April 1: Major League Baseball Opening Day
On opening day, consider the science at work in America’s pastime, including the physics of the spin on a curveball: It can curve up to 17 1⁄2 inches in the distance between pitcher and batter.
April 5: Jurassic Park in 3-D
Just in time for the film’s 20^th anniversary, Steven Spielberg remasters his blockbuster about a paleontological DisneyWorld gone terribly wrong.
April 6-14: National Robotics Week
Check out dozens of affiliated events across the country, including block parties, demonstrations, and competitions, as RoboWeek shifts into gear.
April 11-14: National Science Teachers Association Conference
Building reusable outdoor learning spaces and creating an environmentally friendly chemistry curriculum are hot topics at the San Antonio event.
April 12: Yuri's Night
Celebrate the anniversaries of both Yuri Gagarin’s first manned spaceflight, in 1961, and the 1981 inaugural launch of NASA’s space shuttle, at parties and space exploration outreach events around the globe.
April 12-14: International Orchid Show and Sale
Orchids from as far away as Brazil and Japan bloom by the thousands at Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
April 13: “Houston, We’ve Had a Problem Here”
Meant to be the third lunar landing attempt, the Apollo 13 mission was aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured 200,000 miles into space in 1970. Crew members returned safely to Earth on April 17.
April 22: Earth Day
Celebrate the birth of the modern environmental movement.
The National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., highlights artists’ relationships with the Earth as a source of power, a symbol of identity, and an environment to protect. Five artists will also create land art installations.
April 27: Urban Wildlife Ambassadors
Fifth- to eighth-graders will work with Urban Wildlife Institute biologists from Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo to collect data on the city’s wildlife.
April 28: Best Chance to See Saturn
Saturn is at its brightest and largest for 2013, visible through a telescope nearly all night regardless of your spot on the globe.
