Seeing Stars with James Wooten: Saturn and Perseid meteors bright in August

Saturn is now in the south-southwestern sky at dusk. It outshines the stars around it, so it’s also easy to see. Mars emerges into the morning sky this month. Look for it low in the east at dawn.  Mars remains dimmer then average, though, and won’t rival the brighter stars until next spring. Venus and […]

Late Night with Catalysts: New program offers after-hours fun for the young at heart

When I tell people I’m the Overnight Coordinator at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I usually get one of two reactions. It’s either a sarcastic “Oh, does everything come to life at night?” or an astounded “People can spend the night there?!” While I’m in the Youth Education Programs department and typically work with […]

Mark Your Calendars for these events happening at HMNS 8/3-8/9

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!   Lecture – Hatshepsut: The Woman Who Would Be King By Kara CooneyTuesday, August 46:30 p.m.Hatshepsut’s failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that […]

A Staple for Butterfly Exhibits: The Rice Paper

One of the most distinctive and easily recognizable insects in the Cockrell Butterfly Center is the rice paper butterfly (Idea leuconoe), also known as the paper kite and the large tree nymph. All these common names allude to the rice paper’s characteristic slow, graceful, and sometimes floppy flight. These butterflies make great, showy additions to […]

Female Leaders, Ancient and Modern: Kara Cooney on Hatshepsut, gender, and power

Throughout history, women in power have been the target of hostility, violence and mistrust. But why? What makes female leadership so objectionable? Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney and Houston native searches for the answer in her new book, The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power. Cooney returns to the Houston Museum of Natural Science […]

Handpicked gems meet gold vermeil at Tummino’s Trunk Show

Native Texan Mirta Tummino discovered her talent for jewelry design while working for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago. Her part-time design and metalsmithing studies at the Lillstreet Art Center quickly became a passion when she started selling her one-of-a-kind designs in Chicago area boutiques. As demand grew, Mirta was able to fulfill her true calling […]

Mark Your Calendars for these events happening at HMNS 7/27-8/2

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!  Rocket Day At The George Observatory!Saturday, August 110:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.mBring your junior Rocket enthusiasts out for a day of rocket launches and a mission to the Moon! […]

Being Natural: Wanda Hall

The first things all visitors to the Houston Museum of Natural Science see are an 8,000-pound amethyst geode from Uruguay in the lobby and the smiling face of Wanda Hall. And she wouldn’t want it any other way. Hall has been with HMNS for three years, joining the security staff in 2012 right after the […]

Educator How-to: Make an Anubis mask!

Anubis is the Greek name for the “jackal-headed” god associated with death and the rituals of mummification in Ancient Egypt. Anubis’ color is black, symbolizing rebirth, which parallels the belief that the deceased is, in fact, reborn in the afterlife. Over time, Anubis played several roles in funerary rituals, from protector of the grave to […]

Air, sharks, and robots: Copywriter Jason goes to summer camp

What do you get when you throw a 30-year-old copywriter into a summer camp classroom full of 10-year-olds? A lot of weird looks and kids asking, “Miss, does he actually think he’s 10 years old? Is that why he’s here?” That, and an aqua T-shirt. Since Xplorations Summer Camp is in its final swing at the […]


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