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Features, PiercingKen Says

American Museum of Natural History Vaccination Site to Close March 31

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The Press Release:
New Yorkers have until the end of the month to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at the American Museum of Natural History. The New York City vaccination site, which first opened in April 2021 and has administered more than 97,000 vaccinations, will have its last operating day on Thursday, March 31. As it approaches the 100,000-vaccination milestone, the Museum encourages those who have not yet been vaccinated or gotten their booster to do so. Everyone who receives vaccinations at the Museum also will receive a voucher for complimentary general admission. Starting April 1, a New York City mobile vaccination bus will be temporarily stationed outside of the Museum at 77th Street and Central Park West to serve anyone seeking a walk-in vaccination.

The Museum’s vaccination site opened almost a year ago, on April 23, 2021, as part of a historic partnership with the City. It was first located in the Museum’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, featuring the iconic blue whale with a prominent post-vaccination bandage on her fin. The whale’s bandage will remain in place to show the Museum’s continued support of the vaccination effort.
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Arts and Culture, Features

American Museum of Natural History Announces “Sharks” Exhibit for December

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The Press Release:
People have been fascinated by sharks for as long as we have been exploring the oceans. Fixed in the public imagination as toothy, fearsome predators, sharks are far more fascinating, and more complex, than their depiction in popular culture. Sharks, a new exhibition opening at the American Museum of Natural History this winter, will bring to life the incredible diversity of this ancient group of fishes and will offer visitors a unique look at pre-historic and modern shark species, their habitats and hunting styles, and the conservation threats these magnificent animals are facing today.

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The evolutionary history of sharks began nearly 450 million years ago, more than 200 million years before the first dinosaur. Today, there are more than 500 species of sharks and more than 650 species of their close relatives—rays, skates, and chimaeras—inhabiting nearly all of the world’s aquatic environments, from coral reefs to the polar seas, and even freshwater rivers. While the terrifying monster from the movie Jaws is what many might imagine when they think of sharks, today’s scientists are uncovering many surprising facts about this diverse group. Convinced that all sharks are carnivores? (Fact: Recent research shows that bonnethead sharks eat seagrass and can digest plants). Where do great white sharks give birth to their young? (Fact: By tracking females, scientists recently discovered a great white shark nursery off the coast of Long Island, New York). Can shark tourism be more profitable than shark fishing? (Fact: where fishing and ecotourism are regulated, tourism can support shark communities for generations. In fact, a single whale shark has been shown to bring thousands of more dollars as a beacon for tourism than could be earned by killing it). Sharks addresses these exciting questions and reveals more secrets of the ocean’s top predators through lifesized models, touch-free interactives, real fossils, and dynamic media presentations.
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Features, PiercingKen Says

American Museum of Natural History Outlines Vaccination Requirements at the Museum

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The Press Release:
We hope you and your loved ones continue to be safe and healthy as we navigate the pandemic.

In accordance with the recent New York City vaccination requirement, visitors must now be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the Museum. Beginning today, Wednesday, August 25, visitors ages 12 and above must show proof of vaccination. See the Health and Safety requirements on our website for additional details, including accepted forms of proof of vaccination. Facial coverings remain required for all visitors ages 2 and up.
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Features, PiercingKen Says

Hayden Planetarium Announces New Space Show “Worlds Beyond Earth”

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The Press Release:
Featuring immersive visualizations of distant worlds, groundbreaking space missions, and breathtaking scenes depicting the evolution of our solar system, the American Museum of Natural History’s new Hayden Planetarium Space Show Worlds Beyond Earth, will open January 21, 2020, as part of the Museum’s 150th anniversary celebration. Worlds Beyond Earth takes viewers on an exhilarating journey that reveals the surprisingly dynamic nature of the worlds that orbit our Sun and the unique conditions that make life on our planet possible.

Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o has signed on to narrate Worlds Beyond Earth. Nyong’o’s acclaimed film work includes Us (2019), Black Panther (2018), The Jungle Book (2016), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), and 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is also the narrator for the six-part wildlife docuseries Serengeti (2019).

Worlds Beyond Earth is produced by a team that includes Earth and planetary scientists, science visualization experts, and artists, and was developed using data from sources such as SPICE (Spacecraft Planet Instrument C-matrix Events)—the system used by NASA and other space agencies for designing and documenting solar system exploration missions. With brilliant visualizations shown on the world’s most advanced planetarium projection system, Worlds Beyond Earth whisks viewers away on an adventure across the solar system, from our planetary cousins Mars and Venus to beyond the asteroid belt, where worlds of ice and gas like Saturn, Jupiter, and their moons reveal active volcanoes and buried oceans.
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Arts and Culture, Features

American Museum of Natural History Announces “T-Rex: The Ultimate Predator” Exhibit for March

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The Press Release:
It’s the star of blockbuster movies and children’s imaginations, the inspiration for viral memes and inflatable Halloween costumes. Yet despite its high profile in the public consciousness, our perception of Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives is often much different than the reality. T. rex: The Ultimate Predator, a new exhibition opening at the American Museum of Natural History this spring, will explore the latest research and discoveries about the genus of dinosaurs known as tyrannosaurs, with an emphasis on the most famous and impressive member of the family—T. rex.

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Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil from AMNH by Ken Pierce (2018)

The full tyrannosaur story includes dozens of different species and spans over 100 million years of evolution, with T. rex appearing only at the very end of that period. Most tyrannosaurs were not giants like T. rex, which, fully grown, weighed between 6 and 9 tons. Early species were small and fast, likely avoiding confrontations with larger dinosaurs. So how did mega-predators like T. rex evolve from such humble origins? How did T. rex grow so quickly in adolescence, ballooning from the size of a chicken to the size of a truck in just 21 years, gaining up to 4.6 pounds per day? And what kind of super sensory skills and traits did it use to become such an efficient killer? T. rex: The Ultimate Predator addresses these questions and more with life-sized reconstructions of tyrannosaurs at various life stages, real fossils and casts, large-scale video projections, hands-on interactives, and an exhilarating virtual reality experience that lets visitors work in a group to assemble a T. rex skeleton.
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