For the second year, Scripps Research scientists teamed up to bring the excitement of scientific discovery to visitors at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park. More than 60 grad students, postdocs, faculty and staff developed and presented hands-on activities to children and adults at the Discovery Day outreach event on November 9, 2025.

About 700 Fleet Science Center visitors of all ages learned about Scripps Research’s areas of study along with underlying science concepts and laboratory tools that drive the institute’s cutting-edge discoveries.

More than a dozen themed activity tables presented engaging activities and interactive demonstrations for visitors. For example, children learned about the science of sweet, with experiences including building candy DNA models, watching the dyes in M&M candy shells separate into their colorful components, and sampling ice cream made using liquid nitrogen. Microscopes at the cell biology station allowed visitors to peer at bacteria and different cells, while a virtual reality experience transported visitors into the tiny universe of viruses with augmented reality goggles.

Next door, an activity station showed how scientists work to defeat viruses with a fun interactive demonstration on how vaccines are discovered and developed.

Following on the success of last year’s inaugural event, the institute was excited to return to the Fleet and once again spark curiosity and wonder through hands-on science.