The Booth Natural History Museum in Brighton closes for upgrades
A popular natural history museum in Brighton is to be closed for 12 months for essential improvements.The Booth Museum, which is overseen by Brighton & Hove Museums, will be closed from Sunday as part of plans to improve its collections and infrastructure. The museum has more than 600,000 specimens, including insects, minerals, fossils and dinosaur bones. Hedley Swain, chief executive of Brighton & Hove Museums, said: "The Booth Museum is a cherished institution, but it needs vital improvements to safeguard its collections and create a more engaging visitor experience."
He said: "This temporary closure will allow us to make much-needed upgrades."
During the closure, the museum says it will tackle collection management challenges, improve storage conditions, alarm system, and fire safety. It adds many of its collections are stored in now out-dated cabinets and packaging, and it is working to ensure the items are protected for future generations.
The Booth will open for monthly special event days which will offer behind-the-scenes access for visitors to explore previously unseen collections.It will also continue with as many pre-booked school events as possible, the museum said.
History of the Booth Museum
The museum was founded in 1874 by naturalist Edward Thomas Booth. It began as a collection of more than 300 dioramas showcasing British birds in their natural habitats.During the Victorian era, people were passionate about natural history and Booth's particular interest was ornithology - the study of birds.In 1971, the Booth became a Museum of Natural History. It is now home to a collection of 525,000 insects, 50,000 minerals and rocks, 30,000 plants and 5,000 microscope slides.Some of its oldest specimens include shells from the bottom of a 55-million-year-old Mediterranean lagoon.
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Women who drink four of these drinks over the course of a weekend, meanwhile, are at a 12 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who don't drink. Of 100 women who have four drinks of this size every weekend, around 13 would develop breast cancer over the course of their lives. While having alcohol-free days can improve your health, there are added dangers to drinking large amounts of alcohol in one sitting, says Dr Rumgay. One study she worked on in the past found that 'the risk of breast cancer was increased by 40 per cent in women that had had any occasion of heavy episodic drinking in the year leading up to the research,' she says. We might not think of it as such, but the WHO classes 'heavy episodic drinking' or binge drinking as consuming 60g of pure alcohol or more in a single drinking session. That's equivalent to just over two large glasses of wine. 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'Drinking frequently can lead to systemic inflammation of the body,' she explains. 'If you cut the number of days that you drink, or spread them out, then it's possible that your body has more time to recover from this inflammatory state, which could potentially avoid increasing your risk of cancer.' Even this amount of alcohol can increase your cancer risk, however. Another study that Dr Rumgay worked on found that 'having just half a standard drink every day increases breast cancer risk by 4 per cent,' she says. One drink once a week Women who have one drink once a week are at a 3 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who don't drink, says Dr Rumgay. Of 100 women who have one drink a week, around 11 would develop breast cancer at some point in their lives, not taking into account other factors like genetic risk, weight and whether or not they smoke. The same amount of non-drinking women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives More than 40 per cent of women in Britain drink at least once a week. The effects of having one drink each week are hard to study, however, as 'most people either drink more than once a week or don't drink at all,' says Dr Rumgay. The numbers still show that even this much alcohol consumption can increase your risk of breast cancer – though you might see a 3 per cent increased risk as something you're willing to tolerate. One drink a few times a month Women who have one drink every other week are at a 2 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who don't drink, says Dr Rumgay. Of 100 women who have one drink a few times a month, around would develop breast cancer at some point in their lives, not taking into account other factors such as genetic risk, weight and whether or not they smoke. Again, there isn't a lot of research into this pattern of drinking, though 'any amount of alcohol still increases your risk of breast cancer,' says Dr Rumgay. 'The simple advice I always give is reduction,' says Prof Stordal. 'Whether that's cutting down to once a week or once every few weeks, whatever you can do will benefit you.' One drink every few months Women who have fewer than six drinks over the course of a whole year are 0.3 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who don't drink. Of 100 women who have one drink fewer than six times a year, 11 would develop breast cancer at some point in their lives, not taking into account other factors like genetic risk, weight and whether or not they smoke. So while no amount of drinking is completely safe, you may be pleased to know that you can celebrate with a drink a few times a year and only increase your risk of breast cancer marginally, 'though the general consensus is that anything more than zero does raise your risk,' says Dr Rumgay.
