Mid-America Science Museum offers quite a body of work.
HOT SPRINGS — On a busy weekend afternoon at Mid-America Science Museum, youngsters and their parents are looking inside themselves — thanks to the digital magic of a touring exhibit called “Magnificent … Me!”
At one interactive console, a girl with a short ponytail is getting a hands-on answer via a drum to the question: “How fast is my heartbeat?” She is following the printed instructions: “Place your hands on the metal hand prints, and listen to the drum beat to your heart rate!”
The information panel for this and the exhibition’s dozen other kiosks briefly explains the science behind the function: “Normal resting heart rates for adults range from 60 to 100 beats per minute. Our hearts beat faster during activity, to deliver more oxygen to our muscles. A fit heart works more efficiently than an under-exercised heart.”
A bit of practical advice follows: “Exercising too hard (or not hard enough) doesn’t provide maximum benefits. To get the most out of your workout, aim for your target heart rate. This ensures the best fitness with minimal risk of energy.”
The traveling presentation partnered by The Discovery Network employs interactive settings “to explore the blood, guts, bones, brains senses and mechanics that make us — us! The exhibit explores our muscles and nerves, hearts and lungs, digestive system, brains and bones, and other body basics.”
Some of the topics, on display until December at the museum, deal with bodily functions that squeamish parents might be inclined to shield from their youngsters.
At the outset, two human silhouettes are cut away to show bones and organs. “It’s in your genes!” is the display’s headline. The panels, “half male and half female, are high-resolution photos from slices of actual people who donated their bodies for science education.”
On the other hand, grade-schoolers (especially boys) tend to be highly amused by the rude noises that the body can make. They are likely to relish the interactive display headlined: “Why does my body make so many noises? (And is that a bad thing?)”
Smaller type explains that “our bodies are made of many moving parts, so there are plenty of sounds to hear — from the ‘lub-dub’ of a heartbeat to the growling of your digestive system. Some body sounds can be funny or gross, but they all happen for a reason.”
There’s a didactic message in the display titled: “Is smoking bad for me?” Visitors are instructed to “use the lever to inflate the lungs. What do you notice about the smoker’s lungs?” Nothing good, to be sure.
This stark warning is conveyed: “Smoking doesn’t just affect the ability of your lungs to flex and take in air. It can also lead to coronary heart disease, stroke, increased blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. It is also linked to cancers of the nose, mouth, esophagus, stomach, bladder and blood.”
Those grim thoughts are the exception in an exhibit that mostly uses digital technology to have anatomical fun. One of the liveliest kiosks is: “How does my skeleton move?” It encourages visitors to shimmy and shake while the skeleton on the screen shifts its bones in the same way.
Along with temporary shows, Mid-America Science Museum houses more than 100 hands-on permanent exhibits in its 65,000 square feet of gallery space. Outdoors, the popular DinoTrek takes walkers past more than a dozen models of dinosaurs, enlivened in some cases by amplified roars and other sound effects. One bodily noise they can induce in the youngest visitors is shrill wails of fright.
Mid-America Science Museum, 500 Mid-America Blvd, Hot Springs, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 plus tax for adults, $8 for children 3-12 and visitors 65 and older, free for infants 2 and under.