Enlightenment 'After Dark'

Jeweled beetles at the Bohart. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

That's the theme of San Francisco's Exploratorium Pier 15 event on Thursday night, Oct. 2.

Graduate student Ralph Washington of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will be staffing the Bohart Museum of Entomology table for four hours at the event.

Washington, who studies with major professor Steve Nadler and is a Bohart Museum associate, will showcase the “oh my” drawers, so named because onlookers exclaim “oh my” when they see them; and live animals from the petting zoo,  which include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and  walking sticks. He also will provide a slide show presentation focusing on camouflage and deception in the insect world. 

The event will take place from 6 to 10 p.m., at Pier 15, located at Embarcadero at Green Street, San Francisco. General admission is $15; for members, it is $10. The event is open only to adults 18 and over.

“After Dark” is a mixture of theater,  cabaret and a gallery, according to its website.

Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum, said "After Dark" is aimed at young adults.

From the website: 

“Delve into the science behind deception at After Dark. Find out how expert wine detective Maureen Downey exposes costly counterfeits—without uncorking a bottle. Glimpse the blurred margins between science and art in Victorian spirit photography with Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco curator Melissa Buron, and walk through a virtual mirror staged by Exploratorium physicist Paul Doherty. Play with exhibits exploring the nature of perception, including a room-sized “Vanishing Act.” Encounter the uncanny in the mischievous mentalism of Brad Barton, Reality Thief, and let magician and Exploratorium scientist Luigi Anzivino show you how the odds can be stacked against you in a seemingly innocent game of chance. Learn the tricks carnivorous plants use to lure their treats, meet servals and ocelots from Bonnie Cromwell's Classroom Safari, and become a connoisseur of camouflage—animal and otherwise.”

Information on tickets and parking and other data on the Exploratorium Pier 15 website.