By Nina Bai
Under sunshine and blue skies, thousands of children and families packed AT&T Park to experience first-hand the excitement of science at Discovery Day on Nov. 3.
The event capped off the eighth annual Bay Area Science Festival, organized by UC San Francisco, which brought two weeks of jam-packed science activities to the Bay Area.
From watching mitosis under a microscope to exploring the human brain through virtual-reality headsets, learning about the inner structure of the human ear to prodding preserved cow eyeballs, attendees at Discovery Day got a front row seat to science.
UCSF scientists, clinicians and students staffed more than 25 health science-themed booths. Other organizations, including NASA, Genentech and Chevron, offered a range of additional science, technology and engineering activities.
The Bay Area Science Festival this year also featured scientist talks in the community and several laboratory tours on UCSF’s campus, all free and open to the public.
The festival is organized by UCSF and produced by the Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) at UCSF along with a core group of science institutions. SEP is a partnership between UCSF and the San Francisco Unified School District that supports high quality science education for K-12 students. The program offerings include visits from UCSF volunteers to K-12 classrooms, learning experiences for teachers, and a high school internship program that pairs underrespresented students with mentors to conduct scientific research in a university environment.
For more campus news and resources, visit Pulse of UCSF.
Neuroscape research assistant Vinith Johnson leads visitor Gabriela Love through a virtual-reality demo on Nov. 1. UCSF scientists opened the doors of their labs to the public as part of the 2018 Bay Area Science Festival. Photo by Maurice Ramirez
Patrick O’Leary (right), PhD, demonstrates green fluorescence under a microscope during a lab tour hosted by the Cancer Cell Map Initiative. The laboratory tour was one of several that UCSF researchers provided to the public as part of the 2018 Bay Area Science Festival. Photo by Maurice Ramirez
Aiden Medrano (left), 10, shows his classmate Alejandro Lopez, 10, a button he made as Makers Lab instructor and manager Dylan Romero looks on. The tour was an introductory pop-up class on 3D printing that was held as a part of the 2018 Bay Area Science Festival. Photo by Susan Merrell
Jonah Kao, 4, is one of many young participants to learn about and touch a human brain at UCSF’s Neurobiology booth during the Bay Area Science Festival’s Discovery Day 2018 on Nov. 3. The free event, held each year at AT&T Park in San Francisco, is the finale of the festival. Photo by Barbara Ries
UCSF, which organizes the Bay Area Science Festival, provides hands-on learning and science experiments during the Discovery Day event at AT&T Park on Nov. 3. Photo by Barbara Ries
Kyan Hsich (right), 9, and his sister Chani Hsich, 6, try out stethoscopes to listen to their heartbeats at the UCSF Medical Scientist Training Program during the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018. Photo by Barbara Ries
Victoria Bourakova, a staff research associate at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, shows participant Maggie Sun, age 10, the lobes of the human brain in the Neurobiology booth at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018. Photo by Barbara Ries
Maya Arcibal, 6, participates in a hearing test at one of UCSF’s tents at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018. The event, now in its eighth year, brings hands-on science, technolology and engineering activities to AT&T Park for the Bay Area community. Photo by Barbara Ries
Young attendees play on the grass at AT&T Park between visits to science booths at the eighth annual Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018 on Saturday. Photo by Barbara Ries
Karen Bell (left) watches her son Isiah Hill, 6, experiment with 3D glasses at the Neurobiology booth at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018. Photo by Barbara Ries
William Tran (left), 6, and his brother David Tran, 9, use magnifying glasses to look at small bugs at the UCSF Biology booth at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018. Photo by Barbara Ries
Leslie Palacious-Helgeson (left), MD, a resident physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology, cheers on Liyah Shang, 8, as she uses a laparoscopic simulation as a learning tool about contraception and reproductive genetics, at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day 2018.Photo by Barbara Ries
