Event 2: Exploratorium

Event 2: Exploratorium

For this event, I went to the Exploratorium in SF. It is one of the most fun museums that I have ever been to. Especially, it helped me get a better understanding of how art helps us to understand biology and neuroscience.

Map of Exploratorium

For instance, in the lecture of neuroscience, we learned about Franz Joseph Gall, and his introduction of phrenology, which is based on the idea that parts of the brain are associated with different traits and skills(Vesna). However, our brain can also get confused easily. For instance, in this picture, the hot-cold coils teach us that our brains can combine conflicting sensations to jump to a startling conclusion. When I grabbed the center coils with my palm, I felt the coils were painfully hot, but when I touch the center coils one at a time with my fingertip, I found that they actually alternate between warm and cold. This design illustrates an illusion, which is called the thermal grill illusion. Today, neurobiologist study it to understand the usually “phantom” pains experienced by amputees and stroke victims.

Picture I took from exploratorium: the hot-cold coils

I also found it fascinating about how arts such as paintings can be viewed differently through some biological effects such as binocular rivalry. In this picture, when I centered my nose on the pink stripe at the edge of the mirror and looked straight ahead with both eyes open, I saw the images were alternating. I learned that when our brains get strongly conflicting information from two eyes, it usually turns off the information from one eye.

Me and the binocular rivalry

I would recommend this event because it is exciting to experience the designs they have. It would benefit my classmate because it is a really interactive and creative place. We can learn science not by reading a textbook, but by doing the experiments following the instruction on the designs and experiencing the effect with senses such as touch, sound, and sight. Then, we can read the simple explanations of the designs to understand the effects. Here are more pictures of the interesting exhibit to experience and learn.

We can learn how color affect our emotion from this exhibit

For instance, in the picture above, a boy is talking to the computer. It remained me of the lecture we learned about Alan Turing and artificial intelligence with robotics. 

ticket I bought

Reference: 
Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience-pt1.Mov.”  YouTube, 17 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=267&v=TzXjNbKDkYI.