Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard Museum Of Natural History

  • Thursday, July 15, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Summer Night at the Museum

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History hosts extended hours on the third Thursday of each summer month. Explore the museum and the new Headgear exhibition. Join Peter Hedman, 2010 graduate of Harvard College with a concentration in the Earth & Planetary Sciences, for a 6 pm gallery talk on “Rock of Ages: The Evolution of Minerals through Earth History”, and Dr. Vera Domingues, a researcher in Harvard’s Department of Mammalogy, for a 7:00 pm gallery tour on “Natural Selection at Work: Color and Patterns in the Wild” in the Language of Color exhibition.

    Bring friends to see the world famous exhibit of 3,200 ‘Glass Flowers’, amazingly realistic models of plants, fruits and flowers created by father-son glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka from 1886-1936. You won’t believe they’re not real – a detail is pictured below.

    Explore 12,000 specimens drawn from Harvard’s vast research collections at the University’s most visited museum — dinosaurs, meteorites, gemstones, and hundreds of prehistoric and current-day animals from around the globe. Get close to the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus, a 42 ft-long marine reptile; one of the first Triceratops ever discovered; a 1,642 lb. amethyst geode; three huge whale skeletons.

    The museum is on the Harvard University campus, just a short, 7-10 minute walk through historic Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square MBTA Red Line ‘T’ station. Open daily, 9 am – 5 pm, 361 days/year. Handicapped accessible. Explore www.hmnh.harvard.edu for changing exhibitions, dozens of lectures, events, classes for all ages, year-round.

    The next Summer Night at the Museum will be August 19, 2010.

    Details on the Harvard Museum of Natural History website, http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php#summer

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  • Thursday, June 17, 7:30 pm – Birdology: From Hens to Hummingbirds – And One Big Living Dinosaur

    In her new book, Birdology, award-winning wildlife author Sy Montgomery explores questions such as: Do hawks show emotion, like anger, sympathy and frustration? Are birds actually living dinosaurs? Is there a secret emotional life to birds that we are only beginning to discover? Montgomery will explore these intriguing questions and others in this lecture and book signing on Thursday, June 17, at 7:30 pm at The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Free with museum admission. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045.

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  • Saturday, May 22 – Sunday, January 2, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Headgear: The Natural History of Horns & Antlers

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History announces a new multi-media exhibition, Headgear, an in-depth look at the natural history of horns and antlers. The exhibition opens to the public on May 22, 2010, and runs through January 2, 2011. Showcasing an astonishing collection of unique specimens—some on exhibit for the first time, Headgear will intrigue and engage learners of all ages.

    Horns and antlers are the often-dramatic head structures that characterize many cloven-hoofed mammals including cattle, antelope, sheep, and deer—collectively known as the artiodactyls. These animals exhibit enormous variation in the structure, size, and shape of their headgear, which are distinctive among species and also vary with sex and age.

    Why have artiodactyls evolved these extraordinary structures, many of which are so heavy and unwieldy? Did horns and antlers evolve as a defense against predators, to repel or intimidate rivals, or as an ornament designed to impress females? In this exhibition, visitors will explore these and other fascinating questions about how horns and antlers are formed, how they have evolved, and how they function.

    Headgear will feature dramatic arrays of horns, antlers, and head mounts of a wide variety of species drawn from the collections of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, as well as 3-D diorama and video presentations illustrating the use of horns and antlers in combat. Visitors will be invited to explore some of the properties of horns and antlers by touching real specimens and comparing their own body height to the world’s largest antlers, those of the extinct Irish Elk, which span as much as 12 feet. In addition, through specimens and text, visitors will learn about the structure and function of horn-like structures in other animals from tiny beetles to massive dinosaurs.

    Drawing from the collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and Harvard’s Semitic Museum, the exhibition will display artifacts fashioned from the horn and antler of hoofed animals around the world and introduce visitors to the cultural significance of horns, antlers, and animals that wear them, both real and imagined.

    “The number and diversity of specimens in this exhibition are truly breathtaking” said Elisabeth Werby, Executive Director of the Harvard Museum of Natural History. “Headgear is an extraordinary opportunity to contemplate the process of evolution in the context of creatures and images that are at the same time both strange and familiar.”

    Harvard Museum of Natural History
    The Harvard Museum of Natural History is located at 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, a 7 minute walk from the Harvard Square T station. The Museum is handicapped accessible. For general information see www.hmnh.harvard.edu or call 617-495-3045.

    With a mission to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the human place in it, the Harvard Museum of Natural History draws on the University’s collections and research to present a historic and interdisciplinary exploration of science and nature. More than 180,000 visitors annually make it the University’s most-visited museum.

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  • Tuesday, May 11, 7:00 pm – Life and Colony Size Among the Ants

    Entomologist, photographer, and intrepid world-traveler Mark Moffett explores the parallel between ant colonies and human societies in his latest book, Adventures with the Ants. From his travels to the Amazon, the Congo, Borneo, Australia, California and elsewhere, Moffett provides fascinating details on how ants live and dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors: hunting, fighting, building, recycling, and even creating marketplaces.  Mark Moffett — “Dr. Bugs” — grew up in Beloit and graduated from Beloit College in 1979. His explorations of tropical forests and ecology have taken him around the world, from the top of the world’s tallest tree to deep in unexplored caves. He has discovered new plant and animal species while risking life and limb to find stories that make people fall in love with the unexpected in nature.

