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  • What's up world schoolers, welcome back to episode 4 of our 1 week adventure in Taipei.

  • We've just spent the last 4 days exploring Taipei and its surrounding areas, taking in some stunning landscapes, historical landmarks, and some pretty awesome malls and markets.

  • Today we're heading to the north of Taipei to visit two incredible museums, the National

  • Taiwan Science Education Center, and the Taipei Astronomical Museum.

  • Alright, enough chit chat, let's kick off day 5.

  • Okay, good morning.

  • It is day 5 I think?

  • 4? 5? 6?

  • I don't know.

  • Anyway, we are heading out today.

  • Science and Discovery Day.

  • We're going to a couple of museums, but first we need to get some lunch.

  • Is this a tour or are we just doing this?

  • Just doing it.

  • National Taiwan Science Education Center, something like that I think.

  • So this project right up here, they are building two new towers, twin towers in Taipei.

  • And they just started construction on it recently, so obviously not very tall yet, but they're going to be kind of cool.

  • They're going to try and put an artist's rendition here, but one of them is actually larger than the other.

  • They're identical twin towers, but they're like matching twin towers.

  • I think it's pretty cool.

  • Okay, we got on the bus.

  • It's about a 35 minute ride on the bus, and we should be there.

  • Woo!

  • We hopped on the bus using our EasyCards.

  • It cost 20 Taiwan dollars each for Lindsey and me, while the two older girls were only 10 Taiwan dollars each.

  • Harper being under 6, she rode for free.

  • Okay, so I think we're going to the 3 to 6 floor exhibition.

  • We're not doing the SkyCycle or TeamLab.

  • There's actually a TeamLab here, but we're not going to be doing that today, so I think it looks like it's 100 NTD for adults, so about 3 dollars, and for the kids, 70, so about 2 dollars and 10 cents.

  • Lindsey's going to get tickets, and we're going to head in.

  • Two adults and 5, 8, 7.

  • All right, a lot of places here, 6 and under, are free, so Harper's been free to a lot of things, so we had to get two kid tickets and two adult tickets, and it was 3.40.

  • I read something about a science fair.

  • Okay.

  • I didn't know a science fair was up in a job fair.

  • Very cool.

  • So the elevators and the escalators have these clear panels on them, so you can see the inner workings, how the actual elevator and escalator works.

  • So, like, back here, look, you can see the counterweights there, and then the chains, there's the counterweights going up, so that means the elevator's going to be coming down.

  • We kicked off our museum adventure on escalators with clear panels, letting us peek at their inner workings.

  • This is a cool way to see the engineering behind some everyday methods of moving us from one floor to another.

  • Step on them and wake it up.

  • That's how an escalator works?

  • Yeah.

  • Oh, okay, cool.

  • We rode up to the undersea area, which was perfect for Harper, who's been fascinated by all things underwater lately.

  • Is that called starfish or something?

  • Oh, yeah.

  • Baby likes the making starfishes.

  • Oh.

  • It's so cute, I love him.

  • It's my baby.

  • You love crabbies?

  • Yeah.

  • My favorite animal is otters.

  • Oh, wow.

  • They're so cute.

  • I like otters and crabs.

  • I like otters and crabs.

  • Next, we ventured into the human body exhibit.

  • The girls were fascinated by the displays showing our inner workings.

  • They even got to try on pregnancy suits, giving them a taste of what it feels like to carry a baby.

  • It's a pregnancy simulation suit.

  • Don't tell Lindsey.

  • Mommy, look at this.

  • I want to do that.

  • Do you, Abby?

  • I want to do that.

  • You do?

  • Is that what it feels like?

  • Nope.

  • That's what the baby looks like when it's in the mommy's belly.

  • And what he would look like?

  • Yeah.

  • Oh.

  • Is that what you look like?

  • Yeah.

  • As we explored, we came across some rather detailed 3D models of childbirth.

  • Is that one?

  • Yeah.

  • Not ready to tell us.

  • Our journey through the human body culminated in a trip through the digestive system.

  • And where did we end up?

  • Not the toilets, of course.

  • The girls found this absolutely hilarious.

  • Right there.

  • The what?

  • There's a butthole in the wall.

  • And we went in the butt.

  • And then he pooped out of us.

  • He pooped out of us.

  • What?

  • The electronics section was right up my alley.

  • Having worked in this field before our big adventure, it felt great to share some of my knowledge with the girls.

  • We stopped at various hands-on demos and I explained some light basics to them.

  • Pick one.

  • No, right there.

  • Okay, put it on.

  • So, that's diodes there.

  • It's only going to go one way.

  • So, this is electricity, okay?

  • This is your ground.

  • This is your power.

  • So, electricity flows from here down through there to ground.

  • Okay.

  • Okay, this is a diode right here.

  • So, there it works.

  • It lights that up.

  • If you try to do it the other way, it's not going to work.

  • Because the diode's protecting it.

  • Electricity can only go through that way.

  • It can't go through that way.

  • There's different materials.

  • Look, there's an LED, okay?

  • Plastic isn't a good conductor.

  • It doesn't take it.

  • Glass is a terrible conductor.

  • But they're good insulators, okay?

  • So, iron's a good conductor.

  • Paper is a terrible one.

  • But wire would be good, right?

  • Yeah.

  • What do you guys think about wood?

  • Do you think wood's going to be a good conductor?

  • No.

  • Transmit?

  • Yeah.

  • No.

  • What about aluminum foil?

  • Yeah.

  • I think it will be.

  • Yeah.

  • Yep, we were right.

  • Good job.

  • Is that cool?

  • You guys want to try it?

  • It was a nice moment, bridging my past career with our current world-schooling lifestyle.

  • The girls seemed genuinely interested, asking questions and eagerly trying out the interactive displays.

  • Who knows?

  • Maybe we've got a future engineer or two in our midst.

  • Wait, it lights it up.

  • There's a processor here.

  • This is an Intel processor.

  • We'll move to one of these other ones here.

  • Look, all those are little tiny switches, printed on those silicon wifers.

  • So instead of vacuum tubes, we're able to print on these things.

  • Whoa.

  • How cool is that?

  • That's so cool.

  • We're going to get a city out of printed circuit boards.

  • There's something cool in here.

  • Is that a real plant?

  • I think so.

  • Look how big it is.

  • Would you like to give that guy a hug?

  • In the life and environmental sciences area, the girls got up close with huge taxidermy animals, examined rice, fur, and microbes through microscopes, and even played at being scientists.

  • Talk like a scientist.

  • I need 25 cc of lemon juice.

  • Well, we may need to work on our medical drama dialogue.

  • Environment Discovery Zone.

  • After a short break at the library, it was back to exploring.

  • Those are the bodies.

  • Yeah, those are the bodies.

  • Next, we ventured into the physics area.

  • The highlight? A bike with square wheels.

  • Now, you might think that would make for a bumpy ride, but here's the cool part.

  • The road's designed with a pattern of inverted catenary curves.

  • In simpler terms, it looks like a series of speed bumps.

  • When the square wheels roll over these bumps, they create a surprisingly smooth ride.

  • Lily, being the tallest, was the only one with long enough legs to give it a fair shot.

  • While she still found it somewhat challenging,

  • I imagine it was way easier than trying to pedal square wheels on a flat surface.

  • Watching Lily navigate this unusual bike was a perfect demonstration of how clever engineering can turn something seemingly impossible into a functional and educational experience.