Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
Tales from the Periodic Table
Check upcoming programs for dates and times
Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio
Included with museum admission.
Adults Only (18+)
Note: There is limited capacity for this program; seating will be made available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.
From the moment of its discovery, each element embarks on a journey into our culture. —Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Periodic Tales
The periodic table outlines the fundamental building blocks of all known matter in the universe. Composed of irreducible atoms, these elements arrived from the earliest reports of the Big Bang, the fusion wombs of stars and supernova, and collisions between interstellar matter and cosmic rays—as well as through artificial production in the lab. A scant 4.9% of the universe (the rest being dark matter and energy), the 118 elements currently arrayed on the periodic table display unique and yet beautifully related properties and behaviors. To us, they mean everything: from iron to uranium, their discovery and use have shaped the course of human history.
In this Thursday night series, we invite you to come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective experience.
Upcoming Programs
There's always something interesting happening here—check out our upcoming events calendar.
Past Programs
After Dark: Collisions, Lynette Wallworth, and Chromium
Thursday, October 19, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Learn the colorful past of a transition metal known for automotive flash at Chromium. And take a VR journey to the Australian homeland of indigenous elder Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe in Lynette Wallworth's Collisions.
Everything Matters: Vanadium
Thursday, June 15, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Join Sarah Cohen of San Francisco State University to explore sea squirts’ unique use of vanadium and discover what these squishy relations can teach us about ourselves.
In the Balance and Everything Matters
Thursday, May 18, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Join California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin Liu in a conversation about the use of science in the courts at In the Balance: Bringing Science to Justice. And explore the role of titanium and its alloys in orthopaedics with Stanford University surgeon Stuart Goodman at Everything Matters: Titanium.
Cinema Arts, Everything Matters, and Sewn Scenarios
Thursday, April 20, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
See how scandium illuminates important chemical and physical processes in the ocean at Everything Matters. Watch eighteen finalist and awarded-winning shorts from the 2016 Punto y Raya Film Festival at Eye Candy. And see sewing artist Paul Nosa embroider your ideas on fabric at Sewn Scenarios.
In the Balance and Everything Matters
Thursday, March 16, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Learn about a historic case where a group of young people filed a constitutional climate change lawsuit against the federal government at In the Balance. Also, learn how calcium plays a critical role in pumping carbon from the atmosphere to ocean depths at Everything Matters.
In the Balance, Cinema Arts, and Everything Matters
Thursday, February 16, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Join Barbara Hammer for an evening of transmuted cinema, where images break through the screen in unexpected shapes. Explore the impact of neuroscience on a landmark case at In the Balance. Or get a taste of potassium at Everything Matters with potato-avocado croquettes prepared by SeaGlass chef Nate Campbell and a stirring presentation by Exploratorium scientist and host Ron Hipschman.
Cinema Arts, Everything Matters, and Cardboard Automata Tinkering Workshop
Thursday, January 19, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Hear live musicians accompany a program of silent films from the early days of cinema in Mechanical Melodies, a program co-presented by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and encounter the noble gas argon at Everything Matters. Also, build your own mechanical sculptures in the Cardboard Automata Tinkering Workshop.
Everything Matters and Cinema Arts
Thursday, December 15, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
See composer Zachary James Watkins perform alongside Illuminatoria, a kinetic light sculpture by Gibson + Recoder. Learn how lethal chlorine leads to lifesaving sanitation at Everything Matters: Chlorine, and play with circuitry in the Tinkering Studio.
Cinema Arts and Everything Matters
Thursday, November 17, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
See Occupy the Farm, a film about the controversy surrounding a publicly owned local research farm. Also, consider sulfur’s ancient reputation, essential role in cell biology, and current promise in rechargeable battery research in Everything Matters: Sulfur. Plus, have dinner and drinks by the Bay, crawl through our Tactile Dome, play with exhibits, and explore.
Cinema Arts and Everything Matters
Thursday, October 20, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Learn the novel and nefarious uses of phosphorus at Everything Matters, or take a look at revolutionary visual storytelling from the ’60s and ’70s in the Cinema Arts program Seasons of Unrest: Activist Filmmaking in the Vietnam Era. Also, enjoy our pitch-black Tactile Dome, hundreds of exhibits, and an array of demonstrations.
After Dark
Thursday, May 19, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Learn how science is used—and misused—in legal decision-making with David Faigman, host of In the Balance: Autonomy on Endless Trial. Or come be in your elements at Everything Matters: Silicon with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman.
After Dark
Thursday, April 21, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Join us for Playback 1966, presented in collaboration with BAVC, a special symposium celebrating the media art innovations of John Sanborn, Skip Sweeney, and Jane Veeder. Or come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman for Everything Matters: Aluminum.
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