1, y MEMBER MAGAZINE an oe " sh he are | SUMMER 2014 MAY-AUGUST VOL. 85, NO. 2 EDITOR Franck Mercurio, mercunio-exhibits. com PHOTO CONTENT SPECIALIST Nina Cummings, The Field Museum DESIGN Bockos Design, Inc. Allimages © The Field Museum unless otherwise specified. IN THE FIELD (ISSN #1051-4546) is published three times a year by The Field Museum. Annual subscriptions are $20; $10 far schools. Museum membership includes IN THE FIELD subscription. Opinions expressed by authors ate their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of The Field Museum. Notification of address change should include address label and should be sent to the membership department. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Membership, The Field Museum 1400 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2496 ON THE COVER Peru’s Kampankis Mountains contain a diverse mix of Amazonian lowland and Andean montane forests. Read more about Field Museum research on Amazonian trees on pages 4 and s. £CCO12006 / ALVARO DEL CAMPO 1400 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago, \L 60605-2496 312.922.9410 fieldmuseum.org Your Museum is a global institution. | recently witnessed this firsthand when | journeyed with Field Museum scientists to Peru. Every year, our researchers travel to the Andes-Amazon region of South America to conduct Rapid Inventories. These surveys document plant and animal life in this biologically diverse area of the world, and our scientists’ findings have supported the establishment of millions of acres of newly protected habitats over the past decade. As we traveled through the country, local people—urban dwellers and rural indigenous people alike —welcomed us in a way that | will never forget. Armed with cameras and paper for autographs, they flocked to our scientists. This type of reception is not unwarranted or uncommon. The Rapid Inventory team collaborates with local communities year after year. Together, they advance partnerships that lead to the protection of precious land. By uniting our scientists’ expertise with data from the Inventories, these efforts multiply the impact of Museum resources. Your support enables us to send scientists on these expedi- tions and others around the world. You extend our global reach. Thank you for supporting the growth of our Field Museum family and ensuring our world- ALVARO DEL CAMPO wide impact. RICHARD W. LARIVIERE, PHD y } f 4 i a 1 y f PRESIDENT AND CEO ‘nvisioning t ISABELLE HEYWARD, EXHIBITION DEVELOPER, INTERVIEWS ILLUSTRATOR VELIZAR SIMEONOVSKI SINCE MOVING TO CHICAGO TEN YEARS AGO, Velizar “Vel” Simeonovski has collaborated with Field Museum scientists to create images of animals—both extant and extinct—through the art of scientific illustration. You might have seen Vel’s work in Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age in 2010. Recently, Vel teamed up with Museum scientist Steve Goodman, PhD, and Bill Jungers, PhD, of SUNY Stony Brook to reconstruct the vanished habitats and species of Holocene-era Madagascar for anew book and upcoming exhibition, Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island’s Past. Isabelle Heyward of The Field’s Exhibitions Department recently spoke to Vel about his approach to scientific illustration and how he collaborated with Steve and Bill to recreate scenes of ancient Madagascar. Heyward: Can you tell mea little bit more about your background? Simeonovski: When I finished art school, I decided to study biology. I have always been interested in animals. Ihave a master’s degree in Zoology —as well as that artistic background — which is useful. Heyward: When you start an illustration, which background takes precedence, the artistic or the scientific? Simeonovski: When creating a scientific illustration, Ineed to keep the artistic background on the back plane because the scientific illustration has a specific purpose — to demonstrate certain characteristics of animals. Il approach it more like a scientist rather than an artist. Heyward: How closely did you work with Steve Goodman in developing these scenes? Simeonovski: We went back and forth a lot. He would tell me, “we have a cave,” or “we have bones.” He described the bones’ details and the environment where they were found, then I reconstructed the animals and developed the composition. I have to recreate his thoughts, what he is telling me. It is kind of a process. he Past © VELIZAR SIMEONOVSKI Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island’s Past opens August 30 with a public lecture by Steve Goodman. See page 23 for more details. Heyward: These illustrations depict many extinct animals. How do you go about illustrat- ing species that no longer exist? Simeonovski: In general, how you approach reconstruction is: you have skeletons or remains, you reconstruct the skeleton and muscles, and then you look for animals which are related or have a similar way of life. But not everything extinct has living relatives, so you look for correlations in modern animals and then apply those to extinct animals... It’s a discussion. In the end, it’s technically a scientific result, which can change if