Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard Museum Of Natural History

  • Wednesday, March 30, 6:00 pm – New Directions in EcoPlanning Annual Lecture

    Anne Whiston Spirn is an award-winning author, photographer, and professor of landscape architecture and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her work is devoted to promoting life-sustaining communities: places that are functional, sustainable, meaningful, and artful, and help people understand the relationship between the natural and built worlds. This Harvard Museum of Natural History program will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 30. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Reception to follow. Supported by a generous gift from Michael Dyett (AB ’68, MRP ’72) and Heidi Richardson. For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Sunday, March 20, 2:00 pm – Drawing and Observing Nature: From Cambridge to Africa and Back

    On Sunday, March 20, beginning at 2 pm, artist, author, and naturalist Clare Walker Leslie will talk about her travels to Africa, the Arctic, and other distant lands to draw wildlife in their natural habitats. Much of her preparation for these adventures begins with drawing specimens of those very same animals in the galleries at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, such as the polar bear, zebra, lion, sea birds, and whales. Her newest book, The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms will be available for purchase and signing. Free with museum admission. Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu, 617-495-3045, hmnh@oeb.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, March 5, 2:00 pm – Vanishing of the Bees

    We’ve already mentioned the Insect Planet: Family Festival at Harvard Museum of Natural History, taking place this Saturday, March 5, from 9 – 5 at Harvard’s Museum of Natural History (see www.hmnh.harvard.edu for a complete run down of events), but we’ve just learned that a screening of the documentary Vanishing of the Bees, a documentary examining the mysterious disappearance of honeybees across the planet, has been added to the day’s activities.  Filmed spanning the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, it examines the alarming phenomena known as Colony Collapse Disorder, and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth.  The film is narrated by Ellen Page and is for adults and children ages 12 and older.  See more information about the film at www.vanishingbees.com.  The screening is free with museum admission, and since admission to the museum is free all this coming weekend for Bank of America’s Museums on Us program – that means free to any Bank of America credit or debit card holder, about half of everyone in Massachusetts, this is a very sweet deal.  See more about the Bank of America program at http://museums.bankofamerica.com.

  • Saturday, March 12, 2:00 pm – The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle

    Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps, and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers—author Sara Wheeler will discuss her adventures in the beautiful and brutal Arctic from her book The Magnetic North, featured in the Boston Globe and the February 6 edition of the New York Times Book Review. The lecture and book signing will take place at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, beginning at 2 pm on Saturday, March 12. Free with museum admission.  For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, March 5, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Insect Planet Family Festival

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge,  will be buzzing with dozens of family activities on Saturday, March 5, from 9 – 5, as we explore the amazing world of insects and their relatives, spiders, crustaceans, and the many other creatures that comprise nearly 80% of all animals on Earth. Get close to live beetles, scorpions, and centipedes; listen to the sounds of insects communicating; experiment with robots that mimic bugs; and meet the Harvard scientists who collect and study these amazing creatures. Free with museum admission. Insect Planet is supported in part by the Cambridge Trust Company. Call 617-495-3045 for more information, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.  Image below from www.spiderzrule.com.

  • Wednesday, March 9, 6:00 pm – There and Back Again: Deep-Sea Exploration to the Earth’s Most Extreme Habitats

    The majority of our biosphere consists of deep ocean, but to date we have explored very little of it. Indeed, just thirty years ago scientists discovered entirely new ecosystems thriving on chemicals from within the Earth (rather than from sunlight). Harvard biologist Peter Girguis, Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard, will highlight some of these amazing deep-sea explorations and discuss current research, including the role of deep-sea microbes in mitigating oil spill disasters. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, beginning at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 9.  Image below of Ridgea worms from Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence at  www.cosee.net. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Sunday, January 23, 2:00 pm – From Earthquakes to Volcanoes

    Although large earthquakes are rare and the last volcanoes raged off our coast thousands of years ago, New England has a surprising amount of active seismic activity and a geologic landscape full of volcanic remains. Join Jack Loveless, post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Harvard, to learn how these spectacular natural events occur, handle real volcanic rocks, and see how scientists use new techniques, such as 3-D vision, to understand tectonic movement and forecast earthquakes. This program at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, will begin at 2 pm on Sunday, January 23, and you can be home before the NFL playoff game begins. Free with museum admission. Call 617-495-3045, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu for more information.

  • Saturday, December 11, 2:00 pm – Eden on the Charles

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, will host author Michael Rawson, whose book Eden on the Charles, The Making of Boston, will be available for purchase and signing on Saturday, December 11 at 2 pm following his speech. The cost of the lecture is free with museum admission. For more information, call 617-495-3045, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

    In his latest book, Eden on the Charles (Harvard University Press), author Michael Rawson provides a new environmental perspective on the creation of one of America’s first cities. Rawson will explore how early Bostonians led the nation in urbanization, and how various class and ethnic groups brought rival ideas of nature and competing visions of a “city upon a hill” to the process—and were forced to conform their goals to the realities of Boston’s distinctive natural setting.

  • Sunday, January 30 – Friday, February 4 – Kingdom of the Monarchs

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History will sponsor a six day trip led by Dr. Alfonso Alonso beginning January 30 to Kingdom of the Monarchs.  One of the world’s most astounding natural events occurs each year in North America, featuring one of its most unlikely creatures, the delicate monarch butterfly.  Up to 300 million monarchs set flight on a remarkable 2,500 mile journey from the  northeastern US and Canada to their ancestral wintering grounds in the volcanic mountains of central Mexico.  Until recently, the location of their breeding grounds remained a mystery.  How an infant generation of butterflies finds it anew each year is still an enigma.  Join a small group to experience this moving phenomenon, as well as Mexico’s charming colonial villages.  There is an optional humpback whale post-extension.  Price $2,995 per person double occupancy, with a $545 single supplement available.  To learn more, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu and click on World Expeditions: Travel.

  • Friday, December 3, 6:00 pm – Changes in the Flora of the Middlesex Fells Reservation

    Dr. Bryan Hamlin, Chair of the Friends of the Middlesex Fells, will address the New England Botanical Club on Friday, December 3, beginning at 6 pm in Haller Lecture Hall, Room 102, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge.  Dr. Hamlin will speak on the disappointments and pleasant surprises found at the Middlesex Fells Reservation.  The meeting is open to the public.  If you have questions, contact Dr. Nancy Eyster-Smith at neystersmith@bentley.edu.  For more information on the New England Botanical Club, log on to www.rhodora.org.