The Community Care Fair will provide a fascinating interactive exploration of our health, and how we care for each other’s well-being. Created for adults and children alike, this free event is planned in conjunction with the exhibition Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis currently on view at the museum, which explores how disease has changed us physically, socially, and culturally—and the surprising interplay between people and pathogens in an urban context. Among the Fair’s many engaging activities, adults can play an actual role in Weill Cornell’s “StuckOnU” study. By providing their cell phones for swabbing, they can learn about their phone’s molecular signature – and may even get interesting insights into aspects of their lives from their own personal ancestry to the last thing they ate! (This is limited to the first 96 participants.) Children can get in on the action by swabbing their hands and learning how to plate bacteria for culturing. Looking under a microscope will help them see the rich combination of bacteria that make up our microbiome. Among many health-related activities, the fair will feature a free acupuncture experience with Proyecto Salud y Acupuntura Para El Pueblo and opportunities to learn about healing objects from community-based organizations such as Moon Mother Apothecary. And there will be plenty of healthy food tastings.
New York City, NY; NYC