A virtual reality expedition on the origin of the Earth

The Natural History Museum in Paris offers the opportunity to travel across continents and oceans, discovering the “Extinct Worlds” and dinosaurs, 3.5 billion years ago, thanks to an immersive 3D experience.

An excursion into paleontological worlds is what this 3D reality immersion show, called “Disappeared Worlds”, offers. A journey spanning 3.5 billion years to explore the history of the Earth and life.

“We arrive, we put on headsets, while our brain imagines where we are, we sometimes have a little difficulty in distinguishing things, but then it comes straight away, and then we really have the impression that we is in nature”explains a 13-year-old schoolboy.

In one second, visitors are miniaturized and find themselves transported into a time tunnel. They are guided by an explorer and her robot Darwin. “We saw images of the planet Earth exploding. It was the planet Mars that hit the Earth, and that’s what created the moon”says a 10-year-old visitor.

What setting are we diving into? “In nature, under the seas, in the caves, we are high up, in the mountains, among the plants! I think the settings are very well done, it’s worth it. And we really have the impression that We’re in the age of dinosaurs.”

We discover the beginnings of life, in a very realistic mineral and desert setting. And we travel to the Cambrian era, – 522 million years ago. With an explosion of life forms and numerous marine worms. There are also plants and the gigantism of Carboniferous insects. Without forgetting the Jurassic: – 180 million years old, with its archipelagos with shallow seas.

And you can see dinosaurs up close! “Yes and you can even touch them, but it’s in virtual reality. I loved it because they focused a lot on the vegetation, on the pleasure of seeing animals in real life, and to learnrejoices a young 8-year-old Parisian. And it was funny to me, especially since there were a lot of Tyrexes and velociraptors. And I loved the little carnivorous dinosaurs that hatched, it was so cute, I even stroked one.”

When a little later, we meet humans from the island of Flores… “They were little Cro-Magnon men, they came to see us with their language, the gibberish, it wasn’t bad. They were very small, and they were trying to protect their camp, they were not used to seeing characters like us is interesting and amazing.”

Expedition in virtual reality Vanished Worlds will be held until June 16 at the geology and mineralogy gallery of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.