A Museum Designed for City Life Debuts

Some European schools have long championed free play in the woods as a way to combat the increasingly mainstream idea of "nature-deficit disorder." In Finland, enthusiastic teachers dedicate all of Friday to outdoor "secret" education - students don't even realize they are learning academic lessons. Inspired by these models, scattered American schools are experimenting with the idea, with some finding reductions in bullying and improvements in test scores and focus issues.

The Send Me SFMOMA program allows people to text a number with a request based on a variable such as a object, mood, or color and receive back an image of an appropriate work in the SFMOMA collection. Through this service, which SFMOMA has made open source for other museums to use, the museum is able to connect with the public and ‘display’ a much higher percentage of its holdings.

As climate change continues to advance, its impact on farmlands has become more pronounced and increasingly devastating. Farmers and researchers in both South Africa and Nepal are working towards solutions to problems specifically related to climate change. Centered on developing technology, these farmers have found success with NASA satellite imagery as well as local clinics.

In California’s wildfire-prone Sierras, forest managers are turning to an ancient, if not quite intuitive, tool: more fire. In 2019, the Forest Service will manage 250,000 acres with controlled burns and “mechanical thinning,” using equipment to take out small trees. Though such plans face some hurdles, states across the country are adopting them, reducing wildfire severity while often benefiting ecosystems.

In countries like Cambodia, Angola, and Mozambique, rats are saving lives by detecting untriggered land mines. An international nonprofit, Apopo, provides funding a training and works with local organizations to operate at the local level. The rats are light enough that they don’t trigger the explosives and can cover up to 2,000 square feet in just 20 minutes – something that would take a human up to four days to complete.

Researchers from the University of Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife are hoping the experimental antifungal bacterial baths they gave toads in the Rocky Mountains are working. A fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been killing amphibians around the world, but researchers think they may have found a way to stop it. In the lab, the experimental bath showed a 40% decrease in mortality, indicating promising results in the wild.

For many jobs across the country, working from home is a fairly easy adaptation to cope with social distancing measures. But for many scientists who work in laboratories with ongoing research, a work from home solution does not quite fit. Labs and universities are finding ways to adapt and prioritize which experiments to put on hold.

In the midst of a seemingly increasingly divided political and racial landscape, some artists of color are pushing back to create art that represents their own non-White communities. Some artists have chosen to do this by recreating Norman Rockwell’s paintings, which in the earlier part of his career mainly showcased White people. “The image haunted me because of the world we live in,” the artist said, referring to today’s divisive political climate. “I wanted to imagine what it would look like today.”

The nonprofit Coombs Outdoors runs summer and winter camps for youth to experience and learn about the outdoors. The camps are in high demand because of the affordable price made possible by donor subsidies.

New Jersey schools are working to make climate education widespread by implementing general education standards that include climate change education in every grade and subject. These new education standards have been inspiring students to brainstorm solutions to climate-related issues like reducing food waste and increasing coastal resiliency. The state has also earmarked $5 million to help local teachers attend professional development sessions to teach them how to create new climate change-focused lesson plans.