Chill out! Museum presenter to show how some animals (and lemurs) survive winter
January 26, 2016
RALEIGH — Animals that hibernate conserve energy by chilling out; their body temperature plummets to near-freezing levels, heart rate lowers to three to five breaths per minute, and some can go up to 15 minutes without taking a breath. Join Duke University’s Sheena Faherty to find out how these adaptations, which would be deadly to… Read More >
New research looks at genetic variation in a human commensalist toad
January 15, 2016
Most species are negatively affected when humans transform natural habitats into urban areas and agricultural lands, but a few species actually benefit from these activities. These species — called human commensals — thrive in human-modified environments. One example, the Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus), is extremely abundant in villages, towns, cities and agricultural areas across… Read More >
New research looks at primate skin microbiome
January 13, 2016
Skin microbes play a role in human body odor, health and disease. Compared to gut microbes, we know comparatively little about the changes in the composition of skin microbes in response to evolutionary changes in hosts, or more recent behavioral and cultural changes in humans. No studies have used sequence-based approaches to consider the skin… Read More >
Museum staff assist with cold-stunned turtles
You may have heard of the hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles that washed ashore or were found in waters off the North Carolina Coast in early January. While the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island has facilities to handle up to 40 sea turtles during a typical winter, this particular incident affected over 600. Based… Read More >
Join us at the Museum for an evening of “Tiny Giants” and singing mice
January 12, 2016
Raleigh — The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts an evening of extreme proportions featuring a special screening of “Tiny Giants 3D” in the Museum’s WRAL-3D Theater on Thursday, January 21, 7:30 p.m. “Tiny Giants” won Best Immersive film at the 2015 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. This extended, 40-minute version includes 20-minutes of additional… Read More >