Now Showing
August 2026 — January 2027
MSC 10th Anniversary Milestone Exhibition
MAELab Exhibition 05
A decade of mind science — and the small, everyday choices that shape how we think, feel, and age.
About the Exhibition
We used to ask how to treat a failing mind. For ten years, we have asked a better question: how do we keep it strong?
Can wellbeing be strengthened through everyday actions? Can conditions like depression or dementia be delayed, or even prevented, without relying on medication alone? Since 2016, the Yeo Boon Khim Mind Science Centre has pursued these questions through upstream, evidence-based research into prevention, resilience and the environments we live in
This exhibition brings together a decade of science, the voices of volunteers and participants, and ideas that have travelled from the lab into everyday life. As you move through it, we invite you to consider what it means to build an “undefeated mind”, and to notice how small choices made today quietly shape healthier futures.
INSIDE THE EXHIBITION
Building Undefeated Minds
For most of the last century, we asked how to treat a failing mind. For ten years, the Yeo Boon Khim Mind Science Centre has asked a better question: how do we keep it strong? Since 2016, MSC has pursued upstream, evidence-based research into prevention, resilience and the environments we live in, exploring whether conditions like depression and dementia can be delayed, even prevented, without relying on medication alone. This exhibition brings together a decade of science and ideas that travelled from the lab into everyday life. Step in and discover what an undefeated mind looks like.
The Rising Tide of Dementia
Dementia cases in Singapore rose from 28,000 in 2012 to around 74,000 in 2023, and are projected to hit 152,000 by 2030. Since drug trials have largely failed to reverse dementia, MSC asked a different question: could it be prevented before it begins?
Age Well Everyday (AWE)
Findings on mindfulness, art, singing and long-held habits led to Age Well Everyday, Asia’s first community dementia-prevention programme. After five years, dementia among the first AWE cohort was just 3%, against an expected 6%. Showing up, week after week, roughly halved the risk, proof that prevention doesn’t have to stay in the lab.
Your Brain Is Not Fixed
For most of the last century, scientists believed the adult brain was set for life. They were wrong. The brain constantly reorganises itself, forming and strengthening connections across your entire life, a process called neuroplasticity, once thought to belong only to childhood. This single fact changes everything: mental health is no longer just something to treat once it breaks, but something that can be shaped early and strengthened over time. Every study in this exhibition is one piece of that larger puzzle, showing how small, everyday habits are quite literally building your brain, right now.
Your Environment Is Medicine You Can Walk Into
City living carries higher rates of depression and anxiety, but the outdoors can help. MSC’s partnership with NParks shows how gardens and green spaces lower stress and restore attention, with just 20 minutes among trees a few times a week making a measurable difference.
The Struggles We Don't See
Adolescence is when much of who we become takes shape. It is also, for many young people today, a time of rising pressure, and the distress that comes with it often goes unspoken. Adolescents with higher resilience reported lower stress, notably lower stress from academic expectations. In a high-pressure system, resilience acts as a buffer against the weight young people carry.
Raising a Resilient Child
Research has found that good parenting is one of the most significant factors in building a child’s resilience. Two things matter most: a warm, accepting parenting style, and a parent’s own ability to cope with the stresses of work and life. Children learn how to handle emotion largely by watching how the adults around them do it.
The Next Ten Years
A decade in, the questions are bigger and the need greater. MSC’s next chapter widens its path across the whole life course and across borders: strengthening resilience in schools and families, embedding wellbeing into neighbourhoods through social prescribing, using digital tools to detect distress earlier, and supporting the caregivers who hold families together, including in the workplace. Looking further ahead, MSC aims to shape policy and build a network of mental-health researchers across ASEAN and beyond. None of this happens alone. It grows through partnership, and a shared belief that prevention changes lives.
Exhibition Details
- Opening Hours
Monday to Thursday: Visits by appointment only. Please book at least two working days in advance. Visiting hours are 10am to 5pm.
Friday: 10am–5pm (closed 12–1pm, last entry 4pm)
Saturday & Sunday: Closed
Public Holidays: Closed
Notice:
Please note that the building is currently under partial renovation and there will be scaffolding (in blue) on the exterior till June 2026. MAELab is still accessible to visitors via the lift facing the carpark lots.
Getting to MAELab
Location
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Alexandra Hospital, 378 Alexandra Road, Blk 29 Level 2, Singapore 159964
MAELab is located above the cafeteria.
Opening Hours
MAELab does not have fixed opening hours. The space is open only during exhibitions, and on selected days depending on the programme. Visitors are encouraged to check our exhibition listings for the most up-to-date schedule.
MRT
By MRT The nearest MRT stations are Queenstown and Redhill (East-West Line).
- From Queenstown MRT (Exit A): Take Bus 51 to Alexandra Hospital
- From Queenstown MRT (Exit B): Take the hospital’s free Queenstown shuttle bus
- From Commonwealth MRT: Take Bus 100
- From Redhill MRT: Take Bus 33 or 120
Bus
You can alight directly at the Alexandra Hospital bus stop (bus stop code 11511).
Bus services that go to this stop include: 14, 33, 51, 61, 93, 100, 120, 195, 197.
There’s also a free shuttle bus run by Alexandra Hospital:
- Queenstown Route: from Queenstown MRT to the hospital.
- NUH ↔ Alexandra Hospitalroute on weekdays (check the hospital’s site for schedule).
Car
Parking is available on site. Rates are: S$0.035/min, capped at S$25.