new data are found. Heyward: How do you know when you’re done? Simeonovski: You work until you feel it. Just work, work, work, and when you’re done, it says you’re done. ITF This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S Institute of Museum and Library Services and support from Joyce Chelberg. SUMMER 2014 By Nigel Pitman, Robert O. Bass Senior Visiting Scientist MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, IN MARCH 2003, I ACCOMPANIED FIELD MUSEUM COLLEAGUES CORINE VRIESENDORP, PHD, AND ROBIN FOSTER, PHD, ON A RAPID BIOLOGICAL INVENTORY LOOKING AT TREES ALONG THE REMOTE AND UNINHABITED YAVARI RIVER, where it forms the border between Amazonian Peru and Brazil. The Yavari region was once populated by the Matsés, an indigenous people of the Amazon, and then colonized by farmers before it was abandoned due to a fierce malaria epidemic. In what looked like untouched forest, 100 km from the nearest road, we kept coming across rubber trees scarred with the distinctive signs of tapping (when people score the bark to harvest the tree's latex). “How many of these things are out here?” Corine wondered. “No idea,” | said. Little did we suspect that 11 years later we'd have an answer. In a paper published last October in Science*, we and a team of colleagues used the largest database of Amazonian tree inventories ever assembled—including the tree plots we set up in 2003 on the Yavari— A rubber tree in the Yavari 1 ; sr WabershedsPerutscarrediby to generate the first-ever estimates of the total number of trees in the Amazon (390 billion), ancient tapping marks. the total number of tree species in the Amazon (16,000), and the estimated population sizes for some 5,000 individual species we were able to sample, including rubber. £CCO15571 / ALVARO DEL CAMPO (TOP, LEFT), ECCO15172 / ALVARO DEL CAMPO (TOP, RIGHT) 4 IN THE FIELD Nigel Pitman on Peru’s To put those numbers in perspective, there Yaguas River in 2010. are approximately 650 tree species native to the United States and Canada. The research was a collaboration between Field Museum researchers and colleagues from dozens of other museums, universities, botanical gardens, and government agencies around the world who have spent decades inventorying a forest nearly as large as the contiguous United States. Our findings came in part from over 1,300 individual tree inventories carried out across the Amazon, and in part from mathematical and statisti- cal models that allowed us to extrapolate from that relatively tiny sample to the continental scale. COURTESY NIGEL PITMAN One of the most surprising discoveries is that an infinitesimal proportion of tree species in the Amazon account for half of all the trees there. These 227 species— just 1.4% of all Amazonian tree diversity — dominate the basin to such an extent that we had to invent a new term to describe them: hyperdominants. We're pretty certain that these hyper- dominants inhabit most of the corners of Amazonia where scientists have yet to set foot, but we're still puzzling over why some tree species are hyperdominant and others are rare. *ter Steege, H., N. Pitman, and 118 others. 2013. Hyperdominance in the Amazonian tree flora. Science 342, 1243092 (2013). DOI: 10.1126/science.1243092 One intriguing clue to the mystery is that a large number of hyper- dominants—including Brazil nut, chocolate, acai berry, and rubber— have been used for millennia by human populations in Amazonia. Some researchers believe these trees are common because indig- enous peoples found them useful and cultivated them across the Amazon region for centuries before the Conquistadors arrived. Others, however, think that the hyperdomi- nants were already common long before the arrival of people to the Americas, presumably because they possess adaptations that allow them to out-compete the other 15,800 species in the basin. Researchers are also trying to deter- mine how Amazonian deforestation impacts population sizes of different tree species—which should help groups like the Museum’s Science Action Center identify particular trees and regions in special need of conservation attention. Oh, and the actual number of rubber trees in the Amazon? It's three billion. Or 1.9 billion, depending on how you parse the taxonomy. But that’s another story.... ITF For more information on Amazonian trees, check-out Nigel’s blog at: fieldmuseum.org/ users/nigel-pitman/blog/ 7 t 4 : } ROOSEVELT GARCIA-VILLACORTA Scientist Spotlight: Nigel Pitman By Franck Mercurio, Editor Nigel Pitman began his association with The Field Museum in 1994 when he met conservation ecologist Robin Foster in Ecuador. Since then, Nigel has participated in five rapid biological inventories in the Amazon with Museum staff. Currently, Nigel is serving as the Robert O. Bass Senior Visiting Scientist until July 2014. During his one-year tenure, Nigel has conducted research and collaborated with the Museum’s Director of Andes-Amazon Programs, Corine Vriesendorp, on the Amazon tree project. He has also helped to identify likely partnerships across research divisions within the Museum. Well prepared for research in the Amazon, Nigel studied