Imagine you’re on Tinder, maybe wasting time or maybe looking for love, when the plague doctor pops up on your feed! You’d probably be tempted to swipe left as quickly as possible. Well hang on there…not so fast! Even though he looks like the stuff of nightmares, he’s really quite amazing. He may be complicated, […]
By Randy J. Bruner, HMNS Sugar Land Docent Halite (NaCl) is the mineral commonly referred to as salt. This simple mineral has had a varied and important impact on the history of mankind. It has been used as currency and has formed the basis for development of entire communities and industries. We need this […]
Lecture – What Makes Us Human? Lessons from the Study of Wild Chimpanzees by John Mitani This evening leading Primate behavioral ecologist John Mitani will reveal interesting parallels between humans and chimpanzees with respect to friendships, longevity and cooperation. Humans form long-lasting friendships, live a very long time, and are an unusually prosocial and cooperative […]
Spring is in the air and the Houston Museum of Natural Science Spring Plant Sale is right around the corner! If you are in need of plants, we will have thousands! There will be over 20 different species of host plants for butterflies, over 100 different species of nectar plants for all hungry pollinators, […]
Last week we discussed the history of dining utensils, including an insightful review of the dubious origins of the fork. This week we will focus on the proper arrangement of different utensils, plates and cups and discuss why stuff is placed where it is. To begin, here are some helpful hints from Dylan Flosi at […]
Lecture – Jousting – The Sport of Kings Jousting tournaments were held as grand sporting and social events in medieval times. These events sealed the mystique of the knight into modern times. In full knight armor, historian and historical jousting competitor Steve Hemphill will the take us through the various events of a grand […]
Blogs about table place settings are generally instructional by nature. They tell you what to do, where to place different plates and utensils, but not why you should place them there, or why some of these objects exist in the first place. This blog will focus on the why, and that quest for knowledge is […]
Lecture – Chocolate, Corn and Floating Farms: the Marvel of Aztec Foods by Dirk Van Tuerenhout Is it possible that the Aztecs may help feed a hungry planet tomorrow? The Aztecs developed revolutionary farming techniques that were a marvel. They also gave us many things we have in our pantry today, but also ate foods […]
April is the last month to see the full set of brilliant winter stars which now fill the western evening sky. Dazzling Orion is in the southwest at dusk. His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel. Orion’s belt points rightward to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. To Orion’s upper […]
By Ralph E. Phillips, HMNS Docent I can’t seem to get enough time … that is to say I keep thinking and digging into our concept of time. Why are there 60 minutes in an hour instead of 100? Why 60 seconds in a minute? Why 7 days in week? What would “Metric time” […]
