Website: http://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/
The Collections & The Exhibits: I've been presenting exhibits and collections separately this far, but it's impossible to do so at the University of British Columbia's Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Many museums have (correctly, I think) embraced the idea of showcasing how scientists actually work, and none has done so more completely than the BBM. That's because the museum's exhibits are, quite literally, the collections vault, with some storage cabinets containing built-in display cases. I've travelled to the museum for research twice, once to look at North American carnivores and once to look at marsupials. In both cases, I really enjoyed working in full view of the public and being able to interact and talk about my research with them. While most of the museum is underground, the main atrium of the building contains a massive blue whale skeleton that, thanks to an all-glass outer wall, appears to be "swimming" along UBC's main pedestrian mall. Cross this mall, incidentally, and you'll find the Pacific Museum of Earth, which contains a very nice Lambeosaurus skeleton from Alberta and a handful of other fossils. Also, by all means give yourself a chance to stroll around the campus, one of the most beautifully situated you'll ever see. In particular, make time for the UBC Museum of Anthropology, widely agreed to be one of the world's great museums.
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