LEGO bricks help the Natural History Museum to examine specimens

A scientist at London’s Natural History Museum reveals how LEGO element solutions aids his work, as part of the Rebuild the World campaign.

The LEGO Rebuild the World campaign seeks to demonstrate how LEGO bricks can be used in a variety of creative ways, beyond what people might typically expect. This new video from the LEGO Group introduced the Natural History Museum’s Dr Steen Dupont, who uses a LEGO solution to examine delicate specimens under a microscope.

Using predominantly Technic elements and sometimes motors, the scientist builds frames that allows for specimens to be examined with minimal human handling. Even pages of old books are held open using a LEGO element fix.

“The creative way of solving things with LEGO is you build something, you take it apart, you rebuild it, you prototype and you keep doing that until you get the solution you want,” Dr Dupont explains. “If I was an engineer I might be able to design it in one go and just have it done. But I’m not. I have to get to that solution and LEGO bricks allow me to do that.”

Rebuild the World launched last month with an event at the LEGO House and a video introduction.

To continue to support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com and Amazon using our affiliate links.