[NMScience] March events at Nat History

[Morris, Tish, DCA]

March Events at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science:

Evolving A Genius: The Extraordinary Early Life of Charles Darwin 

a special talk to honor the 200th birthday of naturalist Charles Darwin. 
Doug Schwartz, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 5, 2009  7 p.m.
Free

Geoscience tour – behind the scenes
Friday, March 6, 2009  3 to 4 p.m. (first Fridays)
Free with Museum admission. 

First Saturdays at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center
Saturday, March 7, open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Spring guided hikes at 10 a.m.  Free.
Call 281-5259 or chris.modelski at state.nm.us for more info

Fishing with Mike Sanchez
Thursday, March 19, 2009  9:30 a.m.
$7 public, $3 members

Mysteries of the Dark Universe
Edward Kolb, Ph.D.
Friday, March 27, 2009  7 p.m.
Cost $12 adults, $10 members/seniors and $5 students

Bioscience tour – behind the scenes
Friday, March 20, 2009 11 a.m. to noon (third Fridays)
Free with Museum admission. 

Bahamas-Amazing Fossil Finds Lecture
Gary Morgan
Tuesday, April 7, 2009  7 p.m.
Cost is $7 adults, $6 members/seniors and $4 students

Details of programs below

Mountain Lion and Family raft trips listed below

___________________

Voices in Science Lecture Series
Evolving A Genius: The Extraordinary Early Life of Charles Darwin 

a special talk to honor the 200th birthday of naturalist Charles Darwin. 
Doug Schwartz, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 5, 2009  7 p.m.

Charles Darwin was an indifferent student well into his undergraduate years at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge. Given this undistinguished background, how did he become transformed into a man of exceptional intellectual insight and produce a theory so powerful that it dramatically altered our view of the living world? Dr. Schwartz traces the unique set of events that ultimately laid the foundation for Darwin’s distinctive genius.

Dr. Schwartz, is an archaeologist by profession, former President and current Senior Scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, President of the Society of American Archeology and Chairman of the Jane Goodall African Wildlife Institute. He has had a long-term research interest in the origins of Charles Darwin’s creativity.  He has traveled worldwide to sites Darwin visited, showing the basis for Darwin’s ideas. Schwartz in “retirement” is involved in writing, lecturing, publishing, and traveling. In the past year, his professional involvement has taken him to Ireland, Portugal, Cuba, Spain, Algeria, and Tunisia. To add to his many honors, he was named a “Luminaria” by the New Mexico Community Foundation in 2007.  

Free
Sponsored by First National Bank of Santa Fe
Reservations: Chris Sanchez at 505-841-2872 
or email:  programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us



Curator’s Coffee
Fishing with Mike Sanchez
Thursday, March 19  9:30 a.m.

Enjoy an informal lecture and walking tour of the living exhibits with amazing biologist and Naturalist Center Curator, Mike Sanchez. Fish with lungs? Fish with scales like a coat of armor? Fish with no bones at all? Among the fossils, rocks, and minerals of the Museum are numerous amazing living exhibits including such peculiar creatures as the African lungfish and spotted gar. Come visit these and other fascinating fish and learn more about them and what they have to say about New Mexico’s past. Includes coffee, light refreshments, and museum admission

$7 public, $3 members
Contact August to reserve your space at 505-841-2861 or email programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us



Mysteries of the Dark Universe
Edward Kolb, Ph.D.
Friday, March 27, 2009  7 p.m.

Ninety-five percent of the universe is missing!  Astronomical observations suggest that most of the mass of the universe is in a mysterious form called dark matter and most of the energy in the universe is in an even more mysterious form called dark energy. Unlocking the secrets of dark matter and dark energy will illuminate the nature of space and time and connect the quantum with the cosmos.

Edward “Rocky” Kolb is the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and chair of the Astronomy and Astrophysics department at the University of Chicago. He is member of the Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. In 1983 he founded the Theoretical Astrophysics Group and in 2004 was the founding director of the Particle Astrophysics Center at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. In addition to over 200 scientific papers, he is a co-author of The Early Universe, the standard textbook on particle physics and astronomy.

Admission is $12 adults, $10 members/seniors and $5 students
Guarantee your seats by purchasing in advance at   www.naturalhistoryfoundation.org  or at the door (if available) before the talk.


Voices in Science Lecture Series
Bahamas-Amazing Fossil Finds
Gary Morgan
Tuesday, April 7, 2009  7 p.m.

Bahamas/fossils--two words we don’t usually connect to each other, but recent research has revealed wonderful fossils there.  Imagine a tropical blue hole, a spring on the island of Abaco, Bahamas.  Throughout the Ice Age, animals died in or near a sink hole spring and fell deep into its crevices.  The water contains a layer of hydrogen sulfide that has led to excellent preservation of these remains.  It also leads to some of the most dangerous diving imaginable.  Divers have discovered Cuban crocodiles, giant land tortoises, bats and extinct flightless birds.  This is current research with the fossils first found in 2005. Morgan will have just returned from this winter’s field work with even more discoveries to tell us about.

Gary Morgan is a Curator of Paleontology at the Museum.  He specializes in Ice Age mammals, but has studied fossil crocodiles for over twenty years.  He is the team paleontologist for research at this underwater site in Abaco, Bahamas.

