OCTOBER 2026
NETWORK NEWS
ASTC Conference
Thank you to everyone who connected with us during the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) 2026 annual conference! We greatly appreciated everyone who took the time to stop by our booth, talked with us during a session, joined us for our networking event, or found other ways to engage with us throughout the conference. It was great to see familiar faces and meet new people. If you weren’t able to attend the conference, we have posted resources shared during the conference on our site, including session slides, handouts, and more.
nisenet.org/astc2026
UPCOMING EVENTS
Online Workshops
The NISE Network hosts free online workshops as professional development opportunities for our partners to share with and learn from each other. Online workshops take place on select Tuesdays at 2pm-3pm Eastern. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events
• Neurodiverse Learning in Museums
Tuesday, December 8, 2026
2-3pm Eastern
Learn more and register
Join us as we explore best practices to support neurodivergent learners. We will hear from experts in the field, including members of NASA’s Neurodiversity Network and the National Science Foundation funded Neurodiversity and Universal Design for Learning project. Each has led their own co-creation work with those on the autism spectrum, creating accessible and inclusive STEM activities for all learners. Everyone has unique ways of thinking, learning, and experiencing our world. Come learn more about learner-centered approaches that can create more engaging and inclusive experiences to support children and adults with diverse ways of thinking.
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
Spooky Science Fun
Looking for fun STEM activities for Halloween events?
nisenet.org/halloween
America at 250 Resources
As the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary, there are many opportunities for us all to be involved. The NISE Network has created a compilation of resources emphasizing connections to STEM learning and engagement.
nisenet.org/America250
Artemis Moon Joy
Looking for ways to keep that Moon joy feeling going? Check out these
Moon activities and resources
Roman Space Telescope Resources
Celebrate the successful launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
nisenet.org/roman
Online Workshop Recordings:
• Inspiring Ideas for Interpreting Scientific Data with Artwork
(recorded 9-29-26)
Learn more
• Ready for Roman -
Resources for Celebrating the Launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (recorded 8-11-26)
Learn more
• Practical Approaches to Immersive Digital Experiences in Museums (recorded 7-21-26)
Learn more
• More online workshop recordings
Looking for an easy way to discover resources on the nisenet.org website?
Check out our “Browse by Themes and Topics,” featuring curated collections of hands-on activities and resources by themes and STEM topics:
nisenet.org/browse-topic
PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS
Congratulations to all the
2026 ASTC Leading Edge Award winners
Kudos to all of this year’s award winners!
- Rachel Hogan Carr (Nurture Nature Center, Easton, Pennsylvania)
- Darrell Porcello (Children’s Creativity Museum, San Francisco, California)
- Kansas Children’s Discovery Center (Topeka, Kansas)
- Imagination Station (Toledo, Ohio)
Learn more about the awardees and their work
Darrell Porcello awarded 2026
ASTC Leading Edge Award
Congratulations to Darrell Porcello of the Children’s Creativity Museum, who serves on the NISE Network leadership team. We are excited to celebrate this recognition!
Learn more about Darrell’s work
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Nourish to Flourish Opportunity
Nourish to Flourish, is a new partnership between ASTC’s Seeding Action and Arizona State University’s Nourish to Flourish Studio. Over the next 5 years, the Nourish to Flourish program will provide funding and support for organizations to create public engagement opportunities that explore the interconnections among food systems and planetary health.
Sign up to learn more
Free Science through Shadows
Planetarium Shows and videos
Fiske Planetarium in Boulder Colorado has produced a series of short videos about eclipses, occultations, and transits. All full dome videos are provided FREE in both English and Spanish, as well as 2D rectilinear format (for libraries, classrooms, and streaming platforms).
Learn more
CAMZIE - a new community for informal educators
The Community of Aquarium, Museum, Zoo, and Informal Educators (CAMZIE) is a new community designed for those engaging in informal education with the public. Membership is free.
Learn more
Solar Storms
Planetarium & IMAX Show
To celebrate the NASA STEREO mission’s 20th anniversary this fall, NASA is encouraging planetariums and IMAX theaters to show the 20-minute Solar Storms. NASA is offering virtual or in-person subject matter experts and STEREO posters and 3D glasses. Contact [email protected] for details.
NanoLab exhibit is looking for a new home
NanoLab explores how nanoscientists use special devices and laboratories to build and manipulate materials on the nanoscale. Visitors can dress up like a scientist, play with interactive exhibits, examine clothing and objects used in real labs, watch a video on nanoscale research, and explore the resource area for materials on nanotechnology and the basics of nanoscale science.
• Description and details
• More photos
• If you are interested, please contact Christina Leavell, NISE Network Community Manager Contact us
Interested in one of our exhibitions?
Join the waiting list!
If you are interested in hosting the Nano exhibition or the Sun, Earth, Universe exhibition, please reach out to Christina Leavell, NISE Network Community Manager, to be added to a waiting list.
Contact us
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
SCIENCE FUN NEWS
Check out the finalists for the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards featuring the photographs and videos from the 2026 competition.
