NEPTUN Biography

Have you ever seen a taxidermy and wondered if it really used to be an animal? Or seen a brain in a glass jar and wondered why it's in all that liquid? In this class you will be learning about the wonderful world of biological collections, aka, how to preserve dead things. We will learn about taxidermies, fluid preserved specimens, dried specimens, and more, as well as all the work that is needed to maintain them. Then- you will get a chance to make your own fluid preserved specimen! At the end of class you will take home your own bee in a jar, that should be well preserved for you to keep for many years to come!

Did you just see Avatar 2 and spend way too much time afterwards thinking about how the Pandoran ecosystem works? Ever get sad about the fascinating lives of dinosaurs that we’ll never truly know about? Have you ever looked at a monkey and wondered how two creatures could become so different in 10 million years, how different would we look in another 10 million years? This class will not answer any of these questions. Instead, YOU will be the one who creates the answers. In this class you will learn about the speculative evolution movement and experience the works of other artists involved. The next step is for you to get involved! You can choose a scenario and create your own creature, based in real life biology, and bring it to life on paper or through playdough. Then you will have a chance to share your creature with the rest of the class. So, consider it. What if you left a population of just canaries on a habitable moon? How could a human evolve to live in the vacuum of space? And why can’t we find any remains of the ancient dinosaur civilizations? That is for you to decide.

Have you ever seen a taxidermy and wondered if it really used to be an animal? Or seen a brain in a glass jar and wondered why it's in all that liquid? In this class you will be learning about the wonderful world of biological collections, aka, how to preserve dead things. We will learn about taxidermies, fluid preserved specimens, dried specimens, and more, as well as all the work that is needed to maintain them. Then- you will get a chance to make your own fluid preserved specimen! At the end of class you will take home your own bug in a jar, that should be well preserved for you to keep for many years to come!

The idea of humans changing themselves at a molecular level proliferates through all sort of science fiction, be it horror or humor. This science fiction concept is no longer confined to the world of fiction, and it turns out that its much more complicated than any story would have us believe. Come learn the true history and science behind gene editing. Then, we will all work together on a large escape-room-like puzzle that models the work real scientists go through to edit a gene. Will you be the next scientist who prevails in making sci-fi into real life?

Did you just see Avatar 2 and spend way too much time afterwards thinking about how the Pandoran ecosystem works? Ever get sad about the fascinating lives of dinosaurs that we’ll never truly know about? Have you ever looked at a monkey and wondered how two creatures could become so different in 10 million years, how different would we look in another 10 million years? This class will not answer any of these questions. Instead, YOU will be the one who creates the answers. In this class you will learn about the speculative evolution movement and experience the works of other artists involved. The next step is for you to get involved! You can choose a scenario and create your own creature, based in real life biology, and bring it to life on paper or through playdough. Then you will have a chance to share your creature with the rest of the class. So, consider it. What if you left a population of just canaries on a habitable moon? How could a human evolve to live in the vacuum of space? And why can’t we find any remains of the ancient dinosaur civilizations? That is for you to decide.

The idea of humans changing themselves at a molecular level proliferates through all sort of science fiction, be it horror or humor. This science fiction concept is no longer confined to the world of fiction, and it turns out that its much more complicated than any story would have us believe. Come learn the true history and science behind gene editing. Then, we will all work together on a large escape-room-like puzzle that models the work real scientists go through to edit a gene. Will you be the next scientist who prevails in making sci-fi into real life?