When I was a child, I remember going to the Ontario Science Center in Toronto. It was exciting to go to the big city, and to go to a museum. I don’t remember too many specific things from the visit, but I do remember two.
One was the big funnel exhibit that “simulates” a black-hole where the balls roll around the funnel for a very long time until they eventually fall down the hole to be cycled back up.
The other thing I distinctly remember were the banks of microscopes that lined the wall right at the start at the entrance-doors (inside the foyer). I’m sure we looked through several of them to see various microscopic things, but there’s only one that I actually remember: the sperm. I remember looking through the microscope to see the sperm wriggling around. While I already knew about sperm (my mother had given us the birds-and-bees talk by then), it was interesting to actually see them.
What’s more interesting is that many (maybe 30) years later, it suddenly occurred to me to wonder where they SOURCED the sperm. It suddenly dawned on me that sperm don’t last very long, so they’d have to replace them at lease once per day. Whose job was that? I doubt they’d have a supplier, they likely just had one of the employees provide it. Was that in the job description? Would HR be involved? So many questions. 🤔
(It didn’t occur to me until posting this that they’d likely have to provide a fresh sample MORE than once a day.)
The only other thing I distinctly remember from that day was bringing along a small book with me and reading it (even in the museum? 🤨) The story was about a Chinese man who had to hide from the government for some reason and had to hide inside a barrel of rice. His wife and baby stood on a mountain waiting for him but because something happened and he couldn’t return, they ended up standing there so long, they turned to stone. It was the story of a rock-formation. (I should try to find out if it’s a real rock-formation. 🤔)