Photo gallery
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 is awarded for optogenetics — a method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behaviours in the living brain. Optogenetics, which makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain using light.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
HEALTH NEWS
For decades, public health officials have used wastewater surveillance to track the spread of infectious disease in sewage. Now scientists at Rutgers University have been able to detect viruses hidden in mosquito poop using a tiny mosquito toilet. The device is a 3D-printed funnel coated with a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) material that causes liquid to bead up and slide into a collection tube.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Should We Engineer the Mosquito? Forum
• Building with Biology resources
GENETICS NEWS
Scientists have built SpudCell, a cell-like system constructed entirely from known chemical components that can perform a complete cell cycle. SpudCell is able to grow, replicate its genome, divide, and undergo selection and competition across multiple generations.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
SPACE & PHYSICS NEWS
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 is about using ice at the South Pole to track neutrinos from space. The NSF IceCube Neutrino Observatory consists of a cubic kilometre of ice equipped with light sensors. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus, it produces a flash of light that can be tracked by sensors in the clear glacial ice. By using IceCube, scientists are able to capture neutrinos originating from far away in space and increase understanding of astrophysical neutrinos and their origins. Often called "ghost particles," neutrinos exist in great quantities but normally pass through Earth undetected.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Telescopes and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
ENGINEERING NEWS
A soft bracelet shaped robot developed at North Carolina State University moves indefinitely when it is exposed to infrared light. The Ring Leaper can hop over hurdles and swim like a frog.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Engineering and robot resources
NANOTECHNOLOGY NEWS
Nanoscientists have developed tattoo inks that become visible only under ultraviolet light, and can be hidden again using bright visible light. The inks are made from tiny spheres of acrylic glass that contain compounds that undergo a reversible colour change on exposure to a specific wavelength of light. The tattoos have both cosmetic and medical applications.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Exploring Properties - UV Bracelets
CHEMISTRY NEWS
This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for work related to chemistry chirality and creating mirror image molecules. Molecules that exist as two non-identical mirror-images are called chiral molecules; the mirror-image molecules are “handed” like right or left like hands. Al amino acids exist as two mirrored variants, but only one of them is found in your cells; the other variant is rarely found in nature. When developing new pharmaceuticals, one molecule can have a therapeutic effect, while the other mirror image molecule can cause unnecessary and sometimes harmful side effects.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
QUANTUM NEWS
New research is shedding more light on the Kondo effect. In quantum physics, the Kondo effect describes the interference that magnetic atoms can have in metals. Usually, as metals cool, they become better at conducting electricity, because the reduction in energy means electrons can flow more smoothly. When magnetic impurities are present, cooling below a specific threshold (known as the Kondo temperature) causes electrical resistance to rise.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Quantum resources
STEM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
Discover activity ideas for incorporating current science, engineering, and technology content into events, special programming, holidays, and seasonal activities by visiting: nisenet.org/seasons
YEAR-LONG 2026
OCTOBER
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Campus Sustainability Month (October)
- World Origami Days (October 24 - November 11)
- October 24 is the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer (1898-1992), who founded the first origami group in America; November 11 is Origami Day in Japan where the paper crane has become a symbol of peace
- Exploring the Universe: Pack a Space Telescope activity
- Nano Future Tellers activity
- NASA Origami Universe
- NASA Space Origami: Make Your Own Starshade
- Dark Matter Day (on or around October 31)
- Halloween (October 31)
NOVEMBER
- Native American Heritage Month / American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month (November) - celebrate people in STEM
- Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) (November 1-2)
- World Tsunami Awareness Day (November 5)
- National STEM /STEAM Day (November 8)
- The date is a play on words, when spoken Nov8 sounds like "innovate"
- NISE Network STEAM activities
- International Day of Radiology & World Radiography Day (November 8)
- The date marks the anniversary of the discovery of X-Rays by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895
- International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technicians resources
- Society of Radiography resources
- World Science Day for Peace and Development & International Science Center and Science Museum Day (November 10)
- National Dream Destination Day (November 13)
- America Recycles Day (November 15)
- Pride in STEM Day & International Day of LGBTQIA+ People in STEM (November 18) - celebrate people in STEM
- Geography Awareness Week (Third week of November) (November 16-20)
- GIS Day (Third Wednesday of November)
- Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17)
- World Toilet Day (November 19)
- World Children's Day (November 20)
- Fibonacci Day (November 23)
- November 23 (11/23) is the date of Fibonacci Day because the first series of numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 1, 1, 2, and 3
- NISE Network size, scale, & measurement resources
- Howtosmile.org fibonacci activities
- Society of Women Engineers suggestions to celebrate
- Thanksgiving (November 26)
- Turkey breast feathers are iridescent due to nano-sized structures within the feathers
- NISE Network biomimicry resources including iridescence
- NISE Network butterfly resources including iridescence
- "Black Friday" Shopping Day - (Friday after Thanksgiving)
- Black Hole Friday (last Friday in November)
DECEMBER
- World Futures Day (December 2)
- National Disability Day & International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3)
- Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) (December 7–11)
- Hour of AI (December 7–11)
- Wright Brothers Day (December 17)
- Commemorates the Wright Brothers flight on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
- NASA Wright Brothers
- Games Day (December 20)
- Winter Solstice (December 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere)
- Solstices and equinoxes provide opportunities for planning quarterly programs related to the Earth, Sun, and Moon (astronomical seasons) or your local environment (meteorological seasons)
- NISE Network Moon resources
NASA Space Place seasons resources
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- ASTC List of Conferences in the Community
Learn more - Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, May 12-14, 2027, Tulsa, OK
Learn more - ASTC Conference, November 10-13, 2027, Boston, MA
Learn more - National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences
Learn more