At the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting in Houston, the Smithsonian's Design Team will explain details about the making of the new Dig It the Secrets of Soil exhibit that recently opened at the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. Jennifer Bine, Pat Megonigal, and Barbara Stauffer will talk about how the designs were brought to life, the popularity of the exhibit with the public, and planning for the exhibit to travel.
The "Update on the Soils Exhibition Debut," will be held on Wednesday, 8 October from 2:30 to 3:30 pm in Room 381ABC of the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX.
Texas's state soil, "Houston Black," is featured in the new 5,000-square-foot exhibition. Texas's very own Houston Black soil is proudly displayed as one of 54 soil samples in the exhibition, representing each U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia. These soils were selected for Dig It! because of their special significance to each state or region.
The Houston Black soils are characterized as vertisols with high shrink-swell with changes in soil moisture; surface is black clay; sugsoil is black clay with slickensides grading to containing calcium carbonates; substratum is light olive brown clay; form under prairie vegetation in calcareous clays and marls
Houston Black soils can be used for cropland - grain sorghum, cotton, corn, small grain, forage grasses; high shrink swell limits site development.
In the two months since the exhibit opened, an estimated 300,000 people have been though the exhibition. Visitor responses have been enthusiastic, with young children, teenagers, and adults alike commenting on how cool, weird, and interesting soils are. Later this year, the museum plans to conduct a comprehensive visitor survey to asses what visitors are learning as they go though the exhibition. The Smithsonian team hopes to reach even more people with its recent launch of the exhibit web site at
http://forces.si.edu/soils/.
Gary A. Peterson, SSSA President said, "As a member of SSSA, you can be very proud of Dig It! as it is truly a world-class exhibition that is already attracting large numbers of visitors, many of whom are under the age of 16. The exhibition is a huge step forward in our efforts to educate youth about soils and to pique their interest in studying soils."
The next step is to take Dig It on the road. SITES, the Smithsonian Institution, Traveling exhibition service, is already preparing the exhibition for a four-year journey across North America, marketing it to a prospective large host museums and science centers. Discussions are proceeding with a several potential venues.
Source: Soil Science Society of America
Related stories:
Helsinki Urban/Nature Interactive Invites World-Wide Visitors Via Flickr
(PhysOrg.com) --
CityWall is a large interactive touch display in central Helsinki Finland. The interactive 3D touch screen display portrays the ever changing landscape of Helsinki as nature and urban life interrelate. The touch screen and applications for the was created by Ubiquitous Interaction and MultiTouch under the auspices of the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology. The exhibit is co-funded by the 6th Framework Research Programme of the European Union. through the IPCity Project. The purpose of the interactive display is to promote a discussion on the benefits, burdens and adjustments city dwellers see in their daily lives relating to the natural world.
Passports for penguins
Ground-breaking technology that will enable biologists to identify and monitor large numbers of endangered animals, from butterflies to whales, without being captured, will be shown to the public for the first time at this year's Royal Society Summer Science exhibition [30 June to 3 July].
Can you hear black holes collide?
A team of gravitational-wave researchers from four universities has been selected to exhibit at the prestigious Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
Rising prison population an undeclared national crisis
Nearly a month after a published study on increasing U.S. prison population revealed more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars, two University of Michigan professors are aiming to elevate the public debate on prison reform.
Unconventional natural gas reservoir in Pennsylvania poised to dramatically increase US Production
Natural gas distributed throughout the Marcellus black shale in northern Appalachia could conservatively boost proven U.S. reserves by trillions of cubic feet if gas production companies employ horizontal drilling techniques, according to a Penn State and State University of New York, Fredonia, team.
LG Showcases World’s Highest 30,000:1 Contrast Ratio Plasma Panels
LG Electronics, a major player in the global flat panel display market, will unveil its new "G Platform" plasma TV panels with upgraded picture quality at FPD International 2007, the flat panel display exhibition held in Yokohama, Japan, from October 24–26.
Epson Develops Long-life OLED Display System Capable of Reproducing 'the Ultimate Black'
Seiko Epson Corp. has developed an organic light-emitting diode ("OLED") display system capable of producing "the ultimate black." Having resolved the problem of achieving long life for the device, a longstanding challenge with OLED, Epson has put into operation a manufacturing line for small-scale production of OLED for practical applications.
Virtual Qumran Sheds New Light on Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery Site
The mysterious archaeological ruins located paces from where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered 60 years ago served first as a fortress before being adopted by Jewish religious sect, two UCLA researchers contend.
