#Denver Museum of Nature & Science

[roosaurusrin]

Non-dinosaurians from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

#paleontology #fossils #dunkleosteus #eurypterid #dimetrodon #eryops #megafauna #Gomphotherium #daedon #mammoth #Denver Museum of Nature and Science

[garadinervi]

Chief Martin White Horse Winter Count, [documenting significant events in Lakota history each year from 1789 to 1910] [Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul. Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Photo: Scott Dressel-Martin]

Plus: How we memorialize significant events says a lot about our cultural view of time. Consider the Chief White Horse Winter Count, by Stephen E. Nash, «SAPIENS», November 23, 2016

#art #drawing #visual writing #pictogram #anthropology #magazine #winter count #denver museum of nature & science #minnesota public radio #stephen e. nash #scott dressel martin #sapiens #1910s #2010s

[catgirl-kaiju]

#comedy #humor #shitpost #fondle a foot #denver museum of nature and science #paleontology #museum #paleoblr

[biocheminpics]

The Houston Museum of Natural Science

I'm a big fan of Science Museums. The collections carried by museums are incredibly important to science (particularly paleontology, archeology, etc). So when I found myself in Houston for a day with a few hours to burn, I decided hey, let's check out the museum.

Note: I purchased the student, permanent exhibit ticket. So I cannot comment on the special exibits.

But I left a bit disappointed. In the end, the museum felt well stocked but poorly executed.

First, let me dole out my complements. The collection they possess is very impressive. The Dino hall had an impressive number of complete skeletons; there was an entire exhibit of sea shells; the mineral collection was pretty good; the archeological pieces from the North American indigenous civilizations and the ancient Egyptian civilization were numerous. They had a lot to work with.

However, almost every exhibit felt like it was trying to be an art gallery more than a museum (the dino hall and the minerals were among the worst offenders). The exhibits were also very child-unfriendly, with many of the pieces completely unprotected. They were very much trying to sell an experience more than educate. There were three separate gift shops one of which was a main entrance (though, to be fair, I expect this is as much a result of poor funding as it is poor form). Let me explain further by going floor by floor.

The lower floor: Uh, Houston. We have a problem.

The space exhibit was a small hall with some scale models of craft, a few suits, and a mercury era capsule (an actual capsule, not a replica). That's it. Humanity's greatest achievement on lackluster display. Took me literally 5 minutes to view the entire collection. For the city that's arguably the most associated with the space program, I expected more.

The first floor: dinosaur, an art form.

The first floor was partially under construction so I'll give that a bit of a pass. But the life history/dinosaur hall was really frustrating. First, it was poorly lit and confusingly laid out. If you wanted to view everything in order, you had to double back at several points. The labeling was also very poorly executed. Individual fossils weren't clearly marked, information plaques were white with small font (which in the low light were hard to find). Smaller fossils were displayed like paintings while the dinosaurs were displayed like sculptures. Seriously, the dinosaurs were on these weird white islands with lighting under them, devoid of any diorama-like scenery (see photo). It was odd.

But the most egregious thing, in my opinion, was the inaccuracies in the human evolution section. Weirdly, they were concerning homo neanderthalensis each time. They mentioned Neanderthals in a few seperate places and each time listed a different time range. And on one timeline, there was shown a considerable time gap between h. sapiens and h. neandertalensis, despite the two having considerable overlap. This is a huge oversight.

The second floor: a cabinet of curious display choices.

The second floor contained animal dioramas, the seashell exhibit, the gemstone and mineral exhibit, and the, "Morian Cabnet of Curiosities." Apart from the seashells (which were in a very well-organized, well-informed exhibit), this entire floor was simply disappointing. The animal dioramas were pretty good, but very poorly lit. I felt it really detracted from the displays. The Morian Cabnet of Curiosities was a homage to the private museum-like collections that were kept by the gentry of ages past. While it was entertaining, I felt the pieces could have been viewed better if placed in proper exhibits. It also felt a bit to be glorifying a sort of imperial/colonial, take-and-display mindset of yesteryear that really has no place in modern museums.

Honestly, the biggest disappointment on this floor was the mineral and gem exhibit. As a chemist, I find minerals really fascinating. So when I see a mineral exhibit in a museum, I go in expecting to see at least non-specific metal complex names listed by the minerals being displayed. No such luck here. There was literally nothing of educational value in the entire exhibit. The whole thing was like a gemstone exhibit I would expect at a jewelry gallery. Dark room with artfully lit pieces on black satin, common names and places of origin listed. Nothing else. If I had not already had a pretty broad understanding of minerals, I would have left knowing literally nothing. The gems were also just disappointing. Several had large, visible scratches and others were covered in layers of dust. Honestly, appalling.

The third floor: a thin layer of whitewash.

The third floor contained an exhibit on the native peoples of North America and one on ancient Egypt. The Egypt one was very well stocked and incredibly well designed, visually. The information (as far as I could tell) was also accurate. Only major gripes I had were the very slight glorification of the same take-and-display mindset I mentioned earlier and the reinforcement of common Egyptian-based cinema stereotypes (music and imagry mostly). Also, Sobek was nowhere to be found, much to my personal disappointment.

