St. Louis Science Center, The
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The St. Louis Science Center. A rather descriptive name... boring people in boring white lab coats conducting boring experiments.1
Think again. This is a special Insider's Peek at the Center... The author is an esteemed2 volunteer who works four hours every week3. He knows the secrets4...
What Is The Center, Anyway?
What is the Center, you ask? The St. Louis Science Center is a place in St. Louis, Misourri, USA for people to learn in a stimulating, enjoyable envronment5. There are some really, really, really cool places in the Center... and this Entry will tell you about them, zone by zone!
The Lobby
Your journey into the realm of great knowledge begins! In the wonderful, overstuffed, leaky-roofed Lobby, we have a space for creatures to buy tickets and ask for help. This is also the lost and found, for items and children both6. It is also adjacent to The Gift Shop.
The Gift Shop
Welcome to the Land of the Gadgetry! The Shop for Science, as it's called, often has some really fun eductaional materials, and some really interesting, if highly priced gadges... most items actually tie in to whatever the special exhibit is in The Exploradome.
The Exploradome
The Exploradome is our area for special exhibits. It changes so quickly that this Entry cannot accurately tell you what is going on; it is likely to be different. However, there is no need to describe what's in it as it is still interesting to note that you have to enter and exit through an airlock and this is because you are inside a giant balloon when in the Exploradome. Having no supports, air pressure is used to keep the dome up, and there is a secret7 basement that you can safely go in in case of deflation; and the Exploradome will not deflate with a hole the size of a bowling ball, so it is really rather safe. Tests have also shown that it takes over fifteen minutes to deflate. The Exploradome, however, has a section within it that is also in several other places: The bathrooms.
The Bathroom
Standard public restroom, although it is a little cleaner than most. Kudos to the janitorial staff.
The Human Experience
Finally! Something real to describe! The Human Experience is a large, maze-like gallery full of optical ilusions, cancer risk questionaires, and spinning disks to demonstrate a trick of the brain8. A visitor will learn many ways to confuse itself, and facts about how it thinks; it is often quite facinating! Across from the Human Experience and down the steps is The Environment Gallery.
The Environment Gallery, Present
Standard "don't pollute" things, but most of it is quite interesting. The center of the Enviromental Center has the Stream Table9 where erosion is shown with little Monopoly houses on sand10 with a pump dumping water at the top, where it, obviously, flows down, washing sand away with it, unearthing plastic dinosaur skeletons and sending houses down the creek. Other attractions include the Alien Archeologist, a display asking what an alien would think if it dug up a landfill 3000 years in the future11, a Seismograph12, and a number of maps.
The Environment Gallery, Past
Heading past a robotic Tyranosaurus eating an almost dead robotic Tricerotops, both of which are life-size, a visitor would see exhibits labeled DO OR DIE13 where it shows what animals of the time period had to do to survive. It's a dino-eat-dino world out there...
One of the other exhibits in the section is the Earthquake Area, where it has a little infinite loop video playing that talks about earthquakes. And gives an example, because the platform you must stand on to view the video is rigged with an earthquake simulation machine...
Continuing on, it shows more about dinosaurs, what fossils are, and the story of the Tricerotops Skull- the one that was brought to the Science Center to excavate, and is currently on display. It's not a plaster cast, it's the REAL fossil.
One of the people digging it up tried to steal it for a private collection after it was mostly out of the rock. He got caught, and the Science Center turned the whole thing into a mystery game.
Quite an interesting story, actually; it could be the basis for another article14.
