Post by Cortney Pachet, Collections Registration Associate (Human History) From October 2018 to October 2019, Cortney served temporarily as the Assistant Curator of the HBC Museum Collection while the Curator was away on leave. As part of her curatorial role, Cortney processed the Fowlie collection acquisition and curated a small temporary exhibition about the collection. Throughout its history, the Hudson’s Bay Company had a tradition of recruiting young men from…
Category Archives: Blogs
Satellites in a train
Winnipeg residents have been reporting some unusual sightings in the night sky over the past few days. Bright star-like objects have been seen moving across the sky, following each other in a train. Sometimes half a dozen or more of them are visible at the same time. What are these? Unfortunately, they won’t be “unusual” for very long. These are the StarLink satellites, launched by Elon Musk’s Space-X to deliver…
Also posted in Astronomy, Planetarium, Science Gallery & Planetarium, Space News Tagged Astronomy, Manitoba, planetarium Comments closed
If a tree falls in the forest
We humans tend to think that diseases affect only animals but plants suffer from them as well. Diseases are caused by microscopic animals (like parasitic worms), fungi, bacteria and viruses and they affect animals, plants, fungi and even some species of bacteria (viruses that infect bacteria are called bacteriophages). But it’s not just microorganisms that parasitize species; larger organisms do too. Some fungi are parasites of other fungi and some…
A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURE
One of the most significant contributions that America’s Indigenous peoples have made is with respect to agriculture. Many of our most beloved foods (e.g. chocolate, potatoes, corn) are native to the Americas, being initially cultivated or domesticated by Indigenous farmers. Ancient Agriculture Indigenous agriculture has a long history with the most recent archaeological evidence suggesting it has been practiced in the Americas for at least 10,000 years, almost the same…
Also posted in Botany Tagged Archaeology, botany, ethnobotany, First Nations, Manitoba, plants Comments closed
A total eclipse… of Mars?
This month brings skywatchers a rare sight: a total eclipse of the red planet Mars by our Moon. The event is visible across much of North America, and is the only event of its kind all year. As the Moon orbits our planet, it gets in the way of all sorts of other celestial objects that are farther away. When the moon blocks out the sun, we call it a…
Also posted in Astronomy, News, Planetarium, Science Gallery & Planetarium, Space News Tagged Astronomy, mars, occultation Comments closed
Monumental Moves: Sweating over Big Artifacts (Part 2)
Post by Carolyn Sirett, Conservator It’s time for the sweaty part of the blog – not the panicky sweating type of emotion I first experienced when large fragile artifacts were being transported all over the city – but literally sweaty in the sense that big artifacts get your muscles moving prepping them for exhibition. Our first workout began after the stained glass window was delivered to Prairie Studio Glass for…
Also posted in Collections & Conservation Comments closed
The Perils of Plant Parenthood, Part 2 – Wildlife
Many plants use the wind to disperse their seeds. But what if a plant lives somewhere that isn’t very windy? How do they encourage their children to “launch”? Many plants decided to take advantage of animals’ mobility. One way plants do this is by growing little hooks or stiff hairs on the fruits that readily catch onto the fur or feathers of an animal when they are ripe. The fruits…
The Perils of Plant Parenthood, Part 1 – Wind
Just like all creatures, plants want to reproduce themselves. But they typically don’t want their offspring hanging around for too long, eating all the food in the fridge and drinking all the beer. But plant babies living on the land can’t move on their own, so how is an exasperated plant parent going to get their children to leave the nest? Instead of producing swimming babies like algae do, the…
Manitoba Skies for January 2020
This winter hasn’t been as cold as usual for Manitoba, so it’s a great time to get out and see what the January sky has to offer. Check out our Current Night Sky page for information on celestial events visible in the Manitoba skies. You can read the full article here. If you’d like some in-depth help on becoming a backyard astronomer, there’s still space in our Introduction to Skywatching…
Also posted in Astronomy, Planetarium, Science Gallery & Planetarium, Space News Comments closed
Possible meteor outburst – November 21, 2019
Thursday, November 20, 2019 may provide a rare meteor outburst – but only for a few minutes. The annual Monocerotid meteor shower normally produces about 1 or 2 meteors per hour – and that’s if the sky is dark with no moon. It’s not something some skywatchers would even bother to put on the calendar. In the last couple of decades, however, astronomers have begun to understand meteor showers in…
Also posted in Astronomy, News, Planetarium, Science Gallery & Planetarium, Space News Tagged Astronomy, Manitoba, planetarium Comments closed
