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  • Tinkering at Home

    Try this collection of prompts for tinkering at home.

  • Learning Toolbox: Engage in activities about the science of coronavirus and explore our online resources for learning at home.

  • Explore water's crucial role in food and cooking.

    Science of Water: Food   Explore water's crucial role in food and cooking.

  • Shadow Box exhibit

    Browse our growing online collection of interactive exhibits.

  • Global Climate Change Explorer • Discover how researchers study climate change and examine the latest scientific data.

  • Science Snacks

    Low-cost, teacher-tested activities for the classroom and the curious.

  • Wired Pier Environmental Field Station • Explore weather, air quality, and water conditions from San Francisco Bay

Explore, Play, Discover: Websites, Activities, and More

Dive into websites, activities, apps, and more.

Do Your Own Dissection
Do Your Own Dissection

Download a PDF file with step-by-step instructions for doing your own cow's eye dissection.

Outrageous Ooze
Outrageous Ooze

This stuff can't make up its mind -- is it a liquid or a solid?

Finding the Sweet Spot
Finding the Sweet Spot
Total Solar Eclipse: Live From Turkey
Total Solar Eclipse: Live From Turkey

On March 29, 2006, a total solar eclipse occurred when the new moon moved directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s shadow fell on the eastern tip of Brazil, sped eastward across the Atlantic, through northern Africa, across the Mediterranean, an

Earliest Memories
Earliest Memories

Enjoy the early memories of some of the visitors to this website.

Visit a Lollipop Factory
Visit a Lollipop Factory

Visit Kendon Candies, a lollipop factory in San Jose, California

Illusion Songs
Illusion Songs

A collection of auditory illusions found in indigenous folk practices, popular music, and scientific research.

Studio for Public Spaces: Field Notes
Studio for Public Spaces: Field Notes

An incubator for innovative public space ideas, projects and news

Your Age on Other Worlds
Your Age on Other Worlds

Find out why people who love birthday parties should move to Mercury.

Cold Water Candy Test
Cold Water Candy Test

For accuracy, it's best to use both a candy thermometer and the cold water test when making candy.

Science of Cycling
Science of Cycling

Check out top mountain biker, Ruthie Matthes. Learn about frames and materials from a custom bike maker. Try interactive javascripts that calculate braking distances and energy consumption.

Studio for Public Spaces: Field Notes
Studio for Public Spaces: Field Notes

An incubator for innovative public space ideas, projects and news

Imaging Station Wallpapers
Imaging Station Wallpapers

Download desktop wallpaper for your computer.

Doctor Atomic: Commentary on an Opera
Doctor Atomic: Commentary on an Opera

Explore the scientific, historical, and cultural context behind a new opera about the first atomic bomb test.

Bottle Blast-Off!
Bottle Blast-Off!

Launch a rocket with a plastic pop bottle and use Height Site to figure out how high it flies.

Solar Images
Solar Images

The more astronomy changes, the more it stays the same. This series of images juxtaposes ancient and modern study of the celestial bodies.

Speaking of Music Rewind
Speaking of Music Rewind

Listen in on conversations with Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, and others in Speaking of Music Rewind.

Autonomy on Endless Trial

Consider the possible effects of early Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Rock Candy Recipe
Rock Candy Recipe
Geology for Fossil Hunters
Geology for Fossil Hunters

Search a geological map of Ethiopia for fossils.

Live from the Galapagos: July 2nd, 2015

Explore a part of the Galapagos that Darwin never saw.

Made for Movies: Star Wars IV, V, and VI

Discover the ingenious fixes and unexpected materials behind iconic movie scenes.

 

Light Painting
Light Painting

You can make a light painting with a light source, a darkened room, and a digital camera.

Getting Started with Motion
Getting Started with Motion

Use the Science Journal mobile app to investigate movement.

Cookie Subduction
Cookie Subduction

Get a taste of how the earth's plates move.

