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Igniting curiosity and inspiring conversation, Spectrum brings you the latest news and perspectives from across the Exploratorium.

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The Rewiring, Part 1: Series Introduction

by Paul Dancstep • October 10, 2018

In this series of stories, an Exploratorium exhibit developer shares her experience recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury.

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The Rewiring, Part 2: Intro to TBI

by Diane Whitmore • October 10, 2018

Imagine walking up a hill one morning and coming down a different person. That’s what happened to me a couple of years ago when I fainted and hit my head. I acquired a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that affected my senses, equilibrium, emotions, and cognition.

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The Rewiring, Part 3: The Sax Player and Super Bowl City

by Diane Whitmore • October 10, 2018

After my accident I became chronically sensitive to noise, as if the volume had been cranked up on every note in my auditory landscape. Here are some stories of learning to live with chronic sound sensitivity.

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The Rewiring, Part 4: Visual Menagerie

by Diane Whitmore • October 10, 2018

After my injury, I had a series of visual effects, and a lot of spare time to muse on them. What follows is a description and some attempt at recreating what they looked like.

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The Rewiring, Part 5: Lessons From Exhibit Development

by Diane Whitmore • October 10, 2018

My initial visit to the cavernous, buzzing Exploratorium was in 1992. At that time, I could never have guessed that the place would provide me with the perfect training for finding my way back from a serious head injury.

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Peanut Afraid: Overcoming a Life-Threatening Food Allergy

by Chad Lange • February 7, 2018

Three million Americans have allergies to peanuts or tree nuts, but scientists are learning to desensitize the body and prevent severe reactions. Follow one patient's journey from peanut fearer to peanut conqueror. 

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Waves of Data for Maverick’s Surf Competition

by Mary Miller • February 1, 2018

Surfers for the Maverick’s surf competition near San Francisco are pinning their hopes on Pacific storms, lots of data and some well-honed algorithms.

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Modeling Sediment in San Francisco Bay's Tidal Marshes

by Kevin Boyd • January 22, 2018

A new exhibit in the Exploratorium's outdoor North Gallery lets visitors investigate how sediments build up around plants in a tidal marsh. 

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With Fall Comes Easterly Winds, Fires and Smoke in Northern California

by Mary Miller • October 18, 2017

Fall, not summer, is fire season in California. The aftermath of rainless but foggy summers and a shift in the winds that normally bring cool, moist air from the Pacific but instead blow from the dry, warm interior create the perfect recipe for fires. That weather pattern exploded this October into deadly wildfires that affected air quality all over the Bay Area. 

 

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Cassini Mission Flames Out, Right on Schedule

by Liz Ball • September 14, 2017

On Friday, September 15 at approximately 4:54 a.m. PDT, after twenty years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will go down in a blaze of glory.

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