Discover Extreme Environments on Earth in Life on the Edge, Opening at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of WV on September 21, 2024
DISCOVER EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS ON EARTH IN LIFE ON THE EDGE, OPENING AT THE CLAY CENTER FOR THE ARTS & SCIENCES OF WV ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2024
Charleston, WV (September 14, 2024) - Discover new environments on Earth and in space at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of WV starting on September 21, 2024! Life on the Edge is a new exhibition exploring extreme environments on Earth and expanding awareness of the possibilities for life in our Solar System and beyond. In Life on the Edge, visitors will discover that life is hidden in plain sight by exploring a colorful microbial colony, learning about the importance of our missions to Mars, investigating rover tests in the Atacama Desert, and using spectroscopy to detect what light reveals in faraway places.
Exhibition highlights include:
Hidden in Plain Sight: Understand how microbes contribute to nutrient cycling by using a movable video microscope to investigate a bacterial colony in a Winogradsky column and discover that the world is teeming with life that is often hidden in plain sight.
Discovering Biosignatures: Code a rover and experience what it is like to plan a route for a rover across the Atacama Desert and scan the environment for signs of life like scientists did in preparation for the Perseverance mission.
Light Reveals: Understand how scientists use the transit method to learn about exoplanets by setting a kinetic model of a solar system into motion and watching while a digital display shows dips of light as exoplanets pass in front of the light source.
Adapted For Extremes: Explore realistic models of hydrothermal vent communities that include detailed replicas of black and white smoker vents, and discover the diversity of creatures living in the deep sea and how they survive.
Life on the Edge is produced by Sciencenter in partnership with SPIF, and is made possible by the generous support of NASA. The exhibition is toured by Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY.
Life on the Edge will be on display through December 31, 2024. For more information on the exhibit, please visit https://www.theclaycenter.org/ or email info@theclaycenter.org.
Life on the Edge is sponsored by Bernard H. & Blanche E. Jacobson Foundation, Friends of Clay Center, and the Daywood Foundation.
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Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of WV
The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia, a not-for-profit located in Charleston, WV, is a 240,000-square-foot structure that houses performing arts, visual arts, and sciences all under one roof—one of the few of its kind in the country. At the Clay Center, we’re on a mission to ignite the imaginations of all who visit, offering a multitude of experiences that captivate, educate, and entertain.