Media Contacts

Kim Ramsden / Chris Bauer, PR Co-Directors, Science Museum of Minnesota, (651) 221-9423
Sarah Imholte, PR Coordinator, Science Museum of Minnesota, (651) 221-9412
Peg Roessler, Roessler Public Relations, (952) 949-6550

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SCIENCE MUSEUM UNVEILS FUTURE EARTH EXHIBIT ON EARTH DAY WEEKEND

New exhibition highlights innovations to help us thrive on our human‐dominated planet

Opening day will feature speakers, special Earth Day family activities

St. Paul, Minn. – The Science Museum of Minnesota will celebrate Earth Day a day early when it opens its new Future Earth exhibit on Saturday, April 21. Future Earth is the latest in a distinguished line‐up of exhibits that were conceptualized, developed and designed by the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Future Earth uses hands‐on activities and multimedia visualizations to give visitors a glimpse at the ways in which humans have been changing our planet. It then draws on the expertise of individuals and teams, many from the Twin Cities area and around the region, who are addressing some of the critical needs of our changing planet with smart innovations and solutions needed to ensure that our global population of seven billion (and the nine billion expected by 2050) is able to thrive. Spanning 2,500 square feet on level 3 adjacent to the Science Museum's popular Dinosaurs and Fossils Gallery, Future Earth is an addition to the museum's permanent exhibit galleries.

Opening weekend festivities

To celebrate the opening of Future Earth and Earth Day 2012, the Science Museum has invited some prominent environmental figures to speak on Saturday, April 21. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., polar explorer Will Steger; Shawn Otto, author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America; and Maggie Koerth‐Baker, science editor at boingboing.net and author of Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us will offer presentations that are free for museum visitors. The Will Steger Foundation, NASA's Earth Ambassadors and Creative Kidstuff will also be on site from 1 to 4 p.m. that day, providing information and Earth Day‐related family activities throughout the exhibit galleries.

In addition, the museum will be holding its first‐ever Tweetup on Saturday, April 21, engaging an audience that is connected via social media in a compelling conversation inspired by Future Earth.

"With Future Earth, we're inviting visitors to explore the fact that humans are now the dominant agents of global change, surpassing natural processes in modifying the Earth," says Patrick Hamilton, the Science Museum's director of Global Change Initiatives. "We already use 90% of the land that is suitable for growing food and sustaining life. There is a tremendous need for our population to innovate now in response to this fact. The good news is that we are more educated and more connected at this point in our history than ever before, so we're in a great position to affect powerful changes."

Highlights of Future Earth include:

Future Earth Theater: This portion of Future Earth features Science on a Sphere, a six‐foot diameter globe that displays planetary data through computers with video projectors. It's an unforgettable platform for visitors to learn about changes to our planet. Through Science on a Sphere's colorful visualizations, visitors will discover that, while our planet has continually changed, the rate at which humans are altering it is unprecedented. This area of the exhibit also features an overview of geologic epochs, highlighting some compelling objects from the Science Museum's vast collection of artifacts and specimens, including Minnesota's only complete Mammoth skull, which was recently restored by paleontology curator Bruce Erickson and Science Museum volunteers. Future Earth Theater will also be home to daily presentations of "Planet Earth Decision Theater," an interactive live presentation that will allow visitors to cast their votes on issues that impact Earth's future health.

Change the Ocean: In this section of the exhibit, visitors will explore what happens when carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere by human activities dissolves into the ocean. They'll experiment by mixing carbon dioxide into sea water and watching the water's acidity rise.

Can You Keep the Lights On? In this section of the exhibit, visitors will learn about fracturecritical human systems, in which catastrophic failure can occur when just one element fails. Visitors will try their hand at building a resilient power grid that can survive a lightning strike that results in the failure of several components.

Why Do We Need an Atmosphere? Visitors will experience the importance of our atmosphere in a hands‐on way, literally. They'll both feel and measure the difference in temperature between a closed environment with an atmosphere and one without, then use a flip chart to follow the path a sunbeam takes from its starting point to Earth.

Scoring Big with Energy Pinball: This activity reveals the tremendous potential to reduce energy consumption by using the waste heat expelled by buildings and factories to do work that is typically performed using electricity and natural gas. By sending a pinball rolling through two different systems, visitors will compare and contrast how creative re‐use of energy could dramatically reduce our total energy consumption.

Future Earth Quiz Show: Visitors can test their knowledge on key environmental issues, compete against other visitors, and learn about the impact of agriculture, industry and engineering on our planet.

Always interested in creating and participating in dialogue around current science issues and exhibit topics, the Science Museum has built an online component of Future Earth on its Science Buzz website (www.sciencebuzz.org/earth). Here, visitors can find online activities and information about topics that touch on environmental themes, as well as engage in conversations with other web visitors from around the world who share their interests and concerns.

Future Earth is funded by the National Science Foundation, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Minnesota's National Center for Earth‐surface Dynamics.

Visitor Information

Future Earth will be open during regular exhibit gallery hours. For a complete schedule, visit www.smm.org/hours. Admission is included in exhibit gallery admission ($13 for adults and $10 for kids ages 4 to 12 and seniors).

The Science Museum of Minnesota is the Upper Midwest's most popular museum, inspiring more than one million people each year to explore their changing world through science. Among the nation's largest and most esteemed science museums, the Science Museum conducts research, collects and preserves artifacts, produces and distributes award‐winning exhibits and giant screen films, and offers educational programs for children, families, and adults. For more information, call (651) 221‐9444 or visit www.smm.org.

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