Monday, July 10, 2017

Micropia

(This post could also have been entitled, "The High Point of a Trip to Amsterdam", but I thought better of it.)

Amsterdam has a wide variety of museums to cater to different tastes, and if you live in Europe, you've usually heard of many of them. The Van Gogh musem, the Rijksmuseum, and Nemo are all fairly well-known. On a recent visit, we went to the Zoo and ended up visiting an extension to the Zoo called "Micropia", which is, put simply, a zoo for microbes.

I won't spoil the surprise, but if you consider yourself capable of appreciating good graphic design, you'll be blown away. If you enjoy good data visualisation, there's plenty here. And of course, if you have the slightest appreciation for the most powerful life forms on the planet, there's a lot to see and learn.

The attention to detail shows at every step. For example, they take efforts to make sure that the Tardigrades don't go into a protective state under the harsh microscope lighting and become less interesting to look at. They've made compelling exhibits out of Cyanobacteria, Algae, and Diatoms, easily the most boring and widespread life forms on the planet. And all the exhibits that can do so are always moving, swimming, or eating. They're taken care of by a staff of biologist volunteers (as one of them told me, "I'm a cell biologist, not a microbiologist, which is a completely different thing"). Many exhibits have stereoscopic microscopes with joystick control, which means that you (and more importantly, small kids) can effectively pan over the entire area of a large slide. If you visit, make sure you attend the short talks delivered by the staff. When we visited, they briefly discussed the area of bio plastics and bacteria that can break down plastics. If you're visiting with small children, make sure you get them started on a the microbe scavenger hunt.

In spite of being a relatively small (ha ha) collection, it is a powerful experience; the kind that sticks in children's heads for a long time. So if you're in Amsterdam, do visit this place.

https://www.micropia.nl/en/

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