    Moffett captivates audiences with first-hand stories of tropical ecology, treetop exploration, teamwork and goal accomplishment under extreme conditions, adventures under a rock (wonderful and weird stories of ants and spiders), and the love of nature and conservation. Television’s Stephen Colbert calls him “Ant-Man” and Conan O’Brien calls him a “frog-licker,” but Moffett calls himself a storyteller.

    The lecture, followed by a book signing, will take place Tuesday, May 11, at 7 pm, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information you may call 617-495-3045, or email hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu.

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  • Wednesday, April 28, 6:00 pm – New Directions in EcoPlanning Annual Lecture

    A reminder: On Wednesday, April 28, beginning at 6:00 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Jane Wolff (Harvard Graduate School of Design ’92) will present a free lecture New Directions in EcoPlanning, open to the public.  Ms. Wolff is Director of the Landscape Architecture program at the University of Toronto.  Her research and design work aims to articulate terms for landscapes where the line between nature and artifice is hard to draw.

    Professor Charles Waldheim, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design says of Jane Wolff: “Jane Wolff has emerged as among the strongest voices of her generation in the field of landscape architecture. Her work clearly articulates the complex and contradictory conditions for contested landscapes under pressure from rapid urbanization, deteriorating public infrastructures, increased demands for local agricultural production, and destination economies of recreation and leisure.”  The author of Delta Primer, a book and deck of cards designed to educate broad audiences about the contested landscapes of the California Delta (see image below), Ms. Wolff is currently involved in design, advocacy, and public information projects in San Francisco, New Orleans, and St. Louis.  The lecture is supported by a gift from Michael Dyett and Heidi Richardson.  For more information you may call 617-495-3045, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.  There will be a free  reception with the speaker in the galleries following the talk.

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  • Sunday, April 11, 2:00 pm – Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast

    Our cities and towns may seem harsh and unwelcoming to vegetation, but in the new field guide, Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast by Harvard botanist Peter Del Tredici, he details the spectacular array of plants that grow spontaneously in sidewalk cracks, flourish along chain-link fences, and line the banks of streams and rivers. Del Tredici will discuss the valuable ecological roles these plants play, from carbon storage and erosion control to providing food for wildlife. Co-sponsored with the Arnold Arboretum.  He will also sign copies of his book.

    Location:
    Harvard Museum of Natural History
    26 Oxford St.
    Cambridge , MA 02138

    Sponsor: Harvard Museum of Natural History, Arnold Arboretum
    Time(s): 2:00 pm, Sunday, April 11.
    Cost: Free with museum admission. Free to HMNH and Arnold Arboretum members
    Phone: 617-495-3045
    Email: hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu
    http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php

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  • Thursday, March 18, 6:00 – 8:00 pm – Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History is home to some of the country’s oldest and most varied collections of taxidermied animals.  Join the Museum staff for a gallery social and talk by author Melissa Milgrom, whose new book, Still Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) delves into the colorful world of eccentric naturalists and gifted museum artisans who create the illusion of life through taxidermy.  Free for Museum members, $20 for non-members.  Advance registration is required.  RSVP to members@oeb.harvard.edu, or call 617-496-6972.

  • Thursday, February 18, 6:00 pm – The Origins of Agriculture: Everything You Need to Know in 50 Minutes of Less (Rescheduled)

    Bruce Smith’s lecture at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, originally scheduled for February 11, has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 18, beginning at 6 pm at The Harvard Museum of Natural History.  Dr. Smith, Curator of North American Archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, has been stuck in the snow, but will arrive next week to discuss his current research on agricultural origins, and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect.  But perhaps not more complicated than getting out of Reagan International.  Free admission.  For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045.  A reception for museum members follows the talk.

  • Tuesday, February 23, 6:00 pm – From Cooking Food to Cooking the Planet: Growing Constraints to Food Production

    To keep pace with the world’s food demand, it is estimated that agriculture production must double by 2050.  Dr. Samuel Myers, Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a practicing physician, will discuss troubling trends, including climate change and increased threats from pests and pathogens that may constrain the world’s resources, requiring new approaches to sustainable agriculture.  The program will include a discussion moderated by Noel Michele Holbrook, Professor of Biology and Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry at Harvard. Free and open to the public. Part of the Food for Thought program series.

    Location:
    Harvard Museum of Natural History
    26 Oxford St.
    Cambridge , MA 02138

    Sponsor: Harvard Museum of Natural History
    Time(s): 6:00 pm, Tuesday, February 23
    Cost: Free and open to the public
    Phone: 617-495-3045
    Email: hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu
    http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php

  • Thursday, February 11, 6:00 – 7:00 pm – The Origins of Agriculture: Everything You Need to Know in 50 Minutes or Less

    The transition from hunting and gathering to food production was a seismic shift in human history. With it, we transformed the world. But how and when did this happen, and why is it important to understanding our current human condition? Bruce Smith, curator of North American archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will discuss his current research on agricultural origins — and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect.  This free lecture will take place at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, on Thursday, February 11, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.  For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.