tropical biology at Princeton University and earned a doctorate from Duke University in plant ecology. SUMMER 2014 5 The Founders’ Council Welcomes By Madalyn Kenney, Annual Giving Director NEW LEADERSHIP IT’S A NEW ERA FOR THE FOUNDERS’ COUNCIL, as we thank a savvy wealth manager and volunteer firefighter for his historic service, and welcome an entrepreneurial attorney and a champion of Chicago baseball to head this group of leadership-level donors. Founders’ Council members provide essential unrestricted support for The Field Museum to sustain innovation in scientific research, engage visitors, and inspire the next generation of scientists. Investing considerable time and resources, The Founders’ Council Steering Committee helps raise funds and host donor events. For the past seven years, Trustee Bob Loveman has chaired the Steering Committee. When not in Chicago leading his own wealth management firm, Loveman serves as part of the volunteer fire department in Boulder, Colorado. “With integrity and passion, Bob called upon himself and others to improve the world by supporting the Museum,” says President Richard Lariviere. Field Museum Trustee IN THE FIELD LIZ SHARP Liz Sharp has practiced commercial law and litigation in Chicago for more than 25 years, starting her own firm in 2010. In 2012, she was named one of Chicago's “100 Women to Watch” by Today’s Chicago Woman. She has served on the Steering Committee since 2007 and been a member of the Women’s Board since 2009. Liz has also helped recruit new Founders’ Council members by hosting an annual event in her home featuring Museum scientists dubbed Thaw Out Your Brain! The Founders’ Council is pleased to announce the new co-chairs of the Steering Committee. TOM RICKETTS As chairman of the Chicago Cubs, Tom Ricketts has led investments in player development and young baseball talent, including a practice complex in Arizona. He has continued the team’s tradition of giving back; more than $1 million is donated each year to Chicago organizations through Chicago Cubs Charities. Tom is also the chairman and co-founder of Chicago-based global investment bank Incapital LLC. In 2010, he was named Ernst & Young’s Midwest Finance Entrepreneur of the Year. He has served on the Museum’s Board of Trustees since 2010. “The Founders’ Council forms a core group of the Museum’s supporters,” says fellow Committee member Lis Meeker. “The Field is so excited to see it grow under Tom and Liz’s leadership.” 1T For more information about The Founders’ Council or to make a gift, please contact Madalyn Kenney, Annual Giving Director, at mkenney@fieldmuseum.org or 312.665.7801. GN91885_084D / JOHN WEINSTEIN Field Museum Trustee Tom Ricketts Women In Science E fe co Tt RAG t fo G By Franck Mercurio, Editor IN FEBRUARY 2013, ASSOCIATE CURATOR CORRIE MOREAU, PHD, FORMED FIELD MUSEUM WOMEN IN SCIENCE “to inspire, encourage, and increase participation by women in the sciences.” Since then, the group has gained over 200 members—both women and men—and created successful programs at the Museum, including internships, seminars, and symposia. Across the scientific world, women comprise a much smaller percentage of professional scientists than do men. Traditionally, this has been true at The Field Museum, too. One aspect of Women in Science’s stated mission is to “strive to eliminate gender bias through education, opportunity, mentoring, and dialogue.” Mentorship is a large part of Women in Science's work. During the summer of 2013, the group inaugurated an internship program for young women interested in science as a career path. Through the support of the Museum’s Women’s Board and the Science & Education IMAGES: CORRIE MOREAU Scholarship Committee, the internship program has been expanded this summer to include six interns: three high school students and three First Monday Seminars college undergraduates. They are working on research-based projects for Summer 2014 alongside a Field Museum mentor and documenting their research and experiences in short videos. Monday, June 2 Dr. May Berenbaum Creating a public dialogue about women and science is another Professor and Head, Department of Entomology, important goal. The group hosts a seminar series on the first Monday University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign of each month at noon, which is open and free to the public. Museum Monday, July 7 members are especially encouraged to attend. Upcoming speakers v WiCHEneMoieniniSerencevenace include the Museum’s own Emily Graslie from The Brain Scoop, who for information about July’s seminar at will share her thoughts and experiences (on Monday, May 5) about how rata ienti r rtrayed in the media. fieldmuseum.org/womeninscience Wve Me Seren ete areROmaye edie Monday, August 4 Increased participation in the sciences is important to everyone, and Meet the Women in Science interns and The Field hopes to support and inspire the next generation of women see the videos they have created during their scientists in Chicago and beyond. iTF summer internships To join Women in Science, learn about upcoming seminars, view videos created by interns, or apply