A special exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Natural History will take children and families on an interactive journey through the hidden world of microbes. Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies uncovers a mysterious universe of microscopic organisms - from those that sustain life on Earth to those that threaten our health and even our existence.

Experience the unseen world of microbes in a high-tech, visually compelling interactive exhibit that includes computer games, hands-on experiences, and dazzling special effects. Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies provides valuable information about one of the most pervasive and important, although misunderstood, influences in our lives--the world of microbes.

Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies takes visitors on a journey through an unseen world, one which sustains all life on earth while holding the deadly potential to wipe out millions. The interactive exhibition examines what microbes are, what they look like, the history of disease, emerging diseases and how research is helping find cures that save lives.

Visitors can interactively explore the microbial universe with the technological magic of high definition volumetric display bringing life to full-color viruses and bacteria that appear to float in space. Leading-edge technology allows visitors to see crystallography of the HIV, herpes and polio viruses represented as "virtual" 3-D photography. Through high-tech video games, visitors can combat bacteria with antibiotics, use virtual reality, help microbes gobble up oil spills, and participate in a question/answer quiz show about microbes' good deeds.

Finally, exhibit visitors are given the opportunity to embark on the "new frontier" and meet researchers in 3-D holography as they describe their careers in science. Based on the book The Invisible Invaders by noted science and medical writer Peter Radetsky, the Microbes exhibit is committed to helping people better understand the whole story of microbes--both the good and the bad.

Sponsored at VMNH by Sprinkle Medical

The exhibit is sponsored nationally by Pfizer Inc and produced by Evergreen Exhibitions in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).