Human Body Gallery Fact sheet
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WHAT
The Human Body Gallery, a 6,000-square-foot gallery packed with activities that invite visitors to explore how the human body functions, and also how we use our bodies to express our culture and ourselves.
WHERE
Science Museum of Minnesota, level 4
120 West Kellogg Boulevard,
Downtown St. Paul
WHY
Custom-developed by the museum's own exhibit programming staff, the Human Body Gallery is a highlight of the Science Museum for visitors of all ages.
DESCRIPTION
The Human Body Gallery invites you to see your own body in ways you never have before. Explore "big picture" ideas like body image and personal and cultural identification. Examine microscopic details like cells and the components hidden inside them. With interactive exhibits covering body structures, functions, breakdowns, and repairs, the Human Body Gallery helps visitors understand and appreciate what it means to be human.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cell Lab: You can don a lab coat, gloves, and goggles, then follow clear procedures for extracting DNA, testing enzymes, identifying a mystery microbe, looking at fruit fly chromosomes, or looking at your own cheek cells under a microscope. Test the anti-microbial powers of various soaps and cleansers. Look at four types of protozoa and compare these single-celled organisms to human cells. Learn how blood typing works. Computer lab companions and staff/volunteers explain the procedures and offer helpful hints if budding scientists need assistance at any point.
Perception Theater: This lively 20-minute program lets you explore how your brain can play tricks on you through a show packed with surprises and "magic show" style optical illusions. Imaging technology, video, audio, props, and animation help you understand how the brain turns stimuli into perceptions.
The Brain and the Senses: Watch a brain surgery video. Test your hand-eye coordination. Check your sense of smell, and explore the mechanics of hearing. Hands-on activities in this area let you test your senses and memory.
The Bloodstream Superhighway: Put your hands on a 100-foot-long, two-inch-diameter clear plastic "blood vessel" and feel the pulse as a giant pumping mechanism forces sparkling red fluid to circle the gallery's cardiovascular exhibits. Lounge in blood-cell-shaped chairs. Take your blood pressure. See your own heart's electrical signals with an electrocardiogram machine. A variety of exhibits and activities in this area explain how the heart and lungs work together, and show some of the medical advances that can help when the system breaks down.
Tissues: This exhibit area lets you learn about tissues, explore some disease processes, and see how new tissues form in the body. Inspect a six-foot-long hand with giant-sized wounds, and learn about the healing process. Play "Bacteria Blaster," a video game that tests your ability to take a throat swab and teaches the best way to use antibiotics. See cross-sections of two human bodies and look for clues about their lives. See real cells that have differentiated from their stem cell form and explore their role in creating new tissue. See a video about stem cell ethics. Try to solve three “tissue mysteries” by looking at real human tissue samples.
"The Sneezer": How do germs spread? Find out, as you open a small door on a graphic of a girl's face and feel the spray of a pretend sneeze (actually a mist of water). Accompanying text discusses what is in a sneeze, how we catch colds, and the role of white blood cells in the immune system.
The Body Hotel: The human body is a home for many other living organisms. Use a magnifying glass and microscopes to see the variety of parasites that can live in the human environment.
Scope-on-a-rope: This handheld magnifying camera gives visitors of all ages a unique chance to get an up-close look at your skin, hair and clothing. Examine your wounds and scars and see the healing process at work!
Body Image Collage: This vivid graphic wall invites you to consider the range of body images in our society and around the world. Consider how your body is constantly changing, and how your identity is affected not only by your genetic makeup but also by your culture and surroundings.
COMING JANUARY 2008
Disease Detectives: This highly interactive exhibit unit will teach visitors how doctors and other public health workers diagnose, track the source of, and treat disease.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Janine Hanson, PR Director, (651) 221-9423
Sarah Imholte, PR Coordinator, (651) 221-9412