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Current Exhibits

The Gateway Science Museum encourages curious minds of all ages to discover science and the natural heritage of Northern California by exploring the museum’s diverse collection of exhibits.

Sustainable Choices

Runs June 11 - August 14

Sustainable Choices is an interactive exhibit focusing on sustainability with topics each of us considers every day as consumers. How does the way in which you care for your lawn impact the air you breathe or the water that drains into the soil? Examine the shirt you're wearing. What resources were used to create that shirt and transport it to the store where you purchased it? What are the environmental trade-offs for the foods you eat? By focusing on decisions made every day, visitors are encouraged to  examine their lifestyle choices and what those choices may mean for future generations.

Sustainable Choices highlights that the goal of sustainability is to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is an increasingly important topic as the world's population and consumption expand. Visitors will explore themes of electricity, water, transportation, shopping and landscaping. Hands-on activities challenge visitors to:

• Sort objects to determine which are trash and which are recyclable
• Compare water usage in the creation of your favorite foods, beverages, and household items.
• Pedal Power: What is energy and how do we use it?
• Quiz Board: How much water goes down the drain?
• What does THAT mean? Decipher those labels: free range, organic, etc.

Sustainable Choices is organized by NRG! Exhibits.

Climate Science

Runs June 11 - August 14

Explore concepts of climate change with hands-on activities from the Gateway Science Museum's Climate Science exhibit. Come learn how scientists study climate, the research methods they use, and how the data is interpreted. Hands-on activities include an Antarctic food web game, testing the reflectivity of surfaces, and examining models of rock and sediment cores to discover what life was like during specific time periods.

Matterhorn © Bradford Washburn (1960), Courtesy of Decaneas Archives, Boston, MA

Matterhorn © David Arnold (2005)

Double Exposure

Runs June 25 - August 14

Explore how global warming is affecting our planet. Double Exposure documents one aspect of the warming climate through fine-art photography that brings the viewer into panoramas of glaciers once grand but currently changing. For example, visitors will compare photographs of the Matterhorn taken in 1960 and in 2005 to examine how changing weather has impacted the levels of snow and ice on the glacier.

The exhibit features twin photographs of glaciers in Alaska and Switzerland. Legendary mountaineer Bradford Washburn took the original pictures in the early and mid-1990s. Writer/photographer David Arnold took the modern images between 2005 and 2007 from the same aerial vantage points first used by Washburn.

Thank you to the Gateway Science Museum Summer Sponsors

Enloe Medical Center
Recology Butte Colusa Counties
Chico Enterprise-Record
California Water Service
Joan Stewart
Gary and Judy Sitton
John Nock
Ed Wallick and Associates
Farmers International Inc.
Alternative Energy Systems Inc.
Dutch Bros. Coffee

   

Outdoor Ecoregions	Ice Age Skeletons	River Voices

The building is our First Exhibit. Check out the LEED features of the building and design.

Outdoor Ecoregions

Five distinct eco-regions surround the museum.

Paleo Flora Area: The terms “paleo flora” refer to the plant species that evolved in the earlier phases of plant history. The large, compound leaves and rotund trunks of cycad plants are located in this area, as well as two beautiful gingko trees that border the museum’s parking lot. Also included in the paleo flora area are palms, ferns, aloes, cannas, and restios.

Riparian Zone: Located behind the amphitheater is a collection of trees, shrubs, flowering plants, and grasses similar to those found along the rivers of Northern California. Many of the plants found in this area were once used by Native Americans in the region. For example, the red bud trees were used to make baskets and the orange pigment from the white alder trees were used to paint their bodies and faces for the Native Americans’ salmon ceremonies.

Buffer Zone: The plantings found in the buffer zone illustrate the passing of scientific knowledge throughout history. The plant species represented in this zone were once introduced by the settlers of the region—from the Native Americans to the Bidwells—and exist to this day.

Delta Region: Resisting the sweet, edible berries found in the Delta Region may be difficult for people and pollinators alike. The same sycamore trees that were once used by Native Americans to make a medicinal tea thought to be good for asthma exist in this area that depicts the Bay Area of Northern California.

Northern Lower Mountain Region: The lower elevation forests of Northern California and the headwaters of the Sacramento River are depicted in this ecoregion. A mixture of trees such as Douglas fir, Sequoia, ponderosa pine, and incense cedars populate this region along with unique ancient shrubs, fragrant foliage, and distinct grasses.

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Ice Age Skeletons

 Short-faced bear: The giant short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, was one of the largest land carnivores in North America during the last two million years, according to the National Speleological Society.

The common name for the bear originated from its lack of a well-defined forehead, as well as a short, broad muzzle.

Named by American paleontologist Edward Cope in the 1890s, the giant short-faced bear was nearly five-feet tall when walking and more than 11-feet tall when standing on its hind legs. The bear’s autumn weight has been estimated to be about 1,700 pounds, which includes its collection of fat for the winter. (See How Big Was the Giant Short-faced Bear for another story).

Don't let its size fool you. The giant short-faced bear is known to have run about 40 mph despite its enormous size!

Additional to Cope’s initial findings were the remains of eight female short-faced bears, which have been found in Potter Creek Cave, located in Shasta County, Calif.

 Saber-tooth cat: The saber-tooth cat, Smildon fatalis, entered North America more than 1 million years ago and was especially common in California. Weighing in at 840 pounds with up to 8-inch canines, this animal was certainly no domestic cat!

Using its enormous canines, the saber-tooth cat preyed on and consumed larger animals for food. Sloths, deer, bison, small mammoths and mastodons, peccaries, horses, and camels were all thought to have fallen prey to the saber-tooth cat.

Both the saber-tooth cat and the short-faced bear lived in a time period called the Pleistocene, which is also known as the ice age because vast areas of land were covered in massive ice sheets. It was during this time that megafauna (massive animals) roamed the Americas.

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River Voices

A Photography Exhibit on The Confluence of Culture on the Sacramento River Watershed

Photographer Geoff Fricker documents one of the most important rivers in California, the Sacramento River, and its diverse role in the region.Seven 6-foot by 9-foot photographic panels record the diverse layers of culture in the landscapes that intersect along the Sacramento River. Here, 500,000 acres of historic riparian habitats once existed, but today, only 25,000 acres of the original habitats remain.Additional panels provide quotations about the relationship between humans and the land. Other images reveal years of scouring, deposition, and tree growth along the meandering river system, as well as areas of the floodplains adapted to farmland throughout the history of humans in Northern California.

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Thank You to our Spring 2011 Exhibit Sponsors:

Enloe Medical Center
Ray Morgan Company
Garey and Barbara Weibel
John and Renee McAmis
Gary and Judy Sitton
Desa Design

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