Lightning indoors

The Theater of Electricity holds the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator, the two ball-topped columns that routinely build up a million volts. In the 20-minute Lightning! presentation, educators use it and a pair of Tesla coils to throw indoor bolts while explaining thunder, storm safety and the link between electricity and magnetism. It runs on the daily schedule and is included with admission.

Cliff and the Hall of Human Life

Downstairs in the Blue Wing, Colossal Fossil introduces Cliff, a 65-million-year-old Triceratops from the Dakota Badlands whose skeleton is one of the most complete of its kind ever found. Up on level 2 of the Green Wing, the Hall of Human Life spans more than 70 interactive stations on how food, time and community shape the body, and it is also home to cotton-top tamarins and axolotls.

The planetarium and the Omni

The Charles Hayden Planetarium runs astronomy shows built with the museum's Center for Space Sciences, plus Music Under the Dome on weekend nights. The recently refurbished Mugar Omni Theater projects IMAX films onto a five-story dome. Both can be added to a museum ticket for a small charge or booked on their own.

Eating at the museum

Riverview Café fills a first-floor room with a bank of windows over the Charles, looking toward Back Bay and Cambridge. Its stations cover burgers and grilled chicken at the Chalkboard Grill, pizza and macaroni and cheese at Hearth, and salads and sandwiches at the Riverview Deli, with grab-and-go boxes and a Starbucks bar that opens earlier than the food stations.

Sources: Museum of Science, hours and pricing, directions and parking, accessibility, dining, visitor FAQ, ways to save, about, archives, Lightning!, Colossal Fossil, Hall of Human Life, planetarium, Mugar Omni Theater. Checked September 30, 2026.