I love my job. Not everyone can say that. My avocation and vocation are as two eyes with one sight (paraphrasing Robert Frost). Part of that job was taking a group of 15 patrons up to the Museum’s dig site outside Seymour, Texas. There, under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Bakker and David Temple, the group learned […]
Some people like to tell me, “Dr. Bob, get a life!” I did, 60 years ago. Here I am re-reading my battered copy of the magazine that got me hooked on paleontology. Happy anniversary to the LIFE magazine that created … me! Sept. 7, 1953 was the publication date of the greatest, most momentous article […]
Our esteemed curator of paleontology, Dr. Robert T. Bakker, is back in town and on campus at HMNS Tuesday, Sept. 24 for a very special book signing and lecture. Coinciding with the release of his brand new picture book, The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs, Dr. Bakker will lead a lecture in the Giant Screen […]
With all the fuss over megalodon lately (including the Discovery Channel’s doubled-down non-apology), we decided to give some attention to a couple of grossly unappreciated other prehistoric sharks. Great whites are great and all, and megalodon is a marvelous monstrosity, but there are two other prehistoric shark species that really blow everything else out of […]
For us, as for many science lovers, it’s currently our favorite season. Some might even call it the most wonderful time of the year: Shark Week. The Discovery Channel’s annual full-channel takeover, devoted to all things predatory and sleek, is one of the single-most anticipated science events of the year. So we were a little […]
World-renowned paleontologist, curator of the new Morian Hall of Paleontology, consultant and character inspiration for the cult classic Jurassic Park: Dr. Bob Bakker is back in Houston and lighting up the halls of HMNS this weekend at Jurassic Jam. The two-day event includes an adoption party at at the Museum Store, arts and crafts in […]
Occasionally we receive artifacts at the Museum uncovered by curious residents who are looking to have their discoveries identified. The latest comes from 12-year-old Jersey Village resident Robby, who took it upon himself to write Associate Curator David Temple the following (quite impressive) letter: Dear Sir or Madam, My name is Robby, I am 12 […]
We’ve been pondering the problem of Dimetrodon-on-Dimetrodon violence. It’s a Red Beds tragedy; fin-back reptiles were nibbling each other’s brain bones and gouging each others’ cheeks. But now, maybe, we have some evidence for the softer side of fin-backs: hickeys and love-bites. Here’s a scientifically precise reconstruction of one fin-back smooching another on the back […]
HMNS at Sugar Land has quite the pretty new Paleo Hall. With 5,000 square feet of major mounts (including a Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex and Giant Ground Sloth), an impressive selection of trilobites, detailed to-scale models and an animated prehistoric aquarium, it’s got more than enough to interest a developing dino-lover or a seasoned fossil expert. […]
Editor’s note: Museum volunteer and Ecoteen Myria Perez was recognized by Mayor Annise Parker on Friday after earning the Girl Scouts’ highest honor for her work with HMNS. Perez collaborated with the HMNS paleontology department to construct a Permian-period touch cart using specimens that she helped uncover at our dig site in Seymour, Texas. We […]
