It's the largest of events for the smallest of sciences.

The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will host Nano Days, part of a nationwide festival of nanoscience education programs, from Saturday, March 24, through Sunday, April 1.

Nano Days is organized by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), and takes place throughout the United States this weekend. This community-based event is billed as the largest public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education and involves science museums, research centers, and universities from Puerto Rico to Alaska.

A range of exciting Nano Days programs demonstrate the special and unexpected properties found at the nanoscale, examine tools used by nanoscientists, showcase nano materials with spectacular promise, and invite discussion of technology and society, program organizers said.

Locally, Granite Staters can visit the discovery center to make some of their own nanomaterials using scotch-tape, investigate super thin materials used in solar cell technology, and change the color of a butterfly's wings.

Other activities will include an I Spy Nano game, a look at nano gold, investigations of the properties of sunblock, and the reasons for the rainbow of colors produced by thin film.

At the nanoscale the scale of atoms and molecules many common materials exhibit unusual properties.

Our ability to manipulate matter at this size enables innovations that weren't possible before, program organizers said.

Nanotechnology is revolutionizing research and development in medicine, computer technology, new materials, food, energy, and other areas. Nano will affect our economy, environment, and our personal lives.

Some scientists think that future nanotechnologies and materials could transform our lives as much as cars, personal computers, or the internet.

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Discovery Center takes part in nationwide science festival