Beyond Bones

Sweet Serendipity Brings One of the World’s Top Sapphires to HMNS Hailing from an island of gemstones, the Siren of Serendip is one of the world’s largest blue sapphires. Considered one of the top five sapphires in the world, the Siren of Serendip weighs a phenomenal 422.66 carats and was discovered almost a century ago […]

Worldwide shortages of helium are sparking heavy concerns that the noble gas may soon be too scarce to fill our balloons or even provide it’s vital cooling properties to the MRI’s that so many health providers depend on to save lives. In today’s edition of Beyond Bones we’re going to discuss how we got ourselves […]

By Jayme Schlimper, Overnight Program Manager and Curator of Education Collections Hello! I’m back, back again! On today’s exciting adventure, we’re going to take a dive into one of our under-appreciated, under-hyped programs; Late Nights! Everyone is always talking about overnights here at the museum, and for good reason! This spring alone we have school […]

It’s around 1 PM on March 19th, 2019 at the time of this writing, and from the museum district we can all see a billowing cloud rising from the east. As we all know, this is due to the chemical plant fire that occurred last Sunday in Deer Park. Some of you may have questions […]

There is a new addition to the Cockrell Butterfly Center Insect Zoo, a colony of leaf-cutter ants housed in a brand new exhibit! This leaf-cutter ant (Atta cephalotes) colony was acquired by the Cockrell Butterfly Center about 2.5 years ago from Guatemala. It began as a small, “softball-sized” colony that now has grown many times […]

Did you know that your favorite museum is making your new favorite podcast? Welcome to the Beyond Bones Podcast, a science podcast that’s all about looking beyond the bones and beyond the artifacts to explore the personal stories that inspire our collections. We’re back with Season 2, and it’s going to have more episodes and more […]

As this year’s Spring Break Celebrations reach their peak, many college kids are probably partaking in what they believe are the most epic vacations ever. However, history begs to differ, and I’ll explain why in today’s edition of Beyond Bones. Everybody needs a vacation every once in a while. The drive to get away from […]

Let’s talk about numismatics. Whoa, hang on now, don’t leave…it may sound overly academic and boring, but trust me, it’s not. Numismatics is all about money, specifically the study or collection of coins, paper currency, and medals. I mean who doesn’t like money? We can all relate to money on some level. Am I right? […]

Houston is a wonderful city for many reasons. Unfortunately those reasons do not include awesome fossil hunting spots. I suppose it’s a small price to pay for the great food, amazing academic institutions and a cool music scene we have access to every day in the Bayou City. But still, nothing beats the thrill of […]

Consider the bathroom. Ceramic backsplashes, tiled floors, and hardwood surfaces welcome some of us into a new day. Others simply pass through on their final stride to sleep, and while we all may not agree on the scheduling, quite a few us confidently howl our favorite tunes into the warm haze. Now I’m sure there […]