For the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, the Musée d’Orsay, which houses the world’s largest collection of this current, is offering a major retrospective (回顾展) of this artistic trend with Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism from March 26 to July 14.

150 years ago, on April 15, 1874, in a luxurious photographer Nadar’s studio in northern Paris, Berthe Morisot, Edouard Degas and Claude Monet came together as a cooperative limited company to open the first Impressionist exhibition, a movement that would forever change the course of art history.

The retrospective will take visitors on a virtual tour to the very moment 150 years ago. During the 40-minute immersive (沉浸的) tour, visitors will spend a virtual evening with the famous impressionists and travel by steam train to Bougival, west of Paris, where many of them worked. Visitors will then tour the main exhibition, which opens into a gallery with Renoir’s La Parisienne and La Danseuse that featured in the 1874 exhibition, and other impressionist paintings, drawings and sculptures.

“The immersive experience is unique and innovative. You can go into this exhibition and relive the evening with the artists and discover the origin of this movement. We want to recreate the emotion for visitors of the 1874 exhibition.” said Abastado, director of digital development at the Musée d’Orsay.

* The experience is suitable for children of 11 y/o and above; children under 8 y/o are prohibited.

* We remind you that, in view of the technology used, virtual reality experiences are not recommended for people with balance or vision disorders.

* Walkers and motorized wheelchairs are not permitted in the space, but manual wheelchairs are accepted.

Travelling seemed like falsehood to me. I grew tired of backpackers expressing too much praise about how petting a baby elephant in Thailand “transformed” them. Globe-traveling to me held no more promise than finding a few bills in the pocket of an old coat. I needed something deeper than an Eat, Play, Love moment.

One day, Vasilis, my Greek best friend, reminded me of our decade-old promise: after our final exams, I would visit his hometown in Athens. Maybe, it was time to make good on that promise.

I finally boarded the plane. Vasilis picked me up at the airport. I smiled, thinking how improbable this moment seemed all those years ago.

The decade-long wait proved to be well worth it. Every step through the ancient streets revealed new wonders. However, none of them truly mattered. What would forever alter my perception of travel was a chance encounter with a local.

Vasilis and I were wandering Athens when a special sound caught our attention — a rhythmic clinking disturbing the quietness of the residential street. Curiously, we followed the sound to a humble workshop. Inside, a welder (焊工) gave no mind to our presence behind him. He wore no flashy protective suit — this was just another day for him, another dance with fire and metal that had become second nature. Under the sunshade, his orange cat rested in the comforting warmth...

As the man continued welding, I felt a bit of envy. I envied his peace and contentment. I admired the simplicity he embodied. I imagined the welder happy, finding fulfillment in his craft (手艺) and returning to his loving family...The moment moved me to tears. Leaving the workshop, rain blending with tears, I realized how easily life’s poetry could pass unnoticed.

Home again in Montreal, I stop simply pursuing better things, better experiences and better people that are never grasped. I realize the real journey is inward — to appreciate life’s ordinary magic. That sure beats petting any baby elephant. I may not have returned home “transformed,” but I’ll always think of the welder and his cat.

In 2022, the Nature Conservancy launched two 5-year pilot projects at working ranches (牧场) in Kansas and New Mexico to determine if virtual fences enable land managers to better perform regenerative management practices and to assess potential benefits for biodiversity and for ranchers’ bottom lines, as well as impacts on soil carbon storage.

Applauded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a climate adaption strategy, virtual fencing is an innovative technology that enables ranchers to use a smartphone or web app to remotely monitor and control where and when cattle graze (吃草). Virtual fences can reduce the need for physical fences, which require significant time, expense and labor to maintain. Physical fences also limit land managers in their ability to change grazing boundaries to adapt to seasonal changes in vegetation or to exclude cattle from ecologically sensitive areas.

The cows are outfitted with battery-operated, GPS-enabled collars that send out a radio frequency to communicate with reception towers, creating virtual grazing boundaries set by a rancher. When a cow approaches the edge of the virtual boundary, the collar produces a sound signaling it to turn around. If the cow proceeds to cross the boundary, it receives a momentary mild shock, signaling that it’s gone too far and should rejoin its group.

Grasslands are the least protected habitat on earth and one of the most effective carbon sinks, storing up to 20% of the world’s soil organic carbon. Unfortunately, grasslands are continuing to rapidly disappear for several reasons. For ecological health, most grassland ecosystems need periods of disturbance to aerate (使透气) the soil, stimulate plant growth and recycle nutrients into the soil. Ranchers complete this disturbance-rest cycle by managing the timing, location, herd size and intensity of grazing activities, all of which can be time-consuming and painstaking.

“Currently, the costs of virtual fencing are still high, but in the long run it can help land managers better carry out management practices that regenerate land health, help address climate change and biodiversity loss,” said William Burnidge, director of the Nature Conservancy.

Over the past few months, I’ve been invited to speak with well-known writers, musicians and film producers regarding my recent book, Extraterrestrial. Prior to these conversations, I was on the receiving (and admiring) end of their artistic work, but now they were curious about my own research as a scientist. The reverse led me to recognize the similarities between innovation in the arts and the sciences.

In sciences and arts alike, creativity appears magically as an unpredictable fountain of inspiration from the subconscious (潜意识). Its unexpected content breaks routines within traditional thinking. It delivers something new that is distinct from common practices, often taking people out of their comfort zone because it is ahead of its time. As a result, many innovators are laughed at and denied the recognition they deserve when they need it the most.

There are many examples of such circumstances. In 1933 Fritz Zwicky inferred the existence of “dark matter”, but it took four decades for this concept to gain recognition within the astronomy community. Vincent van Gogh was considered a madman and a failure throughout his life. Today, his paintings are among the most expensive ever sold, though.

Typically, life offers two ways of acquiring objects. One is by collecting available items, and the other is by creating things that never existed before. Whereas most items on the shelves of supermarkets are mass-produced, products that are newly created by artists or scientists are originally unique. Just like aging wine, a product of creative work acquires quality over time. It is colored by the response of the audience as well as by imitations. The initial circumstances are a reminder of an admirable baby. It is fascinating for a scientist or an artist to watch the interaction of their creation with the world, just as it is for parents to watch their children.

Creativity in arts and sciences establishes a backdrop for human existence, as the content it invents gives pleasure and meaning to our lives. The human act of creation is an infinite-sum game, from which all of us benefit. And we can all participate in the creative process.