Well, you’re not actually traveling to the southernmost continent, but “Antarctic Dinosaurs” sure does a vivid job of simulating it: You’re greeted with a sweeping video of icy peaks, example of expedition gear and the cross-section of an aircraft fuselage, with Antarctica-bound scientists packed inside.
Scientists take center stage in this exhibition, including the Natural History Museum’s own Dr. Nathan Smith, whose cartoonified facsimile pops up throughout the galleries. Your biggest takeway is likely to be about how and why scientists excavate fossils in Antarctica, how that process differs from a century ago and what sort of knowledge they bring back with them.
But it’s not all jackhammers and microscopes: You’ll find plenty of fossils and recreated skeletons, too, with touch-friendly 3-D models the shed modern-day insight into the prehistoric bones. The exhibit features four fulls-scale dinos: two at the skeletal level and two with faux skin that approximate how they would have appeared.