About Nicole

Nicole has worked for HMNS in some capacity since 1996, whether part-time, full-time or as a volunteer. She taught for seven years in public school, including four years in Fort Bend and a short stint overseas. While she never taught science, she was always the teacher called when someone needed to remove a swarm of bees, catch a snake in the playground, or get the bat off the ceiling of the cafeteria.

Museum mysteries: What happens to the combs in the coin funnel? Yes, the combs.

Published by Nicole on March 15, 2013 at 10:37 am in Science

In the Museum’s Grand Hall is a coin vortex, and amongst the other wacky things we do around here, the Youth Education Department is the custodian of said vortex. We like numbers, charts and graphs, and so we have a tendency (some might call it a compulsion) to keep track of weird sets of information.

It’s no secret that HMNS is one of the most-visited museums in the United States, but we wanted to see just how well-visited HMNS actually is. Knowing that Houston is a huge metropolitan city with a great deal of international travelers, we decided to keep track of the non-American coins that showed up in the vortex, as that would give us a pretty good record of either where people came from or where they were headed.

The U.S. State Department recognizes 195 independent countries around the world. Currently we have confirmation that coins from 68 independent countries were used for some fun with physics in the coin vortex. The percentage of coins to countries is a little tricky, however, because there are 33 countries that are currently dependencies (they use another country’s money as their own), so it is totally possible that someone from the Caicos Islands stopped by to check out the new Morian Hall of Paleontology and threw a quarter into the coin vortex (because Caicos Islands residents use U.S. currency). The world will never know.

So who do we know has been to visit? Below is the list of countries that we definitely have coins from…so far. If you don’t see your country represented, drop us a coin the next time you are at the Museum!

Pretty well represented, no?

Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia
Mexico
Nepal
Netherlands
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela

A question we frequently get is, “What do you do with all that money?” The answer? A lot.

Sometimes we use the money to pick up other money.

One hundred percent of the U.S. currency was being donated to the Capital Campaign, but the Campaign ended recently with the completion of the new Dan L Duncan Family Wing. We now donate 100 percent of the funds to support the mission of the Museum — educational programming.

So what about the non-U.S. currency? The other stuff that shows up in the coin vortex is divided into several categories: Magnetic Coins — which get used in various ways for summer camps, weekday labs, and sometimes ExxonMobil Teacher Tuesdays; Non-Magnetic Coins; Car Wash Tokens – which never seem to work at any car wash; and Stuff That Doesn’t Roll, which we mostly keep around for our own personal amusement.

The Stuff That Doesn’t Roll category.

For your own fun with physics, try some experiments the next time you are at the Museum:

Compare a quarter and a dime: Which coin rolls faster? Which coin drops down first?
Do the ridges on the edge of the coins seem to make a difference in the speed of the coin?
Can you get the coin to roll without using the ramp?

See you soon!

Have a fun, fossil-filled Spring Break at HMNS! Did we mention we have air conditioning?

Published by Nicole on March 11, 2013 at 1:05 pm in Paleontology

Looking for something to do with your little paleontologist over spring break? Well, we have some dino-mite options for you!

First, check out this Photo Scavenger Hunt of the Morian Hall of Paleontology. All of the images on the hunt are of specimens or images you can easily see in the hall. The trick? We have zoomed in on the objects so closely that you might not be able to tell where to look! This is perfect for those paleontologists that haven’t quite learned to read yet.

Next, try taking a tour of the Paleo Hall with some of our knowledgeable staff! Our tours are family-friendly and available in a variety of ways. Talk to the Box Office to find out how you can participate!

Then, check out the bucking new Broncosaurus ride in the grand hall! Built especially for the little ones, this ride takes you back to the Cretaceous and lets you see what it would be like to saddle up a T. rex and go for a ride.

Finally, take a trip back in time to the age of saber-toothed cats, giant sloths and woolly mammoths in the Giant Screen Theatre when you watch Titans of the Ice Age. You’ll explore the mammoth steppe with baby Lyuba, a 40,000-year-old female woolly mammoth calf recently exposed by the melting Siberian permafrost. You’ll discover the story of Zed, one of the most complete Colombian Mammoth skeletons ever uncovered.

All in all, we have a fun, fossil-filled week awaiting you! See you soon!

Who needs a gym or a diet? We’ve got your New Year’s resolutions right here

Published by Nicole on January 7, 2013 at 10:46 am in Science

If you Google “most common New Year’s resolutions,” you get a variety of results, but generally the options seem to come down to these:

1. Lose weight
2. Exercise more
3. Spend more time with family and friends
4. Enjoy life more
5. Learn something new
6. Help others
7. Quit smoking
8. Get out of debt
9. Quit drinking
10. Get organized

I am happy to tell you that HMNS has got you covered for seven out of 10 of these common resolutions. How can this be, you ask? Read on.

Under the auspices of “Lose weight and exercise more,” Carolyn Leap and I did an experiment the other day. Since the Museum has expanded so much in the past year, Carolyn and I were curious about just how much more Museum there was to cover. We got out our trundle wheel (which falls into the category of “totally reasonable thing to have at a science museum”) and we headed for the front door. Our plan was to measure from the front doors of the Museum through every permanent exhibit hall in the shortest route without backtracking. This meant no stopping at specific displays as well as some pretty particular route planning.

Through many patrons and a few curious toddlers, we clicked our way around the Museum, and we were quite pleased with the results! We counted 1,600 meters in our short ‘n sweet route ‘round the Museum, which translates to about a mile of exhibit space. Carolyn calculated an approximately 30 percent increase in mileage if you wanted to look at all the cases or if you doubled back through any of the halls.

Our vast new wing means that a walk through our halls is a serious calorie-burner

So that takes care of the first two most common resolutions. What about the rest?

While you are here getting all that exercise, you are bound to be spending time with family or friends anyway (No. 3) and enjoying life more (No. 4) while you learn something new (No. 5). There is actually quite a bit of research showing the link between aerobic activity and learning, so walking the halls of the Museum really will help you learn something new! Plus, studies show there are tons of benefits to having a fitness buddy, so bringing your friends and family to the Museum for a walk really is a great way to start your new year.

As to No. 6 on the list, “Help others,” Amy C. wrote a great blog not too long ago outlining some of the ways that the Museum gives back to the community and how you can help. I would also suggest taking a look at the volunteer page on our website.

Finally, resolution No. 7: Granted, this one is a bit of a stretch, BUT you can’t smoke at the Museum, so checking out the exhibits here will help keep your mind occupied and fill up your time if you’re trying to kick the habit.

Hope to see you soon!

A year in the life: Personal photos of the mayhem and magic that is working at HMNS

Published by Nicole on December 27, 2012 at 10:15 am in Behind-the-Scenes

The end of one calendar year and the beginning of the next is always a good time to do a little tidying of your personal life. Calendars get replaced, inboxes get emptied and, for me, extra bits on my phone get dumped. So, under the auspices of cleaning out my phone, I came across some totally work-related photos I would like to share with you. They are weird, but so is working for a science-based non-profit.

For those that know us, Dave (Temple — HMNS’ Associate Curator of Anthropology and my husband) and I make sense. I am a little bit like the Martha Stewart of dead things and Dave is more like the Indiana Jones of Dimetrodons (although he would argue that he is the Alabama Dave of Dimetrodons). Perhaps with these photos you will get to know us — and the Museum — a bit better.

Enjoy!

Zombie Nicole. We run an overnight program here, and we like Halloween. ‘Nuff said.