As COSI's Technology & Innovation strategic area of focus lead, my favorite part of my job is meeting creative and innovative people. Last week COSI hosted The Columbus Idea Foundry's Ethan Dicks, and his group, The Central Ohio RepRap and Makerbot Operators User Group (CORMUG). They teach and learn about 3D printing, and if you're interested in tinkering, rapid prototyping or micro-manufacturing, this is the group to know.

Spring is on the way. Really! Despite the chilly weather and occasional snow dump, the second half of March invariably brings on scientific-sounding descriptions of something called the vernal equinox, the day when daytime and nighttime are finally equal. It marks the time when daylight starts lasting longer, nights get shorter, and (eventually) warm weather returns to our fair land.

What is rarely discussed, though, is why. Why should the Earth's axis tilt in such a way to create varying seasons? Why are seasons so predictable, year after year after year? Do other planets have similar cycles? Will our pattern ever change?

A while ago we reported on the discovery of the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe. On March 14, CNN and other news outlets reported some new information to coincide with both pi day (3.14) and Albert Einstein's birthday.

So what's it all about?