The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx has a 40-acre forest and plant exhibits that change over the year. You'll find a variety of gardens: rose gardens, rock gardens, iris gardens, as well as a chemurgic garden, with plants grown for chemical, medical and industrial purposes. You can walk through a tropical rainforest and deserts in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Best way to get there is by shuttle bus, which charges a small fee. Call 718-817-8700 for the schedule.
The best time to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is in the spring, when the cherry blossoms and magnolias are in bloom. Cacti, ferns, and Bonsai can be seen year-round in the glass-enclosed conservatory. Free on Tuesdays. Take the 2/3 train to Eastern Parkway.
Enter Central Park on the footpath at West 81st Street, turn right when
you reach the road. Just past the marionette theater, you'll see the
entrance to the Shakespeare
Garden, with 120 of the plant varieties that are mentioned in
Shakespeare's plays. A quiet place to get inspiration for that Lit Hum
paper or to have a picnic with a friend. There are delphiniums,
columbine, primroses, and of course, rosemary... that's for
rememb'rance.
The Central Park Zoo (5th Avenue & 64th Street) is small enough to see in an hour. Transparent walls in front of the pools allow you to see the graceful swimming motions of the polar bears and penguins. In a giant ant farm, thousands of leaf-cutting ants laboriously cutting bits of leaves and carry them to their nest. There are colobus monkeys in the Tropic Zone and snow monkeys outdoors on an island of their own. Wildlife art is on exhibit in an indoor gallery. Take the 1/9 to 42nd Street, transfer to the Queens-bound N or R, and get out at Fifth Avenue.
The Bronx Zoo (Wildlife Conservation Society) exhibits 650 animal species on acres of woodland, meadows, ponds and streams. The zoologists and veterinarians there conduct research on animal behavior, conservation genetics, population biology, ecological analysis, wildlife nutrition, and reproduction of endangered species. A good day to go is Wednesday, when admission fees are voluntary. Take the #1/9 down to 96th, then transfer to the uptown #2. Get off either at East Tremont or Pelham Parkway.
In Coney Island, at the bottom of Brooklyn, you can visit the penguins, seals, otters, walruses, sea turtles, sharks and beluga whales at New York's Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation . They sometimes offer behind-the-scenes tours, where you can learn about research in fish genetics, marine pollution and marine zoology. Take the D or F train to West 8th Street in Brooklyn.
Not all animals in the city are in cages. The City Naturalist
can help you identify some of the animals (especially birds) that
live in our neighborhood parks. Over 100 species of
butterflies have been spotted in New York City by members of the New York City Butterfly
Club . The animal species you're most likely to encounter in
Morningside
Heights is Blattella germanica. Whether you consider them
potential pets or pests, you can find out all about them on the Cockroach
page.
This is a very funny site. Hot AIR
A gallery of cartoons by Sidney Harris
Talk Of The Nation Science Friday with Ira Flatow can no longer be heard in New York, but you can listen to it over the web.
The Green Room no longer broadcasts interviews with "some of the most intelligent people on earth." but you can listen to past interviews over the web.
Science Update, produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, airs locally on WEVD, but you can also hear these tidbits of science news and information over the web.
Riverside Park is closest to Columbia.
The Urban Park Rangers point out the flora and fauna that live in our parks, in the many tours that they give throughout the five boroughs.
Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx has miles of trails through woods and marshes, for hiking and horseback riding. Take the 1 train uptown to the end of the line. The visitor's center is right there, at Broadway and 242nd Street.
The exhibit at the Alley Pond Environmental Center describes the wildlife in the surrounding park: herons, egrets, turtles, rabbits, and more. There are periodic lectures and tours of the surrounding park, which includes tidal flats, meadows, and forest. Trails open dawn to dusk. Take the 1/9 to 42nd Street, then the 7 to the last stop (Main Street). Transfer to the Q12 bus to Alley Pond.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, in Queens, has a saltwater pond, teeming with bird life, including many species of geese, sandpipers, herons, plovers and terns. Take the 1/9 to 59th Street, change to the Queens-bound A train. Get off at Broad Channel, walk one block west on Noel Road, then make a right onto Cross Bay Boulevard.
