NASA is challenging college students to design concepts for inflatable habitat lofts for the next generation of space explorers. The winning concepts may be applied to the exploration habitats of the future.

The X-Hab Academic Innovation Competition is a university-level challenge designed to encourage further studies in spaceflight-related engineering and architecture disciplines. This design competition requires undergraduate students to explore NASA’s work to develop space habitats, while also helping the agency gather new and innovative ideas to complement its current research and development.

Students will design, manufacture and assemble an inflatable loft that will be integrated into NASA’s operational hard-shell prototype lab unit.

The competition winner will participate in a demonstration of the submitted design during the 2011 Desert Research and Technology Studies, or a similar field test next summer.

NASA’s Exploration Mission Directorate and the Office of the Chief Technologist’s Innovative Partnerships Program are sponsoring this new technology challenge. NASA is dedicated to supporting research that enables sustained and affordable human and robotic exploration. This educational competition contributes to the agency’s efforts to train and develop a highly skilled scientific, engineering and technical workforce for the future. For information about competition registration and requirements, visit http://www.spacegrant.org/xhab/

Outback Steakhouse concluded its Thanks for Giving program with a presentation of a $1 million donation to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization providing everyday and emergency support for active troops, veterans and their families.  The check was presented by OSI Restaurant Partners CEO Liz Smith and Outback Steakhouse President Jeff Smith to Jim Knotts, President/CEO and Amy Palmer, COO of Operation Homefront.  

Today’s event began with the Presentation of the Colors by The Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE) Color Guard, MacDill Air Force Base, in the front of the original Outback Steakhouse, established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida.  United States dignitaries on hand included Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill, Army Command Sgt. Maj. Ron Pflieger, retired Army Maj. Gen. Richard Griffitts, and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Arthur “Chip” Diehl III.

The Thanks for Giving program was launched in March when diners where invited to assist Outback in its efforts to support the troops by ordering from a special Red, White and Bloomin’ menu.

The company-wide initiative garnered national attention, including the endorsement of country music legend and fellow military supporter, Tim McGraw; retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. Central Command Commander; and retired Army Brig. Gen. John Howard.

“The sacrifices that our troops and their families make so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have in the United States is something Outback employees have recognized and appreciated since we opened our doors 22 years ago,” said Liz Smith. “As we express our sincere appreciation to those serving our country, we would also like to  thank the countless Americans who rallied behind our Thanks for Giving program.”

Today’s donation to Operation Homefront is the most recent in a long history of Outback’s support of the troops.  In June 2002, OSI launched Operation Feeding Freedom, sending a team of 15 Outbackers to Afghanistan to feed American troops stationed there.  Since that trip, over 100 members of the OSI team have made another six trips serving troops in Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and aboard the USS Nimitz in Bahrain.  Overall, 137,000 troops have been served at numerous bases and forward command locations. 

“Our troops, veterans and their families need support now more than ever,” Knotts said. “Outback’s generous donation will help these dedicated individuals and wounded warriors carry on with life’s essential needs as well as emergency situations.”

Menus around the US are in the process of getting a makeover. The new health care bill will require all restaurants, with 20 or more locations, to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and drive-thrus.

More than 60% of restaurant-goers think restaurants should post nutritional information on menus, and two in five (44%) think federal or local governments should facilitate such actions, according to Mintel, a global supplier of consumer, product and media intelligence.

“Menu transparency will allow consumers to have control over their food decisions with a complete understanding of what they’re eating,” notes Eric Giandelone, director of foodservice research at Mintel. “However, getting people to eat healthier requires more than just posting calories or adding healthy options to the menu…the food also has to taste good.”

When going out for dinner, nearly 60% of survey respondents say they want something that tastes great and 23% claim to want to eat a healthy meal. Only 14% of diners say they are never interested in ordering a healthy restaurant meal. This insight shows that restaurant patrons are attracted to healthful meals, as long as they’re full of flavor.

