Boston Flora

Tag: Geological Lecture Hall

  • Thursday, January 31, 6:00 pm – What Art Thou, Little Bird?

    We might think robins are simply a common backyard bird, but actually they represent one of the most unusual, successful, and abundant animals (the order Aves) in Earth’s history. The new science of evolutionary developmental biology (“evo-devo”) sheds fascinating light on the evolution of birds’ highly distinct skulls with toothless beaks, and on how modern birds can generate a seemingly endless array of beak shapes. Arkhat Abzhanov, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, will speak on Thursday, January 31, beginning at 6 pm on Developmental Mechanisms for the Origin and Evolution of Birds. Part of the Evolution Matters Lecture Series, supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking for evening lectures in the 52 Oxford Street garage.

  • Thursday, November 29, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – The Ants of New England

    Ecologist Aaron Ellison (of the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA) and co-authors have just completed the new Field Guide to the Ants of New England (Yale University  Press), the first user-friendly regional guide devoted to the diversity, ecology, natural history and beauty of the “little things that run the world.” Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 line drawings and 300 photographs, Ellison’s guide introduces amateur and professional naturalists alike to more than 140 ant species found in the northeast U.S. and eastern Canada. On Thursday, November 29, beginning at 6 pm at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, hear a free lecture by the author followed by a book signing. Free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street garage.  For more information call 617-495-3045, or visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Friday, October 19, 6:00 pm – Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

    If you were riveted by The Hot Zone, this Harvard Museum of Natural History program is for you.  Science author David Quammen explores how a litany of pandemic diseases like Ebola, SARS, and Hendra share a single pattern: they are transmitted to humans by bugs that originate in wild animals. He will speak on Friday, October 19 beginning at 6 pm, and a book signing will follow. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking in the 52 Oxford Street garage.

  • Wednesday, May 2, 6:00 pm – Why Evolution is True and Why Many People Still Don’t Believe It

    Jerry Coyne, a professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago and author of the seminal book, Why Evolution is True, is one of the world’s most eloquent defenders of evolutionary science in the face of legal, religious, and cultural opposition. In this Wednesday, May 2nd talk beginning at 6 pm, Coyne will explore the multifarious evidence for evolution, why Americans are so resistant to accepting the theory, and what can be done to make the country more evolution-friendly. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series. Supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit.  For more information visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Thursday, March 8, 6:00 pm – A Great Green Cloud: The Rise and Fall of the City Elms

    Decades before Olmsted parks, Yankee villagers planted elm trees on their streets and commons to forge a union of rus and urbe, i.e. the rustic and the urban. The trees brought about “a kind of compromise between town and country,” observed Charles Dickens, as if each had met the other halfway and shaken hands upon it. The result was that lost masterpiece of American urbanism, “Elm Street.” Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the University of North Carolina, will explore elm culture in the U.S., and how our love affair with this giant nearly brought it to the edge of disappearance, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s New Directions in EcoPlanning Annual Lecture on Thursday, March 8, beginning at 6 pm . Reception to follow, free and open to the public.  Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Supported by a gift from Michael Dyett (AB ’68, MRP ’72) and Heidi Richardson.

  • Wednesday, February 1, 6:00 pm – The Origin of Cellular Life

    The amazing diversity of life is a result of billions of years of evolution. But how did the process of evolution begin? Nobel Prize winner Jack Szostak, a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, will describe how efforts to design and build very simple living cells are testing our assumptions about the nature of life, generating ideas about how life emerged from the chemistry of early Earth, and offering clues as to how modern life evolved from its earliest ancestors. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series at The Harvard Museum of Natural History. Supported by a gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit.  For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, January 18, 6:00 pm – Strange New Worlds: From Meteorites in Antarctica to the Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System

    Renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana, University of Toronto and current Radcliffe Institute fellow, will give a lively talk on cutting-edge science of today’s planet hunters, the prospects for discovering alien life, and the debate and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, January 18, beginning at 6 pm.  Jayawardhana will also discuss his recent travels to the frigid ice of Antarctica where he went to look for meteorites—and found them. Following the talk, he will sign copies of his recent book, Strange New Worlds. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage.  For directions, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, November 30, 6:00 pm – Relics: Travels in Nature’s Time Machine

    In his newest book, Relics, world-renowned zoologist Piotr Naskrecki travels the globe to photograph “relics,” creatures or habitats that, while acted upon by evolution, remain remarkably similar to their earliest manifestations in the fossil record. From horseshoe crabs of the Atlantic to orchids of New Guinea, Naskrecki has created a time-lapse tour of life that has persisted nearly untouched for hundreds of millions of years.  This lecture and booksigning will be held on Wednesday, November 30, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.

  • Wednesday, November 9, 6:00 pm – How Much Can Trees and Forests Slow Global Warming?

    Much research and debate in the scientific community is devoted to the question the impact forests have on in the capture or sequestration of carbon dioxide, the primary gas that causes the climate-warming “greenhouse effect.” Are more forests the key to slowing the rate of rising global temperatures or is it too optimistic to think they can capture enough of the world’s CO2 emissions to solve the problem? Hear two of Harvard’s most active climate researchers tackle this question from different perspectives, atmospheric chemist Steven Wofsy and forest ecologist Andrew Richardson, on Wednesday, November 9, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Part of the Challenges and Choices lecture series. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, September 14, 6:00 pm – Challenges and Choices: The History and Future of New England’s Forests

    Today forests cover 80% of the New England landscape, yet are under-appreciated for the vast array of human benefits they provide. Forests filter our air and water, provide local wood products, sustain wildlife, and give us places to hike and play. But now, for the first time in almost 200 years, forest cover is declining in every New England state due to widespread environmental and land-use change. Join David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest, on Wednesday, September 14, beginning at 6 pm,  for a lecture that draws on more than a century of research at the Harvard Forest about the challenges and choices we face in planning our forests’ future. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Part of the Challenges and Choices lecture series. Cosponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association.  Reception to follow ($10), which may be reserved by calling 617-495-1920 or by emailing haa_alumnieducation@harvard.edu.