations.
Booth 2 - View a variety of rocks, fossils, minerals and sediments first-hand or under a microscope. See how a volcano erupts and find out how a love of nature, geology and art comes together to make beautiful artwork on rocks.
Booth 3 - Tiny atoms make up all matter. Learn about elements of the periodic table and how they bond. Make your own model and learn how to write and interpret formulas.
Booth 4 - Perform simple center of balance and inertia activities to learn about Newton's Laws of Motion. Then, make and take your own airplane, kite and/or parachute and identify lift, drag, weight and thrust on a flying object. Take time to learn the parts of an airplane and their function and watch advances in space flight via NASA clips.
Mathematical Biology Group at the University of Nebraska at Omaha
Simulate the movement of bacteria based on mathematics and computer science and discover the potential of computer simulations in life sciences and biomedicine.
Maverick Club for Bioinformatics
Explore the world of DNA with the Maverick Club for Bioinformatics. Build your own pipe cleaner DNA model and learn more about how this self-replicating material, which is found in nearly all living organisms, works.
Metropolitan Utilities District
Metropolitan Utilities District provides safe, efficient natural gas and clean tap water to the metro Omaha area. Learn how the District treats the water to make it safe to drink, and how natural gas is used to heat your home, dry your clothes, cook your food and even fuel your vehicle! Our gas safety dinosaur “Sniffasaurus,” and water mascot, “Thirstin,” also will appear to greet festival attendees!
National Weather Service
Learn more about weather and weather safety from the National Weather Service. In this interactive booth, you'll see a display demonstrating lightning and an interactive model of a flood. There also will be photos of severe and winter weather phenomena, a weather radio demonstration and pamphlets on weather safety for you and your family.
Nebraska Physiological Society/American Physiological Society
How smart is your heart? Pretty smart, actually -- how fast or slow it beats changes all the time depending on how much blood your organs need. Watch your own heart rate change in response to daily activities!
The Omaha Astronomical Society
Love the stars, planets and space? The Omaha Astronomical Society will showcase telescopes and multimedia displays and distribute handouts for kids (word games, coloring, dot-to-dots, planispheres). Clear skies permitting, they’ll have solar telescopes set up outside allowing safe viewing of the Sun.
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
Life on Earth—How do polar animals stay warm? Put on the blubber glove and find out! Then, discover that all life on earth is connected by exploring food webs and food chains . Next, learn how humans impact food webs by exploring trash and treasure from the Ocean.
Oxbow Animal Health’s Veterinarian Science
How do bones break? What forces act on bones? At Oxbow Animal Health’s Veterinarian Science Vet booth, learn not only how bones break, but how veterinarians fix fractures in animals.
REASON
Master magician and mentalist Joe Broglie will show Friday’s Expo audiences how easy it is to fool our faculties of critical reasoning. On Saturday, an amazing array of science toys from Fat Brain Toys will stimulate the minds of young and old alike. Presented by REASON, a pro-science activist group.
Strategic Air & Space Museum
Get ready to see science soar to new heights. You will take part in the scientific method of engineering by creating and launching your own paper rocket.
UNMC College of Public Health
Before you eat, think about what and how much food goes on your plate. At the UNMC College of Public Health booth, your goal is to create a well-balanced meal with the highest nutritional value for your money. Using the NuVal Score, you’ll see how your meal ranks – the higher the score, the better the nutrition.
UNMC Physicians
Do I really need to wash my hands? Discover the answer at UNMC Physicians’ large, portable booth, which allows you to see the germs on your hands. Learn how germs spread and the right ways to wash your hands to prevent the spreading of germs.
UNMC Physicians ENT
Ever met a giant nose? Here’s your chance. Meet Dr. Knows and learn about germs, how to protect yourself from them and what exactly an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doc does.
UNMC - Science Education Partnership Award
What is taste? Why should you turn down your iPod? Discover hands-on science related to the senses and DNA extraction. You can even extract and take home some DNA.