Cyberville
Up two flights of steps, the computer land of Cyberville awaits. With 20 computers that crash more often then work, all connected to the Internet, users with no home computer can still do net research. Sensor Lane demonstrates a Video Seismograph, which is just a meter that draws a line when someone jumps or stomps on the floor15 nearby. Continue to an infared thermometer where people are endlessly checking the temperature of things that they should not be checking the temperature of in a public place, by placing them against the thermometer and checking the readout. Continuing on, a visitor will find the Wall of Hands- proximity sensors that play music. Most people will ignore the "Don't Touch" sign and whap those things so hard the wall shakes, but it is only needed to get within two inches of it to play a note. After the Wall of Hands, you see and learn about a metal detector, more proximity sensors, an optic sensor, and a sonic height reader that tends to mix up the inches and feet... "You are eleven feet four inches. Oops I blew it. You are really four feet eleven inches16." After leaving Sensor Lane, you will notice the Laser Harp, also known as the Pinnochio Harp because it has no strings, opting instead for laser beams and electronic eyes, as well as a button that changes intstruments, insuring that you can never get any quiet especially combined with Sensor Hopscotch- a "wired" hopscotch board that makes noise when you jump on it. There is a make-a-digital-fish area where you can make a virtual fish, watch it live its virtual life, and end up eaten by a virtual shark. There's also an "Aviation Station" where you get to use almost every computer input device known to mankind, and it ends in a video game. There are some exhibits on binary, a section where you make robots out of LEGOs if you pay $2.5017 to do it- build one of three robot designs and attack a lego robotic dragon
The Galaxy Cafe
Warning: Food meant as movie props only. Not fit for human consumption. Prices: Too high.
More Bathrooms
Does the author really need to cover this again? The bathrooms are the same as the ones listed earlier, except this one's smaller.
The Structures Gallery
The Structures Gallery is a section where a visitor attempts to build a bridge out of "Tinkertoys," and many must be replaced at the end of the day due to thievery. Two "Arch Stations," placed across from each other, are areas where people can compete to build an arch out of blocks... lots of fun when short people do it because you have to be at least 5'6" to reach the top to put the final pieces in place, which have to all lean on each other for support since your arrangement must be free-standing18. There are also areas for a visitor to build structures out of blocks, showing what shapes will actually stand up. Continue on to The Bridge!
The Bridge
The Bridge is just a way to get to The Planetarium. It has radar guns, so you can enjoy watching cars do 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, and you now have evidence to back it up... it's pretty funny, really. There are also exhibits about construction materials, but the interesting part is at the end.
The Planetarium
The Planetarium is incredible. That's the only word for it. After going down the second half of the Structures Gallery (the Underground section,) a visitor will enter the SkyPort, which is designed to look like a space port, with the Star Shuttle19 instead of airplanes. There is a ticket counter to buy rather expensive tickets into "space," and a small exhibit on the history of aviation.
After purchasing tickets, head to the Star Shuttle, which looks more "Star Wars" than "NASA." It's hard not to know it's just an elevator with a bunch of pointless buttons.
The "space recruits" will then be released onto the StarBridge, with exhibits on what makes a space station tick- problems of communication, navigation, and manipulation are demonstrated, and the visitors get to try to get around them! There's a robot arm that's hard to control, and another one which can only be seen by two video monitors, instead of direct viewing. There are star charts, and a demonstration of solar power. There's a lot to do, but most people just want to go to the StarBay.
The StarBay is a big dome with a really big planisphere20 in it. This planisphere, the Zess Mk. 9, cost the Science Center over three million dollars to build. It projects an extremely realistic starfield on the huge dome. It's surrounded by "labs" about living and working in space, but nobody pays any attention to those anyway.
After a short shuttle ride back to Earth, it's time to call it a day.
Goodbye
The author hopes that you enjoyed your whirlwind verbal tour of the St. Louis Science Center.
1If there is such a thing as a boring experiment!2 Read as: never suspended, and has never yet thrown a visitor down the stairs.3 Too bad you don't have a work schedule like that, huh? Consider the fact that he is unpaid child labor.4Which he can't tell you. The author will only tell you things which you could get if you asked workers in person anyway.5In english, this means that you have fun while learning. This is not a school.6Children not picked up at the end of the day are trained as volunteers and made to work eight hours a day seven days a week for room and board.7secret being defined as nobody has bothered to ask.8With a side effect of severe diziness.9 Also known as the Kitty Litter Erosion Machine, due to what it uses instead of sand and what it shows.10 Or kitty litter.11"What wasteful beings..."12Quakeometer, connected to the New Madrid Fault Line.13No, this doesn't mean that if it's not read/done, a staff member will blow the ignorer's head off with a shotgun. Keep reading.14 Hint, hint.15Please do not kick it. We go through more seismographs that way...16Aren't computerized voices fun?17 U.S. Dollars, free for members only.18 Kicking it down at the end is always the fun part, but you can't kick it down if it falls on its own.19See glorified elevator.20Planetarium projector.
