Did you know that corundum is exactly half of everything you could ever want in a gemstone? The “big four” gemstones in the jewelry industry are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald. Both ruby and sapphire are varieties of corundum, so although you may have never heard of it, the mineral we are discussing today […]
Museum guests who find their way into the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals usually have no trouble finding something to be in awe of. Passing through the Hall on my daily rounds, while looking for new hidden gems to spotlight, I rarely make it further than a few feet from the entrance before I […]
Gaze deeply into the depths of the newest object in our Hall of Gems & Minerals and your mind’s eye will feel like it’s traveling along the path of comets as they journey through space. But what you are really looking at are actually naturally occurring rutile inclusions in quartz. What are rutile inclusions? […]
This large diamond, responsible for catching the eyes of many patrons in the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals was discovered in the late 1970s in Russia and acquired by the museum in 1985. Diamonds were first discovered in Russia during the placer gold mining operations in the Ural Mountains during the late eighteenth century. […]
By Alexander Ruff, HMNS Concierge and Discovery Guide What are minerals? Supplements that you take every morning? In some cases sure. When we think of minerals it usually coincides with vitamins, but for geologists and your everyday rock hounds, minerals have a whole different meaning. As the chain of geology goes, atoms make up molecules, […]
We’ve all heard of the notorious classified ads. Whether you think the stories emanating from those newspaper columns are romantic or creepy, it can’t be denied that they are interesting to hear about. Here at HMNS we have missed connections everywhere. But I don’t mean human connections, or a least living human connections… The connections that […]
by “Cretaceous” Chris Wells Brazil is a beautiful country, but not in the same way as the Florida Keys, Hawaii, or Aspen. Everywhere in Brazil you have a wonderful dichotomy between the grotesque and the graceful. The entire country is like an impressionist painting — up close you see sloppiness and imperfection, but if you […]
Last week’s featured #HMNSBlockParty creation is by Landon (age: 5): Want to get your engineering handwork featured? Drop by our Block Party interactive play area and try your own hand building a gravity-defying masterpiece. Tag your photos with #HMNSBlockParty. Visit HMNS For Spring Break! Extended Hours at all HMNS branches: HMNS Hermann Park (March 12-20) – Monday-Sunday: […]
Bust out your planners, calendars, and PDAs (if you are throwback like that), it’s time to mark your calendars for the HMNS events of this week! Last week’s featured #HMNSBlockParty creation is by Ahab: Want to get your engineering handwork featured? Drop by our Block Party interactive play area and try your own hand building […]
Tentacles, bodies and skeletons, oh my! No matter how beautiful or how vital to the history of natural science and life on Earth, some things are just a little freaky. Check out this short list of our top 13 strange, weird and scary artifacts housed in the permanent halls of the Houston Museum of Natural […]
