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Tue, 14th October 2008 - Sun, 2nd November 2008

"The Science of Survival: Your Planet Needs You!" is an interactive exhibition looking at the impact of changing climate and resource availability while exploring sustainable living in 2050.

This hands-on exhibition explores how the way we live will change over the next few decades in response to climate change, as we confront varying resource availability and degraded environments. As you journey through seven areas you discover if you can you meet a series of challenges. And make choices about how you might want to live in the future.

Each area of the exhibition looks at why the future will be different and what we can do about it today. You'll explore current global issues and some possible technological responses.

You are lead through the exhibition by four characters from the future who invite you to help them solve problems in a city in the year 2050. Your journey takes you through seven exhibition areas:

Briefing

Discover the effects of climate change and find out what changing resource availability means to the way we live. Discover that individual choices have unexpected global consequences but we can make positive choices to affect our futures. Meet the characters that are going to lead you through the exhibition, showing you glimpses in the year 2050 and explaining how we are going to track your progress.

Drinking

Water shortages are already a serious issue in the present day and by 2050 fresh drinking water will be even more scarce. This area encourages you to think about how you access water and new techniques and technologies for getting safe drinking water.

Interactive exhibits:
Find water in 2050. You won't take drinking water for granted after visiting this exhibit. The location is one corner of the city of 2050 where there are serious water shortages. Discover some of the new places water might come from in 2050 - desalinated sea water, deep underground sources, collected rain water. Can you drink enough water to keep yourself alive?

Living Surface. Uncover some water facts as you splash around this interactive water floor.

Eating

We need to eat food every few days to survive. Changing climate and resources have already made it more challenging to grow food but at the same time more complicated and exotic foods are becoming available. What will you be eating in 2050?

Interactive exhibits: Design your own food for the year 2050, exploring some of the issues and new technologies that could be available by then. Make decisions, create your own solutions and see the results.

Make your perfect meal. The catch is you need to collaborate with other visitors to meet your needs. You will explore competition for resources as a global challenge for food supply. This exhibit will emphasise how the world's food supply is reliant on the interconnectedness of communities and also that a healthy diet is a well balanced diet.

Enjoying

Life would be unbearable if we only fulfilled our basic physiological needs. The four Survival characters show you that friends, family, work and play will still be essential in 2050. This audio visual presentation provides a pause in the exhibition, an opportunity to sit back and relax.

Interactive exhibit:
Go shopping in 2050. Buying and disposing of things is essential to our current lifestyles but this has various affects on the environment. By 2050 we may need to consider energy and water used in production as well as miles traveled, CO2 released and recyclability. In Shopping 2050 you will be confronted by various tempting products that may be available in the future. Chose what to buy with your eco credits, but can you afford what you want on you waste, CO2 and water budgets?

Moving

We transport ourselves from place to place to fill our basic needs for goods and services, for work, school and play. Transport will change by 2050 to respond to changing climate and resources. How do you want to travel in the future?

Interactive exhibits:
Racing game. You need to make a journey in the city of 2050. What vehicle will you chose and can you avoid various pitfalls on your journey? On the way you will discover the pros and cons of new technologies and new fuels of 2050. At the end of the game you will receive a score based on how well you did.

Design your 2050 vehicle. This is your chance to create the vehicle for the future. Explore the current and future challenges we face in transportation and create your own solutions.

Building

We need to protect ourselves from the elements to survive. But both buildings and clothing mean so much more than just shelter, they provide a sense of identity, privacy and community. By 2050 building designs and materials will change to avoid CO2 emissions and wasting resources.

Interactive exhibits:
Design your 2050 home. This is your chance to design your future home. Make various choices about the form of house and where you want to buy your electricity from. Discover how this affects your neighborhood.

Dressing up. The most basic way we protect ourselves is through clothing. This dressing up game invites you to choose clothes appropriate to particular situations, exploring some possibilities (new materials and design) for the clothes of the future.

How did you survive in 2050?

In this large interactive projection you will see how you did in the exhibition and discover the choices made by other people...

You will: Collect your survival score from the survival games. See the house, car and food you designed in your own community within the city of 2050. Compare other people's designs and see how people make different lifestyle decisions. Find out how the 2050 city has altered as a result of everyone's decisions.