Explorer Series September 25, 2009

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is pleased to announce the return of its Explorer Series, a lecture series in which nationally and internationally renowned scientists, authors and artists address topics relating to natural history, the natural sciences and challenges facing our environment. Beginning Sept. 25, the Museum will welcome presenters through June 2010.
The Explorer Series offers a chance for visitors to examine a modern threat to our oceans; gain high-tech insights into dinosaur locomotion; explore green urbanism; and hear about adventures in nature. All presentations will be held on Friday evenings in the Museum’s Murch Auditorium. The lectures start at 7:30 p.m., but attendees are invited to arrive as early as 5:30 p.m. to explore the Museum’s exhibitions, listen to live music, shop the Museum Store, or purchase dinner and refreshments in The Blue Planet Café. A cash beer and wine bar will also be available. Afterward, select speakers will sign their books and, on clear nights, the Mueller Observatory will be open.

The series topics, speakers and dates are:

Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage
Jim McCormac, author, columnist and president of the Ohio Ornithological Society
Friday, Sept. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Co-sponsored by The Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio
Jim McCormac’s latest book, Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage is a photographic journey through the best remaining places in the Buckeye State. From southern haunts bordering the Ohio River to lakeshore habitats buffering Lake Erie, Ohio is filled with wild landscapes. Explore the creatures and plants that make these sites so special and hear why Ohio plays a global role in conservation. Book signing to follow.

Plastic Debris: Lakes to Sea
Dr. Marcus Eriksen, environmental scientist and educator
Friday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Co-sponsored by Biodiversity Alliance and Dominion
The Northeast Ohio Environmental Awards Ceremony will precede this program.
Plastic is the newest environmental threat to our oceans and the hundreds of marine organisms that consume it, including the ones we harvest for food. To call attention to this worldwide problem, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, director of education for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation of Long Beach, California, constructed a raft from more than 15,000 plastic bottles. He was one of two people to sail the raft from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 2008. Ericksen will discuss his journey and solutions to this modern plastic plague.

An Animated Approach to Dinosaur Locomotion
Dr. Stephen Gatesy, paleontologist and evolutionary morphologist
Friday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.
For the last 15 years, Dr. Stephen Gatesy, associate professor of biology at Brown University specializing in paleontology and evolutionary functional morphology, has used 3-D animation software to visualize and analyze bipedal locomotion in carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex. He served as a scientific advisor for the American Museum of Natural History exhibition Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries. Gatesy will discuss the process and problems in reconstructing tyrannosaur locomotion and present his research on fossil footprints and the origins of bird flight.

Green Urbanism: The Global Shift Toward Sustainable and Resilient Cities
Dr. Timothy Beatley, professor of sustainable communities
Friday, Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the Cleveland Council on World Affairs
Dr. Timothy Beatley of the University of Virginia promotes green urbanism, a creative urban planning and design strategy that brings nature back into city neighborhoods, supports locally produced renewable energy and encourages growing food close to urban communities. He will present examples of innovative green projects and policies adapted by cities in Europe and North America that could be implemented in Northeast Ohio. Book signing to follow.

Wild Mushrooms: A World of Wonder at Our Feet
Walter Sturgeon, chairman of the Ohio Mushroom Society, award-winning photographer, author and nationally recognized amateur mycologist
Friday, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Class of 2009 Naturalist Certificates will be awarded before this program.
Walter Sturgeon is best at sorting out the dizzying array of fungi found at our feet. His presentation will emphasize mushroom diversity while highlighting ecology, folklore and edibility. Topics include insectivorous fungi, bioluminescence, habitats, symbiotic relationships, ethno mycology, mycophagy, toxicology, forms, colors, tastes, odors and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Across the Andes: A 7,800-mile Journey Toward Understanding
Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg, 2009/2009 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year
Friday, Jan. 15, 7:30 p.m.
In April 2008, Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg became the first people to trek the length of the Andes Mountains, south of the equator, a journey that lasted nearly two years and covered 7,800 miles. Following the spine of the longest mountain chain in the world, the couple created a new route, sometimes off-trail and off-map. Traveling to remote and some never-before-visited villages in the Andes, they met people who have practiced sustainable methods for centuries. They will share lessons learned from people living harmoniously with the land.

