(upbeat music) (bright music) - Christian, we're here in the upper floor of the Michigan Science Center.

Can you tell us just what is this exhibition?

- Well this is a significant place in the building because when this building was built in the late '70s, this was the exhibit in our science hall.

But now we use it for traveling exhibits.

So it's a wonderful place for people to come up and see something cool and new.

And we get a chance to be able to show off some of the cool science things that are happening around the country and bring them right here to Detroit.

- And you put everyone in the center of science, but you also seem to do like a Michigan, Detroit kind of spin on a lot of the things.

So can you kind of talk about how you bring Michigan and Detroit into the Science Center?

- Well we absolutely try to do that to find ways in which industries in Michigan can be displayed for their technology.

And that really helps promote people to come to Michigan and see it as a STEM state, which is really important.

The Mackinaw Bridge is sort of a hidden gem in the Midwest, especially in Michigan because a lot of people who are not from here don't know anything about it and they probably don't know the length of the span.

It is a long bridge and we actually have two versions of this.

One is an Erector set version that's kind of near our front door, and the other one is the one that you can walk across.

And we want people to explore that and not just see it as a bridge, as an architectural wonder, but also the science behind tension and stress and strain or forces in motion.

All of that is really important when you think about learning about some of the iconic things that you see in Michigan.

- Could you tell us what is the museum goer's experience when they enter the Michigan Science Center?

- Well I think what people may not recognize is that Science Centers were created as a way to bring science outside of the casework.

You're sort of giving the people the opportunity to open up the case and play with those things, although it may not be the real artifacts, they're playing with the real principles of science, the practices of scientists and some of the things that we do creatively as engineers.

So that interactivity is at the core of a Science Center, and that interactivity means you get to try to do something to change the outcome.

You get to come here and explore on your own and measure your own learning and development.

And so that's what we're all about.

And so it makes science accessible, it makes engineering fun, it makes coming up with the new ideas for the next generation of people that are gonna solve problems.

They get to do that right here and maybe they get their start in an exhibit like this, Above and Beyond.

And we might even have the first person to set foot on Mars walk through this exhibit gallery right here in Detroit, Michigan.

- What are some of the highlights of this exhibit that made you want to bring it to the Michigan Science Center?

- Well, what I love about this exhibit is it does a little bit of everything.

Meaning for that person in the home that's an airplane enthusiast, they feel the need for speed and they wanna like hit the afterburner and go to mach speed.

They get a chance to be able to do that in this exhibit in Full Throttle, you can actually design your own plane virtually, load it up to the computer, and then hop in a cockpit and fly it.

Also on the opposite end of the spectrum behind me is Spread Your Wings.

And that's a pretty popular exhibit.

I didn't know how popular it would be, but people love it.

They love kinda standing there and holding their arms out and learning how to flap like a bird.

And it seems easy because birds make it look effortless, but when you get here, it's like being at the gym.

And then there's another thing like dangers that are out in space like space junk.

So you hear and see all these rockets go up, where do they go?

Like sometimes they crash into each other, they leave a lot of debris up there and it just floats around forever.

There's no up or down in space.

So you could have things up there for thousands of years before they interact with our atmosphere and come back down to earth.

And so sometimes the International Space Station has to move itself out of the way of debris.

The space shuttle also, it was a danger for it up into space.

So the more we travel as humans, we have to be more eco-friendly about what's outside of our planet as well as what's on our planet.

And that's something we don't talk about much.

And so this exhibit covers that, but the twist on it in this exhibit is you get to be kinda like "Star Wars" and blast all these things out of the sky as part of the process of trying to remove space junk from space.

- Can you talk a little bit about how the Michigan Science Center is great for our youth, young people, but it's also good for all ages.

You have your events, your Saturday night events, late night events.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what you guys do here?

- Yeah, so we have two different types of sort of after hours events.

Our late nights are more family-focused, which are a lot of fun.

So we do those on first Fridays and we're open later in the day, and it gives people a chance more flexibility to come down with their family on hours that work for them.

We also have our 21 and up events called After Darks.

And those programs are fun too because we have drinks and other kinds of like entertainment that makes science come alive.

So usually it's themed around a scientific topic or we're recognizing a specific day that is recognizing science or chemistry, physics, or space flight.

And that sort of adds a new dimension to the experience that we have, fun experiences, they become more and more popular over time as people learn about them.

And it's a great thing for a date night, people to go out with friends or even to meet new people.

It's a wonderful place to do that right here at the Science Center.

People make great memories here because we put them at the Center of Science.

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