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Exploratorium

Interactivity is key at this well-named museum, where the exhibits are meant to be touched, messed around with, and even—in the case of the wonderful Tactile Dome, a maze of cushioned pitch-black tunnels that you scramble through on your hands and knees—penetrated. Prepare to spend several hours here; rotating exhibits like “Making Sense of Sound,” where visitors don headphones to hear how deer, snakes, and other creatures process sound, and “Seeing,” which explores how color, light, and motion affect the eye, will keep science buffs happy for an entire afternoon.