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Cranbrook Institute of ScienceJuly 2016
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In This Issue
Head to the Rainforest!
Asteroid Day
New Planetarium Program
Bat Zone Reopens
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Cranbrook Institute of Science will be closed July 4, 5, 6 and 7 for a special camp for children being treated for cancer.  We apologize for any inconvenience. 

The Institute Takes Visitors to the Rainforest this Summer

Starting July 8, visitors to the Institute of Science can journey to one of the least known and most exciting habitats on Earth, in Rainforest Adventure. This summer exhibition allows visitors to explore the exotic and sometimes strange sights, sounds, plants, and animals found in this unique ecosystem. Interactive components in a maze-like setting present physical and mental challenges in the descent through the four layers of the rainforest to reveal the ways in which all forms of life adapt to its surroundings. Exhibits of live animals found in the rainforest allows for an up close look at some the rainforest's most unusual residents. Rainforest Adventure is the ultimate summer exploration experience and is free with museum admission.
Cranbrook Celebrates Asteroid Day 
The Institute celebrates International Asteroid Day on July 9 from noon until 4pm with unique activities, special displays, and lectures by Institute experts. Asteroid Day is a global movement established to heighten awareness of the threat to humanity posed by the more than 1,000,000 asteroids that could potentially impact Earth. Guests will handle actual meteorites and impact glass formed in deserts by asteroid strikes, see some of the meteorite fragments from the Chelyabinsk explosion in Russia in 2013, and learn about the effects previous impacts on Earth have had, including, perhaps mass extinctions. Could we be next? All Asteroid Day activities are free with admission.

New Planetarium Program Offers a Wondrous Journey Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

As part of the daily planetarium programs offered throughout the summer, the Institute debuts Cosmic Colors on July 8. This program reveals the many reasons for colors familiar to us all, like why the sky is blue and why Mars is red, takes a tour within a plant leaf and the human eye, and investigates x-rays by voyaging to a monstrous black hole and then back at the doctor's office. Viewers will even see the actual color of a dinosaur based on the most recently discovered evidence. This amazing adventure is part of the daily line up offered in the planetarium from July 8 until September 4.

Bat Zone Reopens for Tours and Friday Night Bat Walks

After a nearly year-long renovation, the Bat Zone is now re-opened for tours. In addition to its bat residents, guests can visit old friends like the sloth, sugar gliders and skunk in their new nocturnal home. Every Friday night until August 24, special tours allow visitors to join bat experts in search of bats on the beautiful grounds of Cranbrook. Watch bats dip and dive over ponds, see bats fly through the sky, and listen to echolocation with sophisticated bat detectors. Information about the bat houses on Cranbrook's campus, and how to draw bats to your own yard is included in every tour. Spend a summer evening searching for the creatures of the night.