Learn with us online while the Exploratorium is temporarily closed. You can help us reopen—donate today.

  • Pairings
  • Pairings

After Dark

Thursday, July 14, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Pairings: Bug Curious

Summer After-School Special

Buy Tickets

$15 General; $10 Members; Free for Lab Members; $10 Add-On Ticket for the Tactile Dome Available for Purchase Onsite

Adults Only (18+)

Note: Some programs have limited seating and will be made available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.

Reinvent your Thursday nights at After Dark. Discover the emotional core of 1970s after-school specials with Jesse Hawthorne Ficks at Cinema Arts: Summer After-School Special, or take a global tour of insect cuisines with entomologist Ralph Washington, Jr. at Pairings. Grab dinner by the Bay, play with hundreds of hands-on exhibits, crawl through our pitch-black Tactile Dome, sip cocktails, and explore.

Sign up for our newsletter

Featured Programs

Pairings: Bug Curious

To reserve a seat and something to eat, pick up free tickets onsite at the Observatory. Seating is limited to 95.

7:00 p.m.
Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.
—Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du Gout, 1825

Join us for robust presentations and refreshing conversations designed to inspire your scientific palate.

Learn more about the series, Pairings: Cultivating a Taste for Science Through Food.

Tonight’s Menu: Bug Curious

For many cultures around the world, insects are an integral food source, whether served as a seasonal delicacy or an everyday snack. And while rich in protein and other nutrients, insects are primarily enjoyed for their tastes. Join entomologist Ralph Washington, Jr. for a global tour of entomophagy, or the eating of insects, and discover the many ways to savor bugs, be they roasted grasshoppers or witchetty grubs. Insect enticements will be served.

Ralph Washington, Jr. is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Ph.D. student in Entomology and Nematology at the University of California, Davis. He chairs the UC Davis Graduate Student Association, co-chairs the UC Council of Student Body Presidents, and is one of the leaders of the UC Davis Black Graduate and Professional Students Association.

Cricket Biscuits
4 oz. butter
3/4 c. + 2 T. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 c. cricket flour
13/4 t. + 1/8 t. baking powder
1 T. granulated sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. + 3 T. + 11/2 t. buttermilk
1/8 t. baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Cut butter into cubes. Set aside and refrigerate (or freeze).
3. Meanwhile sift together both flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a bowl.
4. Cut butter into dry ingredients until pea-sized, working fast so butter stays cold.
5. Add baking soda and cold buttermilk together.
6. Work mixture by hand until it forms together; don’t worry if there are dry patches.
7. Flour a work surface and pat dough on it, folding 2 to 3 times until it fully comes together. Pat down and around forming dough into a circle until desired thickness. Cut into desired shape and size.
8. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. 

 

Summer After-School Special

With Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

7:00 p.m.
Kanbar Forum

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks of Midnites for Maniacs returns with a mediated program that invites you to look past the irony and nostalgia of 1970s after-school specials so you can discover their emotional core. Ficks encourages self-reflection and exploration of your response to this niche genre.

Featuring

A Genuine Tribute to Jodie Foster's ABC After-School Specials
Featuring two rare 16mm films starring precocious child star Jodie Foster just before she began her rise to Hollywood royalty. These unedited “ABC After-School Specials” embody the deep sincerity and surprisingly progressive themes that an entire generation grew up with in their living rooms. Come celebrate these profoundly moving films in a magical, communal space.

Rookie of the Year (1973, 60 min., 16mm)
Preceding Michael Ritchie's The Bad News Bears (1976) by three years, this (still) progressive pitch, pits an 11-year-old girl against the whole wide world of sports when she joins her brother's all-male Little League Baseball team. This role made Jodie Foster a star. This episode originally aired on October 3, 1973.

The Secret Life of T.K. Dearing (1975. 45 min., 16mm)
This heartwarming (and heartwrenching) life lesson focuses on a rare relationship between a preteen girl and her grandfather, a free soul with whom she shares adventures. Bring your hanky—it's a doozy that will leave you appreciating your family in ways you will never forget. This episode originally aired on April 23, 1975.

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks teaches film history at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and curates/hosts the Midnites for Maniacs series at the Castro Theatre. He also writes film festival reviews for many Bay Area media outlets.

Tactile Dome

$10; purchase tickets onsite at the Information Desk

6:15–10:00 p.m.
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery

Take an excursion through total darkness in our Tactile Dome. Crawl, slide, and bump your way through the pitch-dark Dome using your sense of touch as your only guide through its chambers and mazes.

Please Note: Due to the nature of this experience, certain restrictions apply. Guests who are afraid of the dark; claustrophobic; have back, neck, or knee injuries; or are in their third trimester of pregnancy should not participate. Guests wearing casts are prohibited. Also, please wear comfortable clothes.

Learn more about the Tactile Dome.

Explainer Demonstrations

Drawing Board
Ticketing at 6:00 p.m., first come, first served
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery

Draw hypnotically flowing patterns with a swinging table, and watch friction cause the patterns to slowly shrink along a spiral path. Pick up a ticket to reserve your spot in line for this popular activity.

Speaker Dissection
6:00–9:45 p.m.
Bechtel Central Gallery

Tune in to surrounding sounds by experimenting with strings and vibrations, and use electromagnets to build a basic speaker. Learn how to listen with your bones, and explore the workings of the inner ear.

Cow Eye or Flower Dissection (alternating)
6:00–9:45 p.m.
East Gallery

Do cows see color? How does a lens work? Examine the intricate structure of a cow eye to learn about similar structures in our own eyes, as well as some key differences.

Stigma, stamen, pistil, anther, style: Uncover the beautiful architecture of flower anatomy, and gather some surprising strategies that plants use to reproduce.

Magic Demonstration
6:00–9:45 p.m.
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery

Everything is not as it seems—at first. Pick a card, any card, and watch the Explainers reveal some surprising aspects of human perception.