The Naturalist Notebook 

Celebrate Engineering

Thursday, 02/02/12

Photo: Flying dragon (Draco volans). Alfius Leman

Test your design skills by creating a variety of simple objects from a Borneo glider to an aluminum foil boat for transferring marine specimens. Join us for these and other drop-in activities to celebrate National Engineers Week (February 19th -25th).

Saturday, February 18th, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm in the Classroom

The Naturalist Notebook 

Spotlight On…

Wednesday, 02/01/12

Check out this week’s featured specimen!

(Pictured below, really close up!)

Photo: N. Sincero © California Academy of Sciences

Can you guess what it is?

Here are some hints:

• This animal eats mainly grasses, leaves, fruits and bark.
• This animal can communicate over long distances via rumbles that cause seismic vibrations in the ground.

Leave us a comment with your answer! Then come see us in the Classroom on Sunday, February 5th at 2:30 pm for Science Story Adventures to see if you’re right and to learn more about this animal. Science Story Adventures is our program for children ages 4 - 8 and their caregivers. In the program, we explore the natural world through stories, specimens, games and crafts.

Teachers' Lounge 

Member Appreciation Month

Wednesday, 02/01/12

Love is in the air — and under the sea. From February 1 — 29, 2012 members enjoy special savings, access to our new aquarium gallery titled Animal Attraction, and programs highlighting the courtship and reproductive mechanisms that drive the evolution of life.

Plus, join or renew a Teacher membership today and receive a FREE general admission ticket so you can share the Academy experience with a friend. Use promo code LOVETIX when purchasing online.

Visit the membership website to find out more about becoming a member!

See our new gallery, Animal Attraction, opening Feb 11!

In a series of eighteen tanks, the exhibit will explore the concept that nothing in life is more important than reproductive success. If not for reproduction, plants wouldn’t bloom, birds wouldn’t sing, and deer wouldn’t sprout antlers.
 
For the first time, the Academy will use iPads as exhibit labels, allowing visitors to zoom in on gorgeous images, watch videos of these strategies and behaviors in action, and guide their own digital explorations using interactive touch screens throughout the exhibit. A striking wall of photos will illustrate additional examples of plant and animal reproduction and courtship strategies.
 
For more details on the exhibit read the press release or visit the exhibit website.

Teachers' Lounge 

A Changing Naturalist Center for 2012

Wednesday, 02/01/12

As the new year begins, we at the Academy are excited about the many new developments coming in 2012. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a new aquarium gallery, Animal Attraction, will open February 11th, and prepare to be moved on May 26th with the opening of a major new exhibit and Planetarium show, Earthquake.

Changes are afoot in the Naturalist Center, as well. In order to free up resources to focus on creating more hands-on opportunities for visitors at the Academy to engage with science and sustainability, library materials are no longer available for loan.

The following is a timeline of when these changes will occur:

• New Naturalist Center lending cards are no longer available.
• March 1, 2012: Last day to renew an item already checked out
• April 1, 2012: Books and DVDs will stop circulating (any items checked out before April 1 will be due 21 days from the checkout date)

We know that access to books and DVDs is important to teachers and want to assure you that these resources will remain available for you to read and watch within the Naturalist Center space. Pages of particular interest can be scanned and e-mailed free of charge, or photocopied for a small fee.

On your next visit, stop by to check out the Naturalist Nook, a new space within the Naturalist Center dedicated to hands-on science activities, made possible by this shift. As always, the Naturalist Center will continue to offer reference services - helping you find answers to questions about the natural world and assisting with the identification of natural history specimens. The Naturalist Center is—and will continue to be—a dynamic resource for teachers and students who are curious to learn more about the natural world.

You can read all about the services, programs, and resources the Naturalist Center offers by going to their website and blog.

