National Museum of Natural History

Sunday, October 20th, 10:30am

CELLPHONES: UNSEEN CONNECTIONS (2nd Floor)

The unseen connections exhibit was all about cell phone technology and its impact on the world. Some presentation techniques they had at the Unseen Connections Exhibit were interactive devices that let you interact with the exhibit in cool ways like games and group chats, and this is effective because actually performing interactive activities helps bolster ideas and experiences in your mind. Another way they present information is by using real people and their experiences, like the miners harvesting the materials or the incredible minds behind the invention of technology used to create these phones, and this is effective as by using real people these exhibits feel more down to earth and that the great invention that is a cell phone takes so many people to work. Lastly, another way that they convey information is by having real examples that you can see like early phones and the real materials used to create phones, and this is effective as seeing these things helps you visualize much better the real devices people had back in the day and how much we've improved. There are some environmental issues of cellphone technology discussed here, like how many materials that are used in cell phones are mined and harvested in small, local, unprotected mining operations and these can be very dangerous for the miners involved. Also, the materials used, especially the magnets and plastic in the cell phone currently cannot be recycled as they are mixed in with far too much other materials. The environmental impact of the creation and use of cell phones is that many of the materials used are finite resources, and therefore when creating the cell phone we are using up a limited supply, a supply the earth cannot replenish, and since most of the phone can't be recycled, there is also massive waste buildup because we can't extract the recyclables. It tells these stories through personal experiences by real people. There are also many cultural and societal impacts that cellphones have had on the world. A technological pact of cellphones is that we are now more interconnected than ever before, being just a text away from someone on the other side of the world, faster than ever before.. The museum conveys this through many informational panels below a famous quote. A societal impact of cell phones is due to the speeds at which we can connect, information and news is spread faster than ever, meaning that becoming informed about events taking place in the world is easier and quicker. This was also conveyed using informational panels. Another societal impact is social media, which has arisen for better or for worse as now a form of entertainment is watching other people live their lives. This was conveyed through a specific panel dedicated to social media.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE DAVID H. KOCH HALL OF HUMAN ORIGINS (1st Floor)

In this exhibit which goes in depth on the origin of humans and the world in general, there are copious topics discussed. With regards to extinction, humans have influenced the extinction of mammal, bird, and amphibian species by about 48x, almost 1024 times greater than the natural rate at which extinction should occur. This is likely due to our warming of the planet and our disregard for other life forms. In addition to influencing the extinction of mammal, bird, and amphibian species, humans affected a large amount of land surface. By 1995, at least 83% of Earth’s land surface had been directly affected by humans, using these lands as croplands, residential areas or roads, at the disregard of natural habitats. Finally, humans also massively changed water flow and storage over the years. By 2005, humans had built so many dams that nearly six times as much water was held in storage as flowed freely in rivers. (All of these topics and changes are portrayed through informational panels in the exhibit.) Some critics say the hall de-emphasizes the human impact on the environment, but it doesn't downplay it at all as far as I can tell, in fact, according to the panels we looked at, it only served to emphasize our contribution to the impact. Not a single exhibit said otherwise.

CLIMATE CHANGE & HUMAN IMPACT IN THE SANT OCEAN HALL (1st Floor)

This exhibit discusses mostly about the earth and its oceans, how they work, and the phenomena that occur within them, and this information is conveyed through many videos and signs. The video Our Blue Planet summarizes how the ocean is very very important to our livelihood and absorbs so much CO2 as well as providing the oxygen we breathe. However, it also says how less than 5% is protected, as well as how it's being mistreated. Thankfully, NOAA is trying to help this effort to protect our oceans. This data is very digestible by a general visitor as it uses easy language and easy to understand concepts to demonstrate the importance of the ocean and the reason we need to protect it. The video “No Sunlight? No Problem!” discusses biological oceanography and explains how organisms that live in the depths of the ocean, beyond the sunlit zone, survive. It explains that between 600 and 5,000 feet, methane built up from remains forms methane seeps. The data is digestible by a general visitor, as the language used is mostly straightforward and the complex language is thoroughly and simply explained. The concepts are well tied together. Presented on a globe-like screen, the Global Ocean video discusses the powerful ability of the ocean to be a destructive force, as a powerful earthquake killed 250,000 with just one tsunami. It also discusses currents and such, how they work and how they affect our weather, moving warm water throughout the earth, discussing deep currents and how these currents move most of the earth's water. Another topic discussed is how water and air interact to create intense storms and flooding. The sphere was used to show an accurate and to-scale display of the earth and the events happening on it like currents and hurricanes, and this format was useful as it put into perspective just how the earth really works and how each part of the earth is affected by each thing discussed.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE DAVID H. KOCH HALL OF FOSSILS – DEEP TIME

This region was mostly focused on the prehistoric climate and environment with a multitude of dioramas showing each environment. A pylon labeled "lush rainforests” demonstrates the ecosystem of rainforests 50-66 million years ago. The pylon shows a rich ecosystem of unbelievably tall trees towering over dinosaurs of times past, the forests thrived due to the extinction of large dinosaurs that trampled landscaped. Being extremely humid and having a lot of CO2, trees were able to grow to extreme heights. The CO2 levels were up to 5 times higher than today's levels, the temperature was a whopping 25 degrees hotter at maximum, and the sea level was 720ft higher than today. Another one of the pylons, titled “Grasslands Far and Wide”, depicts the Harrison Formation in Nebraska, 19 million years ago. It shows a grassland with trees sparsely present and wildlife spread across the grassland. The carbon dioxide level was surprisingly up to 50% higher than today. The global temperature on average was about 5-12 degrees Fahrenheit. The sea level was about 330 feet higher than today. These exhibits are extremely effective, as they provide a beautiful and informative reconstruction that gives a lifelike glimpse of what the environment was like in that time period and location. The earth's past and present is analyzed in this exhibit: Earth's past from ~500 MYA to present day is discussed in the data provided, which shows that the global temperature has fluctuated very much over the last half a billion years, with a difference of about 50°F. We used past volcanic eruptions along with mass extinctions, fossil data, and carbon in the earth's soil to determine the temperatures and conditions the world was like back then. This exhibit doesn't go into very much depth about how the data was collected, more focusing on the results rather than the methods to obtain. And during the present, Earth’s climate has been warming naturally since the last ice age, but this warming has been rapidly accelerated by human interference. The exhibit shows the warming from 20,000 years ago to present day, plus some projections into 5,000 years into the future, showing an almost 20 degree Fahrenheit global temperature rise and a 571 foot sea level rise over that period. These exhibits clearly explain how looking at geological information and using the data we’ve collected can inform us about the present and future of climate through graphs of change over time and explanations of major events that drive the acceleration of climate change.