Public adventures in diabetes: personal interactivity in a modern science center.

About 100 million Americans visit science centers each year to participate in experiential science and technology activities. There is great potential for diabetes awareness and education via the several hundreds of science centers in the United States. Most science centers tend to avoid medically related topics in part because of the difficulty in meeting the interactive goals of science center activities. The Utah Science Center (USC) is addressing these difficulties by creating environments for personal interactive activities in a range of medically related topics, including diabetes. The USC will open in early 2005 in Salt Lake City. The design of diabetes activities for the USC is reviewed: (1) activities (aims, description, stages of development, and partnerships); (2) specific stage I activities (body mass index, "feeling" hypoglycemia, and urine chemistry); and (3) conclusion.