JANUARY
The Field Museum’s ongoing Year of Biodiversity and Conservation program is currently featuring exhibits on the New World tropics, which run from Mexico down to the southern tip of Argentina and are home to nearly a quarter of all the plant and animal species on earth–with dozens of new ones being discovered every year. Today’s kickoff events for Biodiversity in the Neotropics include a roundtable discussion at 2 with museum scientists Bruce Patterson (curator of mammals), Barry Chernoff (curator of fish), and conservation ecologists Doug Stotz and Robin Foster. In addition to discussing their work in the neotropics, they’ll talk about an ongoing study of the tropical rain forest ecosystem that has so far tracked the development of more than 30,000 plants. The day’s programs also include a slide show and behind-the-scenes tour of the botany department (tickets are $18 and registration is required), a lecture by zoologist Larry Heaney on his work in the Philippines, and a “meet the scientists” event with insects division collections assistant Jim Louderman and others. Apart from the slide show and tour all events are free with museum admission, which is $10 for adults, $5 for children 3 to 11, and $7 for students and seniors. The museum is at 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr. in Chicago and it’s open from 9 to 5 daily. For more information call 312-665-7400 or see www.fmnh.org.
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12 MONDAY
Thanks to Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling novel Girl With a Pearl Earring–and the new movie based on it–the already familiar Vermeer painting of a wide-eyed young woman with a gleaming bauble on her ear is now as ubiquitous as that Justin Timberlake McDonald’s ad. Chevalier, whose new The Lady and the Unicorn could do the same for a set of medieval tapestries, will appear twice this week in Naperville. Tonight at 7 she’ll speak and sign books at the 95th Street branch of the Naperville Public Library, 2035 S. Cedar Glade. It’s free; call 630-961-4100. On Thursday, January 15, she’ll talk at a noon lunch at Meson Sabika, 1025 Aurora. Luncheon tickets are $45 and include a copy of the new book; call Anderson’s Bookshop at 630-355-2665 for reservations.
