In the horror-film genre “nature gone wild,” masses of murderous insects and animals are a staple, from the hornets in Swarmed to cockroaches in They Crawl, killer worms in Squirm to rats in Willard, and, of course, the birds in, well, The Birds. But can anything be more chilling than the real thing?
In the documentary Memoirs of a Plague—which makes its U.S. premiereFriday, November 11, at the 35th Annual Margaret Mead Film Festival—people in Ethiopia, Egypt, and Australia endure locust invasions of a magnitude that must be seen to be believed. With the suspense of the impending infestation hanging over the narrative, director Robert Nugent, one of this year’s contenders for the coveted Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award, mixes archival footage with contemporary interviews and vivid camera work to tell of past “plagues” and preparations for new ones on the way. An Australian with a degree in natural resource management who once ran projects for the United Nations against locusts in Afghanistan and rice pests in Cambodia, Nugent introduces viewers to entomologists who work to understand the nature of this feared destroyer of crops. (Spoiler alert: there is a live dissection!) Read more »
Sara conducted an experiment to see how environmental stresses affected the oil yield of algae. Photo courtesy of Sara.
Fifteen-year-old Sara knew that vegetable oils could be used as biofuels. But when she learned that algae might offer an alternative fuel source, she decided to learn more about these organisms’ potential to supply energy without using precious crop land.
Sara decided she would measure whether nitrogen limitation and carbon dioxide infusion could enhance algae growth and the amount of lipids produced. Though environmental “stresses” like a nitrogen deficit might slow overall growth rates, Sara hypothesized that some stresses might make algae a more efficient fuel source if they significantly increased lipid production.
Sara examined three groups of algal cultures: nitrogen-depleted cultures, carbon dioxide-infused cultures, and control cultures. She conducted the testing in a photobioreactor that she built. After testing, she measured the dry weight and lipid content of each of the cultures, and then divided the extracted lipid quantities by the original dry mass of the algae to get the relative amount of lipid per sample. By then multiplying the amount of lipid per sample with the overall amount of algae produced, she could estimate the oil yield and see whether the benefits of growing algae in these conditions outweighed any loss in biomass. Read more »
Museum scientists John Sparks and David Gruber have traveled the world in search of bioluminescent and biofluorescent organisms. On Wednesday, November 2,at 7 pm, the pair will host November’s SciCafe, Alive and Glowing: Adventures in Bioluminescence and Biofluorescence, and shed light on the way these phenomena have appeared throughout the tree of life. Dr. Sparks will also curate the Museum’s upcoming special exhibition Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence, which opens March 31. Below, Sparks and Gruber answer a few questions about their enlightening research.
What’s the difference between bioluminescence and biofluorescence?
John Sparks: For an organism to biofluoresce, it must be illuminated by—in other words, absorb photons from—an external source of light. Turn off the light source, and there’s no fluorescence. In bioluminescence, the light-producing reaction takes place inside of an organism, requiring no external source of light. Some organisms combine both bioluminescence and biofluorescence, such as the jellyfish Aequorea. Read more »
“Change lives. Teach science.” That is the call to action for the Museum’s new Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, the first urban teacher residency program offered by a museum and a unique 15-month teaching fellowship for people who want to share their passion for science with middle and high school students in New York State.
On Friday, November 11, from 4 to 8 pm, the Museum will host an Open House where prospective applicants can meet faculty and staff, find out more about how the MAT program is structured, and take behind-the-scenes tours of the Museum campus.
The program, which begins in June, is open to college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in Earth science or a related discipline or any bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 24 credits in Earth science plus 6 additional credits in physics, chemistry, environmental science, or biology. Degree candidates will receive a full fellowship, a $30,000 stipend and health benefits, and two years of continued support after graduation, including professional development and access to Museum programs and resources.
Register for the Open House today by e-mailing mat@amnh.org. The Museum will host one more Open House on Saturday, January 7, from noon to 4 pm. Join the MAT mailing list to receive updates.
Applications for the program are now available online. Final applications are due on January 31.
Over 10,000 Native Americans of the Mohawk tribe live on the Akwesasne reservation in upstate New York—and every family in the community has included an ironworker. For decades, these men have weekly made the six-hour drive to New York City to build its tallest skyscrapers. Katja Esson’s film Skydancer, which will be shown at the Margaret Mead Film Festival on Sunday, November 13, at 2 pm, follows a group of Mohawk “sky walkers” as they continue the craft of their forefathers, spending weeks apart from their families and risking their lives for a job that pays well but also perpetuates superhuman stereotypes of Mohawk men.
Following the screening of Skydancer, Bear Fox and Katsitsionni Fox, who appear in the documentary, along with Robby Baier, the composer of the film’s score, will perform traditional Mohawk songs. Esson, who will attend the Mead Festival screening of the documentary and participate in a Q&A immediately afterward, recently answered a few questions about the film.
You were born in Germany, but your films often feature American subjects. What’s particularly American about this story?
I was always intrigued by the legend of the Mohawk ironworkers, but my interest in creating a film was sparked by the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11. Mohawk ironworkers from all over the country rushed into the rubble of Ground Zero to help with the cleanup despite the strained history between Native Americans and the United States Government over issues such as sovereignty and land disputes. I wanted to learn more about these men who live on the fringe of American society and yet are American down to the bone. Read more »
