HARVARD MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & CULTURE SPRING 2019 PROGRAMS•EXHIBITS•CLASSES Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Harvard Museum of Natural History Harvard Semitic Museum Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology TABLE OF CONTENTS Evolution Matters 2–3 Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Programs 4–17 Garage for all events marked with a (not Exhibits 18–19 applicable to classes or exhibitions). The April 5 Detail of PRINCESS FLOWER, Tibouchina semidecandra. Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants Classes 20 and April 17 events will have free parking at the Museum Tours 21 Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street. Become a Member 22 Map 23 One world. Four museums. Plan Your Visit 24 The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture are at the heart of a community Removable Calendar 25 dedicated to being at the forefront of research, teaching, and learning. As the public face of several Harvard museums, we aim to convey the excitement and relevance of discoveries made daily on campus, and to offer learning FRONT COVER IMAGES (clockwise from top left) opportunities that reflect the University’s diverse scholarship. Chinese Raw Silk Dyed Aniline Red Shanks of magenta raw silk coil within a glass bottle labeled “Chemical This spring we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Evolution Matters Library of Harvard College.” Placed there in 1891, samples like this Lecture Series, which explores all aspects—historical and contemporary—of document the lab’s work on synthetic dyes for the textile industry. evolutionary science, the foundational concept in biology. We also examine the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments #4711 wide-ranging interests of Harvard faculty, from studies of Earth and the Moon to the history of immigrant physicians in the American health care system. Women’s Embroidered Dress and Jacket Programs such as I Heart Science and the Amazing Archaeology Fair showcase Syria. Late nineteenth century AD. Likely made of cotton. Purchased the research of Harvard graduate students—the scholars of the future. And, from D. Tarazi & Sons, Jerusalem. On view in From the Nile to the Euphrates: Creating the Harvard Semitic Museum. as academic work continues to dissolve barriers among disciplines, we feature Harvard Semitic Museum #1902.39.4a/b programs that explore the connections between the arts and sciences. We welcome you to join us on a far-reaching exploration of the natural Black-Cowled Oriole Nest A native of the Caribbean, the Black-Cowled Oriole, Icterus world, scientific innovation, and human cultural history. Come see the dominicensis prosthemelas, weaves grasses or other flexible vegetation world, in four museums. into a pouch-shaped nest similar to those made by other New World orioles. On view in the second-floor bird-nest display at the HMNH. • COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University #364267 • HARVARD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Mola (Panel from a Kuna Woman’s Blouse) • HARVARD SEMITIC MUSEUM Traditional twentieth-century women’s blouses of Panama’s Kuna • PEABODY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY & ETHNOLOGY people include reverse appliqué textile panels called “molas.” Sometimes embroidered, molas feature the natural world and daily life in original ways, creating statements of Indigenous identity. This one, from Panama’s San Blas Islands, includes people, umbrellas, and flags. Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology #971-14-20/23884 Images © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1 SPRING 2019 LECTURE SERIES EVOLUTION MATTERS CELEBRATING TEN YEARS EXPLORING NEW IDEAS IN EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE Thursday, February 28, 6:00 pm Thursday, March 28, 6:00 pm Wednesday, April 10, 6:00 pm Evolution Matters: David Quammen and Carl Zimmer Viruses: The Good, the Bad, Chasing Ants (And Their DAVID QUAMMEN Author and Journalist and the Ugly Microbes) in the Rainforest CARL ZIMMER Author and New York Times Columnist PAUL TURNER CORRIE MOREAU In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Evolution Matters Lecture Series at HMNH, Elihu Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Moser Professor of Arthropod two of the world’s best-known science writers will engage in a lively and wide-ranging Biology and Microbiology Program Faculty Biosystematics and Biodiversity, conversation about the most important idea in biology—evolution. Member, Yale University Cornell University Paul Turner will discuss the “good, bad, Ants rely on the microbial communities Thursday, April 18, 6:00 pm and ugly” effects of viruses, from how living in their guts to process food and Frontiers in Evolution they wreak havoc in biological systems make strong armor. Corrie Moreau ANDREW J. BERRY, MODERATOR to how they are used to control pests and will examine this unique aspect of