Urban Scientist’s Happenings Week of September 19

So what is the equinox, exactly? Not to be confused with the solstice — which is the shortest day of the year in the winter and the longest day of the year in summer — the equinox is the twice a year event when the sun is aligned perpendicularly with the equator.

That means for that moment, high noon really means high noon (if it’s actually occurring at noon in your time zone), and that your summer is officially over, if you’re in the northern hemisphere. After the autumnal equinox, the sun gives preferential treatment to the southern hemisphere, leaving us cold in the north half as the days grow shorter and shorter, until they just can’t get any shorter. Then, the winter solstice happens, the sun shows favor to us northerners again, and we start to get ready for spring. But that’s all a long ways off.

In the meantime, leaves are changing, students are getting into the swing of the semester, and everyone seems to be getting more serious as they adjust to the cooling temperatures.

Speaking of cooling temperatures, it’s Climate Week in New York City. According to the organization’s website, “Business, government and NGOs gather in New York City to call for bold climate action that will secure a cleaner, greener, more prosperous future for all.” The Climate Change Adaptation In & Around NYC talk, co-sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences on Thursday, looks particularly interesting.

The NYAS has a bunch of other events this week, starting with Christiane Northrup discussing the link between health and pleasure on Tuesday, a Nobel laureate talking about nerve cell development on Wednesday, and a weekend focused on “Women, Power, and Aging” at Pace University.

If you want to go to the The American Museum of Natural History this Thursday, don’t. It’s closed for a United Nations event. But there’s a Sleepover on Friday, an expedition to the Kaaterskill Falls for a Garlic Festival on Saturday, and a workshop on the geology of Northern Central Park on Sunday.

NYC Resistor has its regular craft night on Thursday, or you can opt for the “Ask a Hacker” night at AlphaOne Labs that same night.

Whatever you do this week, don’t miss the World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science this Saturday and Sunday. There’s going to be a 3D Printing Village, a workshop on turning your trash into a radio-controlled plane, a how-to on growing tomatoes in your tiny sun-starved apartment, and a Lifesize Mousestrap. And that’s just the beginning.