Yesterday we visited the new Micropia museum that is part of the Amsterdam Artis Zoo (Joshua and Dominic, we were thinking of you!). In a word, it was awesome. Easily one of the best science exhibits we’ve ever experienced.

The promo video above is kind of fun, but it doesn’t really give a sense of how great the exhibit actually is. The presentation is fantastic. Nothing is dumbed down, and yet everything is accessible. The exhibits are hands-on and truly compelling. There is so much information presented, and somehow they manage to put it all in context on a number of different levels.

When you enter the exhibit you are greeted by a large “tree of life” graphic which shows the genetic relationship between all of the known forms of life on earth.

The Tree of Life at the entrance.

Did you know that 2/3 of life is invisible?! That’s right. Of all the known living organisms, two-thirds of them are microscopic bacteria or archaea, invisible to the naked eye. We humans are massively out numbered!

The first of dozens of hands-on exhibits is a station where you operate a microscope to study blue-green algae.

Jette operating the microscope and looking at algae.

In addition to the binocular viewer that Jette is using in the photo, there is a live video feed on a video touch screen next to the microscope so others can see it too. The touch screen also tells an interactive, animated “story” in Dutch and English. It talks about how the microbe functions, how it interacts with its environment, its place in the food chain, its importance to human life, and how human activity affects the organism, and by extension, other species and the whole ecosystem. It does a beautiful job of putting it all in context and helping us understand how all the pieces of life fit together.

In just a few minutes at this first station, we learned: how the Earth’s oxygen rich atmosphere formed and microbes role in it, the ocean-to-land food chain that algae power, why and how algae blooms happen, and the implications across the food chain. And more…

Did you know that it was oxygen producing microbes that first put the oxygen that we breathe into Earth’s atmosphere?

I could go on and on about the exhibits and all the cool stuff we learned, but I can’t present it in nearly as fun and compelling a way as Micropia does, so I’ll just share some photos:

The first set of exhibits

One of the great explanatory animations.

My evil concoction is ready. The world is mine. MINE!

Getting scanned for microbes

Awesome exhibit of leaf-cutter ants. Note that there are various containers and platforms floating in water, but connected by rope. The ants can cross the ropes but not the water, and so are contained. It is not behind glass, you can touch and even pick up the ants if you like. They do bite, at least according to the sign, but the choice is yours.

Do they really bite?

Keep on truckin’

The Kiss-O-Meter rated us “prudish” but still gave us quite a bit of detail on spit-swapping and the various microbial fun that goes along with it.

Yummy in your tummy.

Stool samples from a variety of animals and real human intestines.

Looking at microbial growth on fruit jam. Jim and Peggy – does this remind you of breakfast in the Thar Desert?!

Inspecting bacteria growth on toothbrushes.

Jette’s favorite exhibit/microbe was the Waterbear. Tough as nails, but oh so cute and cuddly (at least when magnified 4,000X and made to look like a comfy leather sofa)

Have you hugged your waterbear today?

Here’s what Jette wrote in her journal:

Today we rode our bikes to the Micropia museum. If I was going to show my friends my favorite part of the museum then I would show them the waterbear and the ants. Waterbears can survive in extreme heat and extreme cold as well as in between. They survive by being able to shrivel up in hot or cold but still be alive and when they blow away and get to moisture then they unshrivel. They can live for up to 100 years!

Here’s more info about waterbears:

Each station or exhibit in the museum has a stamp. Stamp your card and at the end of the exhibit, you can put your card on a scanner which allows you to review it all on a huge two-story video screen and touch screen table.

Review on a two-story monitor.

Micropia at Amsterdam Artis Zoo.

Thumbs up for microbiology!

Oh, and while we didn’t go into the zoo itself, we did get to visit with a pig eating salad…

Saying “hallo” to a pig eating salad.