Snow making, holiday lights, cookie chemistry on tap at Durham museum's lab

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, the Durham museum's lab will focus on holiday favorites. On Dec. 26 and Jan. 3, for instance, visitors will be able to mix a concoction of water with polymers to make dry snow, wet snow, snowballs and snowmen. When they're done, they can get an up-close look at different crystals using the museum's microscopes and learn about the chemistry of real snow versus fake snow.

Other topics include holiday lights, nanoscience and holiday scents, cookie chemistry, ice skating physics and fighting the flu.

The lab hours are 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Admission to the museum is $14 for adults and $10 for kids ages 3 to 12.

Here's the complete schedule:

Jan: 5: Holiday Lights