Cells: The Universe Inside Us
Begin your journey into the microscopic world of cells
Here we take the telescope that views the universe and turn it inward, towards ourselves. From the outside to inside your dynamic body you travel to the cellular level. Changes in cells direct change inside and out of your body. Living cells are what make you—you.
Exhibit highlights
- Virtual fly-through of a single cell on a giant screen
- The role of stem cells in medicine
- Cell biology from frogs to pigs to humans
Cells and the miracle of life
Match cell types using a pair of wheels. Observe frog specimens in various developmental stages. Explore a time lapse movie of human fetal development. Compare developmental specimens of a pig to those of a human. Explore different methods of cell visualization. Learn how cells work together. Watch your arm muscles moving and the cells contracting. Try to match cell shapes to the correct cell function.
The world inside a cell
Imagine you are shrinking down to the size of a cell and making your body the right size to fit through an opening in the cell membrane. Create energy inside mitochondria. Fly through an animated virtual world of a cell on a giant screen. Explore the building blocks of life while playing with DNA in the nucleus.
Cells and your health
What are the big questions facing scientists? Walk through a tunnel and add your image and question to a stream of images of scientists. Formulate your own questions using magnetic vocabulary. Compare healthy and unhealthy plastinated hearts, an osteoporotic bone to a healthy bone, smoker’s and non-smoker’s lungs, and see how sunlight has damaged your skin. Carry out experiments on stem cells. Cut virtual planaria and watch them regenerate. Examine a healthy and unhealthy brain. On a touch-screen map of the world, find out what research other countries are conducting in this field.
Funders and Partners
Cells—The Universe Inside Us was made possible by a $1,314,475 Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grant number 5R25RR022737 from the National Center for Research Resources a component of the National Institutes of Health.