for an internship, please visit: fieldmuseum.org/womeninscience SUMMER 2014 7 8 By Heidi Rouleau, School Partnerships and Program Manager THE FIELD MUSEUM’S NEWEST EXHIBITION, The Machine Inside: Biomechanics, investigates the marvels of natural engineering and the Enhancing the Learning Experience: Biomechanics Toolkit unique ways in which plants and animals are adapted for survival. Visitors to the exhibition can learn about the principles of biomechanics through hands-on interactives, life-like models, amazing video footage, and rare specimens selected from the Museum’s vast collections. But how can visitors get a deeper learning experience? This is the charge of the Museum’s Education Department. A team of professional educators creates resources that compliment exhibitions and enables students and IMAGES: KATE WEBBINK / EDUCATION DEPARTMENT teachers—and families with kids—to learn more about the science presented inside the Museum. An experiment explores how variations in leverage and muscle mass effect strength in different animals. To help visitors engage with the principles of biomechanics outside the exhibition, Museum educators have developed a Biomechanics Education Toolkit. Available in both English and Spanish, this collection of web-based including design challenges, videos, and an online game—all meant to be fun and educational. digital resources is designed for students and teachers, but is versatile Toolkit users can explore such diverse concepts enough for families with children to use outside the classroom. In designing the Toolkit components, flexibility was an important consider- ation; each activity can be experienced on its own or as part of a suite of activities. The Toolkit contains several ways to explore biomechanics, The workings of this toy catapult are based on biomechanics principles, a field known as biomimicry. For more info about the Toolkit, visit biomechanics.fieldmuseum.org and click on “Explore More.” Don’t miss The Machine Inside: Biomechanics now on view! IN THE FIELD as the remarkable strength of domes in natural and man-made structures, the relationship between animal size and temperature regulation, and the advantages of biological levers such as jaws. The videos bring learners into the Museum’s Mammal Wet Lab to observe scientists dissecting a real giraffe heart (a model is featured in the exhibition) and discover how this organ acts as a super-pump delivering blood seven feet up from the giraffe’s torso to its brain. Check out the Biomechanics Education Toolkit for yourself—both before and after visiting the Museum—and enrich your experience of The Machine Inside: Biomechanics. It’s a resource all learners can enjoy. ITF The Machine Inside: Biomechanics was developed by The Field Museum, Chicago, in partnership with the Denver Museum of Nature @ Science. THE Lead Sponsor: // 7 VV Funded by: community | The Searle Funds TRUST at The Chicago Community Trust jAqisosauab ANOK sof aerials GNN4 IVWANNV SHL ‘weiHoid sjji6 Bulyoyew e sey saA0jdwea ANOA }! Bas 0} Sjy16-Bulyozeu/}ioddns/bio winasnwipjaly MMM jISIA pue 116 INOA Jo JOedWI ay} ejqnog ‘BUIAID pouuUelg ]NOGe UO!}eEWIO}U! BL PUSS Bsed|q $ JO UONNI4}UOO JEUOIIPpe Ue ae O} 9>!| P|NOM pue puNY jenuuY ey] Woddns AjjuedNo a\y/| $ 4810 OF 666$-00S$ is/esNeN play C 6VZ$-L$ JoynqiujUuoDd plal4 () 66v'7$-000'1$ Jaio|dx3 pjaly 2 66v$-OG7$ Jainjusrpy plel4 O) 810 pue QOG'Z$ lounod ,siapunoy () :}2A9] Bulmojjo} ay} YE PuNy jenuuy ayy 0} uoINq!4jUOD eB Huljeu Aq diysiaquiew ino/Aw puodeg winesny| pjal4 ay, ioddns 0} ayI] pjnom ann/| Joddns pun diysiauqspd snog sof nok yuvyL, ‘volqnInpa puv ‘Sqqiyxa “Yoipasas Wnasny pjai{ uipysns sdjay pun jonuuy ay 07 4fib y Engaging Community, Restoring Habitat By Mark Bouman, Associate Director of Science Action Center THE FIELD MUSEUM SENDS ITS SCIENTISTS AND RESEARCHERS AROUND THE WORLD to understand, explain, and sustain cultural and natural diversity. These efforts benefit both people and nature. Here in Chicago, the Museum has unique interests in conserving habitats and encouraging biodiversity. Building on local community engagement stretching back iSTOCK.COM / NADGER to the 1990s, a team of scientists from the Museum’s Science Action Center—including Mark Bouman, Jacob Campbell, Mario Longoni, Alison Paul, and Alaka Wali—has developed new projects to connect community residents with ecological restoration projects happening at the Museum’s doorstep. Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood occupies a special location on the south lakefront, adjacent to Lake Michigan and to parkland that frames its eastern border and reaches northward to the Museum’s south stairs. A vibrant center of African American cultural Young “Green Ambassadors” heritage, Bronzeville historically has been SAC501 / ALVARO DEL CAMPO cut off from lakefront parks by a swathe of railway tracks, a screen of weed trees, Native oak trees attract migratory birds like the traffic of Lake Shore Drive, and the Cooper’s Hawk to Chicago's lakefront. dynamics of race and class. A cadre of multi-generational Green The new “Burnham Wildlife Corridor” Ambassadors—including some 600 presents an opportunity to both restore volunteers from the Pilsen and Bronzeville habitat and connect Bronzeville residents neighborhoods—will assist in the steward- with the lakefront. Field Museum scien- ship of the lakefront landscape. These tists have long shown that the city’s COURTESY IMANI MITCHELL Ambassadors will help design nature paths lakeshore is a vital stop for migratory birds. and plant thousands of young native trees— To enhance this environment, the Chicago mostly oaks—that will fill the neglected Park District is working to replace turf space between Lake Shore Drive and grass and invasive tree species with a the railway tracks. landscape of prairie flowers and native trees that, when finished, will extend Tree planting will be completed by the end from McCormick Place to Hyde Park. of 2014 with enhancements continuing over the next several years. The result will be a The Museum's Science Action more bird-friendly environment—stretching Center is also collaborating with some three miles along the lakefront—and the Park District and Bronzeville a more invested community. 1TF residents to deepen commu- This project is supported by the McCormick and Driehaus Foundations, The Boeing Company, US Fish and Wildlife creation of this new Service, and the Chicago Park District. nity participation in the > i : _ 43rd STREET mec) Wee i wildlife corridor. SUMMER 2014 9 i 46th STREET Malvina Hoffman’s sculptures were originally exhibited in the Hall of Races of Mankind (top, right). Today, many of the sculptures are located on the Museum’s mezzanine (top, left). Malvina Hoffman in Jaipur, India, 1931 (above). 10 IN THE FIELD CSGN76580 In the Spotlight: A SERIES OF BRONZE SCULPTURES POPULATE THE MEZZANINE OVERLOOKING STANLEY FIELD HALL. FEATURED ARE LIKENESSES OF PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD: a surfer from Hawaii, a family from the Congo’s Ituri Forest, and a woman from Burma wearing the distinctive neck coils of the Padaung people. These sculptures, commissioned by The Field Museum in 1930 to portray human physical diversity, are part of a unique artistic legacy. American sculptor, Malvina Hoffman, created these figures specifically for anew—and now controversial— Museum exhibition titled the Hall of Races of Mankind. The original exhibition is long gone, but the sculptures remain. The Field Museum is currently undertaking a conservation project to clean, repair, and restore these distinctive artworks for the enjoyment of future generations. GREG MERCER (TOP, LEFT) CSA77747 / CHARLES CARPENTER (TOP, RIGHT) When Museum anthropologists sent Hoffman around the world in the early 1930s to record “racial types” among Earth's diverse peoples, race was strongly connected to human biology. Today, scientists no longer view race as an appropriate way to categorize human physical variation; rather, the concept of race speaks more about our cultural attitudes towards different groups of people. “The Hall of Man presented a 1930s view on race and biology,” says Alaka Wali, curator of the Museum’s North American collections. “We've learned a lot since then; not only has our understanding of human biology grown, but also our investigations of ‘race’ as an idea, and how it has shaped social life.” A80615 / SAMUEL B. GRIMSON Artist Malvina Hoffman and model Kamala Chatterji in Calcutta, India. When the Hall of Races of Mankind first opened in June of 1933 (coinciding with the opening of Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition), it marked a radical departure from previous anthropology exhibitions in how it represented the human form. “The very name over the entrance to most [anthropology] halls—‘Anthropology’— evokes in our minds dummies of sawdust or painted plaster with staring glass eyes and false hair,” wrote Hoffman in her memoir Heads and Tales published in 1936. Instead of using these more conventional techniques to create the figures, Hoffman convinced Museum officials to allow her to use bronze, a medium that was more commonly displayed in art galleries than in natural history museums. It was a deft move on the part of the artist and helped establish her sculptures as a durable and long-lasting legacy to the Museum. As times changed, so did ideas about race and biology. The Hall of Races of Mankind was eventually dismantled in the late 1960s. Some of Hoffman’s sculptures were placed in the Museum’s vaults, while others were displayed throughout the Museum’s public halls, divorced from their original context. MH39C Bengali Woman, 1933 Some 80 years after the sculptures were created, they stand as great artistic achieve- ments, despite the original intent behind the works. They read today as masterful, individualized portraits. Hoffman, who studied under the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, brought to the project an artistic sensibility, a love for the human form, and a keen sense of observation that helped her model each figure as an individual person. Over the years, Hoffman's sculptures have accumulated fine layers of dust and dirt. Generations of Museum visitors have touched the bronze surfaces and worn away