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What's On at the California Academy of Sciences July
2004
Exhibits, Courses, Programs, and Lectures
Museum Open
875 Howard Street
The California Academy of Sciences is open to the public. Visitors may
view natural history exhibits, animals from Steinhart Aquarium including
snakes residing in SSSssnake alley, six live colonies of ants in the exhibit
ANTS: Hidden Worlds Revealed and miniature wonders of the universe in
the exhibit Astrobiology: Life in the Extreme. The aquarium design allows
visitors to view the complex life-support systems that are necessary to
run an aquarium. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
Exhibits
ANTS: Hidden Worlds Revealed ongoing through May 2005
Curated by Academy entomologist Brian Fisher, ANTS: Hidden Worlds Revealed
showcases six colonies of live ants, each of which display distinctive
nest building and food collecting behaviors. Four of the species represented
- Harvester Ants, Carpenter Ants, Honey Pot Ants, and invasive Argentine
Ants - are commonly found in California. The other two species, however,
come from further afield. Leaf Cutter ants, which cultivate gardens of
fungus in order to ensure a steady food supply, make their home in the
tropical rainforests of South America, while meat eating Army ants migrate
through parts of Africa and the Americas in search of prey. Each of the
six live ant colonies offer visitors the chance to look inside the chambers
and tunnels of the ants' nests and watch them forage for food.
875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Astrobiology: Life in the Extreme ongoing exhibit
What is life? How do we study it? Where is it found on Earth? And does
it exist elsewhere in the Universe? To identify the types of environments
that would be capable of supporting life beyond our own planet, astrobiologists
must study the limits of life here on Earth. They do this by researching
extreme environments, such as thermal springs and hydrothermal vents (geysers
on the ocean floor), that host hardy living organisms. Both of these types
of extreme environments are explored in the Academy's exhibit Astrobiology:
Life in the Extreme. Astrobiology is an exciting new scientific discipline
that combines the traditional fields of astronomy, biology, geology, chemistry,
and physics to address a vast topic: the study of life in the Universe.
The Academy is delving into this compelling new field by creating an exhibit
for its 875 Howard Street location titled Astrobiology: Life in the Extreme.
Lectures, Programs, and Events
Story Time
The Academy's story time for children ages 3-7 takes place every Saturday,
at 10:30 a.m. This month's stories will focus on flowering plants. Saturday,
July 3; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
Skull Detectives
Dissect owl pellets with Academy scientists. Learn how to use scientific
keys to identify skulls, compare your bones with native herbivores, and
prepare your own specimens to take home. Free with museum admission. Saturday,
July 3, 12:30-2:30 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
FREE Birdwatching for Kids
Search for birds in Golden Gate Park, and learn what to look and listen
for when identifying birds in the field. Wear warm, layered clothing and
walking shoes, and bring binoculars and water. Ages 8 and up. Reservations
required; space limited. Saturday, July 10, 9-10:30 am; (415) 379-8000.
Meet at the corner of Middle Drive Road and 9th Avenue in Golden Gate
Park. Rain cancels program.
Story Time
The Academy's story time for children ages 3-7 takes place every Saturday,
at 10:30 a.m. This month's stories will focus on flowering plants. Free
with museum admission. Saturday, July 10, 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Introduction to the Bay Area Ant Survey
Meet with Academy scientists and learn how to participate in this unique
scientific study. Limited to first 20 participants. Free with museum admission.
Saturday, July 10, 1 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
Introduction to the Bay Area Ant Survey
Meet with Academy scientists and learn how to participate in this unique
scientific study. Limited to first 20 participants. Free with museum admission.
Wednesday, July 14, 10:30 am & 4 pm; 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Scientific Illustration
Meet a scientific illustrator and experience a live demonstration of drawings
used for scientific publications and research. Free with museum admission.
Wednesday, July 14; 3-3:30 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of
Sciences.
Story Time
The Academy's story time for children ages 3-7 takes place every Saturday,
at 10:30 a.m. This month's stories will focus on flowering plants. Free
with museum admission. Saturday, July 17, 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Bird Beak Buffet
Participate in an educational demonstration and explore adaptations for
feeding in birds. Study and compare various bird specimens as Naturalist
Center staff and interns teach visitors about bill variation in these
feathered friends. Free with museum admission. Saturday, July 17, 11 am
& 3 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
Lunch Break Series: California Seabirds
View the amazing diversity of bird life in the offshore waters of California
during the summer in an exciting, entertaining slideshow. Free with museum
admission. Wednesday, July 21, 12:30-1 pm; 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Story Time
The Academy's story time for children ages 3-7 takes place every Saturday,
at 10:30 a.m. This month's stories will focus on flowering plants. Free
with museum admission. Saturday, July 24, 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Introduction to the Bay Area Ant Survey
Meet with Academy scientists and learn how to participate in this unique
scientific study. Limited to first 20 participants. Free with museum admission.
Saturday, July 24, 1 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
FREE Family Discovery Hike
Take a walk around Golden Gate Park and look for hawks, turtles, millipedes,
and more. Wear warm, layered clothing and walking shoes, and bring binoculars
and water. Ages 8 and up. Reservations required; space limited. Sunday,
July 25, 9-10:30 am; (415) 379-8000; Meet at the corner of Middle Drive
Road and 9th Avenue in Golden Gate Park. Rain cancels program.
