One of my most favorite museums that I fondly remember as a kid, and then later taking my own kids to is the American Museum of Natural History. While the dinosaur exhibit is always on our must-see list, there are also tons of cool events and experiences that the museum runs throughout the year. Here’s what they have going on in September.
Events at the American Museum of National History
Meet the Scientist Drop-In Session
Saturday, September 3, 3–5 pm
Sackler Educational Laboratory
Free for Members or with Museum admission
Meet scientists and discover cutting-edge research in human evolution in the Sackler Educational Laboratory. Explore a range of topics on the biology and evolutionary history of our own species, including: paleoanthropology, primatology, genetics, and neuroscience. New research will be presented in an informal lab setting. Meet Anna Ragni, paleoanthropologist and Ph.D.-degree student at the Richard Gilder Graduate School. Learn the latest news in what fossils tell us about human evolution and adaptation.
Fall Lunchtime Bird Walks
Four Tuesdays, September 6–27, noon
$50 per person
Join ornithologist Paul Sweet on walks through Central Park during fall migration. Using field marks, behavior, and song, learn how to identify the varied bird species that pass through New York City.
Hayden Planetarium Special Event: Sampling An Asteroid: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission
Monday, September 12, 7 pm
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
$15 ($13.50 seniors, students);
$12 Members
This September, NASA plans to launch OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to retrieve a pristine sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for further study. The mission’s target is Bennu, a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid that is also potentially hazardous to Earth. Join Museum director of astrovisualization Carter Emmart for an new immersive program that highlights how the spacecraft’s mapping of the asteroid Bennu will inform scientists who are choosing a location for capturing surface material from the asteroid in 2020. The samples could shed light on how our solar system formed and how life on Earth began.
Frontiers Lecture: Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe
Monday, September 19, 7:30 pm
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
$15($13.50 seniors, students);
$12 Members
What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, and flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today’s researchers astray in three of the field’s most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. A book signing will follow.
The Science of Stem Cells Drop-In Sessions
Three weekends, September 24–25, October 1–2, and October 8–9, noon–5 pm
Sackler Educational Laboratory
Free for Members or with Museum admission
What are stem cells, and what promise do they hold for medical treatments? Stem cell research is a rapidly advancing field, filled with immense challenges and potential. Stop by the Sackler Educational Lab to discover the basic biology of stem cells, their function in human development, and how they can be used in the treatment of diseases.
Book Lecture: The Madhouse Effect
Thursday, September 29, 6:30 pm
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
$15($13.50 seniors, students)
Free for Members
The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have fought at the frontlines of climate-change denialism for most of their careers. Their brilliant, colorful book takes aim at the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the play to partisanship on issues that affect the wellbeing of millions. Toles’s cartoons expose the bias of such counter-scientific strategies and Mann’s expert skills at science communication restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two common-sense crusaders enlivens the dour tone of so many climate-themed screeds—and may even convert a few of the faithful deniers to the right side of science. A book signing will follow.
Museum Details:
The Museum is open daily, 10 am–5:45 pm. The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Admission: Museum admission is free to all New York City school and camp groups.
Suggested general admission, which supports the Museum’s scientific and educational endeavors and offers access to the Museum’s 45 halls including the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is $22 (adults), $17 (students/seniors), $12.50 (children). All prices are subject to change.
For additional info, please visit amnh.org.
