Cambridge Science Festival
Various locations
April 26 - May 4
Most events free

If you can't get into ROFLcon to worship at the altars of XKCD and Homestar Runner, don't worry--there's plenty of other high-tech stuff going on at MIT this weekend. Namely, the Cambridge Science Festival, which kicks off tomorrow and runs through May 4, giving you plenty of time to learn about animals, atoms, automata, and anything else that tickles your scientific fancy.

The festival launches at noon tomorrow with a "Science Carnival" featuring a 9-foot tornado, the opportunity to build your own car, and the revelation of what's really inside M&Ms (we're not sure we want to know). MIT President Susan Hockfield and Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons will be present at Cambridge City Hall (795 Massachusetts Ave) at 2:00 p.m. to really get things rolling. Festival events take place all over Cambridge, from MIT to the Museum of Science. The festival also corresponds with the Massachusetts Science Fair, which runs from May 1-3 and gives sciencey high schoolers an opportunity to shine.

Other Science Festival features include a "Walk on the Wild Side" to Little Pond, where David Brown will teach visitors a thing or two about animals and ecosystems; exhibits exploring environmental effects; an opportunity to learn about protein structures and create your own "vanity peptides"; solar lunches offering the chance to view the sun through Museum of Science's solar telescope; an underwater exploration of the Charles; an opportunity to go behind the scenes at the MIT museum; and more. You can even learn how to build beetle nurseries--who doesn't want to see some cute little baby bugs running around?

Several scientists will make appearances, including physicist Michio Kaku, who will explain the physics of the impossible and how mind reading might someday become feasible; Nobel laureates Philip Sharp, Wolfgang Ketterle, Jerome I. Friedman, who'll give lunch talks; and Steven E. Hyman, who'll moderate a panel on the ethics of neuronal enhancement.

There are also many less strictly scientific events, including a Nano Brothers juggling show, a performance by the Gamelan Galak Tika Balinese dance and percussion group, and an Underground Railway Theatre production of Peter Parnell's play QED. Come on down to Cambridge this week to check out the Science Festival--it'll be electrifying, but hopefully not actually blinding.

Beaker/beaker image from Flickr user Joel Franusic. Physics of the Impossible image from Michio Kaku's website.