Jesus Figueroa of ThisFunktional and #DarkPokeWill of ThisFunktional Jr. were invited to attend the media preview day for the California Science Center’s newest exhibit MathAlive, open to the public for free on October 4.
MathAlive! is a highly interactive exhibition that brings mathematics to life, revealing how it is used in sports, games, design, music, entertainment, nature, space and robotics.
Robots from LEGO’s First Robotics competitions winners are on display.
Fun, immersive and innovative experiences help guests understand how math is used in the world around us through six themed galleries: Outdoor Action, Build Your World, Future Style, Kickin’ It, Game Plan, and Robotics and Space.
Each gallery has multi-media interactive experiences that challenge guests to compete, build, optimize or just play.
Each activity explains how math is a key part of bringing the experience to life.
Videos and graphic displays show professionals, celebrities and visionaries explaining how they use math in their respective fields.
EXTREME WEATHER ALERT
Extreme Weather Alert explores an extreme weather event from the perspective of a meteorologist. From a remote weather truck, guests can collect and interpret data in real-time and record their own video forecast weather alert.
Starting with picking a location, the EXTREME WEATHER EXPERIENCE allows those trying it out to get information from a location of their choosing from around the world, get to experience figuring out weather patterns and create a video (which can be emailed once completed) for an emergency weather alert, all from a “Mobile Weather Lab.”
The activity may take from 5 to 10 minutes to complete, but by the end every participant has a new appreciation and understanding of what the weather announcers and meteorologists have to do to prepare for daily weather reports and emergencies as well.
CYBER SECURITY
Cyber Security takes guests inside an online computer game where they are challenged to defend against invaders using security measures, simple code sequences and passcodes.
Through playing a TowerDefense type game, attendees get to see a simulation of how viruses try to infect a system.
Each player gets the opportunity to enter a code and defend against the incoming threats. Each level allows players to upgrade their defense by changing passwords to more complex passwords and including more high tech protection such as pass keys and finger prints to barriers against viruses.
Boardercross:
A Snowboard Experience
Boardercross: A Snowboard Experience is an interactive activity where guests can jump onto a pivoting snowboard, twist and torque their bodies, angle the board to fly over obstacles while racing other players.
The BOARDERCROSS experience puts attendees on snowboards so they can attempt to get through a downhill coarse.
With only 5 tries to make it to the finish line, those attempting to make it through the course have to adjust their angles to gain speed and make it through the obstacles as well as steer the path.
The game is fun and unexpected as it puts math into a situation most would have not thought of having a math component.
Style Revolution
Style Revolution … 360-degree Photo Shoot invites guests to step onto a photo stage, pose and have their image captured in 360 degrees, using the same freeze-motion technique used in popular movies.
Much like the revolutionary movie “The Matrix,” a multi-camera set up surrounds a person and creates a 360-photo which can be emailed.
The participant can do whatever pose they want and give the photo some flair as they showcase their unique style.
The new exhibit is exciting to walk through and try out, on first pass it can be overwhelming because so much information is showcased.
As #DarkPokeWill enjoyed trying everything out, he also thought it would be fun to return to continue learning more about each installation of the exhibit.
The exhibition is free and opens to the public on October 4.
MathAlive! is underwritten by the Raytheon Company.
Credits:
Photos by Jesus Figueroa Video by Agustin Figueroa