New Exhibition from the Smithsonian Opens Doors to Our Own Life Stories
On Saturday, October 13, the Orange County Regional History Center celebrates its new exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution, Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code, with an all-day grand opening featuring free admission and special activities for families. Through cutting-edge interactive displays, the exhibition examines the complexities of the genome – the set of a living organism’s genetic or hereditary material – and chronicles the remarkable breakthroughs that have opened doors to new ways of looking at ourselves as individuals, as members of a family and a species, and as part of the diversity of life on Earth.
“An exhibition from the Smithsonian is always a big event for our community,” said the History Center’s director, Michael Perkins, “and we’re especially excited about this timely look at the scientific advances that have made ancestry-revealing DNA tests such a popular phenomenon today.”
Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code contains a special area, custom designed by History Center staff, that explores three genomic ties to Central Florida – in the fascinating findings at the Windover Bog archaeological site in Brevard County, in the development of citrus, and through the family histories of some well-known Central Floridians, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer; Jorge Estevez, WFTV Channel 9 news anchor; journalist Brendan O’Connor of the Bungalower; Toni Pressley, Orlando Pride soccer team defender; and Geraldine Thompson, former state representative and senator and founder of Orlando’s Wells’Built Museum.
On the opening day of Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code, admission to the museum will be free during regular museum hours, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A drop-in “DNA & Me” workshop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. includes free take-home activities for families.
Genome continues at the History Center through January 6.
