Royal Ontario Museum Blog

Monthly Archive: December

NASA’s Continued Curiosity for Life on Mars

Posted: November 15, 2011 - 09:46 , by royal
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By Brent Hyde, Minerology Technician

Did life ever exist on the red planet? This is a question NASA has been trying to answer for more than 40 years. In the next couple of years, NASA hopes to get some answers.

Digital Artist Show-and-Tell featuring Sound Selecta

Posted: November 8, 2011 - 16:45 , by ROM
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This past Friday, the Institute for Contemporary Culture hosted its first ‘Digital Artist Show and Tell’.  Amidst the glimmering iPad drawings in the David Hockney fresh flowers exhibition, over 30 people spontaneously congregated in the Roloff Beny Gallery for an interactive session with Jamie Alexander of Sound Selecta. Sound Selecta is a company that merges art, music and commerce to create some really exciting apps.

On the Rocks Again — in which a pair of intrepid palaeontologists head for the hinterland.

Posted: November 7, 2011 - 11:59 , by royal

Ah, the romance of fieldwork. There’s nothing quite like waiting for the morning sun to rise high enough to illuminate a cold, wet outcrop, so that one can spend the next 8 or 9 hours kneeling in mud and splitting razor-sharp rock slabs. But we have hot coffee in the thermos, dry gloves in the pack, and — hopefully — there are some new fossils to be found!

Bugs are moving in (not bed bugs this time)

Posted: November 3, 2011 - 08:54 , by ROM
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Question: It’s fall, why are all these bugs coming into my home? I’ve never seen them before!

Western conifer seed bug; copyright ROM images

Wallis Simpson’s Brilliant Jewellery

Posted: November 2, 2011 - 15:00 , by royal
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Submitted by Danura Buczynski and Elsa McKay, Department of Museum Volunteers.

Who was Wallis Simpson?
The American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson, a.k.a. the Duchess of Windsor is one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century. With two divorced husbands still living, Bessie Wallis Warfield (1896-1986), stepped into the spotlight and shocked conventional society when she was identified as the mistress of the Prince of Wales.

iPad Drawing Class with Jerrem Lynch

Posted: November 1, 2011 - 09:18 , by ROM
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What do you get when you mix an Australian graffiti artist, a high school student, two art therapists, a pub owner and a radio show host at the ROM on a Thursday night? The ICC’s iPad Drawing Class!

The Lego Sphinx Concludes Today

Posted: October 30, 2011 - 13:20 , by royal

Today is the last day of the LEGO Sphinx build at the ROM.  There has been a lot of progress and it’s been great to have seen so many of you out to see the Sphinx near completion, and to join in on the other LEGO activities on this weekend.

Kids hanging out with Lego Sphinx

Day 3, 10am - The LEGO Sphinx is almost done

Q&A with Robin, Certified LEGO Professional

Posted: October 28, 2011 - 13:35 , by royal

Robin Sather, LEGO® Certified Professional at Brickville DesignWorks in Abbotsford, British Columbia talks with us about his upcoming build of a giant LEGO® Sphinx at the ROM on October 28-30.

Is Burton Pipistrelle a Budding Superhero?

Posted: October 26, 2011 - 16:04 , by royal

Cover image of "Burton and Isabelle Pipistrelle out of the bat cave"

Burton & Isabelle Pipistrelle out of the bat cave, by Denise Dias, Illustrated by Tara Winterhalt

Contest: How much do you know about the War of 1812?

Posted: October 21, 2011 - 10:31 , by royal
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Submitted by Liz Muir, volunteer with the Friends of Canadian Collections (FCC).

Almost 200 years ago, war broke out between the United States and Canada, which was still part of the British Empire at the time. That conflict became know as the War of 1812.