AMNA NAWAZ: Well, they haven't been around
for millions of years, but they still inspire
wonder.
And now the dinosaur bones at the Smithsonian's
Museum of Natural History have some new digs.
The Fossil Hall was a multimillion-dollar
renovation that took four years.
It's now complete, with more than 700 specimens,
multimedia and interactive displays, set to
open in a week.
William Brangham got a sneak peek, and he
is here now with an inside look at the dinosaur's
new home.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After a 66 million-year
wait, this Tyrannosaurus rex may finally have
gotten her prey, taking down a triceratops.
Discovered in Montana in 1988, this is one
of the world's most complete T-Rex fossils,
and it's the centerpiece of the new David
H. Koch Hall of Fossils at the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Natural History in Washington,
D.C.
It's just one of more than 700 artifacts on
display in the newly completed hall, which
is set to open next week, after a four-year,
$125 million renovation.
But the exhibition is about much more than
fossils.
The exhibit is called Deep Time, which is
how scientists describe the 3.7 billion-year
story of life on Earth.
Describing previous mass extinctions and changes
to the climate, showing ancient animals in
their habitats, along with present-day environmental
issues, the exhibit tries to drive home the
connections between our ecosystems and life's
evolution, and how lessons from the past might
help guide a sustainable future.
Siobhan Starrs developed Deep Time, and is
its project manager.
She says dinosaurs are just the start.
SIOBHAN STARRS, Smithsonian Museum of Natural
History: This story about how, literally,
our footprint today is written into the stories
of the past.
So, as you journey back into Deep Time, you
can see the same types of things happening
on the planet that we see happening today
written in the rock, written in the fossils.
And it's a great way to start unpacking and
opening that book.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is the first major
renovation of the famous Fossil Hall since
its opening in 1911.
One of the most important updates was to the
hall's architecture and engineering.
Starrs says the original designers didn't
consider the extreme weight of dinosaur bones.
Most people think of fossils as dried bones,
and those are quite light, but I take it that's
not the case.
SIOBHAN STARRS: No, fossils are actually rock.
That's the process of fossilization.
All of the organic matter in the bone is replaced
by rock, so they're actually quite heavy.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: To help accommodate the
weight of the fossils, special metal brackets
were designed to support each individual bone.
They fit together like a puzzle, and it makes
each bone easily removable, so pieces can
be accessible to researchers without dismantling
the whole skeleton.
In other paleontology halls, fossils often
are supported from wiring in the ceiling,
but to maintain and emphasize the hall's original
architecture, they anchored all the fossils
to a new steel frame that stretches beneath
the floor.
PAULINE DOLOVICH, Lead Architect: Underneath
all these platforms is the lattice of steel.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Pauline Dolovich is the
lead architect for the redesign.
PAULINE DOLOVICH: So, it's a beautiful, glorious
space.
And we didn't want to take kind of that beautiful
center, and kind of make the circulation pinch
around it.
And so we found a way to tell the story through
this chronological sweep, and then also allow
people to flow and kind of live underneath
the skylight.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All of the support structures
and exhibit materials are made of custom state-of-the-art
fire-safe material.
It's to ensure these priceless relics would
survive the kinds of fires that consumed Notre
Dame and Brazil's National Museum.
The museum was also careful to design the
new hall with what's called universal accessibility.
SIOBHAN STARRS: We're designing for literally
every visitor who walks in the door, and every
visitor is unique.
And they're bringing with them their unique
understandings of the world and their unique
ways of navigating a museum.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For example, here, you're
encouraged to touch fossils, literally laying
your hands on million-year-old specimens.
There's a mobile app available for visitors
that may be visually impaired.
Even games in the Deep Time exhibit have this
inclusivity focus.
This one traces the ancient origins of our
modern bodies and has a gender-neutral main
character.
NARRATOR: An opposable thumb allows you to
touch your thumb to each of the fingers on
the same hand.
Go ahead.
Try it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This inclusivity is also
visible in the people who helped bring the
hall to life.
Back in 1911, not a single woman was on the
design team.
Today, more than 50 women helped research,
develop and create the exhibition.
All of the project's team leaders and all
the writers are women.
The museum says there are more women involved
in Deep Time than any other exhibit in the
institution's history.
Paleoecologist Kay Behrensmeyer is the head
of the fossil lab at the Natural History Museum.
She says having so many women working on an
exhibit like this is important, not just for
her field, but for science more broadly.
KAY BEHRENSMEYER, Smithsonian Museum of Natural
History: It's very important for there to
be opportunities for all the young women,
like myself a long time ago, who are interested
in science and want to pursue it to have the
way open to them as much as possible.
And they need mentors.
They need people to support them.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Another way the new hall
is different?
Deep Time doesn't shy away from addressing
climate change and the looming global extinction
of plant and animal species, nor does it shy
away from acknowledging the role humans play
in driving those crises, like in this mock
coal mine, where visitors can learn about
why coal is called a fossil fuel, and how
burning it is warming the planet.
KAY BEHRENSMEYER: Humans are in charge of
the future and finding the balance with the
processes that have come before.
That's an incredible journey.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the past, critics have
blasted museums, including the Smithsonian,
for accepting money from the Koch brothers,
a duo who made their fortune from fossil fuels
and then funded groups that try to deny climate
science.
Whether or not the museum's focus will assuage
those critics remains to be seen.
The museum told the "NewsHour" that donors
have no input whatsoever in the content of
exhibits.
The team behind Deep Time hopes that having
a greater understanding of the deep past will
help visitors understand the role they play
in determining the Earth's future.
The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils, Deep Time,
opens Saturday, June 8.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham
in Washington, D.C.
