The Portable Science Museum
9:29 minutes
Science museums can be a fun and educational way to spend a day—but what if you don’t have a day? What if there’s no museum near you? Or what if you don’t think you like science enough to spend money on an entry fee?
[Did you know the word “robot” was coined by a Czech playwright in 1920?]
All of these are reasons one nonprofit is working to shrink the museum, and bring it to you—starting with the Smallest Mollusk Museum. It’s a vending machine-sized exhibit on the slimy tricks, strange brains, and ecological importance of snails, squids, octopuses, and their chitinous cousins.
Amanda Schochet, co-founder of the project and a former computational biologist, explains what goes into making a small museum that can still share big ideas.
Segment Guests
Amanda Schochet
Amanda Shochet is co-founder of MICRO. She’s based in New York, New York.
Meet the Producer
About Christie Taylor
@ctaylsaurusChristie Taylor was a producer for Science Friday. Her days involved diligent research, too many phone calls for an introvert, and asking scientists if they have any audio of that narwhal heartbeat.