Bringing discovery to your living room

Each year, Neutrino Day brings tangible discoveries to our visitors. We peer into solar telescopes, looking safely at our Sun. We experiment with tabletop particle counters and learn to program robots. We extract and examine DNA from fruits. We listen intently to scientists describing their curiosity, their frustrations and their victories in their area of study. We raise our hands. We ask questions. We marvel at, then devour, nitrogen ice cream.

Moments of hands-on discovery are the highlight of Sanford Underground Research Facility’s (Sanford Lab) Neutrino Day. And this year, on July 6-11, Neutrino Day: A Matter Mystery is bringing that same sense of discovery to your living room.

Our first-ever virtual event will offer dozens of activities for curious minds of all ages. Activities include demonstrations from perennial favorite Science Steve, hands-on science activities with materials found around your home, virtual tours of underground science labs and Q&As with scientists.

Activities are happening all week and are searchable by time and grade-level. To further help students navigate activities, we’ve created Investigator Notebooks for students to download, complete and submit to be entered to win a prize.

Elementary Activities: Building on curiosity

Young students are known for asking “Why?” Our Neutrino Day events help kids turn “learning about” into “figuring out” answers for themselves and building on innate curiosity. See all Early Elementary and Upper Elementary activities or continue reading for our highlighted activities.

Toilet paper flies, balloons pop, children laugh and kids discover a fascination for science during “Science” Steve Rokusek’s scientific demonstrations. Rokusek has been a mainstay during Sanford Lab's Neutrino Day celebrations. This year, even though he will be recording his demonstrations from his own backyard, marks his 12^th year at Neutrino Day. 

During another activity, kids will listen to the children’s book Stella Brite and the dark matter mystery, then be asked questions and have a short, interactive exercise.

Young participants can also discover how shockingly fun static electricity is during the Shockingly Static Science activity. Participants will explore what it takes to create and hold an electrostatic charge, using a balloon and other household items, then investigate the mysteries of static electricity with their static generator.

During the live Investigate the Unseen activity, kids will investigate and collect indirect evidence, much like the scientists at Sanford Lab. Indirect evidence is essential when investigating something as tiny and hard to detect as a neutrino.

Elementary students will also have the opportunity to extract DNA from a strawberry, learn how to prepare fossils for study, learn to play Native American Games and share their favorite science jokes.

Middle School Activities: Connecting with the scientific community

During Neutrino Day, connect with a community that shares your enthusiasm for science through interactive activities, live chats with scientists and engaging virtual tours. See all middle school activities or read on for some of our favorites.

The live “How small is a neutrino?” activity, explores neutrinos, the most abundant particle in the universe and how their incredibly small size makes them so incredibly difficult to detect.

Did you know that the scientists who go underground are still depending on the mathematics that made the hoists work when they were first built in the 1930s? Learn about the math that makes everything work in the hoist room during the live “The math behind the hoists” activity.

In 2024, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon. Join the Journey Museum in Rapid City to view “Artemis: The Next Lunar Landing,” a recorded discussion with a NASA engineer who is working on the Artemis program to learn more about how this mission will unfold.

Celebrate our region's rich heritage by learning traditional Dakota and Ojibwe games with Jeremy Red Eagle, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Jeremy will be sharing a variety of activities including Tahuka canhdeska (hoop and arrow), a game that the men would play to strengthen their hunting skills; Kansu kutepi (dice game), a game played mostly by women; takapsica (shinny), a game played by both men and women and where the modern game of hockey comes from; as well as some smaller, simple games, including spinning tops and ring and pin.

Participants can also join virtual tours of underground laboratories and excavation, the impressive Yates Hoistroom and the Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as live science conversations with researchers about our universe’s biggest matter mysteries.

High School Activities: Exploring the field of science

High school students and beyond can dive deeper into various scientific fields. Visit our website for a list of all our High School activities and see a few featured below.

Before there was an underground research facility in Lead, there was a gold mine. But where did all that gold come from initially? During the “There’s gold in them thar hills!” activity, explore the process of “nucleosynthesis,” the formation of the elements in the most extreme environments of the universe. 

Scientists with the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) hope to revolutionize our understanding of the role neutrinos play in the creation of the universe. Join us to hear from an assortment of DUNE collaborators as they explore a variety of questions about the experiment during the “What is DUNE?” activity.

The Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a perfect opportunity to investigate matter mysteries throughout the week. Each day will have its own downloadable worksheet that will challenge science investigators like you to explore answers to the mysteries of the universe... or at least the answers to the worksheets. 

Got a clever science joke? Whether it makes your audience laugh or groan, we want to hear it! It might be funny enough to win the grand prize of our Bad Science Jokes Faceoff.

Participants can also join virtual tours of underground laboratories and excavation, the impressive Yates Hoistroom and the Wastwater Treatment Plant, as well as live science conversations with researchers about our universe’s biggest matter mysteries.

Beyond K-12... 

Speakers, live chats with scientists, hands-on activities, Native American games, Science Steve, contests and facility tours—everything you’ve come to love about Neutrino Day will be available via our online Neutrino Day hub. Check out www.neutrinoday.com today!