Black Rock Forest, about 2 hours north of New York City, is a preserved wilderness area, under the jurisdiction of a consortium of area institutions, of which Columbia University is a member. Ongoing research projects include studies of the local geology and ecology.
From the Seaport to Silicon Alley: A History of Technology in NYC, 1820-2000, an online exhibit.
Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library has several documents of scientific interest, including a letter written by Johannes Kepler, a drawing by Galileo Galilei, a manuscript by Isaac Newton, and the first edition of The Birds of America, by John James Audubon. The original paintings used for this book are on display at the New York Historical Society Museum, on Columbus Avenue near 77th Street.
The Health Sciences Library has a room with Archives and Special Colections relating to the history of medicine in general (including letters written by Florence Nightingale) as well as the history of Columbia's medical school. Current exhibit on The Invention of the Stethoscope.
The New York Academy Of Medicine at 2 East 103rd Street has a world-renowed History of Medicine Library. In the reading room, there's a changing exhibit of antiquated medical instruments, which you can see any time it's open. But you need to call in advance if you want to see the collections in the Rare Book Room, which include a sample from Alexander Fleming's original penicillin culture, surgical instruments from the 18th century, letters written by Charles Darwin, original scientific works by Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, and the 16th century medical writer, Paracelsus, and the oldest extant surgical document, an Egyptian papyrus from 1700 BC describing techniques for brain surgery. Take the M4 bus downtown to Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street.
The American Museum of Natural History on 79th St., Central Park West is famous for its dinosaur collection, natural history dioramas, a life-size model of a blue whale and the big-screen Naturemax Theater. Less well-kinown are its superb library in natural history, the molecular biology labs that are off-limits to the public and its education department. The latter offers a variety of lectures and tours for a small fee. These have included walking tours of Central Park, led by a naturalist who can identify the local flora and fauna, and slide-illustrated lectures on natural history.
The New York Hall of Science is in Queens, near the 111th Street station of the #7 train. This is a perfect place to take a youngster to be entertained for the day, and the Queen's zoo is right next door.
The Liberty Science Center in New Jersey has a couple hundred exhibits, as well as films shown in an IMAX and 3-D theater. The place is often overrun by school kids. To get there, you can catch the PATH train at 33rd Street, or take the more romantic route across the Hudson River by ferry.
Catch up on all those medical terms and reference in-depth medical information on CNN's Health website. Need to find a quick fact about a disease/disorder? Use the quick reference to help you in your search. Learn about CNN's Your Health broadcase and find out about upcoming shows.
American Scientist Recent issues: Chemistry Library. A selection of articles are posted on their web site .
Science Daily. A daily compilation of science news from universities and research institutions around the world.
The Nando News Science--Health posts daily health/science news articles. Read about viral outbreaks, AIDS research, investigative reports and more.
Evolution Nature Store, 120 Spring Street, Greenwich Village. Fossils, skeletons, butterflies, t-shirts, Venus fly-trap plants, and more.
There's a gift shop just inside the 78th Street entrance of the American Museum of Natural History. Gifts for nature-lovers include t-shirts, scarves, ties, jewelery, mugs, posters, and a wide selection of books for adults and children.
Maxilla & Mandible has more than just jawbones. You'll find insects in amber, antlers, bones, seashells, and dinosaur teeth at this unusual shop on Columbus Avenue near 81st Street.
Star Magic has one store at 1256 Lexington, near 84th, and another in the Village, at 745 Broadway just below 8th Street. Astronomy, earth sciences, and physics are translated into fun gifts in this shop: glow-in-the-dark stars, globes, gems, holograms, kaleidoscopes, puzzles, science kits. Some New Age stuff, too.
Science fiction book stores
Shopping on-line Science gifts - On-line catalogs Many items with a science theme, from science museums and other sites.
Send comments on this site to Dr. Judith Gibber at jrg43@columbia.edu.