Tidepool Creatures
Discover the wonders of tidepools on a visit to the Academy's new Touch
Tidepool. Then, create your own ocean dweller. Pre-registration required.
Monday, July 26 8:30 am-noon; (415) 379-8000; $45.
Ishi's Brain: In Search of the Last 'Wild" Indian
Orin Starn, Ph.D.
Monday, July 26, 2 & 7:30 pm
When Ishi, the last stone-age Indian, stumbled into a camp in Northern
California in 1911, he set off an anthropological gold rush that would
reverberate to the present day. Taken to San Francisco by renowned U.C.
Berkeley anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, Ishi - the last known member of
the Yahi tribe - became an instant celebrity, a front-page story for the
journalists of the era who were eager to build up the myth of an "uncivilized
redskin" having little contact with modern society.
In the name of science, Ishi was autopsied after his death, against the
wishes of Kroeber, and was thought to have been cremated. But a rumor
circulated among the Indians around Oroville that the "Wild Man of
Deer Creek's" brain was never cremated, and had instead become a
"gruesome trophy of white science, pickled in formaldehyde and still
shelved somewhere in a laboratory."
Orin Starn, Ph.D., a professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University,
delves into the mystery of what happened to Ishi's brain and why, and
follows a determined group of Indians, possibly descended from the Yahi,
as they fight Washington bureaucracy in the effort to reunite Ishi's remains
and give him a proper, ritual burial. In the process, Starn divulges a
strikingly honest portrait of the man and the era that is balanced, nuanced,
and insightful. Booksigning to follow the lecture.
Tickets (415) 379-8000. Tickets also sold at the door, when available.
Monday, July 26, 2 & 7:30 pm; $8, Zeum Theater, 221 4th Street, San
Francisco.
Herptacular
Explore the amazing world of amphibians and reptiles. Examine preserved
specimens with Academy scientists, and get a close-up look at live creatures
on a visit to Steinhart Aquarium's new SSsssnake Alley. Then, make a snake-skin
rubbing to take home with you. Pre-registration required for this class.
Tuesday, July 27, 8:30 am-noon; (415) 379-8000; $45.
Arthropods Alive
Discover similarities and differences between arthropods, such as butterflies,
lobsters, and spiders. Touch Madagascar hissing cockroaches and peer inside
live ant nests in the ANTS exhibit. Then, go outside to search for other
arthropods at nearby Yerba Buena Gardens. Pre-registration required. Wednesday,
July 28, 8:30 am-noon; (415) 379-8000; $45.
Introduction to the Bay Area Ant Survey
Meet with Academy scientists and learn how to participate in this unique
scientific study. Limited to first 20 participants. Free with museum admission.
Wednesday, July 28, 10:30 am & 4 pm; 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Scientific Illustration
Meet a scientific illustrator and experience a live demonstration of drawings
used for scientific publications and research. Free with museum admission.
Wednesday, July 28; 3-3:30 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of
Sciences.
Birdmania
See what makes birds so special by examining their feathers and bones,
and catch the Academy's African penguins in action using their wings to
do something other than fly. Pick apart an owl pellet to discover what
the nighttime bird swallowed for dinner. Pre-registration required. Thursday,
July 29, 8:30 am-noon; (415) 379-8000; $45.
Story Time
The Academy's story time for children ages 3-7 takes place every Saturday,
at 10:30 a.m. This month's stories will focus on flowering plants. Free
with museum admission. Saturday, July 31, 875 Howard Street, California
Academy of Sciences.
Skull Detectives
Dissect owl pellets with Academy scientists. Learn how to use scientific
keys to identify skulls, compare your bones with native herbivores, and
prepare your own specimens to take home. Free with museum admission. Saturday,
July 31, 12:30-2:30 pm; 875 Howard Street, California Academy of Sciences.
ANTicipation Thirteenth Annual Summer Gala
Tunnel down to ANTicipation, the California Academy of Sciences' Thirteenth
Annual Summer Gala on Saturday, July 31, to be held at the Regency Building,
1290 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Our new exhibit at 875 Howard Street,
ANTS: Hidden Worlds Revealed, inspired the theme of this years' gala.
This is the first year that the gala will be held outside of Golden Gate
Park. Co-chairs for one of this summer's wildest events are Dan Clifford,
Shelley Dickerson, and Christina Lynch, who are bringing their excitement
and great ideas to this festive affair. Cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, music,
and antennae-pulling fun are sure to be in store. Tickets are $125 for
non-members and $110 for members. For more information, call Anne Rianda,
the queen of the colony, at (415) 321-8148 or arianda@calacademy.org.
Saturday, July 31, 8:30 pm-12:30 am.
Regency Building, 1290 Sutter Street, San Francisco.
The California Academy of Sciences, including
Steinhart Aquarium and the Natural History Museum, is open to the public
at 875 Howard Street, Admission to the Academy at 875 Howard Street is:
$7 for adults, $4.50 for youth ages 12 to 17, Seniors ages 65+ and students
with valid ID, $2 for children ages four to 11 and children ages three
and younger will be admitted free of charge. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
every day. www.calacademy.org (415) 379-8000.
The California Academy of Sciences, the fourth largest
natural history museum in the United States, is home to Steinhart Aquarium,
Morrison Planetarium and the Natural History Museum. The Academy is beginning
an extensive rebuilding project in Golden Gate Park. Pritzker prize-winning
architect Renzo Piano is designing the new Academy, which is expected
to open in 2008.
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