The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden, whose mission is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran Desert. The Center for Sonoran Desert Studies conducts the educational and scientific functions of the Museum and is a hub for research, education and conservation of the ... Full description.

At Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve visitors can explore cinder cones, lava tubes, lava flows, and other volcanic features. The reserve is part of the Snake River Plain volcanic terrain of Southern Idaho, and the region?s most recent volcanic activity was only 2,000 years ago. Lava deposits in some locations are over 10,000 feet deep, testament to the immense role volcanic activity ... Full description.

The Humboldt State University Natural History Museum, through its collections, exhibits, and programs, seeks to inspire in visitors of all ages an understanding and appreciation of the dynamic natural world and provide a learning laboratory for Humboldt State University students. The Fossils Through Time exhibit illustrates 544 million years of the evolution of life on Earth, showcasing the Museum?s ... Full description.

The Natural History Museum shows a number of traveling exhibits, with past exhibits archived on the website. Permanent exhibits include a special place for children five and under called the Nature Nest, designed to familiarize young children with the plants and animals around them, using live animals and rotating themes. At the Naturalist Center, visitors can view and touch almost anything in the ... Full description.

The mission of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles is to inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds. The Museum has three floors of exhibits, featuring the world?s largest collection of natural gold in the Hall of Gems and Minerals, a dueling T. rex and Triceratops in the Dinosaur Hall, an insect zoo, Discovery Center hands-on activity world, as well as ... Full description.

The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans. The Aquarium website has extensive information on conservation efforts world wide, ways in which the public can help, as well as a slide show of exhibit highlights. There are more than fifty online videos with related educational links, and a kid?s corner with live web cams, activities and games, Discover Diving, Student ... Full description.

The Riverside Metropolitan Museum is a center for learning and a community museum that collects, exhibits and interprets cultural and natural history. The Museum collects, preserves and interprets specimens that document the natural setting of Riverside and the region around it, and includes exhibits and education on plants, animals, people and the geological setting for their activities. Nature Lab ... Full description.

Working through public education, research, and by serving as a repository for fossils and other natural history items, the Buena Vista Museum promotes the scientific and educational aspects of earth history, particularly paleontology, biology, geology and anthropology. The Museum offers visitors exhibits reflecting the extensive Museum collections, including a nearly complete articulated skeleton ... Full description.

Located in Exposition Park, the California Science Center is the largest science center on the West Coast. At the 32,000 square foot Big Lab, students can perform real science experiments in physics, ecology, Earth system science, and hydrology. The online Science Arcade includes the games Whack a Germ, Air and Space Quiz, and Habitat Match, The Do-It-Yourself page has a number of varying protocols ... Full description.

Although the term "museum" usually evokes a vision of long halls lined with exhibits, the University of California Museum of Paleontology is more like a library representing more than a billion years of life on Earth. It is an active center of research, housing one of the nation's largest fossil collections as well as state-of-the-art facilities for the study of these fossils. Research focuses on ... Full description.