Life at the Limits and Nature’s Fury, Special Exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History #AMNH

My kids’ favorite museum in Manhattan is the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Beyond the permanent exhibits of fossils, nature dioramas, rocks and minerals, the Planetarium and Space Shows, and the Butterfly Conservatory, there are always a few well-designed, interactive, engaging special exhibits.

If you are in Manhattan this spring and summer, make sure to check out Life at the Limits and Nature’s Fury.

Life at the Limits

Life at the Limits just launched at the beginning of April and will continue through the rest of the year until January 3, 2016. The astounding and inspiring thesis of the exhibit is the tenacity of life on this planet. My kids were most fascinated by the tardigrade, which is sort of the exhibit mascot and is featured in Cosmos.

Tardigrade

These super-tiny survivors can be boiled, frozen to near absolute zero, dessicated, and even be sent into the vacuum of space, and still keep on living.

The exhibit is organized around the themes of courtship and reproduction, breathing in low-oxygen environments, locomotion, highly-attuned and extra senses, eating, defense systems, and endurance. As part of the exhibit, visitors enter a cave to learn about creatures and other organisms that live without light. Other interactive elements include a giant Hercules beetle on which the kids can climb and a motion-capture “game” that allows visitors to “test the ‘super powers’ of several species that they encountered in the exhibition.”

Hercules Beetle

Motion Game

Nature’s Fury, which opened in November and continues through August 9, 2015, focuses on Earth’s natural disasters. The exhibit examines these phenomena from a scientific, historical and cultural, and current events perspective. So, visitors learn about natural disasters in mythology, some of the worst recorded earthquakes in history, and Hurricane Sandy (which hit the New York metro-area in 2012).

Natures Fury

Some of the hands-on elements of this exhibit include creating a volcano, playing with models of different types of fault-lines, jumping to create and measure seismic activity, and using a pinball like plunger to observe waves.

Volcano

We always enjoy the AMNH exhibits and I thought the interactive elements of this exhibit were particular outstanding. They were both attractive and engaging to the kids, as well as essential to understanding some of the more challenging concepts. At their best, museum exhibits allow visitors to grasp ideas that would normally be too abstract or advanced for a layperson. AMNH consistently makes ideas like these accessible to even children.

Of course, while you are at the AMNH, you cannot miss the dinosaurs or the meteors!

Meteor

TREX

Disclosure: The American Museum of Natural History provided me with media passes to facilitate my review. All words, opinions, and images are my own.

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60 thoughts on “Life at the Limits and Nature’s Fury, Special Exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History #AMNH

  1. 炭酸水ダイエットの基本はこれだけです!ポイントは「食前」と「500ml」ということ。食前に炭酸水を飲むことでお腹をいっぱいにして、その後の食事量を抑えて食べ過ぎを防止します。まずは夕食前から始め、徐々に昼食前・朝食前と行っていくのがオススメです。食前に飲む量は、500mlを守りましょう。コップ1杯200mlほどでは、逆に食欲が増進し食べ過ぎてしまいますので、せっかくのダイエット効果が得られません。また、一日3回の食前に飲むのなら、合計1.5Lが限度です。それ以上飲むのはやめましょう。 http://www.gginza.com/%E6%99%82%E8%A8%88/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/daytona/04e74ce5ed154d2e.html

  2. トークセッションの後半では、takram design engineering代表の田川欣哉氏と、ITジャーナリストの林信行氏が登場。「音と光と空間の可能性と、体験のデザイン」をテーマに、Life Space UXの可能性や今後について、宮崎氏を交えて語り合った。田川氏はLife Space UXの製品について「インテリアに溶け込むということと、その技術的制約を上手く落とし込んでいるところが特徴的」と指摘。林氏は「20世紀的な家電とは別物。これまでの家電は便利さを追求しすぎていた。これからは家電と生活の在り方、豊かさにもっと注目が集まるといい」と話した。 http://www.bagkakaku.com/vuitton_bag/2/N48180.html

  3. このクラッシュ相場で投資した資金は将来大きなリターンを生むことになるでしょう。自分が買い場だと思ったら会社なんて1日くらい休んで落ち着いた状況で取引しましょう。ただ、底打ちにはまだ早いと考えます。NYダウは13,000位には落ちてくるんじゃないかな。その辺に来たら貯めたキャッシュで全力で買い増しに向かいます。皆さんも無理のない投資ライフをお送り下さいね。(*_*) http://www.brandiwc.com/brand-1-copy-0.html

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