For several years, many social media users have puzzled over a photograph of a sign, seemingly from a museum display, stating that “This object has been removed as we revise its facial expression, which was deemed zoologically improbable and/or terrifying to small children”:
“Is this sign real?” countless viewers have wondered. And if so, what museum was it from, and what animal or other object on exhibit there bore a facial expression “deemed zoologically improbable and/or terrifying to small children”?
The HMNH logo in the bottom right-hand corner of the sign associates it with the Harvard Museum of Natural History. However, that institution did not remove any object from their display for the reasons stated on the sign. The photograph stems from a performance art special event the museum held one evening in 2020 titled “Bizarre Animals,” described as follows:
Close
A new study recently showed that the discovery of a novel enzyme that emits a valuable chemical substance from agricultural waste could offer an essential breakthrough in the upscaling of chemicals and renewable fuels.
A Mirage News report said that researchers, headed by the University of York, have identified an enzyme in a fungus that can function as a catalyst to lead to a chemical reaction that s breaking down lignocellulose.
Lignocellulose, as explained in ScienceDirect, exists in forestry and agricultural waste like wheat straw for one, was used in this particular study.
For such a long time, it has been considered by science experts that this dry matter could be utilized as a sustainable resource for fuel and chemical production if a way of breaking it down could be found in order for it to be effectively processed.
In
The Ur III Administrative Texts from Puzrish-Dagan Kept in the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East Changyu Liu offers an edition of a collection of 689 cuneiform clay tablets kept in the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, formerly Harvard Semitic Museum), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. These administrative documents date to the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III, ca. 2112–2004 BCE) of Mesopotamian history and are from Puzrish-Dagan (modern Drehem in southern Iraq). The editions of the 689 Ur III texts, arranged by their catalogue numbers, are significant for further study of how the Puzrish-Dagan organization functioned. New evidence has been gleaned and new conclusions can be drawn from texts in this book.
Share
Brenda Tindal has been named executive director of Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, Claudine Gay, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), announced today. Tindal will begin her new position May 17.
Gay said that Tindal will lead “with a passion for the work of museums as incubators of courageous inquiry” as the public face of the FAS research museums, which include the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Herbaria, Museum of Natural History, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum.
Earth Week: Feeding the Globe Sustainably in the Twenty-First Century
April 22 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
While farming is fundamental to human existence, its practice poses the greatest threat to Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Growing plants and raising animals domesticated nearly 10,000 years ago displaces wildlife and disrupts critical Earth processes. This occurs even though we have improved our understanding of how these organisms function, and how to manage them. Jerry Glover will discuss innovations to improve current agricultural practices and opportunities to change food production models so they can meet the needs of an increasingly hungry human population without causing negative environmental effects.