Pickelodeon: The Philadelphia Science Festival

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The Philadelphia Science Festival

Science is everywhere! Or so says the slogan for the Franklin Institute's Discovery Camp. Over the past week, the Philadelphia Science Festival has shown the City of Brotherly Love that science truly is everywhere, from the beer they drink to the glass from which they drink. This two-week extravaganza has featured events that made astronomy astronomical, ecology economical, and physics physically impossible to ignore. Cheesy plays on words aside, the festival has inspired an interest in science and technology learning city-wide, and there is still a week to go.

All this fun and a sweet logo to boot.

The true kickoff of this major event was the Science Carnival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday, April 16th. Robots, paper marbling, the Bio Bus, and Random Acts of Science, including a liquid nitrogen cannon, were just a few of the many events featured on that jam-packed day. Later that same evening, I was lucky enough to learn the science behind glass blowing at Hudson Beach Glass in Old City. After watching a wine chalet being made up close, I was able to enjoy Yards Brewery's E=MCBeered in a hand-crafted beer glass emblazoned with a DNA double-helix.

A week's worth of science later, I made my way to the Yards Brewery on Delaware Avenue for From Hops to Stein: The Science of Beer. Attendees at this sold out event learned how smell affects taste, how barley tastes before it goes into the mix, and even the physics of keg mechanics. Not to mention the opportunity to sample each and every beer offered by the stellar brewers at Yards.

Normally a Pickelodeon feature highlights something that is over, leaving you, our readers, waiting for the next year's event. Not this time, my friends. There is still a week left in this spectacular science fest! Check out their events calendar to see what is on tap for this week, and get to as many events as you can! You will leave with a new appreciation for science and a yearning for next year's Philadelphia Science Festival. Most of the events are free, and all of them are more than worth your time. We here at the What are already eagerly anticipating next year's event!