Biology

A Sip of Conflict

Would you, could you, will you drink from a water fountain fashioned from an actual—but unused—toilet? Porcelain is just porcelain . . . right?

Where: Crossroads: Getting Started

Adapting to Color

Change your perception of color by flooding your eyes with colored light.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Are Your Cells You?

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

Thousands of distinct species live and breathe (or not) in this colorful bacterial terrarium. Look for green cyanobacteria, orange iron oxidizers, and gray cellulose eaters. What you see today will be gone tomorrow in this living artwork in a perpetual state of change.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Benham's Disk

The colors you see here are all in your head.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Big Wood: 300 Years of Photosynthesis

Developed by artist Michael Brown in collaboration with reclaimed wood specialist Evan Shively, a several-hundred-year-old Douglas fir was split down the center to reveal its rings, immersing visitors in a fascinating study of dendrochronology.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Bird in a Cage

Stare at a bird’s eye for 30 seconds, then look into the empty cage. You’ll see a ghostly bird—of a very different color—inside the cage

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Blood Cells in Your Eye

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

Bronze Hand

The combination of past experience and the sight and feel of being touched seems to change your brain's definition of your body's boundaries. You may even feel as if the fake hand is part of you.

Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon