Natural Treasures

9/5/2013 - London

I'm starting to think I could spend my entire two weeks in London at museums. I spent most of the afternoon at the Natural History Museum. Outside, I walked through a tent full of butterflies (a sign outside: "please don't step on them"). Inside, I saw extremely old fossils (mostly dinosaurs, but also ancient sloths, etc). I passed through rooms with windows into "actual scientists" at work (mostly sitting at desks on computers like any other job). I visited the "Treasures" room, which contains a dodo skeleton, Neanderthal skull, moon rock, and others. Last, I passed a statue of Darwin to visit a temporary exhibit called "Extinction: Not the End of the World?"

Evolution and extinction are big themes at the Natural History Museum. I expected that an exhibit about extinction would be conservationist, but instead it framed conservation concepts as questions. For example, "Are some species more important to save than others?" and "Which species do you want to become extinct?" I pressed a button to vote with the overwhelming majority: "We shouldn't kill off any species." 

Pictured: A Neanderthal skull, the first one discovered.