Science & Technology

The Nature Research Center is now officially open. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences held a grand opening for the new wing over the weekend.

Dave DeWitt: About 70,000 people attended the 24-hour grand opening of the Nature Research Center. Those who made it inside the 80,000 square foot facility touched animal skeletons, conducted robotic surgeries, and interacted with scientists.

Today is a long-awaited day in Raleigh, the Nature Research Center will open its doors to the public for the first time. It’s a $56 million wing of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The 24-hour opening will feature demonstrations, bands, and live walk-throughs of the facility. The Nature Research Center is a dazzling array of technology, built to engage young minds.

The scientific concept of nano-technology became popular in the 1990s.  A conference this week in Durham focuses on the commercial applications of nano-technology.

Leoneda Inge:  Today kicks off a two-day Nanotech Commercialization Conference at American Tobacco in Durham.   John Hardin heads the office of Science and Technology at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, a sponsor of the conference.   He says there will be many researchers at the conference but also many business developers.

A major center for Smart Grid technology will be dedicated today in Raleigh.

Dave DeWitt: Engineers, faculty, and political leaders say the Triangle is fast becoming the east coast’s “Smart Grid Valley.” The comparison to Silicon Valley comes a little closer to reality today, when the first-ever demonstration center and testing lab for electric utilities in the nation is dedicated on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus.