The University of Arizona debuted its Wonder House at South by Southwest, giving attendees of one of the country's largest festivals a first-hand look at UArizona research and innovation.
The Wonder House, which took over a restaurant just across the street from SXSW's home in the Austin Convention Center, welcomed more than 9,000 people between March 11 and 13, according to early attendance estimates.
Attendees heard from some of UArizona's leading experts, including Dani DellaGiustina, an assistant professor of planetary sciences and deputy principal investigator of the UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, who explained the engineering principles that made the NASA mission possible.
Goggy Davidowitz, a University Distinguished Scholar of Entomology, explained how insects could be the answer to a looming worldwide food shortage. Attendees then got to try gourmet tacos filled with crickets, made by Janos Wilder, a James Beard Award-winning Tucson chef.
Other presentations included the premiere of "StellarScape," a film directed by assistant professor of music Kay He and made in collaboration with Chris Impey, a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, and Win Burleson, a professor in the School of Information. The film brings music, dance, science, visual art and technology together to tell the story of a massive star's life cycle.
See scenes from the Wonder House in the gallery above, featuring photos by University of Arizona photographers Chris Richards and Kyle Mittan.