Science Exhibitions: From the Red Planet to the Vegetable Garden of the Future

This text is part of the museums' special notebook

Exciting journeys and discoveries are on the agenda of our science museums. There are plenty of opportunities for young and old to take advantage of the sunny days to stock up on knowledge.

“Red 2100”

In many space programmes, Mars has always fascinated humans. Some – Elon Musk, not to mention – even present our neighbor as a serious plan B for humanity. But what would the first steps of man and woman on the Red Planet look like? A new exhibition at the Montreal Planetarium aims to answer the question everyone is asking today by projecting ourselves into the year 2100 to take us on a journey where science and imagination collide in a stunning Big Bang.

A course, developed in collaboration with Cirque Éloize, invites visitors to travel into the cosmos to discover the fictional base of Olympus and the various questions linked to the ancient fantasy of colonizing Mars. Montreal aerospace engineer Farah Alipay also contributed to the creation of this activity, particularly by honoring female astronauts and scientists who have made significant advances in the history of planetary exploration.

“banquet”

A different kind of immersive experience awaits us this summer at the Montreal Science Centre. As its name suggests, banquet It invites you to move from stove to table to learn about the science of gastronomy and the culinary arts. What are the chemical properties of ingredients that give dishes their flavour? What makes our brain like one food and reject another? Science often adds a grain of salt to cooking, as shown in this fun and friendly exhibition. It invites young and old to wash their hands, try new blends and explore flavors and fragrances. From May 16.

“Eat! Show that feeds”

In Laval, the Armand-Frappier Museum of Health also aims to get our mouths watering with this engaging exhibition on the relationship between food and well-being. Nutrition expert and book author Don't swallow everything you're told Bernard Lavallee brings his experience to raise awareness among parents and children about the importance of eating well. This is for the body as well as the planet, with the development of sustainable food. The workshop also provides the possibility of dealing with real scientific tools to reproduce the stages of digestion in the laboratory.

“Oh shit! Let’s rethink human waste.”

And in Ottawa, the Canada Museum of Science and Technology opens its doors to the Museum of Civilization's hugely successful event exhibition in 2021. Winner of numerous awards, including the Prix de Distinction from the Association of Quebec Museums in 2022, the installation takes a fun and bold look at waste processing Humanity. It is a question that we often ignore (out of modesty?), even though it has significant challenges on a global scale in terms of sustainability, sanitation or greenhouse gas emissions.

“Technical vegetable garden”

What could our gardens look like tomorrow? To find out, go to the Montreal Science Centre, which has chosen to envision a future vegetable garden in an urban setting. The experiment, to be conducted outdoors, aims to measure the effects of technology on the development of urban agriculture. Or how can fruits and vegetables be grown better in the heart of the city?

As in many fields, artificial intelligence is called upon to play a key role here. The Science Center therefore offers an opportunity to learn about the automated SERV-EAU system, which is used to save water used in the vegetable garden. This fertile experience also sheds light on other technologies, such as hydroponics, which allow plants to be grown without soil. From 1any June.

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