To their credit, the NA peoples exhibit is clearly trying to do right by the cultures discussed. However, I felt the language used in some aspects minimized the history these cultures have been put through.

The forth floor: brought to you buy the ENTIRE FUCKING PETROLIUM INDUSTRY

Before I tear into this, let me be absolutely clear: the extraction of petroleum from the earth is a vital, necessary industry. It's pursuit has truly been beneficial to humanity in a number of ways. Similarly, the energy industry is an absolutly vital part of human civilization.

HOWTHEFUCKEVER

It is my honest opinion that petroleum is a resource we're squandering by simply burning it. We can do so much more with it as a chemical stock for making shit than we can just mindlessly setting it on fire (and destroying the planet in the process). And with access to far safer and renewable forms of energy (nuclear, geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectric) at this point burning shit to produce energy is just mind-numbingly vacuous.

So imagine my frustration when I arrive at the fourth floor and see nothing but a glorified marketing campaign for every oil company on this forsaken rock. They called it the, "Wiess Energy hall," but it really was just the petroleum industry on parade. There was a tiny section describing the various renewable energy resources on boring displays. And not a single explanation on nuclear fission power, anywhere. Literally the only place I saw it was in one spot in a diorama detailing the energy sources in a city. Meanwhile there were dioramas of oil rigs, models of generators, an inspiring statue of an oil worker, interactive displays of deep-sea drilling, whole-ass holograms in a diorama of a coal mine, interactive displays showing how oil is separated, vr rides for exploring aspects of the industry, and a host of other superficially really cool exhibits glorifying the continued destruction of the planet. But hey, they did include one single fucking sentence mentioning climate change. So they're being responsible, right? And at every fucking one of these displays, "provided by generous donations from [insert oil family/company here]." It was abundantly clear that this was bought and paid for by the oil industry.

For some reason, the whole thing gave the same energy (pun fully intend) as this line from Jurassic Park:

Final words.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a paradoxical crossroads where a first rate collection meets a failure of design and management. It's absolutely clear to me that the entire institution has forgone the idea of educating its guests in favor of entertaining them with curosities that glorify the less-than-noble aspects of science's history. One should expect to leave a museum with some amount of new knowledge. But I expect most leave having only learned how to drill for oil.

#Houston Museum of Natural Science #Houston #science #science side of tumblr #sciblr #museum #I've been to several museums #my favorite of which was #the Denver Museum of Nature and Science #in maybe half of the space #DMNS managed to pack over double the education and quality shown by Houston

[somewheredownthesidewalk]

December 26, 2021

Denver, Colorado

#photographers on tumblr #photography #photos #woolly mammoth #fossils #denver #colorado #denver museum of nature and science

[emmakisiel]

#ladybug #natural history museum #bug #denver museum of nature and science #emma kisiel #ek sketchbook

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Finally got to see my favorite T. rex mount in person a few years ago.

#tyrannosaurus #tyrannosaurus rex #t. rex #dinosaurs #paleontology #bones #denver museum of nature and science #colorado #photography #i don't care how improbable or impossible the pose is #it looks fucking cool

[aiiaiiiyo]

#A Lakota man. ca. 1895-1899. South Dakota. Photo by Jesse H. Bratley. Source - Denver Museum of Nature and Science. #DiosMioMan63 #oldschool

[the-four-humors]

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

December 26, 2021

#denver #denver museum of nature and science #neon #lights #scifi

[paleotanks]

Notharctus in the trees, Lost Cabin, WY, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

#Denver Museum of Nature and Science #eocene #prehistoric journey #notharctus

[creepescular]

Walrus diorama at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

#museum #diorama #walrus #pinniped #denver #denver museum of nature and science #mine #taxidermy

[roosaurusrin]

Allosaurus vs. Stegosaurus display from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The small scutes along the throat of the Stegosaurus formed throat(aka gular) armor for added protection against predators, if the thagomizer at the end of the tail wasn’t enough.

#allosaurus #stegosaurus #thagomizer #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs #denver museum of nature and science

[kekeslider]

Growing up with easy access to all the DC Smithsonian’s and the national aquarium really spoils you for like all other museums. The natural history museum is so good

#keke bitches #I visited the Denver museum of nature and science recently and it was. pretty good #every time my friends and I travel anywhere we go to at least 1 museum and we have Ben disappointed several times #the nature and science museum in Dallas is also just okay imo

[incognito-princess]

I'm going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science tomorrow to see the Snowmass Ice Age Megafauna find!!

#snowmass colorado #ice age megafauna #paleontology #ice age death trap #nova #denver museum of nature and science #mastadon #mammoths #ground sloths #Youtube

[somewheredownthesidewalk]

December 26, 2021

Denver, Colorado

#photographers on tumblr #photography #photos #denver #colorado #denver museum of nature and science

[misusyaya-vlog]

🏔️ Day Trip to SOUTH PARK in Colorado! (Denver Vlog)

#youtube #vlog #denver #colorado #fairplay #town #south park #south park city #eric cartman #kyle brovlofski #kenny #stan marsh #mining town #museum #denver museum of nature and science #travel #solo travel #solo trip #day trip #vegan travel #vegan food #vegan foodie #plant based #vegan restaurant