In economic terms, bees far outstrip butterflies and moths as pollinators. However, there are some plants that are exclusively pollinated by butterflies — especially some wildflowers and garden ornamentals — and several night-blooming species are specifically pollinated by hawkmoths. Butterflies and moths are members of the insect order “Lepidoptera” — the scaly-winged insects. In addition […]
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: We’re gearing up for our Xplorations Summer Camps, and online registration for Family level museum members starts Monday, March 4 at 12:01 a.m. That’s right. It’s like Black Friday, except replace the rock-bottom deals on televisions with crazy-awesome intensive science camps. And it’s on a Monday. So, […]
You’ve probably seen those scrumptious sweets we’ve posted over the last few months: A butter-cream (and bronze) mummy here, a delicious chocolate-dipped dinosaur there . . . well, there’s a story behind those geeky goodies, and it starts right here at HMNS. One of our membership staff, Jillian Villa, runs a successful pastry business when […]
Pi Day is all about circles, circumference and diameter. Pi (approximately 3.14) is delicious is the ratio of a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter. This ratio is the same for all circles. In the spirit of Pi Day, let’s see what we can do with the fabulously fun circle and what we learn along the […]
X-Planets: Discovering Other Earths — a full-dome show now playing in the Burke Baker Planetarium — introduces viewers to the most famous of the newly discovered exoplanets. The show first zooms the exoplanet’s star out of the star field before taking a closer look at the alien world, followed by an artist’s conception of how […]
Caroline De Guitaut, curator at The Royal Collection Trust in London, is the author of three books on the work of Peter Carl Fabergé — Fabergé’s Animals: A Royal Farm in Miniature, Royal Fabergé, and Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration. Basically, she’s kind of big deal when it comes to the The House of Fabergé, and she’ll […]
While some folks might think sun and sand for Spring Break, we’re thinking moon and stars. The George Observatory — an HMNS satellite facility located inside Brazos Bend State Park — will be open for two additional days over Spring Break this year: Tuesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 14 from 5 to 10 p.m. […]
You don’t have to wait until St. Patrick’s Day to start thinking green. All month long, we’re offering $100 off our regular Party Smarty birthday parties at both the HMNS Main and Sugar Land locations. What does that mean to you? That means members can book for $200 instead of the usual $300 price for […]
Editor’s note: Today’s blog comes to us from paleontologist and field volunteer Neal Immega. You all know by now that the museum has a dig in Seymour where we are finding fabulous Permian fossils, including the toothy Dimetrodon and the weird boomerang-headed salamander Diplocaulus. We don’t dig in just one place; lots of people go […]
Our latest wild and wonderful Wildlife on Wheels (WOW) program focuses on the animals of the rainforest — from tree frogs and slithering snakes to millipedes and rainbow boas. WOW presenters break down the layers of the rainforest — the forest floor, understorey, canopy and emergent layers — and impart the important role rainforests play […]
