Many companies and individual donors provide support for youth programs at science centers around the country. I have worked with many over my years at different museums and they all bring sincerity and hope at some level to their support.

But I have never had the experience of working with a company and individuals quite so dedicated, visionary, and personally engaged and committed as those around the Miracle-Gro Capital Scholars program. Today’s feature story in The Columbus Dispatch shares the special story of how the Hagedorn family and the Scotts Miracle-Gro company (where Jim Hagedorn is CEO) have made an incredible commitment to help youth make a fundamental change in their lives in partnership with COSI and others.

The opening of our exhibition this Saturday, RACE: Are We So Different? has reminded me of my own special up-close opportunity associated with the science underlying our new exhibition. I was able in the last 10 years to personally engage with the leading scientists behind the recent definitive change in the science behind the concept of race.

While many of us were getting the favorite family dishes out on the table Thanksgiving Day, one of COSI families were unexpectedly and shockingly going through the loss of the family patriarch, David Castle, Sr. Felled by a sudden heart attack, the Castle family day went from joy to tragedy with his death. With shock the rest of us found out during the course of the day by text messages and e-mails we picked up—creating an awkward internal tension between our personal joys and gratitude on Thanksgiving and our sense of personal grief and the unconscionable anguish we knew the Castle family had been thrust into.

Can the United States space program reignite excitement in the exploration of our broader universe beyond the surface of our earth? And if so, can it be significant without manned flight in stimulating people’s natural curiosity about our place in the world and universe?

TED conferences have become world famous—with some of the most brilliant talks and speakers you can ever find congregated at one place.

TEDx, the approved expansion into local versions have now spread worldwide.

TEDx Youth is a new concept that will play out in about 50 cities worldwide, but one of the earliest took place today at COSI.

We recently returned from our international science center conference where one of the features is an exhibit hall of activities, exhibits, programs that can be purchased or rented for use in science centers around the world. One booth had an incredible demo that caught the attention of even seasoned science educators like myself.

You’ve got to check this one out—I can’t describe it as you would think I was lying. The video clip you are going to see has already registered well over 5 million hits, so I must not be the only one intrigued by this.

We have a team here at the annual international Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) conference in Baltimore. This is THE international gathering of science centers from around the world.

We had the COSI team up on stage at the opening session inviting everyone to join us in Columbus next year. Having COSI getting more and more international attention for some of our innovative partnerships with The Ohio State University and others, there is an anticipation among our colleagues to visit COSI and Columbus.

Jeremy, our COSI web master, feels that Thursday should have been a national day of mourning with the passing of Steve Jobs---I agree. But maybe for a different reason.

As I’ve noted in my blog before, I “grew up” professionally with Apple Computer, serving in various consultant capacities for and with Apple Computer. I have a great affinity for the company and the genius of the two Steve’s who founded it—Wozniak and Jobs. So even though it was clear that this day would be coming sooner than we wanted, having Steve Jobs pass away is something I’m feeling very personally.