Admission is $7 adults, $6 members/seniors and $4 students
Guarantee your seats by purchasing in advance at   www.naturalhistoryfoundation.org  or at the door (if available) before the talk.



IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture
Roaring Oceans and Singing Icebergs :Taking Earth’s Pulse and Temperature Using Seismology
Rick Aster, Ph.D.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cost is $2 public/$1 members, seniors, students
Reservations: Chris Sanchez at 505-841-2872 
or email:  programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us


All talks are at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
505-841-2800
Check our website at: www.NMnaturalhistory.org
Questions? Call Tish Morris at 505-841-2882.
You may reserve tickets by contacting Chris Sanchez at 841-2872, chris.sanchez at state.nm.us



Collections Tours:

Geoscience tour – behind the scenes
Friday, March 6, 2009  3 to 4 p.m. (first Fridays)
Visit the Museum’s prep lab, see the largest collection of fossils in New Mexico. Minimun age 7, must be with adult. Free with Museum admission. Reservations welcome: 505-841-2837; programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us

Bioscience tour – behind the scenes
Friday, March 20, 2009 11 a.m. to noon (third Fridays)
Visit our amazing collection of insects, plants, mammals, mollusks, and birds.
Minimun age 7, must be with adult. Free with Museum admission. Reservations welcome: 505-841-2837; programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us



Summer: 
Family Fun on a River Run!
Natural History Overnight Field Trip
June 8-11, 2009

Join us for a wonderful river rafting adventure in the summer of 2009.  The beautiful San Juan River starts in the mountains of Colorado, and flows through northwestern New Mexico and southern Utah on its way to Lake Powell.  We’ll float 27 of those miles between Bluff and Mexican Hat, Utah.  Join us to learn about the natural history of this river system and the plants and animals of the area through games, stories and other fun activities. The river takes us into a geologic past of smooth colorful sandstone and awesome limestone with fossils, miner trails and Mormon trails, swift water and wedding cake walls.  There will be lots of time for playing in and on the water.  We’ll have paddle and oar rafts and plenty of fun for the whole family. This trip includes three days of rafting.

June 8-11, 2009
Meet in Bluff on evening of Monday, June 8 Launch on June 9 off the river the afternoon of Thursday, June 11
Minimum 12 participants, maximum 20

Leaders, Tish Morris, naturalist and Senior Education Specialist at the Museum; Kristin Gunckel, geologist, teacher and raft guide.  

This trip is designed for children 7 years and over with parent(s) or grandparent(s).

Cost: museum members adult $574, each accompanying child under 12 $549; non-member adults $599, each accompanying child under 12 $574.  Meals from first night’s dinner through last day’s lunch, expert staff and river guides, group equipment and return transportation to Bluff are included.  Complete itinerary available.  Camping equipment may be rented.  For more information contact Tish Morris at 505-841-2882
tish.morris at state.nm.us  Pre-registration required. Contact August at 841-2861 or email programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us 



FIELD EXPERIENCE
Tracking Mountain lions on the Ladder Ranch Trip
Led by Travis Perry, Ph.D.
Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21, 2009 
Cost $470 per person 

Located near Hillsboro, New Mexico, the spectacular Ladder Ranch encompasses more than 250,000 acres and is home to a diversity of wildlife including mountain lions. Dr. Perry will provide in-the-field instruction on recognizing mountain lion sign, tracks, and cache sites. Learn about mountain lion behavior, their role in the ecosystem, and their interaction with humans. Participate in on-going research and use telemetry to track the collared mountain lions on the ranch. Join us on this exclusive experience limited to only 9 participants. Experience will include moderate hiking, in summer temperatures, up to one-half mile.

First day: We will leave the museum at 6:30 a.m. and travel in Museum vehicles to the Ladder Ranch near Hillsboro, New Mexico, about a 3-hour drive. There, we will get an orientation to the Ranch and the mountain lion research. Lunch will be at the Ranch Lodge. Most of the remainder of the day will be out in the field on the Ladder Ranch. It is very unlikely we will actually see a mountain lion, but we should see sign, learn how mountain lion sign compares to other wildlife sign and use the telemetry equipment that tracks them. Where we go will depend on the recent mountain lion sign and ranch road conditions. Mountain lion expert Harley Shaw, retired Arizona Game and Fish biologist and author of Soul Among Lions will also be joining us.
Second day:  After an early breakfast we will again head to the field to explore the ranch and track mountain lions. We will pack our lunches and eat on the trail. We will stop for dinner on the way back to Albuquerque.

The field trip is limited to 9 people (minimum of 6).

Along with the unique field experience we will provide: transportation, snacks, lunch, dinner, breakfast and lodging at the Ladder Ranch Lodge, sack lunch on day two, and water jugs to refill your bottle. Bring your own money for dinner on our way home in Socorro.

Check out Dr. Perry’s website at: http://furmancougar.blogspot.com/

Questions: Tish Morris at 841-2882, tish.morris at state.nm.us
Registration: August Wainwright at 505-841-2861 or programs.NMMNHS at state.nm.us



Tish Morris
Senior Education Specialist
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505-841-2882
tish.morris at state.nm.us
www.NMnaturalhistory.org



Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail, including all attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited unless specifically provided under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of this message. -- This email has been scanned by the Sybari - Antigen Email System. 



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.aps.edu/pipermail/science/attachments/20090227/c85bf054/attachment-0001.html