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In the nearby Hyades star cluster, a pair of dead stars is surrounded by dust particles that resemble the building blocks of rocky planets. These particles allow astronomers to study the chemical makeup of planetary building material, and suggest that planet formation may take place even around burnt-out or failed stars.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

Related Links

NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hub...

Goddard Space Flight Center: White Dwarf Stars
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/sci...

Hyades Star Cluster
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmv...

Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/

The Royal Astronomical Society
http://www.ras.org.uk/

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education and exhibition. The Museum is renowned for its exhibitions and scientific collections, which serve as a field guide to the entire planet and present a panorama of the world's cultures.

For more information visit http://www.amnh.org/

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A recent study has shown a connection between neural cells known as astrocytes and our brain's ability to remember what we see. When we concentrate on visual input, the brain releases a chemical that stimulates astrocytes. In mice, memories of visual patterns were stronger when their brains released this chemical. Mice whose astrocyte cells were disabled responded poorly, suggesting a relationship between astrocytes and visual memory.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

RELATED LINKS

Nucleus basalis-enabled stimulus-specific plasticity in the visual cortex is mediated by astrocytes
pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/20/1206557109.full.pdf

MIT: The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
picower.mit.edu

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/martinos/flashHome.php

This visualization, produced using the Hayden Planetarium's Digital Universe--the most comprehensive and scientifically accurate, three-dimensional map of the known universe-- shows where the star HR 8799 is in relation to our solar system. Recently, a team of researchers led by the American Museum of Natural History used a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640 (www.amnh.org/project1640) to collect the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of the four red exoplanets orbiting this star. This visualization also shows other stars that are known to harbor planetary systems (stars with blue circles around them). HR 8799's system, which is 128 light years away from Earth, is one of only a couple of these stars that have been imaged, and the only one for which spectroscopy of all the planets has been obtained. Over the next three years, the team will survey many of these other stars in the same manner in which they studied HR 8799.

Music by Gurdonark ( http://ccmixter.org/files/gurdonark/2...)
using Creative Commons Attribution samples by Kaer Trouz and the Institute of Contemporary Music

Not all seaweed-eating fish are created equal. Reef fish near the islands of Fiji eat seaweed that is toxic to coral, helping maintain a healthy reef system. But some species of fish limit their grazing to only one type of seaweed. Herbivorous fish diversity is the coral's best insurance for keeping different varieties of harmful algae in check.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

Related Links

Ecological Society of America: Consumer diversity interacts with prey defenses to drive ecosystem function
http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10...

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
http://www.coralcoe.org.au/

International Union for Conservation of Nature: Monitoring Functional Groups of Herbivorous Reef Fishes as Indicators of Coral Reef Resilience
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/res...

Wildlife Conservation Society: Fiji's Waters
http://www.wcs.org/where-we-work/ocea...

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute: Impacts of Macroalgae on Ecosystems
http://www.whoi.edu/redtide/impacts/e...

World Wildlife Fund, South Pacific: The Great Sea Reef
http://www.wwfpacific.org.fj/what_we_...

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
http://coralreef.noaa.gov/threats/fis...

Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area
https://www.facebook.com/KHFMA

AMNH: Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/perma...

Reef Resilience: Herbivory
http://www.reefresilience.org/Toolkit...

Farmers in the Andes use biodiversity as insurance. The potato, a plant native to the area that is now the world's fourth most important staple crop, is still locally grown in thousands of varieties. With help from Lima's International Potato Center, Andean farmers are preserving potato diversity to protect this critical food source against threats like pests and diseases, weather extremes, and climate change.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

RELATED LINKS

AMNH: Our Global Kitchen—Food, Nature, Culture
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/curre...

International Potato Center
http://www.cipotato.org/

AMNH Science Bulletins Flickr Set: Protecting Potato Diversity in Peru
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amnh/set...

When humans became more dependent on carbohydrates, the diversity in our oral microbiome suffered. Farming brought significant dietary changes to human societies worldwide, causing microbial populations in human mouths to change dramatically. By studying fossilized bacteria in plaque from ancient teeth, scientists link carbohydrates and highly processed foods to the rise of two species of harmful oral bacteria that increase our susceptibility to cavities and gum disease.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

RELATED LINKS

Nature Genetics: Sequencing ancient calcified dental plaque shows changes in oral microbiota with dietary shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v45/...

