Museum of Life and Science opens new exhibit that features real-time data from around the world and beyond

The Museum of Life and Science recently opened up a new exhibit called Science on a Sphere inside its main building thanks to a partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Posted 12:26 a.m. Mar 26, 2019 — Updated 12:26 a.m. Mar 26, 2019

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

DURHAM, N.C. — The Museum of Life and Science recently opened up a new exhibit called Science on a Sphere inside its main building thanks to a partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Science on a Sphere shows maps and real-time data from NOAA. Visitors can explore the surface of Mars, look at weather patterns around the globe, watch a visualization of all the airplanes in the air at one moment worldwide and explore dozens of other possibilities, the museum tells me. They also can decide what kinds of data to overlay on the visuals and explore different views of our globe. What's more, according to the museum, they can rotate the sphere in any direction to explore it.

You can find the new exhibit in the museum's Weather gallery, which currently uses hands-on exhibits to help visitors discover how wind, water, temperature, and pressure affect our environment. Regular museum goers will be familiar with other exhibits in the space, including the 14-foot tall tornado generator and the very popular cloud bowl. Science on a Sphere will allow visitors to see how these types of weather play out across the globe and what that means for our changing world, the museum tells me.

I hope to get a closer look at this one in the next couple of weeks. But check out the video to see more.

Science on a Sphere is free with museum admission, which is $20 for adults, $15 for kids ages 3 to 12 and $18 for seniors and U.S. military with an ID.

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