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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.

Voting Paradoxes

Explore some ways in which the democratic process can go wrong.

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

Sunspots
Sunspots

Map sunspots and build an apparatus for safe sunspot viewing!

Total Solar Eclipse from China: August 1, 2008
Total Solar Eclipse from China: August 1, 2008
International Polar Years
International Polar Years

Four times over 100-plus years, major initiatives have brought together scientists from around the globe to collaboratively study the poles.

Exploring the Traits of Life
Exploring the Traits of Life

Explore the Traits of Life exhibition space using this 360˚ panorama.

Bikes: Brakes
Bikes: Brakes

Find out about bicycle brakes and balance, and calculate your stopping distance on a bicycle.

Messing With Your Mind
Messing With Your Mind

Can you trust your own memory? Find out with this activity.

Anti-Gravity Mirror

Learn to "fly" on one of the Exploratorium's oldest exhibits. 

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.

The Nose Knows
The Nose Knows (pdf)

Discover the difference between taste and smell.

Indicating Electrolysis: Introduction

Break water into hydrogen and oxygen using a homemade electrolysis device. 

The Wheels of the Mars Rover Curiosity

Find out how far Curiosity has traveled: read its tire tracks.

Saving Seeds, Saving Culture
Saving Seeds, Saving Culture

Saving seeds helps preserve the culture of Native American farmers in the American Southwest and northern Mexico.

Bubbles
Bubbles

Everything you ever wanted to know about bubbles, but were afraid to ask.

Origins
Origins

Explore the places, people, tools, and ideas behind the origins of matter, the universe, and life itself.

Open Make: Meet the Makers/Metal
The Open Make program highlighted the ingenuity of local makers.
The Domino Effect
The Domino Effect (pdf)

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

Divided Attention
Divided Attention

How many objects can you follow at once?

The Joshua Light Show and Moon Duo (Part 1 of 2)

Sink into the deeply synesthetic experience of the Joshua Light Show.

Wind Tubes (pdf)
Wind Tubes (pdf)

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

Mid-Air Maneuver
Mid-Air Maneuver

To understand how skaters turn in midair, try this little experiment.

High Altitude Aviation
Get a bird's-eye view of the Black Rock desert.
Made for Movies: Star Wars I, II, and III

Go inside the Industrial Light & Magic model shop.

Cylinders and Scale
Cylinders and Scale

What happens to a cylinder when you scale it up?

The Science of Wine
The Science of Wine

An evening of wine, food, and talk.

Trapezoidal Window
Trapezoidal Window

Sometimes things are not as they appear.

Candy Around the World
Candy Around the World

What kinds of candy are made and enjoyed in where you live?

Pi Day
Pi Day

Activities and History

Vocales vocalizadas
Vocales vocalizadas

Modelos plásticos huecos del aparato vocal humano convierten el graznido de un pato en sonidos de vocales.

Seasons and Alignments
Seasons and Alignments

Does the sun rise in the east? Not exactly.

Revealing Bodies
Revealing Bodies

How has imagery changed the way we look at our bodies—over time and in different cultures?

Hello Dahlia
Hello Dahlia

See why these beautiful flowers have attracted generations of admirers.

About Chaco Canyon
About Chaco Canyon

What brings archeologists and astronomers alike to this ten-mile canyon in remote New Mexico?

Transit of Venus 2012: 3rd and 4th Contact

Experience the end of the transit of Venus.

The Lighter Side of Wonder: A Conversation with Lena Herzog

Join curator Marina McDougall for a conversation with photographer Lena Herzog.

ChemCam

Get to know the rock-zapping laser and telescope known as ChemCam.

Voting Paradoxes

Explore some ways in which the democratic process can go wrong.

Throwback Thursday | Thomas Dolby

Open your eyes to "She Blinded Me With Science."

Art as a Way of Knowing
Art as a Way of Knowing

This 2011 conference, hosted at the Exploratorium, explored the role aesthetic inquiry in public interdisciplinary environments.

Jin Hi Kim Part 2
Discover the rich life and career of musician Jin Hi Kim.
Resonance

Get your ringing questions about sound answered here.

Diving into the Gene Pool
Diving into the Gene Pool

A multifaceted exhibition that explored genetics and the Human Genome Project from a variety of perspectives from April 8 to September 4, 1995.

Kronos Quartet: Performance

Watch selections from the Kronos Quartet's performance at Resonance.

Spring 2015 Update

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

Exhibitizing Cooperation

“No way! I lost a lot of cows last year!” is not something you’d expect to hear on the floor of a science museum.

Journey to Mars
Journey to Mars

Learn about the rovers that have been exploring Mars since 2004, and view the amazing images they've taken.

Pringles Pinhole
Pringles Pinhole

Recycle a potato chip can into a simple camera.

Cookie Subduction
Cookie Subduction

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

Listening to Process Sound
Listening to Process Sound

Find out how a cochlear implant helped one man regain the ability to listen.

Resonance: Unheard Sounds & Undiscovered Music

Watch contemporary musicians and sound artists perform and discuss their work.

The Exploratorium Shop

Visit the beating heart of the Exploratorium—our shop.

Colored Shadows Demo

An additive mixture of light makes for some colorful fun.

Turbulent Landscapes
Turbulent Landscapes

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

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.

Reaction Time
Reaction Time

Measure your reaction time with just a meter stick and some help from a friend.

Exploring the Gorringe Bank Seamounts
Discover an underwater mountain range as tall as the Alps.
Your Age on Other Worlds
Your Age on Other Worlds

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

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

Curious Contraptions

Explore small, surreal worlds through Curious Contraptions automata.

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