Beyond Bones

Venus remains in the west at dusk. It outshines everything but the Sun and Moon, so you can begin observing it during deep twilight. On September 18, Venus passes Saturn (they are just over three degrees apart). Saturn is now shining in the south/southwest at dusk. Although not as bright as Venus, it does outshine […]

Here’s the poster (as I see it) for the latest episode in the long-running Indiana Jones franchise, with Harrison Ford playing Diplodocus playing Indiana Jones. Before you object to its realism, Harrison is not too old; our Dipsy will be, after all, 148  million, 345 thousand and 77 years old on a Thursday in November. […]

You’ve seen the animals on display in our African and Texas wildlife exhibits. While realistic, none of these mounts actually slither, wiggle or do much of anything, really. But HMNS has a live animal collection that much of the public never even sees. These animals are not on display, but used to educate at our […]

[View the story “Something British is coming: Magna Carta gets you talking” on Storify]

What better way to understand how magnetic fields work than to see them for yourselves? Materials: •    Magnetic field line cards (green) – one per child •    Magnetic nail polish •    Clear nail polish •    Assorted magnets of various shapes and sizes •    Large clear glass playing pieces •    Button magnets (at least ½ inch) […]

There are few things more important — or more anxiety inducing — for a child than learning to read. Sounding out and stumbling over worlds can be awkward and a little embarrassing, and adults and authority figures can compound the apprehension for little people learning to love words. One service animal organization recognized this, and […]

The sickeningly sleek, monstrously muscular body of the Great White shark is not quite appreciable in two dimensions. See just how terrifying it is in three with Great White Shark: 3D, showing in the Giant Screen Theatre starting Mon., Aug. 26. The stunning documentary film, shot over three years, takes viewers to Great White hot […]

The tropical vegetation in the Cockrell Butterfly Center features a number of plants with edible fruits. Some, such as coffee, chocolate, pineapple and papaya, are familiar and readily available in local stores. But most visitors — unless they hail from equatorial climes — are probably  unfamiliar with caimito, jaboticaba, calabash, Barbados cherry or miracle fruit. […]

Nothing grabs our attention like big headlines. During the eras of radio and television, they provided the sound bites we used to sort big events. We all remember some of the more famous ones, like “Man Walks on Moon” (New York Times, July 21, 19, 1969), “Japan Surrenders, End of War” (New York Times, August […]

Editor’s Note: Alexis North is a third-year graduate student in Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials at UCLA. She specializes in the conservation of archaeological objects and is working at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University this summer, preparing a group of objects for display here at HMNS. Read the first blog from […]