Best Places to Satisfy Your Inner Science Nerd: Best of Phoenix 2012

By Phoenix New Times Staff Thu., Nov. 15 2012 at 7:00 AM

Categories: Best of Phoenix 2012

Meteor Crater

We've spent the last year in the laboratory putting Phoenix under the microscope to reveal hundreds of specimens of the best culture, outdoor adventures, shopping, dining, and nightlife the city has to offer. And we're finally ready to publish our results. Nerd alert! Now presenting Scientific Phoenix.

Best Crater You Can't Visit: Roden Crater

You're going to need to pass a killer job application to see Arizona artist James Turrell's longest-running project. Turrell is an internationally acclaimed artist who works with natural and man-made light and environments to create ever-changing installations. His pieces have been featured in museums around the world, and since the '70s, he's been working on his biggest installation -- inside an extinct, 400,000-year-old volcanic crater in northern Arizona. Read the full Best of Phoenix 2012 entry here and download the app.

Best Crater You Can Visit: Meteor Crater

About 50,000 years ago, a chunk of rock the size of several freight-train engines fell from the sky near what is now Winslow, hitting the ground with a blast not unlike that of a nuclear bomb. In just 10 seconds, the explosion forged Meteor Crater, which is 4,000 feet across. That's kind of scary to contemplate. But also really nifty. We found the drive out to Meteor Crater well worth the long straightaway of Interstate 40, since we linked up the trip with visits to the Petrified National Forest and Homolovi State Park. Read the full Best of Phoenix 2012 entry here and download the app.

NASA

Best Place to Test Drive a Space Rover: Arizona -- NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) and NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) team

While Arizona's frequent haboobs, blazing summers, and year-round dryness can be a challenge for residents, it's also the perfect weather for testing equipment we one day hope to send into space. NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) team descends on the Arizona desert every summer to put new space-exploration technology and principles through the torture of an Arizona summer. While they are in the desert, the D-RATS team perform a variety of simulated space missions. Read the full Best of Phoenix 2012 entry here and download the app.