Looking at Leaves

Gallery Talks by Amanda Means

friday, may 9, 3:00 pm 
 saturday, may 10, 10:00 am 

Join us this weekend as we mark the opening of Looking at Leaves: Photographs by Amanda Means. Free with museum admission. RSVPs required: 617.495.2773 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Discovering the World Around Us:
Biodiversity and Climate Change

Sunday Family Program with Marie Studer

Sunday, may 4, 2008, 2:00 pm

Join Marie Studer, Education and Outreach Director for the Encyclopedia of Life Project, to talk about the richness of plants and animals around us and to share ways for observing and tracking them. We'll also talk about how to understand the local impact of climate change. Weather permitting, we'll go outside to investigate the museum's natural surroundings. Free and open to the public (please note: admission is free for the entire day on May 4.)

Thinking Outside the Fossil Record:
Explanations for the Cambrian Explosion of Animals

Lecture by Charles Marshall

tuesday, april 29, 6:00 pm

There are many explanations for the Cambrian "explosion"—that flash of evolution 540 million years ago when the diversity of animal life exploded.  Family after family of complex creatures with hard shells, spinal cords, and skeletons arose to dominate life on Earth and create a rich, albeit incomplete, fossil record. What caused this diversity explosion, and what makes this epoch unique in history? Charles Marshall is Professor of Biology and Geology at Harvard, and Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

Looking at Animals

Gallery Talks by Henry Horenstein

friday, april 25, 3:00 pm 
 saturday, april 26, 10:00 am 

Join us this weekend as we mark the closing of Looking at Animals: Photographs by Henry Horenstein and the publication of Animalia, a new compilation of the best of Horenstein’s animal work, including 35 previously unpublished photographs. RSVPs not required. Free with museum admission.

Dimming the Sun

DVD Screening

saturday, april 19, 2:00 pm

This 55-minute NOVA documentary investigates the discovery that the pollution may be causing less sunlight to reach Earth over time. Could this global dimming be masking the full impact of global climate warming? Some climate experts think so, with the possible consequence that as we reduce pollution, the climate will heat up to unprecedented levels. With a brief introduction by NOVA Senior Science Editor Evan Hadingham, who will discuss the history of Dimming The Sun and the challenges of science documentary filmmaking. Free with museum admission.

The Earth from Space: Satellite Measurements of Pollution and Solar Radiation

Lecture by Kelly Chance

saturday, april 19, 1:00 pm

Space-based satellites from NASA and the European Space Agency are measuring particulates and pollutants that may be contributing to the global dimming phenomenon. Dr. Kelly Chance from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will discuss how these satellites can shed new perspective on some of the issues presented in Nova's Dimming the Sun. Free with museum admission.

Thoreau's Cape Cod &
Cape Cod National Seashore... a Thoreau Experience

Video presentation and booksigning by Scot Miller
followed by a lecture by George Price

wednesday, april 16, 6:00 pm

Scot Miller will premier Illustrating Thoreau’s Cape Cod: A Photographer’s Story, a video documenting his experiences creating photography for the new illustrated edition of Henry David Thoreau’s classic Cape Cod. Following the video George Price, Superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore will give a lecture entitled Cape Cod National Seashore...a Thoreau Experience. Price will discuss the major conservation challenges facing this jewel of the outer Cape, and the National Park Service's efforts to maintain the shoreline so that everyone can experience it as did Thoreau over 100 years ago. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

No Child Left Inside

Sunday Family Program with Bill Thompson III

Sunday, april 13, 2008, 2:00 pm

Kids are fascinated by birds, which makes bird watching an excellent way to get kids out of the house and into the natural world. Author and birder Bill Thompson III spent three years working with his daughter's elementary-school class to create a new bird book for kids, The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (Houghton Mifflin). He'll discuss how to get kids interested in nature, and offer some insight into countering the growing trend of "nature deficit disorder." Free with museum admission.

Natural History, Aesthetics, and Conservation

Lecture by Harry Greene

wednesday, APRIL 9, 6:00 pm

Cosponsored with the Harvard University Center for the Environment

Aesthetic values of biodiversity are immediate, increase enjoyment of nature, and applicable to management goals, yet they are especially problematic for dangerous and otherwise unpopular creatures. Greene will describe how Darwin's "descent with modification" and Kant's distinction between "beauty" and "sublime" facilitate nature appreciation, such that natural history enhances our emotional response to organisms beyond their individual appeal. Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.

The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird

Author's Talk with Al Powell

saturday, march 29, 2:00 pm

In his new book, Harvard journalist Al Powell tells the story of the po'ouli, a small Hawaiian forest bird that went extinct in 2004, just 30 years after it was first discovered. Powell examines the broader issue of environmental devastation that has visited the Hawaiian Islands unique ecosystem, and why we failed to save this bird. Free with museum admission.

