Hear about infectious diseases so unbelievable they seem alien! Bacteria that joyride your cells, fungal cities entrenched in your squishy body, and that classic virus that makes you love aggression and hate water. Attendees will receive their very own infection! -- in the form of an evidence-based description. Understand your pathogen; become your pathogen. Then craft a fictional story around the science to teach the rest of us. We must learn about them, because they learn about us.
Introduction to Colorado S.T.A.R.S., a Resident Evil cosplay group. Learn about all aspects of zombies: the history of the genre, origins of the virus and the anatomy of the zombie. How to survive – Blending In (cosplaying as a zombie) or Eradicating (cosplaying a zombie hunter). Q&A encouraged. Hosted by Steve Wallace (founder) and other members of Colorado S.T.A.R.S.
Learn to handle bully situations and discuss positive ways to cope with the aftermath of bullying.
Writing one book is REALLY hard. Writing several novels is even harder. Writing several novels in a coherent series with consistent characters and satisfying story arcs can make your brain explode. These series novelists will offer their best advice for how you can wrangle hundreds of thousands of words into a compelling story.
A Harry Potter twist on the old TV show Family Feud. Bring your House team, and be ready to win points for your Hourglass and prizes for the winners. Never tickle a sleeping dragon!
A discussion of techniques and tools — as well as informative resources — on distressing garments and props for the wasteland, and a live demonstration of wearable destruction.
This discussion and demonstration will address a one-part easy silicone mold. We’ll provide tips and techniques for making a successful mold. Hosted by Charles and Tauni Orndorff.
Why go to space? Where should we go? How should we get there? Let the Denver Space Society guide you to space!
From Captain America in World War II to Spiderman in the Swinging Sixties, from the X-Men in the Eighties to Deadpool today, our Superheroes have always been who we want and need in our time. Join us in a fun and free-wheeling look at what makes certain superheroes our heroes, with videos, surprising information and class participation. Part 1 of the SHIELD Academy.
In this spotlight presentation, entertainment journalist Hayden Mears will guide attendees through the process of getting hired and succeeding as a freelance writer. An in-depth Q and A will follow the presentation.
Come join the staff and volunteers of the Colorado Model Train Museum as they teach you how to make your very own model trees, just likes the ones at the museum! In this panel you will learn how to make small trees and other plant life that can not only be used for model train set scenery, but also for other activities such as tabletop games, fairy gardens, and more!
NASA's Dr. Ken Carpenter will describe the revolution that has occurred in the last 25 years in our search for planets around other stars. He will also give a special inside look at the new Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and how it will expand our knowledge of such systems. Of particular interest to us, the mission will focus on Earth-sized planets around nearby stars, which will certainly become the best candidates for future members of the Federation!
Dr Erin Macdonald (proclaimed at StarFest 2017 as a “Warp Drive Expert”) will be discussing the science behind gravity and spacetime, and the ways different science fiction universes solve the issue of artificial gravity and traveling faster than the speed of light. We will explore the feasibility of these methods and which ones are the most accurate — in theory, of course!
Enjoy a Star Wars-themed science exploration where we’ll learn to use The Force (of static electricity) to levitate and repel objects, power light tubes, propel spacecraft, and more! We’ll have lots of opportunities for participants to perform Jedi tricks themselves with SHO-K3R, a 600,000 volt Van de Graaff generator. Presented by Richard Blake.
The history of space exploration began well over a thousand years ago in ancient China. Today, more than 75 nations around the world are involved in space exploration, including China. Carolyn takes you on a whirlwind tour of space exploration and the contributions of science, technology, engineering, arts, music, entertainment, law and education to our modern space-faring society.
This panel is an 18 + event.
Mythica will be talking about being on the TV show Skin Wars as well as talking about how her life is changed since the show went on Netflix. During the course of her talk, she will be demonstrating body painting live while speaking. There will be Q&A during the event. This event has been packed full for the last 2 years so make sure you come early.
From basic faerie and Christmas lights to computer-programmed speakers, motors and LEDs, we’ll advise you on where to get started, what to do and what to avoid when powering up props and costumes, and what the next steps are in making your costume shine…. literally!
