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Culture Sun Mar 21 2010
Science Storms Flood MSI
Chicago is home to unpredictable spring weather and now it is home to avalanches, a 40-foot tornado, 80 mph wind tunnels and avalanches with the Museum of Science and Industry's latest exhibit, Science Storms.
Science Storms weaves modern technology (think instant replays and touch technology ala iPhone) with historic moments, facts and figures (think giant Tesla coil generating a 10-foot lighting bolt over your head) to educate museum goers about weather events and the science that is behind them.
MSI's Science Storms covers most exciting weather phenomena and their not-so-exciting background stories: lightning (charged particles!), avalanches (kinetic energy!), tornados (storm rotation!), tsunamis (wave theory!) and pairs them with engaging stories and hands-on experiments.
One opportunity the exhibit misses is to connect weather phenomena and climate change. Hurricanes - which the exhibit doesn't highlight - have in the past five years refreshed that conversation in headlines and Congressional panels. Maybe Science Storms isn't the right avenue for that, but it might be interesting to see new calls to action come from an exhibit on an already exciting subject matter.
Buy tickets online or at the museum.