Beyond Bones

The butterflies need your help! With urbanization, and a host of other factors, monarch butterflies are at risk of not finding places to lay their eggs. So why not help while improving the butterfly traffic through your garden with a butterfly-seducing plant from our biannual plant sale? Milkweed plants in the genus Asclepias are extremely […]

So you skipped signing up for Hack Day this year but you want to know more about it, or perhaps you’re just a visitor at HMNS for the day and wonder what “Science Hack Day” is all about. What will they be coming up with? What does it look like when a group of skilled, […]

Editor’s note: Press play on the SoundCloud track to really get in the Mars mood while you read. April is the best month in 2014 to see our blushing cosmic neighbor, Mars! And you’ll definitely want to make a trip out to the George Observatory this Saturday for a Mars Viewing Party from 3 p.m. to […]

This month, Jupiter remains well placed for evening observing all spring. Look for it high in the west at dusk. Mars is up virtually all night long this month. On April 8, Earth passes between the Sun and Mars. This places Mars at opposition, an alignment where we see Mars rise at dusk and set […]

Editor’s Note: As part of our annual GEMS (Girls Exploring Math and Science) program we conduct interviews with women who have pursued careers in science, technology, engineering, or math. This week, we’re featuring Lauren Williamson, Entomologist in the Cockrell Butterfly Center.  HMNS: How old were you when you first became interested in science? Williamson: Ever […]

Easter has long been considered a time of rebirth and renewal. In late nineteenth century Russia, there was no better way to celebrate this Christian holiday than with the gift of Easter eggs. Family members would often be given eggs with small chocolates or other surprises inside. But for members of the Russian Imperial family, […]

Editor’s note: This blog post is a summation of “Ecology, Behavior, and Reproduction of an Introduced Population of Red-vented Bulbuls (Pycnontus cafer) in Houston, Texas,” written by HMNS Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Daniel M. Brooks and published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.   Invasive species are (unfortunately) nothing new to Texas. Defined as an […]

If you love science and you have a creative mind, you may the perfect hacker for us! On April 5-6, we are working with Brightwork CoResearch to host our first Science Hack Day. What’s a hack day? It’s an event where people come together and collaborate to create new and scientific ideas. It’s for coders, […]

We’re showing The Princess Bride as part of our World Trekkers: England event on Friday night. We know that this is basically one of the best movies ever (it has a HUGE cult following), but here are some special tidbits that make it that much more awesome:   The Cliffs of Insanity are real The […]

After-hours at the Museum on Feb. 23, we had one of our awesome Pixel Parties — where we open select exhibits exclusively to photographers (both amateur and professional). This time around, we opened the entire third floor, giving our photographers access to the Hall of The Americas, Scenes from the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings […]