Coiled inside the nucleus of every single cell in our bodies are 2.5 kilometres of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), coding our genetic legacy and affecting our lives from conception to death, across families and down through the generations.
Scientific research enables us to better understand and respond to the workings of this remarkable molecule, but also creates knotty ethical issues.
The personal becomes political; high-level decisions by the government, police, judiciary, insurance companies and the health service depend on how society uses the vast body of knowledge that this research provides. In this context, Inside DNA: A Genomic Revolution is very timely.
The exhibition, which cost £1.69m and covers 350 sq metres, emphasises discussion and debate. It was developed by a range of scientific organisations, including lead partner Ecsite-UK, a network of UK science centres and museums.
The exhibition relies on interviews with active researchers to lead much of the interpretation, and these many voices, despite an inevitable variation in clarity of explanation, give authority and depth to the exhibition.
Reflecting the diversification of genetic research and its many applications, the exhibition is wide-ranging, from ancestry to identity, health to crime.
By inputting information about my own genetically inherited traits, including eye colour, hair colour, and yes, the hairiness or otherwise of my knuckles, I could see how different I am to others. Does the way my earlobes hang make me unique, or one of the pack?
Long-term population studies can show how the traits dealt by our genes relate to how we live and die. Comparing species (how similar am I to a zebra fish?) brought in the evolutionary dimension; natural selection is all about us being similar as a species and unique as individuals.
The the exhibition is strong on how these theoretical advances have practical applications: how genetic identity can solve crimes and the use of gene therapy in treating diseases.
Advances in genetics have had a major impact on health, and here the narrative is led by interviews with people whose families and lifestyles have been affected by genetic screening and therapy.
This is one of the themes developed in the Dialogue Zone, where website-like interactives invite us to respond to some of the questions thrown up by the exhibition. Should we be held responsible for illnesses we failed to avoid by ignoring medical recommendations about our lifestyle? Should we be able to buy genetic tests over the counter?
The views of visitors will be passed on to the Human Genetics Commission, so this exhibition offers us an opportunity to have our say, and maybe even influence future government policy. After Bristol, it tours to Newcastle and Glasgow, giving even more people the chance to get involved.
Whys over Xs
An intriguing "bookshelf" invites visitors to explore vastness of the human genome through a set of 23 books, each larger than the Yellow Pages and each containing the complete DNA sequence of one of the 23 human chromosomes.
The book of the Y chromosome, the essence of maleness, is open for people to flick through. More than 1,000 pages of closely printed ACGTs (the four letters in the DNA alphabet) really bring home the vastness of the genetic code, and the enormity of the Human Genome Project in establishing the sequences. But just when I was intrigued and wanted to know more, my expectations were dashed.
Reaching for the book of the X chromosome, hoping in some way to compare "femaleness" with what had already been presented, it suddenly became obvious that all but the single book already open were mocked-up blocks on the shelves. Of course, no budget is unlimited, but this really felt like a missed opportunity.
Right at the end of my visit to this exhibition, I found the display that I'd needed at the beginning. An interactive enabled me to explore inside my cells, explaining terms and illustrating things such as organelles, chromosome, gene, DNA and bases.
These terms may be fresh in the minds of a secondary school kid, but I needed a reminder. There must be plenty of visitors who can't tell their gene from their genome, and it is possible that the exhibition may alienate many of them through the assumption of a technical vocabulary.
Elsewhere, terms like "pharmocogenetics" and "driver mutation" pop up without warning and without explanation. With subject matter such as this, the impact of the exhibition would be lost if it were oversimplified. But exhibitions should empower and open up a previously intractable world, not intimidate or confuse.
Like the kilometres of blood vessels in our bodies, storylines need to link sections and pull ideas together to create an effective and functioning whole. But this exhibition feels disjointed.
In part, this is down to the layout. With no clear starting point and route, interesting ideas are presented, only to be followed up in an entirely different part of the exhibition, in ways that are not transparent.
Take chromosomes, for example. A spectacular animation of dancing chromosomes invites people to explore issues relating to the genes on different parts of each chromosome.
But chromosomes are explained elsewhere in the exhibition, with the genetic "code books" helping to make the necessary link between them, genes and diseases.
Loose connections
When I visited, some sections had not yet been fully installed, and their completion will help to pull some themes together. This exhibition is full of fascinating information, presented in a way that is made relevant both to us as individuals and to society.
The design is great: inflatable partitions, pouffes and a fabulous womb-like chromosome dome set off the clear lines of the touchscreen panels by which most of the content of the exhibition was conveyed.
But it doesn't join up. Many visitors will lurch from one section to another struggling to link it all together. This is a "learn what you know" exhibition: go in with a little knowledge, come out having learned a little. Go in knowing a lot about the subject, and the exhibition will enable you to learn much more.
Liz Hide is the museums development officer at the University of Cambridge
Scientific research enables us to better understand and respond to the workings of this remarkable molecule, but also creates knotty ethical issues.
The personal becomes political; high-level decisions by the government, police, judiciary, insurance companies and the health service depend on how society uses the vast body of knowledge that this research provides. In this context, Inside DNA: A Genomic Revolution is very timely.
