Station Archive

The Explorit Science Center in Davis, which suspended operations this year after the death of a major donor, has begun to form plans for how it might return. It has a $50,000 pledge from one of its founding families — the nonprofit started in 1982 —  and, says Explorit board President Ken Kaplan, a rough-draft idea for the center to evolve into an “education hub” focusing on science, nature and technology.

A project to raise matching funds and more should go public later this year or in early 2026, Kaplan says on today’s Davisville, adding that community support will make or break the revival. Our topics include Explorit’s hands-on approach to learning, a tough year for nonprofits in general, the public shift toward digital and away from in-person events, strengthening connections between UC Davis and Davis (Kaplan is a UC Davis professor of cell and molecular biology), and other aspects of Explorit’s efforts this year to find its way back.