Science on the Square – One fantastic night blending science with downtown Madison businesses!

Back for its 8th year, Science on the Square will once again be fusing with the Madison Night Market to create a unique way to explore hands-on science activities while supporting local businesses and vendors. This year, Science on the Square will kick off an extended, 10 day, festival in celebration of the 15th Wisconsin Science Festival!

At Science on the Square, outdoor STEAM-themed activities will mix with Madison Night Market vendor tents throughout State Street. Indoor locations will showcase interesting exhibits, talks, or menu/product specials for you to check out as well. Learn more about the science that surrounds us every day while exploring downtown Madison. Be sure to stop by the top of State Street (near the capitol) to see live physics demonstrations, create a fun glowing design on a giant Science Brite, and more. Then make your way down to Lisa Link Peace Park (400 block) for live music, stopping at hands-on science stations along the way!

The Wisconsin Science Festival and Madison’s Central Business Improvement District are proud to bring you an event you won’t want to miss. Join us in downtown Madison between 5 and 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 16th, for fun for all ages. Check out the full list of participating businesses and hands-on station locations below!

Madison Central Library (5-8:30pm)

• Ward-Brodt Music – Instrument Petting Zoo
• UW-Madison Astronomy – Stargazing Safari
  • Stargazing will begin at dusk but stop by sooner for astronomy-related fun!
• American Society of Biomechanics Student Chapter – Biomechanics of Rock & Roll!

Madison Children’s Museum – Free Family Science Night (4-8pm)

• Wisconsin Center for Origins Research – Exploring Exoplanets
• Chemistry with Alpha Chi Sigma
• Wisconsin Agriculture in the Classroom – Soil Rocks!
• SleepHealth Ambassadors – Snoozeapalooza
• Dept of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection – Can you find invasive species?
• UW-Madison Women in Chemistry – Cyanotype sun prints
• UW-Madison Chemistry GSFLC – Boo Bubbles
• IBio Go – Who are these little guys??
• UW-Madison Schloss Lab – What does this feel like & what color is that?
• WIPAC: IceCube Neutrino Observatory – The strangest telescope in the world
• UW-Madison Medical Physics – Putting the ‘rad’ in radiation
• Cardea – Keep your heart in rhythm
• BadgerBots – Robot demo
• Maydm – Make a binary beaded keychain!
• UW-Madison Psychology Department – Rockin’ with the Data

Capitol Square

• MilliporeSigma Curiosity Cube
• Wisconsin Veterans Museum
• McPherson Eye Research Institute – Seeing Near & Far and How We Perceive Color
• Morgridge Institute for Research – Structural Biology & Virtual Reality
• Botany & Dept of Plant & Agroecosystem Sciences – Color, Canvas, Create
• Code to Connect – Sorting Bubbles Adventure!
• UW-Madison Jin Group – Why are crystals so awesome?
• Wisconsin Farm Bureau – Circles of the Earth
• Forum Stage – The Wonders of Physics
  • Live physics demonstrations, 6pm & 7pm
• Wisconsin Science Festival – Science Brite

100 Block of State St

• Ice Age Trail Alliance – How did glaciers shape Wisconsin’s landscape?
• UW-Madison Physics
• Ian’s Pizza & Hill-Murray Lab – Professor Nimble & Midas
• Ian’s Pizza – ‘What’s the Buzz’ special, limited-edition slice!
• Michelangelo’s Cafe: Weather & Climate with the Wisconsin State Climatology Office
• Wisconsin Cheese Mart & Microbiology Engagement Group – What’s growing on our rocks and under our rolls? (until 8pm)
• Catalyst for Science Policy – Race to the state microbe
• Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey – Rocks, rock!
• USDA-ARS, UW-Madison Horticulture – When in time and where in the world did this plant come from?

200 Block of State St

• Sencha Tea Bar & Allen Centennial Garden – To float or not to float: cranberry vs blueberry
• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art & Wisconsin Robotics
• Wisconsin Center for Education Research – Fractions & algebra project
• Neuroscience Training Program – Brain Demonstration

300 Block of State St

• UW-Madison School of Pharmacy – Phun with pharmacy!
• UW-Madison Etymology – Bugs on the move
• Parthenon Gyros & MRSEC – Materials that change our world!
• The Soap Opera & UW Soil & Environmental Sciences – Soil Microbes and the Effect of Forest Fires
• Society of Women Engineers – Slime making station

400 Block of State St

• Le C’s Patisserie & Learning and Transfer Lab – Can you believe your eyes?
• Hawks Bar & Grill and Catalent Pharma Solutions – Chromatography in the lab
• Music Stage at Lisa Link Peace Park: 5:30pm – Troye Shanks, 8pm – Wisconsin Singers
• Wisconsin Science Festival Information (Ice Age Trail Blaze Scavenger Hunt – sheet pick-up location)
• Wisconsin Energy Institute – Energy exploration
• Einstein Project Mobile Design Lab – Halloween make & take!

500 Block of State St

• UW-Madison Weeks’ Lab – Digesting Dairy: Breaking down dairy with enzymes
• Cell & Regenerative Biology – Hungry hungry hippos
• What’s Eating My Plants – Microbes and movement
• Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene – Microbe mystery tour
• Okashi & UW-Madison Schreier Group – Charge it up!
• HEALthy Brain & Child Development Study – Build a neuron!
• Undergraduate Genetics Association – DNA Eggstraction
• UW-Madison Engineers Without Borders – Water filtration

600 Block of State St

• NOAA Marine Debris @WI: Investigating Microplastics in the Great Lakes – Can you pinpoint the rhythm of itsy-bitsy plastics in the Great Lakes?
• UW Doctor of Audiology Program – Rockin’ Ears: How we hear & how to protect them

Banner image by Ueda Photography.