Adults take over science museums when night falls

Visitors at the American Museum of Natural History in New York prepare to spend the night under the blue whale exhibit in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life during an adults-only sleepover. Photos: AP

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, nocturnal creatures are allowed to roam the halls of New York’s American Museum of Natural History, free from shouting and swarming children. They are adult humans, known to sometimes quietly contemplate science with a cocktail.

“If you go to a natural history museum during the day, it’s definitely a space for people who are under four feet tall. And that’s clear in every way – from the soup they serve at the cafeteria to the height of the label,” said Victoria Cain, a museum historian at Northeastern University in Boston. “It’s kind of fun to reclaim that space for adults.”