Pricellis Alvarado

The Exploratorium
May 11, 2023

On March 30, 2023 I went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco where I saw a lot

of interesting things. When I entered the Exploratorium I was met with multiple

interactive displays that were really fun to watch and touch. As I walked more into

the place there were some interactive displays that taught us stuff about our

bodies. For example there was this interactive display where you stand on the

scale looking plate and it'll tell you how many blood cells you have in your body

along with other stuff. I learned that I have either 1 million or billion plus ( I can't

remember since this was a while ago) cells in my body. I also interacted with a

camera that takes a picture of you and tells you about the bacteria on your face

and the different cells on it. As for what I saw at the exploratorium there was A

LOT, but I can summarize some of it. I saw some floating faces that were

modeled out of real peoples faces made out of silicone, then I saw the cutest little

shrimps, a donut shaped ice sculpture and way more.

There were a lot of things there that I found interesting but there were some that

just caught my attention a lot more than the others. Like the spinning floating

rings, these rings were just so fascinating to me that I took a video on my phone.

It's these two big metal rings that are welded together on one side but only by like

1 inch. Then when it spins the rings look like they are spinning on each other
without anything holding them, even though it's such a simple illusion I loved it.

Another thing I found interesting were these mirrors. It was three long mirrors that

were put together in a triangle shape, and when I went in the middle of the

triangle it looked as if there were infinite mirrors around you. In all I had so much

fun on this field trip with my friends, we had an amazing time and I would

definitely go back if I had the chance. It was even educational without me even

noticing it which is cool. I learned a lot from this trip and am glad I had the

opportunity to go.

National Geographic Partners, adapted by Newsela staff

4/7/20
Bioluminescence: Chemical Reaction that lights up fireflies and jellyfish

In this article it is talking about bioluminescence that makes some creatures glow.

Bioluminescence is basically a chemical reaction that happens in some creatures

like jellyfish and fireflies. The chemicals that cause this when they mix are Luciferin

and Luciferase or photoprotein, Luciferin is the chemical that actually causes them

to glow. The bioluminescence in these animals can do a lot of things like hunt prey,

find partners and more. For example animals like the anglerfish use a ball at the

end of their head called an esca to catch their food. Male fireflies use their light to

flash at females to tell them they're ready to mate. Bioluminescence apparently is

also in algae, so humans want to know more about bioluminescence so it can help

them in the future.