On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s research site in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, left camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating at the base of a high waterfall. What happened? Drawing on his recent book, The Ghosts of Gombe, Dale Peterson will delve into the full story of day-to-day life at Gombe during the months preceding Ruth’s death. These months were marked by stress, excitement, social conflicts, cultural alignments, and the friendships that developed among three of...

Welcome the winter season with a polar-themed evening. Go behind the scenes in the Museum of Comparative Zoology to view animals that are well adapted to living in a cold climate. Explore this theme further in the HMNH galleries with educators and hands-on activities, while enjoying seasonal treats. Don’t forget to stop by The Shop at HMNH to do some holiday shopping and to take advantage of the special 25% member discount.

Reservations Open October 29

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As a devastating famine gripped India and Pakistan in 1966, a cargo of hybrid wheat seeds from Mexico arrived one fateful day on India’s coast. The seeds were first planted across the Punjab region using new agricultural methods, including intensive fertilizers and irrigation. The crop’s high yield surprised farmers and helped save many from hunger that year. Gabriela Soto Laveaga will talk about the origins of these hybrid seeds, their role in the Green Revolution, and the unexpected technological, environmental, and social impacts they had on both Mexico and India.

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Sweeping technological innovations in the field of genomics are enabling scientists to extract and analyze ancient DNA—genetic material from human remains dating back up to hundreds of thousands of years—as never before. This research is revealing new insights into our lineage as modern humans and has become as important as archaeology, linguistics, and the written word in understanding our past. David Reich, author of Who We Are and How We Got Here, will discuss the potential of ancient DNA for revealing the history of our species.

Evolution Matters...

Explore the wondrous world of fungi! Join Harvard students for a closer look at the mushrooms, yeasts, and molds found in gardens, forests, labs—even in our own refrigerators. This is an opportunity to investigate museum collections and participate in hands-on activities led by Harvard students.

Special Event

Regular museum admission rates apply.

Free parking is available at the ...

Recent volcanic eruptions in Hawaii and Guatemala remind us of how devastating these geological eruptions can be. Popular culture depictions of volcanic disasters found in movies like Dante’s Peak and Volcano can strongly distort the public’s understanding of volcanic activity and its immediate effects. As with many science-fiction films, Hollywood depictions of natural phenomena don’t always align with the scientific facts. Seismologist Miaki Ishii will illustrate this point by looking at popular films that depict both scientifically accurate and...

Coral reefs are one of Earth’s most biodiverse and imperiled ecosystems. Corals form the foundation of this ecosystem. Substantial effort is being invested to help adult corals survive environmental degradation, but less attention is paid to their offspring and how they establish themselves on the seafloor. Unlike adult corals, baby corals move about in the water column, perhaps allowing them to find better environments. Aaron Hartmann will highlight the importance of these juvenile corals for the long-term survival and conservation of coral reefs in a changing world.

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The Kindness Cure: Healing Your Heart and World through the Science of Compassion

Based on her new book, The Kindness Cure, psychologist Tara Cousineau shares some of the recent findings about the science of kindness and compassion; how we can make sustainable changes in our lives, encourage more kindness for clients and organizations we work with, and how to ignite goodwill and generosity for things we stand for in times of hardship and uncertainty. Most of all, you will learn how cultivating kindness brings us profound happiness and joy.

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Learning meditation and achieving mindfulness can seem as elusive as catching a unicorn for some new to the practice. Enter yogic meditation, a practice of directed breathing coordinated with simple body movements. This practice gives the restless mind more "doing" to latch onto, and tends to yield a focused, quieter, even peaceful state of mind, for many new students who previously found only squirrels in the attic. It can provide a useful entre to meditation, an important and satisfying "pre-mindfulness".

Douglas Baker, LICSW is a therapist in Cambridge, a Kripalu yoga...

With the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, our attention is being drawn to the damaging effects of systematic racism on the bodies and minds of people of color, particularly black people. Racial trauma is becoming embedded in the national conversation concerning the lasting effects of trauma both mentally and physical as well as on the genetic level. However, racial trauma is not limited to brown and black bodies, but any body that has undergone the process of racialization, including white bodies. In...

This lecture will address practical ways to be less judgmental of ourselves, to navigate failure, rejection, and trauma, and to shift from competitive concerns toward activating the mammalian tend-and-befriend system instead—leading to greater psychological freedom and comfort with vulnerability.

At the end of this event, participants will be able to:

1. Specify how mindfulness-based insights into the nature of the “self” and causes of suffering can enrich and enliven any psychotherapy.

2. Describe ways to move beyond evolutionarily hard-...

Celebrate Earth Science Week at the Harvard Museum of Natural History!  Explore how minerals can be clues to Earth processes. Discover what earthquakes can teach us about the interior of the earth. Learn about our planet’s atmosphere and climate. Meet Harvard scientists and find out how their research is helping us understand Earth’s past and its place in our solar system. 

Special Event

Regular museum admission rates apply.

Free parking is available at the ...

Despite major scientific advances in sequencing the genomes of species through the animal kingdom, it has been remarkably difficult to identify the genes that enable the unique cultural, aesthetic, and reasoning capabilities of humans. Christopher Walsh will discuss how research on specific genes associated with animal and human brain disorders is helping to clarify the genetic and evolutionary underpinnings of cognitive and social behavior.

Evolution Matters Lecture Series

Free and open to the public.

Free parking at the ...