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Diorama Spotlight: Snow Geese at Lake Traverse
Published06/24/2020 , By Adam Hartman
In North America, few natural events mark the changing seasons as dramatically as spring waterfowl migration. As flocks of tens, even hundreds of thousands, of snow geese soar overhead to their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic, spring returns in the form of snow melt, new growth, and longer days.… -
Diorama Spotlight: Moose at Gunflint Lake
Published06/13/2020 , By Amber Kastner, Public Science Events Manager
In northern Minnesota, where the southern hardwood trees give way to the boreal forests of Canada, a unique transition area provides habitat for some of our state’s most iconic species. Along the border in particular, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness protects many of these plants and animals from development… -
City Stardust: Micrometeorites in Our Own Backyards
Published06/09/2020
Micrometeorites are some of the oldest matter that exists. Until recently, scientists searched for them only in remote places, such as the Antarctic, where pristine conditions ensured that these mineral specks really came from space. Experts assumed that it would be impossible to find micrometeorites in inhabited areas, where natural… -
Diorama Spotlight: Big Woods
Published05/28/2020 , By Adam Hartman, gallery programs assistant
During early European settlement of this continent, French traders referred to the more than 2,000 square miles of hardwood forest in what is now south-central Minnesota as the “Big Woods.” Not only was the forest vast, but the trees that grew there were huge (or “big”)! Today, all that remains… -
International Day for Biological Diversity
Published05/18/2020 , By Adam Hartman & Heather Cummins
As we kick off the first day of the week leading up to the International Day for Biological Diversity on Friday, let’s take a look at what it is and why it matters. The short version is that it’s a day the United Nations declared for increasing understanding and awareness… -
#museumathome with Animal Crossing
Published05/17/2020
We’re talking about Animal Crossing: New Horizons across our social media platforms today. Want to know more about the game and why museum folks—including our staff members—play? Jenny Stampe, associate director of public education and science learning, has some questions for her colleagues who play the game. -
Diorama Spotlight: Beavers at Lake Itasca
Published05/14/2020 , By Amber Kastner, public science events manager
Completed in 1919, the Beavers at Lake Itasca diorama is the oldest in the current Bell Museum. After beginning its history in the Zoology building at the University of Minnesota, it was moved in 1940 to the former Bell Museum on Church Street before being transferred once more to its… -
Diorama Spotlight: Cranes in the Red River Valley
Published05/01/2020 , By Adam Hartman, gallery programs assistant
It’s early May in the Red River Valley. Thousands of lesser and greater sandhill cranes gather just outside Fertile, Minnesota, on the sand dunes that remain of the dried lake bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. This is one of the sandhill cranes’ pit stops on their annual spring migration from… -
The Bell Celebrates Global Volunteer Month
Published04/30/2020
Volunteers are critical to all the Bell’s mission to ignite curiosity and wonder, explore our connections to nature and the universe, and create a better future for our evolving world. Our mission depends on dedicated volunteers to engage visitors as docents, gallery cart assistants, and in our astronomy programs. For… -
Congratulations to our Graduates
Published04/28/2020
All the education and outreach that goes on at the museum would not be possible without talented University of Minnesota students—from the Touch & See Lab and exhibit galleries to the ticketing desk, Curiosity Shop, Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Planetarium, scientific collections, and beyond. As the academic year comes to…