Website Review

We have all heard the stories of fundamentalist Christians protesting against the teaching of scientific theories like evolution and the big bang in schools and museums. Natural history museums are typically institutions of scientific learning, but such systems are not always popular amongst segments of the population such as that. Though on some unfortunate occasions these fundamentalist groups are successful in their petitions against legitimate scientific institutions, this is not typically the case. One supposes that it was this struggle that prompted the development of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky; being unable to change every natural history museum to conform to fundamentalist beliefs, they might as well have a “legitimate” museum outlet of their own which can be used to teach the “truth.”

According to the front page of the Creation Museum’s website (http://creationmuseum.org/),

"The state-of-the-art [their emphasis] 70,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers. The serpent coils cunningly in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Majestic murals, great masterpieces brimming with pulsating colors and details, provide a backdrop for many of the settings."

Judging by the website, the museum certainly appears to live up to its “state-of-the-art” claims. The website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. The subtle rhetoric present on the site is particularly fascinating to me. It would be easy for an individual who is merely glancing at the site’s contents to completely miss the fact that the museum is dedicated to the promotion of conservative Christian ideology. Even the name “Creation Museum” could be misconstrued, perhaps why it was chosen over the arguably more precise “Creationism Museum” or “Creationist Museum.” Once one interrogates the website a little deeper, however, the Creationist agenda the institution is pushing becomes very clear.

Like any good modern museum website, the Creation Museum’s includes many multimedia elements, such as scrolling Flash banners, video segments, and an interactive calendar of events. Particularly engaging is the virtual tour, which provides 360-degree views of many of the galleries including, but not limited to: the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, and the “Dinosaur Den.” (I don’t think I even want to attempt to speculate on what their “truth” about dinosaurs may be, given the advertisement “Don’t miss the chance to explore dinosaurs and dragons in this richly themed medieval environment.”)

I should conclude this review by saying that I have never been to the Creation Museum and will likely never go, not because I wouldn’t be fascinated to see what it has to say, but because I will never ever give them any of my money under any circumstances (in case it’s still unclear, I disagree profoundly with creationist ideology of the kind apparently expressed at this museum). However, the most surprising thing about this museum website overall is how rational it appears to be at first glance. I can certainly understand how this museum—and by extension its website—would appeal to conservative Creationists who are seeking an institution that will reaffirm their beliefs while still maintaining something of a façade of scholarly integrity.

Museum Review

The Conner Museum, housed in Ableson Hall (named for Philip Hauge Ableson, Washington State University alum who worked on the Manhattan Project and who, along with colleague Edwin M. McMillan, co-discovered the element Neptunium) is Washington State University’s museum of natural history. Housing a substantial vertebrate collection, the Conner Museum seems to place a special emphasis on their bird and mammal collections. Scattered among the sizable collection of stuffed animals are displays highlighting specific ideas significant to the contemporary understanding of the study of natural history. These exhibit displays range in subject matter from “Darwin’s Voyage of Discovery,” to “Coastal Sightings” of birds in the Pacific Northwest, to the somewhat mysteriously named “How Species Form.” For the purposes of this review, I will be examining a single display exhibit in the Conner Museum’s East Gallery, entitled “The New Science of Ancient DNA.”

In terms of content, “The New Science of Ancient DNA” can be divided into three main sub-topics: an explanatory section discussing just what exactly ancient DNA is, a section of “HITS and MISSES,” and a section exploring the genetic relationship between elephants and mammoths. The exhibit seems to make the assumption that the viewer understands what DNA is (that is not an unreasonable assumption to make, in my opinion) and instead jumps straight into explaining the details of the process of ancient DNA extraction, and the ways in which that data can then be applied. In what I see as being the “first” section (because it is the most fundamental in understanding the other two), there are two bulleted sub-sections entitled “Ancient DNA: What is it?” and “Examples of Ancient DNA Research.” These two sections do a reasonably good job of breaking down a complex scientific process into one that anyone with only a modicum of prior knowledge can understand. This section is also aided by the integration of graphics: “the only known photograph of a living quagga” which is significant for being the first ancient creature from which DNA was extracted, and a chart of select extinct animals from which DNA has been extracted, by date. These graphics are useful in increasing understanding as well as establishing increased visual interest.

The “next” section discusses the difficulties that can arise in attempting to extract DNA from an ancient source due to DNA degradation and the high risk of contamination. The “HITS” are, of course, ancient sources from which DNA has been successfully extracted, while the “MISSES have been unsuccessful. In addition to listing the hits and misses in blocks of text, this section also provides artifacts as a tangible visual aid of what kinds of things DNA can and cannot be extracted from. The hits include human saliva from yucca quids and turkey DNA from fossilized dung, while the misses include fossilized plants and insects trapped in amber.

The third sub-topic discussed in this display is how DNA analysis can help scientists to determine just how closely related modern pachyderms are to ancient mammoths. This is supported by a graphic of the family tree of “elephant-like species” as well as a map showing where viable mastodon DNA has been found. The actual objects that are included in this section include a fossilized mammoth femur and tooth, as well as a modern elephant tooth for comparison. This helps the viewer see a tangible, three-dimensional comparison of one of the attributes common to these two creatures. I do believe, however, that these objects would have benefitted from a text box explaining the similarities and differences between these teeth in both form and function, because I am sure that the subject must have more nuance than the layperson is going to be able to grasp without an explanation. This section also includes a fun antique illustration of a woolly mammoth from the American Museum of Natural History.

“The New Science of Ancient DNA” is a significant exhibit not because of any information it may convey directly about natural history or the environmental sciences. Instead, it focuses on illuminating one of the many technologically advanced processes by which that data can be collected. I personally believe that understanding the process of how things come to be known, or their epistemology, is incredibly important, which is part of what drew me to this display. I am also fascinated by the ways in which different, seemingly discreet areas of learning can combine can combine (e.g. genetics and anthropology) to help us learn more about the world. One other thing that caught my attention about this display is the small block of text explaining how WSU scholar “Dr. Brian Kemp and his colleagues are extracting DNA” to learn more about human migration and turkey domestication. Since the Conner Museum is a part of a major scientific research institution, it is nice to see the work of academics in the wider institution (even the Department of Anthropology) being acknowledged. Though it may benefit from explaining certain things more thoroughly, overall “The New Science of Ancient DNA” is an engaging and successful display for a small natural history museum on a budget.