Science Policy Museum to Open in Washington

The National Academy of Sciences will be expanding its public outreach operations by launching a new science policy museum. The 557-square-meter Marian Koshland Science Museum, scheduled to open at the end of April in Washington, DC, will attempt to explain the science behind current and sometimes controversial public policy issues (see http://www.koshland-science-museum.org ).

“The museum will show visitors the excitement of science through exhibits that demonstrate how science impacts their lives on a personal level,” says Daniel Koshland, former editor of Science. His donation of $25 million in the name of his late wife, a respected biologist and, like him, an NAS member, made the museum possible. “This museum is a tribute to her devotion to improving public understanding of science and her dedication to promoting the role of women in science,” he adds.

Every two years, two of the three exhibits will be sent on tour to other US museums. New exhibits will be installed in their stead. The Koshland Museum’s inaugural exhibits will explore global climate change and DNA sequencing. The climate change exhibit will explain the science behind global warming and will allow visitors to simulate rising sea levels and “flood” the Chesapeake Bay so that they can calculate the economic cost to local communities. “We detail various potential consequences … if carbon dioxide emission levels are allowed to increase at their current rate,” says Jennifer Saxon, a spokesperson for the museum. In the DNA sequencing exhibit, visitors can, for example, match criminal DNA samples—like those stored in the FBI’s DNA database—with samples collected at an imaginary crime scene, or see how DNA sequencing was used to track the origin of last year’s SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic. A permanent exhibit, the Wonders of Science, will feature animations of groundbreaking research and house an introductory film describing the unanswered questions of science.

“The museum is breaking new ground for the National Academies by taking written reports that are produced for specialists and transforming them into visual and interactive exhibits meant for a much broader public audience,” says NAS President Bruce Alberts.