New exhibit will have children seeing things

Mindbenders abound in a new exhibit at the National Science Center's Fort Discovery.

"It's dealing with how the brain is trained to think," said Ollie Washington, the center's engineering chief, about the exhibit Optical Illusions 2 - You Still Won't Believe Your Eyes. The exhibit runs through May 11 in the Knox Gallery.

Fort Discovery officials are bringing back last year's popular exhibit with a few extra features. This year's exhibit has about 50 posters and several hands-on illusions.

One of the items on display is a vase within a glass case.

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Silhouetting the ridges of the vase appear to be to the profiles of two people facing each other. With the press of a button, the vase rotates and the faces begin to talk to one another.

One poster challenges the person to read the words of different colors; however, the words are typed in colors different from the words they represent. It's sometimes difficult to read the word yellow when the letters are colored green.

From a distance, one poster looks like a basset hound; however, the overall image is actually made from hundreds of smaller photographs of other animals.

New to the exhibit are two machines that play even more tricks on the brain.

Equipped with several mirrors, a pseudoscope causes the left eye to see what's in the right field of vision and the right eye to see the left field of vision while a hyperscope overly enhances depth perception making objectives seem larger than life.

People seem to like the exhibit, said Kathi Dimmock, marketing director.

"Those that come enjoy it," she said. "They wouldn't necessarily come just to see it, but they enjoy it."

Admission to the exhibit is included with paid general admission to Fort Discovery. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children, seniors and active military. Members are free, and group rates are available. Fort Discovery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 821-0200 or visit www.NationalScienceCenter.org.

Reach Charmain Z. Brackett at (803) 441-6927 or czbrackett@hotmail.com.