The Living Roof at California Academy of Sciences. Photo: Mary VailOver the last couple of decades I have been to many science centers and museums around the world. A week ago I visited the California Academy of Sciences. It's not the biggest science museum I've been to, but it has some impressive features. There is a rainforest. On any one level it does not cover a great deal of floor space, but it extends through three vertical levels. This represents the various strata of the rainforest ecosystem from ground to canopy and emergence. There are frogs, birds and butterflies in the main rainforest section and lizards, snakes, ands and spiders in smaller exhibits around the edges. Of course there are also hordes of children running back and forth, tapping on things and screaming. This is exactly what they are designed to do, but mercifully children are rare in a real rainforest. Perhaps the Academy might consider "losing" a few in the forest - it would keep the noise down, produce a more authentic rainforest environment and generally add to the mystique of the display.

More . . .