Event name: AMNH Excursion
Event time and place: November 16, American Museum of Natural History
The fossil halls are organized around the story of vertebrate evolution, showing how key features like jaws, limbs, and watertight eggs developed over time. The design of the exhibit helps visitors follow this story step by step, using both the layout of the rooms and interactive displays. As you walk through, it’s like you’re going through a cladogram where black lines represent the evolutionary branches. This layout shows how different groups of animals are related and when they split off from each other. There were models of the first jawless vertebrates, along with graphics that highlighted their bone structure, showing how jaws evolved. Enlarged models of fish bones let visitors touch and explore the changes that led to major evolutionary milestones. Color-coded graphics trace how specific body parts, like limbs, evolved, making it easy to follow the transition from fish to early amphibians and beyond. The exhibit also connected to the real world by showing where key fossils were found. The mammal evolutionary path continues into a separate mammal hall, while reptiles are shown branching off, with some returning to water. Two highlights from the tour were that Ostracoderms were the earliest jawless vertebrates, representing the primitive body plan of vertebrates and that fossils of chondrichthyans are rare because their skeletons are composed of cartilage, which does not preserve well. The cladogram reflects the state of scientific understanding in the 1990s, but its basic organization no longer aligns with current knowledge. At the time, turtles were thought to be the earliest sauropsids, with pareiasaurs as their closest ancestors. However, we now know that turtles are more closely related to the fossil relatives of birds and dinosaurs, making their position on the cladogram inaccurate. Coral is preserved by going through a specific drying process. Fish are preserved by being cleaned and stained. Natural history specimens, like coral, help scientists study biodiversity, evolution, and environmental changes. However, ethical concerns arise when collecting coral, such as avoiding harm to endangered species, minimizing ecosystem disruption, and ensuring proper permits are obtained. Researchers often use careful, non-invasive methods to balance study needs with environmental protection. We went to the Hall of Gems and Minerals. The hall began with a focus on minerals and explores how Earth’s minerals have evolved over time. The minerals are arranged by chemical complexity on the left side and by the environments in which they formed, such as pegmatitic, igneous, weathering, and hydrothermal. The right side of the exhibit highlights different minerals and their practical uses, including connections to life. The gem collection is showcased separately, categorized by gem type. The exhibit also covers topics like mineral formation and properties, notable and rare specimens, mining practices, and their economic significance.Three specific items in the exhibit were a massive amethyst geode, showcasing purple crystals inside a naturally hollow rock. A slice of petrified redwood, revealing the intricate details of fossilized tree rings. The Signing Stone, a large block featuring vibrant blue azurite and green malachite, collected in Arizona in 1891.The information provided for these objects were that they were all found in Uruguay and the specific times they were found. It would have been interesting if they included the value of the hip-hop jewelry. It’s worth noting that many items made in different regions were donated by the estates of wealthy individuals, often white. The title of the Space Show this year was Worlds beyond Earth and it pushed the theme that even if we started out the same, we grow up to be very different and that Earth is an oasis in the vastness of space. The sort of information in the Space show was how robotic explorers have been gathering data on exoplanets, allowing us to learn about them without traveling there. They talked about how the inner planets near the sun are composed of rock and metal, and how the asteroid belt contains leftover materials from the planet formation process. The outer planets, like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, lack solid surfaces and the Kuiper Belt is filled with icy objects, such as Pluto, remnants from the early solar system. They went over the history of how gravity caused the Sun to form about 4.5 billion years ago when a cloud of gas, dust, and ice collapsed in on itself. Titan’s thick atmosphere was studied by the Cassini spacecraft, revealing a surface similar to the Moon’s, shaped by methane rain instead of water. It was clear that some of the images presented were based on real measurements and observations. For example, the computer simulations of planetary formation and moon development were supported by data collected from spacecraft like Cassini and Rosetta. These simulations used actual data, such as images of Saturn’s rings and the analysis of comet components, rather than being purely artistic graphics. However, some of the more speculative visuals, such as the simulation of flooding on Mars or the formation of moons, may have been enhanced or designed for illustrative purposes, but they were still grounded in scientific data. learned a few new things from the presentation. I didn’t know that Saturn is going through a process similar to the formation of the planets within its rings. I also learned that methane acts like water in Earth's water cycle. Jupiter’s interior is made of liquid metallic hydrogen, which creates its magnetic field, and it has a salty liquid ocean under its icy crust. I found out that Venus is made of similar materials to Earth but lost its water because it doesn’t have a magnetic field, leaving its atmosphere full of CO2. Venus traps heat because of its CO2-rich atmosphere, showing that too much CO2 on Earth can raise temperatures. The canyons on Mars may have been formed by flooding, and Mars once had the ability to support life. However, because it’s smaller than Earth, it cooled quickly, and its volcanoes became inactive, causing it to lose its magnetic field and making it harder to sustain life. The American Museum of Natural History makes sure everyone can enjoy their exhibits in different ways. For example, they have physical models so people can feel the differences in bone structure, which is helpful for visitors who can’t see well. They also use videos to explain exhibits, so people can listen and learn if they can’t rely on visuals. Plus, the museum has wheelchair-accessible entrances and stroller areas, making it easy for families and people with mobility challenges to get around.