Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday November 18, 2003
Patricia Reaney

Be it the implications of genetically modified foods, face transplants, sex over 60, male pregnancy, death or AIDS, the Dana Center plans to tackle topical, sometimes-taboo subjects.

"It is only center of its type in the world and it is certainly one of the very few...focused on adults," said Dr Lindsay Sharp, director of the National Museum of Science and Industry.

With three floors of exhibition space, state-of-the-art digital technology, online discussion boards and an electronic voting system housed in a striking 9.8 million pound ($16.6 million) building, Sharp hopes to make science exciting and to take the public pulse on topical issues and relay it back to the government.

"There is no other museum in the world which is enabled in the way that this is in terms of state-of-the-art technology," he told Reuters.

"It is effectively a walk-in broadcasting, narrow-casting studio on three floors. The reason we want to broadcast is that we can reach millions more people that way and we want to make it as interactive as we can."

The center will feature stand-up comics, neuroscientists and researchers and use documentaries, discussions and even an MRI scan of a contortionist to show what happens inside her twisted body to delve into all areas and aspects of science.

"The center is all about performance and entertainment for an adult audience looking for that extra edge to their evening out," said Lisa Jamieson, the center's program coordinator.

The first public discussion at the new central London venue will be about whether face transplants, once confined to the realms of science fiction, should take place. It will follow a talk by a leading US plastic surgeon who could be the first to perform the procedure.

Visitors to the center, which is free, will be able to vote on the ethical and moral issues and voice their opinions on whether or not it should go ahead.

To mark World AIDS day on December 1 the center will host the London premiere of "Ek Pal" (One Moment of Regret), the first Bollywood film to tackle HIV/AIDS, and a discussion about the global epidemic.

Rather than head to the pub after work, Sharp hopes the Dana Center, a collaboration between the Science Museum, the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB), will be the place to go for a drink and to see what's on.

"Why shouldn't we have the capacity to be exciting, entertaining, stimulating, different, radical and edgy?" Sharp added. ))

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