The exhibition, which cost £1.69m and covers 350 sq metres, emphasises discussion and debate. It was developed by a range of scientific organisations, including lead partner Ecsite-UK, a network of UK science centres and museums.
The exhibition relies on interviews with active researchers to lead much of the interpretation, and these many voices, despite an inevitable variation in clarity of explanation, give authority and depth to the exhibition.
Reflecting the diversification of genetic research and its many applications, the exhibition is wide-ranging, from ancestry to identity, health to crime.
By inputting information about my own genetically inherited traits, including eye colour, hair colour, and yes, the hairiness or otherwise of my knuckles, I could see how different I am to others. Does the way my earlobes hang make me unique, or one of the pack?
Long-term population studies can show how the traits dealt by our genes relate to how we live and die. Comparing species (how similar am I to a zebra fish?) brought in the evolutionary dimension; natural selection is all about us being similar as a species and unique as individuals.
The the exhibition is strong on how these theoretical advances have practical applications: how genetic identity can solve crimes and the use of gene therapy in treating diseases.
Advances in genetics have had a major impact on health, and here the narrative is led by interviews with people whose families and lifestyles have been affected by genetic screening and therapy.
This is one of the themes developed in the Dialogue Zone, where website-like interactives invite us to respond to some of the questions thrown up by the exhibition. Should we be held responsible for illnesses we failed to avoid by ignoring medical recommendations about our lifestyle? Should we be able to buy genetic tests over the counter?
The views of visitors will be passed on to the Human Genetics Commission, so this exhibition offers us an opportunity to have our say, and maybe even influence future government policy. After Bristol, it tours to Newcastle and Glasgow, giving even more people the chance to get involved.
Whys over Xs
An intriguing "bookshelf" invites visitors to explore vastness of the human genome through a set of 23 books, each larger than the Yellow Pages and each containing the complete DNA sequence of one of the 23 human chromosomes.
The book of the Y chromosome, the essence of maleness, is open for people to flick through. More than 1,000 pages of closely printed ACGTs (the four letters in the DNA alphabet) really bring home the vastness of the genetic code, and the enormity of the Human Genome Project in establishing the sequences. But just when I was intrigued and wanted to know more, my expectations were dashed.
Reaching for the book of the X chromosome, hoping in some way to compare "femaleness" with what had already been presented, it suddenly became obvious that all but the single book already open were mocked-up blocks on the shelves. Of course, no budget is unlimited, but this really felt like a missed opportunity.
Right at the end of my visit to this exhibition, I found the display that I'd needed at the beginning. An interactive enabled me to explore inside my cells, explaining terms and illustrating things such as organelles, chromosome, gene, DNA and bases.
These terms may be fresh in the minds of a secondary school kid, but I needed a reminder. There must be plenty of visitors who can't tell their gene from their genome, and it is possible that the exhibition may alienate many of them through the assumption of a technical vocabulary.
Elsewhere, terms like "pharmocogenetics" and "driver mutation" pop up without warning and without explanation. With subject matter such as this, the impact of the exhibition would be lost if it were oversimplified. But exhibitions should empower and open up a previously intractable world, not intimidate or confuse.
Like the kilometres of blood vessels in our bodies, storylines need to link sections and pull ideas together to create an effective and functioning whole. But this exhibition feels disjointed.
In part, this is down to the layout. With no clear starting point and route, interesting ideas are presented, only to be followed up in an entirely different part of the exhibition, in ways that are not transparent.
Take chromosomes, for example. A spectacular animation of dancing chromosomes invites people to explore issues relating to the genes on different parts of each chromosome.
But chromosomes are explained elsewhere in the exhibition, with the genetic "code books" helping to make the necessary link between them, genes and diseases.
Loose connections
When I visited, some sections had not yet been fully installed, and their completion will help to pull some themes together. This exhibition is full of fascinating information, presented in a way that is made relevant both to us as individuals and to society.
The design is great: inflatable partitions, pouffes and a fabulous womb-like chromosome dome set off the clear lines of the touchscreen panels by which most of the content of the exhibition was conveyed.
But it doesn't join up. Many visitors will lurch from one section to another struggling to link it all together. This is a "learn what you know" exhibition: go in with a little knowledge, come out having learned a little. Go in knowing a lot about the subject, and the exhibition will enable you to learn much more.
Liz Hide is the museums development officer at the University of Cambridge
Project data
Cost: £1.69m
Main funder: Wellcome Trust
Partners: Ecsite-UK, Wellcome Trust, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, At-Bristol
Project team: Goéry Delacôte, Penny Fidler, Dan Bird, Emma Cook, Bronwyn Terrill
Conceptualistion: Razorbite
Graphic design: 375
Exhibition ends: 2 September, then tours to the Centre for Life (September 2008-February 2009) and the Glasgow Science Centre (March 2009-August 2009)
Cost: £1.69m
Main funder: Wellcome Trust
Partners: Ecsite-UK, Wellcome Trust, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, At-Bristol
Project team: Goéry Delacôte, Penny Fidler, Dan Bird, Emma Cook, Bronwyn Terrill
Conceptualistion: Razorbite
Graphic design: 375
Exhibition ends: 2 September, then tours to the Centre for Life (September 2008-February 2009) and the Glasgow Science Centre (March 2009-August 2009)
