If you're anything like us, you've got a dose of the post-holiday blues, perhaps compounded by stomach-rumbling from that new diet or the nicotine shakes. Luckily, there's one resolution in 2010 that's easy to keep: "Resolution" is the theme of Thursday's Exploratorium After Dark, the science discovery museum's series of events targeted at an adult crowd. This resolution, however, refers not to that promise to hit the gym more often, but to the basis of perception: the fine differences that allow us to perceive a variety of tastes, touches, and smells (and that probably got us into trouble with all those donuts and cigarettes in the first place). Thursday's event will feature pinhole cameras, exhibits on perception, taste tests, music quizzes, and spatial illusions. It'll also be a one-night-only showcase for the Cubatron, local artist Mark Lottor's 3-D light sculpture, which produces an array of stunning colored patterns. And to cement the adult atmosphere, there'll be a cash bar, though that might not be a possibility for those who've resolved to lose weight. (Well, maybe just one.)
Exploratorium After Dark will be held Thursday, January 7, from 6-10 pm, at the Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon St., Marina. Admission is $14 for non-members and free for members; an After Dark member pass is $28. The next event will be "Sexplorations," on Thursday, February 4.