When Tina Petway, Associate Curator of Malacology, retired as a schoolteacher in 1999, she finally embarked on fulfilling her dream since she was 12 years old. Growing up, Petway was frustrated by the lack of resources for young women interested in scientific careers. “I was walking on the beach, and I ran into this lady […]
My mom was a chemistry and home-ec teacher, so I grew up in a home where ingredients were carefully measured and food items were attractively arranged. While I got to help out in the kitchen as much as I wanted, I always liked being in the kitchen around the holidays. There were always new tricks […]
Through the doors of the Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land, you usually see the towering display of a Tyrannosaurus rex. But these past few weeks, that sight has been amplified in the twinkling light of custom-decorated holiday trees. The collection of trees are ready to go to the highest bidder through the […]
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! Film Screening – The Northern Lights: Nature’s Spectacle with Pal BrekkeMonday, Nov. 167:00 p.m.Imagine what it must have been like for the first northern inhabitants to raise their eyes […]
by John Pederson and Marce Stayer The Aztecs, one of the greatest Mesoamerican cultures, had all the hallmarks of an advanced civilization. One of their most famous structures, the Templo Mayor, graces the Aztec portion of the John P. McGovern Hall of the Americas. It is a fantastic temple complex, the main religious center of […]
by Kaylee Gund During a recent visit to the Museum’s offsite collections storage, one carving in particular caught my eye — the Nimba (D’mba). After living in Guinea for over a year, I immediately honed in on the familiar polished wood of the Nimba among the other West African pieces. The Nimba is a symbol […]
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 – The Fastest Evolving Regions of the Human Genome by Katherine Pollard Wednesday, Nov. 11 6:30 p.m. Although a child can tell the difference between a chimp and a […]
I like wine. And I make my own. Not huge batches, mind you. Just about 30 bottles per month in the winter months. I learned the hard way the chemistry of wine. If you let the wine get too hot while it’s fermenting, it can radically alter the taste. I let one of my batches […]
When I say I am an entomologist at the Cockrell Butterfly Center, this is what people picture: Yes, I get to play with butterflies at my job and yes, my job is awesome! It’s also sometimes really smelly, sweaty and dirty. My morning generally starts out with releasing butterflies, which sounds like something magical. The butterflies are released twice a […]
Saturn sets in twilight for the first week of November and is lost in the sun’s glare the rest of the month. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are still close together in the morning sky this month. Right now, Venus is close to Mars, with Jupiter above them. Venus and Mars are 0.68 degrees apart the morning […]