Nearly half of survey respondents report eating healthier in restaurants in the past year and people have different methods for doing so. Reducing fat (67%) leads the way in strategies for adopting healthier eating habits at restaurants, followed by eating more fruits and vegetables (52%). Meanwhile, 49% of patrons are cutting calories by simply ordering less food.

“From a restaurant’s perspective, there is a concern that healthy menu items may not sell, but there is also a danger to having a calorie-laden menu when the calorie count law starts taking effect,” adds Eric Giandelone. “There may be some initial consumer shock at the calorie counts and chains may have to start listing lower-calorie options or smaller portion sizes to help diffuse this unpleasant surprise.”

STAR TREK LIVE, a new interactive stage show based on the popular science-fiction franchise, debuted to hundreds of guests at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on June 11, 2010, kicking off a summer of fun.  The show takes audiences on an exhilarating 30-minute journey offering an unforgettable live theatrical experience for fans of all ages. The show combines fun special effects, audience interaction and an exploration of real space-age technology.

Produced by Mad Science Productions, under a license from CBS Consumer Products, STAR TREK LIVE introduces a world of discovery by combining science with entertainment to teach and encourage scientific literacy. In the show, the audience portrays new Starfleet cadets assembled for the first day at the Starfleet Academy led by its best and brightest. The new cadets will have to learn quickly the intricacies of living and working in space, modern space travel and the latest in communication and technology.  

“We are thrilled to present the worldwide debut of STAR TREK LIVE at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – only a few miles away from where history was made and mankind’s greatest adventure began,” said Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Chief Operating Officer Bill Moore. “NASA and Star Trek have a long, parallel history together, and we hope to inspire visiting families with the fun and educational story of space exploration through this engaging stage show. A sense of science has been given to science-fiction through Star Trek, and NASA transforms this incredible journey into reality.”

STAR TREK LIVE is presented a minimum of three times daily at the 300-seat Astronaut Encounter Theater. For more information about the live action show, call Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at 877-313-2610 or visit www.KennedySpaceCenter.com.

To celebrate MLB Rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg’s major league debut last night, The Topps Company, Inc., the exclusive producer of Major League Baseball trading cards, has announced that Strasburg’s first ever MLB rookie card is now available exclusively online via www.ToppsMillion.com.

In an effort to capture this special moment in a timely fashion and give sports fans around the world an opportunity to collect this treasured card, during Strasburg’s very first MLB game on June 8, collectors visiting www.ToppsMillion.com with a code card found in Topps Series 1 or Topps Series 2 baseball will have a chance to unlock this special card.  Strasburg’s Topps rookie card contains the photo of his very first pitch in the Major Leagues and will be issued in very limited quantities.

“Topps has a long history of creating memorable and valuable cards featuring the games great rookie stars, from Mickey Mantle to Nolan Ryan to Cal Ripken, Jr. to Albert Pujols.  We expect Stephen Strasburg’s rookie card to follow in similar fashion,” said Warren Friss, Topps GM of Sports & Entertainment.  ”Our enormously successful online Million Card Giveaway provides us a unique platform to capture and deliver Stephen’s first MLB rookie card in an unprecedented and incredibly timely fashion.  Before Stephen even hit the showers last night, his card was already owned by at least one lucky collector.”

Last year Topps announced an exclusive multi-year deal with Strasburg granting Topps exclusive rights for autographed cards, game-used memorabilia cards and the use of Strasburg’s image on packaging and advertising.  Topps will also offer a limited edition line of autographed memorabilia items.

In addition, Strasburg rookie cards will appear in the remainder of Topps 2010 baseball products starting with the release of Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball.

Topps is the first exclusive baseball card company of Major League Baseball in nearly 30 years.  The company looks to expand its ongoing efforts to invigorate the category, continue launching ground-breaking products, improve the retail and collecting experience and make cards more relevant to children and young adults.

Without warning, a mystery object struck Jupiter on July 19, 2009, leaving a dark bruise the size of the Pacific Ocean. The spot first caught the eye of an amateur astronomer in Australia, and soon, observatories around the world, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, were zeroing in on the unexpected blemish.

