Interspectral is a Swedish company that provides an interactive exhibition system called Inside Explorer using 3D volumetric scanning, such as CT and micro CT, real-time graphics visualisation and a large touch table to enable gallery visitors to interactively explore natural history subjects using modern science techniques.

Inside Explorer is today used at museums worldwide, for example the British Museum, Natural History Museum London, Utah Natural History Museum, Denver Museum of Science and Nature and many more.

A recent collaboration between Interspectral and Wakehurst; Kew’s wild botanic garden for their Millennium Seed Bank Visitor Atrium, has resulted in some spectacular results. These can be seen in the specially commissioned Secret Structures exhibition. The Inside Explorer system at the exhibition enables visitors to the Millennium Seed Bank to not only marvel at plants, but to learn from them and to understand our need to protect them. The Inside Explorer Digital Table invites them to peel back the layers of intriguing, scanned objects from RBG Kew’s collections; a Brazil nut, a piece of oak, an orchid and a carved walnut shell.

© Kew Gardens

Wakehurst and Interspectral worked with London’s Natural History Museum’s imaging labs to micro CT scan the subjects for the exhibits. These were then produced for exhibition by Interspectral and Wakehurst.

© Interspectral

The collaboration continues, as Wakehurst will now be adopting Interspectral’s new science discovery and exhibit production tools for the next update to its exhibition. These tools will enable RBG Kew’s scientists to explore their scanned data of plants and seeds like never before and provide the interpretation team with a way to produce their own exhibition content directly from any science discoveries.

This means that as new findings are uncovered the exhibit can be refreshed with new scientifically led content, putting breaking science into the hands of the visiting public in record time.

For further information on the project and the Insider Explorer system, contact david.hughes@interspectral.com.

Notes: Wakehurst is run by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and is a wild botanic garden in the High Weald of West Sussex.  It has over 500 acres of beautiful ornamental gardens, woodlands and a nature reserve. Wakehurst is also home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild seed conservation project in the world.

Written by David Hughes – Solutions and Business Development, Interspectral AB