For my fall 2023 excursion, I chose to go to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC on Saturday, December 2, 2023. The first exhibit we visited was titled, “Cellphones: Unseen Connections”, where it discussed the impacts and timeline of technology. This exhibit used cartoons, physical models of technology, and interactive computer exhibits to relay different types of information. I think the most effective was one of the cartoons that explained the relationship between social media and anxiety and low self esteem in its consumers. It showed examples of how social media portrays everything in its “perfect” image that people take for the real thing. It was also most effective because it was the most relatable out of all the exhibits.
There was also a portion that touched on the environmental impacts of cell phone production. The exhibit mentioned that there are 65 chemical elements in the average cell phone, and that all materials come from old stellar explosions. Because of this, E-waste is a big issue as these devices get put into landfills and hazardous chemicals get burned into the atmosphere. Phones have rare materials that must be recycled at the appropriate site.
As aforementioned a social impact of cell phones is lowered self-esteem and false perceptions. Another social impact is how desensitized society has become to gruesome imagery and violence. This is due to the fact that it is easy to post and hard to regulate what kinds of things are posted online. On the other hand, one of the technological impacts of cell phones is bias in some of its aspects. An example of bias in technology is how the emojis did not have inclusive options until recently.
The next exhibit we visited was the “Human Origins” exhibit. Our task for this exhibit was to find three different topics and explain how they were portrayed and how they have changed over time. The first topic was the evolution of the human brain. As humans evolved and adjusted to the environment, their brains got larger to be able to process more complex information. This was portrayed by physical models of actual sizes of the human brain over time, to which I believe there were 7 different sculptures that had excerpts above them about the time periods they came from. There was another section titled, “New Tools New Foods” that talked about the changes in hunting techniques and diet of humans over time. This was set up like a timeline that one would read from left to right across a board. It started at using sharp rocks as knives to using the bones of an animal to obtain food. The display on this one (besides the timeline) was screens showing how these objects were used and life size sculptures of the different devices. The final topic that was noted in this exhibit was social life. This was depicted in the same manner as the previous topic with a timeline, screens, and sculptures. It all began at sharing resources, but progressed to creating social networks.
It is said that critics state this exhibit de-emphasizes the role of humans in climate change. To this I would agree. There were small pieces of evidence that may have hinted that humans were the cause of climate change but they were not as obvious as they should have been. Overall, this hall painted humans’ relationship with the environment in a more positive light than what the reality truly is.
Our next exhibit was the “Sant Ocean Hall” and its main focus was topics relating to climate change and human impact. First we watched two videos in the “humans change the world” portion. The first was entitled, “How Many Horseshoe Crabs?”. This video touched on the declining population of horseshoe crabs on the shore along the delmarva peninsula. The video stated this was due partially to over harvesting and loss of habitat due to climate change, both of which can be traced back to humans. The other video was titled, “Fuel for the Storm”, and described how the increase in the World’s heat energy could cause bigger and stronger hurricanes that cause increased chances of death and destruction. This is also due to the fact that we now live on an increasingly warming planet, due mostly to human activity. I think the data in both videos would be easily understood by a general visitor. I did not have any background on horseshoe crabs and the issues were easily relayed through watching the video.
We then watched the Global Ocean Video that was projected on an actual giant globe. I really enjoyed the format of the video mostly because it was cool and different from anything I’d seen in the museum before. It is definitely what would attract people to sit and watch. This video discussed climate change and CO2 in the atmosphere causing extreme weather and rising sea levels. It depicted villages being destroyed and projected the number of people that would be displaced due to unlivable heat conditions. In a more positive light, it also talked about the ozone layer and how efforts have helped the hole recover. I think it was good to add a positive aspect because a lot of the topics discussed most likely would not instill hope or motivation to help in the general public.
Our final exhibit was the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time. Our first assignment was to find the sets of pylons that depicted mini reconstructions of the environment at different points in time. The first one I found was from 66 million to 50 million years ago in the rainforests of Wyoming, US. The CO2 levels, average global temperatures, and global sea levels were all higher than present day. I found that pretty unbelievable. The next one I found was from 24 million to 16 million years ago in Nebraska, US. In this era of time the CO2 levels, average global temperatures, and global sea levels were all higher than present day as well. These pylons helped put the issue of climate change into perspective and I think would give more hope to visitors that are not well versed in environmental issues. I think they give us limited information about climate change patterns. It is important to keep in mind that these times did not have to be concerned with the technological advancements society has made that are causing the increase in fossil fuel emissions we are seeing currently. The levels today are not just the ebb and flow of the Earth and environment.
We then moved on to investigate fossils and how they provide information about the Earth’s climate at different points in time. I read that scientists use spectrometers, and radiocarbon dating to tell what kind of era a fossil is from or what the environment was like back when that organism was alive. I think these exhibits gave great information on this process. It was a question I never thought to ask, but was very intrigued to find out the answer.
This excursion was a lot of fun and a great learning experience overall. My favorite exhibit was the temporary cell phone exhibit because in my opinion, it gave the most interesting new information.