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

Find out why biodiversity benefits plants and people alike.

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

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

Find out how different kinds of candy are made in the Candy-o-matic!

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

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

What's in that cup of coffee anyway? Find out about the history and chemistry of coffee.

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

How do you stop and steer a bicycle? What forces keep the bicycle from falling over?

Why is your shadow longer in winter than in summer? Grab a basketball and some paperclips and find out!

From 1977 until 2003, the Exploratorium published a quarterly magazine. The Exploratorium Magazine Online is a companion to selected issues of the print magazine, providing key articles and activities and including multimedia features.

What's really going on when you bake? Find out.

In Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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

Make it grow . . . bigger, lusher, juicier.

How can a microscopic organism lift several pounds of dough? Find out with this activity.

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

Zoom into a fossil chimp tooth.

Find out why biodiversity benefits plants and people alike.

Activities and History

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.

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

Find out how proteins make muscles work in this original Exploratorium poster, illustrated by David Goodsell.

A window on regeneration

Try these low-cost, teacher-tested activities for the classroom and the curious.

Humpbacks, minkes, and orcas are often sighted in the nutrient-rich Antarctic waters.

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

Rube Goldberg-inspired cause and effect contraptions using everyday materials and found objects.

Learn about the body's vital defense force.

What do you really know about what you see?

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

Sperimenta interattivamente l'illusione del muro del caffé.

In February 2009, the Exploratorium hosted Darwin Days, a series of presentations, debates, and discussions exploring the ways scientists continue to learn from and apply their knowledge of evolutionary biology to a broad range of pursuits.

Land of ice and people

What's the difference between white meat and dark meat? Which animals have which and why?

The 1906 earthquake jolted geologists into focusing on how and why faults break loose.