Science Museum of Minnesota

Since Andrew hasn’t really done the museum, we thought we’d drag him not only to the IMAX movie, but to the cheesy 3D theater. The last time I went to the 3D theater, they were doing laser shows — I saw a show about the body — but now it’s more like a regular movie, though in 3D. Certainly less cheesy than the show I saw last time, but still cheesy.

The IMAX movie was about Lewis & Clark. Quite good. I was surprised to find out that they only lost one member of the exploration team. Other than that, I mostly enjoyed the scenery.

The traveling exhibit was CSI: Crime Scene Insects. This one was quite interesting — it showed how the insects present at a crime scene can give clues about the time of the crime and whether the crime occurred at a different site. In one bizarre case, a grasshopper was found with a leg missing on the victim. When the suspect was arrested, the leg of a grasshopper was found in the cuff of his pants. The grasshopper leg was shown to belong to the grasshopper found on the victim, thus placing the suspect at the scene during the murder.

Most of the cases were more grizzly — the time of the crime can be determined by the kinds of insects devouring or incubating on the body. In fact, they had part of the exhibit blocked off with warnings that those who are faint of heart should not go in. Of course I went in. They had a couple cases layed out, complete with floor mats made from photos of the scene.

We also got to see the quack medicine display. It’s kind of disappointing to see them behind a railing with no one giving demonstrations. Our trip to The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, where the collection came from, was much more interactive. Of course, it’s better that the collection stayed together, rather than going to the highest bidders, but I can’t help but feel that Minneapolis lost something important when Bob McCoy retired.