With the impending release this Friday of the documentary summer blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I thought we should all be prepared in case we ever face chemically enhanced apes that attempt to take over our world. In the past on our site we’ve investigated zombies and kept a running record on robot technology, but the threat of ape rebellion had yet to be cataloged. The National Zoo’s Amanda Bania, a keeper who works with the great apes, told me that gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and the other ape species can best us in many ways, even without being injected with mysterious serums by James Franco. This week’s list deals with 5 ways that apes outdo humans:
Husband & I spent the day at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. We spent lots of time admiring the coffee-growing display and we enjoyed a presentation by a pair of Colombian coffee farmers about all things coffee.
And the rest of us just knit scarves . . . Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, National Museum of Natural History
An impressive exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History ties together art and science with yards and yards of sparkly yarn. The “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef” is, amazingly, just what it sounds like: an enormous crocheted coral reef created by hundreds of local crafters, a spinoff from the worldwide Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project. (“Hyperbolic” refers to a kind of geometry that appears in some natural forms, including corals and sponges.) Sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim launched the project in 2005 in their Los Angeles living room to promote ecological awareness and highlight the need for conservation. There are miniature beaded-crochet sea anemones, woolen jellyfish and a plastic portion of the reef, created to bring attention to ocean pollution. Sound weird? It’s magnificent. The exhibit runs through April 24.
(You can go visit the page to read about NASA – I quoted the whole section about the coral because it was a difficult article to find online in the first place).
I’m a docent at the reef and I’m usually there on Tuesdays but I won’t be there today, unfortunately.
Right now they only get to go out into the lion yard on a limited basis. As they get older, they’re starting to stay out longer. As long as it’s sunny and not raining or snowing, they’re out between approximately 12:30 and 1:30 each day. They’re growing fast, so you’d better hurry if you want to see them while they’re still small(ish) and crazy.
How crazy?
I’ve taken about 100 short videos of them but I haven’t gone through them and culled the ones where people’s heads suddenly block the frame or the camera jerks as I blurt, “Oh My God They Are So Cute!” at Michele Banks. You know, in case she’s forgotten how cute they are.
It was bitterly cold & windy but Husband and I stopped by the zoo on Sunday. Watch the cub on the lower tier, s/he’s adorable. S/he starts out in the little cement cave in the beginning of the video & then at around 2:30 – after mom hops down and they tussle behind a tree – there’s another outbreak of cuteness. Not that they aren’t all cute, because ohmygod that’s a lot of cuteness!
(I may need to re-upload the video. It looked fine but now it’s all pixelated. Hmmm. Maybe my internet connection is just crappy tonight. Please tell me if the video quality is bad).
This isn’t the most exciting video, but I wanted to share it with my mom so I put it on youtube. And since I put it on youtube, I figured I’d share it with you, because I care. Or maybe just because I can. You’ll never know, will you?
Yes, in the ideal world there wouldn’t be a need for zoos and these beautiful lions would live someplace wild, but it’s not and they don’t. Disclaimer: Husband and I donate money to the National Zoo and we’re very fond of it’s critters.
Starting tomorrow, Saturday, October 16, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History there will be a temporary exhibit depicting a coral reef and related eco-system. The reef is constructed of crocheted coral made of yarn, found objects, and recycled materials. The reef is installed in the Sant Ocean Hall, on the first floor of the museum.
The Smithsonian community reef is a satellite project that’s part of a larger project created by the Institute for Advanced Figuring, “an organization dedicated to the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and the technical arts.”
Here’s IFF Co-Founder Margaret Wertheim’s TED Talk, “Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral.”
Other satellite reefs have been constructed in other places and there are more on the horizon, the Institute’s website has more information on that schedule.
I was pleased to be able to to contribute a number of pieces of coral that I made, which are now part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.
I was able to some devote some time to the assemblage and curation process and I can tell you – with no bias at all – that the reef looks amazing!*
More information about the exhibit can be found here and there will be lots of family-oriented activities in the exhibit area tomorrow, starting at 11. The reef will be on display until April 24, 2011.
*Maybe a little bias, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true!
