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How the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is unlike any other museum you’ve ever visited.

📍 Raleigh, NC

Raleigh is one of North Carolina’s most visited cities. It’s status as the state capital is evidenced by the stunning 19th century Greek-Revival style capital building which stands alone in the city square. A monument to George Washington greets you as you approach the front end of the building, just one of the many surrounding statues that decorate the courtyard. 

I did not visit Raleigh to see the capitol building though, as impressive as it may be. Similarly, I was not in Raleigh to explore William B. Umstead State Park, a nearly 6,000 acre paradise for nature lovers to get lost within, the webbing trail system within the park making it hard to imagine that the city of Raleigh bustled outside its boundaries. And still, I was not there to be mesmerized by the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival, an annual celebration of Chinese heritage and culture that enchants guests with a maze of towering, yet delicate, illuminated lantern displays throughout the Koka Booth Amphitheatre. Of course, unable to resist the gravitational pull to enjoy all that Raleigh had to offer, my husband, Drew, and I made sure to enjoy all of this and more before our time in North Carolina had ended. Still, I must reiterate, none of this is what brought me to Raleigh in the first place.

Like an estimated million visitors do a year, I was here to visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Best described as a science fueled playground for all ages, this museum is the oldest established museum in North Carolina and is anything but typical. Open six days a week and free to attend, it competes as the most visited attraction in all of North Carolina for a number of unique reasons. Not only did I tour their ever expanding facilities, but I was also able to meet with their Head of Communications, Jonathan Pishney, who gave me details on a few lesser known facts about the museum, also granting me access to some behind the scenes sites to give me detail on some exciting exhibits to come. 

No visit to North Carolina would be truly complete without a stop into this world of natural science in Raleigh. But like any good scientist, I encourage you to stay skeptical. Instead of taking my word for it, read on to understand what makes the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences different from any other museum you have ever visited.

It is a Museum in Many Parts

Science is a massively broad category, and nobody knows this better than the engineers and designers over at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Their original building, known affectionately as the Science Exploration Center, was expanded in 2012 to include the Science Research Center. These two buildings are neighbors to one another, connected by an impressive open air skybridge which gives visitors a unique view of a three story globe which dually serves as a fascinating art piece on the exterior, and an encompassing theater from the inside. Together, these two buildings complement each other to create a dynamic, and immersive experience for their guests.

The Science Exploration Center is structured like a classic museum, albeit an impressive one. With three stories of exhibits devoted to different facets of the Natural Sciences, enough live animals scatter the building in order to categorize it as a small zoo, surely enough to awaken the curiosity in any animal lover. For the art enthusiasts, rotating art installations are unveiled throughout the calendar year. Exquisite Creatures was the stunning gallery on display during my visit where Christopher Marley used reclaimed animals and organisms as a medium to create captivating works of beauty.

In comparison, The Science Research Center awaits those visitors who want to gain insight into the scientific process itself. This facility is optimized for guests who are more curious about how the path to knowledge is forged. Interactive exhibits here are surrounded by glass walled, working laboratories where guests can observe researchers as they complete a typical day's work. 

Just in case all of this isn’t enough to peak your interest, the Prairie Ridge Ecostation is there for those visitors who prefer to learn under the sun. Six miles from the main museum, the Ecostation sits on what used to be nearly 40 acres of cow pastures, and has since been rehabilitated to transition it back into its original prairie grasslands ecosystem. Complete with a central pond and multiple streams, the Ecostation gives guests the opportunity to look for wildlife as they walk along the Ecostation’s nature trails, learn about the sustainable architecture of their outdoor classroom, and gives younger learners a chance to play in the engaging, and intellectually stimulating playground, The Nature Playspace. 

The unique learning environment of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has been so successful, that Whiteville, Greenville and Grifton have all sprouted satellite campuses in order to make this unique brand of hands-on learning accessible to a larger audience.

It illuminates the Scientific Process

While Pishney led me down the skybridge and into the Nature Research Center for the first time, we suddenly found ourselves in the center of a large group of school kids. Unable to contain their excitement as they entered the building, they rushed past us into the Research Center just as one boy turned to his friend and said, “Now this is where the REALLY cool stuff is!” He’s not alone, of course, Pishney telling me that they have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the community since the Research Center opened its doors. 

Not just for kids, the Nature Research Center is a one of a kind experience. Exhibits here not only explore what we know about our world, but also the process that guides us to that knowledge. Guests can handle real bones, gems, and preserved specimens from the museum’s collection, embark on a simulated submarine ride, see the world through augmented reality goggles, and try their hand at predicting the paths of incoming hurricanes.

Pishney explained to me that one of the goals through the creation of the Science Research Center was to bring science to life for its visitors. He explained, “The Science Exploration Center is like most contemporary museums, displaying what we know and keeping scientists as invisible entities to our guests. The idea when opening up the Science Research Center is to bring scientists and the scientific process to the front.” 

