Islands of Evolutions

The California Academy of Sciences reopened in Golden Gate Park on September 27, 2008. Nearly 10 years and $500 million dollars in the making, it's eventually here. The new Academy is a masterpiece in sustainable architecture, blends seamlessly into the park's natural setting, and is filled with hundreds of innovative exhibits and thousands of extraordinary plants and animals (www.amnh.org).

Among the attractions are the deepest coral reef exhibit in the world, a towering T-Rex skeleton, a colony of African penguins, and a fully immersive screen by which to fly to the farthest reaches of the Universe. The Islands of ...