The Amazonia Science Gallery, for Science's Sake
by Lily Whiteman
Ask typical teenagers to name sports or music stars, and lists of idols roll off their tongues. But ask them to name important scientists, and they tend to become tonguetied. Why the difference? It's not just that scientific discovery is perceived as less dramatic than arena athletics and rock extravaganzas, or that most science luminaries lack the big muscles, big money, and flamboyance of many highprofile figures. Something deeper seems to be discouraging young people from becoming science junkies.
Some critics blame scientific illiteracy on flawed education. Indeed, five new Nobel Prize winners recently slammed U.S. science education as downright "abysmal" and in "decay," according to the New York Times. With students deprived of inspirational exposure, science fails to attract a following proportional in size to its importance.
The Laboratories
But if to know science is to love science, then the National Zoo's new Amazonia Science Gallerythe Smithsonian's first exhibit dedicated solely to the process of scientific discoveryshould go a long way toward boosting the popularity of critical scientific disciplines. At the heart of the Science Gallery, which opened on December 16, are four active laboratories that put behindthescenes research squarely at center stage. Here, visitors are invited to watch scientists conduct experiments, and chat with them about their findings. (Although feeding the scientists is strictly verbotten.)
The Science Gallery laboratories currently focus on animal nutrition, behavior and bioacoustics, genetics, and biodiversity. With an armamentarium of hightech hardware, including a DNA sequencer that cracks the codes of genetic material, a scanning electron microscope that magnifies specimens thousands of times, a voice print analyzer that converts animal calls into graphical representations, researchers wrestle with diverse ecological questions. Can, for example, beleaguered desert tortoises still scrape together nutritional meals as their food supply dwindles under the hooves of growing cattle populations? Will DNA typing characterize the North American gray seal as monogamous? How does living in a zoo affect animal behavior?
Only legitimate research, unadorned with gratuitous window dressing, is conducted at the Science Gallery. "This is the real thing; scientists work here, just as they do in their regular laboratories," affirms David Jenkins, Associate Director for Interpretive Programs. "Everything at the Smithsonian...the exhibits, science programs, and publications are all based upon research," adds Miles Roberts, Deputy Head of the Department of Zoological Research. "And one of the Zoo's greatest strengths is conservation and basic research. Until now, few visitors knew that. The Science Gallery exposes some of the huge sections of the iceberg that visitors wouldn't otherwise see."
The Science Gallery is connected to the Amazonia Exhibita cageless, noholdsbarred swath of indoor rainforest, where birds, sloths, monkeys, and others roam freely amid ambling visitors. As Amazonia's neighbor, the Science Gallery is positioned to suggest a jungle laboratory, where animal and plant samples from surrounding environs are analyzed. But absent from the Science Gallery are the clinical clutter, hard edges, and "do not enter" signs that wall off the public from more traditional research facilities. Rather, laboratories recessed from a sunny breezeway, colorful displays, and latinesque arches reinforce the Science Gallery's "open house" ethic.
Other Displays
Complementing the Gallery''s laboratories are a variety of multimedia displays on global ecology. Among these are easytouse interactive computer programs, videos, explanations of the uniqueness of rainforests, a huge globe that will soon bear a composite satellite picture of Earth, literature ranging from wildlife coloring books to scholarly articles, microscopes with specimens such as insect parts, and a television monitor showing upcloseandpersonal views of writhing worms that will be served to Amazonia's fish. A showcase of postcards sent by Smithsonian scientists from farflung locales mentions tasks, such as recording the screeching calls of bats in Trinidad and analyzing macaque weight data in Sri Lanka, that underscore the extraordinary rigors and rewards of fieldwork.
Science Gallery Benefits
As more and more print media and television programs are "dumbing down" to cater to shrinking attention spans, the Science Gallery resists the trend. And although most displays will likely be of broad appeal, a poster entitled, "A Molecular Analysis of the Radiation of the Hawaiian Honeycreeper," exemplifies other materials thatwhile hardly the stuff of cocktail party banterwill probably draw more specialized crowds. The Science Gallery's relatively highbrow approach was sanctioned by preliminary surveys of National Zoo visitors revealing that "we have a very educated audience," says Jenkins.
Nevertheless, this same survey also reflected a widespread inability to personalize science. Few visitors, for example, asked to name a prominent scientist mentioned anyone but Albert Einstein, who was identified by one respondent merely as "that dude with the weird hair." In addition, when another survey asked students in minority schools to draw a scientist, to a person they sketched a balding, bespectacled white man in a lab coat.
The persistent view of scientists as onedimensional creatures is probably related in part to the general underrepresentation of women and minorities in the field. Indeed, Science recently reported that while women are starting to close the gap, minorities earned only about ten percent of all science and engineering Ph.D.s in the United States in 1994. "Most of us scientists can go back to one or two people early in our lives who really got us interested in science, who encouraged us, or were examples of some sort," says Roberts. "Without many mentors, an awful lot of African American and Hispanic children simply don't know they can aspire to be scientists," observes Jenkins. "We are fortunate. We have a very diverse group of scientists." And by encouraging the public to interact with this group, the Science Gallery should help expose the individual nature of science, and promote the appeal of various scientific disciplines.
But just as teaching hospitals are designed to instruct medical students as well as to benefit patients, the Science Gallery is built to train scientists in addition to educating visitors. Roberts explains: "Many scientists work at the Smithsonian during their training as students, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates. They'll write papers that maybe six people in the world actually read. But the whole business of interacting with real people and explaining their findings has been missing from their education in the past.
"What we are doing here is a kind of cultural shift," continues Roberts. "All Gallery scientists will be expected to spend about 20 percent of their time in some sort of public interaction or education." In addition to the Science Gallery, the Zoo also encourages researchers to interact with the public through the "Scientist in the Classroom" program. This project sends researchers into fourth and fifth grade classes to discuss their work. If all goes as planned, such programs will help add the stereotypical "nerdy" scientist to the endangered species list.
In addition, in these days of diminishing federal dollars, researchers realize that their success at winning grants from private sources will partly depend on their ability to repackage science for mass appeal. "We need to have a group of people out there who care enough about what we do to fund us," says Roberts. The Science Gallery represents one way to kindle this kind of supportive interest.
Where and How the Science Gallery is Going
Visitors invariably describe the Science Gallery with enthusiastic adjectives, such as "enlightening," "awesome," "cool," and "fun." One exception, however, was a youngster who experienced the exhibit viscerally. "Your worm things made me sick," he wrote in a comment book. "I probably will never sleep again." But at least one adult responded to the exhibit more flippantly: Looking into a microscope while citing a line from Frankenstein, he exclaimed, "It's alive!"
The Science Gallery also elicits nonverbal signs of approvalas it recently did from a school group recruited to assist with genetics experiments. No sooner had the children donned white coats and gloves when they practically stampeded the laboratory to take turns helping to isolate DNA. Robert Fleischer, Head of the Zoo's Molecular Genetics Program, remembers: "The solution came streaming down from a glass rod. It was icky. The children had big smiles. They loved it."
The Science Gallery will frequently be updated to reflect the changing emphases of visiting scholars, research grants, and relevant news events. As a continual work in progress, this new addition is designed as the "Zelig" of exhibits, constantly dishing out surprises that demand repeat visits. Perhaps in future incarnations, the Science Gallery will showcase the contributions of experts whose ecological curiosity was initially sparked by its own laboratories.
Lily Whiteman is a freelance environmental writer who lives in Washington, D.C.
(ZooGoer 26(2) 1997. Copyright 1997 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.)