The comprehension and retention benefits of hands-on learning is often overlooked because of the effort it can take to create this kind of experience. Luckily for us, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences did not shy away from this challenge, providing a unique chance for guests of all ages to learn while practicing the art of science.

It Shows Scientists as They Are

When asked to picture a scientist, many of us would first think of an Einstein-esque figure. However, while crazy haired men in white lab coats do certainly exist in the scientific community, they are the minority. The idea of the mad scientist is as imaginary as green skinned witches, and as entertaining as it may be to watch these characters on our television screens, they have effectively distanced the idea of what a scientist is with its reality.

This is yet another lesson that waits to be learned at both the Science Research Center and the Prairie Ridge Ecostation. While watching the laboratory work at the Research Center, the scientists inside, noticeably missing cracked glasses and statically raised hair, often take a break from their work to interact with guests and to answer their questions. Similarly, ecologists along the Prairie Ridge Ecostation complete field research alongside touring guests.

During my visit to the museum, paleontologists carefully cleaned the artifacts of newly exhumed dinosaur bones and eggs. Carefully removing layers of dirt, they meticulously cleaned the specimens and used high powered microscopes to assess their progress, looking for clues that may provide them insight into the individual’s life before it died. They not only smiled and waved at onlooking museum visitors, but also came out onto the museum floor to share all that they knew with the curious crowd that had begun to congregate outside their floor to ceiling windows. Interactions like these give guests the ability to see scientists as they truly are: real people. While this may be refreshing for many, it is vital for the ability of younger audiences to be able to visualize themselves as scientists in the future. After all, if scientists are all kooky, make-believe characters, how on earth is anybody supposed to inspire to be one when they grow up?

Fascinatingly, the transparent design of the laboratories in the Research Center seem to benefit the scientists just as much as the spectators. Laboratory research can be monotonous work at times, often repetitively completing the same task on new specimens and looking at mountains of data in order to locate a hidden pattern within the numbers. It is easy for researchers to lose sight of the questions that initiated their projects in the first place, but their passions can quickly become reignited through frequent interactions with guests who are seeing their work for the first time. Not only can guests give inspiration to these scientists, but they also give the opportunity to find out what areas of their research connect with the public. 

It was through these types of interactions that museum entomologist, Dr.  Adrian Smith, was inspired to create the Youtube Channel, Ant Lab, where he shows the intricacies of insect flight through slow motion videos. Mesmerizing to watch, Ant Lab recently topped 100,000 subscribers, making it a hugely successful example of science communication that was inspired by the interest that visitors expressed in insect flight mechanisms. 

It Empowers Visitors to Practice Science

When I asked Pishney to tell me the main objectives of the North Carolina Museum of Science, he gave me a two fold answer. First, the museum is meant to contribute knowledge to the overarching scientific community through their research teams and ongoing projects. Second, but just as important, they wish to make scientific education accessible to the greater community and decrease the intimidation that many people feel when thinking about science.

Strikingly, both of these objectives are simultaneously accomplished through their extensive citizen science projects which ask community members to play active roles in the scientific process. After immersing themselves in scientific knowledge, learning about the scientific process, and getting to meet real scientists, guests should be absolutely primed to participate in one of these projects.

Citizen science projects are large scale projects where everyday community members are asked to participate and provide data which will be used in analysis and has the potential to lead to scientific discoveries. These are not projects designed to make citizens feel important. They are real projects with real demands that can be met by everyday citizens like yourself. Spearheaded by Christina Goforth, The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is a hub for citizen science projects, offering a variety of projects that people from around the globe can become involved in. Space fanatics can help measure the curvature of spiral arms in order to help determine the nature of distant galaxies; Maritime enthusiasts can digitize records from old research vessels to ensure their preservation; and animal lovers can identify blood cell types in order to aid in determining how genes influence social behaviors in Rhesus Monkeys.

Not only is there a project for everyone, but each project is in real need of participants in order to help forge the path toward detailing our map of scientific knowledge. If you are interested in learning more about the museum’s ongoing citizen science projects and how to get involved, they can all easily be found here.

Discover it for Yourself

Before we ended our conversation, Pishney quickly gave me a behind-the-scenes look at one of their upcoming exhibits. Walking into an off limits wing of the Science Research Center, he showed me the place where their new Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit would soon stand. This display will use the complete fossilized remains of a T. rex and a triceratops in the frozen state of battle which they were uncovered in after being buried for 67 million years. While it is rare to find one complete fossilized skeleton, two in one location is almost unheard of, making this exhibit greatly anticipated. Likewise, it shows the efforts that the museum consistently makes in order to provide an engaging backdrop for exploring the field of science for both first time and repeat guests. In the opinion of a science destination seeker, The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science is truly unlike any museum you will ever visit, but as I said before, any good scientist should remain skeptical. Why not make a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina and see it for yourself?

Thank you for joining us at Discovery Detour, where the destination is always unknown.