Almost all of the Exploratorium's attractions are hands-on interactive exhibits. Which is fine, I like that. But they didn't have much in the way of variety, it was almost exclusively magnetism or perception (such as this one where you see an image of yourself manipulated into colours etc), and there was very little in the way of movies to sit and watch, or historical exhibits to just look at. The better science museums I've been to around the world have a good mix of active and passive exhibits.




This guy was a whiz at making large bubbles.




I decided after spending the better part of the day at the Exploratorium that this was my favourite exhibit. It's a cloud chamber. Although you can't really see it well in the photograph, the white streaks are trails of high-speed particles. It's a strange thought that this stuff is flying around us all the time but we can't see it. It's an even stranger thought to put your hand on top of the cloud chamber and realize that it does nothing to block them!




The worst exhibit was definitely the colossally oversized and undercool Spirograph rip-off. First of all, the results were disappointing, secondly, they made kids sign up for 5-minute slots throughout the day and *charged* parents for the privilege of having their kid give the suspended paper platform (under the fixed marker) a starting shove. Extra charge for multiple colours!