Boston Flora

Tag: Haller Hall

  • Friday, March 1, 7:00 pm Eastern – Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species, Live and Online

    On Friday, March 1, the New England Botanical Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 pm at Harvard University’s Haller Lecture Hall and also live via Zoom. Dr. John Daigle, Professor of Forest Recreation Management, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine in Orono, will speak on Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species Threatening Maine’s Ash Trees and Wabanaki Cultural Lifeways. Free. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.

    For the past 15 years, Dr. John J. Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, has been working on a project mobilizing diverse interests to address potential threats from invasive species in Maine – the case of the Emerald Ash Borer. The research seeks to study and facilitate the ways that Wabanaki, basket-makers, tribes, state and federal foresters, university researchers, landowners and others come together to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat of Emerald Ash Borer. He has published research with co-authors on outreach and education, management, and policy. In 2023, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik or APCAW was created, offering informative webinars and in-person trainings, as well as a dedicated APCAW website for recorded sessions and other program information.

  • Saturday, December 5, 2:00 pm – Science of the Magical

    Can bird migrations foretell the future? Do phases of the moon hold sway over our lives? Are there sacred springs with curative powers? What is the best way to brew a love potion? In this Harvard Museum of Natural History interdisciplinary talk filled with tales of adventure, science journalist Matt Kaplan, author of The Science of Monsters and Science of the Magical, will explore the rich, lively, and surprising reality behind some of the magical objects, places, and ideas that infuse ancient and modern myths.

    This program takes place Saturday, December 5 at 2 pm and is located at Haller Hall (enter at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street). Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage. Free with museum admission.

  • Friday, December 4, 6:45 pm – Red Needles in Green Haystacks: On the Trail of the Wild Paperbark Maple

    Dr. Michael S. Dosmann, Curator of Living Collections, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, will address the New England Botanical Club on Friday, December 4 beginning at 6:45 in Haller Hall on the Harvard University campus.  His lecture, open to the public, will be on Red Needles in Green Haystacks: On the Trail of the Wild Paperbark Maple. Since its initial introduction from China to the West by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1901, the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) has become rather common in cultivation, particularly in gardens, arboreta, and other managed ornamental landscapes. And yet, this species’ status is anything but common in the wild in central and western China. As part of a collaborative conservation initiative, the Arnold Arboretum is surveying wild populations, and comparing these with lineages introduced from the wild to get a global perspective of genetic diversity in this species. Photo courtesy of Cornell University. For further info see: http://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html.

  • Saturday, November 8, 2:00 pm – Eight Extraordinary Years of Scientific Travel: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Malay Archipelago

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History will host Andrew Berry, Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, on Saturday, November 8, beginning at 2 pm in Haller Hall (entrance at 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge.) Alfred Russel Wallace, who co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin, was a remarkable scientist-explorer. His eight years of travel in Southeast Asia (1854–1862) greatly influenced his scientific thinking and resulted in the discovery of thousands of new species, as well as a wonderful account of his journeys, The Malay Archipelago. To celebrate the release of a new edition of this classic work, Andrew Berry will tell Wallace’s extraordinary story, discussing how the book originated and how it shaped future generations of scientific travel. Regular Museum admission rates apply, and enjoy free parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

  • Friday, February 1, 6:45 pm – The Amazing Antioxidant, Apogamous, and Amorous Genus Aronia

    Bryan A. Connolly, State Botanist, Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, will speak to the New England Botanical Club on Friday, February 1, beginning at 6:45 pm, on The Amazing Antioxidant, Apogamous, and Amorous Genus Aronia.  The meeting will be held in the Haller Lecture Hall, Room 102, of the Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge.  The meeting is open to the public.  For more information, visit www.rhodora.org. Image from 5400squarefeet.blogspot.com.

  • Tuesday, January 15, 7:30 pm – Other People’s Bugs: The Politics and Perceptions of Public Health Pests on Global and Personal Scales

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday January 15 at 7:30 PM in the Haller Hall of the Harvard Geological Museum (24 Oxford St Rm 102). Please note that in January we are meeting on the third Tuesday of the month and in a different room. Richard Pollack will present a talk entitled “Other people’s bugs: The politics and perceptions of public health pests on global and personal scales”.

    Diverse insects find people attractive – and cause other people to shun those endowed with genuine and presumed infestations. Fears of certain insects have long been used as excuses to repress the liberty and opportunities of others, or as political fodder to advance political agenda. Dr. Pollack will highlight several examples pertaining to lice, mosquitoes, bed bugs and yet other of his favorite creatures to scratch the surface of this complex topic.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:00 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at the West Side Lounge restaurant.