Maternal-Fetal Conflicts in Human Pregnancy

Lecture by David Haig

Thursday, March 13, 6:00 pm

Pregnancy is the most intimate of human relationships and, just like any other relationship, there is potential for both cooperation and conflict. In this lecture, Dr. Haig, Professor of Biology at Harvard, will discuss the various genetic conflicts that transpire within the human womb, and visit the assumption that what's good for the mother is also good for the fetus. Haig will consider evolutionary conflicts over the amount of maternal blood flowing to the placenta, and use this perspective to consider the causes of preeclampsia. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

Fossil Fest

A Window into Prehistoric Life

saturday, march 8, 11:00 am–5:00 pm

Join us for a family festival! Travel back in time to learn about the world of dinosaurs, Ice Age mammals, and other prehistoric creatures. Discover how fossils form and investigate bones, skulls, teeth, claws, and fossilized footprints, looking for clues about prehistoric life. Learn about dinosaur relatives and “living fossils.” Chat with a trained paleontologist and engage in hands-on activities throughout the galleries.

Special programs include a screening of the new NOVA documentary, The Four Winged Dinosaur at noon, followed by a question-and-answer session with Harvard's Farish Jenkins, a member of the team of scientists featured in the documentary. At 2:00 pm, Harvard paleontologist Charles Marshall will present a talk on The Lives and Death of the Dinosaurs.

Free parking available from 9 am to 5 pm in the 52 Oxford Street garage. All programs are free with museum admission.

Five Rules for Evolutionary Cooperation

Lecture by Martin Nowak

Thursday, February 28, 6:00 pm

Is evolution only about competition and survival of the fittest? Martin Nowak, Professor of Mathematics and Biology at Harvard University, argues that cooperation is what really makes evolution tick and produces everything from genomes to human society. Nowak will discuss five mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation, and how they're key to the development of our social intellect. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses

Author's talk by William Cullina

Saturday, February 16, 2008, 2:00 pm

Award-winning author Bill Cullina will discuss his new illustrated book that unveils the ecology of these remarkable plants which belong in every garden. Free with museum admission.

Why We Cook: Food and Pairbonds in Human Evolution

Lecture by Richard Wrangham

Thursday, February 14, 6:00 pm

Both our bodies and our societies have adapted to a cooked diet, which provides us with large amounts of energy and makes food easy to eat. On this Valentine's Day, Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham will describe the role that cooked food has played in human evolution and bonding, and the secrets of cooking dating back almost two million years to the origins of humanity. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

Shangri-La: At the Heart of a Biodiversity Hotspot

Slide Presentation by Susan Kelley
Celebrating the Chinese New Year

saturday, February 9, 3:00 pm

Joseph Rock’s National Geographic accounts of his botanical explorations in the Tibetan borderlands of China were said to have inspired James Hilton’s 1933 novel, Lost Horizons. Shangri-La, the utopian land of that novel, is now the name of a vibrant county in NW Yunnan—still a mysterious land where yak herds, Buddhist monks, and fierce Khampa warriors are part of the landscape.  Susan Kelley, Manager of Harvard University Herbaria’s Biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains Region Project, will detail current botanical exploration in this remote region. Free with museum admission. See other Chinese New Year programs here.

Documentary Screening: First Flower

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

saturday, february 9, 2:00 pm

DVD screening of First Flower, a NOVA documentary that follows the search through the Hengduan Mountains in south central China for the 135-million-year-old fossil remains of what may be the Earth’s first flowering plant. Free with museum admission. See other Chinese New Year programs here.

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project

Lecture and booksigning by Spencer Wells

Tuesday, February 5, 6:00 pm

Population geneticist Spencer Wells has traced the genetic trail of our ancestors as they ventured out of Africa to inhabit every continent. By analyzing the DNA of isolated tribes around the globe, Wells and his colleagues have traced all humans alive today to a small tribe of hunter-gatherers who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago. Following the lecture, Wells will sign copies of his 2002 book, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey. Cosponsored by the Harvard Foundation. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.

E. O. Wilson and the World of Ants

Sunday Family Program by Ronald Clouse

Sunday, January 20, 2008, 2:00 pm

Join us for a screening of The Naturalist, a 30-minute movie about the life and work of the renowned entomologist, author, and Pulitzer prize winner, Edward O. Wilson. Followed by a presentation about Harvard's world-famous ant collection with graduate student Ronald Clouse.

Hispaniola: A Photographic Journey through Island Biodiversity

Lecture and booksigning by Eladio Fernández

Tuesday, January 15, 6:00 pm

This new book by Dominican-based conservationist Eladio Fernandez features 400 spectacular photographs depicting the richness of species and the diversity of habitats on the ancient island of Hispaniola. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.