Kiewit Luminarium

Ever wanted to create your own eco-friendly paper, plastic, or even animal-free leather? Now you can! In this immersive workshop, you’ll collaborate with living microbes—the same tiny organisms that make kombucha—to grow your own unique biomaterial at home. With just a few simple ingredients, you’ll discover how yeast and bacteria work together to form sustainable materials that you can transform into creative, one-of-a-kind projects. Join us and explore the future of biofabrication—where science meets creativity!

Ever wanted to create your own eco-friendly paper, plastic, or even animal-free leather? Now you can! In this immersive workshop, you’ll collaborate with living microbes—the same tiny organisms that make kombucha—to grow your own unique biomaterial at home. With just a few simple ingredients, you’ll discover how yeast and bacteria work together to form sustainable materials that you can transform into creative, one-of-a-kind projects. Join us and explore the future of biofabrication—where science meets creativity!

Go on a wild science adventure with Keep Omaha Beautiful to explore the mammals in our urban ecosystem! Get hands-on with skulls, pelts, and scat (replicas) from local mammals, uncovering the secrets of who eats what, and how.

Join Keep Omaha Beautiful as they dig into the world of composting and discover how to keep food scraps and other organic materials out of the landfill. Test your skills by sorting different organics into appropriate composting streams. Take a closer look inside a vermicompost bin and meet the worms hard at work turning our food waste into healthy soil.

Get ready to be a scientist AND an artist! In this workshop, you’ll meet a special soil bacteria called Streptomyces that makes a super cool color-changing pigment. Your mission? Use water and a set of tools to figure out how to pull the color out of the bacteria’s jelly-like home. Once you’ve cracked the code, the real fun begins! You’ll mix and experiment in test tubes to see the color shift and change right before your eyes. Then you’ll use your very own “bacteria ink” to paint a one-of-a-kind masterpiece to take home.

Join us for this all-ages workshop and help support the future of threatened monarch butterflies! We will be joined by Nancy Crews, Director of the nonprofit Milkweed Matters(opens in a new tab). Nancy will provide an overview of why pollinators are threatened and what we can do to help. Guests can get their hands dirty and help create milkweed seedballs, which will sprout into the essential host plant used by the butterfly.

Get ready to be a scientist AND an artist! In this workshop, you’ll meet a special soil bacteria called Streptomyces that makes a super cool color-changing pigment. Your mission? Use water and a set of tools to figure out how to pull the color out of the bacteria’s jelly-like home. Once you’ve cracked the code, the real fun begins! You’ll mix and experiment in test tubes to see the color shift and change right before your eyes. Then you’ll use your very own “bacteria ink” to paint a one-of-a-kind masterpiece to take home.

Let’s find out! Participants will smell various spices in their native state and then attempt to identify each spice by smelling the oil of the spice, which has a high concentration of the scent molecules. The structure of the scent chemicals impacts how our neurons detect its scent, and models will be available so participants can connect the microscopic molecular structures to the macroscopic scents.

In this hands-on biodesign activity, visitors ages 8 and up will explore the fascinating world of biodegradable polymers derived from seaweed. Using alginate, a natural polymer found in large brown algae like kelp, participants mix a custom algae gel and transform it into colorful, squishy strings through a chemical reaction in a calcium bath.

Join the UNO Biomechanics Lab for fun and educational basketball experience! Guests will be able to participate in various NBA Draft Combine exercises, where they’re able to compare themselves to their friends, family, and NBA players. A running leaderboard of top participant performances will be displayed throughout the event.

Spring starts small! Join Keep Omaha Beautiful for a hands-on investigation of tree buds and the exciting changes happening before leaves and flowers appear. Dissect buds to uncover the tiny leaves and flowers hidden inside, ready to burst when the weather warms.

Spring starts small! Join Keep Omaha Beautiful for a hands-on investigation of tree buds and the exciting changes happening before leaves and flowers appear. Dissect buds to uncover the tiny leaves and flowers hidden inside, ready to burst when the weather warms.

Spring starts small! Join Keep Omaha Beautiful for a hands-on investigation of tree buds and the exciting changes happening before leaves and flowers appear. Dissect buds to uncover the tiny leaves and flowers hidden inside, ready to burst when the weather warms.

In this hands-on biodesign activity, visitors ages 8 and up will explore the fascinating world of biodegradable polymers derived from seaweed. Using alginate, a natural polymer found in large brown algae like kelp, participants mix a custom algae gel and transform it into colorful, squishy strings through a chemical reaction in a calcium bath. 

Go on a wild science adventure with Keep Omaha Beautiful(opens in a new tab) to explore the mammals in our urban ecosystem! Get hands-on with skulls, pelts, and scat (replicas) from local mammals, uncovering the secrets of who eats what, and how.

This groundbreaking exhibition reveals the untold story behind the top secret mission. Step inside a world of Cold War intrigue, cutting-edge technology, and human determination as you: - Uncover hidden history once shrouded in secrecy - See real objects from the Titanic and Ballard’s daring expedition - Explore the breakthrough innovations that made the impossible possible - Relive the emotion of one of history’s most unforgettable discoveries.

Did you know every piece of fruit carries its own secret instruction manual for life? It’s called DNA! In this hands-on activity, you’ll choose a fruit, extract its real DNA, and then mix it with colorful watercolor inks to create your very own DNA-powered marker. Finally, put your marker to the test by drawing unique works of art—each one secretly hiding the full recipe for a piece of fruit.

In this interactive workshop, you will explore the fascinating science of bioluminescence—the natural ability of organisms to produce light! Participants will create their own glowing reactions using safe household materials, discover real-life bioluminescent organisms, and unleash their creativity by designing unique glowing deep-sea creatures. Event is FREE with the cost of daily admission (or Membership) though early registration is required.

Join researchers from UNL Biological Sciences(opens in a new tab) to explore spiders and other arachnids! Through interactive and fun activities based on scientific research, learn about spider foraging and arachnid camouflage and mimicry. The goal of the UNL School of Biological Sciences is to advocate for arachnids through exposure and education.

Celebrate America Recycles Day with Keep Omaha Beautiful, and become a plastic scientist! Conduct hands-on experiments to test and sort plastics, and learn what those recycling symbols really mean. Explore what the plastic numbers and resin codes mean. Use science to sort plastics by their properties and types. Learn why reducing waste has a greater impact than recycling alone.

Celebrate America Recycles Day with Keep Omaha Beautiful, and become a plastic scientist! Conduct hands-on experiments to test and sort plastics, and learn what those recycling symbols really mean. Explore what the plastic numbers and resin codes mean. Use science to sort plastics by their properties and types. Learn why reducing waste has a greater impact than recycling alone.