noses and other protruding body parts. In some instances, spears and other accoutrements have been bent or broken. A generous gift from Pamela K. and Roger B. Hull is enabling the Museum to restore the sculptures. Mrs. Hull is the great-great- granddaughter of Marshall Field |, The Field’s founder and original benefactor. The sculptures are currently being taken off display, one by one, and carefully transported to the Museum’s conservation lab, where they will be repaired and restored. When the project is finished, in Summer 2015, many of Hoffman's RUTH NORTON RUTH NORTON Malvina Hoffman and Field Museum President, Stanley Field, at Hoffman’s Paris Studio, circa 1930. sculptures will be placed on permanent exhibition once again—this time displayed safely outside of human reach. A temporary exhibition about the conservation project, Hoffman's unique artistic process, and our changing attitudes about race and human biology is planned for the future. ITF Conservator gently removes dust from a sculpture’s surface using a cotton swab. A sculpture’s nose shows signs of wear from generations of people touching the bronze surface. SUMMER 2014 11 Digitizing the Mazon Creek Fossils By Mark Alvey, Communications and Strategy, Science @ Education WHAT’S THE FIELD MUSEUM’S COOLEST FOSSIL? Sure, there’s that big toothy T. rex from South Dakota, but my vote goes to the unique and mysterious Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) found nowhere else but the Mazon Creek fossil beds, just an hour’s drive south of the Museum. Mazon Creek is one of the world’s most important and diverse fossil assemblages; its preserved specimens provide a snapshot of life in the greater Chicago area during the Pennsylvanian period (about 300 million years ago). Tropical and swampy, the region was once home to 100-foot-tall club mosses, foot-long millipedes, and waterways teeming with Jellyfish, sharks, and “Tullies.” Fossils of these animals and plants—representing more than 420 species—reside here in the Museum, which boasts the most comprehensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils in the world. Research on the fossils received a boost from a recent technology grant from The Grainger Foundation, which is supporting a massive effort to photograph and organize the most significant specimens and make data more easily accessible. “The Grainger initiative is enabling a unique part of Illinois’ heritage—a bizarre 300-million-year-old lost world—to become available to everyone online,” explains lan Glasspool, the Museum’s Paleobotany Collections Manager. Last year, a team of dedicated interns digitized all of the Mazon Creek type specimens. (A “type” is the specimen on which a new species description is based.) The Grainger grant is also supporting work on other collections, including butterflies and moths from South America and Africa, South American plants, ceramic vessels from the Americas, Asia, and Near East, and lichen types—all of which rank among the world’s best collections of their kind. The Museum already shares tens of thousands of its specimens with hundreds of scientists every year through visits and loans, but thanks to The Grainger Foundation, more of the Museum’s nearly 26 million objects will soon GEO85141C / RON TESTA & SOPHIA ANASTASIOU WASIK j \ be available online, not only to researchers, but to Nicole Karpus, ‘ai 4 \ Geology Fossil | \ s | students, teachers, and the public. 1tF Invertebrates intern, photographs Mazon To see more images of Mazon Creek fossils, CEB foo: visit fieldmuseum.org/explore/multimedia/mazon- creek-fossil-invertebrates. PAUL MAYER SPECIMENS ABOVE: PE10504 / FIELD MUSEUM (TOP); PE36861 / FIELD MUSEUM (BOTTOM) 22. IN THE FUELS | | Going Batty: Field Work in Kenya By Emily Graslie, Chief Curiosity Correspondent AS A CHILD I IDOLIZED JANE GOODALL. | dreamt of the day when | would have a job exploring nature through a scientific lens. However, somewhere between middle school and college, | gave up on having the capacity to spend time observing wildlife and writing papers, figuring field research was not in my future. It turns out | was wrong—I recently did get to live out my childhood fantasy of participating in scientific fieldwork, and | learned that expedi- tions are a lot messier than lazing back in a canopy of trees and doodling animal behaviors. This past January, | spent a week traversing the national parks of Kenya in pursuit of bats with Field Museum Curator of Mammals Bruce Patterson, PhD, and videographers Emily Ward and Greg Mercer of the Museum’s Exhibitions Department. Museum researchers frequently journey across the country and the ~ KENYA BAT RESEARCH PROJECT globe to study certain species in their natural environments and collect GREG MERCER data directly from the source. The Kenyan expedition stands out as a Paul Webala, PhD, of Kenya’s Moi University special collaboration between Field Museum staff and Kenyan biologists collaborates on the Kenya Bat Research Project. to produce a field guide to the bats of Kenya. It is a much-needed catalog, considering there are over 100 known bat species and potentially many more to be described and categorized. Bats play an important role in the environment as insect-eaters and seed-dispersers, but their impact on human populations is not readily known—hence the need for continued study. Documenting this trip was an eye-opening experience for myself and the film crew as we witnessed first-hand the various ways in which scientists collect data from these animals, whether from live-netting or spelunking deep into undisturbed caves. Our feet sank into guano (bat feces) as we battled swarms of curious beetles that live off of the refuse! It may not sound incredibly glamorous, but | considered it the trip of a lifetime, returning to Chicago with a renewed appreciation for the lengths that researchers go to teach us about the natural world. 