Category: Have Science Will Travel

The Travel of Tomorrow

Art by Steve Thomas

At ScienceOnline 2014, Eva and I encountered the folks from The Intergalactic Travel Bureau. They create a unique science education experience where folks get to plan their own getaway to the other planets in the Solar System – as well as some of the larger moons and dwarf planets.

I planned a trip (price tag >$3 billion) to the moons of Jupiter and sent postcards back to my kids.

They are looking to take The Intergalactic Travel Bureau on tour and need your help. Consider donating to their Kickstarter campaign. Do not be dissuaded by the fact that they have already met their goal. More donations just means they can expand the scope of the tour – and donating means you get to vote on where they show up.

Behind the scenes at Monterey Bay Aquarium

OctopusThe character Doc in John Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row is based on marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who had a small lab in Monterey.

This fact was one of the first things I learned when I took a behind the scenes tour at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, located on Cannery Row. The aquarium is housed in former Hovden Cannery, which was an active cannery until the early 1970s. Now, the entire neighbourhood of Cannery Row has been converted to a tourist destination, and the former canneries are shops and restaurants. And an aquarium.

There is a more direct connection between Ed Ricketts and the aquarium: The layout of the aquarium, grouping species in exhibits based on their natural ecosystem, was informed by Ricketts’ work Between Pacific Coasts.

Continue reading “Behind the scenes at Monterey Bay Aquarium”

New additions to the “Have Science, Will Travel” map

You know about the map, right? The map that shows not only all of The Finch and Pea science travel posts (except for Gallifrey…) but also science travel posts from elsewhere on the internet.

A few recent additions to the map:

The map!

The Field Museum (online)

suetrexThe Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (let’s pretend I picked a Chicago location intentionally to match up with the AAAS meeting that just took place there) is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, with 25 million objects in their collection. If you happen to be in Chicago, you can visit the museum in person, but if you can’t – don’t worry. The Field Museum has an extremely interactive online presence.

Here’s a little virtual tour: Continue reading “The Field Museum (online)”

Sochi Geology

The Winter Olympics kicked off amidst controversies about unfinished hotel rooms and LGBT rights, but all of that – and more components of the Games – could be easily swept away with an ill-timed landslide, earthquake, or avalanche.

Sochi

For the past several years, researchers have warned about the geological risks of hosting the Winter Games in Sochi. Continue reading “Sochi Geology”