Astronomers had witnessed this kind of cosmic event before. Similar scars had been left behind during the course of a week in July 1994, when more than 20 pieces of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere. The 2009 impact occurred during the same week, 15 years later.

Astronomers who compared Hubble images of both collisions say the culprit may have been an asteroid about 1,600 feet (500 meters) wide. The images, therefore, may show for the first time the immediate aftermath of an asteroid, rather than a comet, striking another planet.

The Jupiter bombardments reveal that the solar system is a rambunctious place, where unpredictable events may occur more frequently than first thought. Jupiter impacts were expected to occur every few hundred to few thousand years. Although there are surveys to catalogue asteroids, many small bodies may still go unnoticed and show up anytime to wreak havoc.

“This solitary event caught us by surprise, and we can only see the aftermath of the impact, but fortunately we do have the 1994 Hubble observations that captured the full range of impact phenomena, including the nature of the objects from pre-impact observations” says astronomer Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., leader of the Jupiter impact study.

In 2009 Hammel’s team snapped images of the debris field with Hubble’s recently installed Wide Field Camera 3 and newly repaired Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The analysis revealed key differences between the two collisions (in 1994 and 2009), providing clues to the 2009 event. Astronomers saw a distinct halo around the 1994 impact sites in Hubble ultraviolet (UV) images, evidence of fine dust arising from a comet-fragment strike. The UV images also showed a strong contrast between impact-generated debris and Jupiter’s clouds.

Hubble ultraviolet images of the 2009 impact showed no halo and also revealed that the site’s contrast faded rapidly. Both clues suggest a lack of lightweight particles, providing circumstantial evidence for an impact by a solid asteroid rather than a dusty comet.

The elongated shape of the recent impact site also differs from the 1994 strike, indicating that the 2009 object descended from a shallower angle than the SL9 fragments. The 2009 body also came from a different direction than the SL9 pieces.

Team member Agustin Sanchez-Lavega of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, and colleagues performed an analysis of possible orbits that the 2009 impacting body could have taken to collide with Jupiter. Their work indicates the object probably came from the Hilda family of bodies, a secondary asteroid belt consisting of more than 1,100 asteroids orbiting near Jupiter.

The 2009 strike was equal to a few thousand standard nuclear bombs exploding, comparable to the blasts from the medium-sized fragments of SL9. The largest of those fragments created explosions that were many times more powerful than the world’s entire nuclear arsenal blowing up at once.

The recent impact underscores the important work performed by amateur astronomers. “This event beautifully illustrates how amateur and professional astronomers can work together,” notes Hammel.

Occasional dark spots have appeared on Jupiter throughout the history of sky watching. Observing records of the planet are filled with references to spots, including “white spots,” “peculiar spots,” and “well-defined spots.” Only a handful may have described possible Jupiter strikes.

In 1686, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini reported a dark spot on Jupiter that was roughly the size of the largest SL9 impact. Nearly 150 years later, in 1834, British astronomer George Airy independently reported a dark feature in Jupiter’s southern belts that looked nearly four times as large as shadows cast on the planet by the Galilean moons. Crude telescopes prevented sky watchers from probing the nature of those spots.

The study by Hammel’s team appeared in the June 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Relentless in his lifelong devotion to the elephants’ survival, Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Ph.D., has been named the 2010 recipient of the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. In recognition for his lifetime achievements, Dr. Douglas-Hamilton will receive $100,000 and the Lilly Medal at a gala ceremony presented by Cummins Inc. on Sept. 25, 2010, at The Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

The colorful career of Iain Douglas-Hamilton has included being squashed by a rhino, targeted by poachers, and poked by elephants’ tusks. He has suffered malaria, hepatitis and other diseases so exotic most people have never even heard of them – not to mention the plane crashes he has survived. He has persevered through severe droughts and a flood so powerful it washed away years of research. So why does he endure all this? One reason – to save elephants.

