Gordon and Betty Moore Gallery 4: Living Systems
Explore life from DNA and cells to organisms and ecosystems.
Sometimes life is hard to observe, because it’s too tiny or fast or is hidden underground or in the ocean. Discover what you’ve been missing: use scientific tools to investigate living things of different sizes, the ecosystems they inhabit, and the processes they share.
Gallery 4 fosters an appreciation of the living world and the many ways to explore it. Using authentic scientific methods and tools, visitors learn about living things at different scales, the processes they share, and their ecosystems. Anchored by the Life Sciences Laboratory, a working laboratory that cultivates organisms for exhibits, the gallery is a dynamic space where contributions by the scientific and artistic communities come together to provide unique and engaging experiences.
A Cells and Development section includes the renovated Microscope Imaging Station, which gives visitors a direct look through research-grade microscopes at stem cell biology and other aspects of development. Living Liquid is a new exhibit area that focuses on tiny drifting marine organisms called plankton as well as often-overlooked species in the Bay and the ocean beyond. Life around Us blends new and classic exhibits that examine familiar organisms and reveal their amazing behaviors and unusual features.
Located at the eastern end of Pier 15, with a magnificent view of the Bay, the gallery invites an exploratory yet contemplative interaction with the biological world.
Kristina Yu, Curator
Jennifer Frazier, Associate Curator
