Many initiatives have been and are being organized to involve schoolchildren at Mudaliarpet, Pondicherry (India) into crystallography on the occasion of IYCr2014.

1. At first, the students were given a brief introduction on various crystals, which made them think about how crystals are formed.

2. Following this, a team of students were selected for a project on Crystal Growth - investigating the size, shape and number of crystals formed, taking various substances such as table salt, sugar, epsom salt, borax, potassium nitrate and alum. 

3. A Radio Talk was given by the teacher and the students on the "International Year of Crystallography".

4. A lecture was given on the topic to the school students, following which a demonstration -cum- exhibition, along with a poster presentation by the teacher is to be arranged for view for the public around the school locale. 

5. A next attempt to telecast the above in the television is made.

6. Students of our school are participating in the IYCr2014 Crystal Growing Competition. 

Eine neue Kluft im Steinbruch Eibenstein lieferte beachtliche Kalzitkristalle, z.T. Phantombildungen und Kalzite in Chalcedon.

Aus Motlas O.Ö. wurden herrliche Quarz-Stufen, Andalusit, Beryll, Schörl und Orthoklas angekauft.

In der Mittelvitrine werden aus der Studiensammlung des Museum besondere Stufen ausgestellt: Einzel-Quarzkristalle und Stufen (auch Amethyst), sowie seltene Mineralien wie Amstallit, bzw. aus dem Fundort Kottaun; ferner Beryll, Chalcedon, Schörl u.a.

Ebenso wurde der größte Feldspatkristall Österreichs aus Wanzenau bei Rosenburg dem Krahuletz-Museum übergeben und ist dort im Rahmen der Mineralien-Dauerausstellung zu sehen.

The opening is scheduled on June 23rd, with the presence of Professor Robert Huber, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. The results of the Photo Contest will be announced.

The Australian satellite of the IYCr2014 photo competition Crystallography in Everyday Life saw Crystal 29 conference delegates select their favorite images from more than 130 entries submitted world-wide.

The 15 stunning images celebrate the wonder of crystallography, symmetry and crystals as symbolized in the places, objects and experiences of everyday life and will now form part of the traveling exhibition around Australia.

Graziano Lolli from Italy won the first prize in this category with a photo of "romanesco broccoli".

El Museo de Historia Natural "Dr. Carlos A. Torres de la Llosa" de Montevideo, Uruguay ha realizado una exhibición especial de Cristales y Estructuras Cristalinas aprovechando su colección de minerales para celebrar el Año Internacional de la Cristalografía 2014. En la exposición se agregan a los minerales algunas figuras con las estructuras atómicas correspondientes.

----

The Natural History Museum "Dr. Carlos A. Torres de la Llosa" of Montevideo, Uruguay has created a special exhibit of Crystals and Crystal structures using its own minerals collection to celebrate the International Year of Crystallography 2014. The exposition contains some figures with the atomic structures of the selected minerals.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Wednesday, 21 May at 6 pm at the regional library of Lower Austria in St. Poelten.

Click on the image to download the invitation to the exhibition.

Following the great success obtained in Reggio Emilia, the exhibition “L’ENIGMA ESCHER- PARADOSSI GRAFICI TRA ARTE E GEOMETRIA”, a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Maurits Cornelis Escher, will be on display at "Il Filatoio di Caraglio" (Cuneo, Italy) from 29 March to 29 June 2014.

The exhibition presents the work of the Dutch graphic artist from his debut on the scene to his latest years, bringing together 130 works, including lithographs, etchings and drawings, on loan from museums, libraries and national institutes – among which the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Rome and the Fondazione Wolfsoniana of Genoa – as well as from some important, private collections.

A special section is dedicated to tilings, with a panel illustrating the 17 crystallographic planar groups and some original examples of Escher's plane-filling drawings.

The exhibition is included in the events for IYCr2014 celebrations in Italy. 

Read the press release on the Reggio Emilia exhibition mentioning the connection with IYCr2014 (in Italian)

The exhibition will open on May 9th with a speech by Sven Lidin, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Lund University and Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

The exhibition "Living with crystal" (original title in Slovenian: Živeti s kristali), organized on the occasion of the International Year of Crystallography, will be open from 13 February 2014 to 11 January 2015 at the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, Ljubljana. 

On display: Photographs of minerals, Crystal drawings, Mineral and crystal collections, Jewellery, Fluorescent minerals, Interactive presentation of minerals and rocks on Biedermeier tables, Interactive play "Umek the Mineralogist", Microscopic world of crystals.

Authors: Miha Jeršek, Mirjan Žorž, Breda Činč Juhant, Katarina Fuchs

Con motivo de este año tan especial, se ha organizado la exposición titulada "Los minerales: Año Internacional de la Cristalografía".

