Park yourself at one of the ongoing workstations and roll up your sleeves. Dive into the world of CD-ROM with the help of roving Explainers. Take your first guided tour through the Internet, or pack for a trip into virtual reality. The Multimedia Playground, a showcase of roadside attractions along the information highway, makes the latest advances in multimedia software accessible and approachable for techno-phobes and aficionados alike by providing selected multimedia and educational software titles available for test drives. Free with admission to the museum. Call (415) 353-0423 for further information.
In Play Space, children aged four and under (with an adult companion), can play, develop motor skills and be observed. Staffed by experts in childhood development, the 600-square-foot Play Space is designed to challenge different aspects of a child's abilities. With Play Space the Exploratorium becomes even more interesting to the very, very young.
From apartments in Manhattan highrises to Berkeley backyards, Mary Applehof's research and development of techniques for using redworms to convert organic kitchen waste to humus to support plant growth is now widespread. Mary Appelhof, the Worm Woman of Kalamazoo, and an international authority and lecturer on small-scale vermicomposting (composting with worms), makes her first public appearance in California at our Worm Day, at 1 and 3pm. (Booksigning at 2 pm). Appelhof is credited with helping to launch the worm box movement. The unique aspect of her technique is to process organic waste on-site in the home in a worm box. For example, give a worm a corn cob and the worms dine in the dark, pithy center. The cob turns into soft brown tubes which readily crumble in your hand after just a few weeks. But throw an ear of corn into a landfill site and 25 years later the cob of corn still looks good enough to eat. That's why it's important to feed organic garbage to the worms. A biologist and educator, Applehof's book Worms Eat My Garbage is now in its ninth printing. It is considered the "bible" of vermicomposting. Learn to make your own worm box, ask your questions of Ms. Applehof, recyclers, community composters, and bring the kids to a musical performance of the human-sized Wiggle E. Worm and the Detritivores (1:50pm), in a day devoted to unplugging your garbage disposals and learning how to feed organic garbage to the worms.
Everything you need to know to start at-home worm composting, for children ages 9-12. Each child should be accompanied by one adult. Cost is $20 per child. To register, call our membership office at (415) 353-0402.
Our Mr. Sun (Produced by Frank Capra, 1956, 59 minutes) features some of the most dramatic images ever taken of eclipses, sun spots, and coronal rain; The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (produced by Frank Capra, 1957, 59 minutes) playfully uses images of cosmic ray tracks and marionettes representing Poe, Dickens, and Dostoyevski in a science-detective story on the hisotry of cosmic rays.
Kinetic light sculptor Christian Schiess has built some of the Exploratorium's most popular and luminous exhibits. To celebrate the publication of his new book, Light Artist Anthology, we present a booksigning and film screening of several films by Christian Scheiss and his brother Michael, including Ignus Ex Machina and Luminauts as well as Michael's film God is Out Cold.
The cartoon strip, You Can With Beakman and Jax, regularly appears in 250 newspapers nationwide, including many in the Bay Area. Beakman and Jax answer pressing questions of everyday science, whether it's young Bill's question,"Do airplanes fly because they go so fast? My brother runs with his arms out and thinks he will fly;" or this question, "How does a camera work?" from another Bill, who just happens to be President of the United States! Among the topics that come to life at the Exploratorium are sound, resonance, mathematics, heat, temperature, melting things, electromagnetics, water (hydrodynamics), and aerodynamics. Come admire the artwork, information, and humor of over 25 cartoons. Play with popular Exploratorium exhibits that, for example, let you experience the lift that acts on an airplane wing. Try your own aerodynamics experiments in the Tinkerer's Space, where you can make your own airplane wing out of paper, just like in the cartoon, and see how planes lift off and stay up. Or you can tinker with lift by making your own personal mini Bernoulli Blower out of a flexi-straw and a ping-pong ball.
Join us before hours for a Members-Only reception for the whole family and do science live! Meet the creator of the cartoon, Jok Church, as well as the actor, Paul Zaloom, who plays Beakman on the television show Beakman's World. Jok will demonstrate how he creates the cartoon on a computer and will answer questions about the genesis of the cartoon. Look for your invitation in the mail.
Jok Church, creator of the internationally syndicated cartoon strip, You Can With Beakman and Jax, and Paul Zaloom, the zany and popular Beakman on the cartoon strip-based television show Beakman's World, make a special joint public appearance to launch the Exploratorium's new exhibition Experiment with Beakman and Jax. Jok Church discusses the creation of the cartoon and the resonance it has found with the general public.
Join us for a brief introduction to the Exploratorium and a hands-on floorwalk with a staff scientist.
KQED's Living Room Festival is a 13-week series of programs featuring work by independent filmmakers and curated by Bay Area media organizations. Tune in for the Exploratorium's presentation of "The Science of the Surreal," a 90-minute program of short works by independent filmmakers who bring a sense of the fantastic to the realm of scientific observation.
At a time when the nation is taking stock of its future in science, technology, education and competitiveness, the Exploratorium recognizes a major US leader in these fields: Gordon Moore, co-founder and Chairman of Intel. Dr. Moore will accept the Exploratorium's Directors' Award. In addition, noted biologist and science journalist David Suzuki, on-air host and narrator of the award winning eight hour PBS special on DNA and genetic research, "The Secret of LIfe," accepts the award for the Public Understanding of Science. Ceremonies begin at 6:30pm. For reservations and information, please call the Exploratorium's Awards Dinner Hotline at (415) 561-0322.
An Exploratorium Festival of Exhibits, Installations, Demonstrations and Perfomrances on Sound and Hearing and the Art of Sound Composition
Open for 20 consecutive days for Spring Break, from March 22 through April 10.