The Dinosaurs of West America: Life, Death and Evolution on an Island Continent
Dr. Scott D. Sampson, paleontologist
Friday, Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m.
About 100 million years ago, central North America was flooded by the north-south oriented Cretaceous Interior Seaway.
Adjacent to this warm, shallow sea, the isolated western landmass informally known as “West America” witnessed a
stunning florescence of dinosaurs, from horned, duck-billed and armored plant-eaters to meat-eating tyrannosaurs and smaller raptor-like predators. Dr. Scott Sampson of the Utah Museum of Natural History and University of Utah has done extensive research in this region exploring the questions of giant dinosaur co-existence, the evolution of Tyrannosaurus rex and the great extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic Era. Book signing to follow.

Marathon in Antarctica: The Coldest, Highest, Driest, Windiest, Loneliest Continent
Edwin (Win) V. Apel, Jr., marathon competitor
Friday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Win Apel ran his first two marathons in 2000 and 2001 before being diagnosed with cancer. After beating the disease, he vowed to run a marathon in all 50 states and seven continents. Apel ran a unique marathon in Antarctica and, in July 2009, achieved his ambition of competing on every continent when he ran in the Bush Capital Marathon in Canberra, Australia. He will share his story of courage and determination.

Letters from Eden
Julie Zickefoose, natural history artist and writer
Friday, March 12, 7:30 p.m.
The William and Nancy Klamm Memorial Lecture
Reading prose and poetry, showing her paintings and photography, naturalist and National Public Radio commentator Julie Zickefoose reveals the deep connection with nature that keeps her walking her 80-acre Appalachian sanctuary outside Whipple, Ohio, where she has come to know wild creatures as individuals and neighbors. Her book Letters from Eden struck a powerful chord with readers nationwide, evoking the rhythms of the seasons and an awareness of natural events that many people long for in the age of “nature deficit disorder.” Book signing to follow.

The Nature of the Iditarod: Musher and Dogs in Harmony and Conflict with Alaskan Wilderness
DeeDee Jonrowe, world-famous Iditarod musher
Friday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.
DeeDee Jonrowe is the foremost female dog musher competing in the world today. She holds the Iditarod record for the women’s best time and 13 top-10 finishes. Her second-place finish in the 1998 Iditarod is the fifth-fastest time for both men and women. She has won many other sledding races as well as awards for the best cared for team, the best dog care and the dog’s best friend award. Join Jonrowe for tales from the Alaskan trails.
Spider Silk: A 400 Million Year Experiment in Evolutionary Science
Dr. Todd A. Blackledge, biologist
Friday, May 14, 7:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History Conservation Awards Ceremony will precede this program.
A single spider spins up to eight different types of silk threads that can be as strong as steel, tougher than Kevlar, or even as stretchy as rubber. While spiders rely on this amazingly diverse “toolkit” to catch their food, protect their young and find mates, scientists aim to synthesize spider silk in the laboratory. Dr. Todd Blackledge of The University of Akron will explain attempts to replicate silk in the laboratory for use in high-performance polymers, cloths, ropes and medical devices.

The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music
Dr. Patricia Gray, clinical professor and biomusic research scientist
Friday, June 4, 7:30 p.m.
If we rely on artifacts alone, the evolutionary trail of music can take us back just 50,000 years. But there are other ways to study the roots of music-making and musical structures. By looking at other species and their abilities to perceive and manipulate patterns of sound and time, we may advance our understanding. Dr. Patricia Gray of the Music Research Institute at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro will discuss the deeper roots of human musicality.

Official Website: http://www.cmnh.org