ant Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University develop cancer treatments. biology and what it tells us about ants in terrestrial ecosystems. Join us for a series of short “flash” lectures, presented by Harvard graduate students, to Presented in collaboration with the learn about the range of questions that scientists are asking today about evolution. Microbial Sciences Initiative at Presented in collaboration with the Harvard University Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard University SUPPORTED BY A GENEROUS GIFT FROM DRS. HERMAN AND JOAN SUIT HMSCHARVARD MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & CULTURE HMNH HARVARD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY HSMHARVARD SEMITIC MUSEUM CHSI COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS PMAE PEABODY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY & ETHNOLOGY Saturday, February 9, 10:00 am–4:00 pm Thursday, February 14, 6:00 pm I ♥ Science Designing Living Things A Museum Festival for All Ages CHRISTINA AGAPAKIS Awaken your love of science with activities led by Harvard scientists, graduate students, and Creative Director, Ginkgo Bioworks enthusiastic explorers. Meet scientists who investigate fossils, microbes, and carnivorous plants. Hear Biology can be a design medium: scientists can now “write” short talks on current research at Harvard. Observe tiny, tough tardigrades (microscopic “water bears”), DNA and manipulate microbial behavior. In the future, they and make your own model of one. Bring your own collections to show to local shell and mineral clubs. could also reshape entire ecosystems. Christina Agapakis is This annual festival has something for everyone and is appropriate for children and adults of all ages. a synthetic biologist, writer, and artist who collaborates with Special Event. Regular museum admission rates apply. HMNH engineers, designers, artists, and social scientists to explore Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street the many unexpected connections between microbiology, technology, art, and popular culture. In this lecture, she will discuss current and potential uses of biotechnology in various fields from agriculture and medicine to consumer goods and renewable energy. Lecture. Free and open to the public. HMNH Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street Presented in collaboration with the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard University Wednesday, February 13, 6:00 pm Wednesday, February 20, 6:00 pm Traces and Tracks The Amazonian Travels of Richard Evans Schultes Journeys with the San MARK PLOTKIN PAUL WEINBERG Co-Founder and President, the Amazon Conservation Team Photographer BRIAN HETTLER For nearly three decades, Paul Weinberg has traveled to GIS and New Technologies Manager, the Amazon Conservation Team Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa to document the lives of Richard Evans Schultes—ethnobotanist, taxonomist, writer, hunter-gatherer communities, the San (Africa’s first people), photographer, and Harvard professor—is regarded as one of and their struggles to hang on to their land, culture, and values the most important plant explorers of the twentieth century. In as they faced serious threats by outside settlers. Weinberg will 1941, Schultes traveled to the Amazon rainforest on a mission to discuss his book Traces and Tracks (2017, Jacana Media), the study how Indigenous peoples used plants for medicinal, ritual, culmination of his thirty-year journey, featuring essays and over and practical purposes. A new interactive online map, produced 100 photographs that convey the modern-day San’s daily lives, by the Amazon Conservation Team, traces the landscapes and their relationship to nature and game parks, and their ways of cultures that Schultes explored in the Colombian Amazon. adjusting to a fast-changing world. Plotkin and Hettler will share this map and discuss the relevance Lecture and Book Signing. Free and open to the public. PMAE of Schultes’ travels and collections for science, conservation, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street and education in the twenty-first century. Presented in collaboration with Documentary Educational Resources Lecture. Free and open to the public. HMNH PMAE Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street Presented in collaboration with the Amazon Conservation Team and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies 4 Reception supported by the Harvard Chapter of Sigma Xi 5 HMSCHARVARD MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & CULTURE HMNH HARVARD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY HSMHARVARD SEMITIC MUSEUM CHSI COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS PMAE PEABODY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY & ETHNOLOGY Thursday, February 21, 6:00 pm Tuesday, March 5, 6:00 pm Magic and Demonology in Ancient Egypt Making the Earth and Moon RITA LUCARELLI REBECCA A. FISCHER Assistant Professor of Egyptology, Department of Near Eastern Studies; Assistant