Popular science exhibitions are key activities held by National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in order to kindle children’s interest in science. National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) collaborated with the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), and the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) in holding a three-year-long special exhibition “Secret Bases of Scientists .” This special exhibition, after redecoration, will reopen to the public on March 27. Visitors are expected to discover their delights of playing with science through interactive games and DIY activities. Meanwhile, they will deepen their understanding of how scientific research is conducted.
“Secret Bases of Scientists” is divided into three different exhibition areas: “Experiment Base,” “Exploration Base,” and “Wisdom Base.” Two new additions to the “Experiment Base” are arranged by the National Laboratory Animal Center (NLAC) and the Taiwan Instrument Research Institute (TIRI), while the other to the “Exploration Base” is in the charge of the Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI).
NLAC’s “Isolation Bubbles,” set in the “Experiment Base,” are transparent bubble-like isolation boxes used for nurturing germ-free laboratory animals or animals based on other models. Visitors can not only get a taste of operating the three-layered gloves connected to the bubble but also get informed of the biomedical breakthroughs in gut microbiota research.
Another area of the “Experiment Base” displays some components for space technology, most of which are rare objects whose export is internationally regulated. One is the large-aperture aspheric lens used in the optical remote sensing system of a satellite. Moreover, this TIRI-organized area exhibits a structural model of FORMOSAT-5 under the optical system. Visitors can better understand the imaging principle of a remote sensing satellite through the captioned pictures and hand-flipping Q&A paperboards. It is an exhibition area satellite buffs will never miss.
Benthic foraminifera are key reef builders and ecological indicators. They can also be used to trace past marine ecology and environmental change, as their fossilized shells are found to have substance vestiges of the ancient ocean. This hardly visible, sand-sized creature can also help prospect for potential oil and gas reserves. In the area of the “Exploration Base” that TORI is responsible for, visitors can catch a glimpse of TORI FOCUS, a photo-taking system developed by TORI’s researchers. With the help of this system, visitors can appreciate the original, geometric, and structural beauty of benthic foraminifera’s shells up close and personal.
In addition to the three updated exhibits, The Outer Space Base in the “Exploration Base” displays a domestically-produced weather satellite called Triton, which was launched in French Guiana in October 2023, and introduces the observation principle of the “Global Navigation Satellite System Reflection Signal Receiver” (GNSS-R) the satellite is outfitted with. In the “Wisdom Base,” the Science & Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI) and the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) design their respective exhibits, exposing cutting-edge technologies developed by NARLabs to elementary school students and junior/senior high school students in a comprehensible manner. This special exhibition aims to let the students find interest in science and develop their scientific competencies.
“Secret Bases of Scientists” will be updated on a regular basis, continuously showing innovative research results. Welcome all of you to the eighth floor of NTSEC to discover something interesting from high-tech research.