1TF Surprise! Team releases captured bats back into the wild. “BRAIN SCOOP -=- Emily Graslie, YouTube personality and the Museum’s first-ever Expeuiion,teamaimember, Greg Mercer, videotapes Emily Graslie interviewing Bruce Patterson. | GREG MERCER EMILY WARD Chief Curiosity Correspondent, hosts the popular web series, The Brain Scoop. Visit youtube.com/thebrainscoop. SUMMER 2014 13 14 Summer Exhibitions at The Field Museum By Franck Mercurio, Editor SUMMER IS A GREAT TIME TO VISIT THE FIELD MUSEUM. In addition to popular permanent exhibitions like Evolving Planet and The Ancient Americas, the Museum is presenting a number “Science, Off Script: TEENS TAKE THE FIELD The Machine Inside: Biomechanics Through January 4, 2015 How do cheetahs run so fast and fleas jump so far? How do toucans stay cool in the jungle and seals stay warm in the Arctic? How do Venus flytraps detect their next meal and hammerhead sharks sense their prey? Investigate these and other marvels of natural engineering through hands-on interactives, life-like models, amazing video footage, and rare specimens selected from the Museum’s vast collections. IN) THE FIELD: GN90799D_WFWC_16W = =) w a =) = a =) w va w ae F > a =) w Zz 72 (2) a 4 = a5 Ww Zz Ww = ioe Meet a Field Museum Ccaie ghts scientist and get up close with some creepy crawly LIVE insects! Learn about the differ- ence between spiders, scorpions, and insects at this month's Art and Science Spotlight. Stop in the Art Studio to make your own insect themed craft to take home with you. overni at t Program Tickets + Info 312.665.7400 General Museum Info 312.922.9410 ndar DOZIN: =DINOS e museum Bring your sleeping bag and explore one of the most exciting spots in town! Dozin’ with the Dinos is a chance for children ages 6-12 to spend the night at The Field Museum. Enjoy activities like games from around the world or see june ys) Art and Science Spotlight* 6.21, 11am-2pm > Calling all future paleon- tologists and dinosaur enthusiasts! Listen to the story The Field Mouse and a Dinosaur Named Sue by Jan Wahl during story time. Dig for a dinosaur bone and examine fossils in the science lab then go to the Art Studio to create a dinosaur mask to take home with you. july % Art and Science Spotlight* 7.19, 11am-2pm > Meet the Teens @TheField! Practice scientific skills through observation and hands-on activities while learning about the sciences of geology, zoology, botany, and anthropology with our summer teen volunteers. august iy) Art and Science Spotlight* 8.16, 11am-2pm > Be an explorer, scientist, artist and much more! Take part in fun-filled art and science activities in the Crown Family PlayLab. Hear a storytelling performance, meet a Field Museum scientist, or work with Chicago artists to create your own masterpiece! *FREE with Museum Admission iy) inthe Crown Family PlayLab event details are available online! and touch live insects from your own backyard. Enjoy a snack break to fuel yourself for a self-guided tour of Inside Ancient Egypt—in the dark! (Make sure to bring your flashlight!) Before you know it, you're of SUE the T. rex and crawling into your sleeping bag in one of our wondrous exhibitions. Fridays, 5:45pm to 9am the following morning. Standard Overnight: $63, $55 members and groups REMAINING 2014 DATES May 9 & 30 Visit fieldmuseum.org/overnights.org or call 312.665.7400 to register. Tickets for the 2015 season of Dozin’ with the Dinos will go on sale July 1! meet a scientist Fridays > 10am-12pm Stanley Field Hall / East Entrance (locations vary) Come to The Field Museum and get to know some of our scientists! Every Friday from 10am to noon, scientists will be out in the Museum sharing the wonders of our collections and highlights of their research. Hear about their work, see real artifacts and specimens from the over 24 million objects not on display at The Field, and experience the Museum like never before. Topics will range from birds to insects, from mammals to plants, from pottery to spear points, and more. listening to bedtime stories in the shadow Sane aw Di ino Camp 2014 > ages 3-4 (with adult caregiver)* | Spy a Dinosaur! Do you? Dino Camp is an early childhood camp designed expressly for young explorers ages 3-4 with their caregivers. During two days of discovery, we will learn how to spot a dinosaur, see SUE’s skull, dig for dinosaur bones, and much more! 9am-11:30am > four sessions