Ah, good ol’ dad. Always there for me when I needed permission to do something my mom already said I couldn’t do, or when I wanted to hear scary stories that would keep me awake with fear all night. Father’s Day is looked at by many as a somewhat dubious holiday, dads just seem to […]
Family Class – Ancient Encounters – Ancient Rome Note: Free with purchased admission to the museum. Class will meet in Glassell Hall. Travel to ancient Rome without leaving Houston! You’ll have some great postcards to send back to relatives as you excavate a Roman soldiers’ camp, build an arch, help create a museum, march with […]
Lecture – Texas’ Own Coral Reefs: Weathering the Storm by Adrienne Correa Hurricane Harvey dumped 13 trillion gallons of rain on southeast Texas in August of 2017. Do extreme storm events like Harvey impact the coral reefs off Texas’ coast in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary? Dr. Correa shares ongoing research connecting the […]
Lecture – The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester Revered “New York Times” bestselling author Simon Winchester will trace the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement–precision–in a history that is both an homage and a warning for […]
It’s been more than two weeks since the International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes opened here at HMNS. For those of you who have not read about the exhibit yet, it’s basically an interactive nineteenth century crime scene and traditional historical exhibition rolled into one. Visitors can try their hand at helping Holmes interpret a mock […]
We all learned in school that James Watt created the first useful steam engine, but did you know that his machine was still extremely inefficient until John Wilkinson’s method of boring holes through solid blocks of iron allowed precision cylinders to be produced? It turns out the element of “exactness” is very important to […]
Lecture – The Story of the Sword by Don Halter Warfare changes with the technology of the day. Historian and historical bladesmith, Donald Halter, will detail the evolution of edged and blunt force trauma weapons in medieval times. This presentation will include an overview of the advancement of iron and steel from the inception of […]
Lecture – Medieval Arms Race Throughout the Middle Ages competition between offensive and defensive arms resulted in a constant stream of innovation and evolution that resulted in the magnificent suits of armor and gracefully proportioned weapons on display in the current collection. Historian David Wise will explore the science behind the arms race […]
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, […]
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 […]
