Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pacific Science Center: Part 1

Our final stop on our day of fun with Grandma Shellie was at the Pacific Science Center. This started out as one very photo heavy post, so I decided to break it into a few smaller posts to lighten the load, so to speak.

So we'll start with the traveling exhibit. We've seen some pretty cool things in this area of the museum in the past. Last year we saw a circus exhibit that was pretty neat. But this one had to be the most interactive we've seen. I believe it was called The Science of Fear or something along those lines. There were booths set up where you could test your reactions to different situations. All of them being common fears.

The first we came to addressed the fear of falling. You got strapped into a machine that was rigged to slowly lower you backwards and then suddenly drop without warning. A camera  positioned in front of your face reads your reaction and gives you a fear "score".

Logan got to give it a try first.

When he fell he lifted his head up to brace himself. I guess that was a no-no in the "controling your fear" aspect of the experiment.

Next up was Brandon.

He did better at relaxing and not reacting.

One of the next booths we came to had a machine to test your fear of pain.....I think. There were little contraptions you would stick your finger into that was connected to an electric device that would zap you with a little jolt of electricity (by the way, don't you just love my technical terms for all of this stuff). You would know when the shock was coming, because you can see the current traveling to the receptor. The boys were all for it, even Sawyer, though I don't think his little finger touched the inside of the finger thing in the right way. It didn't seem to effect him at all.


Personally, I couldn't do it. I put my finger in there, and waited for the bright blue current to travel up, but I couldn't stand it. I had to pull my finger out. I'm a weinie. Grandma Shellie passed on this booth as well. She decided to just hang out, watch the boys, and look adorable.

I of course passed on the fear of animals booth. All you did was reach your hand into blacked out boxes and feel fake critters. But above those boxes, they had real critters, and I was not about to stick my face up close to those terrariums. The boys of course were all for it.

Past the human fears booths, there was an area that talked about how animals react to fear. How they use fear as a survival instinct. There was an "Avoid the Cheetah" type game set up. It used Kinect type technology, meaning you use your whole body to interact with the game as if you were really in that situation. You have to catch falling fruit from a tree, but freeze in place when they cheetah turns your way. If you don't freeze quick enough and the cheetah spots you, he attacks. All of the boys got a kick out of playing. Even Daddy.

The rest of the time in the exhibition we learned about how our bodies react to fear. How the brain reads different scenarious and sends your body into a massive surge of activity.  About the chemical reactions that take place in your body and how they cause different physical reactions. For instance: peeing yourself.

The exhibit as a whole was really interesting and it was fun to watch the kids interact with all of it.

2 comments:

Debbie B said...

Absolutely love the photo of Granda Shellie!

Debbie B said...

make that Grandma!