Join The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, The Arnold Arboretum, and plant biologist and author Beronda Montgomery for a discussion on May 19 at 6:30pm of her new book, When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy. Taking place at Hunnewell Hall at the Arnold Arboretum, Montgomery explores the way that eight trees and shrubs testify to the experience of black Americans and takes us through black American history with trees and shrubs as our guides. Register here www.arboretum.harvard.edu/event/when-trees-testify-by-beronda-montgomery/
Discover the story of James Arnold, for whom the Arnold Arboretum is named, and others whose legacy gifts helped secure its future. In celebration of nearly 154 years of plants and people, join Director of Library and Archives, Lisa Pearson, on January 31 from 11 – 12:30 for a talk on the founding of the Arboretum and how these impactful gifts have allowed it to thrive and grow in perpetuity. Snacks will be provided. This is a Members Only event. To join the Arnold Arboretum, visit https://arboretum.harvard.edu/support/
Join the Arnold Arboretum on February 1 at noon for a talk by popular Mushroom Hunt instructor Maria Pinto on her new book, Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival. Maria weaves together memoir, mycology, and cultural history to illuminate the deep and surprising ways fungi connect with human life. With vivid storytelling and a fiercely original voice, she explores fungi not just as biological wonders but as tools of survival, subversion, and spiritual sustenance – especially for thos living at the margins. The program takes place in Hunnewell Hall. For more information visit https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events-2/program-catalog/
Developed and led by Sun Joo Kim , Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History, this Harvard Alumni Travels itinerary on May 29 – June 10 is a dynamic blend of ancient tradition and modern culture. Begin in Seoul with Changdeokgung Palace and its Secret Garden, art museums, and bustling markets. Enjoy contemporary cuisine in a traditional Hanok, wander Insa-dong’s galleries, and delve into Korean art at the Leeum Museum and Kukje Gallery. Explore the poignant history of the Korean War with a visit to the DMZ and reflect on over five centuries of Confucian traditions at the royal Joseon dynasty tombs. Continue to Suwon to tour the UNESCO-listed fortress, then venture east to Sokcho’s vibrant fish markets and the scenic beauty of Seoraksan National Park. Marvel at Odaesan National Park and explore UNESCO World Heritage sites like Hahoe Folk Village and Bulguksa Temple before concluding in Seoul. Complete information may be found at https://alumni.harvard.edu/travel/trips/south-korea-2026
Weeping willows the tranquil waters of a lake reflecting a pavilion in the heart of Seoul, South Korea.
Imagine studying a pseudoscorpion, a tiny arachnid that is almost too small to see. In 1891, Harvard curator Nathan Banks mounted such a creature on a microscope slide. Over 130 years later, that same specimen is still carefully preserved in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ).
In trays, boxes, and drawers in the museum’s collections spaces, there are around 50,000 tiny treasures in the form of invertebrate specimens mounted on microscope slides, some more than 150 years old. Under magnification, these slides reveal fascinating anatomical details, such as the delicate veins of a dragonfly’s wing or the symmetry of a beetle antenna.
The slides are colorfully and ornately labeled and transport the viewer to a time when Harvard graduate Addison Emery Verrill etched on a slide featuring a Leptogorgia soft coral specimen, “sent to James Dwight Dana by Charles Darwin.” The slide is on display in the exhibit. Also on display is a slide made by William Morton Wheeler for his 1893 thesis study on insect embryos. This is paired with a microscope that Wheeler, who became a Harvard professor, used at the MCZ in the 1920s.
In the mid-19th century, microscopes offered scientists a means to study the details of invertebrates, opening up a world of scholarship. The MCZ’s incredible slide collection spans species and continents, decades and collectors. It’s still growing today as Harvard researchers continue to mount new specimens on slides.
In 2024, Mansi Srivastava, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Co-Chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, joined with curatorial staff from across Harvard’s Entomology, Invertebrate Zoology, and Malacology collections to embark on a massive digitization project. The goal: to locate, restore, rehouse, and digitize these slides that had been largely overlooked for over a century.
The project includes securing high-quality images of some 3,000 slide-mounted type specimens: the examples on which scientific names and descriptions are based. When the project is complete, a treasure trove of digital data to be shared with researchers and the public online.
Through the new exhibit Making the Invisible Visible: Digitizing Invertebrates on Microscope Slides, visitors will discover how digitizing slide-mounted specimens brings information from the collections to the wider world, truly making the unseen seen! At an Interactive microscope station, visitors can zoom in to explore a series of slides and compare a before-and-after example to see how MCZ staff cleaned and preserved a slide.
