The other day I decided to take advantage of my spare time and went to visit one of the most famous museums in London: The Natural History Museum of London (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/).
The collection is so large that one morning isn't enough to appreciate it. So, I chose the Red Zone, which is dedicated to the history of our Planet and our relation as Human beings with it. While visiting this part of the museum, I had the feeling I was in an interactive Sciences class, remembering the birth of our Solar System, the evolution of life, the geology of earthquakes and volcanoes (I used to had this wish of becoming a volcanologist...). The gallery also dedicates one part of the exposition to modern times and makes an interesting reflexion about the (over)exploration of the Earth's resources.
But the part that I enjoyed the most was the Orange Zone and it's Darwin investigation centre. It's just one of the most important collections of specimens and where scientist conduct a series of studies about evolutionary theories and discover new species. I even had the opportunity of listening to one of the scientist of the Darwin centre in a lecture about History's important figures for Science. This is located in a new arquitectural structure called "Cocoon" (look at the pictures).
The founder of the museum, a man called Hans Sloan (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/biographies/hans-sloane/index.html), was a remarkable collector and most of the things that you can find on this part of the museum are his legacy. He traveled to Jamaica where he collected the most strangest things, as well as delicious specimens that still today influence us. Yes, I'm talking about the cocoa plant! And yes, I'm a chocolate addict...
I still wish to explore more of the fantastic museum and, of course, take a picture with the famous T-Rex! But this will be a new chapter on the blog :)
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