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 Mendel’s telescope
Mendel’s studies of astronomy influenced his plant-breeding experiments. Important developments in mathematics—probability theory (the mathematical study of probability) and combinatorial mathematics (used to calculate the ways that certain patterns can be formed)—grew directly from astronomy in the 1800s. Mendel was well versed in these theories, and applied them to his plant studies.
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Recreate Mendel’s experiment in six easy steps
Mendel spent eight years growing up to 28,000 peas for his experiment. A series of hands-on displays in the exhibition lets you recreate his experiment in six steps. Identify traits, make a hybrid, open up peapods to see the results of crossbreeding, and explore what the findings mean.
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 The Library at the Abbey of St. Thomas
A 12-foot-by-8-foot image of the Abbey library is one of three scenic wall murals that portray the scientific environment over the last 150 years. Visitors can compare the scientific milieu of Mendel’s time to Thomas Hunt Morgan’s fly room in the early 1900s and The Field Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution.
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Mobile by Christine Borland
Much of artist Christine Borland’s work stems from an interest in family trees as a means of charting inherited disorders. This mobile, made of polished agate stones, represents five generations of the Entres family, which had various symptoms of Huntington Disease.
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Match DNA like a modern scientist
Try your hand at being a modern scientist by placing the flamingo near its closest relative on the bird “family tree.” First try by comparing the flamingo’s appearance to other birds, then try using a DNA sequence.
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