In the gallery, a wall of oversized images highlights the beauty and diversity of the slide-mounted specimens found at the microscope. This smaller-scale exhibit will be on display in the Arthropods gallery, which also features the new Velvet Worms exhibit and the famous Rockefeller Beetles.
This exhibition was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Mansi Srivastava, Naomi Pierce, Adam Baldinger, Crystal Maier, and Jennifer Trimble. High-resolution images were taken by Amelia Lawson, Even Dankowicz, and Jenni Nelson.
Making the Invisible Visible: Digitizing Invertebrates on Microscope Slides opened December 12 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. For museum hours and visitor information, please visit hmsc.harvard.edu/visit.
Most of us know honeybees for the delicious honey they create (and the occasional sting!) But for scientists, the non-native honeybee represents a potential threat to our native bumblebees and butterflies. Biology Professor Dr. Richard Primack has been studying these insects at the Arnold Arboretum, observing flower visitors at over 600 plant species to determine if honeybees and native pollinators can co-exist. Join him for a research talk on December 7 from noon – 1:15 at the Hunnewell Lecture Hall. For more information visit https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events-2/program-catalog/
Embark on an extraordinary expedition to the Geographic North Pole aboard the world’s only luxury icebreaker powered by hybrid-electric propulsion, Le Commandant Charcot. Along with travelers from Harvard Alumni Travels, Dartmouth College Alumni Travel, Stanford Travel/Study, and Brown Travelers, navigate the ice floes and shifting seascapes of the High Arctic on the way to 90° North—the elusive pinnacle of polar exploration. Witness a dynamic world of polar bears, seals, whales, and ivory gulls, and engage in optional adventures such as kayaking, snowshoeing, and even a polar plunge.
This is an expedition-type cruise involving shore landings by rubber Zodiac boats. Participants must be able to get in and out of the Zodiacs with minimal assistance. While ashore in the Arctic, the excursions involve a fair amount of walking over rocky, uneven, and sometimes steep terrain. Activities such as kayaking, snowshoeing, and polar plunging will be offered and will have physical and medical requirements that will be shared in confirmation documents. The trip takes place next year, August 25 – September 11, 2026. For more information visit https://alumni.harvard.edu/travel/trips/north-pole-2026
In the dark depths of the ocean, light flickers where you least expect it. This hands-on Harvard Museum of Natural History workshop on September 13 will explore the radiant worlds of bioluminescence and fluorescence—where creatures from bioluminescent marine microbes to fluorescent jellyfish shed light without a bulb in sight. We’ll zoom in to symbiotic microorganisms that use bioluminescence to camouflage their hosts from predators, and then zoom out to examine bioluminescent and fluorescent specimens from the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s collections. Along the way, we’ll uncover how organisms use this natural glow for communication, camouflage, and predation, revealing a hidden language of light in the natural world. To wrap up the experience, you will have the opportunity to create “living art” in a petri dish using fluorescent microorganisms as paint. Participants will receive high-resolution images of their art after the artwork has grown overnight. No prior science background is required to participate in this class. All attendees must be 18 or older. $35 for Museum members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at www.hmnh.harvard.edu
Ellie Rand is a recent graduate and Sophia Wiesenfeld is a current student in the Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology PhD program at Harvard Medical School. They both research microbiology and utilize fluorescence for a variety of experiments. Understanding where bioluminescence and fluorescence arose in the environment and how to manipulate it in the lab is a lot of fun, and they can’t wait to share it with you!
Registration is now open for Harvard Climate Action Week 2025 (September 15–21), a series of in-person and online events organized by Schools and centers across the University that will explore solutions to the most complex and challenging dimensions of climate change. Capping the week, the Salata Institute’s three-day Harvard Climate Symposium will convene leaders from government, business, the nonprofit sector, and academia to discuss actions to enhance climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more and Register at https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/hcaw/
What will be the future of natural and built landscapes as we face climate change, political turmoil, and technological advancements? What constitutes heritage and how can it be preserved? What can be adapted to emerging and unpredictable futures?
Renowned practitioners and researchers will gather at Longwood Gardens on October 15 & 16 to share projects, propose ideas, and discuss. This international symposium will also celebrate the relocation and reconstruction of its Cascade Garden, designed by Roberto Burle Marx.
Speakers include Anita Berrizbeitia, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Paul B. Redman of Longwood Gardens, Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi of Weiss/Manfredi, Kristin Frederickson of Reed Hilderbrand, and Kongjian Yu of Turenscape. Learn more and register at https://designingchange.longwoodgardens.org/
