Queen to open new Artis micro-organism museum

Animal park Artis in Amsterdam is opening a new museum for micro-organisms, named Micropia. The Netherlands' Queen Máxima will perform the official opening on Tuesday, September 30th, the Telegraaf reports. Micropia will open up the world of micro-organisms, the microbes that live around us but are invisible to the naked eye. Just one microbe could fit one million times on the tip of a needle. The museum will pay tribute to the bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses and microbes that make life on earth possible. Micropia will be situated in one of the restored listed buildings inside the zoo itself, in the Ledenlokalen. The building, from 1870, used to serve as a meeting area for members of the Natura Artis Magistra society, which one would have to be member of to be allowed entry to the zoo. Micropia hopes to make the world of microbes more visible to us, and to expand our understanding of life in micro-scope. Micropia wants to be a connective platform between scientific knowledge and the public, and will offer congresses, and public information as well as lectures detailing what we know about microscopic organisms.