Geocaching is one of those nerdy activities I have been hearing about for years, but never really tried. Last week, we were doing a staff retreat involving exploring a nearby neighborhood, which included a geocache component. I took that as my chance to finally give geocaching a go. I did only a few of the …
President Obama, in his last State of the Union address yesterday, included some strong language on science and sustainability that is worth highlighting. On medical scientific research: 21st century businesses will rely on American science, technology, research and development. I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of …
"Sticky" is a sweet and insightful animated tale about a singular species of stick insect living on Lord Howe Island, and the scientists who discovered this supposedly extinct insect living under a single bush. It's a beautifully animated short video directed by Jilli Rose. "Sticky" entertainingly explains the process of taxonomic field research and the …
Check out this great blog post by Chanun, one of our TASC Force youth volunteers, about his experience participating in a “youth civic hackathon” at TechShop San Francisco this past weekend. Chanun writes eloquently about what he and two other Academy youth did and learned over the course of the weekend. “My teammates and I …
I’m home with some illness, weak but not incapacitated. So I’m in perfect shape for trying out new digital products. Enter “Elegy for a Dead World,” a cross-platform digital game designed to inspire creative writing by the player. I came across “Elegy” in one of my feeds and decided to give it a go. Here’s …
Last week's "Science Today" video focuses on a topic near and dear to me : communicating science to the public. There's some great quotes from scientists, educators, and even science comedian Brian Malow on the importance of communicating science in ways that work for modern audiences, whether that be online or in-person. Watch this short …
I'm excited to announce that the California Academy of Sciences will be unveiling our latest planetarium show, "Habitat Earth" on January 16 in the Morrison Planetarium. This beautiful animated show has audiences "dive below the ocean’s surface to explore the dynamic relationships found in kelp forest ecosystems, travel beneath the forest floor to see …
I've been working and playing in virtual worlds / virtual reality for a number of years. For a long time, virtual adventurers like me have fantasized about a future where everyone had access to "VR goggles" where you could escape into a simulated space from anywhere. These kinds of VR rigs were sorta cool, but …
As part of my duties as head of Digital Learning at the Cal Academy, I have been leading up a series of internal meetings on digital badges for learning. It's been a really great experience and I've definitely learned a lot. Many of my colleagues have been really curious and excited about the potential for …
Yesterday my Youth Programs team from the Cal Academy took a well-deserved mini-retreat up to Tomales, Bay, about an hour and a half north of San Francisco. Yes, it was cold and rainy almost the entire time. My feet got wet almost immediately during our hike, which I HATE. And yet I had an …