2013 World Science Festival Turns Downtown Brooklyn into Robot Land

If you like cutting-edge technology, NYU-Poly at MetroTech was where you wanted to be on Saturday as the World Science Festival touched down in Brooklyn for a full day of functioning robots and gadgets like smart-watches, 3D printers, video games and other interactive tech.

After dark, the festival continued at Brooklyn Bridge Park where astronomers set up telescopes for stargazing and gave talks about the nighttime sky.

Above: Hubo the Humanoid Robot, a collaboration of Drexel University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Hubo walks, shakes hands, etc. One day it may be smart enough to be a personal assistant or help save lives.

One popular exhibit was the MakerBot tent, where the Replicator2 3D printer was churning out cool little plastic objects.  

Joshua Harker, a 3D-printing artist, was also showing his sculptures. Skylar Tibbits exhibited 4D printing, where objects self-assemble over time.

Fixers’ Collective NYC taught people how to fix their broken gadgets.

Several inventors and scientists gave talks about their work. Above, IBM's VP of Research Michael Karasick explains "A Boy and His Atom: The World’s Smallest Movie," a film created out of individual atoms. He spoke about how atoms can store memories and how that ability may someday be used in quantum computing.

In Brooklyn Bridge Park, people got to gaze into powerful telescopes. It turns out that Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury were aligned Saturday night—- something referred to as the “Dance of the Planets."

The Brooklyn branch of the World Science Festival is a great day of science and technology. Can't wait for next year.

Photos by MK Metz

- World Science Festival in Brooklyn 2012

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Festivals in Brooklyn This Weekend, June 1 and 2: Music, Tech, Zombies, Re-enactors

Last year's Red Hook Fest

Brooklyn is overflowing with festivals this weekend, with dance parties in Red Hook to robots at MetroTech to art in Bushwick to Zombies in Williamsburg. Here's the list:

* The Red Hook Festival is already under way. Friday night: Community BBQ & Dance Party. On Saturday, the Red Hook Rebirth Parade begins at Coffey Park at 10 a.m. Then head to Valentino Pier & Park for a full day of mainstage performances and activities, like free Kayak rides in New York Harbor.

* The World Science Festival is returning to Brooklyn on Saturday, with events at two locations: MetroTech / NYU-Poly in Downtown Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Read our post about this very cool geeky event here.

* Zombies return to Williamsburg on June 2 for a blood-soaked bar crawl. Get made up at the Knitting Factory, surge onto Bedford Avenue and stagger to McCarren Park with 1,000 other walking dead.

* Liberty Weekend from Friday to Sunday in New Utrecht features Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactors, historical displays, lectures and the firing of a Civil War cannon.

* P.S. 29 Carnival Friday night in Cobble Hill. P.S. 32 Carnival Saturday afternoon in Carroll Gardens.

* The Atlantic Avenue Wedding Extravaganza on Saturday will include mock weddings, an open-air fashion show on Boerum Place -- and puppies dressed in wedding gear at Adam Yauch Playground!

* Bushwick Open Studios, a three day arts and culture festival with performances, exhibitions, music and film.

* The Fifth Avenue Spring Festival, a giant street fair complete with carnival games, rides, outdoor concerts by Brooklyn bands, sidewalk cafes and more will take place on Sunday from 69th Street to 85th Street, from noon to 6 p.m.

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World Science Festival Returns To Brooklyn, This Time with Flying Robots and Drones

Our robot overlords last year at MetroTech. Photo: MK Metz

The World Science Festival is returning to Brooklyn on Saturday, with events at two locations: MetroTech / NYU-Poly in Downtown Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

At MetroTech, Innovation Square will be set up in the Commons from noon - 8 p.m. where you can see cool cutting edge technology like flying robots, mini-drones, 3-D cameras, 3-D printers and performances by Blue Man Group tech-guru Bill Swartz. Inside are workshops, digital games and talks.

Adults, teens and nerdy kids alike will love this.

See photos of last year's festival here.

Examining a turtle. MK Metz

At 8 p.m. the festival moves to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1, where astronomers have set up telescopes for a free evening of stargazing.

Live music and kids activities (like last year's release of a turtle into the pond, above) will accompany the astrological event “The Dance of the Planets.” Also included: Twilight sailing of the Schooner Mystic Whaler, refreshments and more. (Photos from last year here.)

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Is SUNY Downstate Missing the Boat by Restructuring without LICH?

SUNY Downstate. Photo: Google Maps

SUNY sees no role for its most valuable and potentially profitable hospital -- Long Island College Hospital (LICH) -- in its SUNY Downstate restructuring plan, which it presented on Tuesday.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the plan includes downsizing Downstate, forming a network with other Brooklyn hospitals, and seeking another operator to take over some or all of LICH in Cobble Hill.

SUNY says the proposed network of hospitals would streamline health services throughout the borough and bring in revenue to other financially-shaky hospitals. SUNY is asking for $435 million in transition funds over four years from the state.

