Cells to Self developed new exhibits to supplement the Exploratorium’s existing collection on genetics and embryonic development. The new experiences explore how cells move, divide, interact, and respond to their surroundings, as well as how cells work in concert in the individual organism—the self.
The art pieces in Cells to Self offer surprising and provocative perspectives on the role of genetics in human biology and identity.
Twenty different sculptural portraits created from the same person's DNA.
Artist-in-residence Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Chelsea E. Manning
Many of the new exhibits use live organisms, are based on active areas of scientific research, and incorporate authentic scientific instruments.
Turn the crank and watch a moving cell model. Different parts of the cell extend and retract, and the cell’s internal bulk sometimes shifts from one area to another.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Examine living HeLa cells—the first “immortal” cell line—and explore ethical and philosophical questions about these historic and controversial cells.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Gaze into the eyepiece at the blue light, looking for bright specks moving in short bursts against the background, and feeling your pulse as you watch them.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
An array of embryo photos—can you guess which one is human? Then try it with photos of different eggs. And sperm.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Carefully comparing identical twins can reveal how our surroundings help to shape who we become.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Answer questions about certain of your physical features, such as what color your eyes are, and how attached the bottoms of your ears are to your head. Then find out what roles genes and your environment play in these traits.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
It takes just 21 days for an egg to go from just laid to newly hatched chick, and a lot goes on in just the first week. Look closely and you’ll find blood vessels, a backbone, wing buds, eyes, a brain, and—throbbing prominently by day 5 or so—a beating heart.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Give Heart Cells a Beat invites visitors to control human heart cells, using their heart rate to drive the beating of the cells.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Here you can see inside living zebrafish embryos, see their blood circulate, and compare your own pulse to theirs.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Research-grade microscopes reveal interior worlds of living, changing cells.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
See how the combination of DNA mutations and temperature can change the shape of a fly's wings.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