Although SHIELD exists in our world (sometimes called the Marvel Universe), there are many alternative dimensions out there. This class will focus on the most well-known of these other universes – one that has a man who’s super, a man like a bat, and a woman who’s a wonder, as well as many other heroes. Join us for a different kind of look at a world you may have heard of – the DC Universe. Part 2 of the SHIELD Academy.
Writer/director/producer Dean Devlin has helped create some of the biggest hits in Hollywood, generating billions of dollars of box office around the globe. For his newest film starring David Tennant, Bad Samaritan (opening nationwide May 4th), Dean partnered with fan-owned Legion M to get his most important audience--fans--in on the action. Dean joins Legion M co-founder Paul Scanlan for an inside look at Bad Samaritan plus a candid discussion about the evolution of the studio system, and how the future of Hollywood is indeed fans.
A look at the vast, fertile ground SF has covered, from dime novels, to pulps, Golden Age, cyberpunk and beyond. Most SF scholars agree that Mary Shelley invented science fiction when she wrote FRANKENSTEIN. In the two centuries since, SF has been as fluid as it has been ambitious. This panel will discuss the places we’ve been, the eras and movements that have come and gone, with looks at the great works of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Come on a journey in a wrinkle in time. We will explore the book and movie. Also food and games.
This discussion and demonstration will show you how to use a silicone mold to cast resin. We’ll also provide techniques for adding color and decoration to the finished product. Hosted by Charles and Tauni Orndorff.
J. Jonah Jameson once said, “Sometimes I wish I’d been bitten by a radioactive water buffalo!” Would that really have been a good idea? Find out as we discuss topics like radioactive spiders, gamma rays, cosmic rays and other ways to get powers. We’ll look at the work of Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Reed Richards, and discuss the most impressive school science lab of all time! Warning: Kids, don’t try any of this at home! Part 3 of the SHIELD Academy.
Creators love to mine the past for fun, especially with time travel, alternate realities and secret histories. Black Sails, Outlander (both books and TV), Vikings and Timeless have successfully rewritten history; however, many others were cancelled quickly. And yet, AltHist still is very successful in fiction. What is sacred to the period piece purveyors, and what is fair game? How much research goes into creating a believable world of the past?
Come find out about one of the fastest-growing technologies available to cosplayers! We’ll cover where to find ready-made 3D models of your favorite props, how to get good print results, and how to finish the prints so that they’re photoshoot ready!
It’s a Battle Royale to determine which book/graphic novel/comic/toy to screen (movie or TV) adaptation is the worst. Anything goes, as long as it’s fantasy, sci-fi or horror. Four starting panelists declare their choices and you can step forward to challenge them and take their place on the panel–in this game, your idea wins or your idea dies by audience acclaim.
Award-winning entertainment journalist Hayden Mears walks attendees through the media industry, outlines the process of establishing oneself as an authority in the field, and offers advice on how to break in and stay in. A Q and A will follow.
While we are working to develop the technologies that will bring us to the nearest star systems and beyond, astronomers continue to probe those distant solar systems to understand better what we might find during those first visits. We often talk of the search for exoplanets, but equally important is our need to understand the central stars in those systems. Dr. Carpenter will describe the progress that has been made so far in resolving the surfaces of stars beyond the Sun, using both ground and space-based observatories, and then describe our vision of the ultimate space observatory for obtaining photographs of the surfaces of distant stars. Such a mission will consist of multiple mirrors spread out in huge, sparse arrays, such as the UV-optical Stellar Imager (SI) Vision Mission, with 30 mirrors precision formation flying with a beam-combining hub many kilometers distant.
What’s happening with New Horizons now that it passed Pluto? What did we learn from that mission? Come on a journey to Pluto and beyond to find out what scientists have learned and are expecting to find out as the New Horizons mission probes the outer solar system.
Learn what makes your kids excited about cosplay and what their favorite characters mean to them. Kristin shows you how to make cosplay a family project with neat DIY that you and your little superhero can do together.
They say that everyone has a double. With alternative dimensions and timelines, superheroes can have dozens of doubles. We’ll look at some of the amazing variety of variations of some of our favorite superheroes, and students will have the chance to come up with their own. This session will also include our SHIELD Academy Graduation Ceremony. Part 4 of the SHIELD Academy.
