Opening at The Science Museum

Hands-on exhibition explores how science and technology can help us respond to the challenges of our changing planet. The Science of Survival, explores how our lives could be affected by changing climate and resource availability, and how new applications of science and technology could affect how we live by 2050. Opening Saturday 5th April 2008 at the Science Museum, the exhibition is a fun and thought provoking, hands-on attraction that will enable visitors, particularly families, to explore options for a more sustainable lifestyle, and how science and
technology could play a part.

Stephen Foulger, Content Director of The Science of… says “The Science of… tackles the big questions in science and technology and there are no bigger questions at the moment than how we cope with changing climate and the availability of resources like oil and water. We know everyone is bombarded by messages about living more sustainably, but these can be confusing and contradictory, so we developed The Science of Survival to enable people to explore and understand some of the options sustainable living.”
Developed in consultation with scientists and researchers across the UK, such as Dr Tim Wheeler of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at the University of Reading, and Jacob Tompkins, hydrogeologist and Director of Waterwise*, The Science of Survival, demonstrates how science, technology and lifestyle changes could help us mitigate and adapt to climate change and diminishing resource availability. The exhibition has seven areas; Briefing, Drinking, Eating, Enjoying, Moving, Building and Future City; chosen because they relate to everyone’s daily lives. These areas use
artefacts, expert sound bites, stories, as well as interactive games and design activities to explore some of the various possibilities of how visitors could live sustainably in the future.

Throughout the exhibition, a series of unusual and thought provoking objects gathered from around the world demonstrate how science and technology are being used to help us cope with our changing planet. Artefacts include a model of the Pivo electric car that show us options of how we could help make transport greener; water saving devices like the Toiletlid sink; water transport systems such as the Qdrum; food production ideas like the Eglu,
an urban chicken coop; and the eCube, a device that makes refrigerators more energyefficient; each showing us alternatives to our current lifestyles.
The exhibition also features the voices of people who face real sustainability challenges in today’s world, like Euan Murray of Carbon Trust, Pushpanath Krishnamurthy of Oxfam and
T

he Climate Group’s Steve Howard. These first-hand experiences highlight possibilities for positive change and the role science and technology could play in responding to these challenges. Interactive exhibits and graphics explore other aspects of how science and technology could change the way we live in future. Some of the themes look at include whether we should use genetic modification to create new crops to cope with a changing climate and
the challenges in developing a hydrogen economy.

Using an individual RFID tracking system, visitors can interact with several games and design activities. Here they will get the chance to apply science and technology to real life problems in a playful, hands-on way. Visitors will get the chance to use their imaginations when designing their own 2050 eco-vehicle, perhaps a superfood of the future and even discovering new ways to find drinking water…and many other challenges.At the end of their experience, visitors will use their Survival RFID card to see their 2050 neighbourhood that they have built rise from the ground and come to life in our 2050 Future City, which shows how everyone’s lifestyle choices combine to affect all our futures. Chris West, Director of the UK Climate Impacts Programme, who advised on the exhibition development, says “The Science of Survival makes it clear that climate change will make
changes to our day-to-day lives here in Britain, as well as having devastating effects elsewhere in the world. It gives visitors an insight into the science behind how we may deal with climate change and other environmental challenges that we’ve heard so much about in recent years. The exhibition also demonstrates how science and technology could help us find some solutions for the future.”
The Science of Survival is sponsored by three global organisations BASF, HSBC and Nissan who have signed on for the duration of the exhibition’s tour. The Science of…is excited to work with three global partners who are committed to tackling the important issues addressed in the exhibition, not only through their business operations but also by their investment in education and the environment. Much of the organisations’
environmental commitments and practices complement the themes and messages of The Science of Survival.
To find out more about the exhibition, purchase exhibition tickets or access educational resources visit www.scienceof.com/survival.
Prices
£6 Individuals
Family and combination tickets also available
Book via 0870 870 4868, online through www.scienceof.com/survival or in person at
the Science Museum, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD
Nearest Tube Station
South Kensington
Buses
9, 10, 14, 49, 52, 70, 74, 345, 360, 414, C1