This past Friday was the fourth annual Teen Science Night at the California Academy of Sciences, the nation's largest teen-organized science night at a museum. Over 1,600 teens from across the San Francisco Bay Area gathered at the Academy for an evening of science exploration and fun. I had a blast, as always, helping out at …
For the past week and a half, I have been in lovely Herrang, Sweden for a dance camp. It's a really fun event in a beautiful locale, with a small lake, a tiny beach, and verdant countryside all around us. Yesterday, I did a little nature walk and encountered lots of lovely flora and fauna. …
Give a listen to the latest episode of "Object Oriented," the podcast on digital learning in collections-based museums, hosted by Eve Gaus of the Field Museum, Barry Joseph of the American Museum of Natural History and myself. In this show, we focus on what's new at our respective institutions, and man are we up to …
The Pixar film Finding Dory takes place largely in the fictional “Marine Life Institute” whose mission is the “rescue, rehabilitation and release” of marine life. The institution is depicted in the film not only showcasing marine life for the public, but also performing veterinary services, working with injured animals to prepare them to be released back into the wild, …
Yesterday was my first time marching in the San Francisco Pride Parade. I have participated for many years in the New York Pride Parade, but San Francisco has a well-deserved reputation as an international center for the LGBTQ community. This was also the first time I marched with other museum professionals in the "Museums with Pride" …
My new colleague at the California Academy of Sciences , Po Bhattacharyya made this wonderful animated video about the lancet liver fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) while an undergrad at Brown. I didn't know what a lancet river fluke was before the video, but like Po, I'm a fan! CreatureCast – Lancet Liver Fluke from Casey Dunn on Vimeo. Story, …
Scientists know more about the surface of the moon than they do about the deep coral reefs. On Friday June 20, the California Academy of Sciences unveils our newest exhibit "Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed." From the exhibit description: Step inside a realm known as the twilight zone—a narrow, dimly lit band of the world's oceans more …
A couple of years ago, I met Simone Giertz, a young Swedish woman interested in lindy hop and making electronic gadgets. That's three things that I love in one person: dancing lindy hop! making electronic gadgets! being Swedish! Chatting with Simone at a lindy hop social, I mentioned that I worked at a science museum and …
On Saturday, I had the pleasure of going on one of the first boat trips to the Farallon Islands with the Oceanic Society this season. It was an incredible, all-day voyage, just 27-miles from San Francisco, but felt like a world away. Here's a video of some of the coolest marine life that we encountered. …
I'm old enough to remember "Powers of Ten" (1977), a formative and mind-expanding film that was shown to millions of young people in the 70s and 80s. It depicts in stunning animations for time the scale of the universe, starting from a person laying down at a picnic, then zooming out to the edge of the …