American Museum of Natural History

From an evolutionary perspective, modern human bodies are surprisingly unremarkable compared to other species. But what does that really mean? Join us on Wednesday, March 5, to find out! In this SciCafe, Habiba Chirchir, assistant professor of anthropology at The Ohio State University, will explore the evolution of the “gracile,” or “slender-boned,” skeletons that characterize modern humans. SciCafe is 21+ and free with RSVP. For more details and to reserve tickets, visit: https://bit.ly/4hski0O #thingstodoinnyc #STEM #museums #anthropology #evolution

Research alert! Two new studies out this week find that rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu in 2023 contain some of the building blocks for life on our planet. What’s more? There’s evidence of underground pools of saltwater that might have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine. “Scientists have long thought that the compounds that make life on Earth possible arrived in meteorites after originating on distant, ancient bodies, like the one from which Bennu descended,” said Museum Research Associate Harold C. Connolly Jr., who is also the mission sample scientist for OSIRIS-REx and a professor at Rowan University. The studies, published in Nature Astronomy and Nature, are the first in-depth analyses of the minerals and molecules on Bennu, a remnant of a larger celestial body that formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The findings indicate that asteroids like Bennu may have seeded early Earth with the raw ingredients that led to the emergence of life. Read more in our latest blog post: https://bit.ly/3WIDyyG Image: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold #astronomy #space #museums Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Natural History Museum NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Jesse Barber to the American Museum of Natural History as Curator of Conservation Science in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology and Jaffe Chief Conservation Scientist. Dr. Barber investigates the ecological consequences of loud and bright sensory environments for bats, birds, and insects—such as human-caused noise and light pollution. Dr. Barber has found that such pollutants are drivers of habitat degradation and biodiversity decline.

After 10 years of our research team’s studies of learning in museums, what stands out? Another KEY finding that stands out is the value of doing science–and engaging in inquiry–for teachers. In our AMNH Earth Science Teacher Residency Program, after their full-year teaching residency, preservice teachers have a third field experience in a research setting with American Museum of Natural History scientists and curators. Their culminating project for that practicum is a science research project.    Just as these kinds of experiences can generate an “opportunity yield” for youth, we find that engaging in #science #research helps teachers: ➡ Experience science as a process, with a deep appreciation and additional experience using science practices in research settings; and ➡ Develop a deepened understanding of sensemaking in science ➡ Explore traditional views of science as neutral; as individualistic, apolitical and competitive; ➡ Develop a view of science as collaborative, contextualized and community-based   A group of us presented this research at AERA recently, and are continuing to write about this topic; please let us know if you are interested in a copy of the paper. We'd love to hear from more teacher educators who offer experiences doing science for teachers; or teachers who've experienced that as well! Jamie Wallace Linda Curtis-Bey, Ed.D. Ro Kinzler Marisa Olivo, Ph.D. #STEM #teachereducation #scienceresearch #practices #museums #ISI

What kind of dinosaur is Stegosaurus? And what were its plates used for? Learn more about Stegosaurus and its fellow stegosaurs with Museum paleontologist Roger Benson! Explore what we’ve learned from fossils like the recently discovered Apex—the most complete Stegosaurus ever found. These specimens can give us clues into the dinosaurs’ diet, lifespan, size, and natural history. Watch the full video on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/ed2x8FJV #dinosaurs #paleontology #stegosaurus #fossils #museums

Join us for the next Frontiers Lecture at the Museum on Tuesday, February 25, with Dara J. Norman, Ph.D., deputy director of the Community Science and Data Center at the NSF’s National Optical and Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF NOIRLab) and president of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Learn about the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)—and how access to the survey’s data will broaden the community of researchers able to work on outstanding questions about our universe. For more details and to reserve tickets, visit: https://bit.ly/4jy9mjI #thignstodoinnyc #astronomy #astrophysics #space #museums

Research alert! A new study, led by scientists from the Museum and The City University of New York, on the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in Spain’s Canary Islands suggests that on-the-ground volcanic ash studies could be used as a near-real-time monitoring and forecasting tool. Cumbre Vieja had been dormant for 50 years when it started erupting in the fall of 2021. Samantha Tramontano, a Kathryn W. Davis Postdoctoral Fellow at the Museum and a faculty member in the Master of Arts in Teaching program, was a student at CUNY at the time and had the rare chance to implement a system to collect the volcanic ash produced by the eruption along with her advisor, CUNY’s Marc-Antoine Longpre. For three months in 2021, a team from the Museum, CUNY, and Spanish geologic agencies collected falling ash in buckets and carefully labeled the daily samples for future chemical analysis. The samples were sent back to the Museum for study with an electron microprobe. The research team, which published their work in the journal Nature Geoscience last week, is the first to capture daily changes in melt chemistry at an active volcano. Read about their findings in our latest blog post: https://bit.ly/4hlvEmN Photo: © Samantha Tramontano #geology #research #stem #museums #volcano

Attention Earth Science teachers! From February 17–February 18, join us for a 2-Day professional development session digging into the three new NYSSLS Earth Science investigations. After experiencing the investigations first-hand, participants will workshop implementation strategies with fellow teachers. Facilitators will provide key insights and takeaways generated by a dedicated working group of Earth Science educators that collaborated over the summer to deepen their understanding of these investigations. For more details and to RSVP, visit: https://bit.ly/4af6WC0 #earthscience #teachers #educators #museums #nyssls

Join us on Wednesday, February 5, for the next SciCafe! Anne Nielsen, Extension Specialist in the Department of Entomology at Rutgers University, will explore the surprising and complex role invasive insects play in agriculture. Nielsen will discuss her research on how these insects spread, adapt, and impact food systems, and the strategies scientists are developing to mitigate their effects. SciCafe is 21+ and free with RSVP. For more details and to reserve tickets, visit: https://bit.ly/42v0mWv #museums #thingstodoinnyc #STEM #insects #entomology

It’s Fossil Friday! Let’s swim back in time about 85 million years to the Late Cretaceous to meet Xiphactinus, a gigantic predatory fish. This species could reach lengths of 17 ft (5.2 m) and was capable of swallowing a 6-ft- (2-m-) long fish whole! The Museum’s Xiphactinus fossils come from Logan County, Kansas, which is home to 70-ft- (21.3-m-) tall sedimentary formations. Though that might not sound like an ideal home for an ocean-dweller, the entire area was covered by a vast inland sea during the Cretaceous. See Xiphactinus in the Museum’s Hall of Vertebrate Origins! Plan your visit: https://bit.ly/4brkWaP Photo: Image no. ptc-6634 © AMNH  (taken 1996) #museums #naturalhistory #fossils