Museum of Science and Industry

This year, Sunday, March 11 marks the dreaded day where we all lose an hour of sleep, thanks to Daylight Saving Time. In an instant, 2:00 a.m. becomes 3:00 a.m., and we all get to wake up a little groggier, crankier, and with higher chance of having a heart attack! According to Martin Young, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, springing forward is associated with a 10...

"In order to control others, one must first control oneself." This is a principle of aikido, the Japanese martial art. It is probably a motto of other things as well, but it's hard to bear verifying this: search the Internet for quotes about “controlling others,” and the results are terrifying. The truism does appear to have backing, though, as new research from the Max-Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain...

Hooray! Just in case you had any doubt, MSI has the best fans a museum could want. Thanks to you, here are some recent examples of how our guests and fans support us online:

1.) In a city full of great museums, msichicago.org had more visitors last year than any other Chicago museum's website.
2.) On Chicago's 175th birthday, a

Over the next few weeks, if you go outside in Chicago shortly after sunset, it will be possible to see three (and maybe four) planets up in the night sky. Even with our city's light pollution, Venus and Jupiter should be visible on the eastern horizon between approximately 6 and 10 p.m. Venus is closer to the...

There are many ways for scientists to identify if human remains are male or female, even when there are only bones left. For example, general size and strength of the bones can be analyzed, the skull can give clues, and the angle between bones in the hips is significant. Researchers from North Carolina State University have now found that even the feet can help!

By measuring and comparing seven