California Academy of Sciences - Climate Change Blog 

The Wall Street Journal could find only 16

Tuesday, 01/31/12

The Wall Street Journal published an “Opinion” on January 27, entitled “No Need to Panic About Global Warming“, with sub-title “There’s no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to ‘decarbonize’ the world’s economy.” The article has 16 signatories, claimed by the editor to be scientists. The piece itself is a whiny, soap opera-type yarn detailing the horrors supposedly faced by the “growing” number of scientists who disagree with: the overwhelming consensus within the scientific community that global warming is ongoing, and that it is primarily the result of human greenhouse gas emissions. The story rambles from that of Dr. Ivar Giaever, Nobel Laureate in Physics who resigned from the American Physical Society in disgust at its embrace of the global warming consensus, to the lack of warming over the past decade (never mind measurement to the contrary), to a defence of carbon dioxide as “not a pollutant” (reminds me of Arnold in that movie with the kids). One could spend some time picking at these well-worn stories for their personal myopia, abuse and distortion of empirical data, and reliance on public misunderstandings of greenhouse gases, but I don’t have time for that. Instead, what I would like to take issue with is the notion, promoted by that Wall Street Journal, that the signatories represent, in any way, an august body of sixteen. Who are these signatories anyway, and how should they be received? As expected, the qualification of the group is dubious (I’m being generous here) and most of the members are absolutely not qualified to issue a scientific opinion of any weight regarding climate change. Some, however, are quite qualified. So what I did was to devise a very crude and simple scoring system to help you to sort them out. Scores are based on whether a signatory has: (1) a Ph.D. (yes, sorry folks, but it really does help to have one), (2) a Ph.D. in a science directly related to climate change (e.g. Meteorology, Geology, Oceanography), (3) a Ph.D. indirectly related to climate change (e.g. Ecology, many areas of Physics, Mathematics), (4) holds or has held a position requiring the conduct of original research, (5) holds or has held a position requiring the conduct of original research into climate change, (6) published research on climate change in a peer-reviewed journal within the past 10 years, and (7) has published any research in the past 10 years. The maximum score possible is 8, but realistically, with most individuals earning a single Ph.D., it’s 7. Here’s how they stacked up:

• Claude Allegre - 4
• J. Scott Armstrong - 3
• Jan Breslow - 3
• Roger W. Cohen - 2 (being a big cheese in Exxon earns you no extra points)
• Edward David - 3
• William Happer - 4
• Michael Kelly - 6 (finally, someone actually qualified to say something!)
• William Kininmonth - 3
• Richard Lindzen - 7 (yes, quite qualified it seems)
• James McGrath - 4
• Rodney Nichols - 1 (and I am being very generous here)
• Burt Rutan - 0 (generosity has its limits)
• Harrison Schmitt - 3
• Nir Shaviv - 4
• Henk Tennekes - 6 (qualified)
• Antonio Zichichi - 4

What should we make of this? In my opinion, this is a list of 3 (folks ranked 6-7). I must question their judgement, however, based on the company that they have chosen to keep, but to each his/her own. (Oh wait, no women are on the list, but this is science after all). I’m not sure how to judge the significance of the rankings, since that would require a lot of random selecting and leg work on my part, and I do have a day job. But just for fun, I applied the scoring to that old lightning rod, Michael Mann, and myself (shoot away).

• Michael Mann - 7 (I would hope so!)
• Peter Roopnarine - 6 (I dabble)

The Naturalist Notebook 

Science Story Adventures: Butterfly Life Cycle

Sunday, 01/29/12

Photo:Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Albert P. Bekker © California Academy of Sciences

Click here for the Butterfly Life Cycle online handout.

Each week in the Naturalist Center, we take elementary school-aged children on Science Story Adventures. We look at a different theme connected with the natural world and the exhibits in the Academy, and explore it through stories, activities and crafts.

Now you can continue your adventure at home with this online handout. It includes the planned learning outcomes of the Science Story Adventure, which are usually drawn from the Science Content Standards for California Public Schools. Can’t remember the title of the books we read or how to do that craft? It’s on the sheet. We’ve also included a list of resources - books, DVDs or websites - for further exploration.

The Naturalist Notebook 

Spotlight On…

Wednesday, 01/25/12

Check out this week’s featured specimen!

(Pictured below, really close up!)

Can you guess what it is?

Here are some hints:

• This animal cannot survive freezing temperatures.
• This animal has an internal compass that helps it navigate when migrating.

Leave us a comment with your answer! Then come see us in the Classroom on Sunday, January 29th at 2:30 pm for Science Story Adventures to see if you’re right and to learn more about this animal. Science Story Adventures is our program for children ages 4 - 8 and their caregivers. In the program, we explore the natural world through stories, specimens, games and crafts.

• Newsletters
• Museum Store
• About Us
• Contact Us
• Careers
• Newsroom
• Site Map

• Privacy Policy
• Your California Privacy Rights
• Terms of Use

• Become a fan
• Follow us
• Subscribe to our videos
• Share your photos