On November 23, I attended an Earth, Life, and Time field trip to the Marian Koshland Science Museum, located in D.C. At the museum, I looked at three different galleries and I focused my time on six different displays, two within each gallery. The museum had three different galleries in all; they were Wonders of Science, Global Warming: Facts & Our Future, and Infectious Diseases. The museum was very interactive, and unlike most science museums it was actually geared towards adults. The museum often showed what the impact of certain events, occurrences, or practices were to us, making it very relatable to the average person.
In the Wonders of Science gallery of the museum, I watched two different videos. The first video was all about infectious diseases including, malaria, cholera, dungay fever, and arsenic poisoning. The video had a clear message that it was very hard to prevent the passing of diseases from one nation to another. The video spoke about how the U.S. spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to prevent infectious diseases of other nations from coming here, while they do a pretty good job of it they cannot prevent all infectious diseases from entering the U.S. The video traveled to several different nations with infectious diseases including the U.S., El Salvador, Kenya, Bangladesh, and several others. It was clear that these nations were trying different things to prevent the passing of infectious diseases further into their nations but despite their efforts they still ran into one problem or another. For example, in Bangladesh they had created methods of purifying water, which is extremely important as many diseases and pathogens are spread through water, but as they purified the water they ran into the problem of arsenic poisoning. The video seemed to be very accurate; it gave many real life examples that cannot be refuted. The video was also very effective in portraying that all nations battle with some form of infectious diseases or other, but poorer nations often have a much harder battle.
The second display within the Wonders of Science gallery was also a video; the video was named “The Lights at Night (Remote Sensing of the Earth)”. The video was showing the influence of light and what the abundance of light could be showing for nations around the world. The abundance of light in nations around the world was correlated with a better economy, increase energy efficiency, and what the nation could do with natural resources. The video seemed accurate, although it may be over generalizing why nations have an abundance of light across the globe; there may be factors that the video did not look at that are causing some nations around the world to have a greater amount of light. The video is effective in portraying the message that nations around the globe with light abundance may have similar reasons for it, as it describes the reasons and nations that follow that pattern.
The second gallery we went to was the Global Warming: Facts & Our Future gallery. The first display I saw in this gallery was named the “Human Influence Upon the Natural Climate System – A Changing but Uncertain Future”. The display shows South Cascade Glacier, Washington in 1928, 1979, and 2003; the purpose of the display was to show that humans have had a significant impact on climate. The display was accurate; no one can deny pictures, although photography has gotten better with time and there are other influences that have caused a change in climate. The display is effective in that it shows exactly what has changed with time. The display may have been more effective, however, if it described further.
Also, in the second gallery we saw a display called the “The Natural Carbon Balance”. This display shows the carbon cycle between the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. The display is accurate if you considered it under a small scale; the display is able to show ocean uptake, ocean release, sedimentation, respiration, and photosynthesis. The display was also effective; it was able to explain the carbon cycle extremely well, with good examples. The display itself could have been explained further and what it was trying to show.
The fifth and sixth displays were from the Infectious Diseases gallery. The first display was named “Why Get Vaccinated?”. The display described what vaccines do; they provide immunity to infectious disease, protect yourself and your community against life threatening illnesses. The display seemed very accurate; it showed how some diseases have become rare due to vaccination, and how vaccines have helped entire communities. The display was also effective; it showed graphs that displayed the cases of influenza and measles, and how when the vaccine for these diseases were introduced the prevalence of the disease dramatically decreased.
The sixth display that I examined was called “Drug Resistant Bacteria Are Emerging”; it was also in the Infectious Diseases gallery. The display showed that antibiotic resistant bacteria are becoming increasingly common, such as staph. It also looked at the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria. The display seemed accurate; it showed a four-step process for spreading resistance genes, and it also included information on how new antibiotics are needed. The display was also effective in its message; it showed the bacteria count in relation to antibiotic treatment over an 18-month period. much harder battle.