Sir

Heather McCabe's news article “UK centre drops science for sensation” (Nature 400, 804; 1999) gives a false impression of Explore at Bristol, and of the relationship between Explore and the Exploratory.

Explore is part of a £97 million millennium project in the centre of Bristol. In seeking to widen the appeal of science, nature and the arts, two new centres (Explore at Bristol and Wildscreen at Bristol) and a public art programme in the new squares and walkways are being created. Explore at Bristol focuses on people, their brains and how these affect the way they see the world, their dreams for technology, their place in evolution and their impact on the planet. The centre is covering new subject areas and widening the range of media used. But it is most certainly building on its inheritance from the Exploratory, and a ‘hands-on’ approach is at its heart.

Many of the Exploratory exhibits will be used, with one-third of Explore at Bristol exhibits being the same as Exploratory exhibits; more than two-thirds of all the exhibits in Explore will be hands-on. Professor Richard Gregory was the first to introduce hands-on science to the United Kingdom in Bristol about 16 years ago. We believe we are building on this concept and extending it to an even broader public.

Hands-on science is most effective for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century science and fundamental phenomena: light, electricity, magnetism, and so on. For many newer areas such as life and biomedical sciences, or different aspects such as the social implications of science, different techniques are needed. We want the best method for communicating messages and encouraging people to explore the world around them. Exhibits will be grouped in themes and the hands-on approach reinforced by other types of experience and information.

Two nominees of the Exploratory Trust have been on the board of Explore at Bristol since 1995; Gregory, who founded the Exploratory, is chairman of the science advisory panel for Explore at Bristol and an honorary life vice-president. Gregory himself said of Explore recently, on BBC Radio Bristol's John Turner Programme, “They are actually using a lot of our exhibits and no doubt will develop and improve them because they've got more facilities. From the point of view of Bristol … I think actually there may be a gain.”

Just as the Exploratory set new standards when it opened, so Explore at Bristol is striving to set new standards for the next century. We hope readers will come and see for themselves when we open — on time, and on budget — next spring.