Biology fun set for BioDays at Penn State

Biology fun set for BioDays at Penn State

University Park, Pa. -- How fireflies glow and what DNA looks like are some of the activities for the public at the third annual BioDays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 22 in Osmond Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. The event is free to the public.

Family hands-on activities are planned for BioDays, including exploring a room-size model of a cell; learning about the human heart; and examining luminescent organisms. There also will be tours of campus facilities including the greenhouses, as well as opportunities to meet with Penn State scientists in biological fields.

Three multimedia presentations open to the public are:

-- 11 a.m.: "Human Evolution" by Alan Walker, Evan Pugh professor of anthropology and biology at Penn State;

-- 1 p.m.: "Extrasolar Planets: Speculations on Life Elsewhere" by Anand Narayanan, Department of Astronomy at Penn State; and

-- 2 p.m.: "Complexity Made Simply: Finding Principles Underlying Development and Its Evolution" by Kenneth Weiss, Evan Pugh professor of anthropology and genetics at Penn State.

Held in conjunction with Space Day at Penn State, BioDays is sponsored by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, with the biology and biochemistry and molecular biology departments at Penn State. For more information, visit http://www.huck.psu.edu/biodays/ or contact the Institute at (814) 863-3650.