But when exhibits are constructed, I just personally feel it would be a more worthwhile investment of resources to make them about the organisms themselves (in this case, perhaps, on plant or insect evolution or diversity, which could easily incorporate new models and interactive features — or even a few live plants or insects like the baby chicks hatching at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.) than to create exhibits about the process and the scientists who work at the museum. Maybe it’s just me who doesn’t find those exciting or as important, but that’s how I feel. I certainly respect that others may disagree. And as I mentioned, I know it isn’t fair to review an exhibit you haven’t visited. : ) I did read as much about it as I could though (and looked through the museum’s photos and materials online), but that’s no substitute for being there. I wish I could see it for myself.

I have been to the cocoon several times and it is an awe-inspiring experience, despite what you may have read. There are lots of specimens on display alongside the educational interactive installations, but once you see how children respond to the interactives, you might think twice. Older adults may not like them much, but kids are entranced and actually spend time using them to learn about the particular topic… children are multi-media savvy and respond more to the on-screen offerings. From their point of view, why look at a stuffed meerkat behind glass when you can watch a short film about them in their natural habitat, scroll through a fact sheet and view a 3D rotating diagram of their internal organs and skeleton, all one one interactive touch screen. This is partly why less ‘real-life’ specimens are on display.

The other, more important reason why ‘real-life’ specimens are becoming less visible is that they are vulnerable to pests, wear and tear, humidity etc. The specimens in the Natural History Museum form the UK’s national collection and include a high number of ‘type’ species. These are a valuable resource, and given the current problems with loss of habitat and extinction, many cannot ever be replaced. The NHM has a responsibility to preserve and protect the national collection… this is difficult to do. The main purpose of the Cocoon is to safely store the Entomology and Botany collections for posterity, and you can view the vast storage facility within the Cocoon and see that it is a highly advanced, climate-controlled environment. I would consider preserving specimens for science to be of higher priority than showing them off to the public and risking irreparable damage to them by exposing them to sunlight etc.

It’s all about balance. Museums are not just places where people can go to see things, be they animals, vintage cars or neolithic pottery, they are bastions of research and the keepers of national treasures for future generations. Somewhere along the line I think you missed that very important point.

One broad difference I’ve noticed between European natural history museums and American museums is that the former have more of a focus on education, and the latter more on showiness, technology, and laser light shows. All museums fall on a spectrum in this regard, but having been to many dozens across both continents, I’d say the generality holds.

In the US, in particular, the focus does often seem to be on researchers, new technology (used by scientists, or by the exhibit makers), and decreasingly on the things that drew these workers to museums in the first place: the critters. When it comes to natural history museums, it’s the organisms that interest us (or the minerals, or the artifacts, etc.), as you’ve noted above, but the more inquisitive among us also want a pithy explanation of the importance, relevance, and interesting facts about the subjects on display.

I just returned from Germany, where I visited half a dozen natural history museums. Each was interesting and spectacular in its own way, but I found myself exclusively drawn to the best specimens and reconstructions of those specimens, and little interested in any exhibit or museum with a button or a display – my two favorite museums of the trip had none:

http://www.urweltmuseum.de/index_eng.htm (though this museum does have a video screening room, cleverly concealed under many layers of rock, designed to represent the original beds that the fossils came from)

http://www.muschelkalkmuseum.de/

I hope that more filmmakers make more use of time lapse photography, because this can bring to life astonishing animal (and plant) activities that are either too slow or too fast for us to get a good look at real time.

I’d love to take my 3 year old to see the Deep Sea Biodiversity exhibit too! She loves creatures of the deep on account of that episode of the LIFE series with Attenborough.

W