This week, a new exhibition about the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF) has been released at Cosmocaixa, the science museum of Barcelona managed by ”la Caixa” Foundation. During one year, the IBE will be at Top Ciència , a space of Cosmocaixa (Barcelona), aimed at promoting scientific careers and showing Spanish cutting-edge research.

The Top Ciència area is composed of different audio-visual and interactive materials to know better what evolutionary biology is and what kind of research IBE scientists perform. The exhibition begins with a life size video introduction by Xavier Bellés that briefly explains the research programmes at IBE and videos by Elena Bosch and Salvador Carranza about the labs they lead.

There are two games: one for explaining phylogenetic trees and another game to explain how scientists calculate the percentage of similarity between two species, which have been developed with the guidance of Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo and Alicia Sánchez. For those interested in history, an interactive chronogram offers further information about the milestones in evolutionary biology.

The exhibition also includes a display cabinet with specimens from the IBE collections, which includes butterflies, beetles and reptiles, and a participative section where visitors are asked about their personal views related to science.

More than fifteen people of the IBE staff have been involved in this project, taking part in different activities and making possible the exhibition together with ”la Caixa” Foundation members and collaborators.

CosmoCaixa receives and average of 750.000 visitors every year and offers interactive, enjoyable science and an open door for anyone who is eager to learn and understand and who never stops wondering why things are the way they are.