Our new Shadow Box is made of large phosphor screens which store light from a strobe flash, temporarily freezing the...
Shadowbox Exhibit

Our new Shadow Box is made of large phosphor screens which store light from a strobe flash, temporarily freezing the visitor's shadow.

Picturing the Body
Picturing the Body

Learn about common techniques for peering inside the body in order to diagnose disease and injury.

Reel Movies
Get a last-chance look at 35 mm film projection.
Frog Myths
Frog Myths

Explore the mythological significance of frogs in cultures around the world.

A Record of the Moment
Groove with the history and technology of vinyl records.
Jumping to Conclusions

Your brain is always looking for blank spaces and filling them in. Sometimes, your brain leaps to the wrong conclusion. Then you get a surprise!

Solar Views
Solar Views
Make Your Own Telescope
Make Your Own Telescope

Make your own refracting telescope from a pair of reading glasses.

Jem Finer: Interview

Explore time and space with the music of Jen Finer.

Chain Drive
Chain Drive

Learn about bike gears using thread spools and a rubber band.

Become a Word Historian
Become a Word Historian

Learn how to find the histories and origins of words.

About Alignments
About Alignments

The Maya were expert sky-watchers, careful observers of the motions of the celestial bodies...

Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation
Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation

Imagine yourself in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. You've been sailing for weeks, and there's no land in sight. Do you know where you are? Do you know which way to go?

Black Sand

Big magnets and black sand were made for play.

Mars Viewer
Mars Viewer

Investigate actual images of the Martian surface taken by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Tundra and Permafrost
Tundra and Permafrost

If you want to dig a ditch in the Arctic, you'd better bring more than a shovel.

Kosher Dill Current
Kosher Dill Current

High energy prices got you down? Discover how pickles can ease your troubles.

Smell the Maillard Reaction
Smell the Maillard Reaction

Amino acids and corn syrup combine to create new aromas.

Voyages of Discovery: NOAA's Okeanos Explorer
Voyages of Discovery: NOAA's Okeanos Explorer

The Okeanos Explorer is the newest vessel in NOAA's fleet and the first to be dedicated solely to exploration and discovery missions. Follow along with the scientists and crew on their discovery voyages.

Seismic Science: Damage Control
Seismic Science: Damage Control

We can't predict when an earthquake will occur, but we can avoid some potential disasters.

Mold Terrarium
Mold Terrarium

Watch tiny blue, green, and white molds grow on leftover food.

Picture This
Picture This

Learn how Hubble Telescope scientists put together those lovely pictures.

About Antarctica
About Antarctica

The only continent without any countries or government . . .

The Sun-Earth Connection
The Sun-Earth Connection
Light and Landscape: The Science and Art of Perception
Light and Landscape: The Science and Art of Perception

Explore the mysterious interactions between light and geography through the eyes and works of artists Charles Ross and James Turrell.

Look Inside a Tooth
Look Inside a Tooth (Interactive)

Zoom into a fossil chimp tooth.

The Domino Effect
The Domino Effect (pdf)

Use dominoes to model a nerve cell's transmission of a signal

Hoopster
Hoopster

Most paper airplanes are flat, but these paper hoops can really fly!

Iron Science Teacher
Iron Science Teacher

Each webcast, the Exploratorium staff and teachers demonstrate their science projects and compete for the title of IRON SCIENCE TEACHER!

Aurora

See the light of the exhibit Aurora.

Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics

See a map of recent earthquakes in the United States, and learn why earthquakes happen so frequently on the West Coast.

Skateboarding Glossary
Skateboarding Glossary

anatomy of a skateboard, skateboard tricks, types of skateboarding, physics glossary.

Outdoor Exploratorium at Fort Mason
Outdoor Exploratorium at Fort Mason

Visit the Outdoor Exploratorium at Fort Mason to explore the science behind wind, waves, and more.

Conductivity Explorer
Conductivity Explorer

See how well various materials conduct electricity and use Science Journal to explore your data.

Flying Tinsel: What's going on

Flying tinsel isn't magic—it's repelling electrostatic charges.

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