Basically, That’s You on Display
Yikes! So that’s what an intestine looks like--all 20-some-odd twisting feet of it. It almost gives me a stomachache looking at it.
And there’s a real human brain. Kinda small, don’tcha think? Oh, well.
So that’s what the thyroid gland looks like. Sorta butterfly-shaped.
And, whoa! A fetus at 16 weeks’ gestation. You can count 10 fingers and 10 toes.
To be sure, you won’t find many dusty, molded-plastic exhibits in the World of Life section of the new California Science Center in L.A. Many brains--surely bigger brains than those on display--were utilized to create biological exhibits that will educate, enthrall, challenge and amuse individuals of all ages.
While other science museums are interactive and teach important health messages, World of Life differs from the standard museum experience with its emphasis on integrating human biology with plant and animal biology. Visitors learn that all living things do the same things to survive: Take in energy, get rid of waste (thus, the intestine on display), react to the environment, defend themselves and reproduce.
Not only can you take your own blood pressure, you can also discover what it takes to pump blood to the brain of a giraffe. You can listen to your heartbeat and the heartbeat of a mouse.
“We focused on big ideas,” says David J. Combs, life science curator. “We want people to realize that they do have all these things in common with plants and animals. For example, we don’t want people to think about reproduction as just a human thing.”
Within each section of World of Life, health messages are delivered in ways unlikely to be forgotten. You can enter a simulator and drive a car while sober and while drunk. You can watch anti-smoking videos while sitting in a chair made of cigarette butts that coughs when you plop down. And you can go to a refrigerator and make up a meal plan, after which a computer tells you how healthy your selections are.
“We felt that combining life science with health education messages was the way to go,” says Ann M. Muscat, deputy director of exhibits and education.
It’s not a trip to the doctor’s office. World of Life is set up to help visitors understand their own bodies in ways that are rarely accomplished in a medical setting.
A display on the electrocardiogram--where you can see your own EKG--can help you better understand how your heart functions.
Pains have been taken in each area to pare down written text and simplify language, Combs said.
“Biology has a huge vocabulary, and you could easily get lost in it. We would like people to walk through and leave with a basic understanding of how their body works,” he said.
Visitors hungering for more information can access computerized monitors to learn more. This is especially important to exhibits, such as one on human reproduction and fetal development, that might discomfort some people.
The exhibit on fetal development is fairly unusual in U.S. science centers; only a couple other institutions have preserved first- and second-trimester fetuses on display. The specimens were donated by USC and collected in the 1960s. A sign posted outside the darkened, circular display room advises visitors that the fetuses were collected from pregnancies terminated due to natural causes, such as miscarriage or accident, or in cases where a mother’s life was threatened.
Museum officials convened a panel of ethicists to debate the value of the display and how the information and specimens should be presented, Muscat said. The specimens are part of a broader attempt to display actual preserved human tissue (brains, intestines, glands, hearts) wherever possible.
“As an institution, we had to make decisions about what is appropriate,” Muscat says. “But we try to be respectful to what people are sensitive to. With the human reproduction exhibit, for example, you have to become engaged in it [to learn more]. It’s not in your face, but it’s here.”
* SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: Nicolai Ouroussoff critiques the museum’s architecture. F1