Australian Center for Ancient DNA
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/acad/

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/

Science: How Sweet It Is—Genes Show How Bacteria Colonized Human Teeth
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339...

Join Curator John Flynn and anthropologists Peter Whiteley and Jenny Newell as they give a behind the scenes look at "Whales: Giants of the Deep."

The exhibition includes the only known skull of Andrewsarchus, a close relative of whales from the Eocene epoch. Discovered in the 1920s in the Gobi desert on an expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews, the fossil helps us understand how early ancestors of whales moved back to an ocean environment.

The native peoples of the Northwest Coast of America and the Māori of Aotearoa/New Zealand share a deep affinity for whales. Visitors to the exhibition will find beautiful representations of whales revealed in a Kwakwakáwakw feast dish and a Māori pataka or storehouse.

"Whales: Giants of the Deep" opened in March 2013. For more information about the exhibition, visit amnh.org/whales.

"Whales: Giants of the Deep" was developed and presented by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This exhibition was made possible through the support of the New Zealand Government.

The Museum gratefully acknowledges the Richard and Karen LeFrak Exhibition and Education Fund.

Generous support for "Whales: Giants of the Deep" has been provided by the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund.

From the surface of our skin to deep inside our gut, humans are teeming with microbes. The trillions of microorganisms that inhabit humans make up 1 to 3 percent of our total mass and play a vital role in our everyday functions and overall health. More than 100,000 species of bacteria have been identified in the human body, though the population distribution of bacteria can vary greatly from individual to individual. Deciphering the complexity of the human microbiome will help determine new methods for health management and treatment of disease.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History.

RELATED LINKS

Nature: Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/...

Nature: A framework for human microbiome research
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/...

NIH Human Microbiome Project
http://www.hmpdacc.org/

International Human Microbiome Consortium
http://www.human-microbiome.org/

J. Craig Venter Institute: Human Microbiome Project
http://www.human-microbiome.org/

The Human Microbiome Project Collection
http://www.ploscollections.org/articl...

Fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber-toothed cats on display on the Museum's fourth floor are impressive and imposing specimens of animals that once roamed the Earth, then vanished during mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous and Pleistocene eras. Elsewhere in the Museum, visitors can see species whose more recent extinctions were caused by human activity, from the Dodo in the Hall of Biodiversity to the Passenger Pigeon, one of North America's most plentiful birds until the early 1900s, featured in the Hall of New York City Birds.

In the not-too-distant future, scientists expect that technological breakthroughs—and availability of genetic data from specimens of extinct species—will provide ways to revive vanished species. In this video, Museum Curator Ross MacPhee discusses the science and ethical considerations of "de-extinction."

In January 2013, Museum Curator Christopher Raxworthy set out on a Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition to several island groups in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles off of Africa's eastern coast to survey reptile species. Dr. Raxworthy and his team travelled to the Seychelles and the Mascarene Islands, where they scoured lush canyons, rocky shores, and steep cliff sides in search of chameleons, geckos, and skinks.

At one time, these islands were home to the world's richest diversity of oceanic island reptile fauna. But with the arrival of humans several centuries ago, deforestation and other environmental degradation decimated reptile populations. Raxworthy hoped to rediscover lizards known only from bone material and specimens collected in the 19th and early 20th century.

While the team found no evidence of those particular species, their survey of both island systems provided valuable data about the distribution of other endemic and introduced reptiles. The information Raxworthy collected is helping researchers learn more about what happens in an ecosystem after extinction, how reptile communities are built, and the best ways to implement future conservation efforts.

Christopher Raxworthy's Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition was generously supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

CREDITS:

MUSIC
"Cascades," "Pretty Build," "Pretty and Cruddy Beat," "Sunset," and "Vector Melody" by Poddington Bear (Free Music Archive).

PHOTOGRAPHY
Christopher Raxworthy
Nik Cole
Lisa Cole
Bärbel Koch
Dunog
Hansueli Krapf
Bruno Navez
Hans Stieglitz

VIDEO
AMNH/E. Chapman