Four decades ago, Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behavior that has set the standard for every study to follow. He led emergency anti-poaching efforts in Uganda to bring the elephant population there from the very brink of extinction. He has testified before Congress on behalf of his beloved elephants multiple times, leading to the African elephant bill, to date the most successful funding program for the species. His pioneering Global Positioning System (GPS) elephant tracking, widely emulated in Africa and Asia, has become a model survey technique. He recently partnered with Google Earth to show elephant movement in real time via satellite images.

In September 2009, Douglas-Hamilton worked to rescue a rare herd of desert elephants in northern Kenya and Mali, threatened from one of the worst droughts in nearly a dozen years. In the spring of 2010, a devastating flood destroyed the Save the Elephants camp in Kenya including staff tents, computers and years of field research notes. With a team of local researchers, the camp is now being rebuilt.

He has patiently, relentlessly countered efforts to kill the African elephant for ivory, while continuing to educate others through his extensive conservation research. Just recently, at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Douglas-Hamilton was successful in campaigning against the Tanzanian and Zambian proposals to downlist the elephants’ status on the endangered list and sell their ivory stockpiles.

“The plight of the African elephant is intensely personal to Iain. He has studied, named and nurtured thousands of African elephants for generations, and it is this intimate understanding of and love for these magnificent mammals that drives Iain’s forceful efforts to secure a future for endangered African elephants,” said Michael Crowther, President/CEO, Indianapolis Zoo. “Iain truly epitomizes what it means to be a hero.”

“Iain is a one-of-a-kind encyclopedia on elephants. His breadth of knowledge, derived from personal experience, observation, and interactions with managers, politicians, and land owners, is a critical and unique asset to conservation,” said George Wittemyer, assistant professor in Colorado State University’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, a protégé who has worked with Douglas-Hamilton since 1997. “His legacy to the conservation community, general public and the African elephant includes alerting the world to the risks of its overexploitation, original and continued research on the behavior and ecology of the species, identification of critical populations/regions facing extreme threats, creation and implementation of novel solutions to the multitude of emerging conservation issues, and educating the public about the wonders and intelligence of the African elephant, its habitats, and the people with which it coexists.”

Born in Dorset, England, Douglas-Hamilton attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland and received his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. He currently works and resides in Nairobi, Kenya.

The 2008 Indianapolis Prize was awarded to legendary field biologist George Schaller, Ph.D. Schaller’s accomplishments span decades and continents, bringing fresh focus to the plight of several endangered species – from tigers in India to gorillas in Rwanda – and inspiring others to join the crusade.

On June 3, a six-man international crew entered an isolation chamber in Moscow for a simulated 520-day Mars mission conducted by the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation – Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The crew has a mission schedule full of more than 90 experiments and realistic scenarios, including emergency situations, 20-minute communications delays and a trip to the Martian surface.

The specialized IBMP facility consists of interconnected modules serving as the mock interplanetary spaceship, including medical and scientific research areas, living quarters, a kitchen, greenhouse and exercise area. The chamber also contains a Mars landing vehicle module and a Martian landscape module for simulated extravehicular activities.

Supported by National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), the U.S. scientific team participating in the study is monitoring the six crew members’ rest-activity cycles, performance and psychological responses to determine the extent to which sleep loss, fatigue, stress, mood changes and conflicts occur during the mission.

“Extensive data from the Russian Mir Space Station, International Space Station and Apollo missions suggest that psychological and behavioral issues will be perhaps the greatest challenge humans will face when they embark on years-long missions to Mars and other locations,” said David F. Dinges, Ph.D., leader of the NSBRI-funded group and a professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

The 520-day Mars Mission, conducted by IMBP under the auspices of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in cooperation with the European Space Agency, is the final phase of the Russian Mars 500 program. Previous phases included a 14-day test of the facility and a 105-day isolation study involving a six-man international crew in 2009. The 520-day mission is broken into 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface, and 240 days for the return to Earth.

During the simulation, Dinges and his colleagues are using miniaturized wristwatch-like devices to measure crew members’ sleep-wake patterns and specially programmed computers with brief assessment tests to gather information throughout the mission on crew members’ performance and emotions. Dinges is working in collaboration with Matthias Basner, M.D., from Penn, Dimitris Metaxas, Ph.D., of Rutgers University, and Daniel Mollicone, Ph.D., of Pulsar Informatics, Inc. Igor Savelev, Ph.D., NSBRI’s International Liaison, oversees the onsite implementation of the study and works in coordination with the Dinges team.

