Science at AMNH

Join geneticist Tuuli Lappalainen from the New York Genome Center to understand how genetic variants shape how our genes are expressed, and how her lab is seeking to uncover the “rules” of human variation.

This SciCafe took place at the Museum on June 3, 2015

The SciCafe series is proudly sponsored by Judy and Josh Weston.

Kepler mission scientist Natalie Batalha describes the endeavor’s latest discoveries and the possibilities for finding inhabited environments in the not-so-distant future.

This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on May 11, 2015.

Support for Hayden Planetarium Programs is provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Endowment Fund.

In this podcast, Curator emeritus Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of human evolution, and leads us through a world of discoveries in the field from past to present.

This lecture took place at the Museum on June 9, 2015.

To listen to our archive of podcasts, visit amnh.org/podcasts.

Does the fact that we're humans bias the way we look at our fossilized ancestors? In this podcast, Curator emeritus Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of evolution. He leads us through a world of discoveries, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, continuing through the Leakey dynasty in Africa, and concluding with the latest astonishing findings in the Caucasus. With tact and humor, Tattersall concludes that we are not the perfected products of natural processes, but rather the result of substantial doses of random happenstance.

This lecture took place at the Museum on June 9, 2015.

Curator Peter Whiteley explores the life of Colonel Louis Cook, the highest-ranking African-American officer and Native American officer in the Revolutionary War, who deserves a more prominent place in American history.

This lecture took place at the Museum on April 14, 2015.

Mandë Holford, a Research Associate at the Museum and Associate Professor of Chemical Biology at Hunter College, discusses her research into relatively unknown predatory marine snails, such as cone snails, the toxins they produce in their venom, and how those toxins are being used in the search for new medicines for pain and cancer.

This SciCafe took place at the Museum on May 6, 2015.

The SciCafe Series is proudly sponsored by Judy and Josh Weston.

This project is supported by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Shep Doeleman, scientist and Assistant Director of the Haystack Observatory at MIT, explores the evidence for black holes, and describes an effort to link radio dishes around the world to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope that will make the first images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on April 13, 2015.

Support for Hayden Planetarium Programs is provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Endowment Fund.

Listen in on a discussion between a panel of experts, including Heidi Hammel, Executive Vice President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy; Tess Russo, a hydrologist at Pennsylvania State University; Ellen Stofan, planetary geologist and Chief Scientist of NASA; Kathryn Sullivan, a geologist at NOAA; and Charles Wald, a retired general from the U.S. Air Force. Host and moderator Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, leads this lively conversation on the past, present, and future of water.

The 2015 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate took place at the Museum on April 28, 2015.

Museum Curator Brian Richmond and Boston University anthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explore the great advantages of walking on two legs, as well as the unfortunate consequences of evolving bipedalism from a body plan designed to walk on four, not two, legs.

This SciCafe took place at the Museum on April 1, 2015.

The SciCafe series is proudly sponsored by Judy and Josh Weston.

This SciCafe event is presented in collaboration with The Leakey Foundation.

In this SciCafe, Brett Benz, Paul Sweet, and Christopher Raxworthy talk about the discoveries they made in Papua New Guinea, as well as the adventures they had along the way. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on March 3, 2015.

The Museum’s Explore21 Initiative is supported by the leadership contributions of Katheryn P. and Thomas L. Kempner, Jr., and Linda R. and William E. Macaulay.

The SciCafe series is proudly sponsored by Judy and Josh Weston.