A GROUP of scientists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) locked themselves to a mechanical tree in the Science Museum today to protest against the sponsorship of a new exhibition by Shell. The group, who used bicycle cables and D-locks to lock themselves inside the exhibit on its opening day, said that the Science Museum’s decision to continue to accept the multinational oil and gas giant’s sponsorship gives legitimacy to its planetary destruction. Scientists for XR wrote to Science Museum Group director Ian Blatchford in May asking that the museum cut all ties with big oil companies, which they say have an extensive track record of funding the distortion of science as well as countless accusations of human rights abuses.