[UrbanCropCircle] Wow -- I had an "Underground Adventure" at the Field Museum in Chicago

[Michael R. Wolf]

Wow!!!!

I'm glad I played "hooky" and hung out in Chicago for a few days  
instead of returning directly to Seattle after a business trip.

The Field museum had me be 3/4 inch tall 2-3 inches below the surface  
of a typical yard or prairie.

Instead of me having to peer into a microscope, they shrunk me.  (Well  
that's their story, any way, ala "Incredible Voyage".  What they  
*really* did was to grow the underground environment by 100x so that I  
could explore it on my own terms)

I've heard about, read about, and seen pictures of that environment,  
but having roots the size of my arm and strings of fungus the size of  
wires was a different way to "know" it.  I now know it with my body.

Some highlights:
   * different size/shape/arrangement of roots (we recognize them from  
their top-side structure, but bottom-side, they're just as different)
   * nematodes the size of my thumb
   * worms as big as my leg
   * water drops as big as my fist
   * crumbly soil with air pockets I could reach through
   * seeds (acorn, grass), some of which are sprouting
   * ants, crayfish, and other critters tunneling (tiny to huge) so  
awesome that they scared the kids (who, by the way were about food  
size to the critters)
   * super-magnified roots where you could see the nitrogen fixing  
nodules, bacteria, fungus, and the symbiotic relationship of the  
growing point
   * multi-scale feeding frenzy on a dead root (bacteria, spring bugs,  
pseudo-scorpions) -- a multi-level feast of food and eaters, most of  
whom were fulfilling *both* roles
   * grasshoppers, ants, and spiders were shown.  Moles were not.   
They would be so huge that they gave nod to their existence in the  
"emergency room" where they tracked their presence in case evacuation  
was necessary.  Fighting would be futile against such huge creatures.

If you're passing through Chicago, definitely stop in the Field Museum  
and take in their "Underground Adventure".  It's a great exhibit!!!   
Not only is it fun, it tells the story that "life depends on soil;  
soil depends on life".

Wow!!!!

Very well done.

To my thinking, very much like a great cartoon -- aimed at children,  
but layered so richly that it appeals at toddler to adult levels.

Here's a link:  http://www.fieldmuseum.org/undergroundadventure/  (The  
virtual tour is heavy on the big critters (larvae, ants, spiders).   
What was more interesting to me in person was the structure and  
composition of the soil, and the little critters (nematodes, etc).

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Get here if you can.

Michael

-- 
Michael R. Wolf
     All mammals learn by playing!
         MichaelRWolf at att.net