Fans Go Behind The Crime Scene Tape

Museum visitors in the Windy City get a chance to walk in the footsteps of television's forensic scientists.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is the first television series to have its own museum exhibit. "CSI: The Experience" is now open at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. After a ribbon cutting ceremony, with crime scene tape standing in for the traditional ribbon, the cast of CSI attended a special tour of the exhibit.

"CSI: The Experience" allows visitors to work in a lab similar to the one used by the actors on CSI. The visitors collect evidence at one of three crime scenes and then go into this lab to analyze it. Activities include looking at a seed under a microscope, seeing how luminol illuminates bloodstains and comparing tire impressions. Brandi West, from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, told CBS News that science can be boring, but "when you can get your hands on it, it becomes so much more exciting."

When Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) first heard about the CSI exhibit, she said that she "was pretty excited. I mean, it gives us a little bit of class." CSI's resident coroner, Robert David Hall (Dr. Al Robbins) found the exhibit fascinating. He said that he couldn't "wait to take my son to see it." Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) hopes that "CSI: The Experiment" will get kids excited about science. "That would be my dream for sure," she said.

The original article can be found on CBS News, including a link to a video segment about the exhibit. The official museum site is located here.

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