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Exploratorium
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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.

Build a Soundscape
Build a Soundscape

How do different sounds combine to make the unique audio environments of specific places? Build the soundscapes of a beach and a train station.

What Causes San Francisco Fog?

Why are San Francisco summers so foggy?

Green Sea Turtles
Meet the green sea turtles of San Diego Bay.
Imaging Station Wallpapers
Imaging Station Wallpapers

Download desktop wallpaper for your computer.

Knowing North

Stand outside on a sunny day with a watch in your hand, and you can tell which way is north.

Wind Tubes (pdf)
Wind Tubes (pdf)

Wind tubes are a playful and inventive way to explore the effect that moving air has on objects.

The DNA Files: Hands-on Workshops
The DNA Files: Hands-on Workshops

Four downloadable workshop guides for teaching introductory genetics in a museum or other informal education setting.

Viewing the Stereographs
Viewing the Stereographs

About Anaglyphs. How do I make 3-D glasses?

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.

What's New In the World
What's New In the World

Stories about science, art, and human perception—from 1998. 

Frontside Forces and Fakie Flight
Frontside Forces and Fakie Flight

The Physics of Skateboarding Tricks

Lunch with a Scientist, 2014

Can stem cells treat Alzheimer's disease?

Complexity / Turbulent Landscapes
Complexity / Turbulent Landscapes

An introduction to the concepts and theories that contribute to contemporary complexity research.

ColorFest
ColorFest

Check out ColorFest, a two-month extravaganza celebrating color at the museum from July 1 to September 5.

Any Little Patch of Dirt
Any Little Patch of Dirt

A trash-filled median blossoms into a community oasis.

Driven
Driven

How are creative investigations sparked? What does a state of inspiration feel like? Can inspiration be transmitted from person to person? Join us for an audio slideshow series that explores the fascinating world of how we work creatively.

Traits of Life: Related Links
Traits of Life: Related Links

See links relevant to the themes presented in the Traits of Life exhibition.

Beaming It Home

by Eileen Campbell • February 22, 2016

What does it take to broadcast a live eclipse from remote locations?

Spectra From Space
Spectra From Space

An introduction to spectra and to the space-based telescopes. The site includes a number of hands-on activities.

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.

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!

Antarctic Food Web
Antarctic Marine Ecosystem

The Antarctic food web is the simplest on the planet, and krill are at its hub.

People of the Arctic
People of the Arctic

Who lives in the Arctic, and how did they get there?

Imaging Station Classroom Explorations
Imaging Station Classroom Explorations

Introduce students to unique life science activities that let them work with our research-quality microscopic images and videos.

Zebrafish Embryo
Zebrafish Embryo

Watch this timelapse video to see a zebrafish develop from a single cell into an embryo

Compound Eyes Trailer
Paul Clipson gets personal with dragonflies, spiders, ants, butterflies, and slugs.
What We're Reading

by • June 19, 2015

Start your weekend with some of the top science news of the week. 

Spring 2015 Update

What can a comet in space tell us about Earth's oceans?

Building for the Big One
Building for the Big One

The three most densely populated cities on the planet where seismologists expect major earthquakes are San Francisco, Tokyo, and Istanbul. Find out why the effects in each city will be very different.

Flipsticks
Flipsticks

A do-it-yourself cartoon kit. It's easy to make pictures move!

Body Conductivity
Body Conductivity

Complete an electrical circuit with your body and explore ways to control the flow of electricity.

Highway Seismograph
Highway Seismograph

How good is your friend's driving? You be the seismometer, and find out whether your pal is a smooth sailor or a mover and shaker.

Unwinding DNA: Life at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Unwinding DNA: Life at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

The untold stories behind scientific discovery.

Investigating Helium with Ron Hipschman

Why is there a global shortage of helium?

Modulated LED: Introduction

Turn sound into light and back again.

Earth's atmosphere
Global Climate Change Explorer

Discover how researchers study climate change and examine the latest scientific data.

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

An incubator for innovative public space ideas, projects and news

Better Hair through Chemistry
Better Hair through Chemistry

Learn the science behind bad hair days, and learn how hair increases its length when humidity increases, making curly hair frizz and straight hair go limp.

What We're Reading

by • June 19, 2015

Start your weekend with some of the top science news of the week. 

Tuning
Tune up your understanding of pitch and frequency.
Time Travel

by Paul Doherty • March 4, 2016

How can an event end the day before it begins?

Minimizing Handle Forces
Minimizing Handle Forces

Bulk up your understanding of the "muscles" that move Theo Jansen's strandbeests.

Susie Ibarra: Performance

Stand in the intersection of the traditional and the avant-garde.

Exploring the Deep Marine Santuary

by Mary Miller • August 20, 2016

Join a Live Deep Sea Exploration of our Coastal Sanctuary

CD Spectroscope: Materials and assembly

Split light into its different wavelengths using simple materials.

Science of Sharing Educator Activities
Science of Sharing Educator Activities

Explore the ideas behind Science of Sharing with these Activities.

Preserving our Wild Fish

Check out efforts to restore California’s native steelhead and salmon. 

The Dirt on Dirt
The Dirt on Dirt

Get down and dirty with the surprising science of soil.

2nd Skin
2nd Skin

Imaginative Designs in Digital and Analog Clothing

Build a Soundscape
Build a Soundscape

How do different sounds combine to make the unique audio environments of specific places? Build the soundscapes of a beach and a train station.

Step Re-Mix
Step Re-Mix

Experiment with rhythm through stepping, a musical dance form that uses the body as a percussion instrument.

Sodium: John Largier

How do saltwater and freshwater in San Francisco Bay affect local ecosystems?

Seismic Slinky
Seismic Slinky

What goes on under the ground during an earthquake? Use a Slinky to model the various seismic waves that make the earth tremble.

Clay Bridges
Clay Bridges

In this activity, students make bridges using an oil-based modeling clay (plasticene).

Icebergs
Icebergs

They're a menace to ships, but life thrives in these frozen oases.

Electric Guitar

Shred like Jimi or twang like Johnny? Find out how.

Curious Contraptions

Explore small, surreal worlds through Curious Contraptions automata.

Science in the City
Science in the City

The Exploratorium is taking it outside to explore natural and human-made phenomena in and around San Francisco. Look for new episodes twice each month.

Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four

Use the numbers on four cards to make up equations that equal the number on a fifth card.

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