Highlights from 2018

Crowd of people in front of a booth with monitors
Clinical Center - Under Your Skin
Five female NIH volunteers posing for a photo
NLM volunteers relaxing with Toxie the Cat, the mascot of their popular (and lively) Toxic Toss! game
Female booth staff member demonstrating a medical device to two children
At this NIMH exhibit, Julie Frost Bellgowan helps children experience how their brain and spinal cord control their bodies’ movements and muscle contractions
Two children doing an experiment with a male booth staff member
Stephen Jett
Crowd of people at USAF Science Festival convention
The NIH Ring
Woman with her arm around a child mannequin with headphones
Helen Maunsel hangs out with Kirby, teaching visitors about how playing your music too loud can damage your hearing
Two men using computers
Two young men type their names using protein structures that resemble letters of the alphabet, while NIGMS volunteer Alisa Machalek (far right) talks about the activity with a young woman
Man looking at camera while using a microscope
Anthony Gresko setting up a microscope for the Germ Stops Here activity
Woman speaking to a child using a pin art toy to create impression of his hand
Qiaoyun Zheng
Three men in conversation around a table
Career Pavilion
Man making a demonstration while three girls observe
NCI volunteer (Roshan Shrestha) teaches students about cell division and Mitosis with NCI’s “Modeling Mitosis” activity
Woman monitoring a man's pulse
Clinical Center - Under Your Skin
Man sitting at a round table speaking to a father, mother, and child
Career Pavilion
Crowd of people observing a presentation
NEI - More than Meets the Eye
Three boys using a computer
Some visitors to the NIGMS booth type their names using a protein structure resembling letters of the alphabet
Woman making a demonstration will three girls are holding their noses
Participants learn about how sight and smell, in addition to taste, affect flavor in foods (NIDCD volunteer Laura Manella on left)
A woman and a young girl holding up pictures and smiling
NCI volunteers hold up “cell countdown” playing cards, showing different stages of mitosis (left to right: Ulrike Boehm and Akriti Trehan)
Woman making demonstration in front of children
Children learning about the different germs they saw in the Germ Stops Here mock lab
Boy using VR headset while a woman looks on
NEI - More than Meets the Eye
Young girl looking at computer while a female staff member speaks to her
NIMH volunteer Caroline Swetlitz shows a young girl how focusing on a specific task can limit our ability to see other things in our surroundings
Man showing a colored plastic brain model to a young girl
Young student learns from NINDS’ Dr. Angel de la Cruz Landrau at the Brain Lobe-oratorium®
Girl using a VR headset
A girl visiting the NIGMS booth views protein structures in 3-D, while boys type in (and will receive a printout) of their names using protein structures that resemble letters of the alphabet
Woman speaking to a group of observers
Five female NIH volunteers posing for a photo and smiling
Volunteers
Woman speaking to two children across a table
AAAS Fellow Volunteers teach students about Atomic Force Microscopes and gaining information through the sense of touch (left to right: Eric Johnson Chavarria, Christopher Barnhart, Jill Beaver, Rebecca Lampley)
Four children doing an experiment
Students smashing up strawberries as they prepare for DNA extraction
Woman speaking to a boy and a girl in front of a pinwheel
Participants spin the Noisy Planet wheel to learn how to protect their hearing from common loud noises (NIDCD volunteer, Victoria Idowu on left)
Three women smiling and posing for photo
Clinical Center - Under Your Skin
Group of NIH volunteers posing for a photo and smiling
Career Pavilion
Two children using VR headsets
NEI - More than Meets the Eye
Young boy and girl using a tablet with the image being displayed on a larger monitor above them
Young biomedical engineers in training explore cutting-edge surgical technologies in the 3D operating room of the future
Four kids using VR headsets
A group of children visiting the NIGMS booth wear virtual reality headsets to view protein structures in 3-D
Boy and girl speaking with woman at booth while adults look on
