After Dark: Sexplorations

Sex involves the exchange of genetic information that has resulted in evolution and specialization-and given you your father's nose. Peek into the whys and hows of sex, and discover some of the surprising ways that nature brings sperm and egg together.

See sexual deception of the floral kind, uncover evidence of species playing the field, and tease apart the mechanics of the female orgasm. Guess which sperm is human, catch insects in the act, and watch a live egg become fertilized. Flirt with the advantages of sexual versus asexual reproduction, see if your eyes and nose agree on who's attractive, and get up close and personal with dissections of gonads, ovaries, and other naughty bits.

TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE

PRESENTATIONS

Live Sex Show: Sea Urchin Egg Fertilization
7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 p.m. | Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio
Sea urchin sperm and eggs are the same size and shape as human sperm and eggs. Who will be the lucky sperm? It only takes an instant for an egg to become fertilized!

Interspecies Encounters
With Ed Green and Beth Shapiro
7:30 p.m. | Kanbar Forum
Brown bears and polar bears? Humans and Neanderthals? Ed Green and Beth Shapiro, Co-directors of the Paleogenomics Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveal the whens, wheres, and whys of interspecies sex, and tease out how increasing gene flow between species might affect the future of biodiversity on our planet.

Love Competition/Lust Competition
With Brent Hoff
9:00 p.m. | Kanbar Forum
Enter the Stanford MRI lab in Brent Hoff's short film, Love Competion (2012), where seven contestants have five minutes in an fMRI machine to love someone as hard as they can. Then see what Hoff has in store for his latest competition.

Surgical Interventions for Infertility
With the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Osher West Gallery
Learn about penile implants, fallopian tuboplasty, and other surgeries to assist with fertility.

Va Va Va Voom: Vintage Vibrators
With Carol Queen
6:30–9:30 p.m. | South Gallery
Eye an array of vintage vibrators and massagers from Good Vibrations' Antique Vibrator Museum. Bring your sex questions, too, and "Ask the Sexologist," award-winning author, activist, and sex educator Dr. Carol Queen.

Gonad A-Go-Go
With the Explainers
7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 p.m. | East Gallery
Take an inside look at bull testicles, pig ovaries, and other impressively sized organs to track the paths of sperm and egg from genesis to union.

The Bouquet Between Your Legs: Flower Dissections
With the Explainers
6:30, 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 p.m. | East Gallery
Strip flowers to their naughty bits and discover striking similarities to our own.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Orchids But Were Afraid to Ask
With the San Francisco Orchid Society
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery
Pseudocopulation? False promises of food? Experts answer questions about the sexual behaviors of orchids.