March 02, 2017

Life and Death in the Land of Eternal Midnight

March 02, 2017/ Bruce Science

On both land and sea, the sun is the primary source of energy in most ecosystems. Plants or algae use sunlight to create food through photosynthesis. Animals eat the plants and algae, and then get eaten themselves by predators higher up the food chain. Without the sun providing a base amount of energy input, most ecosystems would swiftly collapse. Even so, there are some animals that live beyond reach of the sun’s rays.

How can life exist in the deep ocean without getting energy from the sun?

February 20, 2017

A History of Human Evolution Written in Our Bodies

February 20, 2017/ Bruce Science

A vestigial structure is a body part or organ that was useful in an ancestor, but is diminished in size, complexity, or utility in their descendant. Many animals have vestigial structures, like the small spurs on pythons that once were legs. Humans have vestigial structures too, and they give us a tantalizing glimpse into our evolutionary history.

February 14, 2017

Skeletons on Parade

February 14, 2017/ Bruce Science

On display in the science galleries of the Bruce Museum we have arrays of glittering gems and minerals, a forest of taxidermy animals, cases of archaeological artifacts, and all sorts of other objects, great and small. What many visitors don't realize is that these items on display only represent a small fraction of our natural history collections. Recently, we had an opportunity to show off a few more of our objects at Greenwich Town Hall.

January 26, 2017

The Science of Being Stressed Out (And What We Can Do About It)

January 26, 2017/ Bruce Science

Life gives us a lot to get stressed about. I won’t tell you not to worry, but if you are, consider some of these scientific methods to ease your stress.

January 19, 2017

A Curious Case of Evolution Repeating Itself

January 19, 2017/ Bruce Science

The body plan and lifestyle of crocodilians has changed so little in the last 83.5 million years that they are often called "living fossils." There is something about being a crocodile that is very evolutionary advantageous. It’s so advantageous in fact, that animals that look and act like crocodiles have evolved time and time again throughout the evolutionary history of the earth. In this curious case, evolution appears to have repeated itself over and over throughout the history of life on Earth.

January 10, 2017

Allochromatism - How imperfections provide some of the world’s most beautiful minerals

January 10, 2017/ Bruce Science

Why is color a useless identifier of minerals? As it turns out, there are a lot of minerals that can be found in a variety of different colors that are not the minerals’ natural color. Why do some minerals come in different colors? The answer to that question is a bit more complicated.

December 29, 2016

The Dinosaur on Trial for Cannibalism

December 29, 2016/ Bruce Science

In modern societies, cannibalism is considered one of the most terrible of crimes. When a skeleton of the dinosaur Coelophysis was discovered with small bones within its rib cage it was dubbed a cannibal, one that might even eat its own young. Are these allegations true, or do we have a prehistoric mistrial on our hands?

December 16, 2016

Fossilizing the Footsteps of Dinosaurs

December 16, 2016/ Bruce Science

If you visit our newest science exhibit, Last Days of Pangea: In the Footsteps of Dinosaurs, you’ll see an amazing array of fossilized footprints displayed. These footprints come in all sizes: Some as small as a fingernail, some longer than the length of my forearm. Some are hazy and indistinct, clearly having weathered the forces of time and erosion. Others look like they could have been made yesterday. It’s much easier to imagine a tough and solid bone surviving millions of years than a single delicate footprint laid down in soft mud. How is it that these footprints made it from the Triassic to now? It takes just the right set of conditions.