It Computes: New San Jose Museum

San Jose’s 8-year-old Tech Museum was reborn this weekend as the Tech Museum of Innovation, a $96-million showplace for Silicon Valley science. It’s six times as big as the old museum across the street, with 97% new exhibits.

Dubbed a “minds-on” museum, it lets visitors design their own “roller coaster” by programming speed, G-forces, weight and friction--and then riding the simulated result in a two-seater car. At “Cyberheads,” you can get your head scanned by a laser and then modify the image to make a take-home portrait.

Outer space fans can “drive” a rover across a Martian landscape. And of course, computers are featured, including a microchip fabrication machine. There’s also an Imax Dome Theater.

The museum, downtown at 201 S. Market St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays. Combination tickets for the museum and the Imax theater are $13.50 adults, $10 children 3 to 12, free under three. Information and tickets: telephone (408) 294-TECH.