Media Advisory

TO                         Assignment and Features Editors, PSA Directors

FROM                     UAF's College of Science, Engineering and Mathematics

SUBJECT                SCIENCE POTPOURRI 2000

LOCATION              UAF Natural Sciences Facility, Yukon Drive

DATE & TIME          Saturday, April 1 from noon to 5 p.m.

For science that's strange enough to make your hair stand on end— especially while standing next to a van der Graff generator— check out the Science Potpourri 2000, held April 1 at UAF's Natural Science Facility. Scientists are cooking up vats of slime, shining up the scanning electron microscope and bringing in a live ground squirrel for the annual open house, sponsored by the College of Science, Engineering and Mathematics.

Free interactive experiments for children, exhibits, demonstrations and science shows suitable for all ages will be on display Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Featured fun for April Fool's Day includes special nail polish that changes color in sunlight, optical illusions, and "memory wire" which can be bent, twisted and contorted, but returns to its original shape when immersed in water. Visitors can also pan for gold, play with reindeer hides and hooves or cut rocks with a few geology gurus.

Volcanologists (as in the magma guys, not Mr. Spock) from the Alaska Volcano Observatory will heat things up with volcanic eruption demonstrations, but sparks will really fly when chemistry professors talk about and demonstrate useful explosions.

Free parking for Science Potpourri is available in the lot behind the Natural Sciences Facility, located on Yukon Drive between the upper residence halls and the UA Museum.

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CONTACT: Marlys Schneider, UAF Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, at (907) 474-6287 or Jillian Swope, University Relations, at (907) 474-7778.

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