NIMH volunteers Shauna Whisenton and Gowri Somasekhar show kids how the brain can be tricked through optical illusions
NIH display showing a guitar and the words Rockstars of Science
Rockstars of Science
Three women and a poster
Volunteers at the Sensation Station (left to right: Susan Dambrauskas, Phalla Messina, and Victoria Idowu) teach visitors what happens to sensory hair cells in the inner ear when they are damaged by noise
Man and woman speaking across a round table
Career Pavilion
Children observing an experiment while a man speaks across a table
Students learn about Atomic Force Microscopy at the AAAS Fellows booth by manipulating a working model (Christopher Barnhart)
Woman at booth speaking to a young girl
Having identified all the toxic substances correctly and successfully tossed all bean bags into the bucket, this young guest gets to choose a special pencil
Group of people gathered around a National Cancer Institute booth
All hands on deck! NCI volunteers talk to students and parents about mitosis and cancer at the NCI table (left to right: Poonam Aggarwal, Claire McCarthy, Josh Turek-Herman)
Children looking at plastic models while a man speaks to them
Students learn about actin proteins and build a 3D model at the AAAS Fellows booth at the 2018 USASEF (Stephen Jett)
Three women with a child mannequin with headphones
Laura Cole, Phalla Messina, and Laura Manella (left to right) pose with Kirby, the friendly mannequin that teaches people how loud music devices can really be
Boy and girl sitting at a round table and smiling
Career Pavilion
Man holding up hand while looking at camera and smiling
NEI - More than Meets the Eye
Man crouched down holding a model in his hand and speaking to a young boy
Dr. Carl Wonders of NINDS showing children the lobes of the brain
Six women in lab coats, each holding up a photo of another person's face
Six young women involved in the Miss Africa USA Pageant visit the NIGMS activity booth to “cell-e-brate science”
Boy doing an experiment
Student admiring large strands of extracted strawberry DNA
Two men speaking to each other across a round table
Career Pavilion
Three children crowded around a tablet
Siblings team up to explore the 3D iPad Surgery of the Future operating room
Two young children looking at a table while two adults look on
Young family teams up to rack up the point total on the iPad “Want to be a Bioengineer?” Video Game Challenge
Young girl using a tablet
Mom watches her daughter as she explores cutting edge biomedical technologies in the 3D Surgery of the Future operating room
Girl spinning a pinwheel
Using the Noisy Planet Q/A spinning wheel, Nora Welsh teaches a visitor about healthy hearing habits for common noises
Woman speaking to a young girl next to a computer
NCI volunteer (Rachel Evans) chats with a young scientist-to-be about a mitosis and shows her a video of a cell dividing in real life!
Woman holding plastic brain model while children look on
Anita Harrewijn from the NIMH intramural research program shows children a model of the brain and describes the different brain regions
Two teenagers speaking with someone at a round table
Career Pavilion
Group of people wearing plastic aprons and caps
Tracey Brown and Evan Rabinowitsch dressing up future scientists in personal protective equipment (PPE) so that they can enter the mock lab
Three kids using VR headsets
Children visiting the NIGMS booth wear virtual reality headsets to view protein structures in 3-D
Three kids speaking to NIH volunteer
The pressure mounts as these young guests at the NLM booth pool their knowledge to identify toxic substances. (BTW, they all did great!)
NIH volunteers posing for photo
Career Pavilion
Man and woman behind a booth with a CPR dummy
Clinical Center - Under Your Skin
A man and a woman addressing two separate families at a booth
NINDS scientists Anastasia Robbins and Angel de la Cruz Landrau in action at the Brain Lobe-oratorium®
Two girls using a computer
Visitors to the NIGMS booth could print out their names using protein structures that resemble letters of the alphabet
Two girls conducting an experiment at a booth
Extracted strawberry DNA on the stirrer by students
A man helps a child balance
Roger Miller teaches a visitor about how her vision and sense of touch work with her sense of balance to keep her upright
Children gather around Cool Spot Carnival exhibit
Cool Spot Carnival