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First Friday: Mind Tricks
April 1, 2022 @ 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
A night where nothing is what it seems!
Friday, April 1
6-10 p.m.
$15 adults, $10 kids/seniors and $5 members
Celebrate April Fool’s Day with captivating, colorful and sometimes confusing mind tricks. Learn about how your senses work together to understand the world around us while enjoying whimsical perception-bending fun!
First Fridays at Chabot Space & Science Center bring the Oakland community together to play and discover, highlight diverse voices in S.T.E.A.M. and inspire explorers of all ages.
Chabot’s First Fridays opens the doors for discovery with planetarium shows, telescope viewings and after-hours access to exhibits. Embedded in Redwood Regional Park, the Center is a space for our community to get together, learn, and explore in Oakland’s backyard. First Friday features a new theme supported by community partners, hands-on activities, workshops, performances, and speakers. With different opportunities every month, the possibilities are endless.
Featured
6:30-9:30 p.m. Illusions in Space with NASA, Studio 1
See the universe in a different light and without pressure, challenge your perception with a NASA spin.
About Jonas Dino
Jonas Dino serves as a Public Engagement and MUREP Support Specialist at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Dino has a bachelor’s in psychology, Teaching Credentials in life science, and a Masters in Instructional Technology from San Jose State University. Before joining NASA, he served in the United States Marine Corps, as a Science as Teacher and a School Board Trustee. Dino started his NASA career in 2000 as an intern and has served various roles in the Office of Communications and the Office of STEM Engagement. His past projects include Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Mission, the Educator Astronaut Program, the NASA Explorer Schools Program, NASA Space Days, and the INSPIRE High School Internship Program. Dino specializes in engaging and inspiring students in grades K-8.
6-9 p.m. Rare Visitation from the Earth Tourism Association, Rotunda
Chabot Space & Science Center is pleased to welcome its three-eyed friends from planet Chatalon, located 50,000 lightyears away. They’ll arrive with their guide J1M from the Earth Tourism Association (ETA) using advanced technology, like municipal space elevators, which our scientists are still trying to understand. Or maybe they’re trying to understand us? They communicated that they’re looking forward to experiencing our planet’s incredible “chatbots”, which might explain how they ended up here at Chabot. Lucky us! The visitation also happens to coincide with the conjunction of First Friday and April Fools’ — a rare event that occurs once every 176 years.
Tours begin every 30 minutes. Look out for the portal. And please don’t mind their questions.
Schedule
6-10 p.m. Asteroid or Potato?, Throughout the Center
What do asteroids and potatoes have in common? More than what you would expect. In 2019 NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft imaged the asteroid Arrokoth located near Neptune and discovered that it looked like a potato! As you search throughout the Center can you find the hidden asteroids (or are they potatoes)? How many did you find?
6-8:30 p.m. Microgravity Misdirection with Galaxy Explorers, Studio 1
What is it like to train for a space mission or to be in space? How do your body systems adjust to this new microgravity experience? How can microgravity fool the body and mind? Visitors will explore the effects of microgravity on several human body systems through hands-on stations. These demonstrations will reveal what it might be like to travel into space where their sense of balance, and fine motor skills will be tested. Visitors will also learn how astronauts can work in a spacesuit for ten hours…without access to a restroom.
ASTRONAUT GOGGLES & VISTIBULAR BOARDS
These activities demonstrate the effect of weightlessness on the inner ear and balance. Without gravity, the fluid in the inner ear which tells the body when it’s up or down can float. Astronauts as a result, can experience trouble with balance and coordination.
ASTRONAUT DIAPERS
Welcome to a simulation of MAGs (maximum absorbency garment) aka astronaut diapers!
The term superabsorbers encompasses several polymers all having the basic ability to absorb massive quantities of water. Sodium polyacrylate is nicknamed the “super slurper” because of its ability to absorb as much as 500 times its mass in water. These polymers were originally developed by The Department of Agriculture from hydrolyzed starch and polyacrylonitrile, but today a much more absorbent, totally synthetic polymer has been developed. The powder we find in today’s disposable diapers is made from sodium salts cross-linked with polyacrylic acid to form sodium polyacrylate. The practical application for this superabsorber was realized in the early 1980’s when the Japanese marketed the first successful disposable diaper.
