Ancient Egyptian artists adhered to strict rules when producing works of art. The human form was depicted with the head in profile, eye drawn in full, torso forward-facing, and legs in profile — one foot in front of the other. This style, known as frontalism, gave the figures a sense of formality. Whether standing or […]
The coelacanth — a “living fossil” believed to have hardly changed over the last 300 million years — has finally had its genome sequenced by European researchers. The deep-sea fish was the inspiration for the famous 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon and is well-represented here at HMNS, where we have three examples on […]
Things took a turn for the more serious with Ankh Hap, our recently-relocated original Museum Mummy. If this is your first time tuning into our otherworldly correspondence, we suggest you catch up here. The latest stems from an unexpected invitation to the afterlife, which I was extremely flattered by and unprepared for. It’s simply not […]
Power Grid is one of my favorite games — but almost all of you have no idea what I’m talking about. OK, so, Power Grid is a German board game where you compete with other people to create the power grid inside Germany. To do this, you buy different types of power plants — wind […]
As you celebrate this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, take some time to appreciate an interesting sight in the sky — the gathering of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter low in the west-northwest at dusk. Right now, you notice Jupiter setting in the west at dusk. It outshines all stars we ever see at night, so it’s […]
Our correspondence with Ankh Hap, the original Museum mummy, continues this week with a discussion of ushabtis — miniature funerary figurines placed in ancient Egyptian tombs and meant to take the place of the deceased should they be called upon to perform any manual labor in the afterlife. Apparently one can’t even count on death […]
If you’ve been to the Wiess Energy Hall recently, you’ll remember the energy music video that starts off with “Energy is all around us.” Energy is all around us. It’s in the news every day. It’s also a prominent feature in sci-fi, comics and steampunk. For more than 45 years, we’ve had a certain Scottish […]
Until recently, our Early Investigations program — designed to pique the interests of young scientists aged 5 to 8 — could only permit 50 kids per day. But due to popular demand, we’ve doubled our capacity to 100 children for our two most popular topics — Paleontology and Insect Zoo — beginning June 1. Beginning […]
If you’ve been following along as our veteran Museum Mummy, Ankh Hap, prepares to adjust to his new living quarters, welcome back. If you’ve not, you’ll probably want to catch up here and here. The gist is this: Our previously singular mummy will be gaining several new roommates when he moves into the new Hall […]
Occasionally we receive artifacts at the Museum uncovered by curious residents who are looking to have their discoveries identified. The latest comes from 12-year-old Jersey Village resident Robby, who took it upon himself to write Associate Curator David Temple the following (quite impressive) letter: Dear Sir or Madam, My name is Robby, I am 12 […]