A key component of the computer-based assessment is the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) Self Test. This three-minute test measures the stability of sustained attention, psychomotor speed and impulsivity. PVT Self Test is also undergoing evaluation on the space station, where it is known as the Reaction Self Test.

“We’ve learned from laboratory experiments, other mission analogs and the Russian’s 105-day isolation study that the PVT is sensitive to fatigue and other factors that degrade the ability to pay attention and respond quickly,” said Dinges, who leads NSBRI’s Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team.

PVT Self Test was developed through Dinges’ work with NSBRI, NASA, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. The user watches for a signal and responds when it appears, allowing the measurement of reaction times at a high degree of precision. Dinges also implemented PVT in studies involving astronauts in other space analog environments, such as on the ocean floor in NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) program.

“As soon as he completes the PVT Self Test, the crew member receives an assessment of how well the task was performed relative to someone who is fully alert and capable. The report also indicates how many times responses were too slow and how many times responses occurred before the signal came on,” Dinges said. “So, there is a measure of impulsivity as well as fatigue.”

Crew members do the assessment tests on their own specialized laptops programmed by Pulsar Informatics with built-in cameras to record facial expressions during testing. Facial video data will be evaluated off-line by computer algorithms developed in the Metaxas laboratory, where an optical computer recognition system is being created and validated in collaboration with Dinges for use in space to unobtrusively detect signs of sleepiness, negative moods and stress.

Every seventh day of the Mars 520-day mission simulation, the assessment tests are completed in the morning and before sleep. The tests take 10 minutes, requiring only 20 minutes of the crew member’s time on testing day, and include PVT Self Test and other measures of sleep quality/quantity, fatigue, stress, moods, conflict and depression.

“The crew is on a six-day work week. Because they take the test every seven days, we will get data from every day of their work cycle 14 times throughout the mission,” Dinges said.

For Dinges, the need to obtain data in this type of environment is essential.

“This simulated Mars mission is by far the longest-duration study of crew confinement under operating conditions attempted to date. It will have an impact on planning for exploration missions,” Dinges said. “It provides something we can’t learn from much shorter-duration simulations or from the 180-day stays on the space station: namely, what is the effect on crews of living and working for 520 days in continuous confinement?”

Mars 500 will allow Dinges and others to find out whether the ability to sleep well, attend to tasks, react quickly, maintain positive moods, and feel alert is sustainable across such a long mission, and whether there is evidence of negative moods, depression and an increase in conflicts.

The lessons learned extend to life on Earth.

“These tests and interventions have an impact beyond the space program,” said Dinges, a 2007 recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. “Many people, including those in military operations and many first responders, work night shifts and in high-stress, often confined environments that require alertness. The things we are learning about how to objectively and unobtrusively measure changes in performance and psychological status will be useful in many environments, such as power plant control rooms, railroad systems, emergency operations, hospitals, and police, fire and rescue situations.”

PepsiCo today launched an innovation incubator program called PepsiCo10, an open call for promising start-ups in media, communications and technology.  In this unprecedented initiative, PepsiCo will select up to 10 aspiring entrepreneurial groups, match them with industry mentors, and join with them to activate pilot programs with PepsiCo brands. Entrepreneurs can find out more information about the PepsiCo10 and apply online now through June 24, 2010: www.pepsico10.com.

PepsiCo is partnering on the program with global venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners and premiere social media publication Mashable and is connecting selected entrepreneurs with other business partners, including OMD Ignition Factory, TracyLocke, dmg :: events and Weber Shandwick.

“The PepsiCo10 initiative is our chance to identify, support and team up with some of the most original emerging technologies and to connect those entrepreneurs with some of the top companies in media and technology to develop innovative marketing ideas,” said PepsiCo’s Director of Digital and Social Media B. Bonin Bough.

