CSI: The Experience nears it final days at the Franklin Institute. The exhibit remains open until January 2 and can be an interesting way to ring in the holidays. Videos highlighting the original cast of the long-running television series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, guide visitors through the exhibit’s cutting edge forensic science but first, Anthony E. Zuiker, executive producer of the TV show, provides a video introduction. Zuiker christens visitors as CSI investigators before each group is assigned 1 of 3 crimes to solve.
With clipboard and note card in hand, the investigation begins. “A House Collided” presents a dead man at the wheel of a car that crashed through the living room window of a suburban house. “Who Got served” has a dead body dressed as a waitress in an alley behind an old Las Vegas motel. “No Bones About It” presents what looks like a human skull sticking out of the ground.
What exactly happened is for investigators to discover. They examine the assigned replica of a crime scene, making sketches and noting the physical evidence. Any or everything can help explain the nature of the crime.
Don’t worry if some physical evidence is missed. Three islands outside various labs offer photos of the crime scenes and investigative clues about the victims. There are about 6 interactive lab stations per crime scene to process evidence from blood spatter to DNA.
The last piece to the puzzle is the cause of death pronounced by none other than Albert Robbins, the medical examiner in the TV show. When investigators think the case is solved, they report their findings to Gil Grissom, the original CSI supervisor in the TV series.
CSI: The Experience encourages discovery of forensic science in a family friendly way, although some enthused parents did hog the lab stations.
The sense of discovery does not end with the CSI exhibit. Tour Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs, an exhibit with bones and more bones of dinosaurs unearthed from as far away as Argentina and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. These dinosaurs remain on display until April 15, 2012.
Dinosaurs roamed early earth for millions of years. The exhibit at the Franklin Institute covers the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods dating back 250 - 65 million years. It is owned by Don Lessem, the Media, Pa. resident known as “Dino” Don. Dino Don was advisor to the movie Jurassic Park, is a book author, and has excavated and re-created dinosaurs from around the world.
Before journeying back in time, a green screen stands ready for group photos to which dinosaurs are digitally added. Visitors may opt to buy their photos as they pass through the gift shop following the tour.
Inside the exhibit waits a portion of one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world. For anyone curious about supersized dino eggs and bones, the Franklin Institute is the place to be.
Exhibit sound effects conjure notions of flying birds and live, roaring dinosaurs. Some dinosaurs, such as the Dilophosaurus survived the earth's ancient drift from a single land mass into a number of continents. All 20 feet of the bird-hipped Dilophosaurus, equipped with 2 short front legs and 2 tall legs in back, made the southwestern United States one of its homes.
Sauropods were the heaviest giants, growing, according to the exhibit, up to 100 tons in just 23 years. The best studied dinosaur of that group is the Plateosaurus of that group. It grew 16 – 33 feet long.
The long-necked and tiny-headed Sauropods were the most successful dinosaurs on the planet. They proved smart enough to adapt to dramatically changing environments for more than 100 million years. These dinosaurs were lizard-hipped and may have been meat-eaters.
To put that accomplishment in perspective, the earth is estimated as 4.6 billion years old. Mankind, the modern homo sapiens, joined this venture perhaps 200,000 years ago and animals from which they evolved may have existed 50 million years ago. Hominids have yet to prove dino-like resilience.
Not all dinosaurs were giants. During the later Cretaceous period, for example, the smaller T-Rex and 6-foot Oviraptor made their appearances. Expect short and tall dinosaurs, ones baring spikes and horns, some plant-eaters and meat-eaters, and more at the Franklin Institute.
Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs is another family friendly exhibit made more so by touchable replicas of fossil and bone in the Dinosaur Cart and the dino dig pit. Rotating CT scan technology allows visitors to peer at organs inside the skull of dinosaurs. Plus, a few dinosaur robots offer visitors a better perspective of flesh and blood in motion.
So many bones, so many facts—if those are not enough, the films Dinosaurs Alive, playing in 3D in the Franklin Theater and Flying Monsters, produced by Anthony Geffen and narrated by David Attenborough showing in the IMAX Theater, immerse audiences into prehistoric worlds.
Dare to plunge into CSI and Dinosaurs, and discover fun at the Franklin Institute located at 222 No. 20th Street along Ben Franklin Boulevard in Center City Philadelphia. Normal business hours are 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with evening hours on Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit www.fi.edu, call 215.448.1200 or 877.834.8497 (877.TFI.TIXS) toll free, or drop by the museum.
All rights to this article are reserved by Gloria Blakely. Copyright 2011.
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