By Susan Lin
"Despite being in an area that has seemingly so much to do, when you actually go out and try to find something specifically to do with your kids, there aren't as many things as one might think," said Mills, who is the father of a seven-year-old, Paul.
That's why Mills decided to bring "In the Dark," a hands-on, interactive exhibit for the whole family, to Nassau County. Curated at the Cincinnati Museum Center, "In the Dark" opens Friday at the Sands Point Preserve in Port Washington.
The purpose of the exhibit is to reveal that life and activity doesn't stop when the sun goes down. "Just because things live in the dark doesn't mean they're not productive to the environment," said Elizabeth Jones, director of traveling exhibits at the Cincinnati museum, and one of the creators of "In the Dark."
"There're a lot of misconceptions about the creatures that inhabit darkness -- the creepy crawly factor. We wanted to debunk some of those myths," Jones added.
"In the Dark" mostly takes place in the dark, literally. In many sections of the exhibit, the only light source is a blue glow. Within this virtual darkness are walk-through or interactive dioramas featuring life forms which become active in darkness within their native habitats.
One of the reproduced creatures in the exhibit are deep-sea worms. The appearance of the worms are based on photographs taken by the remote-controlled submarine that travels several miles down into the Galapagos Rift Vent in the Pacific Ocean.
Alvin, the name of the submarine, came back with pictures of worms which had pale, white-colored bodies, but whose heads were fiery red.
"A lot of deep-sea creatures lack pigmentation because no one needs to see them, and there's no need to blend in," said Jones. The deep-sea worms from the Alvin expedition were reproduced for the exhibit in fiberglass resin and were then painted over.
Another section of the exhibit explores the ground underneath people's backyards. "We wanted to talk about places that people wouldn't be able to investigate themselves," said Jones.
The diorama of what's beneath one's backyard shows that there're a variety of tree roots, worms and even moles. This diorama also includes a re-created sewer pipe that children can crawl through in one end and come out at another.
Besides the dioramas, "In the Dark" includes a variety of video games -- no quarters necessary. One of the games attempts to demonstrate how life would be like as a mole.
Children -- or adults -- place their hand on the touch-sensitive screen and try to determine if a vibration signals a lawn mover, a dog barking or something else. Then the player, in the role of a mole, could determine if it would be safe or dangerous to come out of the ground.
Another video game, called "Robo-mite," puts players in the role of a robotic mite who is going in to investigate a real termite colony. In one part of the game, the termite sentinels of the colony as the robo-mite for a password. The robo-mite would have to select a pheromone, which is a scent given off by termites that communicates identity.
"We wanted to focus on the multi-sensory aspects because obviously sight is downplayed when your in darkness," said Jones.
"In the Dark," which debuted in 1996, is the second longest-running exhibit created by the Cincinnati museum.
At a Glance
'In the Dark' exhibit
Saturday, Feb. 9 - Sunday, Sept. 8
Sands Point Preserve
Middleneck Road (6 miles north of LIE, exit 36), Port Washington
(516) 571-7900
Hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tues. to Sun.
$6; $4 seniors/children