La exposición trata de ofrecer un recorrido por las características principales de los minerales, los cristales inorgánicos naturales. Estas características van desde cuales son las posibles formas de la celda unidad (sistemas cristalinos) hasta las principales propiedades físicas que presentan como consecuencia de su composición y su estructura, y que, con frecuencia, nos permiten identificarlos.

Mocos y Cristales
5th Open Day: 'Shaping the Knowledge'

As every year on the last Sunday in June (this year June 29th), the Institute of Metallurgy of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico held the 5th edition of its Open House Day: an event that brings together researchers and students eager to show to the public - children and adults - that science can be fun and that they can get involved with it at any age.

On this occasion, commemorating the International Year of Crystallography, students of the Master of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering course, coordinated by Dr Jorge García Rocha, held a workshop entitled "Boogers and Crystals". This was directed at children aged 5 and older, where they learned the characteristics of crystals, and the difference between a crystalline solid and an amorphous solid. In order to do that, four "hands-on" experiments were designed.

Introduction

The introduction to the subject took the form of several activities designed to explain crystal atomic structures. The children were involved in role playing as atoms and were instructed by Professor Cristalonio to form a row; from this, it was explained how crystals have periodic lattice structures. Then they were told to start moving around, to explain how amorphous solids have a disordered lattice structure. Professor Cristalonio helped the children to gain a better understanding of crystal structures and the differences between them and amorphous solids by using colloquial  language.

Activity 1

Amorphous solids were explained with two different experiments, namely fake glass and "boogers" (dried nasal mucus). The fake glass, made of sugar, was shown to the children and they were allowed to break it. The boogers experiment was used to explain the structure of polymers, and for this purpose the children were allowed to play with colored slime.

Activity 2

The nature of crystalline solids was explained using two experiments, namely the geode egg and instant ice. Geode eggs were made previously using alum crystals and eggshells. Then it was explained how crystals grow, with details of their growth structure. Crystalline solids grow by the repetition in space of an elementary structure called a unit cell; depending on the lattice parameters, i.e. the length of the sides or the axes of the unit-cell angles, there are seven different crystal systems: cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, hexagonal, rhombohedral, monoclinic and triclinic.

The instant ice experiment was performed using a supersaturated solution of sodium acetate (NaC₂H₃O₂.3H₂O), and the children were shown how it crystallizes and looks like ice instantly. Also the concept of endothermic and exothermic reactions was explained. The first one absorbs energy and the second one releases energy. At the end of the experiment, the children were allowed to touch the instant ice and feel how hot it was, instead of the cold or room temperature that might have been expected.

After the experiments, the children were able to observe closely the crystals, some representations of the crystal structures and the results of the experiments. They were also asked some questions to win a prize and were left to play with the boogers (colored slime) at the end of the activities. We definitely were able to achieve our goal of attracting not only children and young people, but also their parents who showed great interest and learned to play as children!

Fake sugar glass	Crystalline structure models	Geode eggs
Instant Ice	"Professor Cristalonio"	The Mocos y Cristales work team: Ramiro Orta, Ricardo Barredas, Professor Cristalonio (Senuel Vázquez), Angélica Lara and Jorge García.

Every year, the third week of May, Uruguay celebrates the Science and Technology week. In 2014 the week will be motivated by the International Year of Crystallography 2014 and will have the motto "it all depends on the crystal you look through".

Researchers and graduate students will be offering talks focusing on the impact of Crystallography in our lives. The opening ceremony of the week will include a Dissemination Lecture on Crystallography. Lectures, about 1h long, will be offered to Primary and Secondary schools (both public and private), Teaching institutions in general and Social institutions from all the country. An estimate of 50 lectures on different aspects of crystallography will be given from May 19 to June 30 where the activities of the Sci & Tech week officially end.

------------------------ 

Cada año, durante la tercera semana de mayo, Uruguay celebra la Semana de la Ciencia y la Tecnología. Este año las actividades están motivadas por el Año Internacional de la Cristalografía 2014 y tendrá como llamador la frase "todo depende del cristal con que se mire".

Tanto investigadores como estudiantes de postgrado darán charlas enfocándose en el impacto de la Cristalografía en nuestras vidas. El evento de apertura de la semana estará basado en una charla de divugación de Cristalografía y las charlas, de 1 hora aproximada de duración serán ofrecidas a Escuelas Primarias y Secundarias (públicas y privadas), instituciones de enseñanza en general e instituciones sociales de todo el país. Se estima que unas 50 charlas serán dictadas sobre distintos aspectos de la cristalografía desde el 19 de mayo al 30 de junio cuando concluyen oficialmente las actividades de la Semana de la Ciencia y la Tecnología.

This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) explains the basic building blocks of crystals, their symmetrical structure and introduces free software for crystal structure exploring. To be enrolled to this online course, visit the web site and click on the green button "Enrol with email".

The course is organized in chapters, every week a new chapter will be launched starting on April 18th.

Frank Hoffmann and his team from the University of Hamburg invite you to be part of the crystal admiring community.