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October 16, 2008-
Join the List!
SEE THE SPEED OF LIGHT AT SFMOMA
Take advantage of SFMOMA’s free-admission Target Family Day on Sunday, October 19 and enjoy The Speed of Light, a series of short films curated by our very own Cinema Arts Program in conjunction with SFMOMA’s exhibition Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900. From 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., see the contemporary films Sanctus, Energie!, and Light is Calling as well as the turn-of-the-century chronophotography experiments The Marey-Bull Documents. Etienne-Jules Marey and Lucien Bull shot these “microdocumentaries” with a revolver camera shaped like a gun. For more details, go to www.sfmoma.org.
GHOULISH GIZMOS
Physics of Toys startles and spooks with toys that ooze, shriek, and scare! Join the team from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 18 to construct your own screeching cups, hallowing balloons, slippery slime, and more. Physics of Toys: Frightful Fun takes place in the Skylight area; all materials are provided. For more information, check out our Events Calendar at www.exploratorium.edu/events.
HALLOWEEN AT THE EXPLORATORIUM
The Apocalypse Puppet Theater will present a thrilling puppet show at Phantasmagorium on October 31. Image credit: Zachary Wasserman
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This year, the Exploratorium celebrates Halloween with two evening events. On Monday, October 27, from 6:00-8:30 p.m., we partner with the Wender Weis Foundation for Children to host Halloween Heroes, their annual fundraiser supporting low-income and disadvantaged Bay Area kids. With refreshments from top local restaurants, a silent auction, trick-or-treat booths, arts and crafts, team mascots, and costumed characters, there’s something fun for everyone. And on All Hallows’ Eve, we present Phantasmagorium: Halloween Night at the Palace of Frights. Our first-ever Halloween party takes place from 6:00-9:00 p.m. on Friday, October 31 and features spine-tingling science, a chilling program of films and shadow puppetry, and plenty of treats. In honor of Dia de los Muertos, we invite you to explore traditional crafts and display mementos on our communal altar for the departed. Arrive in costume after trick-or-treating or stop by before your night begins. Find out more at www.exploratorium.edu/events; for more information on Halloween Heroes, visit www.wenderweis.org.
FILMS FOR ALL SOULS
At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 1, the Cinema Arts Program presents Between Body and Soul, a series of short films evoking the melancholy beauty of autumn. Sanctus (1990, 19 min.), by Barbara Hammer, lyrically composes dreamlike footage from X-ray films shot in the 1950s by doctor and director James Sibley Watson. The Ossuary, (1970, 10 min.), by Jan Svankmajer, documents the spectacularly grisly yet oddly beautiful bone sculptures adorning the Czech Republic's Sedlec Monastery. And The Day After Halloween (2008, 3 min.), by Danny Plotnick, illustrates a song by The Sippy Cups (www.thesippycups.com) with a wistful tale of a little boy who can't bear to take off his Halloween costume once the holiday is over.
NOBEL WINNER HELPED DEVELOP GLOWING WORMS EXHIBIT
Our Traits of Life exhibition showcases a few GFP-bearing organisms and cells, including the zebrafish embryos shown above.
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The 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was recently awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, or GFP. In 1961, Dr. Shimomura found this unusual protein in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. Dr. Chalfie later inserted the gene for the GFP protein into E. coli bacteria and later into the C. elegans roundworm. GFP has become a key tool in molecular biology: By inserting the gene at different locations in an organism’s genome, scientists can track its cellular activity in real time. This work has led to a wide spectrum of fluorescents, enabling scientists to observe the interactions of proteins in kaleidoscopic living color. And you can experience this biological light show at the Glowing Worms exhibit in our Traits of Life collection. In 2002, Dr. Chalfie worked with Exploratorium biologist Charles Carlson to develop a way for museum visitors to witness C. elegans’ transparent, millimeter-long bodies fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
DID YOU KNOW?
...that bioluminescence is found in a wide range of organisms? This form of natural illumination results from chemical reactions distinct from the processes through which fluorescent proteins produce light. In addition to the fireflies and glowworms that enliven summer evenings, marine organisms such as squid and anglerfish and fungi like jack o’lantern and honey mushrooms create a ghostly biological glow that can attract mates, repel predators, or camouflage its creator.
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