Event name: Field trip to the National Museum of Natural History

Event time and place: Washington, D.C., October 20th, 2024

At the start of my excursion to the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., I walked up to the second floor, through the fossils exhibit, and into the museum's new exhibit on cell phones. At the entrance to the exhibit, there was a huge cell phone screen linked to a camera that showed you an image of yourself with an emoji on your head. There were several other screen-based interactives throughout the exhibit, demonstrating topics such as the process of digital communication and the ways that emojis have impacted social communication. This was an effective technique because it connected the subject matter (cell phones, screens, social media) to the exhibit in a physical way. Another effective communication technique that was used was displaying pictures of people around the world who use cell phones for various uses. This technique was effective because it not only demonstrated how cell phones are a universal technology used by nearly every person in the world, but it also shows the various ways in which cell phones are used. One final technique that was used was displaying real objects with connections to cell phones: materials used to make cell phones, accessories used with cell phones, and cell phones themselves. This technique was effective because it allowed the museum visitors to make a physical connection with the subject material.

The cell phones exhibit told the story of how the large scale fabrication of cell phones has a significant impact on the environment. For example, they showed pieces of the materials used to construct cell phones, along with blurbs of text explaining how many of those materials are finite resources, and how the process of extracting these materials, such as strip mining for ore, can do significant damage to the Earth. Additionally, there were several informative graphics and pictures that explained how the process of recycling electronics is inefficient, not practical, and still leaves several harmful waste products that can have an impact on the environment. According to the exhibit, one of the technological impacts of cell phones are their role in driving the miniaturization of digital electronics. In order to fit the intricate circuitry that makes up a cell phone in a package that fits into your pocket, several innovations had to be made in order to make transistors and other components of circuitry smaller. In terms of social impact, the exhibit demonstrated two significant impacts: (1) the immediacy and ease of communication has made it possible to stay in touch with others, making the world much more connected, and (2) the fact that nearly all cell phones have cameras has made them a helpful tool in documenting the events of the world, including political strife, injustice committed against civilians, and any other significant moment that previously would have been undocumented.

After the cell phones exhibit, I walked over to the Sant Ocean Halls. It was a massive blue hall, filled with several exhibits on the oceans and animal life in the oceans, complete with a massive replica of a great blue whale skeleton. First, I walked over to a set of video screens playing informational videos about how the ocean changes. The first video I watched was about methane seeps. According to the video, the cycle of methane in the Earth and the cycle of life in the ocean causes methane to form at the bottom of the ocean, in pockets called methane seeps. They are similar to hydrothermal vents but cold, and are places for life forms to gather, making them essential habitats for several species. Microbes at methane seeps absorb methane, which is useful because methane is a greenhouse gas, and this prevents methane from releasing into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. The second video that I watched was on hurricane storm surges. According to this video, storm surge is a big threat to coastal populations. Areas impacted by storm surge can see an increase in water levels by up to 30 feet, which damages coastal buildings, boats, and anything else in their path. Scientists use several tools to examine hurricanes and try to determine storm surge risk: computer models, autonomous sail drones, and satellite data. Because storm surges are so dangerous, it's definitely a good idea not to take risks with them. Both of these videos were very effective at communicating their subject matters, because they were brief, had engaging graphics, and summarized the subject in a manner that was easily understood.

For my next stop in the Sant Ocean Halls, I went to the global ocean video exhibit. The global ocean video exhibit was a spherical screen that displayed an image of the Earth, and played informational videos. The video that I watched on the globe screen was about the global ocean current network. According to the video, the water in the ocean is in constant flow due to currents and tides. Shallow ocean currents are mainly driven by winds, but there are also deeper and more consistent currents. Ocean currents affect weather patterns across the globe due to their tendency to transfer heat, wind, and moisture. Currents help sailors and have influenced trade routes over history by determining where, when, and how merchants and explorers travelled across the oceans. The Antarctic current completely encircles the globe and keeps Antarctica isolated and cold. There also exist extremely deep and slow currents that move a majority of the water in the current system. A full cycle of currents can take as long as a thousand years. Along with the information being explained by the narrator, the globe screen was used to show the paths taken by currents, winds, and moisture across the globe, which was a very effective use of the format.

After the Ocean Hall, I then explored the David H Koch Hall of Human origins, which contains exhibits on the biological history of modern humans— how they evolved, how they used to exist among other species of humans, and how society ultimately emerged and became what it is today. One of the more specific topics discussed in the exhibit was the relationship that humans have with carbon dioxide. CO2 levels have always fluctuated in Earth's climate due to natural factors. And for most of human history, humans have had little to no impact on the content of Earth's atmosphere whatsoever. But since the invention of modern human technology, CO2 levels are climbing at a rate that is unprecedented in Earth's history. This change was demonstrated using graphs and other visuals of how humans have directly caused global warming, primarily through the emission of carbon dioxide. Another topic that was discussed was how humans have acquired their food throughout history. Humans used to get their food from hunting and gathering, but at some point, humans figured out how to grow their own food through agriculture. When humans started cultivating food, they went from spending a large amount of time scavenging food to instead growing their food and being able to spend more time doing other things. The exhibit demonstrated the history of humans' relationship with food by showing models of how archaic humans hunted, as well as a timeline of humans' food production capabilities throughout history. Another topic that was discussed was the development of agricultural technology by humans. This was demonstrated by showing a timeline of what breakthroughs were made in agriculture and when they were made. According to some critics of the exhibit, the Hall of Human Origins does not put enough emphasis on the impact of human activity on the environment. However, I disagree with this. Several parts of the exhibit, including the section on humanity's output of carbon dioxide, has made it extremely clear that humans have had a very significant impact on the environment in a relatively short period of time. The exhibit also mentions how humans have impacted the populations of animals on the planet, and how agriculture has shaped biodiversity and even physically changed the face of the Earth.

For my final stop of the museum trip, I went to the David H Koch Hall of Fossils. This exhibit has, unsurprisingly, several fossils, and it tells the story of prehistoric life: how it has been shaped by various changes to the climate and mass extinction events, as well as how life on Earth has looked during various stages of its history. Scattered around the hall are several pylons which contain dioramas showing examples of life at different periods of time. The first pylon that I visited showed life between 16 to 24 million years ago in the grasslands of ancient Nebraska. Back then, carbon dioxide levels were 50% higher than they were today, temperatures were between 5 and 12 degrees fahrenheit higher, and sea levels were around 330 feet higher. The next pylon that I visited showed the region that is now North Texas as it was around 270 to 299 million years ago. In that period of time, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere fluctuated significantly, from less than they are now to around three times higher than they are now. As such, temperatures also fluctuated significantly, from around 8 degrees fahrenheit cooler, to about 12 degrees warmer. Ocean levels were between 130 and 260 feet higher than they are today. These dioramas were very effective demonstrations of the different eras of life on Earth, because not only are they very detailed and visually appealing, they also contain a lot of information in a concise and easy to understand format. Along the wall of the exhibit are a series of walls describing climate change in the past, before anthropogenic climate change. The walls show that there have been several instances of climate change, all caused by various factors, throughout Earth's history. All of them have incited significant changes in the biological makeup of life on Earth, either through the evolutionary changes it incited, or through mass extinction events which wiped out several species. We know so much about these changes due to the fossil record left behind by these species, as well as the geological record left behind by these past instances of climate changes. While none of these past changes to the climate are exactly like the one that we are facing in current times, the way that they occurred, and they way that they impacted the flora and fauna on Earth, can be studied. Knowing more about past instances of climate change can help us predict how climate change in the present and future will affect us, and what can be done to mitigate it more effectively.