London

Museum curators are fond of saying that people visit their exhibits only three times: as children, with their own children, and again with their grandchildren. Now Britain's Science Museum is confronting this sorry situation head-on, opening a £10-million (US$17-million) centre aimed directly at adults.

The Dana Centre in South Kensington, London, will open its doors on 19 November and is targeted squarely at visitors aged 18–45. Events will range from evening discussions on AIDS in ethnic minority communities, to film premières, as well as giving visitors the chance to watch a live broadcast of a heart operation and quiz the surgeons involved.

The centre could also feature risqué happenings more associated with other adults-only venues. Dana Centre staff point out that the museum's stores contain Victorian sex toys, and the centre's child-free environment might make it possible to run events themed on such objects.

“It they pull this off it will be incredible,” says Steve Cross, science-development manager at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Adults aged 18–45 tend to have established interests, he points out, and it is tough to make them take a second look at science. “Everyone in the science-communication world is scared of that age range,” says Cross. “If they succeed they will have rewritten the rules.”

The centre may also struggle to achieve its aim of attracting visitors in the evening, sceptics say. South Kensington is certainly better known for its museums and embassies than for its nightlife.

But the centre's staff counter that such problems can be overcome by hosting carefully designed events. This February, for example, the museum successfully targeted the Afro-Caribbean community with a lecture timed to coincide with Motherland, a BBC television documentary in which DNA analysis was used to help British Afro-Caribbeans trace their ancestry back to specific parts of Africa.

As well as hosting science events based on stand-up comedy and contemporary dance, the centre hopes to build on the success of the Café Scientifique idea of holding events in bars and cafés at which visiting researchers discuss scientific topics. Such events already take place across Europe and the United States.

→ http://www.danacentre.org.uk