PERCEIVING LIGHT
In this demo we learn how scientists can use telescopes and other tools to capture and filter different energies of light to study the universe. Most objects in the universe are so distant from us that we can only study them through light. Filters allow us to block some energy levels of light and isolate others; each energy of light can offer new information about the object of study. In “Perceiving Light,” participants discover how colored filters can help reveal more about an image. They can also make and study colorful images of their own.
7 p.m., 9 p.m. Robert Strong Presents an Evening of Powerful Magic & Comedy, Studio 3
Welcome four amazing magicians on April Fool’s Day at the Chabot Space & Science Center for First Friday: Mind Tricks. With over 75 years of combined experience, magicians Robert Strong, David Martinez, Tom Collett, and Satvik Balakrishnan will blow your mind with card tricks, escapes, science tricks, and mind reading.
Tom Collett performs creative, intellectually elegant magic that incorporates elements of his career as a science teacher.
David Martinez is one of the busiest working magicians in the Bay Area, performing hundreds of shows every year for everyone from high schoolers to high-tech employees.
Satvik Balakrishnan is a charming young magician who captures audiences of all age groups.
Robert Strong is a comedy magician specializing in corporate entertainment based out of Palo Alto, CA. He is the only one in the world who holds the unique honor of being voted ‘Best Magician’ three times and ‘Best Comedian’ twice by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He has performed in 45 countries, in all 50 states, on every major TV network, and twice at the White House. By combining comedy, magic, and mind-reading, he will make your event so much fun that your guests will be talking about it for years!
7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. Flavor Tripping with Haley Thiltgen, Studio 3
Join Chabot’s Haley Thiltgen and trick your tongue with a sample of the miracle fruit. These red berries known as “miracle fruit” will turn any sour taste sweet. Taste citrus and a collection of other foods like you’ve never tasted them before! Discover the science of taste receptors in this one-night only experience. Limited capacity so get there early for a miracle fruit sample and a special selection of foods to test your sensory perception, including lemon, dill pickle, hot sauce (Tapatio), Sour Patch Kids candy, ginger and Granny Smith apple.
Ingredients of the Miracle Berry ingredients: miracle fruit powder, corn starch
Warning: please finish any food and drink before flavor tripping as the effect on your taste buds may last longer than 30 minutes.
Haley Thiltgen is a Chabot Space & Science educator that specializes in informal science education for outdoor, museum, and non-profit organizations. She has over five years’ experience developing and delivering curriculum that integrates a hands-on, student-centered approach to learning. She is well versed in elementary science standards (NGSS) and how to utilize them in an open-ended, inquiry-based approach. She encourages students to appreciate the natural world through scientific observation, analysis, and thought.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Redlands and strives to create engaging, accessible, and memorable learning experiences for learners of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
7:30-10 p.m. Telescope Makers Workshop with Eastbay Astronomical Society, Lab 2
Open to all ages, the Telescope Makers’ Workshop is an all-volunteer group committed to helping people build their own telescopes. Drop in to see what they are up to.
The Eastbay Astronomical Society serves Bay Area residents and astronomy enthusiasts with events, classes, and Oakland’s premier views of the universe.
7:30-10 p.m. Telescope Viewings, Observatory Deck
Join Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes.
8 p.m. Space in Your Face: Punk’d in Space!
Phosphine on Venus? Life on a Martian meteorite? Playboy bunnies on the Moon? Signals from aliens? Join us as we deep dive into all the times when we were punk’d by space, where host Julia DeMarines will myth bust some notable catchy space headlines, talk about hush-hush astronaut pranks, and shed some light on planetary illusions. Remember folks, if something seems weird, it doesn’t mean it’s aliens.
*Note this presentation is recommended for more mature audiences.
, with Julia DeMarines, Studio 3
Take a humorous look back at the many times that long-held science theories turned out to be disproven with host Julia DeMarines.
Julia DeMarines is a PhD student, Astrobiologist, and science communicator working with the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center and with Blue Marble Space. She is a 2019 National Geographic Explorer and 2018 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, and a 2019 AGU Voices for Science advocate. Her research involves detecting life in the Universe through biosignatures and techno signatures and the ethics of sending powerful, intentional messages into space.
