#the field museum

The Brain Scoop:
The Story of the Museum für Naturkunde 

It’s here! Our first video in collaboration with the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. 7 months ago this partnership was a glimmer of an idea that we were able to make a reality.

It’s nearly impossible to try and summarize more than 200 years of an institution’s history in less than 10 minutes, but we did it anyway. The truth is, any moment of time here could be magnified and examined for its nuance an detail; what stuck with me throughout this process was the idea that political decisions, whether local or global, ultimately shape our priorities for studying the world around us. And that despite those limitations, scientists and naturalists continue their pursuits within the confines of such restrictions.

What you get with this video is a neatly wrapped story – but what you don’t see are the hours I spent researching how scientists in East Berlin dealt with censorship and police spies, or the way Jewish scientists were treated during WW2, or how the country tried to recover from economic hardship after the first World War. I wish we had three more hours to dig into all of that, unfortunately we don’t– but, regardless, I’m proud of this video and for what it represents: we have hope for our future. 

The Brain Scoop:
Conserving Akeley’s Elephants

It’s been about 3.5 years (!) since we’ve talked about Carl Akeley’s fighting African elephants (throw back to that first video here– I was such a baby science communicator!!!). These elephants represent some of the best taxidermy ever created, but after being on display for the last century they’re beginning to show their age. 

So, the Field hired a team of conservators to assess the specimens, with the hope of repairing damage sometime this year, so they can continue to inspire and educate our visitors for another 100 years. 

Antarctic Dinosaurs Opens this week! I guess I’ll crack open this giant book to skim a few pages again.

Best staff group photo ever