From sticky to dull, Science World disappoints

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VANCOUVER, B.C. - With a free afternoon, the decision came down to the aquarium or Science World.

We grabbed brochures and opted for Science World and "Grossology" - a temporary exhibit that explored the body's ickier tricks in all their gooey glory.

We should have stuck with sea life.

This Science World needs a little work.

At first, things seemed promising. The facility is gorgeous - a huge glittering ball atop the building marks its spot along False Creek, about five minutes from downtown Vancouver.

We entered near the Tower of Bauble, described by Science World as an "audio-kinetic sculpture."

If you go: General information: Science World, 1455 Quebec St., in Vancouver, B.C., is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Coming up: Now, to Sept. 9, the museum will feature "China: 7,000 Years of Innovation," where artifacts, artisans and technicians will demonstrate how inventions such as paper-making, gunpowder, movable type printing and the compass changed the world. Admission: (All prices Canadian.) Science World admission is $11.75 for adults; $7.75 for seniors, students and children 4-18; and free for children 3 and under. Price for one OMNIMAX film is $10 for everyone except children under 3, who are free. Combination tickets, which include admission to Science World and one film, are $14.75 for adults; $10.50 for seniors, students and children 4-18; and free for children under 3. More information: 604-443-7443. Web: www.scienceworld.bc.ca.

It's a huge, enclosed, mouse-trap-like contraption, where one event inspires another, in both motion and sound. Pool balls bounced down a xylophone, pinging as they landed. Gears turned and whirred. Everyone who watched seemed intrigued.

Inside the building, though, disappointment loomed.

Science World's exhibits and galleries are arranged in a circle, on three levels. Despite having a map, we felt lost. We veered right when we entered, into a confusing jumble of computer screens and tables. Every table was filled, with children and adults playing run-of-the-mill mind-testing games and puzzles. It seemed more rest area than exhibit.

We looked for the Visual Illusions exhibit, and finally found a couple displays. The best seemed haphazardly stuck on walls near the lunchroom and restrooms. Worst was a little house made to look tilty with odd-shaped ceiling beams and floor tiles.

The exhibit directed two people to stand in two corners of the house while a third looked in through a slit outside The outside viewer had it best - inside the house, it smelled as if several visitors had mistaken it for the restroom.

We wandered to the second floor in search of the "Grossology" exhibit, a recently ended temporary display in the museum's Feature Gallery. Huge animatronics-- one with a faucet nose dripping, one with a throat hose burping soda - snorted and gacked and urped with the force of small explosions. Older kids seemed delighted, but our 6-year-old son wanted out. (So did his mom and grandparents. Dad, however, seemed right at home.)

On the other end of the spectrum, we liked the whisper dishes, where two conspirators speak softly into distant discs and hear the other clearly, but they were kind of plopped in the middle of the main path, and people kept interrupting our secrets.

We were surprised to find a food kiosk in the middle of the second level, selling popcorn, cotton candy and chocolates. Seemed strange to encourage sticky fingers with so many hands-on materials around - almost everyone we saw was eating something - and indeed even non-"Grossology" exhibits were sticky, and the floor was littered with kernels and crumbs.

Brad Foster, who has been the museum's director of communications since December, agreed that was an interesting dichotomy. Still, though, he said, "Science World is designed to be a kids' place. It's kind of resigned itself to that fact. We want to entertain children and let them touch things in the manner children touch things."

He said the 12-year-old facility is cleaned thoroughly every day. Maybe we were there just before cleaning time.

We found peaceful sanctuary in the Sara Stern Search Gallery, described as a "quiet space" with a beaver lodge that kids could crawl through. We had envisioned a beaver Travel Lodge, with hallways and tunnels and secret beaver entrances, but it turned out to be merely six feet of twigs with one way through. We looked at some bees, tried on some bug costumes and peered into a hollow tree but we ready for more adventure.

The Main Gallery, with displays of basic physics principles, provided it, but again the flow seemed flawed and the cavernous room was dark.

At another exhibit , we batted around a beach ball held aloft by a stream of air. We made our way to the gigantic bubble-blower where kids pushed in line and popped each other's bubbles. And we found the "shadow wall," where your shadow lingers after you leave, but in the dark and with the crowd, we could find no information about how or why it does that.

Pooped, we gave up on Mine Games, where visitors can explore environmental issues. And we didn't make it to one of Science World's many films, shown daily in its science and OMNIMAX theaters.

After two hours, we left unfulfilled, with a lot of "maybes." Maybe we should have visited in the morning. Maybe we needed to spend more time. Maybe we were just used to the smooth efficiency, pleasant assistants and pleasing layout of Seattle's Pacific Science Center.

Maybe we should have picked the aquarium.