34: The Critical Raw Materials Shaping Our Future

The Critical Raw Materials Shaping Our Future is open at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, having opened its doors on 19 June. It's the latest in the museum's Contemporary Science and Society series, and it takes a long look at the materials that underpin modern life and the challenges of getting them sustainably.

The display works its way through time, starting with a 40,000-year-old iron-rich ochre from Ngwenya Mine — one of the earliest known examples of humans deliberately digging material from the ground. From there it moves through the 19th-century gold rush in North America and on to present-day lithium extraction in Chile's Atacama Desert. It's a wide arc, and it puts the things we take for granted in our pockets and homes into a much larger context.

It's not just something to look at from behind glass, either. You can handle raw minerals, ingots and finished objects, and there are digital installations that let you virtually dismantle everyday items to see what they're actually made of. The whole thing was developed with researchers across the university, including the Department of Earth Sciences and the transdisciplinary research programme Oxford EARTH, so it's got some proper academic weight behind it.

It's also part of a wider public programme of talks, tours, late-night openings, family activities, performances and hands-on workshops, so there's more to it than just the exhibition itself. The museum is a Grade I listed Neo-Gothic building that welcomes over 800,000 visitors a year, and entry to the exhibition is free.