While many aspects of the plan make sense, it disappoints by overlooking the critical role LICH plays in north-central and Downtown Brooklyn.

While SUNY Downstate has made LICH out to be a money-losing proposition, doctors at the hospital say that much of its financial difficulties stem from SUNY's mismanagement and Continuum's flawed contract with LICH to oversee billing and IT.

Doctors and staff complain that Continuum doesn't bill for a large percentage of services, meaning LICH has essentially been providing health care for free to a substantial portion of patients.

As LICH is in better physical shape than Downstate and better positioned geographically to attract patients with insurance, SUNY would lose less money by suing Continuum and expanding LICH -- not dumping it.

- SUNY survival plan: Shrink Downstate, form Brooklyn hospital network, ditch LICH. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- SUNY Plans To Give Up Management Of LICH As Part Of Restructuring Plan [NY1]

- Is SUNY's Search for LICH Buyer 'Designed to Fail?'

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Navy Yard Greenhouses; Citi Bike Share; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Coming to the Barclays Center plaza this Saturday: food trucks. [Atlantic Yards Reports]

- Helicopter cops with night-vision goggles stumble onto horseshoe-crab stealing ring. [NY Magazine]

- Brooklyn Navy Yard greenhouse is the latest to debut in complex’s redevelopment. [TRD]

- Despite glitches, Bloomberg says Citi Bike share big success. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- A hundred thanks to Sheepshead Bites for linking us to "Officials Say the Darndest Things."

- Mac n' cheese: Brooklyn Mac opened its Dumbo location last week. [DumboNYC]

- Dog released after death sentence. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Fifteen people were killed in New York City traffic in April, and 4,409 were injured. [Streetsblog]

- As hurricane season nears, Con Ed shows off equipment’s new protections. [NY Times]

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Coney Island Mermaid Parade Needs Just $4,669 -- 5 Days Left at Kickstarter

Holy mackerel!

More than 2,170 backers have pledged $95,344 to save the Coney Island Mermaid Parade -- just $4,669 shy of the $100,000 Kickstarter goal, with five days left.

If the total amount is donated by June 3, the city's most creative parade will go on as it has for 30 years.

Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on Coney Island and destroyed the parade's headquarters and performance space on Surf Avenue, leaving the 31st Mermaid Parade with a budget shortfall of $100,000. More at Kickstarter.

- Coney Island Mermaid Parade Close to Halfway Funded

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Underwhelming Citi Bike Turnout in Brooklyn Heights/ DUMBO

Spotted: Citi Bike user in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photo: MK Metz

On our annual Memorial Day walk yesterday afternoon we ran across hundreds of bicyclists but only counted four people riding the new Citi Bikes.

We started out in Brooklyn Heights and walked north to DUMBO (via Washington Street) then headed south through Brooklyn Bridge Park to Atlantic and then Cobble Hill. From there we walked north along Court Street (with stops for yogurt and shopping) to Clark Street back in Brooklyn Heights. Then just for fun, we walked north and south on Henry Street.

This route brought us past quite a few Citi Bike racks, mostly full of bikes. Our impression was that usage was a bit low on the program's first day. (Except for Clark Street, which was only a third full.) Anyone else have other impressions?

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Luke's and No. 7 Sub in Smokestack Building, Brooklyn Bridge Park

Photos by MK Metz

On Sunday restaurant staff busied themselves readying the two new food concessions sharing the so-called "Smokestack Building" at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

On one side is Luke's Lobster (above), serving New England-style lobster rolls and chowder, and on the other is No. 7 Sub (below), serving sandwiches made with "a protein and something pickled and something creamy," and then "something crunchy."

The concessions weren't open on Sunday but it looked like they'll be open any minute.

The Smokestack Building is all that's left of the boiler house of the historic New York City Department of Purchase Storehouse, otherwise known as the Purchase Building.

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Have You Seen Lola? Yorki Lost on Columbia Street

Lola, a little Yorkie, ran off on 5/13 in Brooklyn at Columbia and West 9th Street. She was last seen crossing the Battery Tunnel by the Dimata ball fields.

If you see her call Seth, at 917-803-4266. There's a reward.

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Abandoned Car on Brooklyn Bridge Draws Big Emergency Response

Scene on the Manhattan-bound lane. Photos: MK Metz

Police shut down the Brooklyn Bridge this evening around 5:30 p.m. when a dark car with no license plates was abandoned on the Manhattan-bound side.

The NYPD bomb squad with bomb-sniffing dogs and FDNY emergency vehicles pulled onto the bridge. Above, it appears that a FDNY vehicle is turned diagonal to the roadway. The abandoned car is out of sight to the left.

The emergency response included a police helicopter, which hovered over the Brooklyn tower of the bridge for more than an hour.

As the bomb squad examined the abandoned car, several NYPD marine units sailed around under the bridge.

Police gave the "all clear" around 7 p.m., according to the Brooklyn Eagle. Besides having no plates, the vehicle did not have a vehicle identification number, according to CNN.

Photos by MK Metz

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