Entrepreneurs are asked to focus PepsiCo10 submissions on one of four innovation segments: social media, mobile marketing, place-based and retail experiential marketing, or digital video or gaming.  Proposals will also be evaluated on their ability to impact brands and/or further PepsiCo’s corporate Performance with Purpose priorities, which include health and wellness, environmental sustainability, and talent development.

“With this program, we are championing outside innovation and welcoming it into the organization to push our marketing and communications expertise to new levels, including how to leverage innovative tools to better connect with and engage our consumers,” said Seth Kaufman, Director of Media Strategy and Investment for PepsiCo North America Beverages.

Following two rounds of rigorous assessment, 20 finalists will be invited to PepsiCo headquarters for a two-day PepsiCo10 event, during which they will present their ideas to PepsiCo marketing executives and a variety of partner media and investment agencies.  PepsiCo teams will then evaluate the presentations and potential of each company and hear keynote addresses and panel discussions from top media, communications and technology visionaries. Following the presentations, up to 10 entrepreneurs will be named the inaugural PepsiCo10. These organizations will have the opportunity to execute a pilot project with one of the elite PepsiCo brand teams.

“The PepsiCo10 offers an outstanding opportunity to identify and work with emerging start-ups that are driving the next wave of innovation and entrepreneurship across the globe,” added Bob Davis, General Partner with Highland Capital Partners. ”We’re excited to work with PepsiCo and lend our expertise to the program.”

While PepsiCo10 is a new vehicle for the company, PepsiCo’s track record of partnership with innovative start-ups is healthy. Recently, PepsiCo has inked contracts with location-based social networking site Foursquare, endorsement marketing firm Brand Affinity, and Twitter advertising platform Ad.ly.

The world of Cleopatra VII, which has been lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface on June 5 when “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt” opens its doors to the world for the first time at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (through January 2, 2011). The new exhibition features nearly 150 artifacts from Cleopatra’s time and takes visitors inside the present-day search for the elusive queen, which extends from the sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria.

The exhibition is organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). It features statuary, jewelry, daily items, coins and religious tokens that archaeologists have uncovered from the time surrounding Cleopatra’s rule, all of which are visiting the U.S. for the first time. Also on display is an original papyrus document from Cleopatra’s time containing an inscription that scientists believe was written in Cleopatra’s own hand.

After Egypt succumbed to Roman forces and Cleopatra famously took her own life following the suicide of her lover Mark Antony, the Romans attempted to wipe her legacy from the pages of history. Cleopatra thus has remained one of history’s greatest enigmas, and her final resting place is one of Egypt’s unsolved mysteries. The artifacts in this exhibition are woven into the story of her rule and life in ancient Egypt during her dynasty (Ptolemaic period). The story of her life and time unfolds in a dramatic setting with high-definition multimedia, original soundscapes and a mobile-based social media experience.  Additionally each guest receives an audio tour with admission that provides a rich background to the featured artifacts.

Visitors to the exhibition follow the modern-day parallel stories of two ongoing expeditions being led in Egypt by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s pre-eminent archaeologist and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Franck Goddio, French underwater archaeologist and director of IEASM. Goddio’s search has resulted in one of the most ambitious underwater expeditions ever undertaken, which has uncovered Cleopatra’s royal palace and the two ancient cities of Canopus and Heracleion, which had been lost beneath the sea after a series of earthquakes and tidal waves nearly 2,000 years ago.  The exhibition opens on the tenth anniversary of Heracleion’s discovery.

On land, Hawass and a team of archaeologists are searching for the tomb of the ill-fated lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Never-before-seen artifacts referencing Cleopatra, excavated by Hawass’ team at the temple of Taposiris Magna, about 30 miles west of Alexandria, are featured.

“Queen Cleopatra has captured the hearts of people all over the world. Remembered as a beautiful, charismatic and powerful woman, many things about her life are still shrouded in mystery. In 2005, we began to search for the tomb where she was buried with her lover, Mark Antony, which we believe was in an ancient temple near Alexandria,” said Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. “So far, we have found coins, statues, and even shafts that are leading us closer to what would be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. This exhibition, which includes objects found in our current excavations, will give the American people the chance to learn about our search for Cleopatra, and will share with them the magic of this fascinating queen.”