are available 1: Tuesdays, June 3 & 10 2: Wednesdays, June 4 & 11 3: Tuesdays, June 17 & 24 4: ; Sold out! $67 for members, $76 for non-members. To register please visit fieldmuseum.org/dinocamp for more information. *All campers must be between the ages of 3 and 4 and attend with an adult caregiver. One adult caregiver is required for every two children. Ss LU Ze of Game Design”* > teens ages 12-13 6.23-7.3, 9Jam-3pm > Game Design is an intensive one-and-a-half week game design workshop for middle school teens and tweens. In this program, teens will learn about how birds communicate and then create game prototypes for their friends to play. Family members and friends are invited to the Museum on the final day of the program for a play event. sae i Biomechanics Design’ > teens ages 14-17 7.14-7.25, 9am-3pm > Ever wondered how the cheetah is able to reach top speeds or how birds fly? Explore these phenomena and others principles of biomechanics in The Machine Inside: Biomechanics then put your creative talents to work by designing a catapult. BS Taw “Sound Design > teens ages 14-17 7.28-8.8, 9am-3pm > Sound Design is an intensive two-week sound design workshop that investigates anthropology through the lens of music. Teens will explore how cultures around the world have created instruments and music that is reflective of their history and environ- ment. Teens will create a soundscape that is representative of their community, which will be presented on the final day of the program to family and friends. 16) apply, visit fieldmuseum.org/happening/teens-2014 All programs are FREE. Applications due May 9. Ss La me Summer World’s Tour > ages 5-10 Summer World’s Tour offers a week of adventure in Chicago's premier museums for children entering kindergarten through fifth grade in the fall of 2014. In this week-long camp, campers will explore other worlds in our galaxy as an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium, discover the science behind biomechanics at The Field Museum, and become an aquatic scientist while exploring underwater environments at the Shedd Aquarium. Activities include investigating exhibitions, creating original art projects, playing learning games, and having lunch along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. 9am-3pm > four one-week sessions are available 1: dtbyF+H 2: dey 4-48 Sold out! Sold out! $265 for members, $295 for non-members. 3: July 21-25 4: July 28-—August 1 Please visit www.adlerplanetarium.org/camps to register. Sign up for the Crown Family PlayLab E-News! This e-newsletter is an early science literacy resource geared towards families with young children ages two through eight. Each quarterly issue will feature downloadable theme-based activities and articles designed to encourage outdoor exploration, creative play, and self-expression. Email us at playlab@fieldmuseum.org to subscribe. UUUTUVTITUTIYTITTTYQTTTUTYQTITTTTUTTTETTQTTUTTYTTTTETYTTTTTOTTTUTTVTTTTTTTTTT TT LECTURES + BOOK SIGNINGS Atlas to Selected Land Vertebrates of Madagascar Friday, June 27 > 5-7pm Please join Field Museum scientist, Steve Goodman, PhD, for a lecture and book signing of Atlas to Selected Land Vertebrates of Madagascar. The Atlas provides new insights into the animals of Madagascar from reptiles to birds to small mammals. Steve will speak about the Atlas and its potential as a conservation tool for supporting the unique biodiversity of Madagascar. Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island’s Past Saturday, August 30 > 2-4pm In conjunction with the new Field Museum exhibition, Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island’s Past, please join Steve Goodman, PhD, for a lecture and book signing of his new publication of the same title. Steve and co-author Bill Jungers will speak about their collaboration with scientific and wildlife illustrator Velizar Simeonovski to reconstruct the vanished habitats and species of Holocene-era Madagascar. (See story on page 3.) Both lectures are FREE to members and open to the general public. Please visit fieldmuseum.org/explore/steve-goodman or call 312.665.7430 for more information. SUMMER 2014 useulml 1400 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2496 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID CHICAGO, IL PERMIT NO. 2309 Handcrafted Gifts from the Amazon JOSH RINK The Field Museum’s Science Action Center joins forces with the Museum Stores to bring you handcrafted goods from the Amazon! Bags from Peru’s Pisqui River valley are hand- embroidered by Shipibo women with designs passed down for generations. Purchasing these beautiful items helps to provide an environmentally-friendly source of income for the Shipibo. Remember, Field Museum members receive a 10 percent discount on everything in the Museum Stores, and each purchase supports the Museum’s public and scientific programs. As always, you can shop 24 hours a day at store.fieldmuseum.org. BEZS _" LOYALTY CLUB MEMBERS Inside this issue, The Field Museum extends its gratitude and appreciation to the inaugural members of the Field LOYALTY Club for their ongoing support. See page 15 for more information.