What are Saturdays for? Perhaps a lie-in and lazy brunch. Perhaps tidying the house after a busy week. Once a month at the National Museum of Scotland, they’re also going to be for science, as we prototype a new section of programming in anticipation of our exciting new galleries launching in 2016.
On 10 October, we kick off with a day looking at all things Time and Space. Our main feature for the day will be the one-and-only “Time Travelling Operating Theatre”.
This immersive experience will take our adult audience on a journey through surgery in three different periods; the 1880s, the 1980s and the present day. It was created by the inimitable orthopaedic surgeon Professor Roger Kneebone and made possible thanks to the support of the Wellcome Trust. This will be its only stop in Scotland after a highly popular tour across the UK, including the Science Museum in London.
Expect chills, thrills and perhaps a few spills in this highly realistic surgical simulation.
There will be plenty for younger people too. 7 November brings us Dinovember, a celebration of all everyone’s favourite prehistoric terrible lizards. It’s your chance get to dressed up and meet one of the world’s leading experts, Dr. Stephen Brusatte, consultant for the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs and NBC’s T-Rex autopsy as he tells us about his latest work on Scottish dinosaurs.
In December, we’re going festive, but with a gory, gruesome, globular twist! The 12 Deaths of Christmas will feature some unconventional yuletide fun – it might be viral Christmas tree decorations, a chance to meet the fuzzy fleas who spread the Black Death or even a debate with our partners at the British Science Association on pandemics and the future of antibiotics.
So mark your calendars and we’ll see you at the National Museum of Scotland for some time-travelling this Saturday!