Spring in the Northeast is a time of change: longer sunnier days, colorful ephemerals bursting into bloom, birdsong filling the air. It is also the time of year when freshwater creeks and streams all along the Philadelphia region are swarming with native, migratory eels — and it’s just one stage of their wildly complex life story.  The small dark American eels (Anguilla rostrata) that are currently making their way through our local freshwater rivers and streams actually had their start out in the Atlantic Ocean’s deep saltwater. Over a year ago, these eels hatch from their eggs in ..read more

Discovering a new species — a distinct group of organisms that mostly breed among themselves — is not for the faint of heart.  Academy scientists forge isolated dangerous rapids to collect fish; risk polar bears to scour Arctic rocks for fossils no one has ever seen before; endure the steady drone of highway traffic and beating sun — to mention a fraction of their recent adventures.   And then there are the hours of study, collaborating and writing back in the lab.  Contrary to popular assumptions, the daunting endeavor of discovery is not an isolated pursuit reserved for the t ..read more

Victoria Spalding, age 12, wrote a review of our exhibit, Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss. We thought you might enjoy reading her insight and consider bringing your own family to visit. Disclosure: Family Scholastic Adventures was invited to a complementary Media Preview of the exhibit in exchange for our honest opinion of the museum display. All opinions expressed herein are strictly our own. Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss Come Explore the Mysteries of the Ocean’s Vast Depths at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia now through July 24th.  During our visit to this exciti ..read more

Accelerated climate change and biodiversity loss, both driven by human activities, are threatening nature and people’s lives and livelihoods around the world. According to the International Union for Conservation’s Red List of Threatened Species — a major indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity — least 10,967 species are currently affected, increasing their likelihood of extinction.  That makes the Academy of Natural Sciences’ description of five new species in 2021 all the more critical to understanding the natural world and inspiring everyone to care for it. The newly named ..read more

The Academy is celebrating Water Year in 2022 with a series of special exhibitions aimed at helping people better understand the critical role of rivers and oceans and how everyone’s actions on land affect the watershed system.  In the months ahead, new exhibitions will fill our galleries with exciting opportunities and engaging programs that delve into timely climate change and environmental issues focused on water. Here’s the schedule of temporary exhibits for 2022. For updates and ..read more

A lot has happened in the decade since the university with the dragons teamed up with the museum with the dinosaurs. After Drexel and the Academy of Natural Sciences signed an historic affiliation on Oct. 26, 2011, the two Philadelphia institutions pledged to combine their strengths to mutually expand their global scientific reputations and capabilities. Since then, many Dragons have graduated from the joint academic department created by the partners, and countless researchers and visitors have enjoyed the expansion of the Academy’s historic and world-renowned collections. Philadelphia’s chi ..read more

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University recently launched the Museum Innovation Fund to provide seed funding to Drexel faculty and students for projects that promote conception and rapid prototyping of innovative approaches to museum learning and engagement. Through this initiative, the Academy hopes to establish an open innovation culture — one that promotes prototyping, nurtures fresh thinking, and adopts a creative planning cycle. The Academy will provide seed grants of $5,000 to select projects that imaginatively apply the arts, science and engineering in ways that re-envisio ..read more

Did you know that what you choose to eat impacts not only your health and waistline, but also the environment? Eating healthy foods that are sustainable can improve how you feel and also benefit the planet and your wallet.  Eating sustainably refers to foods that are produced in ways that have a minimal impact on natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity. Land use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warmin ..read more

The Hunting Park neighborhood faces some of the most extreme heat throughout the City of Philadelphia despite various tree planting efforts over the years. In 2018, Esperanza and the City’s Office of Sustainability partnered and kicked off the Beat the Heat Hunting Park project. In the initial pilot of this work, community residents were surveyed about their experience i­n dealing with extreme heat, challenges they faced, and worked alongside stakeholders to give input about ways to help reduce the effects. The Beat the Heat work continues today, with a variety of different initiatives launch ..read more

As a researcher at the Academy of Natural Sciences, I am a strong supporter of protecting natural areas and the importance of biodiversity for its own sake. But I know I live in a world where our human society can so easily function without considering the diversity of the estimated two billion species inhabiting the earth with us. Two billion!! That is twice the population of North, Central and South America combined! Considering the mixture of life on earth, it is quite baffling to consider the influence of humans — one species — on our eart ..read more