You’re never done learning at the Exploratorium (with Anne Richardson)
Shownotes
At the right time of day, the Exploratorium on San Francisco’s Embarcadero is covered in rainbows. Visitors lift soap bubbles over their heads, drop ball bearings through hoops, and spin a disc of sand that seems to fall forever. For almost 60 years, this hands-on museum has invited people to poke at the world and see what happens.
“We’re giving you the real thing. We are not giving you a simulation of something that happens,” says Dr. Anne Richardson, the Exploratorium’s chief experience officer.
When Anne first walked in, she thought, “Oh wow, this is my place.” Twenty-three years later, she’s still there. Her work now runs from After Dark, a weekly adults-only night, to exhibitions such as “Adventures in AI,” in which visitors decided whether to trust a little robotic arm that looks like a cat paw.
Today, on the season finale of Call ’Em Like Museum, Anne explains how a visitor’s flip-flop changed a classic exhibit; what adults get out of After Dark, where you can sip a cocktail while watching a rat being skinned; the Exploratorium’s work with new science centers in Brazil, Korea, and Kenya; and why “wicked problem skills” matter for big challenges like climate change. Plus: Why her all-time favorite exhibit is one she broke... permanently.
Full transcript of this episode
This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod
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