The exhibition also showcases artifacts from Franck Goddio’s continuing underwater search off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, begun in 1992 and sponsored by the Hilti Foundation. Goddio’s remarkable finds bring visitors inside his search for the lost world of Cleopatra, including remnants from the grand palace where she ruled. Visitors also see underwater footage and photos of Goddio’s team retrieving artifacts from the ocean and bringing them to the surface for the first time in centuries.

“The aim of our work is to reveal traces of the past and bring history back to life.  We are delighted to present our underwater archaeological achievements and discoveries off the coast of Egypt to the American public,” said Franck Goddio.

“Cleopatra is one of the most fascinating figures of ancient Egypt,” said Terry Garcia, National Geographic’s executive vice president for Mission Programs.  ”This exhibition tells her remarkable story through rare artifacts excavated from two ongoing archaeological projects in Egypt, bringing ancient Egypt’s famous last pharaoh back to life through modern-day exploration.”

The exhibition contains “social tags” displayed throughout the exhibit, which encourage and guide visitors in sharing their Cleopatra experience on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and other social networks through their mobile devices.  The tags also feature links to online videos and information, which take patrons even deeper into the Cleopatra experience, enabling them to learn and enjoy the exhibition even more.

Those who use the tags can send to their friends an exclusive discount coupon for the exhibition.  Additionally, The Franklin Institute is teaming up with SCVNGR to build a unique museum experience to be played with an iPhone and Android application, or on any phone via text message.  Players are challenged to respond to mysterious clues, answer difficult questions and unlock riddles about artifacts in the exhibition.  For more information on this experience, visit www.scvngr.com/cleopatra.

“We are thrilled that The Franklin Institute has been given the first opportunity to host this incredible exhibition, which is a ‘can’t miss’ cultural and educational opportunity,” said Dennis Wint, president and CEO of The Franklin Institute.  ”We are also excited about the opportunity to launch our ambitious interactive social media efforts around Cleopatra, designed to complement the exhibition’s cutting-edge multi-media and immersive atmosphere – and further enhance the visitor experience.”

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Cleopatra, the last great pharaoh before Egypt succumbed to Roman opposition, lived from 69 – 30 B.C., with a rule that was marked with political intrigue and challenges to her throne. She captivated two of the most powerful men of her day, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as she attempted to restore Egypt to its former superpower status.

The nearly 150 artifacts in the exhibition – from the smallest gold pieces and coins to colossal statues – provide a window into Cleopatra’s story as well as the daily lives of her contemporaries, both powerful and humble. The artifacts weigh in at about 30 tons in total, including two colossal 16-foot granite statues of a Ptolemaic king and queen from the 4th – 3rd centuries B.C., pulled from the sea by Goddio’s team.

“Cleopatra’s story of love, power, glamour and tragedy has intrigued us for centuries and has fueled archeologists to continue searching for greater understanding,” said John Norman, president of Arts and Exhibitions International. “Visitors to this new exhibition will gain insight into her life by discovering objects from Cleopatra’s world, even as efforts continue today to piece together new clues and insights into one of history’s most remarkable leaders.”

PECO is the Community Sponsor of the Cleopatra exhibition. Egypt Air is the official airline. From Philadelphia, the exhibition will travel to four other North American cities.

TICKET INFORMATION

Individual tickets for “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt” range from $11 to $29.50, which includes an audio tour. Tickets are timed and dated, and admission is 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays (last entry at 3:30 p.m.); and 9:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays (last entry at 7 p.m.). There are discounts available for groups of 15 or more and for Franklin Institute Members.  Due to high ticket demand, advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended. Information and tickets are available at 1-877-TFI-TIXS, www.fi.edu and www.searchforcleopatra.com. Information about discounted tickets for groups of 15 or more is available at 1-800-285-0684.