Mara Raquel Domingos Franco nº22953 E


“The Science Museum”


Do you only believe in hard proofed facts? Do you enjoy making experiments? Building things? And you think the scientific documentaries’ channels are the best? Then you might just be a nerd . . . a science nerd, that is, and if that is your case than the Science Museum it’s right up your alley.
Right at the entrance of this museum, we can see an enormous pendulum hanging from the ceiling moved by the Earth’s magnetic field. The Science Museum is divided in several museums like: the Natural History Museum (one dedicated to deers and another solely to dinosaurs); the Physics Museum and the Astronomy museum – my favourite and the one that I went to visit and that also includes a planetarium.
Walking towards the planetarium, we can see a lot of scientific instruments from all sciences and from all times like: the sextant (an old astronomical compass used by sailors); a hand-calculator (one of the early calculators that resembled very much to an old-like cash register); and old telescopes. Going through the hallway we can see pictures of famous astronomers (Ptolemy, Sir William Hershel, Vermeer, Copernicus), of the Milky way, of the Solar System and of the planets in it.
Along we can also find, a computer that narrates the curious case of the galaxy PDFJ011423, a galaxy full of exploding stars that contain enough power to obliterate us, a dark globe that by a press of a button lights up all the constellations on the night sky, and also the several phases of the moon and the pictures of the main eclipses occurred in Portugal.
Then we find the Physics Laboratory, where a lot of instruments are kept and interactive games are set in order for us to experiment and see some interesting uses and tricks of science, before we finally finish in the big, dark dome of the planetarium, where for an hour, an hour and half we can gaze into the stars and infinity of the night sky and the Universe.

Blue Man Group in Lisbon

The Blue Man Group it’s an organization created, in 1988, by Phil Stanton, Chris Wink and Matt Goldman. The show consists in three men dressed in blue with latex suits playing music and during the all show they never speak.
The group plays mostly rock music with innovative instruments such as; a PVC pipe and a fishing rod. They mix all those sounds together with a real band which creates an amazing effect. They also use some light effects synchronized with the music which makes the show much more visual attractive for the audience.
One main feature of the group it’s the interaction with the public, they often get off the stage and mix with the audience making jokes and teaching some moves.
Because they never talk the whole show marks the difference between other shows. They have to show what they feel, or what they want to say with gestures and the help of a main screen.
When I went to the show, the whole show had a theme “How to become a Megastar”.
So they were a band starting from zero, and they had bought a DVD that teaches how to become a Megastar, it was really funny. In the main screen there were some pictures and words describing what they intended to show, and teaching the audience some moves from rock concerts. And the whole show was about that theme, with musical parts and funny parts.
Even though they came out off stage it’s much more fun if you sit on the front, because sometimes they throw paint water etc. So if you are on the front they give you a special vest to protect yourself from the liquids or whatever. And it’s more likely they choose you to go to the stage with them.
One funny thing they did was: in the beginning they tell everybody who was there that when during the show a signal (the signal was a ?) appear on the screen everybody should turn on their cell phones and wave them, that way the people that came after that, didn’t have a clue on what was going on.
It’s a different experience and I think that everybody should see it to relax and have some real fun.
Prepare yourself to become a Megastar.

David Nunes