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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.

Finger Test for Doneness
Finger Test for Doneness

Your thumb and index finger can help you test a steak's degree of doneness.

Bike Frame Materials
Bike Frame Materials

Explore the important engineering concepts of yield strength, ultimate strength, and elasticity as they relate to building a better bicycle.

Make Your Own Telescope
Make Your Own Telescope

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

Exploratorium at JPL: Explorando con Curiosidad
Open Make: Meet the Makers/Cardboard
Flash back to the Open Make program showcasing local makers.
Drives & Gears
Drives & Gears

What is a gear ratio? And how do gears help make the bicycle so efficient?

Meredith Monk Part 1
Discover the history and process of interdisciplinary performer Meredith Monk.
lucky dragons’ Actual Reality

Wade into a sea of images and sounds with Actual Reality.

What We're Reading

by • June 19, 2015

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

Antarctica: Ice Gallery
Antarctica: Ice Gallery

Take an animated tour of Antarctica's variety of ice formations, which give it a beauty unrivaled anywhere on Earth.

Extended Cinemas | Exploratorium

Immerse yourself in visual storytelling that extends beyond theater walls.

Tidal Bulge

Make a paper model that helps explain the changing tides.

40th Anniversary
40th Anniversary
Chaotic Pendulum
Intuition doesn't apply to the Chaotic Pendulum.
Singing in the Shower
Singing in the Shower

Everyone seems to love the sound of their own voice in the shower. That's because a simple shower stall produces some complex sound-altering effects.

Pi Day
Pi Day

Activities and History

Artist-in-Residence Zarouhie Abdalian on "The Art Assignment"

by Exploratorium Staff • June 11, 2015

PBS Digitial Studios' latest episode of The Art Assignment profiles Zarouhie Abdalian, an Exploratorium Artist-in-Residence.

Auroras: Paintings in the Sky
Auroras: Paintings in the Sky

Far north in the night sky, a faint glow appears on the horizon. Green and red flames of light stretch across the sky.

The Art of John Edmark

What do plants know about numbers? Paul Dancstep investigates.

Hubble: A View to the Edge of Space
Hubble: A View to the Edge of Space

Join us as we visit the Hubble Space Telescope, and see what's happening at Mission Control.

Your Age on Other Worlds
Your Age on Other Worlds

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

Joshua Light Show with Linda Perhacs and Julia Holter

The legendary Joshua Light Show returns to the Exploratorium’.

Black Spirituals: Interview

Go deep with the Oakland-based sound-making duo Black Spirituals.

The Best Things in Museums Are the Windows

Tag along on The Windows, a trek to Mount Diablo.

The thrill of natural phenomena

by Sebastian • August 16, 2019

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!

Origins
Origins

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

Divided Attention
Divided Attention

How many objects can you follow at once?

Using the Wired Pier Web App

by Mary Miller • April 19, 2017

Launch our new web app to explore environmental data. 

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

Cookie Subduction
Cookie Subduction

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

Mind Lecture Series
Mind Lecture Series

Listen to internationally recognized authorities on human thought and behavior, including Temple Grandin and Paul Ekman.

Institute for Inquiry: Examining the Art of Science Education
Institute for Inquiry: Examining the Art of Science Education

Professional development resources for teacher educators.

Swell Swell
Turning Garbage into Gold

Seasoned gardeners depend on a community of bacteria, worms, and insects to get the most out of their plantings. Find out why.

Bicycles and Drag
Bicycles and Drag

Find out why wind resistance is a big drag for bicyclists, and use our calculator to estimate drag for yourself.

Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen

Get a glimpse of artist and physicist Theo Jansen's strandbeests.

Reflections on Soap Film Painting

Reflect on the deeper significance of Soap Film Painting.

Mid-Air Maneuver
Mid-Air Maneuver

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

Sparkling Science: Champagne
Sparkling Science: Champagne

Learn how sparkling wine is made, what makes it different from still wine, and where all those little bubbles come from!

Guillermo Galindo: Interview

Experience Guillermo Galindo's thoughts on his boundary-breaking musical works.

Make Your Own Telescope
Make Your Own Telescope

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

Wind Tubes (pdf)
Wind Tubes (pdf)

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

Cafe Wall Illusion
Cafe Wall Illusion

Interact with the Cafe Wall Illusion.

Young in Mind
Young in Mind

Learn how some vibrant seniors exercise their minds, and find out what you can do to help your own memory.

Jin Hi Kim Part 1
Musician Jin Hi Kim reflects on her varied life and career.
Blood
Blood

Learn about the body's vital defense force.

"Behind Every Love Match There’s A Lot Of Code"

by Jackie Clay • August 13, 2015

What is love? The Really Big Questions explores that question.

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.

Magnetic Fruit

Watch a magnet repel a grape and consider different types of magnetism.

Reflecting Rainbows
Reflecting Rainbows

Decorate your white walls with rainbow colors!

Exploratorium at Pier 15: Green Machine

Get to know Pier 15, one of the greenest buildings around.

Clay Bridges
Clay Bridges

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

Building Excitement for Curiosity's Landing

Brush up on the basics of Mars and Mars rovers.

An Artist Looks at Life on an Undersea Volcano
What's a painter doing on this scientific research ship?
Can You Believe It?
Can You Believe It? (download)

Use this desktop widget to view current science news feeds on your computer.

Scouting Oregon for the 2017 Solar Eclipse

by Eileen Campbell • September 7, 2016

Road trip! Scouting Oregon locations for filming the 2017 solar eclipse.

NOAA Buoy Installation

Follow a research buoy's journey to the Bay.

Modulated LED: Try Our Challenge

Put your mind to tackling these classic engineering problems.

Jem Finer: Original Soundtracks #5 and Starfield

Explore systems over extremes of time and space with Jem Finer.

1998 Live from Aruba

Open a celestial and technological time capsule—watch this eclipse webcast.

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