Tuesday, January 31 9:01 am
Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov will share his work on exoplanets at the Museum on Monday, February 6. Photo courtesy of John Brockman.
In the past year, scientists have discovered an astounding number of planets beyond our solar system. On Monday, February 6, Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov will discuss these “exoplanets” and the possibility of discovering life beyond Earth at February’s Frontiers in Astrophysics lecture. Sasselov recently answered a few questions about the search for other worlds.
Have discoveries of exoplanets within the last few months changed any of our views on the potential for life beyond our solar system?
Dimitar Sasselov: They haven’t overturned any of our views, but they’ve strengthened our understanding that there are plenty of places out there where life could emerge and sustain itself. The question has shifted now from being astronomical—are there habitable planets?—to being biological—what does it take for life to emerge? The new discoveries have also brought about the good news that we should be able to discover and study many nearby planets in the coming few years. Read more »
Monday, January 30 8:56 am
Tibetan deity figures were analyzed as part of the Museum's conservation efforts. © AMNH/J. Levinson and K. Knauer. Click to enlarge.
Each of the 41 intriguing images in Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies tells a fascinating story about research or conservation projects. Here’s the third in a series of four snapshots.
For the past year, a 7-foot-tall totem of an eagle has towered over the well-ordered tables of the Museum’s Objects Conservation Lab, the special department within the Division of Anthropology charged with protecting its collections for future study.
“This is one of the smaller totem poles,” says Director of Conservation Judith Levinson, whose team is in the process of preserving the totem poles and other large carvings from the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians. The tallest of these never leave the hall, where they must be laid horizontally, like patients on a table. Conservators then remove pinpoint-sized samples for examination with a microscope and UV illumination in the lab, allowing them to see layers of coatings, paint, and dirt—the history of previous restoration efforts.
The totem pole project is just one of the most recent examples of the lab’s wide-ranging activities. Levinson’s team routinely surveys the Museum’s collections to decide which specimens and artifacts need urgent care. Read more »
Friday, January 27 10:43 am
When scientists cracked the human genome ten years ago, expectations were high that the genetic revolution would cure cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. Now scientists are re-evaluating the potential of genetic knowledge for human health based on scientific progress in the past decade. In this podcast from the fall, join the discussion with some of the country’s top geneticists as they present their views on the triumphs, disappointments, and controversies that have arisen in genetic therapy in the healthcare field.
Speakers include Dr. Robert C. Green from Harvard University Medical School, Professor Dorothy Roberts of Northwestern University Law School, Dr. Paul Billings, Chief Medical Officer for Life Technologies, and Professor Sheldon Krimsky of Tufts University.
The talk was moderated by CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay and recorded at the Museum on November 30, 2011.
Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hour 23 mins, 99 MB)
9:24 am
The Story Pirates will perform Museum-themed stories written by kids. Photo courtesy of Story Pirates. Click to enlarge.
On Saturday, February 4, the Story Pirates, a media and arts group that celebrates the words and ideas of young authors through comedy, will bring kids’ stories about the Museum to life by acting them out on the stage. Story Pirate Sam Reiff-Pasarew recently answered a few questions about the upcoming production, Story Pirates: My Museum Story.
What will the Story Pirates perform at the Museum?
Sam Reiff-Pasarew: We’ll be performing a sketch comedy show based on stories written by kids. We asked kids at the Museum’s SpaceFest! and after-school programs to submit stories that take place at the Museum, and our actors are adapting those stories into live theater with costumes, props, music, and puppets. We’ll also perform some of our most popular stories written by kids across the country. Read more »
Thursday, January 26 10:26 am
A photograph of the front of the jade gouge is shown here with a centimeter scale. © University of Otago/Les O’Neil
The discovery of a small jade tool that was dropped into the waters off an island in the Southwest Pacific about 3,300 years ago is stirring up questions about its origin. The reason for puzzlement: the small green artifact has a chemical composition that is unlike any other described jade, and it was found thousands of miles away from the nearest known geological source.
An international team of archaeologists and geologists from the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Otago (New Zealand), and the University of Papua New Guinea investigate this unusual specimen in a special issue of the European Journal of Mineralogy on jadeitite, the rock that defines one type of jade.
Jade is a general term for two extremely tough rocks—jadeite jade (jadeitite) and nephrite jade, each composed almost entirely from a single mineral. Throughout history, these rocks have been made into tools and ornamental gems that were worn, traded, and treasured. Many nephrite jade sources exist, but the prominent locations are China, New Zealand, Russia, and Canada. Far rarer is jadeite jade, which was used by people living in what is now Central America and Mexico over a span of two millennia prior to the arrival of European colonists. Read more »
